The Commentariat -- April 18, 2016

Afternoon Update:

Adam Liptak & Michael Shear of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court on Monday seemed sharply divided during an extended argument over a challenge to President Obama's plan that would shield millions of undocumented immigrants from deportation and allow them to work in the country legally." -- CW ...

... Robert Barnes of the Washington Post: "Instead, the court's conservatives and liberals seemed split, and a 4-to-4 tie would leave in place a lower court's decision that the president exceeded his powers in issuing the directive. It could affect about 4 million undocumented immigrants who have been in the country since 2010 and have family ties to U.S. citizens and others lawfully in the country." -- CW ...

Former Sen. Richard Lugar (R-Ind.), in a New York Times op-ed: "... whether or not you like President Obama's actions, he has operated under longstanding provisions of law that give the executive branch discretion in enforcement. This presidential prerogative has been recognized explicitly by the Supreme Court. Moreover, the nature of immigration enforcement and the resources (or lack thereof) appropriated by Congress necessitate exactly the type of choices that the president has made.... President Obama's directives to focus enforcement efforts on those who have committed crimes in the United States and recent border crossers are a rational executive prioritization, given the resources and the realities." -- CW

Ed O'Keefe of the Washington Post: "Nine more states put the final touches on their delegations to the July convention and once again, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) schooled [Donald] Trump, installing his supporters in positions to ensure that he could win the nomination if the contest stretches into later rounds. In most cases, the delegates will be required to vote for Trump on a first ballot at the convention but could switch to Cruz if subsequent ballots are necessary." -- CW

*****

David Savage of the Los Angeles Times: "The Supreme Court's last great case of the Obama era comes before the justices Monday when the administration's lawyers defend his plan to offer work permits to as many as 4 million immigrants who have been living here illegally for years." -- CW ...

... Whatever will Chief Justice Roberts do? Adam Liptak of the New York Times, with help of court observers, reads the tea leaves. -- CW

Dahlia Lithwick of Slate: "... if Antonin Scalia had lived until July the docket was full of poisoned pills and silent time bombs that would have exploded in President Obama's face this summer. Until and unless we reckon with what might have been at the high court this term, it's impossible to understand why there will be no hearings for Judge [Merrick] Garland. GOP senators ... are angry because the court as the weapon of choice to screw the president has been taken from them, and they want it back." -- CW

Lolita Baldor of the AP: "Defense Secretary Ash Carter arrived in Baghdad Monday to talk to Iraqi leaders about beefing up Iraqi forces working to retake the northern city of Mosul, a critical goal in the effort to defeat the Islamic State group. A senior U.S. official said that as the U.S. moves to help the Iraqis, it will also likely mean that at least a 'small number' of additional American forces will go to the warzone." -- CW

Richard Lardner of the AP: "The Pentagon misled Congress with inaccurate and vague information about sexual assault cases that portrayed civilian law enforcement officials as less willing than military commanders to punish sex offenders, an Associated Press investigation found.... But in a number of cases, the steps taken by civilian authorities were described incorrectly or omitted. Other case descriptions were too imprecise to be verified. There also is nothing in the records that supports the primary reason the Pentagon told Congress about the cases in the first place: To show top military brass as hard-nosed crime fighters who insisted on taking the cases to trial." -- CW

Abandon All Hope. Michael Lind, in a New York Times op-ed, writes a prognosis for the future of both major parties, but his analysis of where the Democrats are going is extremely depressing. -- CW ...

... Jamelle Bouie takes stock of the Sanders campaign & finds it pretty much like previous (failed) insurgent campaigns. If liberals want to change the Democratic party, Bouie writes, they're going to have to do the hard, boring groundwork of building their coalition at local & state levels. -- CW ...

... Jelani Cobb of the New Yorker: "The current language of 'income inequality' is a low-carb version of the Old Left's 'class exploitation.' The new phrase lacks rhetorical zing; it's hard to envision workers on a picket line singing rousing anthems about 'income inequality.' The term lacks a verb, too, so it's possible to think of the condition under discussion as a random social outcome, rather than as the product of deliberate actions taken by specific people." -- CW

Presidential Race

E.J. Dionne: Bernie Sanders & Hillary Clinton should do more to "acknowledge that the differences between them are minor compared with the philosophical chasm that separates them from any of their potential Republican foes." -- CW

John Wagner of the Washington Post: "... Bernie Sanders's campaign said his rally on Sunday in Brooklyn's Prospect Park drew more than 28,000 people, which would make it the largest such event for a candidate who routinely generates large, boisterous crowds." -- CW

John Wagner: "Bernie Sanders on Sunday brought his presidential campaign to a run-down public housing complex in Brooklyn, usually an overlooked destination on the road to the White House, in a bid to underscore what he characterized as the nation's misguided spending priorities." -- CW

Yamiche Alcindor of the New York Times: "On Sunday, Bernie Sanders "visited First Corinthian Baptist Church in Harlem to speak with the Rev. Michael A. Walrond Jr. about his past civil rights work, the need to reform the criminal justice system and his experience growing up in a family fraught with financial stress. And while he was visiting the church, the Sanders campaign also began a new fundraising pitch using comments from the actor George Clooney, who raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for Hillary Clinton over the weekend, that the amount of money in politics is 'obscene.'... Mr. Clooney said, 'Yes. I think it's an obscene amount of money,' Mr. Clooney said. 'The Sanders campaign, when they talk about it is absolutely right. It's ridiculous that we should have this kind of money in politics. I agree completely.'" -- CW ...

... Colin Wilhelm of Politico: "One of Hillary Clinton's most famous supporters, actor George Clooney, says he hopes Bernie Sanders 'stays in for the entire election.... I think what he's saying in this election is important if you're a Democrat,' Clooney said, adding he'd do 'whatever I can' to help Sanders if he wins the nomination." -- CW ...

... Driftglass watches the Sunday showz & likes George Clooney. Confederate talking heads? Not so much. -- CW

Mary Ann Georgantopoulos of BuzzFeed: "An online merchant has accused the Bernie Sanders campaign of 'trademark bullying' after a Bernie 2016, Inc. attorney sent him a cease and desist letter regarding T-shirts, mugs, and sweatshirts depicting the candidate with historic communist leaders.... The products show Sanders next Karl Marx, Joseph Stalin, and others with the tagline, 'Bernie is my comrade.'" -- CW

Liz Kruetz of ABC News: "If Donald Trump was hoping to get a quick rise out of Hillary Clinton with a new nickname - 'Crooked Hillary' - it didn't work. 'He can say whatever he wants to say about me, I really could care less,' Clinton said on ABC's 'This Week With George Stephanopoulos,' 'I don't respond to Donald Trump and his string of insults about me.' Trump unveiled his new nickname for Clinton at a Saturday rally in Watertown, New York." CW: She means, "I couldn't care less," but I guess she's conforming to a vernacular idiom common in New York City.

Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "Donald J. Trump said on Sunday that he hoped the Republican convention in July 'doesn't involve violence' as he pressed his case that the system is rigged against him." -- CW ...

... Bethania Markus of the Raw Story: "... Donald Trump said during a speech in Syracuse, New York on Saturday that the Republican party will have a 'rough time' at the party convention in Cleveland in July if his voters aren't heard, according to KCCI. Trump is angry over the likelihood of a brokered convention, which means that he could be denied the nomination even if he wins the majority of votes.... About 300 people protested the Trump rally, according to Syracuse.com. About 10 of them managed to sneak inside the rally, and were led out by security." -- CW ...

...or maybe his supporters are all sound and no fury. Colorado Pols: "Trumpmageddon" Protest Fizzles. -- LT

... "Trump Massacred in delegate Fights." Jonathan Easley & Katie Glueck of Politico: "The weekend was another delegate bloodbath for Donald Trump. In Georgia. In Wyoming. In South Carolina. In Kansas. In Florida. Ted Cruz put on a clinic, mobilizing his GOP activist base to capture at least 50 delegates on Saturday while Trump came away with about a dozen in another bruising defeat that undermines his chances to become the Republican presidential nominee." CW: Do we really need to use words like "massacre" and "bloodbath" to describe a relatively civil process? Yeah, I know; it's Politico. But still. Let's wait till Trump's predicted "riots" & "rough time" really come to Cleveland. ...

... Tom LoBianco of CNN: "... Florida proves a reminder that it's going to be a tough fight to wrest the Republican presidential nomination from front-runner Donald Trump. GOP leaders in Florida selected 15 of their 99 delegates, all of whom were pledged to vote for Trump through three ballots at the Republican National Convention in July. But former rival Marco Rubio ... did well here in the battle over so-called 'double agents' -- delegates committed to voting for one candidate but who actually support another -- that has had Trump crying foul for weeks. These delegates are free to vote against Trump on convention rules, possibly elevating [Ted] Cruz, John Kasich or even a nominee not in the race right now." -- CW ...

... Jonathan Easley of the Hill: "The balance of power in the Republican Party has suddenly shifted to delegates, many of whom are entering the national spotlight for the first time. Delegates say their lives have been turned upside-down by the possibility of a contested convention in July, where their votes could decide whether Donald Trump, or another candidate, is the party's presidential nominee." -- CW

Jonathan Blitzer of the New Yorker: Donald Trump brings his hate speech to a fundraiser in "Patchogue. [, Long Island,] New York..., the site of a horrific hate crime. Seven high-school students, who had set out to attack an immigrant, killed a thirty-seven-year-old Ecuadorian named Marcelo Lucero." -- CW

"Wacko Bird." Matt Flegenheimer of the New York Times: "... a close reading of [Ted] Cruz's policy prescriptions, influences and writings over two decades, combined with interviews with conservative intellectual leaders and Cruz allies, suggest two powerful truths about the man.... He would be the most conservative presidential nominee in at least a half-century, perhaps to the right of Barry Goldwater.... And he has, more effectively than almost any politician of his generation, anticipated the rightward tilt of the Republican Party of today, grasping its conservatism even as colleagues dismissed him as a fringe figure." -- CW

Laura Bult of the New York Daily News: "More than 200 outraged New York voters have joined a lawsuit claiming the party affiliation on their voter registration changed without their consent. The voters say they are unfairly being shut out of Tuesday's primary. The suit, to be filed Monday in Brooklyn, calls for New York to be an open primary state, allowing anyone to vote in primaries regardless of party affiliation." -- CW ...

... No, Most "American Independents" in California Don't Pine for George Wallace. John Myers, et al., of the Los Angeles Times: "With nearly half a million registered members, the American Independent Party is bigger than all of California's other minor parties combined. The ultraconservative party's platform opposes abortion rights and same sex marriage, and calls for building a fence along the entire United States border.... But a Times investigation has found that a majority of its members have registered with the party in error. Nearly three in four people did not realize they had joined the party, a survey of registered AIP voters conducted for The Times found. That mistake could prevent people from casting votes in the June 7 presidential primary, California's most competitive in decades." -- CW

Beyond the Beltway

The Boston Marathon is today. boston.com has several stories about it. -- CW ...

... Cindy Boren of the Washington Post: "For the first time, two runners who lost parts of their legs in the bombings will attempt to run the race. It won’t be difficult to spot Patrick Downes and Adrianne Haslet-Davis, each of whom will be running on a prosthetic blade." -- CW

AP: "Pennsylvania has become the 24th state to legalize a comprehensive medical marijuana program. Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf signed the bill into law Sunday afternoon surrounded by a jubilant crowd of supporters at the Capitol building in Harrisburg. 'Marijuana is medicine and it's coming to Pennsylvania,' said Democratic Sen. Daylin Leach, the bill's co-sponsor." -- CW

Bob Cesca in Salon: "... Missouri Republicans are confirming Donald Trump's notion of punishing women for having abortions.... Officials with clinics across Missouri are facing contempt charges if they don't turn over the medical records [of women who have had legal abortions] -- which, by the way, would violate the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).... Just last month, the Missouri House passed a bill requiring that underage girls receive parental consent from both parents before having an abortion. (Current law demands only one parent.) Furthermore, despite the state's attorney general finding no evidence of illegal fetus tissue harvesting, the Missouri House voted last week to ban fetal tissue donation." -- CW

Today in Responsible Gun Ownership. Travis Gettys of the Raw Story: "A Texas man brings real gun to water gun fight -- and shoots 15-year-old girl." .. CW

Way Beyond

Stanley Reed & Andrew Kramer of the New York Times: "Officials from 18 oil-producing nations failed on Sunday to reach a deal to freeze oil production at current levels. The officials, who represented most of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries as well as Russia, seemed to head into the meeting full of confidence that a deal to stabilize the oil markets could be reached. Instead, the talks dragged into the evening before Qatar's energy minister, Mohammed bin Saleh al-Sada, told a news conference that the group had been unable to reach agreement." -- CW

Andrew Jacobs of the New York Times: "With their nation transfixed, Brazilian legislators began casting votes on Sunday on whether to approve impeachment proceedings against President Dilma Rousseff, the leader of South America's largest nation, whose tenure has been buffeted by a colossal corruption scandal and the worst financial crisis in decades." -- CW ...

     ... New Lede: "Brazilian legislators voted on Sunday night to approve impeachment of Dilma Rousseff, the nation's first female president, whose tenure has been buffeted by a dizzying corruption scandal, a shrinking economy and spreading disillusionment. After three days of impassioned debate, the lower house of Congress, the Chamber of Deputies, voted to send the case against Ms. Rousseff to the Senate. Its 81 members will vote by a simple majority on whether to hold a trial...."

The Virgin Islands Consortium: "A [GOP] Territorial Committee meeting held at party Chairman John Canegata's shooting range in St. Croix (Virgin Islands) on Saturday, 'abruptly ended with an elected delegate and senior citizen woman being slammed against the wall and thrown to the floor because she objected to the gestapo-like tactics of the VI Chairman John Canegata.' [according to] committee Vice Chairman Herbert Schoenbohm.... 'The majority of us caucused in a quiet location on both islands after being threatened to leave Canegata's private property.... Especially being held in his shooting gallery where he struts around like a petty tyrant with a firearm on his belt, while banging the table with large ammunition cartridge being used as a gavel. People are not used to a Republican meeting being in a combat zone and will avoid future meetings if something isn't done about his lack of control," Via The Daily Beast --safari

Different Rules

CW: I did respond to MoDo's column, but the Times didn't publish it for 12-14 hours after her column went up, so my comment is difficult to find. Here it is:

Yeah, you're right. But there are four quasi-viable candidates left in the presidential nominating races, and not a one of them says "I'm sorry" for even outrageous distortions, outright lies or flagrant lapses of judgment. The rules of decorum for presidential candidates are different from the rules for the rest of us.

All of these top candidates believe the words, "I'm sorry" are a sign of weakness. And their success suggests they're right.

Most women are good at saying "I'm sorry," to a fault. We say it even when we have nothing to be sorry about. It's a nearly automatic response to the most minor exchange. "I'm sorry the elevator is slow." "I'm sorry the grocery store was out of your brand of cornflakes." Apologies are expected of us. They demonstrate that we are polite, deferential, caring, non-assertive -- and feminine.

That is precisely why Hillary can't say "I'm sorry." When and if she does, her opponents will accuse her of being a weak girly-girl, not up to the tough job of president.

Any feminist gets that. Maureen Dowd should, too. If being a presidential candidate means never having to say you're sorry, it applies to all candidates, not just the ones who are boys.

The Commentariat -- April 17, 2016

Presidential Race

Kurtis Lee & Evan Halper of the Los Angeles Times: Hillary Clinton interrupted her campaign in New York "to join George Clooney in toasting some of California's most well-heeled Democratic donors -- and collect copious amounts of their cash -- as well as to stir up voter enthusiasm with a Los Angeles rally. The amount of money Clinton stands to rake in on the visit is well into the millions of dollars. A pair of seats at her table with Clooney cost donors more than $353,000 Friday night in San Francisco, the most expensive tickets at an event attended by 70 people and hosted by venture capitalist and early Uber investor Shervin Pishevar. Another event was to be held at Clooney's home in Los Angeles, where the priciest tickets cost $100,000 per couple." -- CW

Anita Kumar, et al., of McClatchy News: "Hillary Clinton recently blasted the hidden financial dealings exposed in the Panama Papers, but she and her husband have multiple connections with people who have used the besieged law firm Mossack Fonseca to establish offshore entities. Among them are Gabrielle Fialkoff, finance director for Hillary Clinton's first campaign for the U.S. Senate; Frank Giustra, a Canadian mining magnate who has traveled the globe with Bill Clinton; the Chagoury family, which pledged $1 billion in projects to the Clinton Global Initiative; and Chinese billionaire Ng Lap Seng, who was at the center of a Democratic fund-raising scandal when Bill Clinton was president. Also using the Panamanian law firm was the company founded by the late billionaire investor Marc Rich, an international fugitive when Bill Clinton pardoned him in the final hours of his presidency." -- CW

Perry Bacon of NBC News: "... even as she remains a strong favorite to win the Democratic nomination, the 2016 campaign is forcing [Hillary Clinton] ... to distance herself from her husband's record.... Sen. Bernie Sanders is waging in effect a political war on 90s-era policies -- a tactic aimed at hitting Hillary Clinton where it hurts: her husband's presidential legacy." -- CW

Maureen Dowd: Hillary Clinton never says she's sorry. -- CW

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, in a Washington Post op-ed, endorses Hillary Clinton because she "possesses that rare but crucial combination of idealism and pragmatism." Thanks to contributor Patrick for the link.

John Wagner of the Washington Post: "Fresh off his trip to the Vatican, Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders staged an event Saturday in a Brooklyn church to highlight what he characterized as the moral underpinnings of his policy positions, including steps to address income inequality." -- CW

CW: Not certain who produced this video, but it is clearly pro-Bernie. Thanks to LT for calling it to my attention:

Patrick Healy of the New York Times: Bernie "Sanders has long presented himself as an issues-oriented, plain-speaking politician from rural New England, now seeking the presidency with promise of a political revolution. But his combative side has now emerged as the Democratic race has tightened and Hillary Clinton has sharpened her own rhetoric.... More than anything, the recent Sanders broadsides reflect a political strategy he has carried out in previous campaigns: the use of blunt criticisms, sarcastic asides and a thundering style against his opponents." -- CW

Dan Berman of CNN: "It's a Ted Cruz sweep in Wyoming. Cruz won 14 of 14 Republican National Convention delegates up for grabs at the Wyoming state convention here Saturday.The crowd here was clearly in Cruz's corner, as the Texas senator was the only candidate to make the trip to Casper -- ahead of a major snowstorm -- and Sarah Palin, scheduled to speak for Trump, previously canceled." -- CW

Jim Galloway & Greg Bluestein of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution: "On March 1, Donald Trump finished first in Georgia's Republican presidential primary with 39 percent of the vote. On Saturday, at gatherings of Republican activists meeting by congressional district, the billionaire may have lost most of the delegates that were supposed to come with that March 7 victory." -- CW

McKay Coppins & Christopher Massie of BuzzFeed: "Donald Trump is a fiercely loyal boss right up until he fires you." -- CW

Other News & Views

Matt Spetalnick of Reuters: "The United States on Saturday transferred nine Yemeni men to Saudi Arabia from the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo, including an inmate who had been on a hunger strike since 2007, under a long-sought diplomatic deal between Washington and Riyadh, U.S. officials said. The transfer, which took place just days before President Barack Obama's visit to Saudi Arabia for a summit of Gulf Arab allies, marked the latest step in his final push to close the controversial detention center at the U.S. naval base in Cuba before he leaves office in January 2017." -- CW

Mark Mazzetti of the New York Times: "Saudi Arabia has told the Obama administration and members of Congress that it will sell off hundreds of billions of dollars' worth of American assets held by the kingdom if Congress passes a bill that would allow the Saudi government to be held responsible in American courts for any role in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. The Obama administration has lobbied Congress to block the bill's passage, according to administration officials and congressional aides from both parties, and the Saudi threats have been the subject of intense discussions in recent weeks between lawmakers and officials from the State Department and the Pentagon." -- CW

Kristina Wong of the Hill: "The State Department is hoping to bring an average of nearly 1,500 Syrian refugees to the United States per month in order to meet President Obama's target of settling 10,000 refugees in the country by September. About 1,300 refugees have already been placed in the United States since Obama first made the commitment in September." -- CW

German Lopez of VOX: On Friday, [Washington] DC Mayor Muriel Bowser called for a citywide vote to turn at least some of the federal district into the 51st state in America. Six good questions to ponder. -- LT

Beyond the Beltway

Steve Lopez of the Los Angeles Times: "California's irresponsible coastal commission is as dangerous to the coast as Mother Nature. -- CW

Sarah Parvini & Ruben Vives of the Los Angeles Times: "The University of California's student association late Friday called on UC Davis Chancellor Linda Katehi to resign amid revelations that the university paid to remove Internet references to a 2011 incident in which police pepper-sprayed students. The group is the latest to join a growing call for Katehi to step down." -- CW

Ken Ritter of the AP: "Two sons of Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy and three other men refused to enter pleas in federal court in Las Vegas to charges in an armed confrontation with government agents two years ago. Magistrate Judge George Foley Jr. entered not guilty pleas on behalf of each man during a sometimes contentious arraignment that featured cat-calls and cheers from about 30 Bundy backers and defendants' family members, under watchful eyes of about a dozen U.S. marshals." -- CW

Way Beyond

Jim Yardley of the New York Times: "Pope Francis made an emotional visit into the heart of Europe's migrant crisis on Saturday and took 12 Muslim refugees from Syria, including six children, with him back to Rome aboard the papal plane." -- CW

AP: "Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday his country will never withdraw from the Golan Heights and the strategic plateau bordering Syria will forever stay in Israeli hands."-- CW

Jennifer Oulette of Gizmodo: "... during a press briefing at the Perimeter Institute in Waterloo, Ontario..., a journalist in the audience jokingly said [to Canadian PM Justin Trudeau], "I was going to ask you to explain quantum computing, but.... haha..." Here's Trudeau's response:

... CW: Now imagine Donald Trump's answer.

News Ledes

AP: "The strongest earthquake to hit Ecuador in decades flattened buildings and buckled highways along its Pacific coast, sending the Andean nation into a state of emergency. As rescue workers rushed in, officials said Sunday at least 77 people were killed, over 588 injured and the damage stretched for hundreds of miles to the capital and other major cities." ...

     ... New York Times Update: "The strongest earthquake to strike Ecuador in decades left the Andean nation traumatized on Sunday, with collapsed buildings in a swath of destruction stretching hundreds of miles. More than 200 people were killed and hundreds more were wounded."