The Commentariat -- January 5, 2015

Internal links removed.

David Goodman of the New York Times: "For the second time in just over a week, a sea of pressed blue uniforms filled some of New York's streets as Mayor Bill de Blasio delivered a eulogy for a police officer killed because of the badge he wore. And for the second time, hundreds of police officers crowded together in the rain turned their backs to television screens showing the the mayor's remarks outside a funeral home in southern Brooklyn." ...

... CW: Since these officers can neither follow orders nor control themselves, they cannot be trusted to keep the peace. The NYPD should dismiss them. ...

It's ironic that they seem to think it's appropriate for them to demonstrate at a funeral but not okay for citizens to demonstrate on public streets. -- Contributor Victoria D., in today's thread

... Why Apologize? The Thin-Skinned Blue Line. Bob Mayo of WTAE Pittsburgh: "In an email to the entire city police bureau, Pittsburgh Police Chief Cameron McLay is responding to criticism of his appearance in a photo on Twitter in which he holds a sign challenging racism. The sign read, 'I resolve to challenge racism @ work. #EndWhiteSilence.' The chief's message to the rank and file came after a critical email from the president of the union representing city police. 'It appears my having been photographed with a sign supporting racial justice at work and (opposing) "white silence" has offended some. If any of my PBP (Pittsburgh Bureau of Police) family was offended, I apologize. You are very important to me and I would never hurt you purposefully,' McLay wrote." ...

... Jack Pickell of the Boston Globe: "A veteran Boston police officer was arrested Sunday on charges he assaulted an Uber driver in South Boston.... Officers later arrested Michael Doherty, 40 of South Boston, a 16-year veteran of the Boston Police Department, and charged him with assault and battery and using a motor vehicle without authority." Read the whole story for disgusting details of the alleged assault. ...

... Charles Blow wonders why a 45-year-old white woman who was shooting up Chattanooga, shot at police officers & led them on an auto chase was "taken into custody without incident or injury. Then he lists a number of incidents in which black men, whose actions were or seemed much less violent, were shot dead." ...

     ... CW: I'd like to caution that this is anecdotal evidence of discrimination. Blow, who used to be the Times' writer on sociological statistics, should have included statistical data which demonstrated or suggested that police do not treat black suspects the same way they treat deranged white women. Instead, he provides stats of public opinion, attempting to make the point that white people don't get it. But since his anecdotes don't provide an actual counter-argument, his use of the argument-from-anecdote fallacy amounts to sleight-of-hand & demagoguery. The right does this all the time; it's disappointing to see it coming from a New York Times columnist, especially when one is pretty sure there is evidence to back up the important point he is making. ...

... Wesley Lowery & Kimberly Kindy of the Washington Post: "The frustration and defiance of the nation's police officers were on display again Sunday in New York City, where tens of thousands of them gathered for the funeral of the second of two officers who were slain at the height of the ongoing protests and scrutiny after several high-profile deaths of unarmed black males.... Law enforcement officials say morale is flagging among the rank-and-file, who they say feel 'betrayed' by President Obama and Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. in their calls for tough reforms of policing tactics." ...

... Jeff Toobin of the New Yorker presents the cases for & against special prosecutors in cases of fatalities caused by police.

Speaker Gohmert! Kyle Balluck of the Hill: "Rep. Louis Gohmert (R-Texas) said Sunday that he will challenge John Boehner (R-Ohio) as Speaker in the new Congress.... Rep. Ted Yoho (R-Fla.) on Saturday announced that he would not support Boehner for Speaker." Thanks to Jeanne B. for the lead. ...

... Speaker Yoho! Even Better. Eric Bradner of CNN: "Rep. Ted Yoho, R-Florida, said this weekend that he won't support Boehner as speaker when lawmakers vote Tuesday, and offered himself up as an alternative." ...

... CW: The Orange Man is looking a little better, isn't he?

Megan Wilson of the Hill: "Soon-to-be Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said on Sunday that the GOP agenda will be focused on 'voting on things I know [President Obama is] not going to like.' He said that jobs would be the number one focus, also lumping in the Keystone XL pipeline project and rolling back strict environmental and healthcare regulations. 'We need to do everything we can to try to rein in the regulatory onslaught, which is the principal reason that we haven't had the kind of bounce-back after the 2008 recession that you would expect,' McConnell told CNN's Dana Bash on 'State of the Union.'" ...

... Seung Min Kim of Politico: "... the stage is set for a dramatic few months in the GOP-controlled Congress over immigration." ...

... Carl Hulse of the New York Times: "In taking control of Congress on Tuesday, Republicans say they will quickly advance energy and health care legislation that stalled in the Democratic-controlled Senate as they try to make good on claims, and address doubts, that they can govern effectively.... Yet a sour note is possible on Tuesday as Speaker John A. Boehner seeks his third term as the House leader. Some disgruntled conservatives have said they will not back Mr. Boehner ... and a coup, while unlikely, would represent a disastrous beginning." ...

... Greg Sargent has a good overview of what to expect of the new Congress. Good governance? Not likely. ...

... AND Charles Pierce, despite reading soothing words in the Washington Post "about how the new Republican-majority Congress, which will open the Reign of the Morons II this coming Tuesday, really understands that it has to govern the country responsibly this time around, and that the grown-ups are in charge again," is not all that convinced. Something about Louie Gohmert & asparagus.

"I'm Not a Scientist" Is ... Progress! Timothy Cama of the Hill: "High-profile Republicans converged this year around a new favorite refrain when it comes to climate change: 'I'm not a scientist.... 'It sounds like one of the most nonsensical GOP talking points in quite some time,' said Ford O'Connell, a GOP strategist who advised Sen. John McCain's (Ariz.) 2008 campaign for president. But O'Connell said 'I'm not a scientist' plays an important, albeit temporary, role in the broader GOP debate.... 'The party's not come to a consensus on how they want to deal with the issue of climate change,' he said.... 'It's a rhetorical shift, obviously. There's no policy behind it,' said Tony Leiserowitz, director of Yale University's project on climate change communication. 'But ... it's definitely a step back from "it's a hoax," it’s definitely a step back from "it's not happening.z''"' ...

... MEANWHILE in Scotland. Juan Cole: "With regard to the [Scotland's] households, i.e. domestic energy consumption, Scotland's wind turbines generated enough to cover 98% of it in 2014. In addition, in some months of the spring and summer, those homes that have solar panels generated all the electricity the household used. Scotland tripled its solar installations in 2014. Scotland is well on its way to getting 100% of its energy from renewable sources by 2022." ...

... CW: Keystone Mitch McConnell could learn a lot from his fellow Scots. But he won't. ...

... Lawrence Summers in the Washington Post: "The case for carbon taxes has long been compelling. With the recent steep fall in oil prices and associated declines in other energy prices, it has become overwhelming. There is room for debate about the size of the tax and about how the proceeds should be deployed. But there should be no doubt that, given the current zero tax rate on carbon, increased taxation would be desirable." CW: I'm pretty sure you have Mitch McConnell's ear, Larry.

"Knaves & Fools." Paul Krugman explains the roles of the president and the Federal Reserve in boosting or busting the economy. "So is the president responsible for the accelerating recovery? No. Can we nonetheless say that we're doing better than we would be if the other party held the White House? Yes. Do those who were blaming Mr. Obama for all our economic ills now look like knaves and fools? Yes, they do. And that's because they are."

Bruce Alpert of the Times-Picayune: "House Majority Whip Steve Scalise's 2002 speech to at least some members of a white supremacist group was a hot subject on the Sunday (Jan. 4) talk shows. And while all the Republicans appearing on the shows defended Scalise and asserted their support for his continuing in the No. 3 leadership position in the House, the continued focus on the 13-year-old speech, including a critical editorial Sunday by the conservative Boston Herald, has to be unsettling to the GOP.... [Sen. John] Barrasso was asked by host Chuck Todd whether the Scalise controversy might add 'to the stereotype of the Republican Party that Democrats want to paint.' 'Well, the Democrats do want to a paint this, but I've just gotten back from Wyoming. This has not come up as a discussion in Wyoming,' Barrasso said." ...

... CW: Gee, John, I wonder why. Maybe it's because the percentage of black people living in Wyoming in 2010, according to Census Bureau figures, was .08. As for Jews, who also would be deeply offended by Scalise's speaking to a David Duke group, Wyoming is the least Jewish state in the country, with .02 percent of population identifying as Jews. So, yeah, there could be a reason "this has not come up as a discussion in Wyoming." I don't think Wyoming is the civil rights center of America.

Kristyna Wentz-Graff of the Oregonian: "U.S. Navy veteran Dario Raschio was all smiles Saturday as he awaited a special honor from U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, who joined him at Portland Community College's Southeast Campus to present the 100-year-old with a handful of medals.... Shortly after Wyden began speaking, though, protesters erupted in the back of the room, shouting 'hands-up, don't shoot!'... Raschio ... grabbed the mic to speak, more shouts came from the back of the room, demanding the military exit from Iraq. The feisty centenarian quickly responded, 'Give me a chance' which brought chuckles from the audience. He further chastised the shouters, saying 'Let's show a little respect for this occasion,' to which the crowd applauded." ...

... Kristyna Wentz-Graff: "However, immediately following the award presentation, the chanting began again. Protesters stated it was 'their town meeting' to which Wyden responded, 'Yes, it's your town meeting, but it's theirs as well' as he gestured toward the audience.... The event, at Portland Community College's Southeast Campus, was canceled after 45 minutes.... We are certainly going to reschedule it,' [Wyden] said. 'It's important to be able to throw open the doors of government to everybody. That's why town hall meetings are so important.'" ...

... CW: Now somebody please explain to me how these protesters were advancing their cause by shutting down a public meeting held by a relatively liberal U.S. senator. See Oprah Winfrey's comments, linked January 3. ...

... Contra Oprah's argument -- sort of -- Jesse McCarthy, in the New Republic, has a very fine piece arguing that "Hollywood loves the great man narrative, but the civil rights movement was never about top-down leadership."

Driftglass takes a well-deserved swipe at Bob Schieffer for choosing Newt Gingrich! to discuss race relations. As a sort of afterthought, he notes that Chuck Todd said something sorta nice about Mario Cuomo, "Proving once again that almost the only Liberals who are permitted anywhere near the Sunday Gasbag Conclave are those who are safely dead."

E. J. Dionne: "There will never be another politician like Mario Cuomo, a man shaped by a different age. Yet he taught lessons about racial reconciliation, the role of religion in politics, the purposes of politics itself and -- oddly for a politician -- humility that will always be fresh." ...

... CW: I think there are other politicians more or less like Mario Cuomo right now. The difference is that today's establishment does not embrace them the way the Democratic party did back in the day. The Party of Nothing thinks it cannot afford to offend all the special interests & ideologues whose policies & preferences Cuomo so effectively rejected.

Presidential Election

Steve M. writes an excellent assessment of Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio & the press, including a nice little dig at Frank Bruni of the New York Times.

Robert Costa & Dan Balz of the Washington Post: "If Mike Huckabee is going to make a serious run for the Republican presidential nomination, he will have to do something he was unable to do in 2008: raise millions of dollars and build a sprawling national campaign to complement the well of support he has among evangelicals and grass-roots activists in early primary states.... Another likely hurdle for Huckabee as he solicits donations: scattered antagonism among the GOP's fiscally conservative donors who find Huckabee's record on taxes and spending to be lacking."

News Ledes

New York Times: "Bess Myerson, a New York favorite daughter who basked in the public eye for decades -- as Miss America 1945, as a television personality, as a force in public affairs and finally, under a harsher light, as a player in a shattering municipal scandal -- died on Dec. 14 at her home in Santa Monica, Calif., her death occurring in the relative obscurity in which she had lived her last years. She was 90."

New York Times: "Oil prices tumbled below $50 a barrel on Monday, spooking global financial markets and signaling that the remarkable 50 percent price drop since June was continuing this year and even quickening. The new drop in American and global benchmarks of more than 5 percent was accompanied by a series of reports of increased Middle Eastern oil exports; continuing increases in American production despite planned exploration cutbacks by many oil companies; and renewed worries about the declining economic fortunes of Europe."

AP: "Seating jurors in the case against Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was set to begin Monday under tight security at the federal courthouse in Boston and could take several weeks." ...

     ... Boston Globe UPDATE: "Jury selection has begun in the trial of accused Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, with about 1,200 people being called in over the next the next three days to be considered as jurors in the case. U.S. District Court Judge George O'Toole Jr., the judge overseeing the trial, said it will begin on Jan. 26 and is expected to last three to four months."

The Commentariat -- January 4, 2015

Internal links removed.

CW: Just had a three-plus-hour power outage because ... two whole inches of snow. More snow expected today -- more power outages anticipated. If I can borrow MAG's sled dogs to get out to my car to load it with stuff, I'll be traveling most of the week. This is my way of saying, "Expect snow delays on Reality Chex."

David Nakamura of the Washington Post: "President Obama plans to make an aggressive push to tout his economic policies ahead of his State of the Union address on Jan. 20, starting with a swing through three states after he returns to Washington early Sunday from two weeks of vacation in Hawaii."

Senate Democrats Win Popular Majority! Really. Dylan Matthews of Vox: "On Tuesday, 33 US senators elected in November will be sworn in by Vice President Joe Biden -- including 12 who are new to the chamber. The class includes 22 Republicans and 11 Democrats, a big reason why the GOP has a 54-46 majority in the Senate overall. But here's a crazy fact: those 46 Democrats got more votes than the 54 Republicans across the 2010, 2012, and 2014 elections." Matthews doesn't pull any punches when contemplating what to do about it: "The Senate is a profoundly anti-democratic body and should be abolished." Okey-doke.

On wealth inequality, Dylan Matthews shreds Harvard economist Greg Mankiw. CW: Mankiw's stunningly stupid argument is a paradigm of how conservatives -- even presumably "smart" ones -- pervert the most basic, widely-known realities (historical & otherwise) in service of their own insupportable schemes & beliefs. ...

... Funny, short post by Scott Lemieux in LGM on "The Ongoing Influence of Michele Bachmann's Historical Theories." (You have to read Matthews' post on Mankiw to understand Lemieux.)

Edward Kleinbard, in a New York Times op-ed: "While seemingly arcane, the change [to dynamic scoring] could have significant, negative consequences for enacting sustainable, long-term fiscal policies.... Economists describe [a recent GOP effort at dynamic scoring] as 'making counterfactual assumptions'; the rest of us call it 'making stuff up.'"... The Republicans' interest in dynamic scoring ... comes from political factions convinced that tax cuts are the panacea for all economic ills. They will use dynamic scoring to justify a tax cut that, under conventional scorekeeping, loses revenue. When revenues do in fact decline and deficits rise, those same proponents will push for steep cuts in government insurance or investment programs, because they will claim that the models demand it." ...

... Vicki Needham of the Hill: "Senate Democrats are warning Republicans to tread carefully with their selection of a budget scorekeeper for the new Congress, saying they will 'strongly object to any effort to politicize this important office.'"

Rosalind Helderman & Matt Zapotosky of the Washington Post: "In the strange four months of enforced limbo that have separated [Bob] McDonnell's shocking guilty verdict from his much-anticipated sentencing Tuesday, the former Republican governor has in some ways presided over an extended wake for his own once-promising political and personal future.... The probation office has calculated that sentencing guidelines call for him to spend between 10 and 12 ¹/₂ years in prison. Prosecutors have endorsed that recommendation, and judges in the Eastern District of Virginia accept probation office guidelines in 70 percent of cases."

A Discriminating Dress Code. Igor Bobic of the Huffington Post: "Oklahoma residents are concerned that a proposed bill would make it a crime to wear a hooded sweatshirt, or hoodie, in public on many occasions, according to local news station KFOR. The wearing of hoods or similar head coverings during the commission of a crime has been against state law since the 1920s, with the original intent of curbing violence perpetrated by the Ku Klux Klan. But the new proposal would also ban an individual from intentionally concealing 'his or her identity in a public place by means of a robe, mask, or other disguise' even if he or she were not involved in a crime. Violation of the proposed law would constitute a misdemeanor, punishable by a fine up to $500." CW: The good news: the law would exempt hoods worn for "minstrel shows," among other occasions. Really. Might be a good idea for black teens to carry banjos during inclement weather.

Andrew Higgins & Andrew Kramer of the New York Times: "An investigation by The Times into the final hours of President Viktor F. Yanukovych's rule [of Ukraine] shows that he was not so much overthrown last year as cast adrift by his own allies, and Western officials were just as surprised by the meltdown as anyone else."

Digby on Mario Cuomo's "Tale of Two Cities" convention speech. CW: I think digby gets it exactly right. ...

... God News

While we always owe our bishops' words respectful attention and careful consideration, the question whether to engage the political system in a struggle to have it adopt certain articles of our belief as part of public morality, is not a matter of doctrine: it is a matter of prudential political judgment. -- Gov. Mario Cuomo (D-N.Y.), at the University of Notre Dame, September 1984

... Jim Fallows on Mario Cuomo's other important 1984 speech: "That was the second speech I want to mention, a year earlier,* at Notre Dame, in which the very publicly Jesuitical Governor Cuomo talked about the separation of church and state, in a speech titled 'A Catholic Governor's Perspective.' You can watch the whole thing via (non-embeddable) C-SPAN report here.... you can read the full text from Notre Dame's archives, here.... Among politicians of the past generation-plus seen as national-level contenders, he was the most accomplished and engrossing public thinker. (This is also Obama's strength, and presumably he will overtake Cuomo through the scale of the issues he has been involved in.)" ...

     ... * CW: As noted above, Cuomo gave the speech at Notre Dame in September 1984, a few months after the Democratic National Convention speech, not "a year earlier," as Fallows writes. ...

... David Gibson of Religion News Service: "Cuomo was also just as famous for elaborating a rationale by which Catholic politicians like himself could be personally opposed to abortion but could still support and defend a legal right to abortion.... Now, a new generation of Catholics conservatives -- mainly Republicans -- invoke the same kind of 'personally opposed' ethos to part ways with their church on issues like economic and foreign policy, the death penalty and immigration reform.... Cuomo even anticipated conservatives' adoption of his stance when he asked if he would have to follow the bishops' teaching on economic justice 'even if I am an unrepentant supply sider?'... Ironically, Cuomo's vision may have won out since nearly all Catholic politicians are cafeteria Catholics now -- picking and choosing which Catholic teachings they want to highlight." CW: Gibson points out how Cuomo's stance on abortion differed from, say, Marco Rubio's Pope-dissing.

Frances D'Emilio of the AP: "Pope Francis named 15 new cardinals Sunday, selecting them from 14 nations, including far-flung corners of the world such as Tonga, New Zealand, Cape Verde and Myanmar, to reflect the diversity of the church and its growth in places like Asia and Africa. Other cardinals hail from Ethiopia, Thailand and Vietnam. Another is form Sicily, where the Church in recent decades has been galvanizing public rejection of the Mafia."

Reuters: "One of Germany's most famous landmarks, Cologne Cathedral, will be plunged into darkness on Monday evening in protest at a march by a growing grass-roots anti-Muslim movement through the western German city, cathedral authorities said. The rise of the group, Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamisation of the West (PEGIDA), has shaken Germany's political establishment, prompting Chancellor Angela Merkel to say in her New Year address that its leaders were racists full of hatred and citizens should beware being used." ...

... Al Jazeera: "Swedes expressing solidarity with Muslims have staged manifestations after a series of recent attacks on mosques. In the city of Uppsala, where anti-Muslim rhetoric was scrawled onto a mosque wall on Thursday, hundreds of people pasted red paper hearts and messages of support onto the building's entrance ahead of Friday prayers. A day before the so-called love bombing, police said a Molotov cocktail was hurled at the mosque without causing a fire. Earlier this week, a mosque in Eslov in the south suffered partial damage after a blaze that police suspect was arson. And on Christmas Day, five people were injured when a petrol bomb was thrown through a window of a mosque in the town of Eskilstuna."

Sally Morrow of Religion News Service posts photos of "the winners of the 2014 International Awards Program for Religious Art & Architecture, given out by Faith & Form, the interfaith journal on religion, art and architecture." ...

... Nice enough, but give me a good old-fashioned gothic (or neo-gothic) church any day. I attended a carol singing at St. Peter & Paul's Chapel in Concord, New Hampshire, a week or so before Christmas, and it was magical. At left is a shot of the interior.

David Segal of the New York Times: When United Airlines lost a monk's ticket, his fellow monk was outraged, & the order used their Website as a vehicle to get United to make things right with God. ...

... Maybe they should have posted a Gregorian chant. Here's one of my favorite Web videos:

... Singer/songwriter/performer Dave Carroll eventually also effected a happy ending, thanks to the video & subsequent publicity. United, not so much. ...

... Presidential Race

Robert Costa & Katie Zezima of the Washington Post: "Mike Huckabee is leaving Fox News to decide whether he wants to run for president. The Republican former governor of Arkansas said that Saturday night's episode of 'Huckabee' is the last.... An early test for Huckabee's 2016 ambitions will begin later this month when he goes on a national tour to tout his new book, 'God, Guns, Grits and Gravy'...."

News Ledes

Boo-Yah! ESPN: "Stuart Scott, a longtime anchor at ESPN, died Sunday morning at the age of 49."

AP: "Thousands of uniformed police officers from across the U.S. are expected to attend the funeral Sunday of the second New York Police Department officer fatally shot with his partner in their patrol car two weeks ago. Buddhist monks will lead a Chinese ceremony for Officer Wenjian Liu, followed by a traditional police ceremony with eulogies led by a chaplain. The funeral follows a somber wake the day before as mourners lined up for blocks on a cold, rainy day to pay their respects."

AFP: "Weather was the 'triggering factor' in the crash of AirAsia Flight 8501 with icing likely causing engine damage, Indonesian officials said, as rough seas Sunday hampered the search for bodies and the sunken wreckage."

Guardian: "North Korea has furiously denounced the United States for imposing sanctions in retaliation for the Pyongyang regime's alleged cyber-attack on Sony Pictures. North Korea's foreign ministry reiterated that it did not have any role in the breach of tens of thousands of confidential Sony emails and business files and accused the US of 'groundlessly' stirring up hostility towards Pyongyang. He said the new sanctions would not weaken the country's 1.2 million-strong military."

AP: "Maine's former top drug prosecutor who fled to New Mexico after he was convicted of child pornography charges is appealing his nearly 16-year prison sentence." CW: Apparently the former prosecutor, James Cameron, like so many Americans, was unaware that New Mexico is one of the United States.

The Commentariat -- January 3, 2015

Internal links removed.

Brian Faler of Politico: "The question of who will be Congress' next chief number-cruncher has suddenly gotten a lot more important. Republicans, who are considering replacing the head of the Congressional Budget Office, are leaving it up to the agency to decide how to implement their long-sought plans to [apply so-called 'dynamic scoring' to] taxes and other legislation.... A draft of House rules for the upcoming Congress would require scorekeepers to begin using the methodology. But, to the surprise of some Democrats, Republicans are stopping well short of telling them how to do it.... The wide latitude given to the CBO could help insulate Republicans from charges they are threatening the credibility of Congress' independent budget analysts in their drive to reduce taxes. But it also raises the stakes in the question of who will run the office, because economists have widely varying opinions of how tax cuts affect the economy." ...

... CW: In other words, Republicans know dynamic scoring is phony, so they plan to shift responsibility for it to the CBO & begin every sentence with, "According to the CBO's own methodology..., blah-blah. Cute. Fortunately for the GOP, this is way too arcane for the public to follow, so Republicans will get away with it.

Michael Schmidt & David Sanger of the New York Times: "The Obama administration doubled down on Friday on its allegation that North Korea's leadership was behind the hacking of Sony Pictures as it announced new sanctions on 10 senior North Korean officials and several organizations. Administration officials said the action was part of what President Obama promised would be a 'proportional response' against the country. But White House officials said there was no evidence that the 10 officials took part in ordering or planning the Sony attack, although they described them as central to a number of provocative actions against the United States."

Rocco Parascandola & Larry McShane of the New York Daily News: "NYPD Commissioner William Bratton wants his officers to show respect, rather than their backs, at the Sunday funeral for assassinated colleague Officer Wenjian Liu. Bratton, in an internal message distributed Friday to citywide commands, urged the rank and file not to repeat last week's show of disdain for Mayor de Blasio during the service for slain cop Rafael Ramos."

Wesley Lowery of the Washington Post: "City officials in Cleveland announced on Friday that they are handing over the investigation into the Nov. 22 police shooting of 12-year-old Tamir Rice to the county sheriff's office."

Sandhya Somashekhar of the Washington Post: "Key organizers of the wave of recent protests over police treatment of African Americans lashed out at Oprah Winfrey Friday over comments she made to People magazine criticizing their movement as 'leaderless.'" ...

... CW: I'm with Oprah on this. The failure of Occupy, for instance, was not a failure of motivation nor of goals. It was a failure of leadership & design. The idea that organization, strategy & planning denigrate the ideal of equality may be true, but it is also self-defeating. Thousands of people were extremely active in the civil, women's & gay rights movements, but leaders made things happen, & not just through protests. They fought the law, and they won. As long as every protest is an individual protest, the entrenched system will win. And, yes, there were differences within each of these movements, but those who took the long view & fought with steady, goal-oriented determination were the ones who effected changes.

The New York Times Editors write a lovely eulogy to Mario Cuomo.

Melissa Eddy of the New York Times: "... the relentless stream of migrants to Europe -- propelled by the war in Syria and turmoil across the Middle East and the Horn of Africa -- has combined with economic troubles and rising fear of Islamic radicalism to fuel a backlash against immigrants, directed most viciously at Muslims. The simmering resentments and suspicions have driven debates across Europe about tighter controls on immigration. Worries about immigration have helped buoy right-wing parties in Britain, Denmark, France and Hungary. German officials recorded more than 70 attacks against mosques from 2012 to 2014.... There are few places where the turn against immigrants is more surprising than Sweden, where a solid core of citizens still supports the 65-year-old open door policy toward immigrants facing hardship that has long earned international respect for the country."

Presidential Election

A History Lesson for Hillary. Gail Collins: "The only president elected to follow a member of his own party without creating some sort of cosmic disaster was George H.W. Bush." Read the whole column. It's interesting & funny.

News Ledes

Washington Post: "Edward W. Brooke, who in 1966 became the first African American popularly elected to the U.S. Senate and who influenced major anti-poverty laws before his bright political career unraveled over allegations of financial impropriety, died Jan. 3 at his home in Coral Gables, Fla. He was 95." The AP story is here. ...

     ... Update: The Boston Globe's obituary is here.

New York Times: "A British health worker who is being treated for Ebola in a London hospital is now in critical condition, her doctors said on Saturday. The patient, Pauline Cafferkey, a nurse from Scotland who had volunteered with the charity Save the Children to care for Ebola victims in Sierra Leone, returned to Glasgow, Scotland, last Sunday."

AP: "Indonesian officials said Saturday that they were confident wreckage of AirAsia Flight 8501 had been located after sonar equipment detected four massive objects on the ocean floor." ...

... Washington Post: "AirAsia was not authorized to fly from Surabaya to Singapore the day that one of its passenger jets attempted the route and crashed into the Java Sea amid poor weather conditions, according to Indonesian officials. Transportation Ministry Spokesman J.A. Barata told the Wall Street Journal that the air carrier was only allowed to make the flight four days of the week, but not on Sunday."

Guardian: "A woman who claims that an American investment banker loaned her to rich and powerful friends as an underage 'sex slave' has alleged in a US court document that she was repeatedly forced to have sexual relations with [Britain's] Prince Andrew.... Another close associate of [financier Jeffrey] Epstein who is also accused in the lawsuit, Alan Dershowitz, told the Guardian that the woman’s accusations against himself were 'totally false and made up'." ...

... Guardian: "Lawyers have asked the US government to hand over any letters or other documents it might have relating to the claims of two women that Prince Andrew was among those who lobbied its justice department on behalf of the billionaire financier and convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein."

Yahoo! News: "A 7-year-old girl walked three-quarters of a mile through rugged terrain Friday night -- after surviving a plane crash that killed her father, mother, sister, and cousin. The child had been aboard her family's Piper PA-34 heading from Key West, Fla., to their home state of Illinois, but the plane crashed in western Kentucky."

Washington Post: "A suspected al-Qaeda terrorist died Friday night just days before he was slated to go on trial in New York on charges of helping plan the 1998 bombings outside U.S. embassies in Tanzania and Kenya that killed 224 people, his lawyer said. Among the dead were 12 Americans, including two CIA employees. Nazih Abdul-Hamed al-Ruqai was diagnosed with advanced liver cancer after U.S. commandos and FBI agents captured him in a 2013 raid outside his house in a suburb of Tripoli, Libya."

White House: "In this week's address, the Vice President wished Americans a Happy New Year, and asked that as we make resolutions to get healthier in 2015, we take the time to sign up for health insurance through the Affordable Care Act":