The Commentariat -- January 3, 2016

Kevin Freaking of the AP: "President Barack Obama is returning to the rancor of the nation's capital after two weeks of fun and sun in his native Hawaii, saying he's 'fired up' for his final year in office and ready to tackle unfinished business."

Christopher Elliott of the Washington Post: "... on a Friday in late December, the TSA revised its rules, saying an 'opt out' [of a body scan] is no longer an option for certain passengers. (The full document can be found on the Department of Homeland Security’s website.) The decision drew mixed reaction from experts and raised concerns from passengers." CW: The "new rules" sound confusing enough that I doubt some TSA personnel can understand them. So I'm thinking they'll err on the side of not allowing passengers to opt out. ...

... David Lieb of the AP: "Missouri residents soon will not be able to use their state driver's licenses as identification to get into most federal facilities, making it one of at least five states to lose a federal exemption from complying with national proof-of-identity requirements. A letter from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to Missouri, obtained on Wednesday by The Associated Press, informs the state that its exemption from federal Real ID requirements will come to an end Jan. 10."

Abby Goodnough of the New York Times: "Two years after the Affordable Care Act began requiring most Americans to have health insurance, 10.5 million who are eligible to buy coverage through the law’s new insurance exchanges were still uninsured this fall, according to the Obama administration.... Plenty of healthy holdouts remain, and their resistance helps explain why insurers are worried about the financial viability of the exchanges over time."

Amy Davidson of the New Yorker on a 14th-century "climate anomaly" that affected Northern & Central Europe. CW: Davidson doesn't quite get there, but one need not have an overdeveloped imagination to see in the historical evidence how climate change would also dramatically alter the political landscape.

Christian Nation. Rebecca Santana of the AP: "Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia said Saturday the idea of religious neutrality is not grounded in the country's constitutional traditions and that God has been good to the U.S. exactly because Americans honor him. Scalia was speaking at a Catholic high school in the New Orleans suburb of Metairie, Louisiana." Thanks to Citizen 625 for the link.

Adam Clymer of the New York Times: "Dale L. Bumpers, a liberal governor and four-term Democratic senator from Arkansas who came out of retirement in 1999 to make a passionate closing argument defending President Bill Clinton against removal from office in a Senate trial, died on Friday at his home in Little Rock, Ark. He was 90." Bumpers' Senate speech in defense of Clinton is here.

Annals of Journalism. Nancy Scola of Politico reports on Medium, an online publishing platform that affords users a "medium" to go around traditional publications. "... it can piggyback off a broader shift in the relationship between Washington and journalism, with the political world no longer quite so dependent on the press in the age of social media."

Presidential Race

Ken Thomas of the AP: "Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders raised more than $33 million during the past three months in his bid to win the Democratic nomination, his campaign said on Saturday, just short of the amount brought in by rival Hillary Clinton during the same period." The New York Times story, by Maggie Haberman, is here.

Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "Donald J. Trump shrugged off his appearance in a recruitment video posted Friday by the Shabab, an Al Qaeda affiliate, saying there was little he could do about it. 'What am I going to do?” Mr. Trump told John Dickerson of CBS News, who hosts 'Face The Nation.' 'I have to say what I have to say.' He added: 'They’ve used other people too.'”

Dave Weigel of the Washington Post: Trump held a big rally in Biloxi, Mississippi, "heavy on military veterans." Also, his visit shut down traffic along the Gulf Coast highway & he didn't talk about the Shabab video, but complained about the media refusing to pan to the "beautiful people" in his audience. ...

... Evidently Weigel & Dickerson missed this. Andy Borowitz: "Just minutes after the Somali-based Al Qaeda affiliate Shabaab group released a propaganda video featuring a clip of Donald Trump, the Republican Presidential front-runner boasted that the video would be the highest-rated terror video of all time."

** Steve M. illuminates how Marco Rubio came up with that brilliant Constitutional Convention plan he hawked last week -- why, he borrowed it from Koch-funded ALEC. Their suggestions for Constitutional amendments go further than Marco has recommended (so-far). Steve's post is titled, "Marco Rubio and the Koch/Talk Radio Scheme to Repeal the Last Hundred Years." Steve concludes, "I don't think Rubio has the mojo to win the nomination this year, but if he does manage to win it, he'll be sold in the fall -- probably successfully -- as a likable right-centrist. He's not. He's a dangerous radical who just sounds nice." Also, read Yastreblyansky's comment.

Beyond the Beltway

"A Well Regulated Militia." Liam Stack of the New York Times: "A group of activists and militiamen protesting the federal prosecution of two ranchers occupied a remote federal building in the rural southeastern corner of Oregon, the authorities said. The building seized by the group houses the offices of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, and is operated by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, about 30 miles southeast of Burns, in Harney County.... Among the occupiers were Ammon and Ryan Bundy, two sons of Cliven Bundy, a Nevada rancher who became a symbol of anti-government sentiment in 2014, according to The Oregonian.... In an interview with The Oregonian earlier on Saturday evening, [Ammon] Bundy and his brother said they would not rule out violence if law enforcement officers attempted to remove them from the building." ...

... The Oregonian's story, by Les Zaitz, is here. CW: I leave it to someone else to try to get into the heads of these ignorant provocateurs. Includes video. The boys say "government tyranny" has "oppressed" them, so they are setting up an outpost where "patriots" can bring their arms to protect the locals from said tyranny. That's the plan. It's the equivalent of a little kid protesting to a parent, "You're not the boss of me." Only the little kid might kill the parent instead of just whining.

Way Beyond

Maria Verza of the AP: "The mayor of a city south of Mexico's capital was shot to death on Saturday, less than a day after taking office, officials said. Gunmen opened fire on Mayor Gisela Mota at her house in the city of Temixco, said the government of Morelos state, where Temixco is located. Two presumed assailants were killed and three others detained following a pursuit, said Morelos security commissioner Jesus Alberto Capella. He said the suspects fired on federal police and soldiers from a vehicle."

Katrin Bennhold of the New York Times: "Interviews with dozens of migrants, social workers and psychologists caring for traumatized new arrivals across Germany suggest that the current mass migration has been accompanied by a surge of violence against women. From forced marriages and sex trafficking to domestic abuse, women report violence from fellow refugees, smugglers, male family members and even European police officers. There are no reliable statistics for sexual and other abuse of female refugees."

Andrew Jacobs of the New York Times: "A recent 10-day journey across the Xinjiang region in the far west of China revealed a society seething with anger and trepidation as the government, alarmed by a slow-boil insurgency that has claimed hundreds of lives, has introduced unprecedented measures aimed at shaping the behavior and beliefs of China’s 10 million Uighurs, a Turkic-speaking Muslim minority that considers this region its homeland."

Thomas Erdbrink of the New York Times: "Iran’s supreme leader warned Sunday that Saudi Arabia would face divine vengeance for the execution of an outspoken Shiite cleric, a day after Iranian protesters ransacked the Saudi Embassy in Tehran in outrage over the execution." ...

... Ben Hubbard of the New York Times: "Iranian protesters ransacked and set fire to the Saudi Embassy in Tehran on Saturday after Saudi Arabia executed an outspoken Shiite cleric who had criticized the kingdom’s treatment of its Shiite minority. The cleric, Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, was among 47 men executed in Saudi Arabia on terrorism-related charges, drawing condemnation from Iran and its allies in the region, and sparking fears that sectarian tensions could rise across the Middle East."

The Commentariat -- January 2, 2016

Patricia Cohen of the New York Times: "A new study on long-term unemployment from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis found that the prospects for women over 50 darkened after the Great Recession. In 2006-7, before the downturn hit, less than a quarter of the unemployed in this group had been out of work for more than six months. By 2012-13, older jobless women accounted for half of the long-term unemployed."

** Robin Lindley of the History News Network interviews historian Christian Appy on how American exceptionalism drives foreign policy, and not in a good way. republished in Salon.

Michael Massing, in the New York Review of Books, on how the press should cover so-called philanthropy. "The tax write-offs for such contributions, however, mean that this giving is subsidized by US taxpayers. Every year, an estimated $40 billion is diverted from the public treasury through charitable donations. That makes accountability for them all the more pressing. So does the fact that many of today’s philanthropists are more activist than those in the past.... Rather than simply write checks for existing institutions, these “philanthrocapitalists,” as they are often called, aggressively seek to shape their operations." ...

... AND Bill Gates has a book blog. "As publishers have become more aware of Mr. Gates’s reviews ... they have tried to figure out how to get their new books in front of him." CW: So while Bill is spending your money messing with education or whatever, you might want to read a few of the books he recommeds.

Presidential Race

Gail Collins' New Year's quiz focusses on the presidential race.

Anne Gearan of the Washington Post: "Hillary Clinton's campaign announced Friday that it raised $55 million in the final fund-raising period of 2015, and $112 million for the year. Clinton brought in $37 million in money specifically for use in the primary, the most for any non-incumbent in a non-election year, the campaign said, and $18 million for the general election." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Making Al Qaeda Great Again. Tom Liddy of ABC News: "The militant group Al-Shabaab -- Al Qaeda's affiliate in Somalia -- has released a recruitment video featuring ... Donald Trump. The more-than 51-minute propaganda video comes on the heels of a war of words between Trump and Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton over her suggestion that the real estate mogul's controversial remarks about Muslims would be used to recruit jihadis. The video includes a clip of Trump calling for a 'shutdown' of Muslims entering the United States." ...

... Jessica Glenza of the Guardian: "... towards the end of the Rose Parade [in Pasadena, California,] ... skywriters captured public attention with messages reading 'America is great. Trump is disgusting' and 'Iowans dump Trump', dotted through a cloudless sky.”

If we awaken and energize the body of Christ -- if Christians and people of faith come out and vote our values -- we will win and we will turn the country around. -- Ted Cruz, to volunteers on a conference call Tuesday

... Steve M.: "... back in the fall, [Ben] Carson seemed to be the evangelical favorite.... But Ted Cruz and his preacher father, Rafael, out-Carsoned Carson.... Carson is fading now because he's no match for Cruz. Cruz, with his father's help, has done the best job this year of weaponizing Christianity." ...

... CW: This "body of Christ" stuff is just creepy & totally inappropriate for a political candidate to utter. A public official is supposed to serve all of the people, & that is not possible for a candidate who invokes Christianist messages as part of his campaign. When Ted uses Jesus an an instrument to "turn this country around," he means to turn it around to a Christianist nation. It's sickening. 

Ashley Parker of the New York Times: "... aides to [Jeb] Bush and important allies described a long-shot plan to pull off what seems all but impossible: winning the Republican nomination for president. The plan has six elements."

Beyond the Beltway

Thomas Curwen of the Los Angeles Times: "Porter Ranch[, Calofornia,] lies closer to the gas field with the nearest homes about a mile from a well that began leaking Oct. 23. Fumes are pouring into the community, and thousands of residents have been relocated to temporary housing. Emergency crews have returned, but the work is slow. Southern California Gas Co. estimates that crews won't plug the leak at the Aliso Canyon Underground Storage Facility until at least late February, possibly until late March.... Neither the cause nor the exact location of the leak has been identified.... "

David Montgomery of the New York Times: "On a chilly, overcast day, more than 100 Texans gathered [on the south steps of the Texas state capitol building] carrying an array of holstered weaponry — Glocks, Smith & Wessons and more — to mark a change in the law that lets them openly display the fact that they are armed. The practice had been banned in Texas since 1871. Similar demonstrations were held in several other Texas cities."

Responsible Gun Ownership, Ctd. AP: "A man shot and killed his wife and two others in his home in Los Angeles on New Year’s Eve before his son wrestled the gun away and fatally shot him in a chain of events apparently set off by a dispute over a washing machine." ...

Responsible Gun Ownership, Ctd. Eric Dolan of the Raw Story: "A 20-year-old University of North Texas student crashed into an electrical pole in Denton early Friday morning after being shot in the head in an apparent road rage incident."

AP: "The death of a man whose plane clipped one building before smashing into another in the heart of downtown Anchorage was a suicide, a spokeswoman for his family said on Friday." The pilot, who was a member of the Civil Air Patrol, flew a CAP plane in the unauthorized flight.

Way Beyond

Carlotta Gall of the New York Times: "Many of the extremist groups [in North Africa] are affiliates of Al Qaeda, which has had roots in North Africa since the 1990s. With the recent introduction of Islamic State franchises, the jihadist push has been marked by increasing, sometimes heated, competition. But, analysts and military officials say, there is also deepening collaboration among groups using modern communications and a sophisticated system of roving trainers to share military tactics, media strategies and ways of transferring money." CW: And now we know these horrible people have a new recruiter -- Donald Trump.

Ben Hubbard of the New York Times: "Saudi Arabia executed 47 people convicted of terrorism-related offenses on Saturday, including suspected members of Al Qaeda and a prominent cleric and government critic from the country’s Shiite minority. The executions ... followed a year in which at least 157 people were put to death, the most in two decades in the conservative Muslim kingdom."

Simon Denyer of the Washington Post: "Chinese President Xi Jinping has carried out the most far-reaching anti-corruption campaign in Communist Party history — and, at the same time, the harshest crackdown on free speech in decades. Now he is tightening the screws further, outlawing internal dissent within the party through new disciplinary rules that have led to the firings of an academic, a newspaper editor and a senior police officer for 'improper discussion' of government policy.... To his critics, the move carries disturbing echoes of the dark days of Mao Zedong. Xi, they say, has surrounded himself with sycophants who can deliver only good news. He is undermining the ideas of collective leadership and 'intraparty democracy' that the Communist Party had adopted — and trumpeted — after Mao’s death, and replacing them with a return to one-man rule."

Happy New Year

Following is a comment contributor MAG wrote in Thursday's thread. I heartily agree with MAG's sentiments, although I've omitted her Plaudit No. 1 because my mother told me it was bad form to toot my own horn. That doesn't mean I'm not ever-so-pleased when someone else does the tooting. I would add that I always look forward to reading MAG's comments: thoughtful, smart & succinct -- and often expressing a point-of-view I overlooked but am happy to adopt once MAG raises the point. -- Constant Weader

Whew! It’s almost over and I can stop seeing those detestable top 10 end-of-the-year lists. 2015’s 10 Best Law & Order ReRuns, 10 Best Restaurants off the Beaten Path, 10 Best Bratwurst Joints, et al. But, if you can’t fight’em, join’em…OK, I caved.

Here’s my 2015’s Top 10 Reality Chex-ers —in no particular sorta order:

2. @ Akheilleus, whose brilliant interpretations and witty insights continually astound and provoke—often sending me off on a Google-search for the definition of some obscure word that (of course) he uses correctly! A Greek & Latin scholar who knows rock bands from eons ago! Wow!…yet, what blew me away most recently…is the awareness of his fashionista side and how wonderfully he wordsmithed “pret-a-porter” into one of his best lines of the year: On December 21: “…with Trumpy's blowhardiness. He is a prêt–à–porter propaganda warehouse.”

3. @ Marwin  S & Ken W…well-thought out analysis, obviously well read readers, checkers & researchers of the first rank.

4. @ PD Pepe feisty and given to wry phrasings. Think of her as the Madame DeFarge of RC. Surely, knitting is among her many skills, as well!

5. @ Diane… sharp input, to the point & never ever brooking nonsense!

6. @ Ophelia M. among RC’s newest…(imagine you in floating in an ethereal mist over Manhattan with iPad close at hand for ever sage observations!)

7. @ D.C. Clark always knowledgeable, besides he’s the one who has the biggest one anywhere. For Star-gazing, that is!

8. @ Kate Madison RC’s ‘in-house’ psychoanalyst who cuts through the bull—and never lets us forget the importance of the Supremes (not talking Diana, Flo & Mary)!

9. @ Barbarossa, Unwashed, Citizen625, Owen Whyte, Nisky Guy, and the Victorias (with & without the D) add their smart POVs and great links to follow! Thanks!

10. @ and to one & all who have been UNINTENTIONALLY left unmentioned, you’re still the greatest, best-est, too! (Disclaimer: this list is still incomplete) And to everyone thanks for the terrific daily reads!

HAPPY NEW YEAR one and all … said the Tiny Mag!