The Commentariat -- Nov. 2, 2014

Internal links, graphics & related text removed.

Justin Gillis of the New York Times: "The gathering risks of climate change are so profound they could stall or even reverse generations of progress against poverty and hunger if greenhouse emissions continue at a runaway pace, according to a major new United Nations report. Despite rising efforts in many countries to tackle the problem, the overall global situation is growing more acute as developing countries join the West in burning huge amounts of fossil fuels, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said here on Sunday." ...

     ... The Washington Post report is here.

Greg Miller of the Washington Post: "The Pentagon has scaled back its plan to assemble an overseas spy service that could have rivaled the CIA in size, backing away from a project that faced opposition from lawmakers who questioned its purpose and cost, current and former U.S. officials said. Under the revised blueprint, the Defense Intelligence Agency will train and deploy up to 500 undercover officers...."

Annals of "Justice," Ctd. Jed Rakoff in the New York Review of Books: "The criminal justice system in the United States today bears little relationship to what the Founding Fathers contemplated, what the movies and television portray, or what the average American believes.... "Our criminal justice system is almost exclusively a system of plea bargaining, negotiated behind closed doors and with no judicial oversight. The outcome is very largely determined by the prosecutor alone.... Until roughly the end of the Civil War, plea bargains were exceedingly rare.... [But now mandatory sentencing] guidelines, along with mandatory minimums, were causing the virtual extinction of jury trials in federal criminal cases."

Fred Kaplan of Slate calls the war against ISIS "Obama's Quagmire": "So here we are, back in the Middle East again, shoring up a dysfunctional regime, caught in the middle of a sectarian conflict, saddled with allies who aren't doing much and whose interests conflict with ours, roped off from potential allies who could do much more but whose interests conflict with ours more deeply, and facing a bunch of millenarian savages whose appeal grows as our involvement deepens."

Benjamin Mueller of the New York Times: "The chief safety officer of the hazardous-materials company that cleaned the apartment of New York City's first Ebola patient was, in a past career as a mortgage negotiator, accused of fraud in 2009 by the attorney general at the time, Andrew M. Cuomo.... City officials have said that they followed the standard vetting protocol for the cleanup contract given to Bio-Recovery Corporation, and that health officials had reviewed the company's work and determined that it was successfully completed."

Ahiza Garcia of TPM: "Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) came to the defense of his former running mate, Sarah Palin, on Friday, more than a month after she and her family were involved in a drunken, bloody altercation at a house party in Alaska. During an interview with Phoenix television station KTVK, the 2008 Republican presidential nominee said he wasn't excusing the brawl but went on to blast the media's coverage of it." He blames liberals, too. CW: Yo, John, if the media suck, why don't you boycott them?

Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Molly Ball of the Atlantic: "Joni Ernst ... has ... flirted seriously with wacky conspiracy theories, especially Agenda 21, which takes off from an innocuous, voluntary UN resolution and turns it into a sinister plot.... And she has made comments about Americans totally dependent on government that make Mitt Romney's '47 percent' observations look almost populist by comparison.... Tom Cotton ... has ... said, at a town-hall meeting, 'Groups like the Islamic State collaborate with drug cartels in Mexico who have clearly shown they're willing to expand outside the drug trade into human trafficking and potentially even terrorism. They could infiltrate our defenseless border and attack us right here in places like Arkansas.'... [Yet] the premier newspapers of our time, The Washington Post and The New York Times ... [don't report] ... about the wacky or extreme things they have said.... The most common press narrative for elections this year is to contrast them with the 2010 and 2012 campaigns.... What [this] suggests is how deeply the eagerness to pick a narrative and stick with it, and to resist stories that contradict the narrative, is embedded in the culture of campaign journalism." ...

... Steve M.: "It's also that the press agrees with the GOP (and much of the public) that Barack Obama is a terrible president who needs to be punished. Journalist resent Obama because he hasn't always been nice to them (why weren't they allowed to watch him play golf with Tiger Woods?).... What's happening now is the result of journalists settling on a story they like about Republicans -- but it also reflects a story they like about Obama, which is that he's getting what's coming to him." ...

... Here's a letter to the Post by Grace Morsberger of Chevy Chase, Maryland, complaining about the Post's hagiographic profile of Ernst while suggesting her Democratic opponent Bruce Braley is an elite snob.

God News

Paul Kengor, in the Washington Post: Fifty years ago, Martin Luther King, Jr., gave speeches/sermons on both sides of the Berlin wall. The transcript of the East Berlin speech is here. ...

Lauren Markoe of Religion News Service: "The mayor of Houston on Wednesday withdrew the subpoenas of sermons from five pastors who opposed an ordinance banning discrimination against LGBT people."

Pope Francis Gets the Obama Treatment. Josephine McKenna of Religion News Service: "American Cardinal Raymond Burke, the feisty former archbishop of St. Louis..., likened the Roman Catholic Church to 'a ship without a rudder' in a fresh attack on the pope's leadership. In an interview with the Spanish Catholic weekly Vida Nueva, published Thursday (Oct. 30), Burke insisted he was not speaking out against the pope personally but raising concern about his leadership."

Marlene Winell & Valerie Tarico of AlterNet, in Salon: "... certain aspects of Christian beliefs and Christian living ... can create ... stressors, even setting up multigenerational patterns of abuse, trauma, and self-abuse. Also, over time some religious beliefs can create habitual thought patterns that actually alter brain function, making it difficult for people to heal or grow."

AND Pat Robertson says Ouija boards cause people to communicate with "demonic spirits." Also via Benen.

November Elections

Georgia. Ed O'Keefe of the Washington Post: Former President Jimmy Carter & his grandson Jason Carter, who is running for governor, "are close confidants, but they've appeared infrequently together in public. The former president, who is a polarizing figure in this largely Republican state, has been kept to a series of discreet appearances at union halls, predominantly black colleges and rural communities. Former first lady Rosalynn Carter, who remains widely popular in Georgia, has spent more time with her grandson greeting voters on the campaign trail.... At age 90, [President] Carter has traveled the state at a dizzying pace this year as he maintains an active travel schedule around the globe."

Kentucky. Lee Fang of the Nation has the full story on Mitch McConnell's cocaine connection, which P.D. Pepe mentions in today's Comments. Kinda makes you wonder if Mitch is living off a drug lord; in any event, the future Senate Majority Leader is living off his father-in-law.

Iowa. Judd Legum of Think Progress: "The GOP is trying to convince Iowa voters on Facebook that their neighbors will know if they voted Republican. Screenshots of Facebook ads, promoted by the official Facebook page of the Republican National Committee feature an ominous message: 'NOTICE: All Voting Is Public.' The ad tell voters that 'In a few months, Iowa will release the list of individual who voted in this election.' Most troublingly, the ad includes an aerial view of a neighborhood with checkmarks indicating that 'These People Voted GOP.'"

New York. He's a Jerk, But He's Our Jerk. Sahil Kapur of TPM: "Rep. Michael Grimm appears to be [on] his way to a landslide reelection victory on Tuesday, at least if a new Siena College poll is any indication.The Staten Island Republican leads Democrat Domenic Recchia by a 19 points among likely voters in the district, a shocking result considering that forecasters expected the race to be very close. Grimm's lead defies the troubled year he has had. In January he threatened to break a New York reporter in half and throw him off a balcony. In April he was indicted by the federal government on fraud charges." ...

... Update. Victoria D., with a little help from Jon Stewart, explains why this is:

Presidential Election

Amy Davidson of the New Yorker: "Why is it that so many people, in and out of the Republican Party, continue to bounce along with the Bush family? It is an article of faith with that crowd that Jeb is a natural leader. And yet his presence reminds one of Play-Doh left out of the container too long.... The odd idea is that, after one mediocre Bush Presidency and one failed one, it would be a matter of simple fairness to try a third."

Way Beyond the Beltway
But a Lot Like Texas

Jo Becker & Steven Myers of the New York Times: By the time the school year began this fall, the number of approved textbooks for Russia's 14 million schoolchildren had been slashed by more than half. The summary winnowing by the Ministry of Education and Science upset lesson plans, threatened the livelihoods of nearly two-dozen small publishers and left principals, teachers and parents puzzled and angry. There was, however, one standout winner: A publishing house whose newly appointed chairman was a member of President Vladimir V. Putin's inner circle, Arkady R. Rotenberg, a judo sparring partner from Mr. Putin's St. Petersburg youth."

The Commentariat -- Nov. 1, 2014

Internal links removed.

Josh Hicks of the Washington Post: "... travelers [to the U.S. from from Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea] now have to submit to temperature checks and questioning. But scientific studies published by the National Institutes of Health have shown that similar protocols were largely ineffective during an outbreak of Swine Flu in 2009, as Government Executive pointed out in an article last week.... A study of screenings at Australia's Sydney Airport during the Swine Flu pandemic found that ... screeners likely missed the vast majority of individuals who arrived at the facility with Swine Flu, despite grabbing thousands of travelers who showed signs of fever." ...

... Jerome Groopman of the New Yorker: "... there are still serious gaps in what we know about the biology of Ebola, and that ignorance inhibits us from preventing future outbreaks and reducing death rates that still exceed seventy per cent. We don't know enough about the biology of Ebola to bring the outbreak under full control, or to neutralize the virus once the outbreak is contained."

Stupid FBI Tricks. New York Times Editors: "The F.B.I. has a history of pushing the limits that protect Americans' civil liberties. And it has continued to broaden agents' investigative powers in troubling ways.... Deceptive tactics used in Las Vegas and Seattle, if not prohibited by the agency or blocked by courts, risk opening the door to constitutional abuses on a much wider scale."

Joe Nocera of the the New York Times on developments in the case against force-feeding Guantanamo prisoners.

I'm not a scientist. -- Republicans

I'm not a Republican. -- Scientists

Maria Konnikova of the New Yorker takes seriously Jonathan Haidt's assertion that social psychologists are biased against Republicans. CW: What both Konnikova & Haidt overlook is that most of what passes for conservatism today is laughable bullshit. Where it's not cohesive sociopathy, it's incoherent, non-intellectual rationalization based on disproved hypotheses or deceit. So, yeah, I guess the vast majority of social psychologists are "biased" against conservatives to the extent they can see through the malarkey & discount it -- or study! -- it.

Corby Kummer of the Atlantic: "Long before the food movement took shape, [Boston's former mayor] Thomas Menino believed in -- and acted on -- its ideals: fresh food available to everyone of every income level, and as a route to better health."

Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. CW: I've sort of avoided this story because it seemed thin at best & bogus at worst. Steve M. has done the legwork for us, & he's going with bogus: "Sharyl Attkisson, the former CBS reporter turned wingnut hero, has a new book out in which she claims that sinister forces from the government invaded her computer and monkeyed with her data. She's now released a video purporting to show what happened.... Robert Graham, in a post at the blog Errata Security, says that a lot of the claims in excerpts from her book don't pass his smell test." Neither does the video offer any measure of convincing "proof" that a government agency has hacked Attkisson's computer. Graham says he is a "right-winger," so he hasn't released his conclusions because of some political bias. Post includes Attkisson's scary video, wherein the most incriminating evidence revealed is that she watches "Dancing with the Stars." ...

... Hannah Groch-Begley & Joe Strupp of Media Matters: "Computer security experts say that a video released by former CBS News reporter Sharyl Attkisson appears to show her computer 'malfunction[ing],' likely due to a stuck backspace key, not being hacked by government agents as she had suggested." Groch-Begley & Strupp cite four experts who find no evidence of hacking. ...

... OR, as J. K. Trotter of Gawker puts it: Sharyl Attkisson blames broken laptop on Benghazi.... A stuck backspace key is, unfortunately, a less dramatic explanation than a hidden government conspiracy to surveil reporters who write unflattering things about the President. It is also the more likely one." ...

... CW: So, kids, if your backspace key gets stuck, it isn't a government plot; it's a crappy keyboard. And all along I thought that time my "e" & "t" died on my old computer, it was Barack Obama out to get me. Such are the dreams of the everyday paranoid.

November Elections

Here's your election day pop quiz from Gail Collins.

All the News Is Bad News. CW: I'll let Nate Silver break it to you.

Sam Wang in the New Yorker on gerrymandering. "Using the tool of redistricting, [Republicans] have successfully tilted the political playing field to secure a large majority for at least the next two years without the same popular appeal."

Jonathan Chait: "The contest to control the Senate is about one thing: whether Obama can confirm judges and staff his administration.... What's more, if a Supreme Court justice becomes incapacitated or dies, the judicial gridlock could become a Constitutional struggle.... News reports have wildly overstated the legislative importance of Republican Senate control. At the same time, they have understated its importance to the judiciary." ...

... David Firestone of the New York Times Channels Victoria D. (See yesterday's Comments): "... given the universal mythology that a lower deficit is always a good thing, would it kill Democrats to point out that the deficit actually has fallen by more than 50 percent since President Obama took office? None of [the Democratic candidates] mention that the budget is in far better shape largely because taxes went up on the rich, and because health care costs are falling. It's unusual even to hear that unemployment is down to 5.9 percent, or that 5.5 million jobs have been added since 2009, which is four times more than under all eight years of George W. Bush.... If Democrats lose control of the Senate next week, they may wonder why they ... left out the country's good news." Read the whole post. ...

... Here's the President, yesterday, mentioning the good stuff that Democratic candidates are too skeert stoopid to tout:

Richard Hasen & Dahlia Lithwick in Slate: "This year's scary election ads will destroy any lingering confidence in the judicial branch....In 39 states, some or all judges must face some kind of election -- often a partisan one. These races used to be about as interesting to watch as Bingo night. But now, it's all Law and Order, and all the time. The ads are scarier than the shows they interrupt. These new judicial attack ads are a consequence of a series of Supreme Court rulings that have allowed judicial elections to get noisier, nastier, and costlier, with no limit on outside spending by groups such as the Koch brothers-backed Americans for Prosperity." CW: Thanks again, Supremes!

Colorado. Molly Ball of the Atlantic tries to profile Colorado's GOP Senate nominee Cory Gardner, which isn't easy to do since in all likelihood he's an arch-conservative now parading around as a moderate.

Kentucky. Sahil Kapur of TPM: "The campaign of Kentucky Democrat Alison Lundergan Grimes has filed a lawsuit to stop Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell's campaign from distributing a mailer that it says amounts to illegal voter intimidation tactics. The Grimes campaign on Friday said it had filed for an immediate injunction.... The mailers have the words 'ELECTION VIOLATION NOTICE' sprawled at the top and attack Grimes for spreading 'fraudulent' information." ...

... Michael Beckel of the Center for Public Integrity: "The most mysterious force in Kentucky's pivotal U.S. Senate race is a ghost that dwells in a hole in a wall. Hunt for the Kentucky Opportunity Coalition, and one finds no grassroots army, no canvassing operation, no office or headquarters at all -- just a scuffed U.S. Postal Service box nestled inside a suburban shopping plaza about 10 miles from downtown Louisville.... Corporeal or not, the Kentucky Opportunity Coalition has ... haunt[ed] Democrat Alison Lundergan Grimes in her increasingly unlikely bid to unseat incumbent Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky." Via Charles Pierce.

Maine. Darren Fishell of the Bangor Daily News: "Wondering how to blow $1.2 million in two days? Try a whole lot of TV ads. At least, that's how seven political action committees spent their $1.2 million over the last two days, according to the latest filings with the Maine Ethics Commission. Most of that spending -- about $852,000 -- went to benefit the campaign of Democrat Mike Michaud, who is locked in a dead heat against incumbent Republican Gov. Paul LePage, according to a BDN/Ipsos poll released today."

Massachusetts. Fish Story. Nestor Ramos & Michael Levenson of the Boston Globe: "Some of the details of Charlie Baker's emotional 2009 encounter with a soulful fisherman may have been lost at sea. Baker on Thursday acknowledged that he may have misstated some of the particulars of the story he told tearfully during a debate this week. That, in turn, has complicated efforts to locate the man whose hardships, in Baker's retelling, produced one of the most remarkable moments in this year's race for governor.... Despite searches mounted by both campaigns, several media outlets, and various New Bedford fishing industry lifers, no one has been able to find the massive man whose embrace Baker described as 'like hugging a mountain.'" Via Charles Pierce. ...

... Justin Snow of Metro Weekly: "Responding to calls from the National Organization for Marriage for social conservatives to vote for pro-LGBT Democrat Seth Moulton over his openly gay Republican opponent, Richard Tisei, Moulton's campaign refused such support Thursday." ...

... As Charles Pierce reminded us yesterday, vote for Moulton.

Texas. Joshua Fechter of the San Antonio Express-News: "Four days before federal authorities arrested him on federal weapons charges and found ammonium nitrate in his South Texas hotel room, border militia leader Kevin Lyndel 'K.C.' Massey chatted and posed for a photo with Republican gubernatorial candidate Greg Abbott at a campaign event in Brownsville.... Video footage captured by Fox 2 News in Brownsville also shows Massey taking photos of Abbott while wearing a GoPro camera on his head, which was later confiscated during the raid.... Abbott deputy communications director Amelia Chasse ... declined to say whether Abbott supports the [militia] group." Via TPM. CW: Your next governor of Texas is a guy who can't decide whether or not he supports a group that the feds suspect of planning to bomb something.

Beyond the Beltway

Sari Horwitz & Kimberly Kindy of the Washington Post: "Justice Department investigators have all but concluded they do not have a strong enough case to bring civil rights charges against Darren Wilson, the white police officer who shot and killed an unarmed black teenager in Ferguson, Mo., law enforcement officials said."

Free to Be My Congressman Again. AP: "Former Florida Congressman Trey Radel, who resigned in January after pleading guilty to cocaine possession, has had his record expunged.... U.S. Attorney's Office spokesman William Miller said Friday that Radel completed all the conditions of his probation and was granted an early termination of it in July. Miller said Radel then asked to have his case dismissed and his record expunged, and prosecutors agreed with the request."

News Ledes

New York Times: "Doctors have upgraded the condition of New York City's first Ebola patient [Craig Spencer] to stable, health officials said on Saturday."

Guardian: "US fighter and bomber planes have launched five attacks against Islamic State militants near Kobani, Syria, and five in Iraq since Friday, Central Command said on Saturday. The Kobani strikes 'suppressed or destroyed' nine Islamic State fighting positions and a building. In Iraq, air strikes destroyed an Islamic State vehicle south-west of Mosul dam and hit four vehicles and four buildings used by militants near Al-Qaim, the US military said in a statement."

AP: "With a malevolent laugh, the leader of Nigeria's Islamic extremists tells the world that more than 200 kidnapped schoolgirls have all been converted to Islam and married off, dashing hopes for their freedom.... In a new video released late Friday night, the Boko Haram leader also denies there is a cease-fire with the Nigerian government and threatens to kill an unidentified German hostage."

Guardian: "Sir Richard Branson acknowledged on Saturday that his dream of commercial space tourism may have ended in the explosion that consumed Virgin Galactic's test craft SpaceShipTwo in the skies above California's Mojave desert."

The Commentariat -- Oct. 31, 2014

Internal links, defunct video, photos & graphics removed.

Robert Bukaty of the AP: "Maine health officials obtained a 24-hour court order restricting Kaci Hickox's movement after the nurse repeatedly defied the state's quarantine for medical workers who have treated Ebola patients. A judge granted the order Thursday limiting Hickox's travel, banning her from public places and requiring a 3-foot buffer until there's a further decision Friday." ...

... Nobel Laureate Backs Christie. Claude Brodesser-Akner of NJ.com: Nobel Prize-winning immunologist Bruce Beutler "reviewed [New Jersey Gov. Chris] Christie's new policy of mandatory quarantine for all health care workers exposed to Ebola, and declared: 'I favor it.'... "It may not be absolutely true that those without symptoms can't transmit the disease, because we don't have the numbers to back that up.... Even if someone is asymptomatic you cannot rely on people to report themselves if they get a fever. You can't just depend on the goodwill of people to confine the disease like that -- even healthcare workers. They behave very irresponsibly,' said Beutler.'" Beutler said of nurse Kaci Hickox, "It doesn't matter that she was afebrile -- she should be quarantined for 21 days." Beutler said he would be "a little stricter" than Christie's policy requires. ...

... Mark Santora of the New York Times: "New York officials announced on Thursday that they would offer employee protection and financial guarantees for health care workers joining the fight against the Ebola outbreak in three West African nations. The announcement was an effort to alleviate concerns that the state's mandatory quarantine policy could deter desperately needed workers from traveling overseas." ...

... Dan Mangan of CNBC: "New York City's health department said a doctor being treated for Ebola 'cooperated fully' with officials, dismissing a report that he initially lied about his movements." ...

... Charles Pierce: "I can't be the only one who thinks that the conservative nattering about Ebola is starting to reek of the same reckless pot-stirring that made the Terri Schiavo episode such a highlight of conservative intellectual activism.... And when you think of wanking, you think of the strong and steady hand of "Bobby" Jindal, the governor of Louisiana who, on Thursday, managed to dig up Irony and kill it again by warning people who have worked with Ebola overseas not to come to his state to attend...wait for it ... a conference on infectious tropical diseases." ...

... Andy Borowitz: "President Obama is coming under increasing pressure to apologize for a controversial remark that he made on Tuesday, in which he said that the nation's Ebola policy should be based on facts rather than fear. While the anti-fear tenor of Mr. Obama's comment was offensive enough to some, the President made matters worse by suggesting that science would play the leading role in guiding the nation's Ebola protocols...."

Coral Davenport of the New York Times on why Republicans keep saying they're not scientists. "'It's got to be the dumbest answer I've ever heard,' said Michael McKenna, a Republican energy lobbyist who has advised House Republicans and conservative political advocacy groups on energy and climate change messaging. 'Using that logic would disqualify politicians from voting on anything. Most politicians aren't scientists, but they vote on science policy. They have opinions on Ebola, but they're not epidemiologists. They shape highway and infrastructure laws, but they're not engineers.'"

Tom McCarthy & Dan Roberts of the Guardian: "The secretary of state, John Kerry, has condemned as 'disgraceful' a description of the Israeli prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, as 'chickenshit', attributed to an unnamed US official. Kerry said on Thursday that the reported comments did not reflect his view or the view of President Barack Obama, adding that the language was 'disgraceful, unacceptable and damaging'."

There is no right more basic in our democracy than the right to participate in electing our political leaders. -- Chief Justice John Roberts ...

... Linda Greenhouse: That's what Roberts wrote "in April of this year. His subject then was the right to spend money in politics, not the right to vote. If people conclude that the current Supreme Court majority cares more about the first than the second -- surely a logical inference — the court will have entered a dangerous place. And so -- as a conservative justice once realized in another context -- will the country." ...

... CW: I don't think you can beat the irony of Roberts' writing in McCutcheon v. F.E.C. (the $$$ case) when contrasted with his decision to allow the Texas voter suppression/poll tax statute to stand this election cycle. Roberts knows what he's doing. His decision on Texas strongly suggests that he believes the "the right to participate in electing our political leaders" extends only to citizens who can pay for it. The Texas case has not come before the Court for a full decision yet, but informed observers don't have high hopes that voters' advocates will prevail. ...

... Messin' with Texas Ain't Over Yet. Richard Hasen in TPM: "The very last sentence ... of the ... opinion issued earlier this month by a federal district court striking down Texas's strict voter identification law ... may be its most important. The court ended its opinion with a dry statement promising a future hearing on 'plaintiffs' request for relief under Section 3(c) of the Voting Rights Act.' That hearing ... has the potential to require Texas to get federal approval for any future voting changes for up to the next decade.... It may be much more important than the ruling on the voter ID law itself.... Despite the recent Supreme Court order letting Texas use its voter ID law in this election, the case is far from over, and in fact the most important ruling in the case is yet to come. Voters may get their protection from discriminatory laws yet." Read the whole post. ...

... Jamelle Bouie of Slate: "Mississippi has poor social outcomes and a threadbare safety net. It also has -- and has long had -- the largest black population in the country. And it's where slavery was very lucrative, and Jim Crow most vicious. This is not a coincidence. In Mississippi -- as in the rest of the South -- white supremacy brought a politics of racist antagonism.... What we see in Mississippi -- and, in varying degrees, the country writ large -- is what was wrought by white supremacy. A society where the racial caste system is still intact but justified by other means." ...

... Ed Kilgore: "... you can't expect people to look at a place like Mississippi and unsee the threads that tie together generations of white conservatism, and unthink the judgment that once again 'state's rights' and 'sovereignty' mean powerlessness, poverty, sickness and even an early grave for a big portion of the population."

Emily Atkin of Think Progress: "A libertarian think tank has sued the White House over a video that claimed global warming might be tied to last year's extreme cold spell, commonly referred to as the 'polar vortex.' The Competitive Enterprise Institute's lawsuit filed Wednesday says White House Office of Science and Technology director John Holdren was wrong when, in the January video, he cited a 'growing body of evidence' linking the so-called 'polar vortex' to climate change." ...

... CW: Maybe John Boehner, who is once again looking for a lawyer to sue President Obama for shredding the Constitution or something, should hire the CEI's lawyers, who seem to be able to file the most frivolous of suits against the White House.

Gail Sullivan of the Washington Post lists a number of reasons why Apple CEO Tim Cook's coming out as gay is important. CW: I'll have to admit I thought "meh" when his Bloomberg Businessweek op-ed hit the ether, but Sullivan changes my mind.

Paul Krugman: "... the West has, in fact, fallen into a slump similar to Japan's -- but worse. And that wasn't supposed to happen. In the 1990s, we assumed that if the United States or Western Europe found themselves facing anything like Japan's problems, we would respond much more effectively than the Japanese had. But we didn't, even though we had Japan's experience to guide us." ...

... Michael Sauga in Der Spiegel elaborates on Krugman's theme: "... the crisis of capitalism has turned into a crisis of democracy. Many feel that their countries are no longer being governed by parliaments and legislatures, but by bank lobbyists, which apply the logic of suicide bombers to secure their privileges: Either they are rescued or they drag the entire sector to its death." An excellent piece (4 pp.); thanks to Unwashed for the link. ...

Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Shaun King of Daily Kos: "When Don Surber, editorial columnist for Charleston's Daily Mail, called [Ferguson, Mo. police shooting victim] Mike Brown an 'animal' who deserved to 'be put down,' and referred to protestors as 'packs of racists,' [in a Facebook post] he crossed a line.... Today Surber was fired by the Daily Mail for his incendiary comments...." Brad McElhinny, editor & publisher of the Daily Mail, announced Surber's dismissal in a blogpost on the paper's site.

Charles Pierce remembers Tom Menino, Boston's longest-serving mayor, who died Thursday: "Menino was a puzzlement only to those delicate souls who mistake syntax for intelligence. He became mayor just as Boston was emerging from the very last vestiges of its parochial past -- insular neighborhoods which did not welcome outsiders, which might simply mean someone who moved there from another parish in Dorchester." ...

... President Obama remembers Tom Menino.

Jon Stewart welcomes a new advertiser to the "Daily Show":

November Elections

Gregor Aisch & Josh Katz of the New York Times take a deep dive into the numbers. ...

... Nate Cohn of the New York Times: "The polls have generally underestimated Democrats in recent years, and there are reasons to think it could happen again. In 2010, the polls underestimated the Democrats in every competitive Senate race by an average of 3.1 percentage points, based on data from The Huffington Post's Pollster model. In 2012, pre-election polls underestimated President Obama in nine of the 10 battleground states by an average of 2 percentage points."

Nate Cohn: "Democratic efforts to turn out the young and nonwhite voters who sat out the 2010 midterm elections appear to be paying off in several Senate battleground states. More than 20 percent of the nearly three million votes already tabulated in Georgia, North Carolina, Colorado and Iowa have come from people who did not vote in the last midterm election, according to an analysis of early-voting data by The Upshot." ...

... CW: Want to help? Make Tuesday "Take a Lazy Democrat to Lunch Day." And swing by her polling place on the way to the restaurant.

Brian Beutler: Democrats have known since their big wins in 2008 that 2014 would be a tough year for Senate Democrats, so stop blaming President Obama. "... even a good, well executed campaign strategy usually can't overwhelm the basic nature of the electorate."

Mike Dorning & Lorraine Woellert of Bloomberg News: "The U.S. economy has posted its strongest six months of growth since 2003, news that usually would be a boon to the party in power heading into congressional elections. Yet President Barack Obama and Democrats haven't been able to take credit for the gains. On Election Day, they're at risk of losing control of the Senate, though it is the Republicans who have blocked measures aimed at strengthening growth. That's because Americans say they don't feel the progress in their daily lives and they blame both parties for the political deadlock in Washington. The U.S. government's failure to address the economy's main weakness -- stagnant middle-class earnings -- damages Democrats the most."

... See also this piece by Emily Mahaney of Glamour magazine, where this video -- produced in support of the Planned Parenthood Action Fund's Women Are Watching campaign -- first appeared.

Joe Coscarelli of New York: "If you've ever wondered where the endless font of gun-nut paranoia comes from, try the National Rifle Association's magazine, America's 1st Freedom. In a special election issue headlined 'Chaos at Our Door? A Dangerous World Is Closing In' and illustrated with an Islamic State fighter, NRA chief fearmongerer Wayne LaPierre writes a column warning Americans to 'Vote Your Guns in November.'... 'On Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 4, we will defend our right to defend ourselves because we have no other choice. We will vote our guns! We will vote our freedom! And we will prevail!" That might be the scariest idea of all." ...

... Hannah Levintova of Mother Jones lists seven "big gun fights to watch on election day.... The National Rifle Association, continuing a long-running strategy of campaign spending, earmarked over $11 million for this year's elections -- but for the first time in decades the nation's leading gun lobby is facing some truly formidable opposition."

Margaret Hartmann: "After days of constant campaigning, Senator Elizabeth Warren has mixed up Vermont and New Hampshire, Michelle Obama has called Representative Bruce Braley "Bruce Bailey," and now Mitt Romney has flubbed the position of North Carolina's Republican Senate nominee. While introducing Thom Tillis on Wednesday, Romney described him as 'a man who as secretary of state has demonstrated what he can do to make things happen for the people of this great state.' Tillis is actually the state House speaker." CW: Luckily. nobody's paying attention to the midterms.

Red States/Blue States. Monica Davey of the New York Times: "... Republicans are hoping to add Iowa and Arkansas to the states entirely under their control as well as to break the Democrats' lock on power in places like Colorado and here in Minnesota. Democrats view the governors' races in Wisconsin, Kansas and Michigan as among their best hopes of defeating a Republican incumbent and regaining at least some voice in those Republican-held state capitals, and are pouring energy and money into final efforts to get out the vote. The trend toward one-party control of statehouses has made the states a testing ground for party policies in an era of gridlock in Washington."

Colorado. Why I Hate Polls. Quinnipiac University: "With strong support from men, U.S. Rep. Cory Gardner, the Republican challenger in the Colorado U.S. Senate race, leads U.S. Sen. Mark Udall, the Democratic incumbent, 46 - 39 percent among likely voters, with 7 percent for independent candidate Steve Shogan, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today. Another 7 percent are undecided." ...

... Denver Post: "A poll conducted this week shows Gardner [R-Personhood] at 46 percent and Udall [Uterus (D)] at 44 percent -- a narrow edge within the four-percentage-point margin-of-error. ...

... PPP: "Mark Udall and Cory Gardner are both getting 48% of the vote, with just 4% of voters remaining undecided."

Kentucky.

Mitch McConnell's going to go to the wire, because he is vehement about not standing for anything. And he has a good long track record about not standing for much other than keeping the campaign dollars flowing. And that is not inspiring to ordinary Americans, to conservatives, even to base Republicans. -- Ken Cuccinelli (RTP), former Virginia attorney general

Louisiana. Chuck Todd & Carrie Dann of NBC News: "Louisiana Democrat Sen. Mary Landrieu said Thursday that the issue of race is a major reason that President Barack Obama has struggled politically in Southern states.... Noting that the South is 'more of a conservative place,' she added that women have also faced challenges in 'presenting ourselves.'... The comment prompted a fiery response from Louisiana Republican Gov. Bobby Jindal, who called it 'remarkably divisive.' 'She appears to be living in a different century,' he said in a statement." CW: Bobby Jindal appears to be living in a different world a/k/a Right Wing World, where reality is too inconvenient to credit. "The issue of race," as Landrieu delicately puts it, is a major reason for everything in the South. See Jamelle Bouie's post above. ...

... The Cluelessness of the Chuck. Charles Pierce: "Notice, however, that my man Chuck Todd then follows up with a question designed to take the sting out of Landrieu's outburst of inconvenient truth. 'What's interesting there is other Democratic folks that I've talked to in the Senate they use different language,' Chuck Todd said on Thursday's broadcast of NBC's Nightly News. 'Mark Pryor told me the president just doesn't understand rural America.' Let's all chip in and buy my man Chuck Todd an Enigma machine."

Maine. Jim Fallows on the three-way gubernatorial race. Fallows is the classiest of fellows.

Nebraska. Serial Killer Endorses GOP Candidate. Allisa Skelton of the Omaha World-Herald: "Convicted killer Nikko Jenkins endorsed U.S. Rep. Lee Terry during a court appearance Wednesday. His shackles clanked as he waltzed to his seat and said: 'Vote for Lee Terry, guys. Best Republican ever.'... Terry has linked his Democratic opponent, State Sen. Brad Ashford, to Jenkins' release from prison and his killing spree."

New Hampshire. Tim Buckland of the New Hampshire Union Leader: "U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen and former Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown got in the last punches in what was the final round of their debates before Tuesday's election." ...

... Where in New Hampshire Is Sullivan County? Scott Brown isn't sure. But ObamaCare:

     ... Margaret Hartmann of New York: "The exchange gave the impression that Brown didn't know where Sullivan County was, which is particularly bad since there are only ten counties in the state. However, Pindell apologized after the debate upon learning that Brown was right, sort of. Sullivan County is both north and west of Concord, and Mount Sunapee is partially located there (though the ski area is in Merrimack County). ...

... CW: When you contrast Brown's response to the question with Shaheen's, it's obvious that Shaheen knows her New Hampshire geography intimately & knows the various regional issues. Brown, on the other hand, said he's "been there," where "been there" seems to mean "skiied Mount Sunapee which is right close to Sullivan County."

Presidential Election

Harold Meyerson of the Washington Post writes a terrific column on Hillary Clinton's attachment to big banks. "In the winter of 1932-1933, as President-elect Franklin Roosevelt was assembling his Cabinet, he was lobbied to appoint a leader of the J.P. Morgan investment bank, then headquartered at 23 Wall St., to a top post at Treasury. Roosevelt refused -- categorically. 'We simply cannot go along with 23,' he told an aide. Roosevelt's refusal should become a standard to which Democratic activists hold all their presidential candidates."

Ted Cruz: Republicans Must Nominate a Wacko-Bird. Jonathan Topaz of Politico: "Sen. Ted Cruz on Thursday took a thinly veiled shot at Jeb Bush, saying that Republicans will ensure a Hillary Clinton presidency if they run a more moderate candidate in 2016. Appearing on CNBC, the Texas Republican and tea party favorite was asked about Bush and said that presidential candidates from the party's establishment wing -- like Arizona Sen. John McCain in 2008 and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney in 2012 -- consistently fail to turn out millions of voters.... A Washington Post/ABC News poll earlier this month showed Bush leading a crowded GOP primary field, with Cruz finishing in ninth." CW: Cruz also noted that no GOP presidential nominee named Ted Cruz had ever lost the presidency.

Paul Waldman on Chris Christie's "persona": "... you know where you don't get too many chances to show what a tough guy you are? Iowa. Campaigning for the caucuses is an interminable process of trooping from living room to senior center to VFW hall, meeting people in small groups, looking them in the eye and asking them for their votes.... Being tough just isn't part of that show, and if the biggest part of Christie's appeal is that he can talk like an extra from Goodfellas when somebody challenges him, he isn't going to get very far." ...

... CW: In Iowa, New Hampshire, wherever, Christie will be viewed as an outsider. If he roughs up the locals -- even the dimwitted locals -- the neighbors will take it personally. In New Jersey, Christie may be a jerk, "but he's our jerk." That won't be the case when he moves out-of-state. If Christie can't control himself -- and neither Waldman nor I thinks he can -- his presidential aspirations will be toast. Also fun to watch: the debates (which the Republican National Committee is planning to limit). Will Chris Christie order Ted Cruz to "sit down & shut up"? Will he punch out Marco Rubio? Will he grab Rand Paul by the hair?

Beyond the Beltway

Stephen Deere of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch: "If a behind-the-scenes effort is afoot to force out Chief Thomas Jackson and disband his police force, neither he nor his department is going quietly -- nor quickly.... On Wednesday, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder called for 'wholesale changes' within the Ferguson Police Department, while speaking at a public forum in Washington. He declined to offer any specific recommendations, noting that Ferguson police were still under a U.S. Department of Justice investigation.... Jackson called it 'irresponsible' for Holder to comment about conclusions Justice Department investigators analyzing his department have made while their investigation is ongoing, especially while 'he is telling others to "shut up" about leaks.'"

News Ledes

Reuters: "The ringleader of a beating ritual that led to the death of a Florida college marching band member was convicted on Friday of manslaughter and felony hazing, the first case to go to trial in an incident that drew national attention to hazing abuses. A jury convicted percussionist Dante Martin, 27, for his role in a November 2011 ritual involving the Florida A&M University's celebrated 'Marching 100' band that led to the death of Robert Champion, a 26-year-old drum major." ...

... CW: Why are these college students so old?

Los Angeles Times: "Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo, part of a commercial space venture founded by British billionaire Richard Branson, crashed during testing Friday, according to a Mojave Air and Space Port spokesperson and the FAA. At least one person was killed." MSNBC is saying two were injured as well.

New York Times: "Less than a day after restricting the movements of a nurse who treated Ebola victims in West Africa, a judge in Maine has lifted the measures, rejecting arguments by the State of Maine that a quarantine was necessary to protect the public. Within an hour of the decision, state troopers who had been parked outside the nurse's house for days had left. The order, signed on Friday by Judge Charles C. LaVerdiere, the chief judge for the Maine District Courts who serves in Kennebec and Somerset counties, said the nurse, Kaci Hickox, 'currently does not show symptoms of Ebola and is therefore not infectious.' The order requires Ms. Hickox to submit to daily monitoring for symptoms, to coordinate her travel with state health officials, and to notify them immediately if symptoms appear. Ms. Hickox has agreed to follow the requirements." Thanks to James S. for the link.

AP: "Eric Frein, 31, appeared gaunt and battered as he answered yes or no questions and listened as a judge read the criminal complaint detailing the Sept. 12 attack that killed Cpl. Bryon Dickson and critically wounded Trooper Alex Douglass."

Washington Post: "Russia agreed Thursday to resume selling natural gas to Ukraine, ending a cutoff.... The stopgap deal will secure critical energy supplies for Ukraine through March and will also help assure European countries that their own natural gas supply will not be disrupted during chilly winter months."