The Commentariat -- March 13, 2014

** Joe Williams in the Atlantic: "My Life as a Retail Worker: Nasty, Brutish, and Poor." Via Charles Pierce. CW: Williams' story is not some isolated case. This is what life is like for workers in many, if not most, American retail establishments today. This pervasive horror, BTW, is brought to you by the systematic unfettering of the Gods of Capitalism, a feature presentation produced & directed by the Grand Old Party.

Peter Baker & Michael Gordon of the New York Times: "President Obama and Ukraine's interim prime minister opened the door on Wednesday to a political solution that could lead to more autonomy for Crimea if Russian troops withdraw, as the United States embarked on a last-ditch diplomatic effort to defuse a crisis that reignited tensions between East and West. The tentative feeler came as Mr. Obama dispatched Secretary of State John Kerry to London to meet with his Russian counterpart on Friday, two days before a Russian-supported referendum in Crimea on whether to secede from Ukraine."

Jonathan Landay, et al., of McClatchy News: "The White House has been withholding for five years more than 9,000 top-secret documents sought by the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence for its investigation into the now-defunct CIA detention and interrogation program, even though President Barack Obama hasn't exercised a claim of executive privilege. In contrast to public assertions that it supports the committee's work, the White House has ignored or rejected offers in multiple meetings and in letters to find ways for the committee to review the records.... The dispute indicates that the White House is more involved than it has acknowledged in the unprecedented power struggle between the committee and the CIA...." ...

... Jonathan Weisman & Mark Mazzetti of the New York Times: Sen. Dianne "Feinstein [D-Calif.] shocked her Senate colleagues, caught the [C.I.A.] flat-footed and forced a response from [C.I.A. Director John] Brennan on something he had hoped could be resolved without the rancor's becoming public. The 40-minute broadside by Ms. Feinstein, the normally circumspect chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, has set up a showdown between the executive and legislative branches of government.... What ultimately pushed Ms. Feinstein to make her accusations public, according to congressional officials, were news media reports at the end of last week that contained anonymous accusations against the committee's staff."

Sari Horwitz of the Washington Post: "Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. on Thursday will urge reduced sentences for defendants in most of the nation's drug cases, part of his effort to cut the burgeoning U.S. prison population and reserve stiff penalties for the most violent traffickers. Holder's proposal, which is expected to be approved by the independent agency that sets sentencing policies for federal judges, would affect 70 percent of drug offenders in the criminal justice system, according to figures provided by Justice Department officials. It would reduce sentences by an average of nearly a year."

Igor Volsky of Think Progress: "House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI) previewed his upcoming legislative proposals for reforming America's poverty programs during an appearance on Bill Bennett’s Morning in America Wednesday, hinting that he would focus on creating work requirements for men 'in our inner cities' and dealing with the 'real culture problem' in these communities. 'We have got this tailspin of culture, in our inner cities in particular, of men not working and just generations of men not even thinking about working or learning the value and the culture of work, and so there is a real culture problem here that has to be dealt with,' he said." ...

... CW: In case your GOPese is rusty, allow me to translate: Thesis: "Black men are lazy. Their fathers are lazy. Their grandfathers were lazy." Corollary: "I'm going to cure their lazy asses by kicking them off the dole." ...

... CW: Maybe the reason Republicans hate/fear President Obama so much is a kind of "secondary racism." Their core belief -- a belief on which they conveniently justify all their mean-spirited pro-poverty policies -- is that "black people are lazy." They may think this character flaw dates back to the days when slavery was legal & work slowdowns were a means of protest, or they may think it is genetic. Whatever. But these guys believe black people are lazy as surely as they believe in the Second Coming. And Obama just does not accommodate their stereotype. Ergo, he is not even a legitimate black man, much less a legitimate president. Everything Obama Does Is Wrong because that is as it must be: a lazy guy cannot be a good POTUS. ...

... Julia Azari, in the Washington Post, on President Obama's "Between Two Ferns" bit, & on presidential communications techniques: "Traffic appears to be up at the HealthCare.gov site, which, of course, was the immediate goal. In the long term, we may see whether a president has finally succeeded in changing what it means to 'look presidential.'"

Obama Derangement Syndrome, Ctd.

At a stopover on a fundraising trip to New York City, President Obama visited a Gap store to buy sweaters for his wife & daughters & to thank stores like the Gap & Costco for raising the minimum they pay their employees:

... Reuters: "Using a credit card to pay, Obama pretended that he did not know that he could sign his name on the credit card machine." ...

... This of course was not enough for wingers. All over the Internets yesterday, they were describing the President as "out of touch."

Gail Collins: "Most American mothers work, and they are already guilt-ridden over everything under the sun.... Most American mothers feel remarkably successful when everybody gets off to school with matching socks. Now Paul Ryan wants to tell them they've committed child abuse by failure to fill a brown bag." ...

... Philip Elliott of the AP: "Invoking fiery references to Satan, 'savagery' and a 'culture of death' to criticize their opponents, anti-abortion lawmakers on Wednesday insisted that Republican contenders keep an intense focus on social issues in the upcoming midterm elections and the 2016 presidential race." Among the headliners: Sens. Mike Lee (RTP-Utah) & Ted Cruz (RTP-Texas) & former Gov. Mike Huckabee (RTP-Ark.). ...

... Laura Stampler of Time: "When speaking at a gala funded by pro-life group Susan B. Anthony List Wednesday night, former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee posed a question: if Americans condone abortion, then could the next step be killing people at the end of their lives for the sake of convenience? Huckabee named financial and social hardships as a popular justification for abortions, Politico reported, and said the very same justification could be used for ending the life of an elderly parent who has become a burden."

Alan Blinder & Richard Oppel of the New York Times: "The most important sexual assault prosecution in the military [-- that of Brig. Gen. Jeffrey A. Sinclair --] came apart on Monday. But cracks had appeared two months earlier in the same North Carolina military courtroom." CW: Fairly fascinating, and a good example of why the New York Times is an important newspaper: their reporters get the goods & know how to write 'em up.

Beyond the Beltway

"Rape Insurance." Laura Conaway of NBC News: "The Michigan state legislature yesterday finished passing a bill that requires women to buy separate coverage ahead of time for abortion if they want to have coverage for it at all. The measure applies to private health insurance, and it has no exceptions for rape or incest.... The final vote was 27-11 in the Senate, to go along with passage in the House of 62-47. Republican Governor Rick Snyder vetoed a similar bill last year. But because the bill this time arose as a citizens' initiative, it does not require a signature from the governor -- neither can he veto it. Had the Michigan legislature sent it on to the ballot, it faced a divided electorate, with voters opposed to it by 47 percent to 41 percent in a recent poll. The bill will take effect early next year." Thanks to Julie for the link. She says Rachel Maddow ran a segment on this new law Wednesday night.

Yvonne Sanchez of the Arizona Republic: "Gov. Jan Brewer announced Wednesday she will not seek another term in office, an effort that would have required a long-shot court challenge to the state's term limits."

Kelly Heyboer of the Star-Ledger: " The faculty at Rutgers-Newark's voted today to call for the university to rescind an invitation to former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to serve as the university's commencement speaker. The Rutgers-Newark professors joined their counterparts on the university's New Brunswick campus, who last month called for Rice to be disinvited because of her role in the Iraq war and the Bush administration's approval of controversial prisoner interrogation techniques."

Florida Was Not Always Stupid

Robert McFadden of the New York Times: "Reubin Askew, a progressive 'New South' Democrat who promoted racial equality and ethics reforms as a two-term governor of Florida in the 1970s and campaigned briefly for the presidency in 1984 and for the Senate in 1988, died early on Thursday in Tallahassee. He was 85."

Congressional Race

CW: There's a lot of morning-after analysis on the Jolly/Sink/Other-Guy special election in Florida's 13th Congressional district, & a lot of it focuses on the ObamaCare factor. But I think Brian Beutler is one guy who gets this right: "Isolating an 'Obamacare effect' is pretty complex, and anyone claiming today that the Obamacare effect was huge or obviously decisive is probably peddling snake oil."

CW: I will say that Alex Sink is one of the most boring candidates imaginable. She makes Bill Nelson (that's our Democratic Senator, in case you -- understandably -- never heard of him) seem exciting. The only Democratic Florida politician I can think of off the top of my head who is a vaguely interesting person is Charlie Crist, and he was a Republican not so long ago. The 2008 Democratic primary gave the state's party a chance to recruit really good local candidates. But the party, which is moribund, either could not be bothered or is so ossified the group-think is that Alex Sink -- a former Bank of America executive -- is fun & delightful.

News Ledes

New York Times: "As lawmakers press General Motors and regulators over their decade-long failure to correct a defective ignition switch, a new review of federal crash data shows that 303 people died after the air bags failed to deploy on two of the models that were recalled last month."

New York Times: "Four years after the Deepwater Horizon rig explosion, BP is being welcomed back to seek new oil leases in the Gulf of Mexico. An agreement on Thursday with the Environmental Protection Agency lifts a 2012 ban that was imposed after the agency concluded that BP had not fully corrected problems that led to the well blowout in 2010 that killed 11 rig workers, spilled millions of gallons of oil and contaminated hundreds of miles of beaches."

Guardian: "Malaysian authorities have said reports that the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 may have flown for an additional four hours beyond its last sighting are inaccurate, and that the final information received from its engines indicated everything was operating normally. Sources described as familiar with the details of the missing Boeing 777's data had told the Wall Street Journal that US investigators believed the plane had flown for a total of five hours, indicating that the plane may have been diverted 'with the intention of using it later for another purpose'." ...

     ... Washington Post Update: "The search for a missing Malaysian jetliner with 239 people on board could expand west into the Indian Ocean based on information that the plane may have flown for four more hours after it dropped from radar, U.S. officials said Thursday. A senior American official said the information came from a data stream sent directly by engines aboard Malaysia Airlines Flight 370. If the two engines on the Boeing 777 functioned for up to four additional hours, that could strengthen concern that a rogue pilot or hijacker took control of the plane early Saturday over the Gulf of Thailand." ...

     ... The New York Times update is here.

Reuters: "The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits unexpectedly fell and hit a fresh three-month low last week, suggesting a strengthening in labor market conditions."

The Commentariat -- March 12, 2014

Internal links removed.

Mark Mazzetti & Jonathan Weisman of the New York Times: "A festering conflict between the Central Intelligence Agency and its congressional overseers broke into the open Tuesday when Senator Dianne Feinstein, chairman of the intelligence committee and one of the C.I.A.'s staunchest defenders, delivered an extraordinary denunciation of the agency, accusing it of withholding information about its treatment of prisoners and trying to intimidate committee staff members investigating the detention program." ...

... Via Roll Call, here's the full transcript of Feinstein's speech. ...

... ** New York Times Editors: Sen. "Dianne Feinstein has provided stark and convincing evidence that the C.I.A. may have committed crimes to prevent the exposure of interrogations that she said were 'far different and far more harsh' than anything the agency had described to Congress.... The lingering fog about the C.I.A. detentions is a result of Mr. Obama's decision when he took office to conduct no investigation of them. We can only hope he knows that when he has lost Dianne Feinstein, he has no choice but to act in favor of disclosure and accountability." ...

... Eli Lake of the Daily Beast: "The normally cool and calm director of the CIA, John Brennan, may have flinched Tuesday. After a scathing speech from Sen. Dianne Feinstein..., Brennan largely defended the CIA from charges that it illegally spied on Senate staffers.... But the CIA chief also left open the prospect that he may have been wrong. 'If I did something wrong,' Brennan said. 'I will go to the president and I will explain to him what I did and what the findings were. And he is the one who can ask me to stay or to go.'" CW: Sounds as if he's typed his resignation letter & is prepared to, well, fall on it. Which could lead to a paper cut, not a pre-existing condition that would preclude his getting a lucrative private-sector job. ...

... Paul Lewis of the Guardian: "... Edward Snowden accused the chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee of double standards on Tuesday, pointing out that her outrage at evidence her staff were spied on by the CIA was not matched by concern about widespread surveillance of ordinary citizens." ...

If it is correct that the CIA breached the security of Senate computers, that is a very serious allegation. I would note, it is consistent with a pattern of the Obama administration, of disregarding the constitutional liberties of the citizenry and disrespecting the constitutional role of the United States Congress. And I would say that protecting the institutional authority of the U.S. Congress is not helped, when during the State of the Union, President Obama says, 'If Congress won't act, I will,' and virtually every Democrat in Congress stands and cheers. -- Sen. Ted Cruz (RTP-Texas)., forgetting to specifically mention Benghaaazi! ...

... David Corn of Mother Jones: "What Feinstein didn't say -- but it's surely implied -- is that without effective monitoring, secret government cannot be justified in a democracy. This is indeed a defining moment. It's a big deal for President Barack Obama, who, as is often noted in these situations, once upon a time taught constitutional law. Feinstein has ripped open a scab to reveal a deep wound that has been festering for decades. The president needs to respond in a way that demonstrates he is serious about making the system work and restoring faith in the oversight of the intelligence establishment. This is more than a spies-versus-pols DC turf battle. It is a constitutional crisis." ...

... Amy Davidson of the New Yorker: "There were crimes, after September 11th, that took place in hidden rooms with video cameras running. And then there were coverups, a whole series of them, escalating from the destruction of the videotapes to the deleting of documents to what Feinstein now calls 'a defining moment' in the constitutional balance between the legislature and the executive branch, and between privacy and surveillance. Senator Patrick Leahy said afterward that he could not remember a speech he considered so important." ...

... Dana Milbank: "President Obama's foes have been trying for years to uncover scandal in his administration. But the most damning allegation of wrongdoing was leveled on the Senate floor Tuesday morning -- by ... Dianne Feinstein.... The White House needs to cough up documents it is withholding from the public, and it should remove the CIA officials involved and subject them to an independent prosecutor's investigation. ...

... Maureen Dowd: "Barack Obama, the former Constitutional law teacher who became president vowing to clean up the excesses and Constitutional corrosion of W. and Cheney, will now have to clean up the excesses and Constitutional corrosion in his own administration. And he'd better get out from between two ferns and get in between the warring Congressional Democrats and administration officials -- all opening criminal investigations of each other -- because it looks as if the C.I.A. is continuing to run amok to cover up what happened in the years W. and Vice encouraged it to run amok. Langley needs a come-to-Jesus moment -- pronto." ...

... CW BTW: If you didn't watch Zack Galifianakis's "Between the Ferns" "interview" of President Obama yesterday, you missed something. President Obama is an excellent comedian. Although I had no trouble playing it early in the day yesterday, I did notice that there were loading problems both with my embed & at the Funny or Die site, as there are now (late Tuesday). An unintentional tribute to Healthcare.gov, I guess. (I had better luck in Chrome than in Firefox.) ...

Abe Lincoln would never have appeared on 'Funny or Die.' -- Bill O'Reilly

[Lincoln was] 'the first authentic humorist to occupy the Executive Office in Washington, his gift of laughter and his flair for the funny being taken as a national belonging. -- Carl Sandburg (via Steve M.)

Personally, I believe that Zack Galifianakis is a Russian agent. You would, too, if you followed O'Reilly's logic. Also, As Steve M. points out, O'Reilly -- the supposed co-author of a book about Lincoln -- seems to know nothing about Lincoln. But, hey -- Bill O'Reilly, Carl Sandburg -- who ya gonna believe? -- Constant Weader

** David Firestone, of the New York Times, responding to commenters' claims that unions "far outspend" the Koch brothers' political contributions: "... unions poured about $400 million into the 2012 elections. That almost matched the $407 million raised and spent by the Koch network in that same election cycle. Two brothers, aided by a small and shadowy group of similarly wealthy donors, spent more than millions of union members.... For the most part, unions, unlike the Koch network, don't try to disguise their contributions in a maze of interlocking 'social welfare' groups.... There's a world of difference between a small group of tycoons writing huge checks, and a huge group of workers writing small ones." P.S. Many Times commenters are ignorant, as is Kim Stassel of the Wall Street Journal.

Eduardo Porter of the New York Times: "In his bracing 'Capital in the Twenty-First Century,' which hit bookstores on Monday, Professor [Thomas] Piketty provides a fresh and sweeping analysis of the world's economic history.... The economic forces concentrating more and more wealth into the hands of the fortunate few are almost sure to prevail for a very long time. It is possible to slow, or even reverse, the trend, if political leaders like President Obama, who proposed that income inequality was the 'defining challenge of our time,' really push." Porter has a Q&A with Piketty here.

Michael Shear & Steven Greenblatt of the New York Times: "President Obama this week will seek to force American businesses to pay more overtime to millions of workers, the latest move by his administration to confront corporations that have had soaring profits even as wages have stagnated. On Thursday, the president will direct the Labor Department to revamp its regulations to require overtime pay for several million additional fast-food managers, loan officers, computer technicians and others whom many businesses currently classify as 'executive or professional' employees to avoid paying them overtime...."

Robert Pear of the New York Times: "Almost a million people signed up last month for private health insurance under the Affordable Care Act, federal officials said Tuesday, bringing the total to date to 4.2 million but leaving the Obama administration well short of its original goal, with less than a month to go before the end of the open enrollment period."

The '60s Are Back. Emily Bazelon of Slate: "What the religious right really thinks of birth control: ... Protected sex demeans women by making men disrespect them.... By separating sex from childbearing, birth control is to blame for the erosion of marriage, for the economic difficulties of single motherhood, and even for the rotten behavior of men who beat their girlfriends and wives. Birth control is the original sin of modernity. Its widespread availability changed everything, for the worse." The right of women to have protected sexual relations is what the Supreme Court will decide in two cases coming before it this year.

Charlie Savage of the New York Times & Laura Poitras: Documents leaked by Edward Snowden "add new details to the emerging public understanding of a secret body of law that the [Foreign Intelligence Surveillance C]ourt has developed since 2001. The files help explain how the court evolved from its original task -- approving wiretap requests -- to engaging in complex analysis of the law to justify activities like the bulk collection of data about Americans' emails and phone calls."

Nicholas Watt of the Guardian: "The European Union is on course to impose travel bans and to freeze the assets of Russian officials and military officers involved in the occupation of Crimea by next Monday if Moscow declines to accept the formation of a 'contact group' to establish a dialogue with Ukraine."

Where in the World Is Russ Feingold? Stuart Reid has the answer in a long Politico Magazine piece.

Congressional Race

Alex Cleary, et al., of the Tampa Bay Times: "Republican David Jolly on Tuesday night won the closely-watched, extremely expensive and relentlessly negative battle for Florida's 13th Congressional District, signaling trouble for Democrats as they head into the midterm elections and face the weight of Obamacare.... Jolly's victory over Democrat Alex Sink was secured about 7:30 p.m., and he will fill the seat that had been occupied more than four decades by his former boss, Rep. C.W. Bill Young, whose death in October set off the special election."

Josh Kraushaar of the National Journal: "Tuesday night's special election in Florida should be a serious scare for Democrats who worry that Obamacare will be a major burden for their party in 2014. Despite recruiting favored candidate Alex Sink, outspending Republicans, and utilizing turnout tools to help motivate reliable voters, Democrats still lost to Republican lobbyist David Jolly -- and it wasn't particularly close."

Greg Sargent: "... there are too many variables in play to say whether this means Dems will be in serious trouble in states like Michigan and Colorado many months from now. Maybe they will be, but we just don;t know yet." ...

** Charles Pierce: "If you want to take any lesson from the election in Florida, take this one. Defend the [Affordable Care Act]. Defend it on the basis of the fact that millions of people no longer face economic ruin because a member of their family might get sick. Defend the law on the basis of economic populism; marry your support for the law to an increase in the minimum wage, Elizabeth Warren's student-loan reform, and expanded unemployment benefits. (Tie it to this excellent idea that the president announced today.) Explain, in detail, why expanding Social Security makes sense in a stalled economy. Defend the law on the basis of the fact that the Republicans have absolutely nothing to offer on the issue...."

David Nir of Daily Kos: "Daily Kos Elections is moving this [November's] race [for Florida's 13th] from Tossup to Lean Republican, though we anticipate it will become less competitive and not more so in the future."

Beyond the Beltway Disgusting

Travis Gettys of the Raw Story: "... New Hampshire Republican ... State Rep. Kyle Tasker (R-Nottingham) posted an image Monday on his public Facebook page that showed two figures engaged in oral sex with the caption, '50,000 battered women and I still eat [mine] plain.'" ...

... William Tucker of Miscellany.blue posts the original Facebook entry. ...

... CW: New Hampshire legislators receive a salary of $100/year. Tasker is overpaid. His colleagues should impeach him.

News Ledes

New York Times: "After four days of reticence and evasive answers, the Malaysian military acknowledged on Wednesday that it had recorded, but initially ignored, radar signalsthat could have prompted a mission to intercept and track a missing jetliner -- data that vastly expands the area where the plane might have traveled. Radar signals from the location where the missing aircraft, Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, was last contacted by ground controllers suggested that the plane may have turned away from its northeastward.... Military radar then detected an unidentified aircraft at several points, apparently headed west across the Malay Peninsula and out into the Indian Ocean, the head of the country's air force told reporters. The last detected location was hundreds of miles to the west of where search and rescue efforts were initially focused."

New York Times: "The nutritional supplement company Herbalife said on Wednesday that it had received a civil investigative demandfrom the Federal Trade Commission. The company has been the focus of a 15-month crusade by the hedge fund billionaire William A. Ackman, who has accused the company of being a pyramid scheme and has wagered $1 billion on its collapse."

The Commentariat -- March 11, 2014

NEW. Mark Mazzetti of the New York Times: "The chairwoman of the Senate intelligence committee on Tuesday accused the Central Intelligence Agency of improperly removing documents from computers that committee staff members had been using to complete a report on the agency's detention program, saying the move was part of an effort to intimidate the committee. Senator Dianne Feinstein, Democrat of California and the chairwoman of the committee, suggested on the Senate floor that the agency had violated federal law and said the C.I.A. had undermined Congress's constitutional right to oversee the actions of the executive branch.... John O. Brennan, the C.I.A. director, denied Ms. Feinstein's assertions...."

Jay Newton-Small of Time: "As predicted, the Senate on Monday passed landmark legislation overhauling the regulations on how the Defense Department handles cases of sexual assault. The bill, passed the the legislation 97-0. It now goes to the House where passage is also likely. The measure's success was all but assured Friday after a competing bill sponsored by New York Democrat Kirsten Gillibrand failed to overcome a Senate filibuster.... Gillibrand ... vowed to continue fighting for her measure. The key difference between the two bills is that Gillibrand's legislation would have taken the prosecution of sexual assault cases out of the chain of command and given it to the Judge Advocates General Corps."

Suzanne Goldenberg of the Guardian: "Democratic Senators preparing to lead an all-nighter of climate speeches on Monday admitted a climate change bill would collapse in today's Congress -- but said they hoped to prime the politics for 2015 and the 2016 presidential race. More than two dozen Democratic Senators signed on to participate in an all-night session of speeches on climate change which was scheduled to run from about 6.30pm on Monday night to the start of the working day on Tuesday." ...

... Give 'em Hell, Harry. Ramsey Cox of the Hill: "Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) used an all-night climate change campaign in the Senate to once again bash Charles and David Koch. 'It's time to stop acting like those who ignore this crisis -- the oil baron Koch brothers and their allies in Congress -- have a valid point of view,' Reid said Monday evening. 'But despite overwhelming scientific evidence and overwhelming public opinion, climate change deniers still exist. They exist in this country and in this Congress.'" ...

... New York Times Editors: "Mr. Reid's comments [about the Koch brothers] have gone to the heart of the matter. In his most recent speech [before last night], he pointed out that the fundamental purpose of the Kochs' spending is to rig the economic system for their benefit and for that of other oligarchs. They own an industrial network that ranks No. 14 on the list of the most toxic American air polluters, and got their money's worth in 2010 by helping elect a Republican House majority that has resisted environmental regulation.

ObamaScare, Ctd. Remember Julie Boonstra, the cancer patient who appears in a Koch-funded ad with an ObamaScare story that was largely debunked? Well, now, Jonathan Chait reports, Julie's story has been completely debunked. Turns out Julie is the ex-wife of a Republican county chairman AND, besides being protected under ObamaCare from insurance cancellation because of her illness, her new, ObamaCare-approved policy is substantially cheaper than her old one. Julie's reaction, via the Detroit News:

When advised of the details of her Blues' plan, Boonstra said the idea that it would be cheaper 'can't be true. I personally do not believe that.'

     ... Digby: "You know, I probably have as much disdain for Republicans as they have for me. But if one of them were to show me irrefutable proof that say, America has fewer gun deaths than other places due to our proliferation of gun ownership, I would have no choice but to believe it. These people simply put their fingers in their ears and sing 'lalalalala'." ...

     ... Glenn Kessler downgrades Julie's story from two to three Pinocchios. CW: Looks like a four to me. Maybe he's cutting her slack for stupid. Or cancer. ...

     ... CW: I strongly urge President Obama to send Julie to one of his re-education camps. ...

... OR, Maybe Julie could just watch "Between Two Ferns," definitely a better source of info on healthcare coverage than Koch TV:

     ... If you're confused, Michael Shear of the New York Times does his best to explain parody & satire. ...

     ... Update: Brian Fung of the Washington Post: "Zach Galifianakis is now Healthcare.gov's biggest traffic driver."

The GOP Is a Mess. Jonathan Martin of the New York Times: "While much attention has been devoted to the split between the establishment and the Tea Party, the growing divide along generational lines among Republicans could cause a significant a rift. Younger conservatives are more firmly staking out a libertarian orientation on social issues in a way that will shape the 2016 presidential primary as candidates seek to appeal to activists who are in the party because of social issues and also to younger voters who see some aspects of cultural conservatism as intolerant." ...

... Joclyn Kiley of Pew Research: "Today, 61% of Republicans and Republican leaners under 30 favor same-sex marriage while just 35% oppose it. By contrast, just 27% of Republicans ages 50 and older favor allowing gays and lesbians to marry." ...

     ... There Must Always Be a Krugman. CW: As the GOP evolves (it's not impossible!), it was be more fair-minded on issues that have important social but more minor economic impacts. On matters that directly affect economic policy, think Gold Standard & Freeeedom! ...

... ALSO, Charles Pierce notices that even the best & the brightest GOP "intellectuals" -- Rand Paul, M.D., Duke; Bobby Jindal, M.Litt., Oxford -- are stoopid.

HHS Is a Mess. Elize Viebeck of the Hill: "The Obama administration is abandoning a surprise plan to alter Medicare's drug coverage after receiving withering criticism from Congress and K Street. Medicare chief Marilyn Tavenner alerted lawmakers Monday that her agency would not go forward with a proposal to give insurers more leeway to limit the number of drugs they cover for Medicare beneficiaries.... The Obama administration's quixotic push to alter Part D in an election year stunned the healthcare world when the regulations came out in January. The vote on the House GOP bill to block the regulation is likely headed for approval in a bipartisan vote, and House Republicans have kept the bill on their schedule for the week."

Seung Min Kim of Politico: "Top senators are crafting a package that includes both direct aid to Ukraine and targeted sanctions in an effort to rapidly provide assistance to the new, pro-Western government in Kiev." ...

... Patrick Wintour & Paul Lewis of the Guardian: "Western officials will meet in London on Tuesday to identify Russians who will be subject to asset freezes and travel bans that officials hope will persuade Moscow to withdraw its presence from Crimea. The sanctions, which the British prime minister, David Cameron, indicated would be imposed within days, come as tensions escalate in the Crimean peninsula, where unidentified men reportedly fired warning shots as they moved into a Ukranian naval base on Monday."

Steven Myers of the New York Times: "As Russia tightened its grip on Crimea, Ukraine&'s ousted president appealed on Tuesday to the country's military units to refuse to follow the orders of the new interim authorities, declaring that he remained commander in chief and would return to the country as soon as conditions permitted."

Katie Glueck of Politico: "Former President Bill Clinton on Monday jabbed Russian President Vladimir Putin for treating Ukraine as a 'piece on the international chessboard' without concern for its people, and added that pushing the country toward a split was a 'crazy,' outdated maneuver."

Ellen Nakashima of the Washington Post: "America's spy agencies are so focused on 'mass surveillance' that they have missed clues about terrorist incidents, such as last year's Boston Marathon bombing and an attempted attack on a jetliner on Christmas in 2009, former intelligence contractor Edward Snowden said Monday. In an hour-long video discussion hosted by the South by Southwest music, film and technology conference in Austin, Snowden, who is living in asylum in an undisclosed location in Russia, asserted that the National Security Agency's efforts to collect information in bulk have backfired." ...

... John Swaine & Jemima Kiss (which I assume are their real names) of the Guardian: "Edward Snowden ... insisted on Monday that his actions had improved the national security of the United States rather than undermined it and declared that he would do it all again despite the personal sacrifices he had endured." ...

... Video of the full interview is here. ...

... CW: Here's what I wanna know. If the NSA is such a savvy spy agency, can't they find Snowden when he's bopping around this undisclosed location giving hour-long video conferences? Oh, even tho he appeared "through seven proxies." ...

... AP: "A federal judge in San Francisco stopped the destruction of millions of telephone records collected by the National Security Agency more than five years ago. U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White, who is overseeing an invasion-of-privacy lawsuit against the agency, issued a nationwide order Monday to safeguard evidence until March 19, when he will hold a hearing on extending the deadline further. The secret federal court that approved the agency's surveillance has required that documents be purged after five years for privacy reasons. On Friday, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court denied the federal government's request to keep the records for the sake of pending lawsuits." CW: Huh. I wasn't aware a district judge could overrule the FISA court. Guess so.

Longing for Lemmings. CW: I haven't punished myself lately, so I thought I'd read David Brooks. He is very worried that young Americans are not interested in getting into world conflicts. This is not because they're isolationists but because they have no faith in the top-down org chart, according to Brooks: "For the first time in recorded history, a majority of Americans believe that their country has a declining influence on what's happening around the globe.... We live in a country in which many people [naively] act as if history is leaderless. Events emerge spontaneously from the ground up. Such a society is very hard to lead and summon. It can be governed only by someone who arouses intense moral loyalty, and even that may be fleeting." ...

... CW: Not too sure how much world influence Americans thought the U.S. had in, say, 1789 or 1812 or 1864, even though Brooks may be surprised to learn that folks were recording history way back then. Brooks's column seems to be his supposedly-data-driven version of the Giuliani authoritarian wet dream.

Sharon Otterman of the New York Times: "The head bishop of the United Methodist Church in New York on Monday committed to ending church trials in his region for ministers who perform same sex-marriages, essentially freeing them to conduct a ceremony still prohibited under his denomination's laws."

AP: "Aretha Franklin has much R-E-S-P-E-C-T for President Barack Obama -- regardless of his spelling skills. At a White House concert last Thursday, Obama dropped the initial 'E' when trying to spell out 'respect' as the queen of soul does in her famous song. 'I'm sure the President had much on his agenda and was just a little tired,' the 71-year-old singer said in a statement Monday." CW: I hope we can now put behind us this embarrassing episode, so we don't have to read any more stuff like this:

... Taylor Bigler of the Daily Caller, republished on Fox Nation: "Aretha Franklin may spell out the word 'Respect' several times throughout her synonymous song, but that doesn't mean Harvard-educated President Obama knows how to spell it.... Come on, Barry! Every 30-year-old woman worth her salt knows the 'Respect' lyrics down pat...." ...

... That was last week. This was yesterday:

     ... Now mayb Fox "Nws" will nvr pick on Prsidnt Obama again.

Congressional Race

Ben Jacobs of the Daily Beast Does Not Believe All Politics Is Local: "Tuesday's special election in Florida's 13th congressional district is a big deal. It won't just determine whether House Republicans have a majority of 17 or 18, it will be the first significant referendum on Barack Obama's job performance and the Affordable Care Act in the president's second term." ...

... Greg Sargent (CW: rightly, I think) disagrees. "The special election is not a 'bellwether.'"

New Jersey News

Kate Zernicke & Matt Flegenheimer of the New York Times: "... long before the lane closings, the Port Authority ... had already been turned into a de facto political operation for Governor Christie, a review of the agency's operations since Mr. Christie took office suggests."

William Rashbaum & Kate Zernicke of the New York Times: "Federal prosecutors in Manhattan on Friday subpoenaed the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey for records related to potential conflicts of interest involving its chairman, David Samson, a prominent New Jersey lawyer and close political ally of Gov. Chris Christie, according to people briefed on the matter.... An examination of possible conflicts of interest involving Mr. Samson would appear to represent a significant widening of the scandal." ...

     ... Update. Shawn Boburg of the Bergen Record: "Federal prosecutors in Manhattan have withdrawn a subpoena seeking records related to Port Authority Chairman David Samson, knowledgeable sources said Monday afternoon. The subpoena, received by the Port Authority on Friday, was withdrawn Monday afternoon.... The exact reason was unclear, but the sources said that the U.S. Attorney for New Jersey, who was already investigating the Port Authority's closure of access lanes to the George Washington Bridge, would likely take over any potential inquiry into Samson...."

Darryl Isherwood of NJ.com: "Bridget Kelly has no Fifth Amendment right to withhold documents created while carrying out her job as a government employee, an attorney for the legislative committee investigating Bridgegate said in a brief filed in advance of tomorrow's hearing seeking to compel Kelly to answer a subpoena from the committee."

News Ledes

AP: "General Motors faced more pressure over its handling of a deadly defect in certain compact cars Tuesday as word leaked of a criminal investigation and two congressional committees opened probes into the matter. The Justice Department is investigating whether GM broke any laws with its slow response to a problem with ignition switches in compact cars from model years 2003 to 2007."

Washington Post: "Attorneys for an Army general [-- Brig. Gen Jeffrey A. Sinclair --] charged with sexual assault said Tuesday that they have decided to try to renegotiate a plea bargain with a new set of military officials after the judge determined that the case may have been improperly influenced by political concerns."

Tampa Bay Times: "Several polling places reported a good turnout early Tuesday as Pinellas County voters selected a new representative for District 13. The race between Republican David Jolly and Democrat Alex Sink has garnered national attention and prompted contributions of an unprecedented $12 million in campaign funds. A third candidate, Libertarian Lucas Overby, is also on the ballot."

New York Times: "The Malaysian authorities now believe that a jetliner missing since Saturday may have radically changed course around the time that it stopped communicating with ground controllers. But there were conflicting accounts of the course change and what may have happened afterward, adding to the air of confusion and disarray surrounding the investigation and search operation." ...

... New York Times: "The Malaysian police said on Tuesday that one of the two passengers known to have used stolen passports to board the missing Malaysian airliner was a 19-year-old Iranian who wanted to migrate to Germany and appeared to have no connection to terrorist organizations." ...

     ... New Lede: " International police authorities said on Tuesday that two Iranians known to have used stolen passports to board the Malaysia Airlines jet that disappeared on Saturday were unlikely to be linked to terrorist groups, echoing an assessment by the Malaysian police that one of them was a 19-year-old Iranian who wanted to migrate to Germany."

... New York Times: "... according to [Interpol], only three countries -- the United States, Britain and the United Arab Emirates -- systematically screen travelers against the agency's database of stolen passports. "

Washington Post: Joe "McGinniss, the adventurous and news-making author and reporter who skewered the marketing of Richard Nixon in 'The Selling of the President 1968' and tracked his personal journey from sympathizer to scourge of convicted killer Jeffrey MacDonald in the blockbuster 'Fatal Vision,' died Monday at age 71."