The Commentariat -- January 11, 2016

Afternoon Update:

Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court seemed poised on Monday to deliver a severe blow to organized labor. The justices appeared divided along familiar lines during an extended argument over whether government workers who choose not to join unions may nonetheless be required to help pay for collective bargaining. The court's conservative majority appeared ready to say that such compelled financial support violates the First Amendment.... The best hope for a victory for the unions had rested with Justice Antonin Scalia, who has written and said things sympathetic to their position. But he was consistently hostile on Monday."

Michael Ruane of the Washington Post: "Almost 75 years after they were killed in the attack on Pearl Harbor, the remains of five U.S. sailors who perished when their battleship was sunk have been identified, the Pentagon said Monday. The five men, who were exhumed last year from their graves in Hawaii and examined in special military laboratories, were among 429 sailors and Marines killed when the USS Oklahoma was torpedoed and capsized. They had been buried as 'unknowns.'"

Kate Mather of the Los Angeles Times: "Los Angeles police Chief Charlie Beck has recommended criminal charges against an officer who killed an unarmed homeless man in Venice, marking the first time as chief that Beck has called for charges in a fatal on-duty shooting. LAPD investigators concluded that Brendon Glenn was on his stomach, attempting to push himself off the ground, when Officer Clifford Proctor stepped back and fired twice, hitting the 29-year-old in the back, Beck told The Times."

Adam Nagourney of the New York Times: Jeb! was a lousy candidate in 1994, too, when he ran -- and lost -- for governor of Florida. Then, he had the excuse of being a rookie.

*****

Dan Lamothe & Juliet Eilperin of the Washington Post: President & Michelle Obama's guest list for the State of the Union address 'reflects the president's determination to adopt a defiant pose during his speech to the nation. While the first lady's box provides a visual representation of what he has done in office, it also shows where lawmakers have blocked his agenda: One seat will be left vacant to symbolize the Americans killed and injured by guns each year. White House senior adviser Valerie Jarrett said in an interview that the first lady's guests represent both the trajectory of Obama's presidency and the role everyday citizens have had in shaping it."

David Nakamura of the Washington Post: "President Obama has invited a Syrian refugee to sit in the first lady's box for the State of the Union address on Tuesday, the White House said Sunday." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Margaret Talbot of the New Yorker: "In part, [President] Obama is trying to reframe the gun discussion not as a Second Amendment issue but as one of public health."

Carl Hulse of the New York Times: "The Senate returns to Washington on Monday, opening a 2016 in which Republicans will move cautiously on the legislative front to try to protect their endangered incumbents and their Senate majority. The first order of business is to approve the long-delayed nomination of Luis Felipe Restrepo of Pennsylvania to the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, a relatively rare vote on an appeals court judge given Republican reticence to allow President Obama to fill more judicial vacancies in his final months."

Jeffrey Jones of Gallup: "In 2015, for the fifth consecutive year, at least four in 10 U.S. adults identified as political independents. The 42% identifying as independents in 2015 was down slightly from the record 43% in 2014. This elevated percentage of political independents leaves Democratic (29%) and Republican (26%) identification at or near recent low points, with the modest Democratic advantage roughly where it has been over the past five years."

Paul Krugman: "... none of the dire predicted consequences of [President Obama's] policies have materialized. It's not just that overall job creation in the private sector -- which was what Mr. Obama was supposedly killing -- has been strong. More detailed examinations of labor markets also show no evidence of predicted ill effects. For example, there's no evidence that Obamacare led to a shift from full-time to part-time work, and no evidence that the expansion of Medicaid led to large reductions in labor supply."

The Sky Is Falling! The Sky Is Falling. Larry Summers in the Washington Post: "Because of China's scale, its potential volatility and the limited room for conventional monetary maneuvers, the global risk to domestic economic performance in the United States, Europe and many emerging markets is as great as any time I can remember. It is time for policymakers to hope for the best and plan for the worst." See also Emily Rauhala's story linked under Way Beyond.

Elizabeth Bruenig of the New Republic: "On Monday, January 11, the Supreme Court will begin hearing oral arguments in Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association, a case that began working its way through California courts in the spring of 2013. Ostensibly concerned with protecting the free speech rights of public sector workers, Friedrich's outcome will in reality decide the viability of public sector unions in the future." ...

... Noam Scheiber of the New York Times looks at the anti-union moneybags/groups backing the Friedrichs case.

Judith Shulevitz of the New York Times: "As Marx might have said had he deemed women's work worth including in his labor theory of value (he didn't), 'reproductive labor' (as feminists call the creation and upkeep of families and homes) is the basis of the accumulation of human capital. I say it's time for something like reparations.... The universal basic income is a necessary condition for a just society, for it recognizes the fact that most of us -- men, women, parents and nonparents -- do a great deal of unpaid work to sustain the general well-being.... Basic income proposals are sprouting up again, from the right as well as the left." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Yanan Wang of the Washington Post: "Mark Zuckerberg gets baby vaccinated. Anti-vaxxers go nuts." Zuckerberg's Facebook page announcing the trip to the doctor received more than 70,000 comments, both for & against vaccinations. CW: Maybe it's a coincidence, but the first anti-vaxxer comment Wang cites showed a poor command of English by someone I would guess is an English-speaker.

Annals of "Journalism," Ctd.

Ravi Somaiya of the New York Times: After Rolling Stone published an interview of notorious Mexican drug lord Joaquín Guzmán Loera in an essay by actor Sean Penn, "questions have been raised about the ethics for the magazine in dealing with Mr. Guzmán, a criminal being sought on charges of drug trafficking and murder, and in allowing him to approve what would ultimately be published about him.... The reporting and editing of the article were closely held, in part, to avoid the authorities.... As for giving Mr. Guzmán final approval over the article, [Rolling Stone founder Jann] Wenner said: 'I don't think it was a meaningful thing in the first place. We have let people in the past approve their quotes in interviews.'... Steve Coll, the dean of the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, said he was concerned by the editorial approval offered to Mr. Guzmán. But, he said, 'scoring an exclusive interview with a wanted criminal is legitimate journalism no matter who the reporter is.'" ...

... Peter Holley of the Washington Post: Mexican journalists note the dangers they have faced covering Guzman & his cartel. "... nobody prints anything without cartel approval, including -- it would seem -- Sean Penn." ...

... Andy Borowitz: "Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of the terror group known as ISIS, has cancelled a long awaited meeting with the actor Sean Penn, a spokesman for the group announced on Sunday. The spokesman gave no reason for the abrupt cancellation, but said that al-Baghdadi no longer felt that meeting with Penn would be 'prudent.'"

Driftglass: "It must have been a great relief for NBC's Shuck Todd to finally give up trying to walk upright and get 'answers' from Donald Trump and instead content himself with tossing softballs, nodding at the reply and then moving on. The rest of us are screwed, of course, but when has that not been true?"

Presidential Race

Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "There are two significant presidential debates over the next seven days, falling as the races hurtle toward the first casting of votes. Each debate will take place in Charleston, S.C." CW: The Republican debate is Thursday night. I won't be watching because the candidates make me sick. The Democratic debate is Sunday night. I won't be watching because "Downton Abbey." Which is how the Debbie Wasserman-Schultz planned it.

Bradford Richardson of the Hill: "White House chief of staff Dennis [sic.] McDonough on Sunday said President Obama will not endorse a candidate in the Democratic primary race.... He added that Obama will be 'out there' campaigning after the primary to support the eventual nominee." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Kyle Cheney of Politico: "President Barack Obama has met privately with Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton several times in recent months, but his chief of staff said Sunday that he's powwowed with her chief rival, Bernie Sanders, too. 'He has seen Senator Sanders, both with the Senate Democratic Caucus and privately,' Denis McDonough said on NBC's Meet the Press. 'And so, we'll continue to do that. He's obviously a leading senator in our caucus and we'll continue to do just that.'" (Also linked yesterday.) ...

... Kyle Cheney: "Hillary Clinton continued to thrash Bernie Sanders ... over his past support for legislation cheered by the NRA that protects gun manufacturers from liability for shootings. 'I think he has been consistently refusing to say that he would vote to repeal this absolute immunity from any kind of responsibility or liability,' she said Sunday on 'Face the Nation' on CBS, noting that she joined President Barack Obama in opposition to the legislation while they were both in the Senate.... Sanders sought to defend his record on guns separately during an appearance on ABC's 'This Week.' He argued that his support for the earlier legislation was partly because of how 'complicated' it was, and he said he's open to revising it to ensure that large manufacturers can be penalized if they deliver guns they know are being used in crimes." ...

... Jonathan Easley of the Hill: "Hillary Clinton on Sunday defended instructing an aide to send information to her through a 'nonsecure' channel, saying the data she requested was not classified and accusing her presidential rivals of seeking to score political points over a non-issue."

... AP: "... Planned Parenthood is endorsing Hillary Clinton in the race to become the Democratic presidential candidate, but says that will not mean negative campaigning against her primary opponents.... Accepting the endorsement on Sunday in New Hampshire, Clinton sought to energise her Democratic base with a passionate pledge to always protect reproductive rights. She painted a dark picture of women's health care under a Republican president, singling out two of the top Republican contenders."

Gabriel Debenedetti of Politico: "Former Arizona congresswoman Gabby Giffords will endorse Hillary Clinton, a person familiar with her plans confirmed." (Also linked yesterday.) ...

... Maggie Haberman: "Hillary Clinton holds a three-point edge over Senator Bernie Sanders in Iowa, a tightening of the race with roughly three weeks until voting begins, according to a new set of surveys of likely voters from NBC/The Wall Street Journal/Marist." Haberman also reports other polling results. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Jonathan Easley: "... Hillary Clinton said Sunday that attacks against her husband over past infidelities and allegations of sexual abuse 'won't work,' calling them a 'dead end' and a 'blind alley' for her rivals. Speaking Sunday on CBS's 'Face the Nation,' Clinton was asked to respond to an ad released last week by GOP front-runner Donald Trump in which he sought to highlight Bill Clinton's affair with former White House intern Monica Lewinskey [sic.]. 'If he wants to engage in personal attacks from the past, that's his prerogative. So be it," Clinton said...." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Hadas Gold of Politico: "ABC is cutting off their partnership with the New Hampshire Union Leader for the Republican primary debate on Feb. 6, an ABC spokesperson has confirmed. The paper was set to have a co-branding relationship for the debate, though it was going to be a comparatively minor role, without any representative on stage asking questions on behalf of the newspaper. In a series of tweets on Sunday, [Donald] Trump took credit for ABC's move, saying he asked for ABC to remove the paper from the debate."

Ben White of Politico: "Many economists say Donald Trump's proposals -- from big import tariffs to mass deportations -- would hurt the very demographic that supports him in the greatest numbers: less educated voters struggling in a tepid U.S. economy. If Trump policies actually went into effect, these economists say, prices for goods lower-income Americans depend on could soar and a depleted low-end labor force could trigger a major downturn.... [In addition,] according to the Tax Policy Center, Trump's tax plan would reduce federal revenue by $9.5 trillion over the next decade. It would also provide an average $1.3 million tax cut for the top 0.1 percent of earners, the Tax Policy Center found. The Trump campaign has disputed these findings." ...

... Bradford Richardson: "Donald Trump says President Obama's irresponsible use of executive orders has paved the way for him to also use them freely if he wins the presidential race. 'I won't refuse it. I'm going to do a lot of things,' Trump said when asked if he would use executive orders in an interview Sunday on NBC's 'Meet the Press.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... digby, on Trump's praising North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un for his brutality: "This isn't actually a joke. It's not really a Reality TV show. This guy has millions of Americans cheering him and what he's saying very clearly is that America needs a strongman dictator. Him.... What's amazing is that most of the people who are supporting him also wave around the Constitution like it was handed down directly from God." ...

... CW: Taking together all of his various promises & his admiration for notorious despots, it is clear that Trump thinks the U.S. presidency also is or should be an absolute, unchecked position of power. It's not possible to know what he would actually do if he became president, but there's every reason to think he would try to run roughshod over the other branches of government, the military, the administrative bureaucracy & the Constitution. I'm not certain impeachment could pry him out of the White House. ...

     ... ** Update: In a Salon piece, Digby catalogues some of Trump's authoritarian pronouncements. We haven't heard a parade of horribles like this in a long time..

Birtherism, Ctd. Ben Jacobs of the Guardian: "The legal and constitutional issues around qualification for the presidency on grounds of US citizenship are 'murky and unsettled', according to [Laurence Tribe,] the scholar cited by Donald Trump in his recent attacks on Ted Cruz.... Tribe taught both Cruz and Barack Obama at Harvard Law School.... In his emails to the Guardian, Tribe discussed Cruz's own approach to constitutional issues, noting that under 'the kind of judge Cruz says he admires and would appoint to the supreme court -- an "originalist" who claims to be bound by the historical meaning of the constitution's terms at the time of their adoption -- Cruz wouldn't be eligible because the legal principles that prevailed in the 1780s and 90s required that someone be born on US soil to be a "natural born" citizen."'" Read on. ...

... Bradford Richardson: "Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) says the upper chamber won't issue a resolution on whether Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) is constitutionally eligible to run for president.... The Senate previously issued a resolution confirming then-nominee John McCain's eligibility to serve as president. The Arizona senator was born on a [U.S.] military base in Panama to American parents." ...

... CW: Because senators really don't like Ted & would enjoy watching him twist in the wind. ...

... The Cheez Stands Alone. Jeet Heer of the New Republic: "Having broken with Trump, Cruz finds himself almost friendless in the Republican Party. And now that Trump has made Cruz birtherism an issue, many others are eager to join in the pile-on." ...

... Kristen East of Politico: "In an interview this weekend with PBS, [NYT columnist David] Brooks tells host Judy Woodruff that Cruz’s world is 'combative,' 'angry,' and 'apocalyptic.' And while he continues to rise in state and national polls, Brooks said other candidates, like Marco Rubio, are starting to use similar rhetoric.... Co-panelist David Corn, the Washington bureau chief for Mother Jones, said he believed the satanic tones actually come from Cruz's dad, Rafael Cruz, who is an evangelical pastor."

Gary Legum of Salon: "This weekend, a few of the Republican candidates for president gathered at the Jack Kemp Foundation to discuss which one of their administrations would screw over poor people the hardest.... There were the usual conservative buzzwords for fighting poverty: empowerment, education (by providing school vouchers, of course), expanding opportunity.... [Jeb] Bush illustrated what everyone should by now know: The GOP has no ideas."

Beyond the Beltway

Benjamin Mueller & Nate Schweber of the New York Times: "Three teenagers suspected of taking turns raping an 18-year-old woman at a Brooklyn playground after ordering her father to leave her side were taken into custody on Sunday, a law enforcement official said.... Charges against them were pending.... The father ran to get help, but the police official said it took him roughly 20 minutes to come upon two officers in a patrol car.... In an area filled with public housing high-rises, delis and other stores, it is unclear why the father was not able to get help from bystanders or call the police. The Police Department said in a statement on Sunday night that no one called 911 in connection with the attack, and that the officers 'immediately responded and located the victim' after being alerted by the father.... Elected officials also questioned whether the police notified the public quickly enough after the attack."

Luke Hammill of the Oregonian: "As law enforcement has continued to take a 'wait-them-out' approach to the occupation [of the Malheur wildlife refuge], more and more outsiders -- many of them armed -- have descended on this remote corner of Eastern Oregon. Many of them are well-meaning and want to help bring the situation to a peaceful resolution. Some are reveling in the international media attention. Others are inspired by the militants and have come to join the protest. Few, if any, of them have been welcomed with open arms by law enforcement." ...

Another guy "protecting the peace."... Sam Levin of the Guardian: "The heavily armed rightwing groups who descended on rural Harney County in eastern Oregon on Saturday -- to protect the peace, they said -- made clear they had no intention of leaving, as the occupation of the Malheur national wildlife refuge entered its second week. Observers, meanwhile, noted that many such groups were extremist entities with histories of promoting bigotry, racism and violence."

... Luke Hammill: "In the latest bizarre turn of events surrounding the ongoing armed occupation of a federal wildlife refuge, an Oregon state legislator from outside Harney County arrived here Saturday with out-of-state elected officials in tow and met with the protesters. Oregon Rep. Cliff Bentz, a Republican from Ontario, and Harney County Judge Steven E. Grasty said that they tried to warn state Rep. Dallas Heard against traveling to Burns. But Heard, a Republican from Roseburg, arrived anyway, they said, and brought officials elected to state office in Washington, Idaho and Nevada with him." ...

... Mike Rogoway of the Oregonian: "Oregon Public Broadcasting visited the [Malheur refuge] compound Friday and reported that militants appeared to be using federal computers inside the compound, machines that can be accessed only with employees' ID badges. Lists of names and Social Security numbers were visible, alongside government ID cards." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Sara Burnett of the AP: "A former U.S. attorney will conduct an independent review of the division of Chicago's law department that defends police after a judge last week accused a city attorney of hiding evidence in a lawsuit over a fatal police shooting, the department's chief said Sunday.... [Mayor Rahm] Emanuel said Tuesday that he didn't think it was necessary to expand the investigation to include the city's law department. Two days later, he announced there would be an independent review, but didn't disclose details.

Sarah Kaplan of the Washington Post: "Two days after a Philadelphia cop was shot by a man who said he had pledged loyalty to the Islamic State, the city's police and the FBI are investigating a tip that the man was part of a group with radical beliefs that might still pose a threat."

Way Beyond

Emily Rauhala of the Washington Post: "China's stock slide showed no signs of easing Monday, steamrolling over attempts by Beijing regulators to stem a dive that has battered markets around the world. The Shanghai Composite dropped more than 5 percent, dragging down Asian and European markets and extending last week's losses."

Anthony Faiola & Stephanie Kirchner of the Washington Post: "The Islamist extremist who staged a failed attack on a Paris police station last week had been living in a home for asylum seekers in western Germany, police said, deepening fears that militants may be infiltrating Europe disguised as migrants." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

News Ledes

New York Times: "Islamic State militants attacked a shopping mall in eastern Baghdad on Monday evening, killing at least 17 people and turning the neighborhood into an urban war zone at rush hour, with helicopters hovering overhead and snipers taking positions on nearby rooftops."

New York Times: "David Bowie, the infinitely changeable, fiercely forward-looking songwriter who taught generations of musicians about the power of drama, images and personas, died on Sunday, two days after his 69th birthday."

The Commentariat -- January 10, 2016

Afternoon Update:

Bradford Richardson of the Hill: "White House chief of staff Dennis [sic.] McDonough on Sunday said President Obama will not endorse a candidate in the Democratic primary race.... He added that Obama will be 'out there' campaigning after the primary to support the eventual nominee." ...

... Kyle Cheney of Politico: "President Barack Obama has met privately with Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton several times in recent months, but his chief of staff said Sunday that he's powwowed with her chief rival, Bernie Sanders, too. 'He has seen Senator Sanders, both with the Senate Democratic Caucus and privately,' Denis McDonough said on NBC's Meet the Press. 'And so, we'll continue to do that. He's obviously a leading senator in our caucus and we'll continue to do just that.'"

Gabriel Debenedetti of Politico: "Former Arizona congresswoman Gabby Giffords will endorse Hillary Clinton, a person familiar with her plans confirmed."

Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "Hillary Clinton holds a three-point edge over Senator Bernie Sanders in Iowa, a tightening of the race with roughly three weeks until voting begins, according to a new set of surveys of likely voters from NBC/The Wall Street Journal/Marist." Haberman also reports other polling results.

Jonathan Easley of the Hill: "... Hillary Clinton said Sunday that attacks against her husband over past infidelities and allegations of sexual abuse 'won't work,' calling them a 'dead end' and a 'blind alley' for her rivals. Speaking Sunday on CBS's 'Face the Nation,' Clinton was asked to respond to an ad released last week by GOP front-runner Donald Trump in which he sought to highlight Bill Clinton's affair with former White House intern Monica Lewinskey [sic.]. 'If he wants to engage in personal attacks from the past, that’s his prerogative. So be it,' Clinton said...."

Bradford Richardson: "Donald Trump says President Obama’s irresponsible use of executive orders has paved the way for him to also use them freely if he wins the presidential race. 'I won't refuse it. I'm going to do a lot of things,' Trump said when asked if he would use executive orders in an interview Sunday on NBC's 'Meet the Press.'"

David Nakamura of the Washington Post: "President Obama has invited a Syrian refugee to sit in the first lady's box for the State of the Union address on Tuesday, the White House said Sunday."

Judith Shulevitz of the New York Times: "As Marx might have said had he deemed women's work worth including in his labor theory of value (he didn't), 'reproductive labor' (as feminists call the creation and upkeep of families and homes) is the basis of the accumulation of human capital. I say it's time for something like reparations.... The universal basic income is a necessary condition for a just society, for it recognizes the fact that most of us -- men, women, parents and nonparents -- do a great deal of unpaid work to sustain the general well-being.... Basic income proposals are sprouting up again, from the right as well as the left."

Mike Rogoway of the Oregonian: "Oregon Public Broadcasting visited the [Malheur refuge] compound Friday and reported that militants appeared to be using federal computers inside the compound, machines that can be accessed only with employees' ID badges. Lists of names and Social Security numbers were visible, alongside government ID cards."

Anthony Faiola & Stephanie Kirchner of the Washington Post: "The Islamist extremist who staged a failed attack on a Paris police station last week had been living in a home for asylum seekers in western Germany, police said, deepening fears that militants may be infiltrating Europe disguised as migrants."

*****

Kristen East of Politico: "Michelle Obama's State of the Union guests this year are two people who President Barack Obama met while campaigning for the Oval Office in 2008. The first lady's guests -- Edith Childs of Greenwood, South Carolina, and Earl Smith of Austin, Texas -- 'personify President Obama's time in office and most importantly, they represent who we are as Americans: inclusive and compassionate, innovative and courageous,' a White House official said in a release Saturday." ...

... Also to be one of Michelle Obama's guests: Air Force Staff Sergeant Spencer Stone, who was one of the men "who subdued a gunman in August on a Paris-bound train...." Per Jackie Calmes of the New York Times. ...

... Gregory Korte of USA Today: "The White House said Friday that one seat in the First Lady's box 'will be left empty for the victims of gun violence who no longer have a voice.' [President] Obama made the announcement in a conference call with more than 20,000 supporters to discuss gun safety." ...

... Neil Vigdor of the CTpost: Connecticut "Gov. Dannel P. Malloy will be a guest of first lady Michelle Obama for Tuesday's State of the Union address, further linking his legacy to President Barack Obama's progressive efforts on gun control." ...

... Kevin Freking of the AP: "A formerly homeless veteran from Las Vegas will sit in first lady Michelle Obama's visitor box during the State of the Union address Tuesday night. Cynthia Dias, 64, served during the Vietnam War on a hospital ship as a registered nurse and attributed her years of homelessness to post-traumatic stress disorder."

Robert Barnes of the Washington Post: "The Supreme Court starts the new year Monday with a politically charged battle over organized labor, only one of the controversies that are putting the ideologically divided and aging justices at the center of the presidential campaign. Already on the docket are abortion, affirmative action, the rights of religious objectors to opt out of legal obligations, and a clutch of election-law disputes that could benefit one political party over another."

Missed this. Samantha Page of Think Progress (Jan. 6): "TransCanada, the company behind the Keystone XL pipeline, announced Wednesday it is filing a claim under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), saying that the project's permit denial was 'arbitrary and unjustified.' TransCanada is seeking $15 billion in costs and damages due to the denial, and has also filed a separate lawsuit against the U.S. in federal court. Under NAFTA, companies can sue governments that put investments at risk through regulation. If it proceeds, the case will go in front of an international tribunal. (A U.S. company sued Montreal in 2013 over a fracking ban, using the same rationale). The tribunal cannot overturn the permit denial, but it can force payment of damages."

Presidential Race

Sarah Ferris of the Hill: "Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) is doubling down on his support for President Obama's gun background-checks plan, in the face of mounting attacks from his chief Democratic presidential rival Hillary Clinton. In a speech Saturday, Sanders set out to 'set the record straight' on a stance that he said has become distorted."

Kristen East: Hillary Clinton's campaign released a new ad Saturday seeking to turn the arguments of the most pointed critics of her tenure as Secretary of State back against them":

... Maureen Dowd: Donald Trump is "wielding his knife on [Hillary Clinton's] most sensitive pressure point: her hypocrisy in running as a feminist icon when she was part of political operations that smeared women who told the truth about Bill's transgressions. Hillary told friends that Monica [Lewinsky] was a 'troubled young person' getting ministered to by Bill and a 'narcissistic loony toon.' Hillary's henchman Sidney Blumenthal spread around the story that Monica was a stalker...." ...

... Your Dowd Antidote. The Phases of the Bill. Ryan Lizza of the New Yorker: "Twenty-four years after New Hampshire voters helped to resurrect his own political fortunes, [Bill] Clinton was back in the state, appealing to them.... A gifted Republican opponent will have plenty to say about each of these accomplishments, but over-all Bill's case for his wife was a strong rebuke to the idea that she has been on a cynical crusade to gain political power simply for the sake of holding it. Just as he did for [President] Obama in 2012, Bill made a case for Hillary that was better than the candidate's case for herself." ...

... CW: "A gifted Republican opponent...." Here's one true thing: there is no Republican candidate as gifted at retail politics as is Bill Clinton. ...

... Steve M.: "... making us feel icky about the Clintons, one way or another, is going to be a key Republican tactic this year.... If Trump is the nominee, the attacks are going to be blunt and unsubtle. If it's Cruz, we'll get something subtler. But sexualized discomfort is the goal."

Patrick Healy & Jonathan Martin of the New York Times: "The Republican Party is facing a historic split over its fundamental principles and identity, as its once powerful establishment grapples with an eruption of class tensions, ethnic resentments and mistrust among working-class conservatives who are demanding a presidential nominee who represents their interests.... Rank-and-file conservatives, after decades of deferring to party elites, are trying to stage what is effectively a people's coup by selecting a standard-bearer who is not the preferred candidate of wealthy donors and elected officials. And many of those traditional power brokers, in turn, are deeply uncomfortable and even hostile to Mr. Trump and Mr. Cruz: Between them, the leading candidates do not have the backing of a single senator or governor."

Allegra Kirkland of TPM: "Some registered voters in Iowa received robocalls Saturday from a white nationalist super PAC that urged them to support Donald Trump in the 2016 election. 'I urge you to vote for Donald Trump because he is the one candidate who points out that we should accept immigrants who are good for America,' Jared Taylor said on the robocall, paid for by the American National Super PAC. 'We don't need Muslims. We need smart, well-educated white people who will assimilate to our culture. Vote Trump.'... The robocall included two more endorsements from a conservative Christian talk show host and the head of the white nationalist American Freedom Party.... Trump spokeswoman Hope Hicks did not immediately respond to a request for comment." ...

... Donald Trump & Michael Miller of the Washington Post & some former classmates argue over Trump's performance at New York Military Academy. ...

... Bradford Richardson of the Hill: "...Donald Trump says North Korean communist dictator Kim Jong-un deserves 'credit' for the cutthroat efficiency with which he disposes of his political foes." CW: Expect Kim to endorse Donald any day now & Donald to boast about it. If you want to know what kind of a president Trump would be, I believe the answer is embedded here. ...

... Birtherism, Ctd. Trip Gabriel & Matt Flegenheimer of the New York Times: "Donald J. Trump sharply escalated his rhetoric about Senator Ted Cruz's eligibility to be president on Saturday, suggesting that because he was born in Canada there were unanswered questions about whether he met the constitutional requirement to be a 'natural-born citizen.'... Mr. Cruz was born in Calgary, Canada, to an American mother, which automatically conferred American citizenship. Most legal experts agree that satisfies the requirement to be a 'natural-born citizen,' a term that was not defined by the founders." ...

... Philip Bump of the Washington Post: "... white Republicans -- which can often just be shortened to 'Republicans' -- support disciplining a child with spanking. In 2014, 80 percent of white Republicans agreed with [Ted] Cruz that spanking was okay.... The only region of the country in which a majority opposes spanking is New England: Very white, very Democratic New England."

... MEANWHILE. Anna Palmer of Politico: "As Trump packs stadiums across the country, and Cruz treks through Iowa expanding his lead, the rest of the Republican field -- desperate for traction -- debated the finer points of the earned-income tax credit, charter-school education and how the Republican Party can help alleviate poverty at the sedate -- and serious -- Kemp Forum on Expanding Opportunity.... Nobody was paying attention. And that's why the forum neatly explained the 2016 race. It lasted more than five hours, the crowd was tame and the candidates -- many of whom have struggled to break through -- spent the entirety of the session in a collegial back-and-forth discussion of vital, if mundane policy proposals that polls suggest most voters don't care a lick about."

Beyond the Beltway

So this guy showed up to "de-escalate" the situation at the Malheur refuge.Sam Levin of the Guardian: "A large group of heavily armed men showed up to the wildlife refuge occupation in eastern Oregon on Saturday, further escalating tensions and causing internal conflicts at the protests.... The men said they were with a group called the Pacific Patriot Network and were a 'neutral party', there to provide security and protection for everyone at the refuge. LaVoy Finicum, a regular spokesman for the armed militia, which has occupied the federal land since last Saturday, told the men they were not welcome or needed and that the militia was trying to minimize conflicts -- not bring more guns to the compound. Ammon Bundy, the leader of the militia, had no idea a new group of armed men would be coming, according to Todd Macfarlane, who said he was acting as a liaison between the militia and the public." ...

... Kelly House of the Oregonian is updating developments. After Ammon Bundy said he didn't want the "help" of the Pacific Patriots Network, members of the heavily-armed group began leaving the immediate area. ...

... Shakezula of LG&M: "Why PPN thought Ammo Bundy wanted them to come to MNWR is indeed a mystery. At the end of his Dec. 30 FB post he writes: 'CALL TO ACTION: All able body men and women come to Burns, Oregon on or before January 2nd. Come prepared and be willing to stand.' PPN showed up seven days after the deadline. That's not fashionably late, that's just gauche."

Bryce Covert of Think Progress: "On Friday, lawyers for [19 women] who alleged that employees of Baltimore's public housing agency demanded sex in return for critical housing repairs announced a settlement for all victims of sexual harassment in public housing. Besides a financial award between $6 million and $7.5 million, the settlement required Baltimore to fire and ban all the abusers from Housing Authority property, move the plaintiffs into livable homes. The Housing Authority also created 50 new maintenance positions with new policies and procedures, and cut down their backlog of repairs from over 4,000 to 1,500." CW: Being a poor woman of color in this country still is a sentence to perpetual indignities, both small & terrible. ...

... For Instance. Magee Hickey & Alyssa Zauderer of WPIX New York: "Police have released surveillance video of five men accused of holding a teenager at gunpoint and raping her inside of a playground Thursday in Brooklyn.... The 18-year-old was walking with her father in Osborn Playground near Hegeman Avenue when they were approached by five men. One of the men pointed a gun at the victims and told the father to leave. The father fled and called police, while all five men raped the teenager. By the time police had arrived, the suspects ran." ...

... CW: Wait a minute. Five men had time to rape a young woman in a public park before NYPD showed up? The incident took place in Brownsville, which is a poor, predominantly African-American section of Brooklyn. Maybe, just maybe, that explains it. Neither this NYC report nor another I read even comment on the time factor. Evidently, the sl-o-o-ow response time is to be expected.

Way Beyond

Azam Ahmed of the New York Times: "After long resisting requests from Washington, the Mexican government is moving toward extraditing Joaquín Guzmán Loera, the Mexican drug lord known as El Chapo, to the United States to face drug and murder charges there, Mexican officials said on Saturday." CW: Also, less likely to escape from U.S. max security prison. ...

... While Guzman was on the run, actor Sean Penn interviewed him. Rolling Stone has published the interview along with a lo-o-o-ong prologue by Penn. Penn fancies himself an "author," which he thinks means composing an adverb-laden internal monologue. ...

... Educardo Castillo & Katherine Corcoran of the AP: "A Mexican federal law enforcement official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not permitted to comment on the issue, told the Associated Press it was the Penn interview that led authorities to Guzman in a rural part of Durango state in October.

Erik Kirschbaum & Marcia Adair of the Los Angeles Times: "Pitched battles erupted during an anti-immigration demonstration in Cologne on Saturday between the right-wing marchers and police as tensions in Germany remained high more than a week after hundreds of women were sexually assaulted and robbed on New Year's Eve." ...

... BBC News: "German Chancellor Angela Merkel has proposed changes to make it easier to deport asylum-seekers who commit crimes, after the New Year's Eve sex attacks on women in Cologne." ...

... Der Spiegel (English): "New Year's Eve in Cologne rapidly descended into a chaotic free-for-all involving sexual assault and theft, most of it apparently committed by foreigners. It has launched a bitter debate over immigration and refugees in Germany -- one that could change the country."

News Ledes

AP: "Egypt's first legislature in more than three years, a 596-seat chamber packed with supporters of President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, held its inaugural session on Sunday, signaling the completion of a political road map announced after the 2013 military overthrow of an elected Islamist president."

AP: "No ticket matched all six Powerball numbers following the drawing for a record jackpot of nearly $950 million, lottery officials said early Sunday, boosting the expected payout for the next drawing to a whopping $1.3 billion. The winning numbers -- disclosed live on television and online Saturday night -- were 16-19-32-34-57 and the Powerball number 13. All six numbers must be correct to win, although the first five can be in any order. The odds to win the largest lottery prize in U.S. history were one in 292.2 million."

The Commentariat -- January 9, 2016

White House: "In this week's address, the President remarked on the incredible progress that has been made in the American auto industry":

Gardiner Harris of the New York Times: "President Obama vetoed legislation Friday that would have repealed the Affordable Care Act and stripped all federal funds from Planned Parenthood, writing in his veto message that the measure would 'reverse the significant progress we have made in improving health care in America.'" ...

... Here's President Obama's full veto message. ...

... Christopher Ingraham of the Washington Post: "A new CNN-ORC survey of 1,000 Americans finds that the public supports [President] Obama's plan by a 2-to-1 ratio: 67 percent of respondents favored the executive actions, while 32 percent opposed them. Even more striking, a similar share of people in gun-owning households -- 63 percent -- supported the measures. Even more striking: 51 percent of Republicans support Obama's executive action on guns." ...

... Carl Hulse of the New York Times: "Senator Richard C. Shelby, the veteran Republican from Alabama up for re-election in November [and] chairman of the appropriations subcommittee that funds the Justice Department, has summoned [Attorney General Loretta] Lynch for a Jan. 28 hearing to 'discuss the president's firearms proposals and any potential infringement on law-abiding Americans' Second Amendment rights,' he said in a letter to the attorney general." (Also linked yesterday.) ...

... Gail Collins: "If every gun owner had to demonstrate the ability to handle a weapon, it wouldn't necessarily stop anyone from eventually acquiring a gun. But it would take some time and trouble, which would cut down on casual sales.... Even Jeb Bush, in his assault on the president's itsy-bitsy loophole-closing initiative, talked about how 'law-abiding citizens that are trained to be able to protect themselves creates a safer America.'" ...

     ... CW: We might even get the NRA behind such a law; they & their friends could make a mint running "education ranges." And making money is what the NRA is all about.

Ron Nixon of the New York Times on the Department of Homeland Security's curtailed efforts to track & gather intelligence on anti-government militia groups & other home-grown extremists. As most of you will recall, Republicans objected to the program. CW: Because so many Republicans are anti-government extremists. Really.

Pamela Constable of the Washington Post: "Despite an uproar from liberal Democrats and Latino advocacy groups, administration officials said Friday that they intend to continue the raids [to capture & deport families who fled Central American violence], hoping to send a signal and prevent a repeat of the huge surge in illegal border crossings. Although the numbers dipped last spring, a new spike saw more than 10,000 children reach the border in October and November alone."

Jad Mouawad of the New York Times: "The Department of Homeland Security has given states an extra two years to comply with federal requirements to issue driving licenses with extra safety features, meaning that residents of noncompliant states will have until January 2018 before having to use a passport or other official identification to board a domestic flight. The extension directly concerns six states and territories that are not in compliance with the law, known as the Real ID Act of 2005. Illinois, Minnesota, Missouri, New Mexico and Washington State and the territory of American Samoa have not yet taken steps to satisfy government officials that the driver's licenses they have issued carry enough security features."

Jonathan Easley of the Hill: "House Republicans reached out to GOP presidential candidate Ben Carson in 2014 about replacing John Boehner as Speaker of the House, Carson told The Hill on Thursday. 'They were looking for an alternative, they were looking for someone strong and courageous who might really be able to add some spine and some backbone,' Carson said.... Carson declined to identify the House Republicans who approached him, but Rep. Matt Salmon (R-Ariz.) told The Hill on Thursday that he was one of a group of three who did so." ...

... MEANWHILE, Not-Speaker Carson was in Iowa Friday shaming an unlucky fifth-grader.

Brandi Grissom of Trail Blazers: Texas "Gov. Greg Abbott ... said Friday that he wants Texas to lead the call for a convention to amend the U.S. Constitution and wrest power from a federal government 'run amok.'... Along with the speech, Abbott released a nearly 70-page plan -- part American civics lesson, part anti-Obama diatribe -- detailing nine proposed constitutional amendments that he said would unravel the federal government's decades-long power grab and restore authority over economic regulation and other matters to the states." Grissom lists Abbott's proposed amendments. ...

... Peggy Fikac of the Houston Chronicle: "Gov. Greg Abbott wants to dramatically curtail the U.S. Supreme Court's power and slash federal oversight of states through a national convention to amend the U.S. Constitution. His Friday proposal comes in the wake of Republican outrage over President Obama's actions on issues, including gun control and immigration; Supreme Court decisions on cases involving such matters as gay marriage and health care; and federal agency action on the environment and other issues." ...

... Steve M.: "This comes two days after Marco Rubio wrote in USA Today that he also advocates a convention of states. The idea has been promoted by Koch-affiliated organizations as ALEC and Citizens for Self-Governance. And when you look at the amendments Abbott is pushing, you can see why this would be a pet idea of the Kochs."

Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "... California teachers have sued [their] union, saying that they are being forced to pay to support positions with which they disagree, in violation of the First Amendment. Their lawsuit, if it is successful, will be the culmination of a decades-long legal campaign to undermine public unions. And there is good reason to think they will win. The Supreme Court, which will hear arguments in the case on Monday, has twice suggested that the First Amendment bars forcing government workers to make payments to unions."

Peter Baker of the New York Times: "Fifteen years almost to the day since former President Bill Clinton left office, a newly released batch of documents from his library offers a fresh look at his later years in the White House.... The release of the transcripts also emphasized the complications for Mrs. Clinton in her second campaign for the White House. Not only does she have her own record as senator and secretary of state to promote or defend, she is also campaigning against the backdrop of her husband's record -- often to her advantage but sometimes not, as in the last few days when Republicans focused attention on Mr. Clinton's sexual misconduct." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Our "Education" Racket. Will Hobson & Stephen Rich of the Washington Post: "As a reward for making an industry fueled by unpaid athletes more lucrative than ever, the men who run these conferences have enjoyed staggering pay hikes doled out by the leaders of many of America's largest universities." CW: Meanwhile, to actually teach students, universities rely more & more heavily on adjunct professors, who don't make a living wage.

Julie Zauzmer & Spencer Hsu of the Washington Post: "A man who plotted to kidnap one of the Obama family's pet dogs was arrested in the District on Wednesday with a cache of weapons and ammunition in his car, the Secret Service said."

Presidential Race

Nick Gass of Politico: "Bernie Sanders has soared to a 13-point lead over Hillary Clinton in New Hampshire in a Fox News survey out Friday, nearly a month to the day that primary voters will make their decision at the polls on Feb. 9. Sanders, who in November held a slim 1-point advantage over Clinton in the same poll (45 percent to 44 percent), this time took 50 percent of the vote to 37 percent for Clinton. Former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley earned 3 percent." ...

... Edward-Isaac Dovere & Gabriel Debenedetti of Politico: "... White House press secretary Josh Earnest said on Friday that [President] Obama would have to review [Bernie] Sanders' record on guns before committing to support the Vermont senator.... Asked about the president's pledge made in a New York Times op-ed Thursday -- that he wouldn't support any candidate who wasn't for common-sense gun control, including the gun manufacturer liability provision that Sanders has voted against -- Earnest said it wasn't intended as 'any sort of secret or subtle signal to demonstrate a preference in the presidential primary.' The Clinton campaign, & Clinton herself, pointed to Sanders' record of voting against gun-control bills. ...

... Hillary Clinton, in a Boston Globe op-ed: "There's a lot at stake in this election. Nowhere is this clearer than in the US Supreme Court.... On Election Day, three of the current justices will be over 80 years old, which is past the court's average retirement age. The next president could easily appoint more than one justice. That makes this a make-or-break moment -- for the court and our country.... Republicans ... see this election as an opportunity to pack the courts with jurists who will turn back the clock.... Those who care about the fairness of elections, the future of unions, racial disparities in universities, the rights of women, or the future of our planet, should care about who appoints the next justices." ...

... Megan Wilson of the Hill: "The State Department has been providing 'inaccurate and incomplete' responses to requests for emails and other documents involving former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, a watchdog says in a new report released Thursday. The 29-page IG report says the leadership of the State Department 'has not played a meaningful role in overseeing or reviewing the quality' of the responses to requests for documents under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Eliza Collins of Politico: "Charles Koch is 'disappointed' with the line-up of Republican candidates in the 2016 cycle, and is surprised by the lack of influence he and his brother have wielded so far. In an interview with the Financial Times, the billionaire businessman and philanthropist, said he'll eventually support a candidate who he agrees with on some things with, but that it's hard to get excited. He said a list presented to all the candidates about the Kochs' political arm's priorities 'doesn't seem to faze them much. You'd think we could have more influence.'" CW: Yo, Chuck. You've got Marco in your pocket. And the governor of Texas is good, too. (See link to Steve M.'s post above.)

... CW: A week or so I ago, I wondered what would happen if people attended Trump rallies in traditional Muslim dress but did nothing to disrupt the rallies. Well, now we know:

Jeremy Diamond of CNN: "Rose Hamid, a 56-year-old flight attendant ... wearing a hijab [and] ... sitting in the stands directly behind Trump, stood up Friday during Trump's speech when the Republican front-runner suggested that Syrian refugees fleeing war in Syria were affiliated with ISIS.... Despite her silence, Trump supporters around her began chanting Trump's name -- as instructed by Trump campaign staff before the event in case of protests -- and pointed at Hamid and Marty Rosenbluth, the man alongside her who stood up as well. As they were escorted out, Trump supporters roared -- booing the pair and shouting at them to 'get out.'... After Hamid and three others, all wearing stars reminiscent of those worn by Jews during the Holocaust, were escorted out by police and Trump campaign officials, Trump [said]... 'There is hatred against us that is unbelievable... It's their hatred, it's not our hatred.'" Hamid said some people sitting around her, to whom she had spoken earlier, were kindly & said "sorry" when Trump ejected her. Includes video of Don Lemon's interview of Hamid. ...

... Judd Legum of TPM has CNN video of Hamid's ejection as it happened.

Dana Milbank: "Ted Cruz this week made his latest appeal to America's nativist fringe by naming Rep. Steve King of Iowa as a national co-chairman of his presidential campaign.... King raised questions about President Obama's birth certificate, voiced doubts that Obama had been born in America, floated the idea that Obama's birth announcement in Hawaiian newspapers may have been placed 'by telegram from Kenya,' and alleged that Obama 'was not raised with an American experience.' So we're entitled to savor some schadenfreude now as Cruz himself gets caught in the birther web.... Cruz, like Trump, has stoked the fires of resentment and xenophobia, so it's entirely fitting that he gets burned. But however tempting it is, I'm not joining in the Cruz birtherism; it was wrong when done to Obama, and it's wrong now done to Cruz." ...

... Catherine Thompson of TPM: "Cruz's mother's name appears on a Canadian government document, obtained by TPM in 2013, that lists Canadian citizens eligible to vote in 1974.... In 2013, a Canadian elections official told TPM that in the process of compiling the list, enumerators asked people to affirm that they were Canadian citizens." ...

... Nick Gass: "In another attempt to quash Trump-fueled speculation that he is not eligible for the presidency based on his Canadian birth, Ted Cruz's campaign released his mother's birth certificate to Breitbart News on Friday, showing that Eleanor Darragh was born Nov. 23, 1934, in Wilmington, Delaware." ...

... Karen Tumulty of the Washington Post: "At a stop [in Charles City, Iowa]..., Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) told a crowd in a coffee house that when his 5-year-old daughter Catherine tells a lie, 'she gets a spanking.' He went on to suggest that voters should spank Hillary Clinton for lying about Benghaaazi! CW: But there's nothing sexist about that. ...

... David Graham, in the Atlantic's "Gaffe Track": "The moral: Spare the Rodham, spoil the child."

Ed O'Keefe of the Washington Post: "... Jeb Bush is calling for an end to the federal food stamp program as part of a proposed revamp of the nation's welfare system. Bush would end the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, generally known as food stamps, and the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program. Instead, state governments would be able to apply for new federal 'Right to Rise' grants to pay for programs launched to assist lower-income residents." CW: And if voters in your state isn't very, very nice to the administration, the kids will starve. The aristocrats are getting bolder. ...

... Right to Tank. Frank Newport of Gallup: "... Jeb Bush's image among Republicans has steadily worsened over the past 5 ½ months. His current net favorable rating of -1 (44% favorable, 45% unfavorable) among Republicans is significantly lower than his +27 (54% favorable, 27% unfavorable) rating in mid-July." Sometimes having a lot of money doesn't make you popular. Give Charles Koch a call, Jeb! He's lonely & he knows how you feel. Although he too thinks you're a Doofus. (See Eliza Collins' story, linked above.)

Beyond the Beltway

... isn't this the strangest thing that those that are the most fervent fetal protectors seem to be the same ones that besmirch these children once they arrive, whether it be the abuses of the Church, lead poisoning in the water, taking away food stamps---the list goes on. -- P. D. Pepe, in today's commentary

** Charles Pierce: "It's time for Rahm Emanuel, the mayor of Chicago, and Rick Snyder, the governor of Michigan, to decide to spend more time with their respective families. By their misuse of their offices, they have forfeited the right to hold them anymore. They have left us with a Hobson's Choice of which is the worse malfeasance under the color of law: covering up the riddling of a young man by your rogue police force, or covering up the fact that your policies have sentenced hundreds of young people in Flint to the lives of mental and emotional damage and upheaval to which lead poisoning inevitably leads."

Manny Fernandez of the New York Times: "An Iraqi-born refugee charged with attempting to aid Islamic militants made his first court appearance on Friday, telling a judge that he needed a court-appointed lawyer because he could not afford one as federal prosecutors pushed to keep him detained without bond. The refugee, Omar Faraj Saeed Al Hardan, 24, a Palestinian who has been living in a Houston apartment with his wife and child, was charged with attempting to provide material support and resources to the Islamic State, designated by the State Department as a foreign terrorist organization. He was also accused of procuring citizenship or naturalization unlawfully and making false statements during an interview with a federal agent."

Texas, Making Sure Guns Get into the Hands of Those Who May Harm Themselves & Others. Rick Jervis of USA Today: "Visitors to one of Texas' 10 state mental health hospitals will be allowed to openly carry weapons into the facilities, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services. Employees and patients will still be barred from bringing in weapons. The hospitals this week pulled down signs banning guns at its facilities and posted new ones asking people to leave their firearms in their cars or conceal them from patients, said Carrie Williams, a state health department spokeswoman.... A pair of new laws, enacted this year ... allows Texans with a gun license to legally carry a holstered firearm without concealing it and bans state agencies from posting signs telling people they cannot carry guns on property." CW: It ain't just the inmates who are insane. Shouldn't the state legislature be committed en masse?

Luke Hammill of the Oregonian: "Members of a group from outside Oregon arrived on Friday at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge to 'secure a perimeter' around the compound and prevent 'a Waco-style situation.'... The group's website says it stands for 'freedom, liberty and the Constitution. We will combat all those who are corrupt.' The website displays the motto, 'When Tyranny Becomes Law, Rebellion Becomes Duty!'... The group's arrival came a few hours after [Ammon] Bundy informed reporters that the militants would not immediately accept Sheriff Dave Ward's offer to peacefully escort the occupiers out of town." ...

... Betsy Hammond of the Oregonian: Why does the federal government own so much land? Because that was the founders' intention: "A 1787 agreement among all 13 founding states -- that every bit of land added to the United States would be owned and controlled by a strong federal government -- was the linchpin needed before delegates went on to write the Constitution. That deal was known as the Northwest Ordinance.... Their determination that the federal government would own every shred of land brought into the new nation and dispose of or manage it as it wished was enshrined in the Constitution, in a short half-sentence in Article IV: 'The Congress shall have Power to dispose of and make all needful rules and regulations respecting the Territory or other Property belonging to the United States.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Paul Krugman: "We have people engaging in armed insurrection over the vast oppression of being asked to pay a small fee when grazing their animals on public land; surely an important part of the story is the fact that the perpetrators know that they won't face the consequences that would follow if, you know, some nonwhite group pulled a similar stunt.... Something that strikes me, however -- and which I don't fully understand -- is that when people like this turn to angry rhetoric, with at least a hint of violence, the trigger events tend to be trivial." ...

... Travis Gettys of the Raw Story: "Joe Oshaugnessy, an Arizona militiaman, has been actively seeking volunteers through social media to join the occupation of Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. But his friends tearfully announced that Oshaugnessy, who is known as 'Capt. O,' had left the refuge Wednesday and was instead staying at a motel nearby.... Oshaugnessy had kept the money he had raised through social media for himself and had spent at least some of it on a drinking binge." Emphasis added. CW: And you can bet that drunken "soldier" had plenty of guns & ammo at the ready. Luckily, the big tear-jerking "tragedy" here so far is that some militant yahoos wasted their money funding another militant yahoo's binge. ...

... MEANWHILE, if you were planning to go cross-country skiing in the Malheur Refuge this weekend, as is your right, I'd suggest another venue. ...

Philadelphia Inquirer: "While not classifying the shooting as a terrorist attack, police said Friday that the man arrested after shooting and wounding a police officer in an ambush in West Philadelphia Thursday night confessed he acted 'in the name of Islam.'" ...

... CBS Philadelphia: "During a police press conference Friday afternoon, [Philadelphia] Mayor Jim Kenney stated that he believes the shooting of a Philadelphia police officer has 'nothing to do with being a Muslim,' despite the suspect claiming he did it in the name of Islam. Mayor Kenney said, 'In no way shape or form does anyone in this room believe that Islam or the teaching of Islam has anything to do with what you've seen on the screen.'"

Samuel Lieberman of New York: "Sergeant Kizzy Adonis, of Staten Island's 120th Precinct, who was present when Eric Garner died after being put in an illegal chokehold by an officer, was put on modified duty on Friday as part of an NYPD internal review of the July 2014 incident. Adonis has been removed from street enforcement and was required to turn in her gun and badge."

Steve Mistler of the Portland Press Herald: "Gov. Paul LePage responded Friday to the firestorm that erupted after he said drug dealers coming to Maine were impregnating young white girls, admitting to making 'one slip' in the comment before going on to blame the media for implying that the remark was racist.... LePage's comment has once again catapulted the Republican governor into the national spotlight, commanding attention from The New York Times and The Washington Post -- as well as from obscure white supremacist websites. LePage also said his comment about white women couldn't have been racist because Maine's population is predominantly white." ...

... The New York Times story, by Katharine Seelye, is here. ...

... CW: If LePage weren't in a position of power, his denial/blame-the-media/"apology" would be comical. As it is, it further demonstrates what an unreconstructed racist he is. The LePage era is a tragic episode in Maine's history.

Sarah Larimer & Elahe Izadi of the Washington Post: Tonya Couch, "the mother of 'affluenza' teen Ethan Couch, was arraigned on felony charges and ordered to surrender her passport in a Texas courtroom on Friday...." ...

... Emily Schmall of the AP: Tonya Couch "has complained about the conditions of her Texas jail cell, a sheriff said Friday. 'She expressed a slight displeasure about her accommodations, and I told her this was a jail and not a resort,' Tarrant County Sheriff Dee Anderson said at a news conference."

Way Beyond

Richard Orange of the (U.K.) Telegraph: "Asylum seekers who met in central Helsinki to celebrate New Years's Eve 'had similar plans' to commit sexual assault and other crimes as those who targeted women in the Germany city of Cologne, Finnish Police have reported. Three Iraqi asylum seekers have been arrested for committing sexual assaults during the celebrations in the city's Senate Square, where some 20,000 had gathered. Security personnel reported 'widespread sexual harassment' during the celebrations, police added, with women complaining that asylum seekers had groped their breasts and kissed them without permission." ...

... Alison Smale of the New York Times: "At least 18 asylum seekers are among 31 people who have been identified so far by the federal police as having played a role in assaults on young women in Cologne on New Year's Eve, the Interior Ministry said on Friday. The police chief in Cologne was forced out of his job on Friday amid the growing uproar over the episode, which has ignited calls across the political spectrum for expelling convicted criminals, even if they are seeking asylum from war and persecution at home." CW: Well, yeah.

Alison Smale: "At least 231 children who sang in a boys' choir led for 30 years by the brother of former Pope Benedict XVI were abused over a period of almost four decades, a lawyer investigating reports of wrongdoing said Friday. The lawyer, Ulrich Weber, who was commissioned by the choir to look into accusations of beatings, torture or sexual abuse, said he thought that the actual abuse was even more widespread. At a news conference in Regensburg, Bavaria, where the choir traces its roots to the year 975, Mr. Weber estimated that from 1953 to 1992, every third member of the choir and an attached school suffered some kind of physical abuse.... Asked whether Benedict's brother, the Rev. Georg Ratzinger, who conducted the Regensburg choir from 1964 to 1994, had known of the abuse, Mr. Weber said, 'After my research, I must assume so.'" CW: I'll bet Brother Benedict knew, too. This does help explain why Benedict didn't give a Rat's ass about priests' abusing children.

News Lede

New York Times: "One of the last survivors of the inner sanctums of the White House during and immediately after World War II, [George] Elsey died on Dec. 30 in Tustin, Calif. He was 97."