The Ledes

Thursday, September 19, 2024

New York Times: “A body believed to be of the suspect in a Kentucky highway shooting that left five people seriously injured this month was found on Wednesday, the authorities said, ending a manhunt that stretched into a second week and set the local community on edge. The Kentucky State Police commissioner, Phillip Burnett Jr., said in a Wednesday night news conference that at approximately 3:30 p.m., two troopers and two civilians found an unidentified body in the brush behind the highway exit where the shooting occurred.... The police have identified the suspect of the shooting as Joseph A. Couch, 32. They said that on Sept. 7, Mr. Couch perched on a cliff overlooking Interstate 75 about eight miles north of London, Ky., and opened fire. One of the wounded was shot in the face, and another was shot in the chest. A dozen vehicles were riddled with gunfire.”

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The New York Times lists Emmy winners. The AP has an overview story here.

New York Times: “Hvaldimir, a beluga whale who had captured the public’s imagination since 2019 after he was spotted wearing a harness seemingly designed for a camera, was found dead on Saturday in Norway, according to a nonprofit that worked to protect the whale.... [Hvaldimir] was wearing a harness that identified it as “equipment” from St. Petersburg. There also appeared to be a camera mount. Some wondered if the whale was on a Russian reconnaissance mission. Russia has never claimed ownership of the whale. If Hvaldimir was a spy, he was an exceptionally friendly one. The whale showed signs of domestication, and was comfortable around people. He remained in busier waters than are typical for belugas....” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Oh, Lord, do not let Bobby Kennedy, Jr., near that carcass. ~~~

     ~~~ AP Update: “There’s no evidence that a well-known beluga whale that lived off Norway’s coast and whose harness ignited speculation it was a Russian spy was shot to death last month as claimed by animal rights groups, Norwegian police said Monday.... Police said that the Norwegian Veterinary Institute conducted a preliminary autopsy on the animal, which was become known as 'Hvaldimir,' combining the Norwegian word for whale — hval — and the first name of Russian President Vladimir Putin. 'There are no findings from the autopsy that indicate that Hvaldimir has been shot,' police said in a statement.”

New York Times: Botswana's “President Mokgweetsi Masisi grinned as he lifted the diamond, a 2,492-carat stone that is the biggest diamond unearthed in more than a century and the second-largest ever found, according to the Vancouver-based mining operator Lucara, which owns the mine where it was found. This exceptional discovery could bring back the luster of the natural diamond mining industry, mining companies and experts say. The diamond was discovered in the same relatively small mine in northeastern Botswana that has produced several of the largest such stones in living memory. Such gemstones typically surface as a result of volcanic activity.... The diamond will likely sell in the range of tens of millions of dollars....”

Click on photo to enlarge.

~~~ Guardian: "On a distant reef 16,000km from Paris, surfer Gabriel Medina has given Olympic viewers one of the most memorable images of the Games yet, with an airborne celebration so well poised it looked too good to be true. The Brazilian took off a thundering wave at Teahupo’o in Tahiti on Monday, emerging from a barrelling section before soaring into the air and appearing to settle on a Pacific cloud, pointing to the sky with biblical serenity, his movements mirrored precisely by his surfboard. The shot was taken by Agence France-Presse photographer Jérôme Brouillet, who said “the conditions were perfect, the waves were taller than we expected”. He took the photo while aboard a boat nearby, capturing the surreal image with such accuracy that at first some suspected Photoshop or AI." 

Washington Post: “'Mary Cassatt at Work' is a large and mostly satisfying exhibition devoted to the career of the great American artist beloved for her sensitive and often sentimental views of family life. The 'at work' in the title of the Philadelphia Museum of Art show references the curators’ interest in Cassatt’s pioneering effort to establish herself as a professional artist within a male-dominated field. Throughout the show, which includes some 130 paintings, pastels, prints and drawings, the wall text and the art on view stresses Cassatt’s fixation on art as a career rather than a pastime.... Mary Cassatt at Work is on view at the Philadelphia Museum of Art through Sept. 8. philamuseum.org”

New York Times: “Bob Newhart, who died on Thursday at the age of 94, has been such a beloved giant of popular culture for so long that it’s easy to forget how unlikely it was that he became one of the founding fathers of stand-up comedy. Before basically inventing the hit stand-up special, with the 1960 Grammy-winning album 'The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart' — that doesn’t even count his pay-per-view event broadcast on Canadian television that some cite as the first filmed special — he was a soft-spoken accountant who had never done a set in a nightclub. That he made a classic with so little preparation is one of the great miracles in the history of comedy.... Bob Newhart holds up. In fact, it’s hard to think of a stand-up from that era who is a better argument against the commonplace idea that comedy does not age well.”

Washington Post: “An early Titian masterpiece — once looted by Napolean’s troops and a part of royal collections for centuries — caused a stir when it was stolen from the home of a British marquess in 1995. Seven years later, it was found inside an unassuming white and blue plastic bag at a bus stop in southwest London by an art detective, and returned. This week, the oil painting 'The Rest on the Flight into Egypt' sold for more than $22 million at Christie’s. It was a record for the Renaissance artist, whom museums describe as the greatest painter of 16th-century Venice. Ahead of the sale in April, the auction house billed it as 'the most important work by Titian to come to the auction market in more than a generation.'”

Washington Post: The Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C., which houses the world's largest collection of Shakespeare material, has undergone a major renovation. "The change to the building is pervasive, both subtle and transformational."

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Publisher & Editor: Marie Burns


Friday
Jan292016

The Commentariat -- January 30, 2016

Danielle Paquette & Drew Harwell of the Washington Post: "President Obama proposed a new rule Friday that would require every large company in America to report employees' pay based on race and gender, an effort to reduce longstanding pay inequities for women and minorities. The new policy, already drawing criticism from some business leaders, would order companies with at least 100 employees to add salary numbers on a form they already annually submit that reports employees' sex, age and job groups. The new pay information would alert the EEOC to companies with significant wage disparities, which could result in lawsuits." ...

... Lily Ledbetter introduces the President. It was the seventh anniversary of President Obama's signing the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act into law, the first bill he signed into law:

CW: Yesterday, in linking Elizabeth Warren's New York Times op-ed, I forgot to link her report on lax enforcement of corporate criminal lawbreaking. Here it is. As Warren wrote in her op-ed, & documents in the report, "In a single year, in case after case, across many sectors of the economy, federal agencies caught big companies breaking the law -- defrauding taxpayers, covering up deadly safety problems, even precipitating the financial collapse in 2008 -- and let them off the hook with barely a slap on the wrist. Often, companies paid meager fines, which some will try to write off as a tax deduction." ...

... David Dayen in the Intercept: "The Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders camps -- and their allies in the press -- have been arguing increasingly harshly over who has the most perfect or most attainable policies. But the real issue, as Warren sees it, comes in installing the personnel to carry out the laws on the books that protect public safety and the economy." Dayen calls the report "what might have been [Warren's] closing argument had she been a candidate in the presidential race." ...

... CW: BUT I think Steve M. gets closer to Warren's motivation: "Elizabeth Warren just semi-endorsed Bernie Sanders -- again.... Warren is clearly saying: This, at the very least, is the point of nominating Sanders. This is a power he'll have. Warren also semi-endorsed Sanders in a speech on the Senate floor last week, as Salon's Sean Illing has noted."

We are headed into another presidential election and I speak out today because I'm genuinely alarmed for our democracy ... It is time to fight back against a complete capture of our government by the rich and powerful.... A new presidential election is upon us. The first votes will be cast in Iowa in just eleven days. Anyone who shrugs and claims that change is just too hard has crawled into bed with the billionaires who want to run the country like some private club. -- Elizabeth Warren, speaking on the Senate floor, January 21

CW: I also failed to timely embed President Obama's speech at the Israeli Embassy on Holocaust Remembrance Day, which honored four new inductees into the "Righteous Among Nations": gentiles who protected Jews during the Nazi era. Colbert King of the Washington Post reminds me I was remiss. Read his column. It is lovely. And he rightly takes the opportunity to smack his colleague Jennifer Rubin upside the head. It's not the first time she's deserved it.

... Here's the story of my husband's first wife, the extraordinary Jeanne Daman, who also has been honored as a Righteous Among the Nations. At the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C., she is credited with having helped to save 2,000 Belgian children.

Carl Hulse of the New York Times: "Senator John Cornyn, a former Texas judge and attorney general, is a devoted believer in the criminal justice overhaul awaiting its moment in the Senate. Now, he just has to convert doubting Republican colleagues.... 'John has some work to do, big-time work,' to secure enough support to persuade [Mitch] McConnell to go forward, said one Republican senator...." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Ian Millhiser of Think Progress writes a perceptive analysis of the Texas solicitor general's "devious plan to silently kill Roe v. Wade.... It's an effort to bypass [Justice Anthony] Kennedy's brain and go straight to his gag reflex." CW: Of course this is, generally speaking, tried-and-true anti-abortion propaganda. Most of us who are not medical professionals are put off or even frightened by bloody things. Invoking horror-movie-type imagery surely has helped persuade many a squeamish gentleman that abortion is evil.

CW: While I'm making up for stuff I missed this week, I wondered yesterday when the slow-mo economic news came in if the Fed hadn't made a mistake in raising interest rates last year. Paul Krugman sez yes, it did.

Matt O'Brien of the Washington Post: "The only question now is whether Venezuela's government or economy will completely collapse first.... Both are well into their death throes. Indeed, Venezuela's ruling party just lost congressional elections that gave the opposition a veto-proof majority, and it's hard to see that getting any better for them any time soon -- or ever.... According to the International Monetary Fund, their economy shrinks 10 percent one year, an additional 6 percent the next, and inflation explodes to 720 percent. It's no wonder, then, that markets expect Venezuela to default on its debt in the very near future. The country is basically bankrupt." O'Brien explains why.

Presidential Race

Steven Myers of the New York Times: "The State Department on Friday said for the first time that 'top secret' material had been sent through Hillary Clinton's private computer server, and that it would not make public 22 of her emails because they contained highly classified information. The department announced that 18 emails exchanged between Mrs. Clinton and President Obama would also be withheld, citing the longstanding practice of preserving presidential communications for future release.... The disclosure of the top secret emails ... is certain to fuel the political debate over the unclassified computer server that Mrs. Clinton ... kept in her home. The State Department released another set of her emails on Friday night in response to a Freedom of Information Act request.... The State Department said it had 'upgraded' the classification of the emails at the request of the nation's intelligence agencies. [State Department spokesman John] Kirby said that none of the emails had been marked at any level of classification at the time they were sent through Mrs. Clinton's computer server." ...

... Paul Krugman, who is precluded from endorsing candidates because of NYT rules, implied on explicit, stands up for Hillary again, citing first-hand experience that the feds over-classify stuff. Krugman says he was a serial offender when it came to mishandling these so-called secret docs.

Feeling the Bern:

... Greg Sargent: "The Sanders phenomenon raises possible warning signs for Clinton's chances in a general election. His ability to engage, excite and involve younger voters -- his ability to make them feel invested in politics -- throws into sharp relief Clinton's relative failure, at least for now, to do the same." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Philip Bump of the Washington Post: Bernie Sanders, long-distance runner. Sanders was a high-school track star at Brooklyn's Madison High when distance running was a big deal. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... CW: When you think about it, Bernie Sanders has a better argument against Donald Trump & Ted Cruz, a/k/a Mr. Goldman-Sachs, than does Hillary Clinton. As Bernie says, "Don't underestimate me."

Paul Krugman points out that the GOP's Iowa race is down to this:

... Gail Collins is looking for a miracle in Iowa. Barring that, she'd be happy if Iowans would knock Ted out of the race. Oh, & Marco, whom she compares to the "Leave It to Beaver" character Eddie Haskell. CW: To me, most or all of the GOP candidates are Eddie Haskells -- smooth-talking, ingratiating & obvious phonies. And let me just add, as Gail implies by citing Marco's debate remark, that any candidate for public office who declares as fact that his faith is the true faith has automatically disqualified himself. A person who makes such statements cannot be president or city councilmember to all the people, as their oaths of office require.

Ben Kamisar of the Hill: "Donald Trump slammed Ted Cruz as a Canadian 'anchor baby' during a Friday rally in New Hampshire as he continues to ratchet up the attacks against his closest polling rival days before the Iowa caucuses. 'Ted Cruz may not be a U.S. citizen,' Trump said at a town hall in New Hampshire.... Trump also threw punches on Cruz's Thursday night debate performance in the event he chose to skip in response to a spat with Fox News. 'I'm glad I wasn't there, he got pummeled,' Trump said at a town hall in New Hampshire Friday. 'And they didn't even mention that he was born in Canada. When you were born in Canada you aren't supposed to be running for president of the United States.'" ...

... CW: On a rational level, I know Trump is a fascistic scumbag who poses a danger to our nation & the world, but on another level, he can seem like a harmless late-night comic. I can't help but laugh when he says outrageous things about his Republican opponents. ...

... Since today's theme seems to be "Stuff I Missed This Week," here's one more item. Watch to the bitter end, which is uncanny:

Noam Scheiber of the New York Times: Union leaders worry that Donald Trump will appeal to some of their members.

Contra much of the punditocracy, Ryan Lizza of the New Yorker says Roger Ailes won the battle with Donald Trump. CW: A happy day for journalism? ...

... If you're wondering about the Nielsen ratings for the debate (and the Trump event), Claire Landsbaum of New York has 'em.

Jonathan Cohn of the Huffington Post: Thursday night, debate moderator Bret Baier asked Ted Cruz what he would do about health care. Cruz "knows it sounds cruel to say he'd take away Obamacare without a replacement. And so he did what every other Republican does when pressed on his alternative: He dodged the question entirely." CW: The crowd cheered, according to Cohn, when Cruz "promised to 'repeal every word of ObamaCare.'" What is it exactly these people are applauding? Haven't they noticed they and/or their friends, neighbors & relatives are making themselves vulnerable all over again? Haven't they noticed that Republicans have no plan at all to cover them? As Donald Trump would ask, "How stupid are the people of Iowa?" ...

... Amy Davidson of the New Yorker: Possibly the only genuine moment in Thursday's GOP debate came when Sens. Rand Paul & Marco Rubio demonstrated how much they loathed Ted Cruz. Both accused him of lying; in fact, Rubio said Cruz's campaign is built on a lie. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... "Pastor-in-Chief." Benjamin Landy of Vanity Fair summarizes Marco's evolving campaign theme, which is now Jesus-centric. ...

... Sabrina Siddiqui of the Guardian takes a longer look at Rubio's changing messages. CW: Since he's a master at double-speak, he claims not to be changing his message at all. I'm struck by Marco's lame answer to every argument against his own positions & proposals: "People have a right to believe...." It's another way of saying, "Vote for me even if you disagree with everything I would do as president." It doesn't make a lot of sense.

Putin is a one-horse country: oil & energy. -- Ben Carson, at Thursday's debate

** Paul Waldman, in the Week: "Earlier this week, former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates ... said of the debate between Republican presidential candidates, 'The level of dialogue on national security issues would embarrass a middle schooler.' In Thursday night's GOP debate, those candidates set out to prove his point -- and they didn't even need Donald Trump in order to do it." Waldman runs down & "annotates" some of the candidates' remarks: funny, maddening, frightening, stupid.

Beyond the Beltway

Abby Goodnough of the New York Times: "Of all the concerns raised by the contamination of Flint's water supply, and the failure of the state and federal governments to promptly address the crisis after it began nearly two years ago, none is more chilling than the possibility that children in this tattered city may have suffered irreversible damage to their developing brains and nervous systems from exposure to lead." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Maxine Bernstein of the Oregonian: "A federal judge Friday denied release for five of 10 defendants accused of conspiring in the armed takeover of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge -- Ammon Bundy, brother Ryan Bundy, Ryan Payne, Jason Patrick and Dylan Anderson. U.S. Magistrate Judge Stacie F. Beckerman found they were among the key players who took over the federal property in Harney County with a show of force, breaking the law from 'day one,' and then ignored orders to leave the refuge for nearly a month." The story includes details of related developments. ...

... The Confederacy Lives. Fedor Zarkhin of the Oregonian: "The 154-year-old law under which Ammon Bundy and others were arrested this week was created to deal with ... Confederate sympathizers ... plotting to overthrow the government or impeding the work of federal officers.... The new anti-conspiracy law [which President Lincoln signed] also explicitly barred people from taking control of federal property, which state forces and armed groups in the seceded states had done."

My Emily Litella Moment. CW : This Oregonian headline confused me: "Black customer accuses Lake Oswego Safeway worker of lobbing racial slurs in $100K suit." How can a Safeway worker afford a $100K suit?, I wondered. Does anybody own a $100K suit? And if you did own a $100K suit, would you bother insulting Safeway customers? Doesn't a person who parades around in a $100K suit have better things to do?

The Princess Melania Story:

News Ledes

Los Angeles Times: "The two Orange County jail escapees who remained at large after a daring escape eight days ago were arrested in San Francisco after a citizen noticed a van matching the description of the one they had allegedly stolen parked in a lot near a Whole Foods Market, officials said Saturday.... A third escapee, Bac Duong, surrendered to authorities in Santa Ana on Friday, a week after the three broke out of the Santa Ana lockup. The arrests ended a massive manhunt for the men, who all were charged with violent crimes."

New York Times: "China on Saturday accused the United States Navy of violating its laws by sending a warship within the 12-mile territorial zone of an island it claims in the South China Sea after the Pentagon said a Navy vessel had conducted a freedom of navigation operation. The United States vessel, the missile destroyer Curtis Wilbur, entered the waters off Triton Island in the Paracel Islands chain on Saturday without giving China notice in an exercise intended to challenge 'excessive maritime claims' by China and two other countries, said ... a Pentagon spokesman. Vietnam and Taiwan also claim Triton Island, though the Navy operation appeared to be aimed at China."

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Thursday
Jan282016

The Commentariat -- January 29, 2016

Afternoon Update:

Abby Goodnough of the New York Times: "Of all the concerns raised by the contamination of Flint's water supply, and the failure of the state and federal governments to promptly address the crisis after it began nearly two years ago, none is more chilling than the possibility that children in this tattered city may have suffered irreversible damage to their developing brains and nervous systems from exposure to lead."

Carl Hulse of the New York Times: "Senator John Cornyn, a former Texas judge and attorney general, is a devoted believer in the criminal justice overhaul awaiting its moment in the Senate. Now, he just has to convert doubting Republican colleagues.... 'John has some work to do, big-time work,' to secure enough support to persuade [Mitch] McConnell to go forward, said one Republican senator...."

Amy Davidson of the New Yorker: Possibly the only genuine moment in Thursday's GOP debate came when Rand Paul & Marco Rubio demonstrated how much they loathed Ted Cruz. Both accused him of lying; Rubio said Cruz's campaign is built on a lie.

Feeling the Bern:

... Greg Sargent: "The Sanders phenomenon raises possible warning signs for Clinton's chances in a general election. His ability to engage, excite and involve younger voters -- his ability to make them feel invested in politics -- throws into sharp relief Clinton';s relative failure, at least for now, to do the same." ...

... Philip Bump of the Washington Post: Bernie Sanders, long-distance runner. Sanders was a high-school track star at Brooklyn's Madison High when distance running was a big deal.

*****

Presidential Race

Nasty Boys. Patrick Healy & Jonathan Martin of the New York Times: "The Republican presidential candidates competed vigorously to fill the vacuum created by Donald J. Trump's boycott of Thursday night's debate, with Senator Ted Cruz of Texas and Senator Marco Rubio of Florida trading ferocious attacks on immigration and taking fire from rivals seeking advantage in the Iowa caucuses on Monday." ...

... The New York Times' liveblog of the debate is pretty good; it's more of a live chat: the reporters talk to each other rather than just repeating the candidates' bull. ...

... Driftglass's liveblog/translation gets to the gestalt of it all. ...

... Glenn Kessler & Michelle Lee of the Washington Post fact-checks some of the whoppers. ...

Gosh, if you guys ask one more mean question I may have to leave the stage. -- Ted Cruz, to Fox "News" debate moderators ...

... Imitation Is the Sincerest Form of Flattery. Hunter Walker of Yahoo News: "Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tx.) ... threat[ened] to leave the stage ... after he accused Fox News' questioners of encouraging his rivals to attack him. 'I would note that the last four questions have been, "Rand, please attack Ted. Marco, please attack Ted. Chris, please attack Ted. Jeb, please attack Ted."' Cruz's comment provoked loud boos from the audience." With video. ...

... Brian Beutler: Ted "Cruz is the most seasoned debater of all the Republican candidates, and Trump's absence created a vacuum that Cruz could have filled with his typical brio. Instead, at a moment that presented Cruz as much opportunity and peril as any in his political career, he offered up his worst performance of the cycle." ...

... Elizabeth Bruenig of the New Republic: "Donald Trump won the debate he didn't attend." ...

... Margaret Hartmann of New York has a good rundown of reviews by pundits from left & right. ...

... Michael Barbaro & Nick Corasaniti of the New York Times: "It was supposed to be about the veterans. It was not really about the veterans. Donald J. Trump was putting on a show -- and it was entirely about him: his hurt, his feelings, his vanity and his revenge. Separated from the Republican debate here by three miles and enough chutzpah to fill his own auditorium, Mr. Trump taunted, derided and laughed off the candidates who showed up to the Fox News forum that he so theatrically snubbed Thursday evening." ...

... Ben Jacobs of the Guardian: "In an old theater with red velvet curtains and folding wooden seats, Donald Trump trotted out his own unique variety show for a crowd of roughly 700 in the theater and millions more watching on cable news. It was an attempt to resurrect the long-dead genre of vaudeville only replacing acrobats with Rick Santorum and tenors with veterans." CW: It didn't take Trump long to go full-vaudeville after I suggested it a few days ago. ...

... Jonathan Chait: "Last night's split-screen image, of front-runner Donald Trump in his own venue and the non-Trump Republicans clustered together elsewhere, is the starkest representation yet of a party that is cleft in two. But there is something puzzling and ethereal about this schism. The opposing factions are not divided over a policy question.... At the same time, Trump is offering something genuinely transformational. His candidacy would reshape the Republican Party as more of a European-style white-identity party, rather than a party rooted in opposition to big government.... What makes the distinction difficult to identify is that Republicans have been using versions of this nationalist appeal for decades." What worries the GOP establishment is a justifiable fear that Trump isn't sufficiently dedicated to their top priorities of "reducing the top tax rate and deregulating business."

Alan Rappeport of the New York Times lists the venues for watching or listening to Thursday's GOP debate. ...

... Tom McCarthy & Scott Bixby of the Guardian are liveblogging the GOP debate AND Trump's concurrent event. @17:29 GMT: "The Donald has scheduled a simultaneous event in Des Moines, billed as a benefit for military veterans -- which means it's Republican fight night on the plains of Iowa and in the streets of Des Moines. His fellow candidates Mike Huckabee and Rick Santorum have promised to join him -- but only after they have competed in the consolation-prize undercard debate for Fox." CW: Wow! I could watch Huckleberry & Santorum twice if only I'd turn on the teevee, which I won't. Not sure who will cover Trump's hoo-hah, but CNN is a likely suspect. ...

     ... Update. Tom Kludt of CNN: "MSNBC declined to comment on its prime time plans. CNN said it will cover Trump as a live news event. C-Span will carry it live in full."

** Dana Milbank: "This year's Holocaust remembrance comes at a time when Donald Trump, the front-runner for the GOP presidential nomination, retweets to his nearly 6 million followers a message from @WhiteGenocideTM based in 'Jewmerica,' and a time when his nearest challenger, Ted Cruz, brandishes the endorsement of a minister who says Hitler was a 'hunter' sent after the Jews by God. There has never been a more important time for Americans to heed the moral authority of the Holocaust survivors still among us." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Ryan Lizza of the New Yorker: "Donald Trump's attempt at a hostile takeover of the G.O.P. is astonishing in its breadth. He is not just competing against a large field of candidates for votes in the primaries; he is at war with nearly every power center in the Republican Party -- and he is winning." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... ** Josh Marshall: "Pundits and political obsessives tend to get distracted by process and policy literalism. But politics generally and especially intra-Republican political battles are really about demonstrating dominance - not policy mastery or polling leads but a series of symbols and actions that mark the dominating from the dominated.... This driving force of Republican politics has only become more salient and central as the GOP has become increasingly dominated by core constituencies animated by anger and resentment that things to which they believe they are entitled are being taken away from them.... It's Trump's native language. I still believe it's rooted in the mix of the hyper-aggressive New York real estate world, his decades of immersion in the city's febrile tabloid culture and just being, at the most basic level, a bully." ...

... Eliza Collins of Politico: "Donald Trump continued his onslaught on Fox News host Megyn Kelly on Thursday, retweeting a follower who criticized a photo shoot she did for GQ Magazine. 'And this is the bimbo that's asking presidential questions?', the tweet said. It included two photos of Kelly posing provocatively and the following text: 'Criticizes Trump for objectifying women ... Poses like this in GQ Magazine.'" CW: The photos of Kelly are embarrassing. Most adult women would strike these poses only for their lovers. ...

... Nancy LeTourneau of the Washington Monthly isn't afraid to call Donald Trump a sociopath, and she demonstrates with one example why the diagnosis applies. "Donald Trump calling Megyn Kelly a 'bimbo' for a sexually suggestive photo shoot she did for GQ Magazine.... I's actually hard to come up with a link to demonstrate what that means because most of them range from tabloids to soft-porn. But here's a headline for you: Melania Trump would be the only First Lady to pose in the NUDE and talk about her 'incredible' sex life." ...

... AP: "... Donald Trump has launched a new website for collecting donations to veterans ahead of his event on Thursday evening. The link, which Trump posted on Twitter, includes the seal of the Donald J. Trump Foundation, and a form for contributions. It says that 100 percent of donations will go directly to veterans' needs." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Bethania Markus of the Raw Story: "Conservative CNN political commentator Ben Ferguson slammed ... Donald Trump, accusing him of cynically taking advantage of veterans because it is 'politically advantageous' to do so as the controversial primary debate loomed Thursday.... Trump wrote in a 1991 letter to the then-chairman of the state Assembly's Committee on Cities, obtained by the Daily News[:] 'Do we allow Fifth Ave., one of the world's finest and most luxurious shopping districts, to be turned into an outdoor flea market, clogging and seriously downgrading the area?'":

... Christopher Massie of BuzzFeed: "Donald Trump's campaign manager Corey Lewandowski said on Thursday that his candidate would be 'happy' to debate Ted Cruz once the Texas senator gets a federal judge to rule him eligible to run for president." ...

... "Trumped." Paul Campos in LG&$: "... the real significance of all this is that the Trump campaign merely needs to keep raising doubts in voters' minds over the next few weeks regarding the -- again, legitimate, incredibly enough -- question of whether Cruz is legally eligible for the presidency, in order to accomplish Trump's practical goal of undermining Cruz's campaign at the margin." ...

... Patricia Murphy of the Daily Beast: Ted Cruz was for legalization of undocumented immigrants before he was against it.

Steve M. points to this remarkable poll result:

... As the WashPo/ABC analysts note, "Of the candidates tested, only Sanders comes out ahead in terms of comfort vs. anxiety." ...

... Nolan McCaskill of Politico: "Bernie Sanders is 'in overall very good health,' the attending Senate physician said in a letter released Thursday summarizing the Vermont senator's medical evaluation. 'You are in overall very good health and active in your professional work, and recreational lifestyle without limitation,' Senate attending physician Dr. Brian P. Monahan wrote in a letter dated Jan. 20. The Senate office has treated Sanders for more than two decades." ...

     ... CW: This last bit does not seem likely; Sanders has been in the Senate for only ten years. He served in the House for 16 years prior to that. Oh, and the final graf of the story is complete bullshit: "Republican poll leader Donald Trump released his records last month. Trump would 'be the healthiest individual elected to the presidency,' his doctor asserted." Why can't Politico get better reporters? ...

     ... CW: Maybe McCaskill was having a sad day because he'd just learned that Jim VandeHei, one of the founders of Politico, will be leaving the building. Oh, & Mike Allen is leaving, too. ...

... Yo, Fred Hiatt, Bernie Is Not Taking Any of Your Crap. Karen Tumulty of the Washington Post: "Bernie Sanders unloads on the Washington Post" after its editors wrote a scathing editorial (CW: which I chose not to link) "headlined: 'A campaign full of fiction.' The print edition sub-headline contended, 'Sen. Sanders is not a brave truth-teller. He's just telling progressives what they want to hear.'" ...

... Charles Pierce unloads on the Washington Post: "Because of the way our politics is conducted these days, and because of the unprecedented use of the institutional choke-points in Washington, every presidential campaign is necessarily aspirational. The idea that this is a phenomenon unique to the Sanders campaign is an indication of a very large thumb on the scale." ...

... CW: Here's another thing the Washington Post, Hillary Clinton & most of the leftish punditocracy doesn't get: its' not good enough to be able to get your objectives passed into law if your objectives suck. You have to start with righteous aspirations. It isn't Clinton's competence I question; it's her goals. Some people move left as they grow older & become less self-obsessed. Clinton, as she became part of & benefited from the elite-determined system, moved right. As a result, her platitudes & shout-outs to a 20th-century liberal agenda seem contrived, as if she was dipping into her rich memory bank & paying out a bit of the interest earned early-on, without touching any of the huge principal she accumulated later.

... The Post strikes back. ...

... Impersonating a Sous Chef. Jon Ralston: "Operatives from Bernie Sanders' campaign have donned Culinary union pins and secured access to employee areas inside [Las Vegas, Nevada,] Strip hotels to try to secure garner voes for the Feb. 20 caucus, sources confirm." They've since agreed to cut that out. ...

     ... Hunter of Daily Kos: "The Sanders campaign says it's a misunderstanding and nobody was attempting to mislead workers." ...

... CW: When I watched Sanders' ad, it was followed by a paid ad by Marco Rubio that made me want to punch him in the face. Here it is. He's more obnoxious than Trump. Do not punch your computer:

Michael Cohen of the Boston Globe: "What happens in Iowa ... doesn't matter.... It's not that what happens in Iowa won't affect the trajectory of the race; it very well might. But more likely than not, Iowa's caucus results will only hasten -- or delay -- outcomes that appear already baked into the race."

Actual News, etc.

Julie Davis of the New York Times: "The Obama administration will move on Friday to require companies to report to the federal government what they pay employees by race, gender and ethnicity, part of a push by President Obama to crack down on firms that pay women less for doing the same work as men. The new rules, Mr. Obama's latest bid to use his executive power to address a priority of his that Congress has resisted acting on, would mandate that companies with 100 employees or more include salary information on a form they already submit annually that reports employees' sex, age and job groups."

Lauren French of Politico: "President Barack Obama took a victory lap Thursday evening. During a short speech to House Democrats at their policy retreat here, Obama counted off his biggest policy achievements as president while predicting that Democrats would win the White House next November. The partisan speech was designed to excite Democrats already squarely behind Obama." ...

... CSPAN has the speech here. President strong> Obama's appearance begins at 8 min. in.

Michael Schmidt & Helene Cooper of the New York Times: "Pentagon officials have concluded that hundreds more trainers, advisers and commandos from the United States and its allies will need to be sent to Iraq and Syria in the coming months as the campaign to isolate the Islamic State intensifies."

Jordan Fabian of the Hill: "White House press secretary Josh Earnest on Thursday threw cold water on the idea President Obama would accept an appointment to the Supreme Court after he leaves office."

Michael Shear of the New York Times: "President Obama signed a presidential memorandum on Thursday creating a White House task force on cancer, the first step in what Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. has called a 'moonshot' to cure the disease, administration officials said. The president appointed Mr. Biden to lead the panel, which will include representatives from at least 13 government agencies. The group's first meeting will be on Monday, officials said." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, in a New York Times op-ed: "The Obama administration has a substantial track record on agency rules and executive actions. It has used these tools to protect retirement savings, expand overtime pay, prohibit discrimination against L.G.B.T. employees who work for the government and federal contractors, and rein in carbon pollution. These accomplishments matter. Whether the next president will build on them, or reverse them, is a central issue in the 2016 election. But the administration's record on enforcement falls short -- and federal enforcement of laws that already exist has received far too little attention on the campaign trail."

Jack Ewing of the New York Times: "Volkswagen may buy back some diesel cars in the United States if it can't make them compliant with air quality rules fast enough, a lawyer for the company says."

CW: Well, I'm just going to link to Paul Krugman's column so you can read it. Not one of his better days, IMO. I'm skipping Tim Egan today; there's just so much Bernie-bashing I can manage in a day. But you know where to find him.

Annals of "Journalism," Ctd.

Peter Sterne of Politico: "The Huffington Post has started appending an editor's note to the bottom of posts about ... Donald Trump.... 'Note to our readers: Donald Trump is a serial liar, rampant xenophobe, racist, birther and bully who has repeatedly pledged to ban all Muslims -- 1.6 billion members of an entire religion -- from entering the U.S.,' reads the note, which was added to an article about Trump's feud with Fox News published last night. The note also includes links to prior coverage of Trump's comments. A Huffington Post spokesperson told Politico that the note will be added to all future stories about Trump." ...

... CW: The HuffPost, ever proving it is just as dignified & serious-minded as Donald Trump. ...

... Josh Israel of Think Progress: "Trump is in good company in the GOP primary field when it comes to xenophobia." Israel points to xenophobic statements made by Jeb Bush, Ben Carson, Chris Christie, Ted Cruz, Rand Paul & Marco Rubio. But these guys don't rate an editor's note.

Navel-Gazing. Erik Wemple of the Washington Post: "In what can be described only as a cataclysm in Beltway media, CEO Jim VandeHei is leaving Politico, the eight-year-old politics website that shook up Washington journalism...." CW: Somehow, we'll survive the "cataclysm."

Senate Race, 2014

Ken Vogel of Politico: "A pair of left-leaning watchdog groups on Thursday asked for federal investigations into whether a Koch brothers-backed nonprofit outfit broke the law by spending more than $250,000 in untraceable money boosting Joni Ernst's 2014 Senate campaign. The watchdog groups, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington and the Center for Media and Democracy, allege that a nonprofit called Trees of Liberty violated the tax code and possibly criminal law by spending most of its cash on political purposes, while claiming otherwise in its tax filings."

Beyond the Beltway

Kirk Johnson, et al., of the New York Times: "The F.B.I. took the extraordinary step of releasing surveillance video on Thursday showing the shooting death of LaVoy Finicum.... Mr. Finicum, 54, was killed Tuesday by Oregon State Police troopers, said Greg Bretzing, the special agent in charge for the F.B.I in Oregon, after he tried to run through a police barricade on a wooded road, then climbed from his truck and, Mr. Bretzing said, reached for a weapon in his jacket pocket.... He said the total number of shots fired was 'in the single digits.'... In the video, Mr. Finicum is shown with his hands raised at one point, but Mr. Bretzing said it also showed him reaching for a weapon. 'On at least two occasions, Finicum reaches his right hand toward a pocket on the left inside portion of his jacket. He did have a loaded 9 mm semiautomatic handgun in that pocket,' Mr. Bretzing said." Includes video, which has no sound. ...

... Les Zaitz of the Oregonian reports that there appear to be only four occupiers left at the Malheur Refuge. They claim they are negotiating with the FBI to leave, but want to be assured that the Feds will drop felony charges against one of them. No word on whether or not they're still drunk. Zaitz has updated his story several times. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

** Yanan Wang of the Washington Post: "Employees at the state office in Flint, Mich., have been drinking from coolers of purified water since last January -- the same month that representatives from the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality assured residents the water was safe to drink. Emails released by liberal group Progress Michigan Thursday include a facility announcement responding to a notice that the city's water contained levels of trihalomethanes, a chlorine byproduct linked to cancer and other diseases, that violated federal standards for safe drinking water.... During this time, both city and state officials were denying that Flint's water was dangerous." ...

... Charles Pierce: "Okay, somebody should go to jail over the Flint water crisis.... Rick Snyder and several other somebodies in his administration belong in the pokey, if not hauled off to The Hague for crimes against humanity." ...

... CW: Say, Huff Post, how about an editor's note for all articles about Rick Snyder? You could crib some of it from your repeating Trump note: "liar" and "racist" will work.

Oliver Milman & Jessica Glenza of the Guardian: "The Philadelphia[, Pennsylvania,] city council will investigate how it tests its water, after an expert told the Guardian the city's procedures are 'worse than Flint' and risk putting residents' health in jeopardy.... Dr Yanna Lambrinidou, a medical ethnographer, said that water sampling methods used by the Philadelphia water department don't properly illustrate the level of lead in drinking water and could mask the sort of problems suffered in Flint, Michigan, where a state of emergency has been declared over the toxic, discolored water that made many residents ill."

News Ledes

AP: "Iran flew a surveillance drone over a U.S. aircraft carrier and published video of the encounter Friday, the latest in a series of edgy naval incidents between the two countries in the Persian Gulf after the recent nuclear deal. While the U.S. Navy stressed it knew the drone was unarmed and the flyover didn't interrupt U.S. operations in the war against the Islamic State group, the incident underlined the continued tension over control of waterways crucial to global oil supplies."

Bloomberg: "The U.S. economy expanded at a slower pace in the fourth quarter as households tempered spending and businesses cut back on capital investment and made further adjustments to inventories. Gross domestic product rose at a 0.7 percent annualized rate in the three months ended in December after a 2 percent gain in the third quarter, Commerce Department figures showed Friday. The advance was in line with the Bloomberg survey median forecast of 0.8 percent."

Los Angeles Times: "A 44-year-old woman who worked as an English teacher at a Santa Ana jail was arrested Thursday on suspicion of helping three inmates mount a daring escape last week, officials said."

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Thursday
Jan282016

The Commentariat -- January 28, 2016

Afternoon Update:

** Dana Milbank: "This year's Holocaust remembrance comes at a time when Donald Trump, the front-runner for the GOP presidential nomination, retweets to his nearly 6 million followers a message from @WhiteGenocideTM based in 'Jewmerica,' and a time when his nearest challenger, Ted Cruz, brandishes the endorsement of a minister who says Hitler was a 'hunter' sent after the Jews by God. There has never been a more important time for Americans to heed the moral authority of the Holocaust survivors still among us."

Ryan Lizza of the New Yorker: "Donald Trump’s attempt at a hostile takeover of the G.O.P. is astonishing in its breadth. He is not just competing against a large field of candidates for votes in the primaries; he is at war with nearly every power center in the Republican Party -- and he is winning."

AP: "... Donald Trump has launched a new website for collecting donations to veterans ahead of his event on Thursday evening. The link, which Trump posted on Twitter, includes the seal of the Donald J. Trump Foundation, and a form for contributions. It says that 100 percent of donations will go directly to veterans' needs."

Meant to link this morning: Michael Shear of the New York Times: "President Obama signed a presidential memorandum on Thursday creating a White House task force on cancer, the first step in what Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. has called a 'moonshot' to cure the disease, administration officials said. The president appointed Mr. Biden to lead the panel, which will include representatives from at least 13 government agencies. The group's first meeting will be on Monday, officials said."

Les Zaitz of the Oregonian reports that there appear to be only four occupiers left at the Malheur Refuge. They claim they are negotiating with the FBI to leave, but want to be assured that the Feds will drop felony charges against one of them. No word on whether or not they're still drunk. Zaitz has updated his story several times.

*****

Ishaan Tharoor of the Washington Post: "Human Rights Watch unveiled its annual World Report, a 659-page project documenting human rights practices and abuses in more than 90 countries. The report is a handy compendium of some of the darker corners of world politics. It spotlights the many shortcomings of even the more-advanced Western democracies, as well as the poor human rights records of the usual suspects -- closed or authoritarian regimes that suppress freedoms and squeeze civil society through crackdowns and interference.... WorldViews has charted the growing xenophobic backlash in the West to an influx of Syrian refugees and other migrants over the past year. Anti-migrant and anti-Muslim rhetoric has seeped into the political conversation in the United States and is shadowing the election cycle. Republican presidential candidates such as Donald Trump have pandered to populist fears and suspicions of outsiders to an extent not seen in a long time."

Dave Philipps of the New York Times: "... in its swift rise, [the Wounded Warrior Project] has ... embraced aggressive styles of fund-raising, marketing and personnel management that have caused many current and former employees to question whether it has drifted from its original mission. It has spent millions a year on travel, dinners, hotels and conferences that often seemed more lavish than appropriate, more than four dozen current and former employees said in interviews. Former workers recounted buying business-class seats and regularly jetting around the country for minor meetings, or staying in $500-per-night hotel rooms." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... CW: This is the charity for which Donald Trump said he would hold a fundraiser in lieu of attending Fox "News"'s GOP debate. Sounds more like a Ben Carson thing.

Coral Davenport of the New York Times: "The Senate on Wednesday started debating its first comprehensive energy legislation since the George W. Bush administration, a bipartisan measure meant to update the nation's power grid and oil and gas transportation systems to address major changes in the ways that power is now produced in the United States.... [] has the support of the Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky, and the minority leader, Harry Reid, Democrat of Nevada...." CW: Wonder how this bill, even with its drawbacks, fares in the House of Crazies if it passes the Senate.

Elias Isquith of Salon: The Senate will pass no criminal justice reform legislation this year because Mitch McConnell doesn't see it as a political winner. And Ted Cruz is campaigning against it.

Binyamin Appelbaum of the New York Times: "The Federal Reserve said Wednesday that domestic economic growth slowed in the final months of 2015 and pointed to increased concern about the weakness of the global economy. In a statement published after a two-day meeting of its policy-making committee, the Fed, as expected, left its benchmark interest rate unchanged and said it still expected to increase that rate 'gradually' in the coming months as economic conditions improve." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Cecilia Kang of the New York Times: "The cable set-top box, long a scourge of consumers and a moneymaker for cable companies, appears set for a makeover. The Federal Communications Commission on Wednesday announced a proposal that would make it much easier for subscribers of cable and satellite television to pick the boxes they use to watch programming. Nearly all customers now must get their boxes from their cable companies, and they pay an average of $231 a year to lease the devices. The move could have broad implications for the industry, allowing Google, Amazon and Apple, for instance, to expand their footprints in the media industry with devices that would blend Internet and cable programming in a way the television industry has resisted." (Also linked yesterday.)

Craig Whitlock of the Washington Post: "For more than two years, the Navy's intelligence chief has been stuck with a major handicap: He's not allowed to know any secrets. Vice Adm. Ted 'Twig' Branch has been barred from reading, seeing or hearing classified information since November 2013, when the Navy learned from the Justice Department that his name had surfaced in a giant corruption investigation involving a foreign defense contractor and scores of Navy personnel." CW: This is a mighty odd way to "keep America safe."

Amy Nutt of the Washington Post: "For the first time, scientists have pinned down a molecular process in the brain that helps to trigger schizophrenia. The researchers involved in the landmark study, which was published Wednesday in the journal Nature, say the discovery of this new genetic pathway probably reveals what goes wrong neurologically in a young person diagnosed with the devastating disorder." ...

... The New York Times story, by Benedict Carey, is here. The original Nature article is here (pdf).

There Must Be a Pony. CW: I know Nicholas Kristof is a well-meaning man, but if you can't punch a fistful of holes into his column today -- on how conservatives really want to help the needy -- then you haven't been reading any of the opinion pieces I link here.

Jonathan Swan of the Hill: "The Republican National Committee (RNC) says it raised $105.6 million in 2015 -- a fundraising record for the party in a non-election year. RNC Chairman Reince Priebus announced the total in a tweet Wednesday morning, adding that the party has $18.7 million on hand."

Steve Benen says President Hillary would not appoint President Barack to the Supreme Court, even though she said the other day, in response to a question, that it's "a great idea,” that she “would certainly take ... under advisement": "For a former president," Benen argues, "Obama will be quite young. For a prospective high court justice, Obama will be over the hill." CW: I'm not so sure. Elena Kagan was 50 when President Obama nominated her & Sonia Sotomayor was 55. It's true that men have a shorter life expectancy than women &, as Benen points out, Obama is a former smoker. But still. Even in Partisan World, I don't think presidents have to nominate the immediate past president of the Harvard Law Review.

Annals of Journalism, Ctd. Jim Dwyer of the New York Times: After Jane Mayer of the New Yorker wrote a long piece for the magazine about the Koch brothers' secret financial backing of right-wing groups, she learned that someone was investigating her & falsely accusing her of plagiarism. After three years, she trace the investigators "to a 'boiler room' operation involving several people who have worked closely with Koch business concerns. 'The firm, it appears, was Vigilant Resources International, whose founder and chairman, Howard Safir, had been New York City's police commissioner under the former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani,' she writes in 'Dark Money.' Mr. Safir served as both the fire commissioner and the police commissioner during the Giuliani mayoralty." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Presidential Race

Gail Collins conducts a Q&A with imaginary us on the Democratic presidential primary. It begins, "Let's get focused. Time to discuss how Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton differ on the issues. You forgot to mention Martin O'Malley. No, I didn't."

CW: Frances Sellers & John Wagner of the Washington Post delve into Bernie Sanders' religious beliefs, because that's what American journalists do. Unless you think participating in religious rites is a prerequisite for holding high public office, you'll like Bernie better after reading this story. BTW, if Jerry Falwell, Jr., were actually religious, instead of pretending to be, he would have endorsed Bernie Sanders instead of Donald Trump. ...

... Gabriel Debenedetti of Politico: "Bernie Sanders threw one of his most direct rhetorical punches yet at Hillary Clinton over her financial-industry ties on Wednesday night, telling a packed crowd, 'My opponent is not in Iowa tonight. She is raising money from a Philadelphia investment firm.'... [Clinton] left the state on Wednesday for a campaign cash event hosted by Franklin Square Capital Partners and featuring a concert by Jon Bon Jovi."...

... Edward-Isaac Dovere of Politico: "President Barack Obama was so determined to prove he hadn't endorsed Hillary Clinton that he put in a full 45 minutes with Bernie Sanders in the Oval Office on Wednesday. There were no photos, and no lunch like the one Obama hosted Clinton for when she came through the White House in early December." ...

... Kevin Liptak of CNN: "With the West Wing as his backdrop, Sen. Bernie Sanders on Wednesday declared President Barack Obama 'even-handed' in his assessments of the presidential race, days after Obama piled praise upon the Vermont senator's 2016 rival, Hillary Clinton." ...

Gabriel Debenedetti: " Hours after Hillary Clinton ratcheted up her pressure on him to accept an invitation to an unsanctioned debate on Feb. 4, Bernie Sanders escalated the debate by calling for three new debates. 'From the beginning of this campaign Sen. Sanders has called for more debates. Secretary Clinton has not. Now she is asking to change the rules to schedule a debate next week that is not sanctioned by the DNC. Why is that? The answer is obvious. The dynamics of the race have changed and Sen. Sanders has significant momentum,' said Sanders campaign manager Jeff Weaver in a statement on Wednesday night, while Sanders was speaking to a packed audience [in Mason City, Iowa]." ...

... Anne Gearan & Abby Phillip of the Washington Post: "... in the final, five-day sprint of an uncomfortably close Democratic contest in Iowa, [Hillary] Clinton has largely abandoned a strategy that appears to have done little to improve her standing with voters...: trying to directly discredit ... [Bernie Sanders] and his unstintingly liberal proposals.... She has debuted a sunnier, more optimistic version of herself here this week while lacing her campaign appearances with some of the populist anger that animates Sanders."

Paul Waldman explains the Iowa caucus process & why it likely favors Hillary & the Tailgunner. And also is extremely undemocratic. House-bound? Kid-bound? Work-bound? You never get to vote.

Jonathan Easley of the Hill: "Speaking on 'The O'Reilly Factor' [last night, Donald] Trump continued his long-running feud with [Fox 'News' host Megyn] Kelly, who[m] he has been criticizing ever since she challenged him on his past derogatory remarks about women at the first GOP debate in August." ...

... Mark Carlson of KCRG-TV (Cedar Rapids, Iowa): "A 28-year-old man has been arrested after authorities say he threw two tomatoes at Donald Trump during a campaign stop Tuesday night." CW: I believe that's a vaudeville tradition, so perfectly appropriate under the circumstances. ...

... Jim Rutenberg, et al., of the New York Times: "With [Donald] Trump declaring he will skip the debate, the most potentially consequential fight on the campaign trail is not between Mr. Trump and his fellow candidates, but between Mr. Trump and the top-rated cable television news network, which is also one of the most important forces in Republican politics.... Fox News said it would never accede to Mr. Trump's demand that it remove [Megn] Kelly from its panel of moderators, which also includes the network anchors Bret Baier and Chris Wallace. Though the move could cost Fox News debate-night ratings, officials there said Rupert Murdoch, the executive co-chairman of the network's parent company, 21st Century Fox, lent [Fox 'News" chair Roger] Ailes his support.... (Mr. Murdoch made his own political news on Wednesday, posting on Twitter his support for an independent presidential run by former Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg of New York.) ...

     ... CW: Speaking of debates, I had one with myself about linking any more stories about this ridiculous faux feud. Rand Paul must be vewy, vewy upset that his decision to boycott the last debate -- because the Fox Business network put him at the kiddie table -- received only cursory media attention. I don't recall that anybody missed him, either. ...

... Jenna Johnson of the Washington Post: "Donald Trump is obsessed with being in control.... The latest episode of Trump vs. Fox News reads like a movie script." ...

... AND Trump is in control. Brian Beutler of the New Republic: "By withdrawing from the debate, he demonstrated who's in command and who is not.... Trump has pocketed most or all of what he'd hoped to get out of Thursday night's originally planned festivities -- limelight, distinction, narrative control -- while everyone else has not. His departure will cost Fox News millions of eyeballs, and as many dollars in lost revenue. New York magazine's Gabriel Sherman -- better sourced within Fox than anyone else on the media beat -- depicts the network in chaos, badly divided between pro-Trump and pro-Kelly factions. He reports that CEO Roger Ailes 'is fighting off criticism from his senior executives over his handling of the crisis,' and has become 'frantic' to re-enlist Trump." ...

... Digby, in Salon: "The most likely reason for this is exactly what it seems: Trump doesn't like debating. He[s complained about the length of them and threatened to boycott before so his beef with Megyn Kelly gave him a good excuse to get out of this one and dominate the news cycle in the process. And there's nothing Ailes can do about it." ...

... Bradford Richardson of the Hill: "Super PACs supporting ... Ted Cruz say they will donate $1.5 million to charities committed to helping veterans if rival Donald Trump agrees to a one-on-one debate with Cruz." CW: Otherwise, veterans get nada. ...

... Jessica Hopper of ABC News: "Trump's campaign responded to the debate offer, telling ABC News, 'If he's the last man standing and it comes down to a two-person race Donald Trump will be happy to debate him.'" ...

... Harper Neidig of the Hill: "'Even though I beat him in the first six debates, especially the last one, Ted Cruz wants to debate me again,' Trump tweeted on Wednesday. 'Can we do it in Canada?'"

I Called My Friend a Liar Because the Press Calls Me Black. Kyle Cheney of Politico: "Hours after appearing to question the honesty of longtime friend and adviser Armstrong Williams, Ben Carson on Wednesday made an unannounced appearance on Williams' radio show to reinforce their friendship and slam the media for what he argued was a misrepresentation of his words. He also accused reporters of holding black conservatives to a double standard. Carson, earlier in the day at a Bloomberg Politics breakfast, described Williams as 'not necessarily the epitome of truth. He doesn't speak all things that are correct,' Carson said at the event."

Ben Kamisar of the Hill: "ABC News will not include an undercard contest during its Republican presidential debate in February, according to new criteria released from the network. The decision threatens to cut the debate stage to as few as six candidates just three days before New Hampshire primary." CW: Rats! I wanted to see Santorum & Huckleberry one more time.

Beyond the Beltway

Joe Heim of the Washington Post: "Malheur is the first real siege brought about by a group of occupiers on the offensive. Armed with AR-15 assault rifles, shotguns, pistols and knives, dozens of men and women occupied a federal facility for more than three weeks, rallied others to their cause and, citing the Constitution, advocated severely curtailing federal authority across the country.... Supporters and critics agree that the Malheur occupation marks a dramatic turn in a long-simmering relationship between the federal government and radicals who view it as overreaching and corrupt." ...

... David Seminara, et al., of the New York Times: "The armed occupation of a wildlife refuge in eastern Oregon, which flashed into violent confrontation with law enforcement on Tuesday when eight members of the group were arrested and one was killed, appeared to be unraveling on Wednesday night when the jailed leader of the siege advised his followers to go home.... Speaking on the telephone from inside the refuge on Wednesday night, an occupier, David Fry, 27, said there were seven people remaining. He said the group had been drinking..., adding that they would stay 'until someone starts listening or until they slaughter us.' Group members, passing around a phone, said they believed Mr. Finicum was murdered and that holding Ammon Bundy in jail was an outrage to them.... News media crews at the refuge headquarters -- more or less camped out there since the occupation began -- drove away, out of concern for their own safety." ...

... Maxine Bernstein of the Oregonian: "A federal court judge Wednesday ordered Ammon Bundy and six others accused in the armed takeover of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge to remain in jail, calling them flight risks and a danger to public safety. Assistant U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Barrow argued that they would return to the refuge and 'bunker in' with their followers and stage a last violent stand if released. The government is also concerned about the 'dynamic situation involving an ongoing armed occupation,' said fellow federal prosecutor, Ethan Knight." The federal complaint is here. ...

... Carli Brosseau of the Oregonian: "The man who emerged Wednesday as the leader of the remaining occupiers at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge has been taken into custody. The FBI arrested Jason Patrick, 43, of Bonaire, Georgia, at a checkpoint outside the refuge near Burns about 8:40 p.m., authorities said. Duane Leo Ehmer, 45, of Irrigon, Oregon, and Dylan Wade Anderson, 34, of Provo, Utah, were taken into custody by the FBI about 3:30 p.m., an FBI news release said. Each man faces the same charge as the occupation's top leaders -- one federal felony count of conspiracy to impede officers of the United States from discharging their official duties through the use of force, intimidation or threats."

Rebecca Woolington of the Oregonian: "Oregon FBI Special Agent in Charge Greg Bretzing told reporters during a press conference Wednesday morning in Burns that the occupiers at Malheur National Wildlife Refuge had 'ample' time to leave peacefully. Bretzing was joined by U.S. Attorney Bill Williams and Harney County Sheriff Dave Ward during the press conference, held on the 26th day of the standoff with occupiers. They expressed disappointment that a traffic stop on protesters had turned deadly Tuesday." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)m...

... The Oregonian is running a liveblog of the developments related to the hostile takeover of the Malheur Refuge. And there are developments. I must say there are slightly differing accounts of how Finicum was killed. According to the Bundy story, he was lying face down with his hands up when an officer shot him three times. According to a person who claimed to be driving nearby, Finicum charged the officers. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Travis Gettys of Raw Story addresses the discrepancies in the accounts of Finicum's death. Two of the militants who claim to have been at or near the scene deny the martyrdom story the group's supporters have spread. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Nigel Duara of the Los Angeles Times: "... the FBI was running surveillance on the occupation and recording the activists' public statements, mostly drawn from media reports and the activists' use of social media, while FBI agents encouraged locals to report their experiences with the new strangers in town. According to the allegations in an indictment and supporting affidavit, the FBI was collecting information that confirmed the occupiers were armed, angry and willing to die."

Mayhem at Mizzou. Michael Miller of the Washington Post: The University of Missouri's "Board of Curators voted Wednesday to suspend Melissa Click, the assistant professor caught on camera pushing a student journalist and calling for 'some muscle' to remove him from a protest camp. [The board will continue to investigate the case to] 'determine whether additional discipline is appropriate.' The suspension came a day after the city prosecutor's decision to file a misdemeanor assault charge against Click over the incident, but it fell short of state legislators' demands that Click be fired. The suspension also came on the same day the school's ousted president, Tim Wolfe, issued a scathing letter slamming his successor as president, the Board of Curators, other university leaders and even the school's football team, which backed the protests."

Laura Vozzella of the Washington Post: "Court clerks with religious objections to issuing marriage licenses to gay couples could send them to the Department of Motor Vehicles instead under a bill advanced by a Virginia Senate panel on Wednesday. Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) immediately vowed to veto the 'divisive and distracting' measure if it gets to his desk." ...

... CW: Besides the obvious discrimination this law would impose on gay couples, there is an underlying stupidity to laws of this sort. Ninety-nine percent of employees object to some aspect of their jobs, often on moral or religious grounds. But they hold their noses & do their jobs anyway. If what they are required to do eats them up too much, they quit. Businesses & other institutions couldn't function if employees got to decide which parts of their jobs they would do. Being permitted to take a few days off for religious observances is not equivalent to being permitted to do only parts of your job every day of the week. Besides, most of us try not to take jobs in the first place if we think the jobs would test our ethical standards. If Greg Abbott invites me to oversee Texas executions for a Texas-sized salary & very little work, I'll tell him no. (On the other hand, if he invites me to oversee the prosecution of Planned Parenthood, I might tell him yes, so I could pull a Harris County grand jury move. You can reach me here, Greg.)

Today's Feel-Good Story. "Stand & Deliver" Redux. Hailey Brandson-Potts of the Los Angeles Times: "Cedrick [Argueta], the son of a Salvadoran maintenance worker and a Filipina nurse [who live in the Los Angeles area]..., scored perfectly on his Advanced Placement Calculus exam. Of the 302,531 students to take the notoriously mind-crushing test, he was one of only 12 to earn every single point.... Cedrick is the son of Lilian and Marcos Argueta, both of whom came to the United States as young adults -- she from the Philippines, he from El Salvador. Lilian, a licensed vocational nurse, works two jobs at nursing homes. Marcos is a maintenance worker at one of those nursing homes. He never went to high school." Cedrick's math teacher is Anthony Yom, who "treats his students like a sports team."

News Ledes

New York Times: "With about 500,000 people expected to visit Brazil for the Olympics here this year, researchers are scrambling to figure how much of a risk the Games might pose in spreading the Zika virus around the world."

AP: "The Texas teenager who used an 'affluenza' defense in a fatal drunken-driving wreck arrived at a Texas airport following his deportation from Mexico on Thursday, more than a month after he and his mother fled the U.S. as prosecutors investigated whether he had violated his probation. Ethan Couch, 18, arrived at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport late Thursday morning and could be seen walking through the airport escorted by law enforcement."

Washington Post: "The World Health Organization announced Thursday that it would convene an emergency meeting to try to find ways to stop the transmission of the Zika virus -- which officials said is 'spreading explosively' across the Americas."

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