The Commentariat -- May 19

Gail Collins: "What is it with Republicans lately? Is there something about being a leader of the family-values party that makes you want to go out and commit adultery?" ...

... I have a comments page up for Collins' column on Off Times Square. Akhilleus, Karen Garcia & Kate Madison have posted comments, and they are absolute winners!

Jared Bernstein, in his first blogpost since leaving his White House job as economic advisor to Vice President Biden, debunks the conventional wisdom du jour: "The federal budget is just like a family budget, and we in government must tight our belts and live within our means just like families do.” Bernstein writes, "First of all, it’s bass-akwards: when families are tightening their belts, the federal government is the one institution that can actually help the economy — and these belt-tightening families — by loosening its belt and running a deficit.... But there’s another fundamental way in which this family budget analogy gets misused.  Families borrow to make investments and to get over rough patches.  They run deficits too.  I went into pretty deep debt to finance college and grad school and I’m glad I did."

Atrios: "I'm quite happy bashing the media, as usual, but I think they're getting a bit of a bum rap. They're covering the deficit in large part because both major political parties are mostly talking about the deficit. If some charismatic politician with the ability to get people to point some cameras at him spent more time talking about jobs and coming up with policies for jobs and talking about those the media would be talking about that too." CW: wonder what charismatic politician Atrios has in mind? Hint: his initials are BO & he was born in the USA.

New York Times Editors: "The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ordered an overhaul of mental health care for veterans, who are killing themselves by the thousands each year because of what the court called the 'unchecked incompetence' of the Department of Veterans Affairs. In a scathing 2-to-1 ruling on May 10, the judges said delays in treating post-traumatic stress disorder and other combat-related mental injuries violated veterans’ constitutional rights." You can read the opinion here (pdf).

Richard Painter, formerly a White House lawyer in the Bush II administration, writes in Politico in support of the confirmation of Goodwin Liu, whom Republican senators oppose. Liu's confirmation will come up for a vote today.

Dahlia Lithwick on the politicization of the courts. "We are in a strange holding pattern right now, collectively waiting for the first judge to cross party lines in a health care case. Maybe once that happens, we can all go back to believing in the integrity and infallibility of the judicial branch. Until then, perhaps it's an apt moment to re-examine first principles and think about why we believe in the judicial branch in the first place." Lithwick favorably cites an article by Jeremy Waldron who argues that the courts have no business meddling with legislation. CW: Huh. You decide. And while you're deciding, think where we'd be without Brown v. Board of Education, ferinstance.

Liz Alderman & Katrin Bennhold of the New York Times: Christine Lagarde, the French finance minister, is a likely candidate to replace Dominique Strauss-Kahn as head of the IMF.

Tracy Weber of ProPublica in Slate: "The women who spoke out against Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2003 were castigated and humiliated. Would it have been any different with DSK?" ...

... Christopher Beam of Slate on the pros & cons -- mostly cons -- of perp walks.

Rajiv Chandrasekaran of the Washington Post: "The Afghan government has moved so slowly to recruit Taliban defectors that U.S. and Afghan officials say they are losing an opportunity to capitalize on hard-won military gains and the death of Osama bin Laden. Interest among war-weary Taliban foot soldiers and low-ranking commanders in switching sides is at an all-time high, the officials said, but the Afghan government’s inability to provide safe houses, job-training classes and other services aimed at reintegrating former combatants has prevented local authorities from offering amnesty to many fighters." CW: what a surprise -- the U.S.-backed corrupt, illegitimate Afghan government is also incompetent. Who knew?

New York Times Editors: The Vatican's "long overdue guidelines ... for fighting sexual abuse of children are flimsy and defective."

Ylan Mui of the Washington Post: "The retail industry launched a new campaign Wednesday to protect a federal law that reduces the fees retailers must pay to banks every time a debit card is swiped, a move the industry hopes will blunt the massive lobbying attack from banks. The campaign calls for hundreds of merchants to flood Capitol Hill in June for meetings with key lawmakers, the third “fly-in” to be held this year on the issue." CW: can retailers beat the banks? Consumers can't.

Here is the short list of states with Democratic governors where labor unions are undergoing severe attacks: Massachusetts, Connecticut, Oregon, California, New York, Illinois, Washington, Hawaii, Minnesota, Maryland and New Hampshire.

Here is the short list of states with Democratic governors where labor unions are undergoing severe attacks: Massachusetts, Connecticut, Oregon, California, New York, Illinois, Washington, Hawaii, Minnesota, Maryland and New Hampshire.

CLICK ON THE GRAPHIC TO LINK TO THE NEW EDITION OF THE FINAL EDITIONRight Wing World *

When your political party is so desperate for a viable candidate that they’re begging George W. Bush’s budget director to come in and be the savior, you have a problem. -- David Dayen, Firedoglake

CW: Michael Calderone has forced me to temporarily interrupt my boycott of the Huff Post with this incredible e-mail he got from Newt Gingrich's press secretary Rick Tyler:

The literati sent out their minions to do their bidding. Washington cannot tolerate threats from outsiders who might disrupt their comfortable world. The firefight started when the cowardly sensed weakness. They fired timidly at first, then the sheep not wanting to be dropped from the establishment’s cocktail party invite list unloaded their entire clip, firing without taking aim their distortions and falsehoods. Now they are left exposed by their bylines and handles. But surely they had killed him off. This is the way it always worked. A lesser person could not have survived the first few minutes of the onslaught. But out of the billowing smoke and dust of tweets and trivia emerged Gingrich, once again ready to lead those who won’t be intimated by the political elite and are ready to take on the challenges America faces.

... Ben Smith: "Tyler's comments puzzled many because Gingrich's criticism of Paul Ryan drew the sharpest criticism not from the 'liberal media' but from the core of his own conservative movement." ...

... David Dayen of Firedoglake: "... this isn’t the first time Newt has complained about political ads taking his words about Medicare out of context": Here's Gingrich, via Dayen, in a July 1996 letter to the editor of the New York Times complaining that when Democrats accurately quote him, it's a lie. I don't need a medical degree (I don't have one) to recognize that the Newt is a sociopath. ...

... BUT, you know, some most all Democrats are just not going to follow Newt's orders not to use his own words against him & the GOP:

Newt and I are considered political opposites, but I couldn’t agree more with what he said Sunday about the plan to end Medicare. He acknowledged that it is right wing social engineering. It was refreshing to hear such candor from a top Republican. Gingrich was saying what everyone knows to be true: The plan is extreme.... He is the Republican canary in the coal mine. When that canary speaks truth, he is snuffed out. What Newt seems to realize is that it would be impossible to win the White House if they embrace the Ryan plan. If Republicans make endorsing the Ryan plan the standard in the Republican primary, it will make the nominee unelectable. -- Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY)

... Here's your proof, from the Democratic National Committee:

... ** NEW. AND Glenn Kessler of the Washington Post demonstrates that Newt still opposes the Ryan plan: "In a conversation with bloggers Tuesday, for instance, Gingrich persisted in calling the plan radical: 'Part of what I'm worried about is compelling people to go through a radical change that has not been tested.' In another conversation Tuesday, this time with radio host William Bennett, Gingrich listed a long series of caveats before saying he could support the Ryan plan." ...

... Steve Kornacki of Salon: "Republican leaders and activists are using Newt's flub as an opportunity to say something that's been on their minds for a lot longer: Get lost!"

Ron Paul may be the wackiest candidate in the GOP field. But for pure, blind stupidity nobody beats Santorum. In my 20 years in the Senate, I never met a dumber member, which he reminded me of today. -- Mark Salter, aide to Sen. John McCain ...

... Joan McCarter of Daily Kos: Rick Santorum tries to fix his incredible assertion that torture victim John McCain doesn't understand torture (but he, the Great Santorum, does), but -- surprise! -- he doesn't fix it at all:

For anyone to infer my disagreement with Senator McCain's policy position lessens my respect for his service to our country and all he had to endure is outrageous and unfortunate. -- Rick Santorum

CW translation: If you think I said what I said, it's your fault.

Pat Toomey Pulls His Tinfoil Hat down over His Eyes. Dana Milbank: the Republican Tea Party senator from Pennsylvania thinks the federal debt default is all a hoax. Thank you, Pennsylvania, for your excellent choice.

Keith Ablow, writing a Fox "News" opinion piece, asserts that Maria Shriver "must have known" about Arnold's multiple infidelities and that her husband's public admission of fathering a child by a woman who worked in Shriver's home for 20 years is a great opportunity for Maria to develop a better relationship with Arnold. She should take him back. According to the Fox "News" blurb, Dr. Keith Ablow is a psychiatrist and member of the Fox News Medical A-Team. CW: I leave it to you to decide what the "A" in "A-Team" stands for. For an apt comment on Dr. A-Team's unsolicited advice, see today's Off Times Square page (6th comment).

* Where facts never intrude.

News Ledes

Queen Elizabeth II of England speaks at a state dinner at Dublin Castle:

The President's speech on  the Middle East:

New York Times: "A judge granted Dominique Strauss-Kahn bail on Thursday, allowing the former managing director of the International Monetary Fund to be freed from Rikers Island to stay in a Manhattan apartment while his sexual assault case is pending."

Irish Times: Speaking at a state dinner in Dublin Castle, Queen Elizabeth II of England spoke of the "painful legacy of history" between England & Ireland. The text of her speech is here. Video above.

President Obama spoke about U.S. Middle East policy early this afternoon. New York Times story here. Washington Post story here. ...

     ... Update: Here's the Washington Post's post-speech report. New York Times: "Seeking to harness the seismic political change still unfolding in the Arab world, President Obama for the first time on Thursday publicly called for a settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that would create a non-militarized Palestinian state on the basis of Israel’s borders before 1967." See video of the full speech above. Here's the transcript of the speech. ...

     ... Haaretz Update: Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu rejects 1967 border proposal.

New York Times: "Dominique Strauss-Kahn resigned Wednesday as head of the International Monetary Fund after explosive accusations that he had sexually attacked a housekeeper in a Midtown Manhattan hotel room."

Wall Street Journal: "A Berkeley law professor's chance of joining a federal appeals court lay in the hands of seven Republican senators, as Democrats scheduled a Thursday vote to break the filibuster that has held up Goodwin Liu's appointment."

Los Angeles Times: "The Department of Homeland Security's Office of Inspector General plans an investigation of an immigration enforcement program that purports to target 'serious convicted felons' for deportation but has ensnared many illegal immigrants who were arrested but not subsequently convicted of crimes or who committed minor offenses, a letter obtained Wednesday shows.."

New York Times: "With Democrats citing last year’s oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico as a cautionary tale, the Senate on Wednesday decisively rejected a Republican plan to allow more coastal oil and gas exploration and to speed the issuance of drilling permits to oil companies.... Democrats, however, say they will push to make sure that any deal to raise the federal debt limit this summer incorporates their proposal to limit tax breaks for the five major oil companies, a plan they say will save $21 billion over 10 years."

The Commentariat -- May 18

Maureen Dowd: "According to the claims of the 32-year-old West African maid, what took place in the $3,000-a-day Sofitel suite had nothing to do with seduction. If the allegation is true, [Dominique] Strauss-Kahn’s behavior, boorish and primitive, is rape." ...

     ... I've opened a page for comments on Dowd's column on Off Times Square. I've posted my comment. ...

... Landon Thomas & Steven Erlanger of the New York Times profile Dominique Strauss-Kahn. ...

... MEANWHILE ... Liz Alderman of the New York Times: "As Dominique Strauss-Kahn was left to spend another day behind bars in New York, a pack of would-be successors wasted little time Tuesday maneuvering for his job as managing director of the International Monetary Fund, one of the most powerful positions in global finance." ...

... AND. Stephen Fidler, et al., of the Wall Street Journal: "The Obama administration strongly signaled it was time for the International Monetary Fund to replace Dominique Strauss-Kahn as its chief, indicating that he can no longer be effective in his job. U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, responding to a question in New York Tuesday night, said Mr. Strauss-Kahn — jailed since Saturday on sexual-assault charges — is 'obviously not in the position to run the IMF.'" ...

... BUT then you have the Strauss-Kahn apologists. Felix Salmon of Reuters has been on "Ben Stein Watch, DSK Edition," and posts "the top ten lines from Ben Stein’s article on Dominique Strauss-Kahn." Here's one: "This is a case about the hatred of the have-nots for the haves, and that’s what it’s all about." It's worth reading the rest.

Rachel Maddow takes on the myths, misperceptions and misrepresentations surrounding the killing of Osama bin Laden, especially those by torture advocates who claim there was "a waterboarding trial to bin Laden":

     ... Update: here's the AP story Maddow cites.

Greg Miller of the Washington Post: "The CIA employed sophisticated new stealth drone aircraft to fly dozens of secret missions deep into Pakistani airspace and monitor the compound where Osama bin Laden was killed, current and former U.S. officials said. Using unmanned planes designed to evade radar detection and operate at high altitudes, the agency conducted clandestine flights over the compound for months before the May 2 assault in an effort to capture high-resolution video that satellites could not provide." CW: if they can fly them there, they can fly them anywhere.

"Blame Woodstock." Laurie Goldstein of the New York Times: "A five-year study commissioned by the nation’s Roman Catholic bishops to provide a definitive answer to what caused the church’s sexual abuse crisis has concluded that ... the abuse occurred because priests who were poorly prepared and monitored, and were under stress, landed amid the social and sexual turmoil of the 1960s and ’70s. Known occurrences of sexual abuse of minors by priests rose sharply during those decades, the report found, and the problem grew worse when the church’s hierarchy responded by showing more care for the perpetrators than the victims." The study is to be released today (Wednesday).

The excellent post by Lee Fang of Think Progress that accompanies the video below really belongs in Right Wing World because Fang exposes Rep. Ben Quayle's "laughable" claim that oil company "tax deductions that corporations across all sorts of sectors take in terms of R&D, in terms of equipment deductions, the life of the equipment, those were the deductions that they were talking about and it’s not specific to the oil industry." As Fang clarifies, "Quayle and his Republican colleagues in the House ... voted in lockstep to extend billions in ... special tax breaks only available to oil and gas companies. For instance, there is the 'Intangible Drilling Costs' tax break ($7.8 billion over ten years); a deduction for 'tertiary,' or enhanced oil recovery methods ($67 million over ten years); and the percentage depletion allowance for owners of oil wells ($10 billion over ten years)." But what I want to highlight here is not Quayle but the citizens who showed up at his meeting, grilled him and laughed at his outright lie. These active citizens, who take "citizenship" seriously, are doing what is necessary to make democracy work again:

One Way to Reduce the Federal Deficit: Sell Utah! The federal government owns 70 per cent of Utah, for example. There are federal buildings. If you need cash, let's start liquidating.
-- Rep. Dennis Ross (R-Florida)

Right Wing World *

A Morality Tale:
How George W. Bush Killed Osama Bin Laden

Prologue

Pressed for more useful information, I gave the names of the Green Bay Packers offensive line, and said they were members of my squadron. -- John McCain, in his 1973 account of his imprisonment and torture in Viet Nam 

Chapter and Verse

Everything I’ve read shows that we would not have gotten this information as to who this man was if it had not been gotten information from people who were subject to enhanced interrogation. And so this idea that we didn’t ask that question while Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was being waterboarded, he [McCain] doesn’t understand how enhanced interrogation works. I mean, you break somebody, and after they’re broken, they become cooperative. And that’s when we got this information. And one thing led to another, and led to another, and that’s how we ended up with bin Laden. -- Rick Santorum, presidential candidate

Epilogue

Who? -- Brooke Buchanan, McCain's spokesperson, full e-mailed reply to a request for a response to Santorum

Paul Ryan gives his "big speech" defending his budget plan and theory of economics. ...

... SO Paul Krugman rebuts: "... he’s out there denouncing the way 'the budget debate has degenerated into a game of green-eyeshade arithmetic' — in other words, enough with all these numbers. And his answer to the deficit now is that we have to grow our way out. There’s a name for that: voodoo economics."

Callista Gingrich. Is that Tiffany's you're wearing with your pretty Republican retro suit, Mrs. Newt? Bling Ding. CW: a number of cynics have charged that Newt Gingrich is running for president largely for the purpose of promoting himself & his publishing business. Turns out, he may need the money. Jake Sherman of Politico reports that in 2006 -- the last year for which disclosure reports are available -- the "fiscally conservative" Newtster was carrying up to a half-million-dollar debt at Tiffany's. ...

... Newt Gingrich: the candidate forever cursed to be 'the smartest man in the room': ...Maybe he only felt truly comfortable when he was surrounded by diamonds, one of the few things in the universe as brilliant as Newt Gingrich. -- Alex Pareene of Salon ...

... No. -- Newt, in response to a WashPo inquiry on whether he would be willing to disclose what he bought at Tiffany's ...

... Amy Gardner & Karen Tumulty of the Washington Post: "Newt Gingrich’s first outing as a 2012 presidential candidate has confirmed and even deepened Republicans’ doubts that the former House speaker has the discipline it will take to be a credible contender. The second day of his 17-city swing through Iowa once again saw Gingrich in full damage-control mode and seeking to tamp down the backlash that he generated with inflammatory remarks Sunday on NBC’s 'Meet the Press,' in which he criticized a GOP plan to overhaul Medicare and defended a central tenet of the Democrats’ health-care reform." ...

... To demonstrate how willing I am to pile on to the Newt's troubles, here I am letting Charles Krauthammer have a say:

... Judd Lequm of Think Progress: Newt Gingrich complains the right is excoriating him for his criticisms of Paul Ryan's budget because "the gotcha press ... took dramatically out of context what I said." CW: Yeah, by running extended clips of his remarks and stuff. Unfortunately, "context" only makes his remarks looks worse, because the "context" includes his multiple flip-flops. ...

     ... Update. Hahahahaha. Warning to Democrats: any ad you run that accurately quotes me is a lie. -- Paraphrasing Newt:

     ... Benjy Sarlin of TPM: and Newt personally apologizes to Paul Ryan for calling the Ryan budget "right-wing social engineering." CW: because in Right Wing World, the truth is always a gaffe. A terrible gaffe. ...

... Dana Milbank on Dinosaur Watch: "Gingrich didn't change; his party did." And, year, Paul Ryan's plan is radical.

.... ** NEW. From-the-Heartland writes: "I listened to Morning Joe this morning and caught their session on Gingrich.  What troubles me about the coverage and commentary is that it all leaves a flavor which intimates that Ryan's plan relative to Medicare/Medicaid is a decent proposal which needs to be worked with.  I fear that a huge number of people will feel that to be the message of the coverage afforded to Gingrich's criticism of Ryan's plan rather than the fact that Gingrich is a two timing conniving opportunist with no real moral compass."

NEW. Are You Going to Believe Me or Your Lying Ears? Glenn Kessler of the Washington Post: Darrell Issa's (R-Calif.) staff lies about his lies. No, the Mexican government did not accuse the U.S. of  committing an "act of war," even if Darrell Issa says it's so -- twice, and on tape-- and his staff says that isn't what he said.

* Where facts never intrude.

News Ledes

New York Times: "Dominique Strauss-Kahn resigned Wednesday as head of the International Monetary Fund after explosive accusations that he had sexually attacked a housekeeper in a Midtown Manhattan hotel room."

President Obama spoke at two DNC events in Boston this evening. ...

     ... Update: Here's the text of the President's remarks at one of the events. Here are his remarks at the other event.

New York Times: "President Obama imposed sanctions on Syria’s leader, President Bashar al-Assad, and six other senior Syrian officials on Wednesday, ratcheting up American pressure in the wake of a bloody crackdown on political protests in the country."

Washington Post: "Air Force One with President Barack Obama aboard made an aborted landing attempt at the Windsor Locks, Conn., airport Wednesday before trying again and landing safely, officials said. The White House and Federal Aviation Administration say it was a routine maneuver where the pilot was in the process of landing, but because of weather conditions decided to circle the runway before trying again and landing safely." ...

... Washington Post: "Confusion after Vice President Biden landed in Chicago on Monday almost resulted in a collision between two passenger planes just above the tarmac at O’Hare International Airport , according to federal officials and air traffic recordings. The near-collision involved a pair of 50-seat, twin-engine commuter jets, one inbound from Muskegon, Mich., and the other taking off for Buffalo. Biden’s plane was not involved in the incident."

President Obama delivered the commencement address at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy in New Longdon, Connecticut early this afternoon. ...

     ... Update: Here's the text of the President's commencement address.

I've brought this link forward from yesterday's Ledes. Washington Post: "Pakistani paramilitary troops shot at NATO helicopters that crossed from Afghanistan into Pakistan early Tuesday, triggering a firefight that left two soldiers wounded, military officials here said. The incident, which coalition officials in Afghanistan said they were investigating, served as a new threat to U.S.-Pakistani relations...."

New York Times: "... there were suggestions that [Dominique] Strauss-Kahn, a powerful, wealthy politician who was widely regarded as a strong candidate to run against the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, next year, would put forward a defense that any sex would have been consensual.... Tthe defense may acknowledge that a sexual encounter had occurred." ...

... The AP has more on the Strauss-Kahn case. ...

     ... New York Times Update: "The housekeeper, 32, whose name has not been publicly released by the authorities in New York, testified before the grand jury Wednesday, people briefed on the case said. The panel is expected to vote on whether to indict Mr. Strauss-Kahn, 62, a prominent French Socialist, by Friday, when he is due back in court."

The Commentariat -- May 17

I've posted an Open Thread for today on Off Times Square. I'll slap up my comment on Brooks' Nonsense Column du Jour. Update: comments on the Brooks-Gingrich photo are pretty hilarious -- add your own.

How to write about Republicans. Read Rick Hertzberg. Read Rick Hertzberg again.

Tim Egan: "Republicans ... hate Medicare because it represents everything they are philosophically opposed to: a government-run program that works and is popular across the political board. It’s tough to shout about the dangers of universal health care when the two greatest protectors (if not creators) of the elderly middle class are those pillars of 20th-century progressive change, Social Security and Medicare."... Paul Ryan tried to divide and conquer by insulating today's seniors from his plan to end Medicare. "Ryan himself has made a naked play for greed in defending the plan. 'Seniors, as soon as they realize this doesn’t affect them, they are not so opposed,' he has said." But his little ploy didn't work: "seniors are opposed." 

In a New York Times op-ed, Mahmoud Abbas, President of the Palestinian National Authority, makes a compelling case for United Nations recognition of Palestine. In September, Palestinians will ask the U.N. General Assembly to admit Palestine as a full member.

"The Secret Sharer." Jane Mayer of the New Yorker on Thomas Drake, whom the DOJ has charged and will try under the 1917 Espionage Act. CW: I haven't finished reading Mayer's article, but I will; and I've read enough to know Mayer tells you more about the workings of the federal government than Thomas Drake has. ...

... Glenn Greenwald: "Mayer's article is what I'd describe as the must-read magazine article of the month, and I encourage everyone to read it in its entirety...."

Robert Kuttner of American Progress writes a long, compelling article on Obama's "theory of power" & why it doesn't work. "As late as the 1990s, there were still moderate Republicans -- and no economic catastrophe. Today, we live in drastically different times, ill-suited to Barack Obama's operating theory of a conciliatory, above-the-fray presidency."

Adam Serwer: thanks to the Supremes' refusal to hear the Mohamed, et al., v. Jettesen Dataplan appeal, the federal government can now invoke the "state secrets doctrine" on any case. Read the update, too, which might be significant, tho there's no way to know. ...

... Meanwhile, Torture Advocates Parade their Stuff. Ariane de Vogue of ABC News: former Bush AG Mike Mukasey and others can't let it go: really, really, really Obama didn't stand a chance of nabbing bin Laden if Bushies hadn't tortured KSM. ...

... Lawrence O'Donnell elaborates:

Like most of us, Jon Stewart is having a hard time keeping up with the news, but he still can't give up headlines like "Weapons of Mass Turbation":

Chris Hedges & Cornel West are always over the top, but Hedges' interview of West contains some essential truths about deep disappointment in President Obama that many of us recognize & share. And, no, I don't feel sorry for West that Obama didn't return his phone calls any more than I feel sorry for Newt Gingrich that President Clinton put him on the back of the plane.

Gretchen Morgenson of the New York Times: "The New York attorney general has requested information and documents in recent weeks from three major Wall Street banks about their mortgage securities operations during the credit boom, indicating the existence of a new investigation into practices that contributed to billions in mortgage losses. Officials in Eric T. Schneiderman’s, office have also requested meetings with representatives from Bank of America, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, according to people briefed on the matter who were not authorized to speak publicly. The inquiry appears to be quite broad.... Early in the financial crisis, Andrew M. Cuomo, the governor of New York who preceded Mr. Schneiderman as attorney general, began investigating Wall Street’s role in the debacle. But those inquiries did not result in any cases filed against the major banks. CW: because how can you collect campaign money from a guy you put in jail? ...

... David Dayen of Firedoglake: meanwhile, the Inspector General at HUD finds evidence of fraud at the top five banks that for some strange reason the "federal foreclosure task force" couldn't find. AND read Dayen's earlier post on the same subject.

Philip Gourevitch of the New Yorker on the French reaction to the news of IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn's arrest. Gourevitch's take is way funnier than the Times' account. If you can read & understand French, Gourevitch links to this Rue89 story that recounts a (disputed) story about Strauss-Kahn's attack on young French journalist Tristane Banon. ...

... Elaine Sciolino of the New York Times: "the arrest of Dominique Strauss-Kahn is once again challenging the assumption that the private lives of the rich, famous and powerful are off limits to public scrutiny. That the most serious accusation against Mr. Strauss-Kahn is attempted rape, and not just an indiscretion involving a consensual sexual relationship, only adds to a sense on the part of some people in France that the curtain of privacy needs to be lifted." CW: note how the author treats rape as some sort of "advanced sex" or "naughty sex escalated." No, it's an act of violence. ...

Yesterday, President Obama delivered the commencement address at Booker T. Washington in Memphis, which won the President's 2011 Commencement Challenge:

Right Wing World *

Joan Walsh of Salon does a nice job of toting up Newt Gingrich's racist dog-whistle slurs of the week. It's amazing (and would be comical if it weren't so disgusting) how many ways Newt can dream up to point out what his base may not have noticed: the President is black. Thanks to reader Doug R. for the link. ...

... AND Big Ideas Man Gingrich reverses his position on the Ryan End Medicare budget YET AGAIN. Steve Benen: "Two weeks ago, Newt Gingrich endorsed the House Republican budget plan, including provisions to end Medicare. Over the weekend, he reversed course, calling the Paul Ryan agenda 'radical change' and 'too big a jump' for Americans. A day later, he reversed course again, saying the media misunderstood and there’s actually 'little daylight between Ryan and Gingrich.' And then Gingrich reversed course once more, telling the Wall Street Journal the Ryan plan is the wrong way to go.... Remember, all of this is unfolding just a few days after the disgraced former House Speaker launched his campaign." CW: sorry if this is outdated. Gingrich probably changed his position again this morning.

Jon Stewart on Friend-of-Jesus Mike Huckabee's decision not to run for president. Stewart's piece is much more than funny; it's a condemnation of the jaw-dropping double standards of Huckabee and the whole Fox "News" crowd:

Greg Sargent: Donald "Trump exits the race with a major accomplishment under his belt: He single-handedly did more damage to the right’s ongoing campaign to paint Obama as culturally suspect and vaguely alien than anyone else in American politics today.... Thank you, Mr. Trump, for your service to this country."

Paul Krugman is going to Yurp this week, but he's left us with some thoughts on Wise Man/Enema Man Alan Simpson: "It turns out that Simpson has been telling us how to fix Social Security, yet he doesn’t know the most basic facts about the program, and when confronted with data from the Social Security Administration, he insists that they’re left-wing talking points." Here's what Krugman means. And here's the best screenshot I could get of Simpson, the leader of the "adult conversation," giving the fuck-you gesture to the head of the AARP. V-e-e-r-y adult:

     ... You can watch the C-SPAN video here. The excerpt Krugman mentions has been isolated. The gesture comes in at about 44 min.

When Is a Cut Not a Cut? When It's an Increase. Brian Beutler of TPM: Oops! That "historic spending cuts" bill Republicans played down to the wire in April turns out to increase federal outlays this year by about $3 billion. (It's a little more complicated than that, but the CBO report says the bill cost most this year than if Republicans had just passed no-change continuing resolutions. Thanks to Jeanne B. for the link. CW: Hate to think what this does to those die-hard deficit hawks.

* Where facts never intrude.

News Ledes

President Obama & King Abdullah of Jordan make statements to the press:

Washington Post: "Pakistani paramilitary troops shot at NATO helicopters that crossed from Afghanistan into Pakistan early Tuesday, triggering a firefight that left two soldiers wounded, military officials here said. The incident, which coalition officials in Afghanistan said they were investigating, served as a new threat to U.S.-Pakistani relations...."

New York Times: "The already weak prospects for a bipartisan debt-reduction deal this year dimmed further on Tuesday when a Republican member of the Senate’s 'Gang of Six,' Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, withdrew after months of private negotiations amid differences over changes to Medicare." CW: I see this as good news.

New York Times: "Condé Nast Publications ... has reached an agreement to lease one million square feet at 1 World Trade Center, giving ground zero a much-needed corporate anchor with a proven ability to attract other businesses."

National Journal: "Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., is staying in the House, and won't run for the U.S. Senate, two well-placed GOP sources tell National Journal." ...

     ... New York Times Update: "Representative Paul D. Ryan, a Wisconsin Republican and the chairman of the House Budget Committee, made it clear on Tuesday that he would not run for the Senate seat being vacated by Herb Kohl...."

President Obama hosted a White House reception honoring Jewish American Heritage Month this afternoon.

After meeting, President Obama & King Abdullah of Jordan made statements to the press this afternoon. See video above.

Washington Post: "A bipartisan group of federal lawmakers is calling on Congress to probe the nation’s housing-construction program for the poor, citing years-long delays and other breakdowns that have thwarted the production of hundreds of affordable-housing projects."

Politico: "Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, one of the leading critics of the Obama administration’s response to last year’s Gulf oil spill, says things are going much better as his state deals with flooding along the Mississippi river. 'This has been a joint collaborative effort,' Jindal said [apparently unaware of the redundancy of his remark]."

AP: "Harmon Killebrew, the Minnesota Twins slugger known for his tape-measure home runs, has died at his home in Scottsdale, Ariz., after battling esophageal cancer. He was 74."

Al Jazeera: "A security services building and the headquarters of Libya's anti-corruption agency in Tripoli have been set ablaze after being hit by apparent NATO air strikes. The two buildings on Al-Jumhuriya Avenue are close to the residence of leader Muammar Gaddafi, in an area where two explosions were heard at around 1.30am on Tuesday (1130 GMT)."

Washington Post: "The [Obama] administration has accelerated direct talks with the Taliban, initiated several months ago, that U.S. officials say they hope will enable President Obama to report progress toward a settlement of the Afghanistan war when he announces troop withdrawals in July. A senior Afghan official said a U.S. representative attended at least three meetings in Qatar and Germany ... with a Taliban official considered close to Mohammad Omar, the group’s leader."

Washington Post: "Queen Elizabeth II began her first-in-a-century royal visit to Ireland on Tuesday, just hours after Irish police discovered a bomb in the luggage compartment of a bus traveling to Dublin. The British monarch’s visit is seen as a dramatic symbol of the improved relations between Ireland and its former colonial master. But now the historic nature of the four-day tour threatens to be overshadowed by security jitters." The Irish Times story is here, with links to related stories.

Los Angeles Times: "Former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and his wife, Maria Shriver, separated after she learned he had fathered a child more than a decade ago — before his first run for office — with a longtime member of their household staff. Shriver moved out of the family's Brentwood mansion earlier this year, after Schwarzenegger acknowledged the paternity. The staff member worked for the family for 20 years, retiring in January." 

CW: Missed this one in yesterday's news. AP: "The Supreme Court on Monday refused to revive a lawsuit [Mohamed, et al., v. Jeppesen Dataplan] challenging a controversial post-Sept. 11 CIA program that flew terrorism suspects to secret prisons. The appeal asked the court to examine two controversial aspects of the U.S. response to the 9/11 attacks, 'the extraordinary rendition' program that sent the suspects to secret prisons and the 'state secrets privilege.'"