The Commentariat -- Jan, 17, 2014

Mark Landler & Peter Baker of the New York Times: "President Obama will require intelligence agencies to obtain permission from a secret court before tapping into a vast database of telephone data, but he will leave the data in the hands of the government for now, an administration official said. Mr. Obama, in a much-anticipated speech on Friday morning, plans to pull back the government's wide net of surveillance at home and abroad, staking out a middle ground between the far-reaching proposals of his own advisers and the concerns of the nation's intelligence agencies." ...

     ... New Lede: "President Obama, declaring that advances in technology had made it harder 'to both defend our nation and uphold our civil liberties,' announced carefully calculated changes to surveillance policies on Friday, saying he would restrict the ability of intelligence agencies to gain access to telephone data, and would ultimately move that data out of the hands of the government."

... The Washington Post story, by David Nakamura & Ellen Nakashima, is here. ...

... David Lauter & Ken Dilanian of the Los Angeles Times: "The president's objective today is not to fundamentally change what the NSA does, but rather to make Americans and U.S. allies more comfortable with it." ...

... Here is the full text of the President's speech. ...

... James Ball of the Guardian: "The National Security Agency has collected almost 200 million text messages a day from across the globe, using them to extract data including location, contact networks and credit card details, according to top-secret documents. The untargeted collection and storage of SMS messages -- including their contacts -- is revealed in a joint investigation between the Guardian and the UK's Channel 4 News based on material provided by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden. The documents also reveal the UK spy agency GCHQ has made use of the NSA database to search the metadata of 'untargeted and unwarranted' communications belonging to people in the UK." ...

... Shorter Peter Baker (linked in yesterday's Commentariat). Digby: "Basically [President Obama] was shocked and upset that the people didn't trust him to keep the NSA from being out of control --- and then learned that the NSA was out of control." Read Digby's whole post, as she goes on to worry about Keith Alexander's extraordinary (or as James Banford put it, Strangelovian) power. ...

... Charles Pierce: "It is clear now that the all-too-human, but curiously error-prone heroes of our intelligence community believe quite profoundly that there is no piece of information that does not essentially belong to them, anywhere in the world, ever." ...

... Benny Johnson of BuzzFeed: "As the American intelligence community struggles to contain the public damage done by the former National Security Agency contractor's revelations of mass domestic spying, intelligence operators have continued to seethe in very personal terms against [Edward Snowden]...." Some fantasize about killing him.

Paul Lewis of the Guardian: "Democratic and Republican lawmakers are introducing a bill to restore parts of the Voting Rights Act, six months after the supreme court controversially knocked down a pillar of civil rights-era legislation that prevented discrimination at the ballot box." ...

... Ari Berman of the Nation elaborates. ...

< ... Rick Hasan: "I am very pessimistic about the legislation passing out of the House."

Pete Kasperowicz of the Hill: "The Senate approved the $1 trillion omnibus spending bill Thursday, sending it to the White House for President Obama's signature and sparing the government from another government shutdown. Senators voted 72-26 in favor of the bill, and all 'no' votes came from Senate Republicans, including GOP Leader Mitch McConnell and Minority Whip John Cornyn (Texas). That followed a 72-26 vote to end debate, which needed 60 votes."

New York Times Editors: "The latest report on the 2012 debacle in Benghazi, Libya..., reflects a bipartisan consensus about the tragedy that is broadly consistent with the findings of previous inquiries. Even so, it contributes to a better understanding of what happened and why and what must be done to mitigate the chances of its happening again." ...

... Steve M.: Winger upset that left-wing media don't name Obama for causing Benghaaazi! when covering Senate report that doesn't name Obama.

Dylan Byers of Politico: "Senators Lindsey Graham and John McCain harshly criticized The New York Times on Thursday over a recent report which concluded that Al Qaeda was not involved in the Sept. 11, 2012, attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi. In remarks on the Senate floor, Graham said 'journalism has died at this paper,' while McCain called the paper 'an ever-reliable surrogate for the Obama administration.'" ...

... Hadas Gold of Politico: "New York Times Executive Editor Jill Abramson is hitting back at harshly critical comments made by Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) on the Senate floor Thursday about a Times's report on the 2012 attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi. In a statement to Politico, Abramson called David Kirkpatrick's reporting on Benghazi 'unassailable.'"

Juliet Eilperin & Lenny Bernstein of the Washington Post: "A group of the nation's leading environmental organizations is breaking with the administration over its energy policy, arguing that the White House needs to apply a strict climate test to all of its energy decisions or risk undermining one of the president's top second-term priorities. The rift -- reflected in a letter sent to President Obama by 18 groups including the Sierra Club, the Environmental Defense Fund and Earthjustice -- signals that the administration is under pressure to confront the fossil fuel industry or risk losing support from a critical part of its political base during an already difficult election year."

Jonathan Cohn of the New Republic: "Conservatives used to say Obamacare is socialized medicine. Now they say it is a 'government bailout' of insurers. The new claim is just as misleading and cynical as the old one." Cohn explains why.

I'm Rubber, You're Glue...

Tom Kludt of TPM: "In his memoir 'Duty,' [Robert] Gates recalled his disgust after [Harry] Reid said in 2007 that the Iraq war had been 'lost.' 'I was furious and shared privately with some of my staff a quote from Abraham Lincoln I had written down long before. 'Congressmen who willfully take actions during wartime that damage morale and undermine the military are saboteurs and should be arrested, exiled or hanged,' " Gates wrote. (Lincoln didn't actually say that.)" ...

... AP: "Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid says former Defense Secretary Robert Gates is out to make a buck with a book denigrating other senior officials. Reid was one target of Gates in his book, while President Barack Obama, Vice President Joseph Biden and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton also came in for criticism." ...

... Philip Ewing of Politico: "Former Defense Secretary Robert Gates fired back at Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid on Thursday night, quipping that 'it's common practice on the Hill to vote on bills you haven't read, and it's perfectly clear Sen. Reid has not read the book.'"

Paul Krugman: "... Europe's ongoing economic woes can't be attributed solely to the bad ideas of the right. Yes, callous, wrongheaded conservatives have been driving policy, but they have been abetted and enabled by spineless, muddleheaded politicians on the moderate left."

** "I am Cyrus." John Judis of the New Republic has a fascinating look back at President Truman's vascillating policies toward the formation & support of Israel.

Local News

Steve Kastenbaum & Chris Frates of CNN: "Give him a position at the top of the agency; he's a good friend of the governor. That's how David Wildstein was introduced to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey in 2010, according to a former employee with extensive knowledge of the agency's hiring practices. Soon after, Wildstein was named the director of Interstate Capital Projects, a title that previously had not existed at the bi-state agency...." ...

... Kate Zernicke of the New York Times: "As the New Jersey Assembly voted Thursday to authorize what Democrats and Republicans alike called a historic investigation into abuses of power by Gov. Chris Christie's administration, Mr. Christie seemed to be maneuvering against the inquiry, hiring a high-powered defense lawyer and resisting questions about whether he would cooperate with the Legislature's efforts.... Mr. Christie's administration announced that it had hired Randy M. Mastro, a longtime associate of former Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani of New York City, to conduct an internal review...." ...

... Shawn Boburg of the Bergen Record: "Twenty subpoenas rained down on Governor Christie's office and the Port Authority on Thursday, demanding documents related to the George Washington Bridge controversy be turned over to a legislative panel investigating the origins of a traffic jam apparently manufactured out of spite. Among those who were sent subpoenas, according to a source: Christie's former deputy chief of staff Bridget Kelly and his former campaign manager Bill Stepien, as well as spokesman Michael Drewniak, Director of Communications Maria Comella, chief counsel Charles McKenna, chief of staff Kevin O'Dowd, and director of the authorities unit Regina Egea." ...

... Christopher Baxter of the Star-Ledger: "A separate state Senate committee formed today to investigate the scandal plans to subpoenas records from David Samson, chairman of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, agency Commissioner William 'Pat' Schuber, and Regina Egea, Christie's incoming chief of staff, said Sen. Loretta Weinberg (D-Bergen), the panel's chairwoman." ...

... Herb Jackson of the Record: "A Port Authority response to a [U.S.] Senate committee's inquiry about lane closures on the George Washington Bridge contains 'zero evidence' of a legitimate traffic study, the committee's chairman said today. 'The Port Authority's response provides zero evidence that the purpose of these closures was to conduct a legitimate traffic study,' said Sen. John 'Jay' Rockefeller, D-W.Va." ...

... Tim Egan: "There's a reason 'Nixonian' is moving up the Google search-pairing chart with Christie; he's vindictive, and never forgets a slight. His world is divided between enemies and loyalists. And you look at the way he talks to people in public with far less power than he -- teachers, students, lowly constituents at town hall meetings. They're idiots, morons. Ha ha ha. I've got the microphone, fool."

New Senate Race

Dana Ford of CNN: "U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn announced Thursday that he will retire at the end of the current congressional session, ending his six-year term two years early. The Oklahoma Republican, 65, has been battling cancer."

News Ledes

Reuters: "Up to 15 people, mostly foreigners, were killed on Friday when a suicide bomber blew himself up outside a popular Lebanese restaurant in the Afghanistan capital of Kabul, police said. Islamist Taliban insurgents claimed responsibility for the attack in the upscale Wazir Akbar Khan district, which hosts many embassies and restaurants catering for expatriates. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said its representative in Afghanistan was one of the dead, and the United Nations said three of its staff were killed as well."

Reuters: "A former detainee at the U.S. naval station at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, has failed to persuade a federal appeals court to let him sue the U.S. government for damages stemming from his treatment during seven years of detention."

Washington Post: "President Vladimir Putin said Friday that gay people have nothing to fear in Russia as long as they leave children alone."

AP: "West Virginia inspectors visited the site of last week's chemical spill in 2010, when a nearby resident complained about a strong odor of licorice, the same smell that led officials to the spill Jan. 9, according to documents released Thursday.... One of the inspectors said in an email that the odor was not strong enough to merit a citation." CW: The official "Can't Smell a Thing" West Virginia inspection protocol.

Guardian: "Syria's foreign minister said on Friday that his country is prepared to implement a ceasefire in the war-torn city of Aleppo and exchange detainees with the country's opposition forces as confidence-building measures before a peace conference next week in Switzerland." ...

... New York Times: "However, residents and rebel officials in some of the communities described in interviews a disturbing pattern in which the government has used the cease-fires as cover for an operation intended to attain a victory it could not achieve any other way."

New York Times: "Hiroo Onoda, an Imperial Japanese Army officer who remained at his jungle post on an island in the Philippines for 29 years, refusing to believe that World War II was over, and returned to a hero's welcome in the all but unrecognizable Japan of 1974, died Thursday at a Tokyo hospital, the Japanese government said. He was 91." CW: Big deal. What about all those American Southerners who refuse to believe the Civil War is over many generations later?

The Commentariat -- Jan, 16, 2014

Mark Mazzetti of the New York Times: "A stinging report by the Senate Intelligence Committee released Wednesday concluded that the attacks 16 months ago that killed four Americans in Benghazi, Libya, could have been prevented, and blames both American diplomats and the C.I.A. for poor communication and lax security during the weeks leading up to the deadly episode." The report is here. ...

... Adam Goldman & Anne Gearan of the Washington Post: "The report found no evidence of the kind of political coverup that Republicans have long alleged.... The committee described the attacks as opportunistic and said there was no specific warning that they were about to be carried out." ...

... Aaron Blake of the Washington Post assesses how the report could affect Hillary Clinton's image. ...

... Peter Baker of the New York Times: How Obama Learned to Love the Surveillance State.

Jonathan Weisman of the New York Times: "The House voted overwhelmingly on Wednesday, 359 to 67, to approve a $1.1 trillion spending bill for the current fiscal year, shrugging off the angry threats of Tea Party activists and conservative groups.... The legislation, 1,582 pages in length and unveiled only two nights ago, embodies precisely what many House Republicans have railed against since the Tea Party movement began, a huge bill dropped in the cover of darkness and voted on before lawmakers could possibly have read it." ...

... Greg Miller of the Washington Post: "Congress has moved to block President Obama's plan to shift control of the U.S. drone campaign from the CIA to the Defense Department, inserting a secret provision in the massive government spending bill introduced this week that would preserve the spy agency's role in lethal counterterrorism operations, U.S. officials said. The measure, included in a classified annex to the $1.1 trillion federal budget plan, would restrict the use of any funding to transfer unmanned aircraft or the authority to carry out drone strikes from the CIA to the Pentagon, officials said." ...

     ... CW: Wait a minute. As Jonathan Weisman wrote (see yesterday's Commentariat), "The legislation, 1,582 pages in length and unveiled only two nights ago, embodies precisely what many House Republicans have railed against since the Tea Party movement began, a huge bill dropped in the cover of darkness and voted on before lawmakers could possibly have read it." If they didn't have time to read the public part, do you think they had time to read the "secret" part? I don't think "Congress has moved to block" moving the drone program to the Pentagon; I think certain elite members of Congress have done so. In short, we have no idea what the sense of the Congress is because, as is common, members had no idea they what they were voting on. ...

... CW: Depending on how the townfolk vote on a proposed ordinance, you may be able to get your drone-hunting license in Deer Trail, Colorado, a "no-drone zone." Deer Trail is not in one of the Colorado counties that voted to secede.

White House: "At North Carolina State University, President Obama announces new steps with the private sector to strengthen the manufacturing sector, boost advanced manufacturing, and attract good jobs with good wages that a growing middle class requires":

... Dana Milbank can't figure out why Obama was in North Carolina talking about "wide bandgap semiconductors, whatever they are.... We've seen this before on health-care reform, gun control and other subjects: Obama will speak about a topic (as he did last week on unemployment benefits) and then move on before the job is done. But unemployment benefits should be a particularly easy sell for Obama, because Republican opposition to helping job-seekers (unless the money is taken from somewhere else) makes them sound heartless."

Matt Miller has an excellent piece in the Washington Post that at least partially explains why -- despite growing inequality -- the unwashed masses aren't marching on Washington bearing pitchforks. We've previously covered his second point -- that Americans have no idea how unequally income & wealth are distributed. But his first point -- that there is "a narrowing difference in the actual consumption experiences of the rich and the rest of us" -- is something I've never really thought thru. It also explains why wingers think it's appropriate to claim the poor are lucky duckies because they own $20 coffeemakers & used refrigerators.

Oliver Knox of Yahoo! News: "It's a coincidence, White House aides say. President Barack Obama did not deliberately schedule his big NSA speech for Friday to mark the anniversary of Dwight Eisenhower's warning that the 'military-industrial complex' posed a potential threat to American democracy." As Knox characterizes it, "In 1961, Eisenhower tried to make Americans more mistrustful of the encroachments of a national-security state. In 2014, Obama is trying to win back their faith...."

Jad Mouawad of the New York Times: "The National Labor Relations Board, in a sweeping complaint filed on Wednesday, said that Walmart illegally disciplined and fired employees after strikes and protests for better pay. The complaint listed violations of federal law in 14 states involving more than 60 workers and 34 stores. It said Walmart fired 19 employees for taking part in strikes and demonstrations against the company. Other employees were given verbal warnings or faced other disciplinary action. In some cases, according to the complaint, the company spied on employees."

David Ingram of Reuters: "A judge on Wednesday upheld subsidies at the heart of President Barack Obama's healthcare overhaul, rejecting one of the main legal challenges to the policy by conservatives opposed to an expansion of the federal government. A ruling in favor of a lawsuit brought by individuals and businesses in Texas, Kansas, Missouri, Tennessee, West Virginia and Virginia would have crippled the implementation of the law by making health insurance unaffordable for many people. In his ruling, U.S. District Judge Paul Friedman in Washington D.C. wrote that Congress clearly intended to make the subsidies available nationwide under the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act." CW: One of the nastiest suits ever: the plaintiffs want to deprive residents of states that don't have insurance exchanges of federal tax subsidies.

Matt Apuzzo of the New York Times: "The Justice Department will significantly expand its definition of racial profiling to prohibit federal agents from considering religion, national origin, gender and sexual orientation in their investigations.... The move addresses a decade of criticism from civil rights groups that say federal authorities have in particular singled out Muslims in counterterrorism investigations and Latinos for immigration investigations."

Thanks to Kate M. for sending the artwork.

... Janet Reitman in Rolling Stone: "While more Americans support upholding 'Roe v. Wade' than ever, the Tea Party and the Christian right have teamed up to pass hundreds of restrictions eviscerating abortion rights in GOP-controlled state legislatures across the country."

** Zack Kopplin in Slate: A Texas-based charter school system called Responsive Education Solutions "has a secular veneer and is funded by public money, but it has been connected from its inception to the creationist movement and to far-right fundamentalists who seek to undermine the separation of church and state.... Operating more than 65 campuses in Texas, Arkansas, and Indiana, Responsive Ed receives more than $82 million in taxpayer money annually, and it is expanding, with 20 more Texas campuses opening in 2014.... When it's not directly quoting the Bible, Responsive Ed's curriculum showcases the current creationist strategy to compromise science education, which the National Center for Science Education terms 'stealth creationism.' ... The movement also undermines the study of history." Like, "anti-Christian bias" was a cause of World War I. And the New Deal didn't help the economy; it "ushered in an era of dependency...."

Nick Cumming-Bruce of the New York Times: "In an unusual appearance before a United Nations committee, Vatican officials faced questions on Thursday about the Holy See's handling of sexual abuse of children by the clergy.... Human rights organizations and groups representing victims of clerical abuse welcomed the hearing as the first occasion the Vatican has had to publicly defend its record."

Congressional Race

Richard Simon of the Los Angeles Times: "Rep. Howard 'Buck' McKeon (R-Santa Clarita), a onetime western wear haberdasher who rose to become chairman of the powerful House Armed Services Committee, is announcing Thursday that he will retire after more than two decades in Congress. His departure at the close of the current term will further diminish California's clout on Capitol Hill, at least in the short term, and set the stage for a competitive race to choose his successor."

Local News

Gail Collins: State of the state speeches are boring & forgettable.

"A 'Free' Press isn't That Kind of Free." Rachel Maddow, in the Washington Post: "Be inspired by the beleaguered but unintimidated reporters of Chris Christie's New Jersey: Whatever your partisan affiliation, or lack thereof, subscribe to your local paper today. It's an act of civic virtue." ...

... CW: Maddow mentions some of the dirty tricks Christie's henchmen have played on local reporters. She does not mention the time Christie shut down New Jersey's only public television station, ostensibly because one of NJN's reporters wrote a story about Christie's under-the-table loan to a subordinate at the U.S. attorney's office. (The same subordinate, as it happens, Christie later rewarded with two better jobs. She is currently head of the state's economic development team, now being audited for a questionable Christie-starring, federally-funded "visit New Jersey" ad campaign.)

Right Wing World

"Invincible Ignorance" of the Right, Ctd. Jonathan Chait: "While I'd agree that a completely state-dominated economy would probably have less innovation on the whole, it's pretty obvious that the simplistic libertarian caricature -- government can only stifle innovation -- bears little resemblance to observed reality." Chait gives a bunch of examples. You can probably think of more.

News Ledes

Reuters: "The U.S. government on Thursday provided merchants with information gleaned from its confidential investigation into the massive data breach at Target Corp, in a move aimed at identifying and thwarting similar attacks that may be ongoing."

AP: "An attorney for the family of a killer whose Ohio execution by lethal injection was marked by several minutes of unprecedented gasping and unusual sounds plans to sue the state over what happened. Dayton defense lawyer Jon Paul Rion says Dennis McGuire's family is deeply disturbed by his execution and believes it violated his constitutional rights."

The Commentariat -- Jan, 15, 2014

Peter Baker & Charlie Savage of the New York Times: "President Obama will issue new guidelines on Friday to curtail government surveillance, but will not embrace the most far-reaching proposals of his own advisers and will ask Congress to help decide some of the toughest issues, according to people briefed on his thinking. Mr. Obama plans to increase limits on access to bulk telephone data, call for privacy safeguards for foreigners and propose the creation of a public advocate to represent privacy concerns at a secret intelligence court. But he will not endorse leaving bulk data in the custody of telecommunications firms, nor will he require court permission for all so-called national security letters seeking business records." ...

... David Sanger & Thom Shanker of the New York Times: "The National Security Agency has implanted software in nearly 100,000 computers around the world that allows the United States to conduct surveillance on those machines and can also create a digital highway for launching cyberattacks. While most of the software is inserted by gaining access to computer networks, the N.S.A. has increasingly made use of a secret technology that enables it to enter and alter data in computers even if they are not connected to the Internet, according to N.S.A. documents, computer experts and American officials.... In most cases, the radio frequency hardware must be physically inserted by a spy, a manufacturer or an unwitting user." CW: Every time my laptop freezes up, I'm going to call BestBuy & scream at the geek-spy who implanted radio waves in my brain computer. ...

... Mike Masnick of TechDirt: "... these activities certainly seem more in line with what you'd expect the NSA to be doing, and raise (yet again) the question of why the NSA needs to 'collect it all' when it appears that programs like these can be quite effective in doing targeted surveillance against those actually seeking to attack the US in some manner?"

Craig Whitlock & Craig Timberg of the Washington Post: "Federal, state and local law enforcement agencies are increasingly borrowing border-patrol drones for domestic surveillance operations, newly released records show, a harbinger of what is expected to become the commonplace use of unmanned aircraft by police. Customs and Border Protection, which has the largest U.S. drone fleet of its kind outside the Defense Department, flew nearly 700 such surveillance missions on behalf of other agencies from 2010 to 2012...." CW: Hollywood stars should see TMZ dronecams peeking in their windows any day now. ...

... Adam Silverman of the Burlington (Vermont) Free Press: "The National Security Agency's director, responding to questions from independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, says the government is not spying on Congress. But a two-page letter from Army Gen. Keith Alexander to Sanders goes on to state that the agency can make no guarantee that representatives or senators have not had their 'telephone metadata' caught up in broad government sweeps."

Our Congress at Work

Burgess Everett of Politico: "The Senate blocked two separate proposals to revive emergency unemployment benefits that expired in December, all but killing the prospects of reviving jobless aid for now. The chamber voted 52-48 to reject a bill that would have extended benefits through November and pay for it by extending the sequester's mandatory spending cuts into 2024. A different measure to extend the aid for three months -- without a pay-for -- was defeated 55-45. Both measures needed 60 votes to advance."

Ed O'Keefe of the Washington Post "called out some of the more notable and controversial elements" in the $1.1 trillion spending bill:

The bill ... bars the State Department from closing the chancery at the U.S. Embassy in the Holy See and merging it with the one at the U.S. Embassy in Rome for security reasons, a project first pushed by George W. Bush's administration. -- Ed O'Keefe ...

God is in the details. -- Anonymous

Despite the concern over security after the 2012 attack on the United States Mission in Benghazi, Libya, the spending bill earmarks less to embassy security, construction and maintenance than it allotted for fiscal 2013 -- $2.67 billion, down by $224 million. -- Jonathan Weisman, New York Times ...

That isn't a line-item. It's a punchline. -- Charles Pierce

Edward Wyatt of the New York Times: "A federal appeals court on Tuesday threw out Federal Communications Commission rules that require Internet service providers to give all traffic equal access through their networks. The decision could pave the way for Internet service providers like Verizon and AT&T to charge content companies -- say ESPN or Facebook -- to deliver their data to consumers at a faster speed." ...

... Wyatt has more on the ruling here. ...

... Charles Pierce: "The Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia appears pretty much to have decided that any attempt by this particular executive branch to regulate anything ever is prima facie unconstitutional.... I think that first sentence may be the only explanation necessary for this ruling. The FCC is going to fight the ruling, as it should, and good for it. But, at the moment, Internet is sliding toward pay-for-play because, I suppose, freedom."

Juliet Eilperin of the Washington Post: "Faced with a recalcitrant Congress and a constrained budget, President Obama and his top aides are increasingly working to mobilize an outside coalition of corporate, nonprofit and academic groups to promote White House economic and social policies. The strategy will be on display Thursday as the White House holds a summit with more than 100 college and university presidents, who will promise to enroll more low-income students and ensure that they graduate. This month, the administration also will sponsor a session for corporations that pledge to hire the long-term unemployed."

Screw the Workers. Harold Meyerson of the Washington Post: "... the kind of free-trade deal embodied by NAFTA ... and the Trans-Pacific Partnership ... increase the incomes of Americans investing abroad even as they diminish the incomes of Americans working at home.... There are ways that a developed nation can trade with the developing world without gutting its own economy. Germany has been able to protect its workers through the advantage of having the euro as its currency, by requiring its corporations to give their employees a major say in their companies' investment decisions and by embracing a form of capitalism in which shareholders don't play a major role.... Absent such reforms ... trade deals will only negate our attempts to diminish inequality." ...

... Screw the Environment. Coral Davenport of the New York Times: "The Obama administration is retreating from previous demands of strong international environmental protections in order to reach agreement on a sweeping Pacific trade deal that is a pillar of President Obama's strategic shift to Asia, according to documents obtained by WikiLeaks, environmentalists and people close to the contentious trade talks."

Conservatives Are Liars, Ctd. John Cassidy of the New Yorker: "Conservatives often regard the government's anti-poverty programs as failures. But new measurements show that they are wrong."

AFP: "Senator Rand Paul will introduce legislation Tuesday to finally bring Washington's Iraq war authorization to an end, his office said, and the White House backs the Republican's efforts in principle."

Jonathan Easley of the Hill: "The Obama administration announced Tuesday that it was again extending the ObamaCare enrollment deadline for people with pre-existing conditions. The administration said it will extend the Pre-Existing Conditions Insurance Plan (PCIP), slated to end January 31, until March 15." ...

... Ezra Klein: "The risk of a[n ObamaCare] 'death spiral' is over." Klein explains why.

Kevin Liptak of CNN: "President Barack Obama plans to soon meet with Pope Francis for the first time. Secretary of State John Kerry said the President was 'looking forward' to visiting the popular new leader of the Roman Catholic Church at the Vatican.... The White House said it had no specific travel announcements to make...."

Congressional Races

Alex Eisenstadt of Politico: "Former lobbyist David Jolly on Tuesday won the Republican primary in the special election for a vacant Florida congressional seat, vaulting him into a nationally watched battle with Democrat Alex Sink for the right to succeed the late GOP Rep. Bill Young. With 96 percent of precincts reporting, according to The Associated Press, Jolly led with 44.6 percent of the vote.... Sink glided to her party's nomination unscathed."

Jake Sherman & John Bresnahan of Politico: "Virginia Democratic Rep. Jim Moran will retire after 23 years in the House, according to multiple Democratic sources. The retirement is the third for Democrats this week: On Monday, California Rep. George Miller said he would leave Congress after 40 years and New York Rep. Bill Owens announced Tuesday he would forgo reelection in 2014."

Carl Hulse of the New York Times: "Since September, Americans for Prosperity, a group financed in part by the billionaire Koch brothers, has spent an estimated $20 million on television advertising that calls out House and Senate Democrats by name for their support of the Affordable Care Act. The unusually aggressive early run of television ads, which has been supplemented by other conservative initiatives, has gone largely unanswered, and strategists in both parties agree it is taking a toll on its targets."

Local News

Juliet Eilperin: "A federal judge ruled Tuesday that Oklahoma's ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional, the latest in a string of recent court decisions that have challenged such state prohibitions. The decision by U.S. District Judge Terence Kernis stayed pending appeal, meaning marriages will not take place immediately in Oklahoma."

Jenna Portnoy of the Star-Ledger: "In his fourth State of the State address [Tuesday, New Jersey] Gov. Chris Christie called for a longer school day for New Jersey students, and hinted that he will push for another round of pension reform. Christie only briefly touched on the George Washington Bridge controversy, saying 'mistakes were clearly made,' but pledged to push forward with his agenda." The full text is here. ...

... Ted Mann of the Wall Street Journal: "Gov. Chris Christie was with [David Wildstein,] the official who arranged the closure of local lanes leading to the George Washington Bridge on Sept. 11, 2013 -- the third day of the closures, and well after they had triggered outrage from local officials beset by heavy traffic.... Also present with Mr. Christie that day were Bill Baroni, the authority's deputy executive director, who was helping Mr. Wildstein manage the fallout from the closures among local officials, subpoenaed documents show. Also there was David Samson, the Port Authority chairman and close Christie ally...." ...

... Bob Jordan of the Asbury Park Press: "Chris Christie says he had no role in the planning of last year's $25 million 'Stronger Than the Storm' advertising campaign, but a bidder says staff officials made it clear the Republican governor should star in the TV commercials. At oral presentations for bidders on March 15, state officials 'inquired if we would be open to featuring the governor in the ads,' said Shannon Morris, president of Sigma Group of Oradell. 'They stated an interest. They asked us about using the governor,' Morris told the Asbury Park Press, adding that officials 'didn't ask us about anybody else as a subject.'"

... David Chen of the New York Times talks to friends & co-workers of Bridget Kelly: "Several Trenton political operatives said that Ms. Kelly, having paid her dues, became more brusque after being elevated to Mr. Christie's inner circle. She stopped mingling with lobbyists and other staff members, and, they suggested, she seemed to relish teaming up with [Christie campaign manager Bill] Stepien in administering political payback." CW: In other words, mostly bullshit "impressions." ...

... CW.: Looks as if we're about to hear that Stepien put Kelly up to ordering the lane closings. Maybe he did. That would at least make some sense. In his marathon presser, Christie claimed he let Stepien go because, "I was disturbed by the tone and behavior and attitude of callous indifference that was displayed in the emails by my former campaign manager, Bill Stepien. And reading that, it made me lose my confidence in Bill's judgment." It seems likely that Christie also knew Stepien was implicated in Bridgegate far beyond his "tone." ...

... Steve M. takes on a couple of stupid Christie apologists -- Charlie Cook & Michael Gerson.

Attacked by Lethal Bag of Popcorn. Josh Marshall of TPM: "We have the latest development in the national joke known as 'Stand Your Ground' gun laws. The murderous jerk who killed a man in a Tampa theater [Monday] because he wouldn't stop texting may be planning to use a 'stand your ground' defense. Curtis Reeves, Jr., a retired police captain says he feared for his life after the victim 'assaulted' him with a bag of movie popcorn."

News Ledes

New York Times: "New York City will pay nearly $18 million to settle civil rights lawsuits filed on behalf of roughly 1,600 people who claimed they were wrongfully swept up in mass arrests during the 2004 Republican National Convention, lawyers for the city and plaintiffs said on Wednesday. Many of those arrested during the convention, at which President George W. Bush was nominated for a second term, were detained in filthy cells with poor air quality in a former bus depot on a Hudson River pier, according to a complaint filed in the case. They included protesters, journalists and bystanders who were trapped on the sidewalk by police officers using mesh nets, according to the complaint."

AP: "The company responsible for the chemical spill in West Virginia moved its chemicals to a nearby plant that has already been cited for safety violations, including a backup containment wall with holes in it, and state officials may force the company to move the chemicals elsewhere. Inspectors on Monday found five safety violations at Freedom Industries' storage facility in Nitro, about 10 miles from the spill site in Charleston."