The Commentariat -- May 14, 2012

Paul Krugman: "... what JPMorgan has just demonstrated is that even supposedly smart bankers must be sharply limited in the kinds of risk they’re allowed to take on." ...

... "What this country needs is a businessman for President!" Clip from John Ford's 1939 film "Stagecoach":

... Heidi Moore of Marketplace explains what JPMorgan Chase did. In layman's terms. ...

... Eric Wasson of The Hill: "Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.), who has been leading the fight to create a strong Volcker rule, sounded confident he may now have the upper hand. 'The price will be they will lose their battle in Washington to weaken the rule,' he said, in an appearance ["Meet the Press."] Levin warned that the Treasury department appears intent on allowing the kind of risky $100 billion bet that JPMorgan made, and that allowing rules to be watered down could risk another massive taxpayer funded bailout of the banking system that was needed during the 2008 financial crisis." CW: You go, Timmy. ...

... Watch Jamie Squirm under David Gregory's devastating questioning. Ha ha:

... Alex Pareene: "Let’s put JPMorgan Chase chairman, president and CEO James 'Jamie' Dimon on trial... Let’s haul him before a judge (I would be fine with Judge Judy) and ask him to explain, without jargon, what positive role JPMorgan plays for the American and world economies that a few much smaller, less leveraged firms couldn't also play while not being at risk of losing billions of dollars by accident in a 'hedge' and sending world markets reeling."

... "Too Crooked to Fail.: Matt Taibbi of Rolling Stone: "At least Bank of America got its name right. The ultimate Too Big to Fail bank really is America, a hypergluttonous ward of the state whose limitless fraud and criminal conspiracies we'll all be paying for until the end of time. Did you hear about the plot to rig global interest rates? The $137 million fine for bilking needy schools and cities? The ingenious plan to suck multiple fees out of the unemployment checks of jobless workers? Take your eyes off them for 10 seconds and guaranteed, they'll be into some shit again."

CW: haven't read it all yet, & I'm aware of the general story, but Jeff Toobin's long blow-by-blow of how Chief Justice John Roberts engineered the Citizens United case promises to be entertaining & maddening. ...

... Margaret Talbot of the New Yorker makes a prediction: "There are four same-sex marriage lawsuits making their way toward the Supreme Court now.... In 1956, the Supreme Court declined to take a case challenging interracial-marriage laws; by 1967, it had to. And, eventually, the Court will do the right thing on same-sex marriage, just as the President did last week. As in the [1967] Loving decision, the Court will reaffirm that the 'freedom to marry has long been recognized as one of the vital personal rights essential to the orderly pursuit of happiness by free men.' And it will finally uphold that freedom for gay and lesbian American."

Katy Waldman in Slate on the eight times a U.S. vice president did something that mattered.

Presidential Race

A thank-you note from Andrew Sullivan & Tina Brown of Newsweek. Sullivan has the cover story, which isn't up yet at this writing, and I won't be looking for it. Still, eat your heart out, Willard. You will not be getting an MSM cover -- ever -- in which a halo appears above your perfect hair. ...

... Peter Baker & Rachel Swarns of the New York Times: "In the hours following Mr. Obama’s politically charged announcement on Wednesday, the president and his team embarked on a quiet campaign to contain the possible damage among religious leaders and voters. He also reached out to one or more of the five spiritual leaders he calls regularly for religious guidance, and his aides contacted other religious figures who have been supportive in the past. The damage-control effort underscored the anxiety among Mr. Obama's advisers about the consequences of the president's revised position just months before what is expected to be a tight re-election vote." ...

... Laurie Goodstein of the New York Times: "Mr. Obama's declaration last week that he supports same-sex marriage prompted ministers around the country to take to their pulpits on Sunday and preach on the issue. But in the clash over homosexuality, the battle ... is actually church versus church, minister versus minister, and Scripture versus Scripture."

Ken Thomas of the AP: "President Barack Obama is casting Mitt Romney as a greedy, job-killing corporate titan with little concern for the working class in a new, multi-pronged effort that seeks to undermine the central rationale for his Republican rival's candidacy: his business credentials. At the center of the push -- the president's most forceful attempt yet to sully Romney before the November election -- is a biting new TV ad airing Monday that recounts through interviews with former workers the restructuring, and ultimate demise, of a Kansas City, Mo., steel mill under the Republican's private equity firm." ...

... "We view Mitt Romney as a jobs destroyer." New Obama campaign TV ad:

     ... The accompanying RomneyEconomics.com Web page.

Earlier this month, Matt Viser & Tracy Jan of the Boston Globe wondered about Romney's plan to regulate Wall Street: "Republican Mitt Romney is pledging, if he is elected president, to repeal the Dodd-Frank financial regulations, a position favored by donors on Wall Street who have sent millions the candidate's way. But he is nearly silent on how -- without the regulation -- he would prevent Wall Street from once again engaging in the risky practices that helped cause the 2008 financial crisis." ...

... The J.P. Morgan news should sharpen the contrast between the two candidates considerably, and gives new meaning to Romney's frequent claim that he wants to 'get government out of the way' and let the free market work its magic. -- Greg Sargent

Sahil Kapur of TPM: "As he prepares to release his scaled-back version of the DREAM Act, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) is simultaneously laying the groundwork to blame the White House for its impending failure — and Democrats appear to be falling into his trap.... Blaming the White House papers over the fact that Republicans have fiercely opposed measures that benefit people living in the country illegally.... Even so, administration officials and top Democrats may be playing into Rubio's hands by resisting his effort.... Rubio's [purpose] is to obfuscate a clear and important distinction between the two parties among a key constituency that may potentially swing the outcome of what is expected to be a close election."

"Chaos in Tampa." Steve Kornacki of Salon: At the Arizonia Republican convention this past weekend, Ron Pau' supporters booed Willard's son Josh Romney off the stage (or they didn't, depending on whom you believe). Anyhoo, "This weekend brought another reminder of the real threat that Ron Paul and his supporters pose to Mitt Romney: Chaos in Tampa."

News Ledes

New York Times: "Despite their hard line in public, German policy makers, including Chancellor Angela Merkel, have begun to hint at some flexibility on the deep and painful budget cuts European officials have demanded. In Greece, despite outrage at the cost of carrying out European demands for austerity, few seem prepared to argue that the costs of leaving the euro -- and perhaps severing political ties to Europe -- are really bearable."

New York Times: "A bill that would have allowed civil unions for same-sex couples in Colorado was defeated on Monday night during a special legislative session called by Gov. John W. Hickenlooper to debate the issue. The legislation was voted down by Republican lawmakers on 5-to-4 vote along party lines after more than two hours of emotional testimony in the State, Veterans and Military Affairs Committee, where it was assigned Monday by Republican leadership in the House of Representatives." Denver Post story here.

AP: "The judge overseeing the criminal trial of John Edwards will sharply curtail the testimony of a key witness for the defense who could raise doubt about whether the former presidential candidate broke campaign finance laws."

AP: "Best Buy's founder Richard Schulze is stepping down as chairman of the beleaguered consumer-electronics chain after the company's investigation revealed that he failed to alert the board of directors when he learned that the CEO was having an inappropriate relationship with a female employee."

New York Times: today California Gov. Jerry Brown (D) "announced that the [state budget] shortfall had shot up ... from $9.2 billion in January, blaming a drop in revenue caused by a bad economy and court rulings barring spending cuts the state had approved. He proposed $8.3 billion in cuts, slashing welfare, social services and health care for the elderly, and a 5 percent cut in hours for state employees."

NBC News: "Texas Rep. Ron Paul said Monday that he'll cease campaigning in upcoming caucuses and primaries, an announcement of symbolic, if not substantive, significance."

NY1 News: "President Barack Obama is coming to [New York] City Monday to deliver the commencement address at all-female Barnard College and attend two high-profile fundraisers." ...

     ... New York Times Update: "President Obama's commencement speech at Barnard College on Monday highlighted the role of women in public life, a return to gender-gap identity politics that Democrats are hoping will benefit them in the coming election." See video of speech in Tuesday's Commentariat.

New York Times: "Yahoo's embattled chief executive, Scott Thompson, stepped down on Sunday after just four months on the job, sending the flailing company into limbo once again even as it faces intensifying competition from the likes of Facebook and Google for the attention of Web users. Mr. Thompson, who left amid a continuing inquiry into his academic credentials, will be replaced on an interim basis by Ross Levinsohn, Yahoo's global head of media...." ...

... The Atlantic: "The Wall Street Journal reports that shortly before stepping down as CEO, Scott Thompson told Yahoo's board that he was recently diagnosed with thyroid cancer.... While the health issue allowed him to cite 'personal reasons' as the impetus for his departure..., Yahoo is officially designating his departure as 'for cause.' The termination with cause means that Thompson will not be entitled to his full severance package."

Washington Post: "The embarrassing losses at megabank JPMorgan Chase reverberated in Washington, Wall Street and on the campaign trail Sunday, with JPMorgan Chase chief executive Jamie Dimon acknowledging that the bank 'made a terrible, egregious mistake' by dismissing worrisome signs earlier this year about the bank's trading strategy. JPMorgan, the largest U.S. bank, was poised on Sunday to accept the resignations of three executives involved in the botched strategy.... Elizabeth Warren ... called on Dimon to resign from the board of directors of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, a critical interlocutor between Wall Street and Washington." ...

     ... New York Times Update: "Stung by a huge trading loss, JPMorgan Chase will replace three top traders starting Monday, including one of the top women on Wall Street, in an effort to stem the ire that the bank faces from regulators and investors." ...

     ... New York Times Update 2: "Ina Drew, the chief investment officer who presided over JPMorgan Chase's $2 billion trading loss announced last week, has retired from the bank, according to a statement on Monday.... Two of Ms. Drew's lieutenants, Achilles Macris and Javier Martin-Artajo, are also expected to resign."

Reuters: "Greece's president met little enthusiasm from political leaders summoned to a final round of talks on Monday to avert a new election, reinforcing fears the country was firmly on the path to bankruptcy and an exit from the euro zone. European shares slid and Spanish and Italian bond yields rose as the political deadlock threatened to reignite the euro zone debt crisis. Greek banking stocks tumbled 7 percent."

AP: "Forty-nine bodies with their heads, hands and feet hacked off were found Sunday dumped on a northern Mexico highway leading to the Texas border in what appeared to be the latest carnage in an escalating war between Mexico's two dominant drug cartels."

AP: "China accused the Dalai Lama of being deceitful Monday after he reportedly alleged that Chinese agents trained Tibetan women to assassinate him by planting poison in their hair for him to touch during blessings. The Chinese Foreign Ministry said the Tibetan spiritual leader's allegations, reported in the London-based Sunday Telegraph newspaper, were not worth refuting, but added that he generally spreads false information."

The Commentariat -- May 13, 2012

My column in today's New York Times eXaminer is on Ross Douthat's fact-free ruminations. The guy is almost as talented as Willard at making up stuff. The NYTX front page is here.

William Black gets into the nitty-gritty of the Times' flawed reporting on the European economic crisis, which boils down to (a) they view it solely from the German perspective, and (b) they don't read Krugman so they don't understand where the problems lie.

** "Capitalists & Other Psychopaths." William Deresiewicz, in a New York Times op-ed: "A recent study found that 10 percent of people who work on Wall Street are 'clinical psychopaths,' exhibiting a lack of interest in and empathy for others and an 'unparalleled capacity for lying, fabrication, and manipulation.' ... Ethics in capitalism is purely optional, purely extrinsic." CW: this really is a must-read. And it sure helped me understand why Mitt Romney is such a facile liar.

Tom Friedman: philosopher Michael Sandel argues that "market values are crowding out civic practices."

My administration is the only thing between you and the pitchforks. -- President Barack Obama, to Wall Street fat cats, Spring 2009

Peter Boyer & Peter Schweitzer in Newsweek: "Despite his populist posturing, the president has failed to pin a single top finance exec on criminal charges since the economic collapse. Are the banks too big to jail — or is Washington’s revolving door at to blame?" Follow the money. ...

... Glenn Greenwald: "But the worst part of it all is that Obama is going to spend the next six months deceitfully parading around as some sort of populist hero standing up for ordinary Americans and the safety net against big business, and hordes of people who know how false that is will echo it as loudly and repeatedly as they can, tricking many people who don't know better into believing it." ...

... A pretty funny and informative post by Jessica Pressler of New York magazine on "Dimonfreude." ...

... AND Matt Yglesias: JPMorgan loses $2 billion in massive failed effort to exploit Volcker Rule loophole."

Joe Romm of Think Progress: think climatologists are exaggerating the effects of climate change? Actually, they've been downplaying it for decades.

Dean Baker & Kevin Hassett in a New York Times op-ed: "The American economy is experiencing a crisis in long-term unemployment that has enormous human and economic costs.... Policy makers must come together and recognize that this is an emergency, and fashion a comprehensive re-employment policy that addresses the specific needs of the long-term unemployed.

N. C. Aizenman of the Washington Post: "In about two dozen states across the country, the insurance marketplaces at the heart of the 2010 health-care law remain in limbo, with Republican governors or lawmakers who oppose the statute refusing to act until the Supreme Court decides its constitutionality. New Jersey's Republican governor, Chris Christie, joined the ranks Thursday,vetoing a bill from the majority Democratic legislature that would have set up the Garden State's version of the 'exchanges,' through which individuals and small businesses could shop for insurance."

In a New Yorker post, novelist Edmund White remembers his time at Cranbrook.

Matt Williams of the Guardian: "A leading Republican pollster has pushed for a party rethink on gay marriage, stressing the conservative nature of encouraging commitment between same-sex couples. In a memo to GOP operatives, Jan van Lohuizen -- a former public opinion researcher for George Bush -- notes a shift in attitudes towards gay marriage and calls for a Republican response."

David Maraniss in the Washington Post: "Obama is his mother's son." ...

... AND Valerie Strauss in the Washington Post: Anna Jarvis, who was the driving force behind the celebration of Mothers Day, eventually came to despise it because of its commercialization. Jarvis got Congress to designate Mothers Day, and later joined her sister in spending the family assets to try to end it. Jarvis had no children.

Presidential Race

War-Weary Vets. Margot Roosevelt of Reuters: "Disaffection with the politics of shock and awe runs deep among men and women who have served in the military during the past decade of conflict.... If the election were held today, Obama would win the veteran vote by as much as seven points over Romney, higher than his margin in the general population."

John Cassidy of the New Yorker: "Obama's stance [against gay marriage] in 2008 was a product of careful cost-benefit analysis, and so, I would wager, was his reversal yesterday.... Make no mistake, he has handed a wedge issue to an opposing party that has a long history of successfully exploiting them." ...

Maureen Dowd: Obama's "embrace of gay marriage was not a profile in courage."

Don Melvin & Rod McGuirk of the AP: "In a world weary of war and economic crises, and concerned about global climate change, the consensus is that Obama has not lived up to the lofty expectations that surrounded his 2008 election and Nobel Peace Prize a year later. Many in Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Latin America were also taken aback by his support for gay marriage, a taboo subject among religious conservatives. But the Democrat still enjoys broad international support. In large part, it's because of unfavorable memories of his Republican predecessor, George W. Bush, and many people would still prefer Obama over his presumptive Republican challenger Mitt Romney."

Zack Ford of Think Progress: Mitt Romney's support of same-sex adoption lasts one day.

Frank Rich: Romney isn't qualified to be a dictator.

Local News

Gary Fineout of the AP: Florida "Gov. Rick Scott's embattled chief of staff abruptly resigned from his job on Saturday following a series of news stories detailing his job performance and handling of contracts. Steve MacNamara said in his resignation letter that he would step down from his post July 1.... The Associated Press recently reported that while working for the Senate, MacNamara helped steer a $360,000 no-bid consulting contract to a friend who now leads a task force rooting out state government waste. The Miami Herald and St. Petersburg Times this week wrote a series of additional stories about other contracts and how MacNamara clashed with one agency head.... Several top agency heads -- who were hired by Scott when he first took office -- wound up resigning within months of MacNamara's arrival." You can find the Miami Herald background stories here.

News Ledes

AP: "California's budget deficit has swelled to a projected $16 billion -- much larger than had been predicted just months ago -- and will force severe cuts to schools and public safety if voters fail to approve tax increases in November, Gov. Jerry Brown said Saturday."

New York Times: "Mullah Arsala Rahmani, a former Taliban minister who was an important go-between in potential peace talks, was shot and killed on Sunday as he headed to a government meeting on reconciliation, Afghan officials said."

New York Times: "In the face of spiraling costs and Iraqi officials who say they never wanted it in the first place, the State Department has slashed -- and may jettison entirely by the end of the year -- a multibillion-dollar police training program that was to have been the centerpiece of a hugely expanded civilian mission here."

New York Times: "China's central bank announced late Saturday that it would loosen monetary policy in a clear effort to stimulate the economy after the release on Thursday and Friday of a batch of economic indicators for April that were considerably weaker than most economists had expected."

Al Jazeera: "Israel and the Palestinian Authority have issued a rare joint statement saying both are committed to peace, after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dispatched an envoy to meet Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Netanyahu's office issued the joint statement on Saturday after envoy Yitzhak Molcho met Abbas in Ramallah, the Palestinian Authority's administrative capital."

Al Jazeera: "German Chancellor Angela Merkel looks poised for a setback as polls show the country's most populous state will likely vote in favour of a centre-left government, which she has sought to label as irresponsibly spendthrift. A week after voters in Greece and France clearly plumped for anti-austerity policies, the citizens of North Rhine-Westphalia could also punish conservative champions of belt-tightening."

The Commentariat -- May 12, 2012

The President's Weekly Address:

     ... The transcript is here.

David Ingram of Reuters: "Two big cases addressing marriage rights for gays and lesbians are on track to reach the U.S. Supreme Court as soon as this year, keeping the focus on an issue President Barack Obama reignited with his endorsement this week."

Risky Business

Edward Wyatt of the New York Times: "Soon after lawmakers finished work on the nation's new financial regulatory law, a team of JPMorgan Chase lobbyists descended on Washington. Their goal was to obtain special breaks that would allow banks to make big bets in their portfolios, including some of the types of trading that led to the $2 billion loss now rocking the bank."

Peter Eavis & Susan Craig of the New York Times: "Every big bank has risk controls. Teams of executives are assigned to manage and review trades to ensure the bank’s safety and health. Yet trading debacles happen with surprising regularity. Last year, losses at two big institutions rocked the financial world. MF Global went out of business after making an ill-timed bet on European debt. Before that, a UBS trader in London lost the firm $2.3 billion. The 2008 financial crisis was the result of major risk miscalculations that brought down several big financial institutions, including Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers and the American International Group."

It just shows they can't manage risk -- and if JPMorgan can't, no one can. -- Simon Johnson, former chief economist for the International Monetary Fund.

Daniel Wagner of the AP: "JPMorgan is the largest bank in the United States and was the only major bank to remain profitable during the 2008 financial crisis. That lent credibility to its tough-talking CEO, Jamie Dimon, as he opposed stricter regulation in the aftermath. But Dimon's contention that the $2 billion loss came from a hedging strategy that backfired, not an opportunistic bet with the bank's own money, faced doubt on Friday, if not outright ridicule."

Ben Protess, et al., of the New York Times: "While the [$2BB] loss [JPMorgan Chase experienced] is not a huge threat to a bank as large and powerful as JPMorgan, whose shares tumbled 9.3 percent on Friday, it is a stark reminder that the banking system remains vulnerable to market shocks more than three years after the financial crisis. It has heightened concerns that big banks continue to make risky financial bets that could threaten the economy. ...

JPMorgan has lost, in this one set of transactions, five times the amount they claim financial regulation is costing them. -- Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) ...

... Nelson Schwartz & Jessica Silver-Greenberg of the New York Times: JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie "Dimon's reputation and possibly his influence have been cut down to size. The trading loss disclosed late Thursday is a rare misstep by a man who prides himself on having his fingers on the pulse of his 270,000-employee company, and it suggests his vaunted confidence edged toward hubris." ...

... Here are some videos of Dimon complaining about regulation & the Volcker Rule.

... New York Times Editors: "... the loss also occurred because of a continued lack, nearly four years after the crisis, of rules and regulators up to the task of protecting taxpayers and the economy from the excesses of too big to fail banks; and, yes, of protecting the banks from their executives' and traders' destructive risk-taking.... JP Morgan, like the nation's other big banks, is still engaged in activities that can provoke catastrophic losses.... Mitt Romney has called for repealing Dodd Frank. That may win him Wall Street cash, but it is profoundly dangerous."

Presidential Race

Dan Eggen & Sandhya Somashekhar of the Washington Post: "President Obama’s endorsement of same-sex marriage is energizing Christian conservative support for Mitt Romney in a way that the likely GOP nominee has so far not been able to do on his own, according to religious leaders and activists. Pastors in Ohio, North Carolina, Florida and other swing states are readying Sunday sermons inveighing against same-sex unions, while activist groups have begun laying plans for social media campaigns, leaflet drives and other get-out-the-vote efforts centered on the same-sex marriage issue. Romney could benefit from a strong turnout among evangelicals and other social conservatives, many of whom remain skeptical of his commitment to their causes."

Jeffrey Jones of Gallup: "A majority of Americans, 60%, say President Barack Obama's newly announced support for same-sex marriage will make no difference to their vote. Twice as many say it will make them less likely to vote for Obama as say more likely, though roughly half of the 'less likely' group are Republicans who probably would not support Obama anyway."

Mitch Weiss of the AP: "Once a bright spot for President Barack Obama, North Carolina is now more like a political migraine less than four months before Democrats open the party's national convention in Charlotte. Labor unions, a core Democratic constituency, are up in arms. Democratic Gov. Bev Perdue isn't running for re-election; Democrats say she was likely to lose. The state Democratic Party is in disarray over an explosive sexual harassment scandal. Voters recently approved amending the state constitution to ban gay marriage.... And unemployment in the state remains persistently high.... Now traditional Democratic Party groups are threatening huge protests in part because they're deeply uncomfortable that the convention is being held in one of the least union-friendly states. And thousands of Democrats across the country are calling for the convention to be relocated because of the gay-marriage vote."

Not Bringing the Scissors Today. Ashley Parker of the New York Times: "Mitt Romney's commencement address Saturday at Liberty University, the evangelical institution in Virginia founded by Jerry Falwell, comes on the heels of President's Obama's announcement Wednesday that he supports same-sex marriage. But in a conference call with reporters Friday, Romney campaign aides said ... Mr. Romney would not overtly wade into the issue of same-sex marriage. 'Marriage isn't the focus of the speech, but he will mention the fact that marriage is an enduring institution, which deserves to be defended,' one aide said." ...

     ... Update. Philip Rucker of the Washington Post reports on Romney's speech at Liberty.

Steve Benen catches Romney in 20 lies this week. (CW: The funniest one, to me, is his repeated insistence that Syria is Iran's route to the sea -- funny because Iran & Syria don't even share a border & Iran has hundreds of miles of coastline. Maybe if Romney hadn't let Ric Grenell go, Grenell would have updated Romney's stupid stump speech.)

Charles Blow: "There was a malicious streak at the core of the high-school boy in these accounts. Romney's muddled and confusing explanation and half-apologies only reinforce concerns that there is also something missing from the core of the man: sincerity and sensitivity. Targeting the vulnerable is an act of cowardice. The only way to vanquish cowardice is to brandish courage. Romney refused to do so."

Beth Reinhard of the National Journal: As Massachusetts governor, Romney's evolving record on anti-gay bullying got worse, not better, as he repositioned himself to run for president.

Right Wing World

New York Times Editors: "Mr. Broun owes an apology to history."to

Dana Milbank compares Richard Mourdock, who beat out Sen. Dick Lugar in the Indiana primary to Keith Judd, the federal inmate "who won 41 percent of the ballots against President Obama in West Virginia’s Democratic presidential primary."

New York Times Editors: "For more than a year, House Republicans have energetically worked to demolish vital social programs that have made this country both stronger and fairer over the last half-century. At the same time, they have insisted on preserving bloated military spending and unjustifiably low tax rates for the rich. That effort reached a nadir on Thursday when the House voted to prevent $55 billion in automatic cuts imposed on the Pentagon as part of last year’s debt-ceiling deal, choosing instead to make all those cuts, and much more, from domestic programs."

Local News

Tim Ghianni of Reuters: "Tennessee teachers can no longer condone so-called 'gateway sexual activity' such as touching genitals under a new law that critics say is too vague and could hamper discussion about safe sexual behavior. Governor Bill Haslam's office Friday confirmed that he had signed the bill, which stirred up controversy nationwide and even was lampooned by comedian Stephen Colbert." CW: in related news, the state's top sociologists, psychiatrists and other members of the scientific community have remarked on the anomaly that the state's adult legislators are more interested in sex than are teens. A Vanderbilt University bacteriologist has recommended testing the water in the drinking fountains at the capitol building in Nashville. "There's something wrong with these people," she said.

Jason Stein & Patrick Marley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: "A filmmaker released a video Thursday that shows Gov. Scott Walker saying he would use 'divide and conquer' as a strategy against unions. Walker made the comments to Beloit billionaire Diane Hendricks, who has since given $510,000 to the governor's campaign -- making her Walker's single-largest donor and the largest known donor to a candidate in state history.... In the 2010 campaign, Walker won the support of Operating Engineers Local 139, a union that represents about 9,000 heavy equipment operators in Wisconsin. The union is not endorsing anyone in this year's recall election. Terry McGowan, the union's business manager, said the union gave its 2010 endorsement only after getting assurances Walker would not pursue right-to-work legislation.... But he added that divide and conquer is a phrase that is anathema to those in the labor movement. 'It means turning worker against worker,' he said." Via Charles Pierce.

News Ledes

** New York Times: "Louis H. Pollak, a federal judge and former dean of two prestigious law schools who played a significant role in major civil rights cases before the Supreme Court, including the landmark Brown v. Board of Education desegregation case, died on Wednesday at his home in Philadelphia. He was 89."

New York Times: "Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg on Friday sharply criticized the Brooklyn district attorney, Charles J. Hynes, over his handling of child sexual abuse cases among the borough's large ultra-Orthodox Jewish community."

AP: "An Israeli envoy will submit a letter to the Palestinian president regarding the possibility of substantive peace talks, said officials from both sides Saturday. The modest exchange is the highest-level communication between the two sides in months."

Guardian: "Chicago police have been accused of intimidating protesters ahead of the Nato conference next week. A video posted to YouTube appears to show officers saying they would 'come looking for' protesters after a traffic stop in the city." Includes video.

Washington Post: "Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin has given up his U.S. citizenship, a move that will reduce his taxes when Facebook goes public in the coming weeks. Saverin, who was born in Brazil and moved to the U.S. in 1992 and has been a U.S. citizen since 1998, has decided to become a resident of Singapore."