ComplexDataLab/Misinfo_Datasets · Datasets at Hugging Face

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a big new state department assessment has identified a major threat to global security. it's not isis or vladimir putin. it's not a rickety global economy or climate change or the threat of global pandemics. instead, the report argues, these individual problems are symptoms of a much bigger issue <u+2014> namely, a slow breakdown in global governance. many of the institutions that were created in the past century to deal with economic and security risks around the world, such as the un and imf, may no longer be adequate to the task. if the authors of the report are right, then the world's biggest problems are all really about this one big thing. the report, called the quadrennial diplomacy and development review, was tasked with a broad review of state department policies. the point was "not looking at the crisis of the day," tom perriello, the state department official tasked with leading the qddr, said in a press briefing. instead, the report is "trying to connect the dots across the crises, and then saying what can we learn across the dynamics that we can see." much of what the report's authors saw was quite good. "seventy years ago, a bipartisan group of visionary americans forged a system of modern international institutions, as well as economic and security arrangements, aimed at preventing another catastrophic world war and addressing acute human suffering," they write. "this system enabled the peaceful end of the cold war, a wave of democratization, and unprecedented improvement in the basic human condition around the globe." that's all true. but the qddr worries that these institutions <u+2014> things like the un and the imf <u+2014> aren't adequate for dealing with the specific kinds of problems we see today. the un may help the big countries cooperate with each other, but it can't stop isis or syria's civil war. nor has it been able to lock in a big new international agreement on climate change. together, these problems show that "aspects of that post-world war ii system are fraying." sometimes, it's because a hostile power is actively challenging them <u+2014> russia, for example, is actively trying to weaken the nato-dominated regional order in europe. other times, it's that these institutions are having trouble developing good answers for particular kind of problems. it's not clear, for example, how global institutions can repair failed states and stop civil wars in places like libya and the democratic republic of the congo. regardless, the basic point is the same: the institutions that have made the world the safest and most prosperous place it's ever been are becoming less capable of following through on their mission. the more they degrade, the argument goes, the more danger the united states <u+2014> and the world <u+2014> will be in. these arguments aren't new: academics have been making them for years. but what's interesting about their position in the qddr is that they seem to represent the us government's actual view about the world's biggest problems. it's no accident that the qddr's section on priorities begins with a quote from obama's 2014 speech to the un general assembly <u+2014> the address was framed around an almost identical diagnosis about the need to reform global institutions in light of new challenges. "if we lift our eyes beyond our borders, if we think globally and act cooperatively," obama said, "we can shape the course of this century as our predecessors shaped the post<u+2013>world war ii age." sound familiar? but the qddr goes beyond obama's speech. it identifies four areas <u+2014> preventing violent conflict and extremism, spreading democracy, promoting global economic growth, and climate change <u+2014> in which the state department needs to focus its efforts. "each of these priorities is based on the need for better governance across the world," secretary of state john kerry said at a presser. "they're all linked." the qddr proposes a number of ways to improve its focus on these issues. for instance, it proposes a new investment on data-driven forecasting designed to predict conflicts and mass atrocities. if state department diplomats have a better way of knowing countries are most at risk of serious violence, the theory goes, they can know where to invest resources in order to prevent those conflicts from getting worse. these solutions feel very small-bore compared with the scale of the problems identified by the qddr. the report doesn't have a big plan for reforming the un to deal with failed states, nor does it propose a groundbreaking strategy for breaking the global impasse on a climate change agreement. that's by design. the qddr, as an exercise, is designed to improve the way the state department works as an organization. about one-third of the report, for example, is focused on hiring and personnel management. the whole point of the exercise is to identify what the state department can do better without radically transforming american foreign policy priorities or proposing pie-in-the-sky new budgets that congress will never approve. and that's what makes the qddr really interesting. a massive amount of government work involves identifying huge problems, like the breakdown of global governance, and then trying to implement a few small-bore strategies to chip away at the big problem. the qddr is an unusually clear account of how that process actually works: of how small policy proposals and reforms fit into the bigger picture of american foreign policy.

the quiet global crisis that scares the state department

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8 things congress actually did this year when republicans took over both chambers of congress in january, party leaders vowed they would prove to the country that republicans could govern. they promised to stop with the self-made crises, such as government shutdowns, and rack up legislative accomplishments. so in the first year of a gop-controlled congress in nearly a decade, how well did republicans prove they can govern? first, there were no government shutdowns or defaults on the national debt. immediately after the midterm election in 2014, both senate majority leader mitch mcconnell and house speaker john boehner promised there wouldn't be any shutdowns or defaults on their watch. turns out they made good on that promise this year. but democrats aren't exactly congratulating them for it. "that's like saying, 'you know, they didn't blow the top off the capitol, so clearly republican leadership is in touch with america.' no, it takes more than that," said democratic sen. dick durbin of illinois. nonetheless, it is fair to say that the widely held assumption congress gets nothing done doesn't exactly fit this year. there was an uptick in bipartisan activity in this republican-controlled congress in 2015, but if you ask democrats why that was, they'll say it's because they were a more cooperative minority than republicans were when democrats controlled the senate <u+2014> and that they cooperated on legislation that bolstered democratic goals. whether or not keeping the government open counts as an accomplishment, here are eight legislative matters congress did address in 2015 <u+2014> and some issues that remain unresolved: trillion-dollar government funding bill: right before they split for the holidays, lawmakers passed a trillion-dollar spending bill that will keep the government open until the end of next september. the measure also beefed up cybersecurity and renewed a health care program for sept. 11 first responders. it also made changes to the visa waiver program so people who have traveled to iraq, iran, syria and sudan in the past five years will face greater scrutiny if they wish to enter the u.s. tax extenders: paired with the government spending bill was a measure containing hundreds of billions of dollars in tax breaks. year after year, congress has had to extend dozens of tax breaks that expire. in this measure, lawmakers made permanent the most popular tax breaks, such as the $1,000 child tax credit, the earned income tax credit for low- and moderate-income workers, and the research and development tax credit. two-year budget agreement: right before boehner left office, he managed to reach a two-year budget deal with the white house and other congressional leaders. the agreement suspends the debt ceiling through march 2017 and increases spending by $80 billion over the next two years <u+2014> an increase that's split evenly between defense and domestic programs. no child left behind rewrite: congress easily passed legislation to rewrite the 2002 no child left behind act. federally mandated math and reading tests will continue, but the new law cedes greater authority to states, rather than the federal government, to figure out how to use the test results in evaluating schools. five-year transportation bill: congress passed its first long-term bill in a decade to fund roads, bridges and mass transit systems. the measure does not raise the gas tax, currently at 18.4 cents per gallon, but found other sources of funding <u+2014> such as changing customs fees and dipping into funds from the federal reserve. ended the nsa's bulk surveillance program: lawmakers passed the usa freedom act, which ended the government's bulk collection of phone records. passage of the measure came after republican senator and presidential candidate rand paul of kentucky forced a two-day shutdown of the bulk collection program. trade promotion authority: congress approved a measure to give the president expedited authority to enter a trade deal with 11 other pacific rim countries. attention now turns to the trans-pacific partnership agreement, which congress is expected to consider next year <u+2014> possibly after the election is over. medicare reform: known as the "doc fix" bill, this measure permanently ended automatic medicare payment cuts to physicians. under a law from the late 1990s, medicare payments to doctors would be cut to keep the program's budget in check. since then, congress had failed every year to figure out a long-term solution to the problem. still, so many issues remain unresolved <u+2014> not because lawmakers think they're unimportant but because partisan divisions on these ideological issues are so deep, they can't find common ground. congress seems happy to take these issues to the voters in 2016. guns: after a spate of gun-related tragedies in 2015, democrats vowed to push for gun control legislation, such as measures to expand background checks and prohibit individuals whose names are on terrorist watch lists from purchasing firearms. both measures failed in the senate in 2015, as in past years. immigration: the senate managed to pass a comprehensive immigration overhaul package in 2013, but attempts to move the legislation through the house failed. efforts to resurrect immigration legislation have since languished. tax reform: after the midterm election, corporate tax reform was seen as a possible area republicans and democrats could work together on. but at his year-end news conference, mcconnell expressed pessimism about getting any tax reform accomplished with a democrat in the white house, saying that any tax changes need to be revenue-neutral and he doubted the president would go for that.

8 things congress actually did this year

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on the streets of baltimore, trying to understand the anger in the early morning, as the cold set in, anaya maze stood next to the charred remains of a cvs store. holding a sign, she was the only protester left in front of a line of police officers dressed in riot gear. she is petite. still, she faced the police officers, looking at them intently. a few steps away were the charred skeletons of two police vehicles, the victims of an unbridled anger that burned its way through the west side of baltimore. maze said she understands the anger. for far too long, she said, police have been killing black men. she says baltimore had this coming. all the violence, she says, might finally change things. "i see no shame in being violent to be heard," she said. "because if you can't do it peacefully then what other option do you have?" last night, after maryland gov. larry hogan had declared a state of emergency and ordered the national guard into the city, rioters still roamed the streets; fires still burned and residents still stood on their stoops, on their sidewalks, trying to understand the anger that boiled over into riots. pierre thomas, 37, was hanging out at the perimeter set up by police. he said that yes, baltimore has a history of inequality and yes the black community feels forgotten, but he didn't agree with setting properties on fire. "everybody is angry," he said. "but there is a right and a wrong way to do it. i understand why they're doing it but i don't support it. they're trashing their own place." a few blocks down, alex, who only wanted to be identified by his first name, was watching a small corner market burn down. he pointed at the fire trucks that were trying to make their way through the street. he pointed at the police officers. he said those flames were the only way to get them to come into this part of baltimore. nobody was calling for peace when baltimore police officers were beating innocent black men, he said. "where was the peace when we were getting shot? where's the peace when we were getting laid out? where is the peace when we are in the back of ambulances? where is the peace then? they don't want to call for peace then. but you know when people really want peace? when the white people have to get out of bed, when cops have to wear riot gear, when the cops start talking about, oh we got broken arms. then they want peace," he said. "peace? it's too late for peace." the police helicopter hovered above and every once in a while, we heard the pops of tear gas. the flames from the fire got hotter, lapping over the roof of a second row house. a woman a few steps away was in tears. she was roused from sleep by the smoke. her house is two doors down from the burning market. she didn't know if it would survive, if the flames would turn all her possessions into ashes. "they shouldn't be doing this, man. we live around here," she wailed. "that was terrible." suddenly, as a flame shot into the sky, she covered her face and darted off before i could get her name.

on the streets of baltimore, trying to understand the anger

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the recent murders at a colorado springs planned parenthood center, and the political arguments that have followed, remind us once again of the connection between political polarization and terrorism. we are used to the idea that democrats support legal abortion while republicans oppose it, but this has not always been the case. this came up here a couple of years ago,<u+00a0>but i think it<u+2019>s worth returning to the topic now that it is in the news again. to start with, here<u+2019>s the trend in public opinion from the national election study. for each election year we show the average opinion on abortion on 1-4 scale (where 1 = abortion should never be legal, and 4 = abortion should always be legal) among self-declared democrats, independents, and republicans: i made the graph a few years ago, but i don<u+2019>t think the polarization has gone away. sample sizes are small in some years, so i wouldn<u+2019>t recommend trying to interpret every jump in those lines, but the basic pattern is clear: no partisan polarization on abortion before 1992, lots since. yair ghitza and i then broke these data down by ethnicity to see where the polarization was happening. and here<u+2019>s what we found: these lines show estimated regression coefficients predicting abortion attitude from partisanship (that is, predicting that response on the 1-to-4 scale from a party-identification variable that takes on the values -1, 0, 1 for republicans, independents, and democrats), using a hierarchical model to get stable estimates for each year and for each of four ethnic groups. as you can see, almost all the polarization is occurring among whites. (also some among the <u+201c>other<u+201d> category, but they represent only a small fraction of the electorate.) we then continued and broke down the whites by income and education: polarization is concentrated among upper-income and well-educated whites. and now we can return to the news story about the killer: this is n=1, and of course non-college-educated people can perpetrate political violence as well. but i find the statistics helpful in understanding partisan polarization more generally.

where<u+2019>s the partisan polarization on abortion?

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one of two crew members survived the shooting down of a russian warplane by turkey on tuesday, russian officials say, and was rescued by a syrian commando unit in an operation that ended early wednesday. the news comes as international tensions continue to rise over the incident. as we reported tuesday, turkey says the russian su-24 fighter jet was in turkish airspace when it was shot down by turkish f-16s. turkey says it warned the russian warplane 10 times before taking action. russia maintains the jet was flying over syria at the time. both russian crew members appeared to eject from the jet and parachute to the ground, but one was reportedly found dead tuesday by a syrian rebel group. russia now says the other crew member has been rescued. it was a costly mission for russia, npr's corey flintoff reports for our newscast unit: "russia's defense minister said the pilot was rescued in a 12-hour operation that ended in the early hours of the morning. "rebel fighters in the area claim they shot one of the russian helicopters involved in the search yesterday and then used a missile to destroy it on the ground after it was forced to land. "russia says one of the helicopter crewmen was killed, but the rest were evacuated safely." meanwhile, russia and turkey continue to exchange angry rhetoric while at the same time calling for military restraint. turkish prime minister ahmet davutoglu said wednesday that russia could not justify its attacks on ethnic turks in syria under the pretext of fighting the islamic state, and reiterated statements by president recep tayyip erdogan that turkey will continue to defend its airspace. but, davutoglu said, targeting russia is "out of the question," reuters reports. also on wednesday, russia's foreign minister, sergei lavrov, called the shooting of the plane a "planned provocation" that is prompting moscow to "reconsider relations with ankara," the associated press reports. on tuesday, russian president vladimir putin called the shooting a "stab in the back." but lavrov says moscow has "no intention to go to war with turkey," the ap writes. russia says it is deploying an advanced anti-aircraft system to its base in syria. corey says the missiles appear to be guarding against turkish planes <u+2014> or planes from other coalition members, such as the u.s. or france. "as far as we know, isis and other jihadi groups in syria have no aircraft that could threaten the russian base," he reports. moscow may be considering nonmilitary forms of retaliation against turkey. russian prime minister dmitry medvedev said wednesday that "important joint projects could be canceled and turkish firms could lose russian market share," the ap reports. the two countries' economies are closely linked by energy purchases, tourism and other business activity.

russia calls downing of its plane a 'planned provocation'

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(cnn) the democratic national convention kicked off monday without its outgoing democratic national committee chairwoman, debbie wasserman schultz, following a chaotic scene at a morning meeting where she was loudly jeered by bernie sanders supporters. "i have decided that in the interest of making sure that we can start the democratic convention on a high note that i am not going to gavel in the convention," wasserman schultz told the sun sentinel newspaper in an interview. baltimore mayor stephanie rawlings-blake, who is also the democratic national committee's secretary, handled the gaveling instead. "delegates, alternatives, standing committee members and all of our honored democrats and other guests here in philadelphia and all of you who have joined us by television, radio and online, here in the united states and around the world," she said, "i hereby call the 47th quadrennial democratic national convention to order." wasserman schultz will also not speak tonight or throughout the duration of the convention, a democrat close to her says. she will remain in philadelphia until friday when she formally steps down as leader of the committee. wasserman schultz changed her plans as the fallout deepened from leaked dnc emails that appeared to show the committee favoring presumptive democratic nominee hillary clinton over sanders during the primary. it became clear monday that the convention floor could erupt in anger if she gaveled the convention into session or sought to speak. and the democratic national committee issued an apology to sanders moments after the convention opened, likely hoping to help soothe tensions heading into the week. "on behalf of everyone at the dnc, we want to offer a deep and sincere apology to sen. sanders, his supporters, and the entire democratic party for the inexcusable remarks made over email," the statement said. "these comments do not reflect the values of the dnc or our steadfast commitment to neutrality during the nominating process. the dnc does not -- and will not -- tolerate disrespectful language exhibited toward our candidates. individual staffers have also rightfully apologized for their comments, and the dnc is taking appropriate action to ensure it never happens again." the morning florida delegate meeting descended into chaos when wasserman schultz took the stage, with critics holding up signs with the word "emails," and sanders supporters booing the congresswoman loudly, even after she began speaking. "we have to make sure that we move forward together in a unified way," wasserman schultz said during brief remarks. "we know that the voices in this room that are standing up and being disruptive, we know that is not the florida that we know. the florida that we know is going to make sure that we continue to make jobs." the audience was roughly half supportive of wasserman schultz and half detractors, though the angry participants were louder than the other half. those attendees began to chant, "shame! shame! shame!" while wasserman schultz was speaking. sanders tried to quell some of his dissatisfied supporters at a rally before his expected speech monday. "we have got to elect hillary clinton and tim kaine," sanders said, which prompted some attendees to shout him down. wasserman schultz announced sunday she is stepping down as chairwoman of the dnc at the end of the party's convention. the drama reinforced concerns about democratic party unity. former sanders campaign manager jeff weaver tried to show a unified democratic party on monday, the morning after wasserman schultz announced her resignation. "this happened, we knew it happened then, now is the time to go forward,' weaver told cnn's chris cuomo on "new day" on monday. "now is the time to elect hillary clinton and defeat donald trump." wasserman schultz talked with both president barack obama and clinton before making announcing her upcoming resignation, a democratic source said. "going forward, the best way for me to accomplish those goals [which include electing clinton president] is to step down as party chair at the end of this convention," wasserman schultz said in the statement. "as party chair, this week i will open and close the convention and i will address our delegates about the stakes involved in this election not only for democrats, but for all americans," she said. dnc vice chairwoman donna brazile will serve as interim chair through the election. she had been a cnn political commentator, but cnn and brazile have mutually agreed to suspend their contract, effective immediately, although she will remain on air during the convention week in an unpaid capacity, cnn said. cnn will revisit the contract once brazile concludes her role. separately, a democratic operative said hispanic leaders close to clinton and her high command were discussing housing secretary julian castro as a possible successor to wasserman schultz at the dnc helm, among a number of other candidates whose name are being mentioned. chants of "debbie is done!" and "debbie resigned!" broke out at a pro-sanders rally sunday in philadelphia after the news was announced. party officials decided saturday that wasserman schultz would not have a major speaking role or preside over daily convention proceedings this week. the dnc rules committee has named rep. marcia fudge, d-ohio, as permanent chair of the convention, according to a dnc source. she will gavel each session to order and will gavel each session closed. "she's been quarantined," another top democrat said of wasserman schultz, following a meeting saturday night but before her announcement that she was leaving. both sides of the aisle react obama issued a statement, saying, "for the last eight years, chairwoman debbie wasserman schultz has had my back. this afternoon, i called her to let her know that i am grateful." and clinton thanked wasserman schultz for her leadership of the party. "i am grateful to debbie for getting the democratic party to this year's historic convention in philadelphia, and i know that this week's events will be a success thanks to her hard work and leadership," clinton said. after slamming wasserman schultz as "highly overrated," trump, speaking at a rally in roanoke, virginia, knocked clinton for being disloyal to the soon-to-be former dnc chair. "how about that for disloyalty in terms of hillary clinton. because debbie wasserman schultz has been so much for hillary clinton," trump said. "these politicians. there's no loyalty there. no loyalty. none whatsoever." "it gets a little heat and they fire her," trump said. "debbie was totally loyal to hillary and hillary threw her under a bus and it didn't take more than five minutes to make that decision." wasserman's republican counterpart, reince priebus, said, "i think the day's events show really the uphill climb democrats face this week." "the extreme left will not be satisfied by one person's resignation," the republican party national chairman added. trump campaign chairman paul manafort said clinton should follow wasserman schultz out the door. "debbie wasserman schultz resigned over her failure to secure the dnc's email servers and the rigged system she set up with the clinton campaign," he said in a statement. "now hillary clinton should follow wasserman schultz's lead and drop out over her failure to safeguard top secret, classified information both on her unauthorized home server and while traveling abroad." "i think what the signal was today is that the voices of bernie sanders supporters have been heard," he said. "and other people, frankly, in the party, hillary clinton supporters, who felt this was the last straw, that she had to go, and this shows they have been heard and gives us opportunity to move forward toward november -- united to deal with the problem of donald trump." wasserman schultz's stewardship of the dnc has been under fire through most of the presidential primary process, but her removal from the convention stage comes following the release of nearly 20,000 emails. one email appears to show dnc staffers asking how they can reference sanders' faith to weaken him in the eyes of southern voters. another seems to depict an attorney advising the committee on how to defend clinton against an accusation by the sanders campaign of not living up to a joint fundraising agreement. before the announcement, sanders on sunday told tapper the release of the dnc emails that show its staffers working against him underscores the position he's held for months: wasserman schultz needs to go. "i don't think she is qualified to be the chair of the dnc, not only for these awful emails, which revealed the prejudice of the dnc, but also because we need a party that reaches out to working people and young people, and i don't think her leadership style is doing that," sanders told tapper on "state of the union," on the eve of the democratic national convention in philadelphia. "i am not an atheist," he said. "but aside from all of that, it is an outrage and sad that you would have people in important positions in the dnc trying to undermine my campaign. it goes without saying: the function of the dnc is to represent all of the candidates -- to be fair and even-minded." he added: "but again, we discussed this many, many months ago, on this show, so what is revealed now is not a shock to me."

dems open convention without wasserman schultz

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it<u+2019>s hard to imagine a discussion on the barbarians who make up the islamic state having anything to do with goldilocks and the three bears. but if congress is going to approve any formal authorization to sanction u.s. military action against the extremist group, it needs to engineer a resolution that<u+2019>s not too hot, not too cold, but just right. and therein lies the challenge. how does congress author a resolution that allows lawmakers to exercise their constitutional authority about deploying u.s. military force -- yet doesn<u+2019>t fully commit <u+201c>boots on the ground?<u+201d> lawmakers are leery about the latter because the public long ago lost its appetite for a protracted conflict. yet at the same time, how does congress make sure the resolution is muscular enough to actually make a difference in fighting isis and not just a fig leaf? and if congress doesn<u+2019>t concoct something that is sufficiently stout, what are the consequences if isis hits the united states, keeps incinerating people in cages, lopping off heads or seriously threatens israel and jordan? what is the composition of a resolution that doesn<u+2019>t hem in the president and the military -- yet gives them appropriate agility to react and respond and fight? and how about a time frame? how can one possibly say the u.s. is committed only to fighting this long? and if it<u+2019>s open-ended, some lawmakers fret it<u+2019>s not appropriate for the u.s. to wage perpetual conflicts that never seem to have exit strategies. notice this <u+201c>resolution<u+201d> to combat isis isn<u+2019>t even called a <u+201c>declaration of war.<u+201d> it<u+2019>s euphemistically called an <u+201c>aumf,<u+201d> short for <u+201c>authorization for use of military force.<u+201d> the constitution grants congress <u+201c>war powers. but congress has officially declared <u+201c>war<u+201d> only five times. the most recent was in 1941 when the u.s. entered wwii. the u.s. is very worried about declaring <u+201c>war<u+201d> on isis, lest it be perceived it<u+2019>s at <u+201c>war with islam<u+201d> or muslims. so an <u+201c>aumf for isis<u+201d> will just have to do. straightforward but curved. structured but limber. a ceiling but no floor. a floor but no ceiling. it<u+2019>s almost zen-like. or to goldilocks, porridge. not too hot. not too cold. but just right. chatter about crafting a resolution to manage the u.s. fight against isis ramped up this week. white house spokesman eric schultz indicated that a resolution would come <u+201c>relatively soon.<u+201d> sources tell fox news that the presentation of a draft resolution could land on capitol hill in a number of days. <u+201c>it was clear that leaders on the hill wanted to get this done. it was also clear this was a priority for the president and they wanted language from the white house. they also wanted to be consulted in advance of sending that language up,<u+201d> said schultz, who characterized the talks as <u+201c>robust.<u+201d> some senior lawmakers indicated that the video of the live burning of a jordanian pilot this week could be the impetus for increased discussions. <u+201c>i don<u+2019>t know how these two things are disconnected,<u+201d> said one source who spoke on the condition they not be identified. however, other sources disagreed with that suggestion. <u+201c>they<u+2019>ve been talking about this since state of the union,<u+201d> said one source. <u+201c>this isn<u+2019>t new.<u+201d> still, another source said that the timing of the increased talk was natural because <u+201c>they have to give us (a resolution) at some point.<u+201d> the source noted that additional conversations about a resolution would intensify after president obama presented his annual budget to congress. obama dropped off his budget on capitol hill on monday. national security advisor susan rice discussed the finer points of the president<u+2019>s national security on friday at the brookings institution after the white house sent a copy of the blueprint to the capitol earlier in the day. so the resolution appears to be coming together. <u+201c>we<u+2019>ve gotten our hopes up before,<u+201d> said a source. house speaker john boehner, r-ohio, has been resolute that such a request come from the white house and not be something engineered by congress. sources have pointed to two prominent proposals as a potential framework for the aumf. one is plan crafted by california rep. adam schiff, the top democrat on the house intelligence committee. the other blueprint comes from democratic sens. tim kaine, virginia, and sen. bob menendez, new jersey. menendez is the top democrat on the senate foreign relations committee. the panel authored such a resolution to combat isis late last year when democrats still controlled the senate. the panel approved the resolution but it never went to the senate floor for a vote. there are similarities between the schiff and kaine-menendez proposals. schiff<u+2019>s outline bans <u+201c>boots on the ground,<u+201d> and limits the geographic footprint to fight isis to iraq and syria. the kaine-menendez offering doesn<u+2019>t restrict <u+201c>boots on the ground<u+201d> and has no geographic structure. the schiff provision also would require congress to re-evaluate the strategy after three years. the three-year window is designed as such to force the next congress and president to reconsider the issue. <u+201c>boots on the ground<u+201d> appears to be one of the most contentious issues in approving a resolution. one republican lawmaker who asked for anonymity indicated they liked the schiff plan, so long as they didn<u+2019>t restrict the president from putting forces on the ground. another issue to resolve is whether congress sunsets the 2001 authorization to fight in afghanistan and elsewhere in the global war on terror and the 2002 authorization which launched the 2003 war in iraq. some liberal lawmakers view the 2001 provision as <u+201c>war without end.<u+201d> others maintain that particular authorization must be preserved. still, some assert that the 2002 authorization specific to iraq requires a sunset so it may be superseded by a new authorization. writing an aumf to fight isis is a dicey enterprise. lawmakers from both sides of the aisle want a new aumf. and how will they find the votes to pass this though? something on which most lawmakers can agree? <u+201c>i have always believed that when it comes to fighting a war that congress should not tie the president<u+2019>s hands,<u+201d> said boehner this week. <u+201c>it<u+2019>s not going to be an easy lift.<u+201d> <u+201c>if we go in and rescue somebody, we have a troop on the ground. we have boots on the ground. so what is the language around <u+2018>boots on the ground?<u+2019> <u+201d> asked house minority leader nancy pelosi, d-calif. <u+00a0><u+201c>i think it<u+2019>s going to be a challenge.<u+201d> pelosi knows many of her members will argue for repealing the 2001 and 2002 authorizations, so the u.s. doesn<u+2019>t find itself in a <u+201c>boundless<u+201d> war. and by the same token, some republicans will look askance at the president<u+2019>s request for congress to grant him authority to fight isis. in an interview with fox news, rep. ron desantis, r-fla.,<u+00a0> suggested obama may try to use the document for <u+201c>political cover.<u+201d> <u+201c>if it<u+2019>s not successful, he wants the congress to share the blame with him,<u+201d> desantis predicted. <u+201c>as the mission continues to be muddled and it doesn<u+2019>t succeed, (the president will) says you guys didn<u+2019>t authorize ground troops so there was nothing more i could do. my hands were tied.<u+201d> and so that<u+2019>s why the mission to find the right mix of votes is going to be demanding. to pass, the administration and lawmakers must forge a resolution that<u+2019>s not too hot, not too cold but just right.

upcoming proposal in congress for military action must strike goldilocks-esq, 'just right' tone

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on any given day, in any police department in the nation, 15 percent of officers will do the right thing no matter what is happening. fifteen percent of officers will abuse their authority at every opportunity. the remaining 70 percent could go either way depending on whom they are working with. that's a theory from my friend k.l. williams, who has trained thousands of officers around the country in use of force. based on what i experienced as a black man serving in the st. louis police department for five years, i agree with him. i worked with men and women who became cops for all the right reasons <u+2014> they really wanted to help make their communities better. and i worked with people like the president of my police academy class, who sent out an email after president obama won the 2008 election that included the statement, "i can't believe i live in a country full of ni**er lovers!!!!!!!!" he patrolled the streets in st. louis in a number of black communities with the authority to act under the color of law. that remaining 70 percent of officers are highly susceptible to the culture in a given department. in the absence of any real effort to challenge department cultures, they become part of the problem. if their command ranks are racist or allow institutional racism to persist, or if a number of officers in their department are racist, they may end up doing terrible things. it is not only white officers who abuse their authority. the effect of institutional racism is such that no matter what color the officer abusing the citizen is, in the vast majority of those cases of abuse that citizen will be black or brown. that is what is allowed. and no matter what an officer has done to a black person, that officer can always cover himself in the running narrative of heroism, risk, and sacrifice that is available to a uniformed police officer by virtue of simply reporting for duty. cleveland police officer michael brelo was<u+00a0>acquitted of all charges against him in the shooting deaths of timothy russell and malissa williams, both black and unarmed. thirteen cleveland police officers fired 137 shots at them. brelo, having reloaded at some point during the shooting, fired 49 of the 137 shots. he took his final 15 shots at them after all the other officers stopped firing (122 shots at that point) and, "fearing for his life," he jumped onto the hood of the car and shot 15 times through the windshield. not only was this excessive, it was tactically asinine if brelo believed they were armed and firing. but they weren't armed, and they weren't firing. judge john o'donnell acquitted brelo under the rationale that because he couldn't determine which shots actually killed russell and williams, no one is guilty. let's be clear: this is part of what the department of justice means when it describes a "pattern of unconstitutional policing and excessive force." nevertheless, many americans believe that police officers are generally good, noble heroes.<u+00a0>a gallup poll from 2014 asked americans to rate the honesty and ethical standards of people in various fields: police officers ranked in the top five, just above members of the clergy. the profession <u+2014> the endeavor <u+2014> is noble. but this myth about the general goodness of cops obscures the truth of what needs to be done to fix the system. it makes it look like all we need to do is hire good people, rather than fix the entire system. institutional racism runs throughout our criminal justice system. its presence in police culture, though often flatly denied by the many police apologists that appear in the media now, has been central to the breakdown in police-community relationships for decades in spite of good people doing police work. here's what i wish americans understood about the men and women who serve in their police departments <u+2014> and what needs to be done to make the system better for everyone. as a new officer with the st. louis in the mid-1990s, i responded to a call for an "officer in need of aid." i was partnered that day with a white female officer. when we got to the scene, it turned out that the officer was fine, and the aid call was canceled. he'd been in a foot pursuit chasing a suspect in an armed robbery and lost him. the officer i was with asked him if he'd seen where the suspect went. the officer picked a house on the block we were on, and we went to it and knocked on the door. a young man about 18 years old answered the door, partially opening it and peering out at my partner and me. he was standing on crutches. my partner accused him of harboring a suspect. he denied it. he said that this was his family's home and he was home alone. my partner then forced the door the rest of the way open, grabbed him by his throat, and snatched him out of the house onto the front porch. she took him to the ledge of the porch and, still holding him by the throat, punched him hard in the face and then in the groin. my partner that day snatched an 18-year-old kid off crutches and assaulted him, simply for stating the fact that he was home alone. i got the officer off of him. but because an aid call had gone out, several other officers had arrived on the scene. one of those officers, who was black, ascended the stairs and asked what was going on. my partner pointed to the young man, still lying on the porch, and said, "that son of a bitch just assaulted me." the black officer then went up to the young man and told him to "get the fuck up, i'm taking you in for assaulting an officer." the young man looked up at the officer and said, "man ... you see i can't go." his crutches lay not far from him. the officer picked him up, cuffed him, and slammed him into the house, where he was able to prop himself up by leaning against it. the officer then told him again to get moving to the police car on the street because he was under arrest. the young man told him one last time, in a pleading tone that was somehow angry at the same time, "you see i can't go!" the officer reached down and grabbed both the young man's ankles and yanked up. this caused the young man to strike his head on the porch. the officer then dragged him to the police car. we then searched the house. no one was in it. these kinds of scenes play themselves out everyday all over our country in black and brown communities. beyond the many unarmed blacks killed by police, including recently<u+00a0>freddie gray in baltimore, other police abuses that don't result in death foment resentment, distrust, and malice toward police in black and brown communities all over the country. long before darren wilson shot and killed unarmed michael brown last august, there was a poisonous relationship between the ferguson, missouri, department and the community it claimed to serve. for example, in 2009 henry davis was stopped unlawfully in ferguson, taken to the police station, and brutally beaten while in handcuffs. he was then charged for bleeding on the officers' uniforms after they beat him. about that 15 percent of officers who regularly abuse their power: a major problem is they exert an outsize influence on department culture and find support for their actions from ranking officers and police unions. chicago is a prime example of this: the city has created a reparations fund for the hundreds of victims who were tortured by former chicago police commander jon burge and officers under his command from the 1970s to the early <u+2018>90s. the victims were electrically shocked, suffocated, and beaten into false confessions that resulted in many of them being convicted and serving time for crimes they didn't commit.<u+00a0> one man, darrell cannon, spent 24 years in prison for a crime he confessed to but didn't commit. he confessed when officers repeatedly appeared to load a shotgun and after doing so each time put it in his mouth and pulled the trigger. other men received electric shocks until they confessed. the torture was systematic, and the culture that allowed for it is systemic. i call your attention to the words "and officers under his command." police departments are generally a functioning closed community where people know who is doing what. how many officers<u+00a0> "under the command" of commander burge do you think didn't know what was being done to these men? how many do you think were uncomfortable with the knowledge? ultimately, though, they were okay with it. and burge got<u+00a0>four years in prison, and now receives his full taxpayer-funded pension. this is critical to understanding why police-community relations in black and brown communities across the country are as bad as they are.<u+00a0>in this interview with fox news, former new york city police commissioner howard safir never acknowledges the lived experience of thousands and thousands of blacks in new york, baltimore, ferguson, or anywhere in the country. in fact, he seems to be completely unaware of it. this allows him to leave viewers with the impression that the recent protests against police brutality are baseless, and that allegations of racism are "totally wrong <u+2014> just not true." the reality of police abuse is not limited to a number of "very small incidents" that have impacted black people nationwide, but generations of experienced and witnessed abuse. the media is complicit in this myth-making: notice that the interviewer does not challenge safir. she doesn't point out, for example, the over<u+00a0>$1 billion in settlements the nypd has paid out over the last decade and a half for the misconduct of its officers. she doesn't reference the numerous accounts of actual black or hispanic nypd officers who have been profiled and even assaulted without cause when they were out of uniform by white nypd officers. instead she leads him with her questions to reference the heroism, selflessness, risk, and sacrifice that are a part of the endeavor that is law enforcement, but very clearly not always characteristic of police work in black and brown communities. the staging for this interview <u+2014> us flag waving, somber-faced officers <u+2014> is wash, rinse, and repeat with our national media. when you take a job as a police officer, you do so voluntarily. you understand the risks associated with the work. but because you signed on to do a dangerous job does not mean you are then allowed to violate the human rights, civil rights, and civil liberties of the people you serve. it's the opposite. you should protect those rights, and when you don't you should be held accountable. that simple statement will be received by police apologists as "anti-cop."<u+00a0> it is not. when<u+00a0>walter scott was killed by officer michael slager in south carolina last year, the initial police report put scott in the wrong. it stated that scott had gone for slager's taser, and slager was in fear for his life. if not for the video recording that later surfaced, the report would have likely been taken by many at face value. instead we see that slager shot scott repeatedly and planted the taser next to his body after the fact. every officer in the country should be wearing a body camera that remains activated throughout any interaction they have with the public while on duty. there is no reasonable expectation of privacy for officers when they are on duty and in service to the public. citizens must also have the right to record police officers as they carry out their public service, provided that they are at a safe distance, based on the circumstances, and not interfering. witnessing an interaction does not by itself constitute interference. the<u+00a0>national coalition of law enforcement officers for justice, reform and accountability is a new coalition of current and former law enforcement officers from around the nation. its mission is to fight institutional racism in our criminal justice system and police culture, and to push for accountability for police officers that abuse their power. many of its members are already well-established advocates for criminal justice reform in their communities. it's people like former sergeant de lacy davis of new jersey, who has worked to change police culture for years. it's people like former lapd captain john mutz, who is white, and who is committed to working to build a system where everyone is equally valued. his colleagues from the lapd <u+2014>former sergeant cheryl dorsey, now a frequent cnn contributor (providing some much-needed perspective), and former officer alex salazar, who worked lapd's rampart unit <u+2014> are a part of this effort. several<u+00a0> nypd<u+00a0> officers, many of whom are founding members of<u+00a0>100 blacks in law enforcement who care, the gold standard for black municipal police organizations, are a part of this group. vernon wells, noel leader, julian harper, and cliff hollingsworth, to name a few, are serious men with a serious record of standing up for their communities against police abuse. there's also rochelle bilal, a former sergeant out of philadelphia, sam costales out of new mexico, former federal marshal matthew fogg, and many others. these men and women are ready to reach out to the thousands of officers around the country who have been looking for a national law enforcement organization that works to remake police culture. the first priority is accountability <u+2014> punishment <u+2014> for officers who willfully abuse the rights and bodies of those they are sworn to serve. training means absolutely nothing if officers don't adhere to it and are not held accountable when they don't. it is key to any meaningful reform. racism is woven into the fabric of our nation.<u+00a0> at no time in our history has there been a national consensus that everyone should be equally valued in all areas of life. we are rooted in racism in spite of the better efforts of americans of all races to change that. because of this legacy of racism, police abuse in black and brown communities is generations old. it is nothing new. it has become more visible to mainstream america largely because of the proliferation of personal recording devices, cellphone cameras, video recorders <u+2014> they're everywhere. we need police officers.<u+00a0> we also need them to be held accountable to the communities they serve.

i'm a black ex-cop, and this is the real truth about race and policing

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political scientists have known for years that political polarization is largely a one-sided phenomenon: in recent decades the republican party<u+00a0>has moved to the right much faster than democrats have moved to the left. as thomas mann of the brookings institution has described it, "republicans have become a radical insurgency<u+2014>ideologically extreme, contemptuous of the inherited policy regime, scornful of compromise, unpersuaded by conventional understanding of facts, evidence, and science; and dismissive of the legitimacy of their political opposition." the data backing this claim up are pretty solid. the most widely-used measure of political polarization, a score of ideology based on voting developed by kenneth poole and howard rosenthal, has shown that the republicans in the senate and especially the house have drifted away from the center far more rapidly than democrats. the chart below, taken from the most recent slice of their data released just last month, illustrate this pretty clearly: right around 1975, the republican party sharply turned away from the center line and hasn't looked back. the democrats have been drifting away from the center too, but nowhere near as quickly. every once in awhile an op-ed writer will come along and make a qualitative argument along the lines of "no, really, it's the<u+00a0>democrats who are polarizing!" peter wehner, a former official in three previous republican presidential administrations, did just that in the pages of the new york times last week. his argument amounts to the notion that since president<u+00a0>obama has pursued some policies that are more liberal than bill clinton's,<u+00a0>"the democratic party has moved substantially further to the left than the republican party has shifted to the right." well, no -- just look at the chart above! here's another way of looking at it: how many moderates are in each party? here's another interesting chart from the poole-rosenthal data, showing the number of house members in each party who are<u+00a0>not<u+00a0>centrists -- that is, whose ideological scores put them on the more extreme ends of the partisan scale. as you can see, in the most recent congress nearly 90 percent of republican house members are<u+00a0>not politically moderate. by contrast, 90 percent of democratic members<u+00a0>are moderates. it's quite difficult to square a chart like this with a claim that democrats are abandoning the center faster than republicans. as the chart shows, there are plenty of centrist democrats left in the house -- but hardly any centrist republicans. it's worth pointing out that none of this is happening in a vacuum -- house republicans are become more extreme because republican voters are electing more extreme candidates. we see many of these same patterns playing out among the electorate as well, as a massive pew research study demonstrated last year.

this astonishing chart shows how moderate republicans are an endangered species

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killing obama administration rules, dismantling obamacare and pushing through tax reform are on the early to-do list.

ted cruz tackles the wall street journal

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german lopez:you've called the war on drugs a failure. what did you mean by that? but we've compromised those values severely during this so-called drug war <u+2014> so severely that we're actually inhibiting public safety. we're consuming gross amounts of taxpayer dollars. we are undermining human potential. and we're doing it all in a way that has a significant, if not savage, disparate impact on poor people and minorities. that, to me, is a failure. when we can get the same aims but also save taxpayer dollars, create greater safety than we're experiencing right now, elevate human life and human potential, and not further cement racial disparities in this country but alleviate them, then we should be going in a dramatically different direction with drug policy reform. pilot programs for prison reentry, and entire states like georgia <u+2014> which is dramatically lowering its african-american prison population, saving taxpayer dollars, and driving down crime <u+2014> are showing us that we could go a different way. cory booker:overall, drug policy has gone seriously awry and is offending our value system. and marijuana is one of those drugs that's been almost pulled out of a category of other serious drugs, many of which are prescribed by doctors to deal with serious injuries <u+2014> somehow this drug was pulled out, made a schedule 1 crime, and so vilified that it's created classes of criminals amid otherwise law-abiding citizens. for example, a mother who has a sick child with seizures <u+2014> which we can show, medically, that marijuana, without even its intoxicating element, could severely reduce, and benefit that child <u+2014> right now that person's behavior, if she's getting that life-affirming drug, is going to be called criminal. if she goes into another state that may have legalized it or legalized it medically and comes back into a state that doesn't, she's trafficking drugs across state lines <u+2014> a federal offense. i'm one of those people who think our marijuana laws are way off the rails. we need to pull back and focus on things like legalizing medical marijuana; supporting states like alaska or colorado or washington that want to be incubators of reform; and allowing scientists and medical researchers to test marijuana's impact on people. what i'm comfortable doing now is just saying, "hey, federal government, play catch-up here. get into the zone we already know most americans are comfortable in." and we're going to stop criminalizing large segments of the country, we're going to allow scientists to study it, and we're not going to take law-abiding citizens who sell marijuana through dispensaries in the states that have legalized it and make criminals out of them. you have drug laws that are so severely, disparately enforced against some groups. let's take african americans, for example: there's no difference between black and white marijuana usage or sales, in fact. you go to college campuses and you'll get white drug dealers. i know this from my own experience of growing up and going to college myself. fraternity houses are not being raided by police at the level you see with communities in inner cities. so equal usage of this drug, equal sale of this drug, but blacks are about 3.7 times more likely to be arrested for it. african americans are more likely to get mandatory minimums, more likely to get about 13 percent longer sentences. it's created these jagged disparities in incarceration. in my state, blacks are about 13 to 14 percent of the population, but they make up over 60 percent of the prison population. remember: the majority of people we arrest in america are nonviolent offenders. now you've got this disparity in arrests, but that creates disparities that painfully fall all along this system. for example, when you get arrested for possession with intent to sell, you can do it in some neighborhoods where there are no public schools and it's not as densely packed as an inner city. you do it in an inner city and now you're within a school zone, so you're facing even higher mandatory minimums. so when you face that and you get out from your longer term, now you're 19 years old with a felony conviction, possession with intent to sell in a school zone. but forget even all of that <u+2014> if you just have a felony conviction for possession, what do you face now? thousands of collateral consequences that will dog you for all of your life. you can't get a pell grant. you can't get a business license. you can't get a job. you're hungry? you can't get food stamps. you need some place to live? you can't even get public housing. what that does within our country, especially in these concentrated areas where we have massive numbers of men being incarcerated, is create a caste system in which people feel like there's no way out. and we're not doing anything as a society like we know we could do. there are tons of pilot programs that show if you help people coming back from a nonviolent offense lock into a job or opportunity, their recidivism rates go down dramatically. if you don't help them, what happens is that, left with limited options, many people make the decision to go back to that world of narcotic sales. what's more dangerous to society: someone smoking marijuana in the privacy of their own home, or someone going 30 miles over the speed limit, racing down a road in a community? and yet that teenager who makes a mistake <u+2014> doing something the last three presidents admitted to doing <u+2014> now he has a felony conviction, because it's more likely he's going to get caught. and for the rest of his life, when he's 29, 39, 49, 59, he's still paying for a mistake he made as a teenager. that's not the kind of society i believe in, nor is it fiscally responsible. it's undermining productivity. it's undermining people's ability to take care of their families. it's locking in generational problems in poverty, or even limiting opportunities. this is so wrong that those conversations i'm having with conservatives as well as with democrats are resonating. when you have people like sen. rand paul talking about racial disparities in incarceration, when you have people like grover norquist standing up and talking about disparate racial impact of this problem, this convergence in understanding of fiscal conservatives, of christian conservatives, of libertarians shows me that this is a time of great hope for our country. so i'm not going to question people's motives. this is one of those issues, like the civil rights movement of the 1960s, where it should pull all americans together to say enough is enough. i went through 15 years of my life where every single day i would encounter good americans who were being overly punished in a disproportionate way for a nonviolent drug offense, whose lives were being destroyed, who had desperation, desire, hunger just to have a shot at the american dream <u+2014> yet a nonviolent drug offense was undermining their potential to contribute, to raise their kids, to have a decent life. that's just wrong. so every day that i'm here, that echoes in my conscience and drives me forward. let me even go a step further, because i alluded to this point but didn't make it clear enough: the violence in my community that's driven by men who believe <u+2014> and i think they're wrong, but this is what they believe <u+2014> that they have no fair shot in this country; they made a mistake and they've gone into a system that often turns them out worse than they went in, in terms of their proclivity for crime. when you take juveniles, like we do in this country, and put them in solitary confinement <u+2014> other nations consider that torture <u+2014> you hurt them and you scar them through your practices. you expose them for nonviolent crimes to often violent people. you expose them to gang activity. then you throw them back on our streets. and you tell them, "we're not going to help you get a job. you want a roof over your head? forget it. in fact, if we catch you trespassing on public housing authority property, we're going to take action against you. you're going to get a pell grant, try to better yourself through education? sorry, you're banned from getting a pell grant." what do people do when they feel trapped and cornered by society? what i saw in my city was people getting more and more caught up in criminal activity. you can trace it way back to an early youthful offense that resulted not in us helping them, not in us intervening to empower them <u+2014> but in taking children and abandoning them and saying, "you made this mistake, and we're going to punish you, and, by the way, that punishment is going to continue every day of your life." think of the statistic when i was mayor. we found out that the murder victims in our city had an 85 percent chance of having been previously arrested an average of 10 times. some people might take a statistic like that and say, "well, it shows these people are whatever." no. if you want to judge a society, don't judge it by the kid like me who grew up in an affluent neighborhood and was given great schooling. judge it by how we treat all of our children. what does it say about a society when a kid makes a mistake, and we don't surround him with opportunities that we know now work? but no, we have this slippery slope of punishing teenagers for nonviolent offenses <u+2014> things kids in the neighborhood where i grew up, in an affluent town, did a lot. but when these kids get caught, they begin a slippery slope into a system that often closes off their options and points them more toward crime than toward redemption. that's unacceptable to me. so i've got a lot of missions here <u+2014> to expand opportunity, empower people with education, make college more affordable <u+2014> but dear god, i am driven every single day to end this nightmare that has made my nation singular in humanity for having more people behind bars for nonviolent offenses. and in terms of race and class, we now have a country that has more african americans under criminal supervision than all the slaves in 1850. this is haunting to me, especially because there's another way. i don't have to invent it; i'm not just asserting it. i know factually there's another way because i know many red states with republican governors are showing there's a way to dramatically reduce the prison population. the governor of georgia is bragging about a 20 percent reduction of african americans in the criminal justice system. there are common-sense things we could be doing that we're not doing because of a lack of urgency <u+2014> and that's unacceptable to me. i was taught as a kid, as langston hughes said so eloquently, "there's a dream in this land with its back against the wall. to save the dream for one, we must save the dream for all." but i'm the x generation. we grew up after the civil rights movement. and i know i'm here because of the outrageously righteous impatience of a whole lot of americans from wildly different backgrounds <u+2014> from religious folks to nonreligious folks, black folks to white folks, christian folks to muslim and jewish folks, latino folks, you name it. there was a wild sense of urgency to raise the consciousness of this country until this place couldn't stop the change. i mean, sen. strom thurmond did a 24-hour filibuster trying to stop civil rights legislation. and the pressure in this country to end an outrageous injustice, a savage injustice, led to change. to me, this issue is no less urgent. in fact, in terms of affecting poor people and minorities and devastating communities, this is an urgent issue of that magnitude <u+2014> to bring a legal system that is truly a justice system. we're all hurting for it. i don't care what your background is. you're hurting for it. you're hurting because the truth of our country <u+2014> liberty and justice for all <u+2014> is not being told. you're hurting for it because you're spending hundreds and hundreds of dollars from your annual taxpayer expenses to support an unjust system. we're hurting for it because there's a better way to go; and not doing anything is making streets less safe, and destroying and undermining our children that we desperately need in a competitive economic environment to be contributing and not costing. so i don't know what it's going to take, but i know one thing it's going to take is us and more people getting involved and seeing this as a cause for our country, not a cause for some people over there. this really does touch us all, and there's got to be a lot more pushing. you know the old saying <u+2014> i've heard it a million times down here: "change doesn't come from washington; it comes to washington." this interview has been edited for length and clarity.

cory booker on how america's criminal justice system destroys the american dream

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it was the most audacious donald trump spectacle yet in a summer full of them, as the republican presidential front-runner, in his boeing 757, thundered over a football stadium here friday night and gave a raucous speech to one of the largest crowds of the 2016 campaign. but trump<u+2019>s flashy performance was about more than showmanship. his visit to alabama was coolly strategic, touching down in the heart of red america and an increasingly important early battleground in the republican nominating contest. the manhattan developer, who strode onstage to <u+201c>sweet home alabama,<u+201d> is trying to show that his candidacy has broad and lasting appeal across every region of the country <u+2014> especially here in the south, where alabama and seven other states are holding a clustered voting blitz march<u+00a0>1. the scene friday night put an exclamation point on an extraordinary run in which the flamboyant mogul has thoroughly disrupted the presidential campaign and kindled a national discussion about not just politics but american culture itself. <u+201c>we have politicians that don<u+2019>t have a clue,<u+201d> said trump, wearing a red hat on which was printed <u+201c>make america great again,<u+201d> his slogan. <u+201c>they<u+2019>re all talk, no action. what<u+2019>s happening to this country is disgraceful.<u+201d> he added: <u+201c>we<u+2019>re running on fumes. there<u+2019>s nothing here. .<u+2009>.<u+2009>. we<u+2019>re not going to have a country left. we need to have our borders. we need to make great deals.<u+201d> the crowd <u+2014> sprawling and boisterous, though filling perhaps half of the 40,000-seat stadium <u+2014> was anything but silent. people pumped their fists in the air as the ruddy-faced man with an iconic corn-silk coif took one shot after another at former florida governor jeb bush (r) and democratic front-runner hillary rodham clinton. his speech focused heavily on illegal immigration <u+2014> <u+201c>we<u+2019>re going to build a wall,<u+201d> he declared to booming applause. and trump basked in the early success of his campaign, noting all the states where he leads in the polls, including bush<u+2019>s florida. <u+201c>has this been crazy? man! i mean, it<u+2019>s been wild,<u+201d> he said while suggesting that the united states should have an expedited election as in some other countries. <u+201c>i<u+2019>d like to have the election tomorrow. i don<u+2019>t want to wait.<u+201d> bush and his allies tried to fire back at trump. bush<u+2019>s super pac, right to rise, paid for a small plane to fly above the stadium towing a banner that read, <u+201c>trump 4 higher taxes, jeb 4 prez.<u+201d> bush<u+2019>s campaign, meanwhile, blasted an e-mail to alabama supporters highlighting trump<u+2019>s past liberal positions and saying they are <u+201c>deeply out-of-step with the alabama way of life.<u+201d> trump fans came by the thousands, driving from the florida panhandle, from mississippi, from tennessee and texas. traffic was backed up for more than a mile. on the street, olaf childress, a neo-confederate activist, gave out copies of <u+201c>the first freedom<u+201d> newspaper, which had headlines about <u+201c>black-on-white crime,<u+201d> <u+201c>occupied media<u+201d> and <u+201c>censored details of the holocaust.<u+201d> the most-enthusiastic trump backers began arriving at the stadium at dawn, hoping to get a spot close to the stage. the first in line were keith quackenbush, 54, and bill hart, 46, co-workers at a retail giant in pensacola, fla. <u+201c>i<u+2019>m telling you, everyone who is a worker at our store, they<u+2019>re excited about trump,<u+201d> quackenbush said. <u+201c>i don<u+2019>t care what race or gender, whatever age <u+2014> they love trump. this is a movement.<u+201d> the event <u+2014> billed as a <u+201c>pep rally<u+201d> <u+2014> had been scheduled for the mobile civic center but was moved to ladd-peebles stadium, home to the university of south alabama jaguars, as interest soared. trump<u+2019>s campaign claimed that more than 35,000 people had applied for tickets, but by the time his speech began, the stadium was full of empty patches of astroturf and grandstands. in the run-up, trump made the rounds on alabama radio stations, talking politics and college football <u+2014> though, like any practiced pol, he wouldn<u+2019>t take sides in the rivalry between the university of alabama and auburn university. as the crowd formed friday morning, trump tweeted from new york: <u+201c>we are going to have a wild time in alabama tonight! finally, the silent majority is back!<u+201d> he echoed richard nixon<u+2019>s 1968 <u+201c>silent majority<u+201d> pitch that was aimed at attracting disaffected white southerners. like other republican candidates, trump is making a strategic play for the south, eyeing the states participating march 1 in the so-called sec primary <u+2014> named for the collegiate sports conference <u+2014> soon after the traditional early contests in iowa and new hampshire. trump<u+2019>s campaign manager, corey lewandowski, said in an interview that trump could <u+201c>win significant support<u+201d> in the south, buoyed by his hard-line views on trade and immigration as well as the gop base<u+2019>s restive appetite for an outsider. <u+201c>we<u+2019>re going to be strong in iowa, new hampshire and the other states that start it out,<u+201d> <u+00ad>lewandowski said. <u+201c>then comes the south. that<u+2019>s the path to the nomination.<u+201d> in mobile, campaign volunteers wearing trump hats and carrying clipboards collected signatures to get trump on the primary ballot and gathered names for a voter database. next week, trump is to hold events in nashville and greenville, s.c. trump chose mobile for his big rally in part because it is the hometown of sen. jeff sessions (r), an immigration hard-liner who has been counseling trump and helped him develop his immigration policy paper. trump brought sessions onstage. the senator put on a white <u+201c>make america great again<u+201d> hat. (<u+201c>these hats are hot as a pistol,<u+201d> trump quipped.) but there is plenty of resistance to trump<u+2019>s candidacy here. <u+201c>my plea to my conservatives is, <u+2018>don<u+2019>t get so far out in right field that we can<u+2019>t talk to anyone but ourselves,<u+2019><u+2009><u+201d> said jack edwards, who represented the mobile area in congress for two decades. trump is not the only contender who sees the south as a place where bids could rise or fall in the second lap of the 2016 race. sen. ted cruz (r-tex.) recently made a 20-stop, seven-day road trip from south carolina to oklahoma that stretched nearly 2,000 miles. wisconsin gov. scott walker will appear saturday at a republican luncheon in alabama, while bush has scheduled private events in birmingham next wednesday. ohio gov. john kasich was here earlier this week to pick up the endorsement of alabama gov. robert j. bentley. retired neurosurgeon ben carson has a passionate grass-roots following here; former arkansas governor mike huckabee, whose evangelical background has made him a force, has made regular visits to the south. but none have put on a show like trump. friday night resembled something between a lynyrd skynyrd concert and the daytona 500. people came to see a celebrity, trump, but also to hear his fiery call to revolutionize the nation<u+2019>s politics. many attendees said they had never attended a presidential campaign event. cheryl burns, 60, was on a road trip from california when she heard that trump would be in alabama. she turned her car around and got in line, warning people of what happened to states when liberals took them over. <u+201c>there is no more california,<u+201d> burns said. <u+201c>it<u+2019>s now international, lawless territory. everything is up for grabs. illegal aliens are murdering people there. people are being raped. trump isn<u+2019>t lying about anything <u+2014> the rest of the country just hasn<u+2019>t found out yet.<u+201d> as the sun began to set, the sweaty throngs in the stadium snapped their heads toward the sky as the roar of a jet engine pierced the air. here it was, gliding toward them above the friday night lights: a gleaming boeing 757 with <u+201c>t-r-u-m-p<u+201d> stretched across its navy blue body, circling twice and dipping its wing toward the sloped stadium bleachers. the crowd roared its approval to trump as his jet tilted away to land at a nearby airport. minutes later, he was whisked in a caravan of suvs past sleepy neighborhoods and the shipyard-lined coast of the deep south to the surreal political festival. <u+201c>this is history happening right before our eyes,<u+201d> said laura teague of mobile, one of the few black attendees at the rally. <u+201c>i<u+2019>m going to help trump make history.<u+201d> philip rucker in washington contributed to this report.

trump<u+2019>s audacious southern spectacle is part of his strategy

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islamic state militants returning to the united kingdom could launch a chlorine gas attack on trains, the london underground or at a football match, according to a chemical weapons expert. hamish de bretton-gordon, a former commanding officer at the joint chemical biological radiological nuclear regiment, said the last two weeks in syria and iraq have seen the "most concentrated and deadly use of chemical weapons" since the 1980s iran-iraq war. "it is very evident that isil are putting much time and effort into training its jihadis in the use of chlorine as a terror weapon and in particular in ieds (improvised explosive devices)," he wrote on 2paragraphs. "virtually every foreign jihadi who returns to the u.s. or u.k. will have been exposed to training of this sort and will have a reasonable idea on how to use chlorine and other toxic chemicals as a terror weapon. in the u.k., up to 90 tons of chlorine can be purchased without any licenses," he wrote. after returning from advising security forces in baghdad last week, de bretton-gordon told the daily mirrorthat he feared a chlorine gas attack was "highly likely," adding: "this could happen on a train or tube or even at a big football match." de bretton-gordon examined the likelihood of such an atrocity on the 20-year anniversary of the tokyo subway sarin attack, which killed 12 people and injured more than 1,000 more, causing chaos in the japanese capital. the aum shinrikyo movement used packets of the nerve agent, which they punctured with umbrella tips on the tokyo subway during morning rush hour. but de bretton-gordon said less complicated methods would be needed for a deadly chlorine attack. "the method of delivery of chlorine at the second battle of ypres in april 1915, 100 years ago, would be effective on the subway today," he wrote. "that is, take the top off a chlorine canister and let it 'vaporize' aka 'weaponize.'" the expert, who has recently worked with u.k.-based charity syria relief advising civilians on what to do in a chlorine gas attack, founded chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (cbrn) defense firm securebio and is a director at gas mask manufacturers avon protection. his 23 years in the british army included service as commanding officer of the u.k.'s cbrn regiment and nato's rapid reaction cbrn battalion. de bretton-gordon said that isil had planted "hundreds" of chlorine ieds in the defense of tikrit and detonated chemical bombs north of mosul against the kurdish peshmerga. during the advance of the isil last year, militants gained control of a huge chlorine factory near mosul as well as the muthanna complex near baghdad, where saddam hussein manufactured chemical weapons using mustard gas, sarin and vx. the united nations said 2,500 remaining rockets filled with nerve agents were degraded and could not be used to make working chemical weapons. de bretton-gordon said that even if returning isil jihadists attempted to launch a chlorine attack in britain, the effect "should be minimal" if security services are forewarned. "chlorine is not very toxic and the green and yellow clouds are easy to see and avoid, and it is very non-persistent only lasting for a few minutes," he added. "undoubtedly, and hopefully, the cia, fbi, mi 5 and 6 etc. will be taking a very close look at returning jihadis and in particular anybody buying toxic chemicals." earlier this month, isil allegedly attacked iraqi soldiers with roadside bombs containing chlorine gas as allied forces continued a huge assault against the group in tikrit. footage captured by an iraqi bomb disposal team showed plumes of thick orange gas emerging from a detonated ied. iraqi kurds also claim to have evidence that isil used chemical weapons against their fighters in january this year. the use of chlorine, a choking agent that dates back to the first world war, is banned under the 1997 chemical weapons convention, which prohibits the use of toxic agents in warfare. chlorine and other chemical weapons have been used "systematically" in the ongoing civil war in syria, according to monitors, who accuse all parties of atrocities. bashar al-assad's forces allegedly used sarin in the 2013 ghouta chemical attack that killed hundreds of syrian civilians outside of damascus and have reportedly dropped chlorine barrel bombs in recent weeks. iraqi kurds were victims of the deadliest chemical attack in recent history when hussein's air force bombed the town of halabja, where up to 5,000 people were gassed to death in 1988. the article originally appeared on the website of the independent. its content was created separately to usa today. more from the independent

expert: isil 'highly likely' to launch gas attack in london

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president barack obama will propose blocking 1.4 million acres (556,000 hectares) of arctic refuge from oil and gas drilling, the washington post reported on sunday. the administration plans to propose designating the area of the arctic national wildlife refuge as wilderness, the highest level of federal protection that would ban oil and gas drilling, the newspaper reported, citing people briefed on the plan. the move is certain to spark yet another fight with republicans, who have fought for 35 years over how to manage what is known as anwr, or the arctic national wildlife refuge. the vast region has huge petroleum reserves but also provides critical habitat for caribou, millions of migrating birds, polar bears and other wildlife. "what<u+2019>s coming is a stunning attack on our sovereignty and our ability to develop a strong economy that allows us, our children and our grandchildren to thrive," said the new senate energy and natural resources committee chairman, lisa murkowski, r-alaska,<u+00a0> in a statement to the post. "it<u+2019>s clear this administration does not care about us, and sees us as nothing but a territory. <u+2026> i cannot understand why this administration is willing to negotiate with iran, but not alaska. but we will not be run over like this. we will fight back with every resource at our disposal." the state's republican congressional delegation, along with the new governor, bill walker, sent out a joint news release sunday morning calling the action "an unprecedented assault on alaska." walker, an independent, said in a statement that he may be forced to accelerate oil and gas permitting on state lands to compensate for the new federal restrictions. "having just given to alaskans the state of the state and state of the budget addresses, it<u+2019>s clear that our fiscal challenges in both the short and long term would benefit significantly from increased oil production," walker said. roughly 40 billion barrels of the state<u+2019>s untapped reserves are already in federal areas where oil and gas activity is blocked or restricted, he pointed out. the announcement, which could come on sunday, is likely the first in a series of decisions the administration will make in the coming week about alaska's oil and gas production. the administration also plans to block part of the arctic ocean from drilling.

obama to propose protecting 1.4 million acres of arctic refuge

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back in 2013 these stooges were promoting the phony notion that <u+201c>arctic ice has grown to a record level!<u+201d><u+00a0>it hadn<u+2019>t. after that debacle, they claimed un scientists had found their predictions of warming were off by 50 percent or more.<u+00a0>they weren<u+2019>t. more recently, they were pushing the false claim that the globe has been<u+00a0>cooling<u+00a0>ever since 1998.<u+00a0>it hasn<u+2019>t been. and, of course, when all else failed, they could always fall back on their old standby: weaning ourselves from dangerous fossil fuels won<u+2019>t make any difference anyway because china would never do the same. but, of course, china is<u+00a0>now doing so<u+00a0>at a rate that should embarrass these jackasses. but it won<u+2019>t. because they are never embarrassed about being wrong. so, with 2014 recently clocking in as the hottest year for the planet on record, according to every major world agency that measures such things, and with 13 of the hottest years on record all falling within the past 15 years, these clowns are getting pretty desperate for something <u+2014><u+00a0>anything<u+00a0><u+2014> to use to keep the denialist scam going on behalf of the most profitable industry in the history of civilization. the latest such scam, helpfully propagated on several fox <u+201c>news<u+201d> shows last week, is that the so-called <u+201c>scientists<u+201d> have been caught red-handed in the act of <u+201c>lying<u+201d> about raw temperature data! that<u+2019>s right! they have been manipulating the data to exaggerate the extent of global warming! except, of course, they haven<u+2019>t, and they aren<u+2019>t<u+2026> during an<u+00a0>episode of <u+201c>outnumbered<u+201d><u+00a0>on fox <u+201c>news<u+201d> last week, in which the hosts were outraged <u+2014><u+00a0>outraged!<u+00a0><u+2014> about<u+00a0>an interview<u+00a0>in which president obama correctly asserted that more americans are affected by climate change than by terrorism, fox<u+2019>s mononymously-named kennedy interrupted the show<u+2019>s guest, attorney mark eiglarsh, to nail him with the newest false claim of climate denialists. eiglarsh asked: <u+201c>is there anything factually incorrect about the statement that more americans<u+2026>?<u+201d> eiglarsh ignored her and continued: <u+201c><u+2026>more americans are impacted by climate change [than by terrorism]?<u+201d> <u+201c>what about the<u+00a0>telegraph<u+00a0>report that shows the original data versus the published data? the nasa published data!<u+201d> kennedy continued. <u+201c>there was a great disparity because they<u+00a0>lied<u+00a0>about the actual data until someone went back to these weather stations in south america and antarctica and thought, <u+2018>hmm, maybe something is amiss here?<u+2019> and they realized there is a<u+00a0>scandalous<u+00a0>discrepancy in what we have been sold!<u+201d> well, no, they didn<u+2019>t. setting aside kennedy<u+2019>s confusion between the arctic and antarctica <u+2014> an easy enough mistake to make <u+2014> her spirited <u+201c>gotcha<u+201d> assertion was still flat wrong. she was hardly the first stooge to be taken in by it. days earlier,<u+00a0>rush limbaugh announced: <u+201c>we have documented that so much of what they say is untrue, one of the biggest is the hoax of global warming which the uk telegraph, as a story yesterday exposes it, may be the biggest hoax in all of science ever!<u+201d> days earlier, daffy christian broadcast network host pat robertson dutifully<u+00a0>parroted the same inaccurate nonsense on his <u+201c>700 club<u+201d><u+00a0>show: <u+201c>a climate expert, ya know, has come out and said that they have actually manipulated the figures to try and prove global warming.<u+201d> on the same day, on another fox show, <u+201c>the five,<u+201d> former white house press secretary turned fox <u+201c>news<u+201d> host<u+00a0>dana perino echoed<u+00a0>the same false claim during another segment attempting to downplay concerns about global warming in favor of concerns about terrorism. perino said the white house is <u+201c>actually kind of lucky that we don<u+2019>t cover climate change as much as we should. because yesterday, it was reported that the temperature readings have been fabricated and it<u+2019>s all blowing up in their faces.<u+201d> another host on the show declared that it was <u+201c>fraud science!<u+201d> perino answered, <u+201c>yes, i agree.<u+201d> so, just as in the past <u+2014> as with the bullshit report about arctic ice, or the bullshit revelations that scientists were off in their predictions by 50 percent, or the bullshit claims about a pause or reversal of warming since 1998, or the bullshit assertion that china is unwilling to do anything about its own carbon emissions <u+2014> rupert murdoch<u+2019>s fox <u+201c>news<u+201d> and its bedfellows can once again be relied upon to<u+00a0>endlessly echo<u+00a0>the latest bullshit-that-seems-legit-but-is-in-fact-bullshit portending to expose the great <u+201c>hoax<u+201d> that is global warming. politifact <u+2014> which is not always a reliable source for news itself <u+2014> decided to take a look at perino<u+2019>s version of the claim. in this case, they got it right and<u+00a0>declared perino<u+2019>s assertion as a <u+201c>pants-on-fire lie.<u+201d> so here<u+2019>s how this latest scam came to be taken for gospel by the incurious wingnut dupes, along with the actual<u+00a0>facts<u+00a0>debunking the false claim. an<u+00a0>opinion piece by christopher booker in the the telegraph, a right-wing british newspaper, declared that <u+201c>fiddling with temperature data is the biggest science scandal ever!<u+201d> the column was a follow-up to<u+00a0>another booker piece two weeks earlier, headlined <u+201c>how we are still being tricked by flawed data on global warming,<u+201d> in which climate change-denying blogger paul homewood was cited for having busted scientists for faking temperature data at three weather stations in paraguay. <u+201c>in each instance,<u+201d> booker asserted, based on homewood<u+2019>s findings, <u+201c>the actual trend of 60 years of data had been dramatically reversed, so that a cooling trend was changed to one that showed a marked warming.<u+201d> booker reported that homewood subsequently discovered other similar cases where temperature recordings had been adjusted in both south america and in some locations in the arctic, to make the average daily temperatures<u+00a0>appear<u+00a0>to have warmed over the past 60 years, instead of cooled, which the deniers are claiming. <u+201c>in nearly every case, the same one-way adjustments have been made, to show warming up to 1 degree c or more higher than was indicated by the data that was actually recorded,<u+201d> booker writes, before going on to describe the data as a <u+201c>wholesale manipulation of the official temperature record,<u+201d> as part of the <u+201c>most costly scare the world has known.<u+201d> you<u+2019>ll be stunned to learn that the claims by booker, based on homewood<u+2019>s revelations <u+2014> and dutifully repeated over and again by the wingnuts <u+2014> are all, actually, bullshit. the <u+201c>controversy<u+201d> comes from adjustments made to the stream of raw data from thousands of land- and sea-based weather stations around the globe in order to keep them consistent, so that an apples-to-apples comparison of temperatures can be made over time, even as the location of weather stations <u+2014> and the technology used since the mid-1800s to measure those temperatures <u+2014> changes. <u+201c>for instance,<u+201d> politifact explains, <u+201c>local officials might move a station from a valley to a nearby hilltop. they might change the time of day when they record their measurements from sunrise to sunset. they might change the kind of thermometer they use. in the ocean, the practice once was to haul up a bucket of water. later, the standard practice was to measure the temperature from the engine<u+2019>s intake valve.<u+201d> researchers at the national oceanic and atmospheric administration (noaa) must then make adjustments to some of those raw temps <u+201c>to account for the human factors that would skew the data regardless of what happened with actual temperatures.<u+201d> <u+201c>the temperature records are based on weather station data. but people didn<u+2019>t expect the data to be used for monitoring long-term climate change when they started collecting it,<u+201d> the university of york<u+2019>s<u+00a0>dr. kevin cowtan explained in a video<u+00a0>debunking the first misleading<u+00a0>telegraph<u+00a0>article on this a few weeks ago. <u+201c>it was for recording the weather, hence the name weather station. as a result they weren<u+2019>t always very careful about changes to the instruments or their usage. when we change an instrument we have to recalibrate to ensure the new instrument gives the same readings as the old one. the original weather station operators didn<u+2019>t always do this. so noaa have to do a retrospective calibration by comparing nearby weather stations.<u+201d> so, yes, homewood has <u+201c>busted<u+201d> noaa scientists making adjustments to their raw data in a number of locations. the problem, however, is that when<u+00a0>all such adjustments<u+00a0>are examined, the changes actually<u+00a0>lower<u+00a0>global temperatures trends overall. the issue is perhaps best described in the politifact piece by zeke hausfather, a data scientist with berkley earth, a group of researchers that have been funded in the past by the climate-denying koch brothers (which is a point<u+00a0>not<u+00a0>noted by politifact). hausfather says the data cited by homewood have been cherry-picked in order to seed doubt in climate change science [emphasis added]<u+2026> <u+201c>(they) look through all those thousands of stations, find a few that show big adjustments, and tell everyone that they are evidence of fraud,<u+201d> hausfather said. <u+201c>you will rarely see them pick out stations likereno,<u+00a0>paris,<u+00a0>london,<u+00a0>tokyo, or many others where the adjustments dramatically lower the warming trend.<u+201d> hausfather and his colleagues<u+00a0>traced how the adjustment methods<u+00a0>changed the temperature data differently around the world since 1850. in the graph below, zero is the baseline. above zero, temperatures have been adjusted upward, below it temperatures have been adjusted downward. <u+00a0> in the united states, with about 5 percent of earth<u+2019>s land area, the official data file raised temperatures compared to the original readings. but the same methods lowered the data records in africa, and for all land-based readings taken together, the adjustments basically made no change at all (the black line). with ocean temperature trends, the efforts to compensate for the human factor lower the numbers dramatically. <u+201c>the net effect of adjustments is to actually reduce the amount of global warming we<u+2019>ve observed since 1880 by about 20 percent,<u+201d> hausfather said. <u+201c>folks skeptical of temperature adjustments are welcome not to use them if they<u+2019>d like, but you end up with more global warming, not less.<u+201d> got that? yes, some adjustments serve to increase the temperature trends. but, overall, the adjustments actually serve to<u+00a0>lower<u+00a0>the increase in temperatures across the globe over the last 150 years <u+201c>by about 20 percent.<u+201d> <u+201c>it is important to keep in mind that the largest adjustment in the global surface temperature record occurs over the oceans,<u+201d><u+00a0>noaa told media matters<u+00a0>in an email last week. <u+201c>adjustments to account for the transition in sea surface temperature observing methods actually lowers global temperature trends.<u+201d> want to do away with all of those adjustments, fox <u+201c>news<u+201d>? ok. but if you do, the problem of human-caused global warming is even worse than climate scientists are now reporting it to be. and, by the way, though politifact doesn<u+2019>t mention it, most of the <u+201c>experts<u+201d> they consulted in their article disabusing the claims by perino, booker and homewood all happen to be, like the koch-funded berkley group, noted climate change<u+00a0>skeptics<u+00a0>themselves. for his part, as<u+00a0>ars technica<u+2019>s john timmer notes, booker<u+2019>s<u+00a0>wikipedia entry<u+00a0><u+201c>shows that he has a lot of issues with science in general, claiming that things like asbestos and second-hand smoke are harmless, and arguing against evolution. so, this sort of immunity to well-established evidence seems to be a recurring theme in his writing.<u+201d> none of that, naturally, disqualifies him from being a source for fox and friends when it comes to <u+201c>the biggest science scandal ever!<u+201d> and it<u+2019>s effective. the article earned the<u+00a0>telegraph<u+00a0>a ton of traffic (there are 28,872 comments on the item, if that<u+2019>s any indication) and the bulk of the chumps who clicked on the page bought the bullshit <u+2014> a survey at the end asks readers if they believed global warming has <u+201c>been exaggerated by scientists.<u+201d> 91 percent of the 127,199 readers who answered the online poll believe it has been. nonetheless, whether big carbon<u+2019>s stooges have fallen for it or not, another climate change denier myth is quashed. don<u+2019>t worry though. this one will be repeated anyway, and then another will most assuredly rise up in its place soon enough. and there will be enough fox <u+201c>news<u+201d> dupes <u+2014> both viewers and <u+201c>reporters<u+201d> <u+2014> willing to both buy and sell it. all meant to continue delaying necessary changes that might help stave off our planetary climate crisis, just so that the fossil fuel industry and its supporters can continue to make ever more profits for as long as possible, cause fuck all of you liberal lefty tree-hugging science-loving communists who have fallen for the great <u+201c>hoax<u+201d> that humanity should live on a<u+00a0>livable<u+00a0>planet.

fox news has no shame: easily duped wingnuts spout phony science and climate-change lies

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the house voted friday to block federal funding to planned parenthood for a year and curb some abortion practices, in the chamber's first legislative response to videos showing the abortion provider's tissue harvesting practices. the planned parenthood "de-fund" bill passed 241-187, on a nearly party-line vote. hanging over the debate, though, was the possibility of a government shutdown showdown. republican leaders brought the legislation to the floor as they try to address lawmakers' outrage over the videos. some conservatives originally wanted to demand planned parenthood be de-funded as part of a must-pass government budget bill; house leaders tried a different tack friday with the two bills, which are not tied to the overall budget. the stand-alone measures, though, stand little chance of becoming law. the senate has not yet acted on the issue. and the bills not only face opposition from most democrats but veto threats from the white house. that means some conservatives could still want to tie the issue to the budget package, as a means of leverage. congress has until the end of the month to pass a new budget, or else parts of the government could again start to shutter, as happened in 2013. on friday, house gop leader kevin mccarthy, r-calif., downplayed the chances of such drama. "we will pass a bill that funds the government," he told fox news. the bills approved friday were a reaction to videos showing planned parenthood officials casually describing how they provide researchers with tissue from aborted fetuses. the anti-abortion activists who secretly recorded the videos say they show that planned parenthood is illegally profiting from organ sales. the organization says it's broken no laws and is being victimized by deceitfully edited recordings. "anyone who watches those videos -- they are horrific," mccarthy told fox news. "aborting live babies for profit -- why would anybody want to spend tax dollars for that?" the first bill would block planned parenthood's federal funds for a year. the other would impose criminal penalties on doctors who don't try saving infants born alive during abortions. but with the overall government funding issue not resolved, democrats once again have taken to accusing republicans of playing games with the economy. the white house, in a statement released thursday evening, said obama called the shutdown threat "a game of chicken with our economy that we cannot accept." it's a tricky situation for house speaker john boehner, who wants to avoid a partial government shutdown while preventing a rebellion in the ranks. "our leaders wave the white flag every time there's a confrontation," said rep. mark salmon, r-ariz. rep. thomas massie, r-ky., said boehner wants to "implement what the lobbyists want, not what the constituents of our district want." at a closed meeting thursday among house republicans, leaders unveiled internal polling that attendees said showed most people would oppose a government shutdown -- even those who have seen the videos and oppose financing planned parenthood. many republicans argued that the polling showed a shutdown fight would be damaging and unwinnable, especially since senate democrats already derailed a bill erasing planned parenthood's funds. "pounding on the table doesn't turn 54 into 60 in the senate," said rep. tom cole, r-okla., referring to the number of gop senators and the number it would take to end democratic filibusters. the bill by rep. diane black, r-tenn., would transfer planned parenthood's federal money to thousands of government-backed community health centers. supporters say that would keep women's health care intact, but opponents say those centers are overwhelmed and often far from women who need them. planned parenthood gets around $450 million yearly in federal payments, mostly medicaid reimbursements for handling low-income patients, according to the nonpartisan congressional budget office. that's around one-third of the $1.3 billion yearly budget for the organization, which has nearly 700 clinics and provides sexual disease testing, contraceptives and abortions. conservatives' determination to block planned parenthood's money has been partly fueled by the race for the gop's presidential nomination. several candidates used their wednesday night debate to urge lawmakers to turn off that funding spigot. but spotlighting gop divisions, sen. kelly ayotte, r-n.h., wrote thursday to sen. ted cruz, r-texas, one of the presidential hopefuls. cruz wants republicans to oppose financing the government unless planned parenthood's money is cut off, defending his effort during the debate by saying, "i'm proud to stand for life." ayotte, who faces her own tough re-election fight next year, wrote that she opposed risking a partial shutdown "given the challenges and threats we face at home and abroad" and asked, "what is your strategy to succeed in actually defunding planned parenthood?" the associated press contributed to this report.

house oks bill blocking planned parenthood funds, amid shutdown worries

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antonin scalia was a conservative giant on the supreme court. his death will affect this supreme court term, the future balance of the court, and the 2016 election. why trump says he wants to ditch plans for new air force one an american flag flies at half-staff in front of the us supreme court in washington sunday morning in honor of supreme court justice antonin scalia, who died this weekend. the passing of justice antonin scalia substantially undercuts the ability of the united states supreme court to decide some of the most contentious national issues currently pending at the high court. in addition, it thrusts the nation<u+2019>s highest court into a glaring spotlight in this year<u+2019>s presidential election, and it sets the stage for a year-long confrontation between president obama and sentate republicans over not just who should fill the vacant high court seat but how fast the nomination and confirmation process should proceed. on a human level, justice scalia<u+2019>s sudden death saturday while on a hunting trip in texas casts a pall over the institution he loved and served for nearly three decades. he is being remembered by friends and colleagues as one of the most influential justices in a generation, and perhaps in high court history. they are praising his intellect, his wit, and a combative style from the bench that had a capacity to endear and enrage. he was a gifted writer and, at times, an uncompromising critic of judges and fellow justices with whom he disagreed. <u+201c>his brilliance and wit not only lit up a pen; they lit up a room,<u+201d> said amy barrett, a notre dame law professor and former scalia law clerk, in a statement.<u+00a0><u+201c>he was larger than life, and it is difficult to imagine life without him in it.<u+201d> scalia<u+2019>s most enduring contribution to american jurisprudence may ultimately be his self-professed fidelity to originalism and his rejection of the concept that the us constitution is a living document that should be liberally reinterpreted by the courts. instead, scalia preached the virtues of remaining faithful to the text <u+2013> the actual words <u+2013> in the constitution or in a statute. to scalia, and the growing number of conservative scholars and judges who follow his approach, originalism is a safeguard against judges using their lifetime appointments to amend the constitution or statutes to reflect their personal policy preferences. he believed that it was for lawmakers to make laws and that it was for judges to confine themselves to giving no greater or lesser force to the resulting measure. in a statement to the nation on saturday night, president obama praised scalia as a <u+201c>brilliant legal mind with an energetic style, incisive wit, and colorful opinions.<u+201d> obama ordered flags across the country to be flown at half-staff in honor of scalia. but the president also made clear that he planned to move forward with a nomination to fill the vacant seat at the high court. he called on the senate to give his nominee a <u+201c>fair hearing and a timely vote.<u+201d> the vacant high court seat is significant because the supreme court had been divided with five justices nominated by republican presidents and four nominated by democratic presidents. now, with scalia<u+2019>s passing, the divide is four to four. if scalia<u+2019>s seat is filled by a more liberal-leaning democratic nominee it could substantially shift the balance of power on the high court in a liberal direction in the full range of hot button issues. it is for that reason that democrats are already pushing hard for a relatively quick nomination by obama and a senate vote this year on that nominee. for the same reason, republicans, who currently hold a majority of senate seats, are insisting that the nomination and any vote be delayed until after the november presidential election. senator chuck grassley, (r) of iowa, chairman of the senate judiciary committee, said in a statement that standard-practice for 80 years has been that supreme court nominations and confirmations should not proceed during a presidential election year. <u+201c>given the huge divide in the country, and the fact that this president, above all others, has made no bones about his goal to use the courts to circumvent congress and push through his own agenda, it only makes sense that we defer to the american people who will elect a new president to select the next supreme court justice,<u+201d> senator grassley said. as for the ongoing work at the supreme court itself, what had looked to become one of the most momentous supreme court terms in years suddenly looks a lot less so. in the next three months, the justices are set to hear cases examining abortion restrictions in texas, the contraception mandate in obamacare, and whether president obama acted constitutionally in his executive action on immigration. now, with one less vote in the court<u+2019>s conservative wing, the court appears split four to four between liberals and conservatives. that doesn<u+2019>t mean there won<u+2019>t be significant decisions. for example, if justice anthony kennedy joins his liberal colleagues in the texas abortion case, as some analysts expect, that could lead to a 5-to-3 decision striking down all or part of the texas abortion restrictions. that decision could be a landmark and scalia<u+2019>s absence would be felt only in the loss of what would likely be a fiery dissenting opinion. but in the contraceptive mandate case and the obama immigration cases, the loss of scalia<u+2019>s vote could result in a 4-to-4 tie that would leave the lower court decisions in place. such an outcome would resolve those cases, but set no national precedent. legal experts note that decisions in cases that have already been heard in oral argument by the court but not yet publicly announced may change with the loss of scalia<u+2019>s vote. those cases include a dispute testing whether unions representing public employees can require nonmembers to pay fair share fees to a union for collective bargaining. analysts anticipated that the court might rule 5 to 4 against the unions. that outcome is now unlikely. in addition, the court was preparing a decision in a case raising a fundamental question about the meaning of <u+201c>one person, one vote,<u+201d> and how voting districts are drawn in texas. the outcome of that case is now also in doubt. the high court is also considering a potential landmark case examining the use of race in an affirmative action plan at the university of texas at austin. but the loss of scalia<u+2019>s vote may not undercut a final decision in that case because justice elena kagan is not participating in the dispute. so a 4-to-3 vote is possible.

how scalia's death could change supreme court and election 2016

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the teacher thought feliz diaz, like those other immigrants from the wrong side of the tracks, was weak and afraid. someone learned a lesson that day. felix diaz grew up on the wrong side of the union pacific railroad tracks in the town of victorville, california. victorville is in the mojave desert, 100 miles or so from los angeles. his father<u+2014>porfirio<u+2014>worked in the cement plant and carmen, his mother, sewed the family<u+2019>s clothes. felix was the youngest of four brothers, and the smallest, the last in line. the shirts he wore to school were hand-me-downs made of cement sacks. the parents were in the u.s. illegally and every move they made, most of their adult lives, was weighed against the chance of being discovered and deported. the school was called eva dell elementary and felix<u+2019>s third-grade teacher<u+2014>miss appleberry<u+2014>was 40 or so, but new to teaching, unsure of herself around kids, unsure of herself around mexicans, and maybe because of that, or partly because of that, she yelled a lot. maybe she was just a natural yeller. here is how felix remembers it: at work then, as now, is the prevalent idea that anyone who doesn<u+2019>t speak fluent american is at least a little slow. this idea was part of miss appleberry<u+2019>s thinking, even though most of the students in her class were growing up in homes where little english was spoken. miss appleberry, in turn, spoke no spanish. felix diaz<u+2014>who turns 82 this july<u+2014>remembers this like last week. not to make excuses, because there are none for this, but teaching kids who do not speak english requires patience<u+2014>rope<u+2014>and miss appleberry came to the end of hers early. not far into the school year she brought out a paddle, and announced a spelling test. <u+201c>i<u+2019>m sick of you mexicans not spelling properly,<u+201d> she said. like everybody else, mr. riles walked to work. he smoked two cigarettes on the way there, every afternoon. the first one he lighted as he left his house. he walked halfway to the plant, lit his second cigarette off the first one, and dropped the butt on the ground. felix collected mr. riles<u+2019> butts and made cigarettes of his own. and it was from those cigarettes he got tuberculosis. the mexicans<u+2014>and the much smaller number of blacks in town<u+2014>shared a single ward for tb patients. felix diaz remembers that just hours before a tubercular patient died the nurses would say, <u+201c>he<u+2019>s hemorrhaging,<u+201d> and put up a screen to hide the spray of blood coming up out of the dying man<u+2019>s mouth. that was the way mr. riles died and the way felix expected to die, too. no one ever took the few minutes to explain to him what was going on, and when a doctor and a nurse came in one morning and told him they were all set to take out his tonsils that afternoon, felix, who didn<u+2019>t know what tonsils were, thought the operating room was where they took you to die. and so the morning we were talking about he sat at his desk as miss appleberry announced each student<u+2019>s scores, and took them one at a time into the hallway, closed the door and hit them with her paddle. boys and girls alike. felix remembers the flooring in the hallway was all wood and the sounds of the paddle, followed by the sounds of the 7- or 8-year-olds crying out, echoed clearly in the room. thirty-five kids, sitting in terror or pain. felix shook his head no. everyone else had gone with the teacher<u+2014>and it is worth mentioning here that to this day teachers are held in higher regard in latin cultures than they are in others. they are often called maestro or maestra<u+2014>revered almost like priests. miss appleberry began to scream, and in seconds whatever sweet authoritarian revenge she was enjoying in the hallway disappeared. she grabbed him, trying to jerk him out of his desk. but the desks in those days were attached to the chairs, and the chairs were bolted to the floor, and felix and his desk did not move. miss appleberry shook him, still screaming, her hard, narrow face balled up like a fist, but he would not let go. she had long fingernails and she scratched his arms and they bled. but he clung to the chair. and unlike the parking lot at a trump rally, in the end there was a compromise. she let go of the paddle, he let go of the desk, and miss appleberry dragged him down the hall to the school principal, mr. mullen. eva dell elementary did not have much money and the principal had to teach a class of his own, too. miss appleberry brought felix into his classroom and announced he<u+2019>d refused to take his punishment. it was not over, though. his arm was scabbing where it had bled and he knew his father would want to know what happened. he took his friend leo along, knowing that his father would never take his word against a teacher<u+2019>s. as mentioned, teachers were almost like priests. the principal recognized felix<u+2019>s father<u+2014>maybe from the arrangements they<u+2019>d made while felix was in the hospital<u+2014>and begged him to intercede with the crowd. to explain for him that he understood what happened and promised they would never see miss appleberry again. and good to his word, in the morning she was gone, and nobody at eva dell elementary ever saw her again. even felix diaz does not know what happened to her afterward. that was southern california, 1942, and this is the repeating lesson of american history. which is this: dismissing people wholesale might give you free reign to bring out the paddle, but it doesn<u+2019>t mean that some of those people won<u+2019>t cling to the chair.

what trump will never understand about immigrants

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(cnn) - as he considers another run for the white house, rick santorum is reaching out to working-class voters, bucking the gop on the minimum wage and touting his new book in hopes of rebranding the republican party. in an interview with cnn's candy crowley that aired sunday on "state of the union," the former senator from pennsylvania and 2012 republican presidential candidate was candid on the possibility of launching another white house bid in 2016. 2016: "i'm looking at it" santorum wouldn't throw his support behind a specific republican on a list of possible 2016 white house contenders but admitted that he wrote his new book "blue-collar conservatives" in part because he's considering launching another campaign. "i'm looking for candidates who connect with average voters," he said. "someone who has a heart and an understanding of those difficult times those voters are going through, and whether it's rick santorum or somebody else - it's someone who has that appeal and connection. "i put this book out there because i'm looking at it - whether other people join in; i hope they do. i've been talking to a lot of candidates across the country, saying, <u+2018>you really need to look at this book and take the opportunity that's present right now to create a new image for this party. it doesn't have a very good one right now,<u+2019> " santorum added. one issue that could create conflict between republicans and average americans is their opposition to increasing the minimum wage. dems seek to rally base over gop's block of minimum wage bill the senate voted last month on raising the minimum wage to $10.10 per hour, but the bill failed to garner the 60 votes needed to pass. only one republican voted for the measure. santorum joins 2012 presidential nominee mitt romney and former minnesota gov. tim pawlenty as republicans who have come out in favor of some sort of increase. but santorum, who long voted for minimum wage increases in his time in congress, was quick to draw a distinction between his views on the issue and those of his former gop presidential rival. "i think romney came out in favor of president obama's increase. i'm not in favor of president obama's increase. when i was in the senate and when i was in the house, i did vote for minimum wage increases that were incremental," he said. asked by crowley whether republicans<u+2019> opposition to minimum wage increases will hurt the party's image among working-class voters, santorum said it does and cautioned that lawmakers "need to be reasonable about it and offer an alternative." the most recent polls on the issue indicate that a strong majority of americans supports raising the minimum wage, with republicans mostly divided on the issue. watch state of the union with candy crowley sundays at 9am et. for the latest from state of the union click here.

santorum talks 2016, minimum wage increase

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it is 2007, and i am an undergraduate at the university of tehran. i'm very particular. i take notes with staedtler triplus fineliner pens, in purple and green, and on this particular day i've run through the stash i keep in my desk at home. there is a small office supply store next to the university cafeteria, i've bought my pens there before. before lunch i go to pick up some more fineliners. "we're out," says farid, the young kurdish boy who works in the store. "the supplier says there won't be anymore at all." "why not?" i ask. "they say because of sanctions, but i'm not sure," he says. "sanctions? what the heck do pens have to do with sanctions?" i ask, surprised. eight years later, things are a little clearer. in 2007, we were just entering what would become a period of intense deprivation, brought on by ever-tightening un security council sanctions. it would become the worst disruption of iranian life since the iran-iraq war of my childhood. now, what seems like a lifetime later, a nuclear agreement has been signed between iran and the<u+00a0>p5+1. we have been promised an end to the chokehold; a brighter future for iran. we'll see. those of us born after the revolution have lived our whole lives under sanctions. following the november 1979 takeover of the us embassy in tehran, the united states imposed its first round of sanctions against iran. except for a brief period from 1981 to 1984, they have never been lifted. in march 1995, president bill clinton signed an executive order significantly expanding the scale of the embargo, preventing us companies from doing business with iran. but as difficult as these restrictions made the '90s, life was still far easier than in the decade before <u+2014> the iran of my childhood. when i was a child, long lines for basic goods were routine. throughout the iran-iraq war (1980 to 1988), my parents bought everything, from bread to cheese to meat, using coupons. even items like paper, erasers, or women's nylon socks were often difficult to come by. when my parents married and moved into their first home in the early 1980s, basic household appliances were virtually impossible to find, as the combination of sanctions and war had brought both imports and domestic production to a halt. to get a refrigerator, my parents submitted their marriage contract to the neighborhood mosque, which took these contracts and tried to find necessary household supplies for new couples living in the neighborhood. i was born a few years later. i was 4 years old before we had a phone. when i was 5 we finally bought furniture <u+2014> a table and two chairs. throughout the war we heard news of young boys perishing on the front lines, entire families wiped out by bombs. for a while, street bombings became frequent in our neighborhood, and when my father left home in the morning, my mother remained fearful till nightfall, uncertain if he would return. i was 4 years old before we had a phone. when i was 5 we finally bought furniture <u+2014> a table and two chairs. but by the time i was a university student, the war was long over. though sanctions persisted, iranians had found loopholes and alternative means of getting what they needed. the worst of the deprivation was past. my classmates and i knew the hard life, we remembered it, but it had become a story, a tale for nights when we gathered around a dinner table we didn't struggle to find. i wouldn't realize it until years later, but 9/11 was the day that a decade-long iranian upswing began to fall apart. despite the absence of iranian involvement in the attack, the west steadily ramped up our isolation. when a secret uranium enrichment plant was discovered in natanz in 2002, the isolation intensified. we were placed on george w. bush's "axis of evil," and then surrounded as the united states invaded afghanistan to our east and iraq to our west. in 2005, the conservative ex-mayor of tehran, mahmoud ahmadinejad, defeated reformers in a presidential election, and the world's disdain came even harder. it was difficult enough to deal with the changes he wrought at home. the university security staff we had been accustomed to <u+2014> many of them young boys from the provinces <u+2014> were replaced by stern-looking guards we'd never met. the cafeteria, where we had always sat down together to eat, was gender-segregated by a long blue curtain. we heard of professors being forced into retirement, and unknowns close to the administration taking up positions they were not fit for academically. as students, it never felt as if ahmadinejad represented us, but neither did we feel any affinity for the united states. it was ahmadinejad who had brought a new security staff to our university. but it was america that had placed us under siege. we knew our nation's shortcomings, but in many years of cafeteria debates, my peers and i could never justify how we'd been singled out, why the world seemed to simply not like us. we began to think of ourselves as<u+00a0> "the unpeopled," never seen by the outside world but living as we always had. if anything, it seemed to us at the time that ahmadinejad and bush were similar <u+2014> both, in language and deed, seemed to damage the prestige of their people in the eyes of the world. yet the american president's embarrassing behavior did not seal off his entire country from food and medicine. we paid ahmadinejad no heed, but the international condemnation of iran grew louder. at first we tried to focus on school, on grades, love, art, and life, but it was difficult. some analysts claimed then and still claim now that the sanctions weakened iranian support for the state, but that was never the whole story. it never felt true for my friends and me. if anything, we began to echo the state: why the double standard for iran? then our lives came to a halt. in 2006, our government refused to continue implementing parts of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty, significantly reducing the inspection rights of international atomic energy agency personnel in iran. in december of that year <u+2014> then again in march 2007, october 2007, and march 2008 <u+2014> the united nations security council retaliated by intensifying sanctions. these new embargoes effectively closed the loopholes that had allowed iranians to get by over the past 10 years. we were no longer able to purchase goods we could access easily before. flights to iran by international carriers were reduced or stopped entirely. magazines that had survived against all odds were once again threatened by paper costs they could not afford. iranian oil exports accounted for between 60 and 80 percent of the country's revenue <u+2014> suddenly, both europe and the united states refused to buy. the university security staff we had been accustomed to <u+2014> many of them young boys from the provinces <u+2014> were replaced by stern-looking guards we'd never met within our borders, strange men with almost no credible administrative experience tightened their grip on all sectors: the economy, the cultural space, even the heritage organization, a government body responsible for preserving historical sites. the reactionary policies of the ahmadinejad administration coupled with the new, severe sanctions began to cripple us. the impact of the sanctions on academia alone has been devastating. all manner of vital technical equipment became scarce, while universities across the country were not permitted to renew their subscriptions to search repositories <u+2014> even in the fields of medicine and the humanities. coursera, a platform that offers free, open online courses, has become inaccessible within our borders. our previous ability to conduct research and contribute to world scholarship was brought to a painful standstill. while a portion of university of tehran graduates typically remained in iran to work, the new sanctions provoked a mass exodus: almost no one chooses to stay after undergraduate studies. doors seem to close all around us. within months of my first disappointment in the stationery store, every writing and drawing tool i used disappeared off the market for good. the impact of sanctions outside my academic bubble is far worse. vitamins have become hard to find. my mother's supplements disappeared off the market, as did tampons and foreign-made baby formulas. we went to drugstore after drugstore across the city but were told the same thing everywhere: the item you want is no longer being imported due to sanctions. my grandfather's german-made eye drops vanished. the iranian ones hurt his eyes. more critically, vital cancer medication has become excessively difficult to get ahold of. between 2011 and 2014, while visiting sick relatives, i met patient after patient in the hospital whose condition had become critical due to delayed treatment. "what, they expect me to sell my house to buy medication? and then what will the family be left with if i die anyway?" asked a tall, silver-haired man i met one day. he had just started chemotherapy, months later than he should have. he died within weeks. almost like a joke, cancer rates appear to have climbed, as well. some doctors blame new, low-quality domestic gasoline. while tehran has always suffered from air pollution, we've begun to witness unprecedented levels <u+2014> sometimes, looking over the gray-green haze that covers the city, it becomes impossible to breathe. iranian banks are cut off from swift (society for worldwide interbank telecommunications), effectively cutting off financial communication between iran and other countries. the private sector has been hit badly. the textile and automobile industries have been especially affected, with many plants completely shutting down entirely. across industries, obtaining spare parts or requesting maintenance for machines has become extremely expensive, in some cases impossible. two of iran's main non-petroleum exports, handmade carpets and pistachios, have started piling up in basements. all of this has sent the economy into free fall. the new sanctions led to unprecedented inflation, as high as 40 percent according to some estimates, which in turn caused a sudden spike in the price of basic commodities like milk and vegetable oil. some crucial goods are available only on the black market, and there is no way <u+2014> official or otherwise <u+2014> to know how bad inflation has gotten there. perhaps you can imagine the 2008 american financial crisis to get a sense of what it was like <u+2014> people's financial holdings falling apart within days, years of careful savings wiped out. my parents spent the first decade of their marriage in a war zone and the next 15 years trying to build on lost time, making up for all those years of deprivation. within the span of months, almost nothing remained of that effort. my mother's clients went out of business; my father's academic and industrial research has been severely disrupted. perhaps you can imagine the 2008 american financial crisis to get a sense of what it was like <u+2014> people's financial holdings falling apart within days over dinner, we talk about wartime. what it was like to live on rations. how life was lived with so little. we remember fondly our capacity for contentment, how we were all in it together. this time it does not feel a group struggle. under the sanctions, those who are savvy enough and amoral enough exploit others' deprivation for a profit. they function as middlemen and brokers, preying on the needs and envies of citizens. these men become wealthy, but at the cost of ordinary people turning against one another, moral and social life coming apart. during the war, i could never have told my father to get me the same doll my classmate had <u+2014> each of us already had, or didn't have, the same things. but under sanctions, i have seen my uncles lambasted by their children because they didn't pay the brokers for some flashy new toy their classmate got. in 2013, president hassan rouhani was elected with a mandate to stop this vicious cycle, to bring sanity and sustenance back to iran. despite monumental obstacles inside and outside of iran, he has so far managed to deliver. on july 14,<u+00a0>2015, a<u+00a0>deal was announced between iran and six world powers, including the united states. we were told that in exchange for a curtailment of our nuclear program and ongoing, rigorous inspections, the sanctions would finally be lifted. i saw my grandfather that night. he lived through the occupation of his province during world war ii, through the revolution, the war, and the sanctions years. when we discussed the news, he smiled, looking out into the distance. he read a poem: "we are but leaves dancing to a wind." on the night of the agreement, i drive the streets of tehran, trying to feel what the city felt. valiasr is known as the longest street in the middle east <u+2014> it traverses the city from north to south. long sycamore trees once ran the length of the road, but now they only grow in northern valiasr, one of tehran's most affluent neighborhoods. this is where the crowds gather, the celebrations bringing traffic to a standstill. people are out of their cars, playing music, the sound of their whistles and applause rising above the trees in the dark. we see luxury cars everywhere, more in one place than i've ever witnessed in tehran before: lexus, mercedes, bmws. but between them are the motorcycles of young boys who have come up from the working class neighborhoods of southern tehran. they are easy to spot among the crowd. they wear stained t-shirts, probably smudged from a long day at work, and fake nike shoes. as we drive south, the yelling, screaming, and happy crowds give way to the dead of night. i have now lived three decades. i was born after a revolution, in the midst of a war. i have seen stability, i have seen chaos, i have seen bloodshed, i have seen calm, and all that lies between. despite the agreement, we do not look forward to an uncomplicated era of plenty. even if all goes according to plan, the legacy of sanctions cannot be erased. an economist i know from the university of tehran put it this way: "sanctioning a country like this is similar to permanently disabling a human being. you might stop inflicting harm, but the damage is there forever." i wonder if this is true. all that we are promised by this deal <u+2014> more stability, a financial recovery, more open political and social space <u+2014> we have had and lost before. who can guarantee it won't be lost again? those of us who have seen the sinusoidal pains and recoveries of these past three decades know that much depends on the whims of a world far from our jurisdiction or oversight. we cannot make it bend, but it will bend us. for many iranians, the end of sanctions is nothing more than the end of another chapter in a colossal, uncertain novel, still in production. you write as you live. you read as you go. pedestrian is a writer from khuzestan, in southern iran. her work has appeared in<u+00a0>foreign affairs and<u+00a0>roads and kingdoms. first person is vox's home for compelling, provocative narrative essays. do you have a story to share? read our submission guidelines, and pitch us at [email protected].

i live in iran. here's how sanctions have shaped my life.

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russian warplanes began airstrikes in syria on wednesday, adding an unpredictable new element to a four-year-old war that has already drawn in the united states and allies, fueled a refu<u+00ad>gee crisis and expanded the reach of the islamic state. in washington, the dramatic escalation of russia<u+2019>s military involvement was viewed as an affront just two days after president obama and russian president vladi<u+00ad>mir putin sat down to discuss means for negotiating the deep differences in their countries<u+2019> approaches to the conflict in syria. the strikes sharply increase tensions with russia as u.s. officials dispute moscow<u+2019>s claim that its aircraft targeted the islamic state, the brutal extremist group that controls much of syria and iraq. instead, u.s. officials said the strikes appeared to target opponents of syria<u+2019>s embattled president bashar al-assad, a key russian ally. those hit include u.s.-backed units that were trained and armed by the cia, officials said. accusing russia of <u+201c>pouring gasoline on the fire,<u+201d> defense secretary ashton b. carter vowed that u.s. pilots would continue their year-long bombing campaign against the islamic state in syria, despite moscow<u+2019>s warning to keep american planes away from its operations. <u+201c>i think what they<u+2019>re doing is going to backfire and is counterproductive,<u+201d> carter said. the introduction of russian air power <u+2014> which took place with scant notice to the u.s. government <u+2014> threatens to upend u.s. strategy in syria at a time when u.s. military officials say they are beginning to discern hints of progress against the islamic state, a heavily armed al-qaeda offshoot that is also known as isis and isil. it also raises the stakes over competing visions for syria outlined this week at the united nations, where putin insisted that syria<u+2019>s embattled government is the key to stability after four years of bloodshed and obama warned that the <u+201c>status quo<u+201d> cannot stand. [this is russia<u+2019>s air power in syria] u.s. officials were particularly irked that they didn<u+2019>t get much warning of the strikes, even as they make plans to resume military talks with russia about syria as early as next week. discussions have been halted since last year over russia<u+2019>s support for separatists in ukraine. earlier wednesday, a russian general posted in baghdad showed up at the u.s. embassy there, officials said, and told the american defense attache that airstrikes would begin about an hour later. russia<u+2019>s defense ministry said russian aircraft had conducted about 20 sorties targeting the islamic state, according to the news agency interfax. the syrian state-run news agency reported that russian planes had attacked <u+201c>dens<u+201d> of the islamic state in rastan, talbiseh and other towns around homs, the strategic city that assad hopes to claim as he seeks to defend areas remaining under his control. but u.s. officials expressed doubts in the hours after the strikes about russian claims that the sorties targeted the islamic state. areas around homs, a former hotbed of the popular revolt that began against assad in 2011, are not known as strongholds for the group, which controls a vast swath of territory across syria and iraq. nidal ezddin, a representative of homs<u+2019>s civil defense force, said a series of russian strikes killed 36 people around homs. <u+201c>these bombings were not against isis,<u+201d> he said. <u+201c>they were for isis.<u+201d> civil defense officials and activists also reported that some of the russian strikes were accompanied by barrel bomb attacks by syrian air force helicopters. the strikes cap weeks of russian military buildup in syria, where assad is battling both the islamic state and rebel factions backed by the west. assad<u+2019>s forces<u+00ad> are blamed for fueling the war that has forced more than 4<u+00a0>million people to flee the country, many of whom are joining a wave of asylum seekers and migrants flooding europe. forces loyal to assad hope to lay claim to homs province, a key link between the capital, damascus, and government strongholds on the mediterranean coast, including the key port city of latakia. russia has a naval facility at tartus, about 50 miles south of latakia. charles lister, a visiting fellow at the brookings doha center, said the strikes may be an attempt to weaken assad<u+2019>s principal adversary rather than the islamic state. <u+201c>amid the regime<u+2019>s major losses .<u+2009>.<u+2009>. assad<u+2019>s apparent request to moscow for military assistance seems a last-gasp appeal for help from what was a dying regime,<u+201d> he said. <u+201c>how far russia is willing to go to defend its proxy interests now remains to be seen, but certainly, the dynamics of the conflict have taken a huge shift today.<u+201d> [russia<u+2019>s strategy in syria could be work in progress] the strikes appeared to have also hit groups backed by the united states, including rebels who have been trained by the cia. a u.s. official said there was <u+201c>no reason to doubt reports from the region that coalition-backed forces from hama were hit,<u+201d> a reference to a rebel group known as tajammu al-aaza based in that western syrian province. the leader of that group, jamil al-saleh, told the news organization alsouria.net that the russian strikes had pounded his organization<u+2019>s base in lataminah, a town roughly 30 miles north of homs. saleh was an officer in the syrian army before defecting. the u.s.-backed group also posted a video that shows fighter jets streaking across the sky seconds before the base is rattled by explosions. [graphic: were russian airstrikes really aimed at the islamic state? ] the cia has trained thousands of fighters at secret bases in jordan in an effort to bolster moderate factions against the assad government. a russian strike on u.s.-backed units will only intensify pressure on the obama administration to respond. speaking at the united nations, secretary of state john f. kerry said the united states would have <u+201c>grave concerns<u+201d> if russian airstrikes hit moderate u.s.-backed opposition forces<u+00ad> fighting assad rather than the islamic state. also on wednesday, kerry told russian foreign minister sergei lavrov that the strikes run counter to russia<u+2019>s stated intention to cooperate on <u+201c>deconfliction,<u+201d> or ensuring that mishaps do not happen in the air. putin spokesman dmitry peskov defended russia<u+2019>s actions after its parliament approved a resolution authorizing the use of force in syria. <u+201c>russia will factually be the only country to carry out this operation on the legitimate basis of the request of the legitimate government of syria,<u+201d> he said. the resolution came without warning in the federation council, russia<u+2019>s higher body of parliament, where 162 senators voted unanimously in support after a closed-door discussion <u+2014> similar to a vote last year to green-light russian military force in ukraine. sergei ivanov, the kremlin chief of staff, said that the resolution was strictly limited to the use of russian aviation in syria and that ground troops would not be sent into battle. while russia has supplied arms to assad for years, direct intervention seemed unlikely until early this month when russian aircraft, tanks and troops were spotted in syria. speaking in moscow, putin said he hoped assad would be open to political compromise. <u+201c>i know that president assad understands that and is ready for such a process. we hope that he will be active and flexible and ready to compromise in the name of his country and his people,<u+201d> putin told reporters, according to the reuters news agency. critics say that the kremlin is using the syrian crisis to escape international isolation after its annexation of the crimean peninsula in march 2014, and to divert attention at home from the conflict in eastern ukraine. the strikes also come as the obama administration considers changes<u+00ad> to its syria strategy, including a possible expansion of military assistance to anti-assad rebels and a new focus for a troubled effort to train an independent force to fight the islamic state. murphy and ryan reported from washington. daniela deane in london, hugh naylor in beirut, carol morello and karen deyoung at the united nations, and greg miller, thomas gibbons-neff, dan lamothe and william branigin in washington contributed to this report. why russia is in syria today's coverage from post correspondents around the world

russia begins airstrikes in syria; u.s. warns of new concerns in conflict

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wenjian liu, 32, and his partner, rafael ramos, 40, were murdered on dec. 20 as they sat in their squad car in brooklyn after killer ismaaiyl brinsley had stated he was seeking vengeance for the deaths this summer of two unarmed black men at the hands of white police officers. brinsley killed himself after ambushing the officers. with de blasio expected to speak at liu's funeral, police commissioner bill bratton told officers ahead of saturday's wake to refrain from the "act of disrespect" seen at ramos' funeral a week ago, when thousands of officers turned their backs on the mayor. "a hero's funeral is about grieving, not grievance," bratton wrote in a memo to officers. de blasio and bratton entered the funeral home together for the wake as officers stood guard by the entrance, saluting both men as they went in. the murders frayed already strained relations between the police force and de blasio, who sharply criticized the nypd's "stop-and-frisk" tactics during his 2013 campaign. the liberal mayor also offered qualified support for the wave of protests triggered by the two black men's deaths in new york and ferguson, missouri, and has said he talked to his bi-racial son, dante, about interacting with police. immediately after liu and ramos were shot, patrick lynch, the head of the city's largest police union, expressed scorn for de blasio, saying there was "blood on many hands." ramos' funeral a week ago among the largest in nypd history, with more than 20,000 officers from around the country on hand. when de blasio began his eulogy there, many uniformed officers turned their backs in a gesture of disdain, which bratton called inappropriate, saying it had stolen the "valor, honor and attention" that was rightfully due the slain officer. in his memo, bratton said he understood emotions were running high among the rank and file, adding that his entreaty to the department was not a mandate and he was not threatening to discipline those who did not comply. "but," he said, "i remind you that when you don the uniform of this department, you are bound by the tradition, honor and decency that go with it."

tens of thousands of police expected for funeral of slain officer

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at the old union hall here on a recent afternoon, terry magnant sat at the head of a table surrounded by 18 empty chairs. a members meeting had been scheduled to start a half-hour earlier, but the small house, with its cracked walls and loose roof shingles, was lonely and desolate. <u+201c>there used to be a lot more people coming,<u+201d> said magnant, a 51-year-old nursing assistant, sighing. the anti-union law passed here four years ago, which made gov. scott walker a national republican star and a possible presidential candidate, has turned out to be even more transformative than many had predicted. walker had vowed that union power would shrink, workers would be judged on their merits, and local governments would save money. unions had warned that workers would lose benefits and be forced to take on second jobs or find new careers. many of those changes came to pass, but the once-thriving <u+00ad>public-sector unions were not just shrunken <u+2014> they were crippled. unions representing teachers, professors, trash collectors and other government employees are struggling to stem plummeting membership rolls and retain relevance in the state where they got their start. here in king, magnant and her fellow afscme members, workers at a local veterans home, have been knocking on doors on weekends to persuade former members to rejoin. community college professors in moraine park, home to a technical college, are reducing dues from $59 to $36 each month. and those in milwaukee are planing a campaign using videos and posters to highlight union principles. the theme: <u+00ad><u+201c>remember.<u+201d> [ questions linger over walker<u+2019>s college exit as he mulls white house bid ] but recalling the benefits that union membership might have brought before the 2011 law stripped most public-sector unions of their collective-bargaining rights is difficult when workers consider the challenges of the present. <u+201c>i don<u+2019>t see the point of being in a union anymore,<u+201d> said dan anliker, a 34-year-old technology teacher and father of two in reedsburg, a tiny city about 60<u+00a0>miles northwest of madison. the law required most public employees to pay more for health insurance and to pay more into retirement savings, resulting in an 8 to 10<u+00a0>percent drop in take-home pay. to help compensate for the loss, anliker said he took an additional 10-hour-a-week job. <u+201c>everyone<u+2019>s on their own island now,<u+201d> he said. <u+201c>if you do a good job, everything will take care of itself. the money i<u+2019>d spend on dues is way more valuable to buy groceries for my family.<u+201d> sean karsten, a 32-year-old middle and high school reading instructor in his first year of teaching in reedsburg, said the unions are <u+201c>just not something i concern myself with.<u+201d> <u+201c>i just look to keep improving my teaching in the best way i can and try to keep my nose out of the other stuff,<u+201d> he said. walker has pointed to the unions<u+2019> membership troubles as a victory <u+2014> presenting himself as a conservative warrior unafraid of taking on big battles against liberal interests. walker<u+2019>s administration has said forcing public employees to contribute more to retirement plans and health insurance helped local governments save $3<u+00a0>billion. the governor also has credited the 2011 law with saving homeowners money on property taxes while giving school districts the ability to make reforms that increased third-grade reading levels and high school graduation rates. and the law has emboldened republican state lawmakers to further challenge wisconsin<u+2019>s labor movement this year by pushing right-to-work legislation that would allow private-sector workers to opt out of paying union dues <u+2014> a measure walker has said he would sign. <u+201c>we took the power away from the big-government special interests and put it firmly in the hands of the hard-working taxpayers,<u+201d> walker told iowa republicans recently. <u+201c>that is what we need more of in this great country. the liberals don<u+2019>t like that.<u+201d> union officials declined to release precise membership data but confirmed in interviews that enrollment is dramatically lower since the new law was signed in 2011. the state branch of the national education association, once 100,000 strong, has seen its membership drop by a third. the american federation of teachers, which organized in the college system, saw a 50<u+00a0>percent decline. the 70,000-person membership in the state employees union has fallen by 70<u+00a0>percent. the decline is politically significant in wisconsin, a presidential battleground where the unions have played a central role in democrats<u+2019> get-out-the-vote drives. john ahlquist, a university of wisconsin political scientist who specializes in labor movements, said walker had <u+201c>effectively dismantled the financial and organizing structure of unions in wisconsin.<u+201d> <u+201c>although it is too early to tell if unions are near the end of their political power here, they are in a very vulnerable position,<u+201d> ahlquist said. the mass protests that gripped the state capitol have subsided, but anxiety remains high in union halls across wisconsin. at magnant<u+2019>s meeting in king on a frigid february afternoon, union members finally began trickling in, one by one, filling a few of the empty seats. a groundskeeper at the veterans home complained that supervisors were no longer assigning overtime based on seniority because <u+201c>there was no union.<u+201d> others complained that there were no longer enough nursing assistants on shifts, while management positions seemed to grow. <u+201c>this is what we are trying to live with,<u+201d> magnant said. <u+201c>but we can<u+2019>t continue like this.<u+201d> dean johnson burst through door with a big grin on his face. johnson, 55, told the story of how he felt so bold at work that he yelled <u+201c>join the union!<u+201d> in the middle of the veterans home. a stalwart union supporter, he vowed he<u+2019>d do anything to keep the movement going. but johnson said he could no longer do it as an employee. he told the group he was retiring <u+2014> prompting a discussion about the new mantra for those choosing to leave union work: <u+201c>goodbye tension, hello pension.<u+201d> while some union members have been energized by the fight, they say they notice a new, more vocal animosity toward them. it has been particularly pronounced in rural areas, where public-sector jobs were some of the most prized gigs in town. in king, population 1,700, magnant said she couldn<u+2019>t change a sign at the union hall without someone giving her the finger. farther west, in stanley, prison workers said they ditched their favorite pizza pub because the owner stood by while other customers called them <u+201c>leeches.<u+201d> in reedsburg, that tension surprised ginny bourgeois, 52, who clerks at a local kwik trip. the community had always been divided, defined as much by the factories manufacturing car parts as it was by cornfields now blanketed in snow. still, it was a place where the community got together for spaghetti and corn feeds and filled bleachers to watch the reedsburg beavers play. now, she said, people were fighting over politics at gas stations. still, she felt unions needed to sacrifice. <u+201c>everyone knows teachers<u+2019> insurance was some of the best you could get,<u+201d> bourgeois added.<u+201c>they do fairly well around here, and they do a good job teaching. but everyone in this town has had to tighten their belts. they should too.<u+201d> judy brey, a 58-year-old speech therapist who taught in the community for 22<u+00a0>years, said such sentiment hurt teachers<u+2019> morale. she said she grew up admiring her dad, who put six children through college on his union-supported job as a forester. <u+201c><u+2009><u+2018>i don<u+2019>t make a lot, but we<u+2019>ll be okay with retirement,<u+2019><u+2009><u+201d> she said he told her. that, she was taught, was the reward for public service in wisconsin. <u+201c>now i<u+2019>m always nervous that everyone will think they<u+2019>re moochers,<u+201d> brey said. <u+201c>that i<u+2019>m a moocher.<u+201d> while some union members across the state knocked on doors to court members, brey tried another strategy: finding more allies. a day before magnant opened the doors for a meeting at the union house in king, brey went to a local restaurant to call to order the meeting of the reedsburg area concerned citizens. on the top of brey<u+2019>s list was deciding guests for a planned panel discussion on the state of public education. someone raised a hand. <u+201c>are we getting any interest from the schools in this?<u+201d> one man asked. <u+201c>i haven<u+2019>t seen any of the teachers out here since we were marching with them on the streets four years ago.<u+201d> at the meeting, the husband of the columnist called walker <u+201c>a pig<u+201d> <u+2014> which prompted the board supervisor to wonder why he was insulting pigs. they debated whether or not it<u+2019>s worth it to invite republicans to the education event, but brey insisted it<u+2019>s important to keep things balanced. eventually, the group agreed. <u+201c>we<u+2019>re getting somewhere,<u+201d> brey said as a waitress handed out checks. but were the unions? brey vowed not to give up on them. two days later, she attended a union meeting that had been called to discuss possible changes in teacher retirement. ten of the district<u+2019>s 192 teachers had gathered at the meeting. they appreciated that the superintendent had previously met with union leaders even though he didn<u+2019>t have to. still, they grew agitated when discussing his proposal to reduce retirement benefits. another teacher, linda zauner, 58, said she was working to build a case that teachers wanted to keep benefits the same, but she had struggled to get teachers to respond to a survey. she said she wanted to emphasize that teachers still thought of health care as a <u+201c>bargained right.<u+201d> <u+201c>this is the closest thing we<u+2019>re going to get to negotiations,<u+201d> zauner said. <u+201c>you have to be mean,<u+201d> she said. <u+201c>we never got anything by being nice. we<u+2019>ve had to walk out. we got things when we banged our fists on tables.<u+201d> <u+201c>sometimes i think,<u+201d> she stopped to collect the words delicately. <u+201c>sometimes, i think, .<u+2009>.<u+2009>. that<u+2019>s .<u+2009>.<u+2009>. why they came after us, jenny. because they thought these teachers were too demanding.<u+201d> <u+201c>no, we have to fight,<u+201d> fish responded. <u+201c>it<u+2019>s for our students.<u+201d> brey nodded. as long as there were teachers, she said, she<u+2019>d be fighting along with them.

walker<u+2019>s anti-union law has labor reeling in wisconsin

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oil prices continued their fall tuesday, as traders worried about a deal with iran, which could increase supplies. in the meantime, u.s. oil production in 2014 was the highest since records began in<u+00a0>1900, according to the energy information administration. west texas light, sweet crude dropped 2.24% to $47.61 a barrel, says factset. cablevision has bid $1 to buy the new york daily news, archrival new york post gleefully reports. stymied by the federal aviation authority, amazon is testing drone delivery at a secret site in canada, according to the guardian. china will start deposit insurance on may 1, another step toward scrapping government controls on interest rates. the term <u+201c>bubble<u+201d> gets tossed around a lot, often improperly. in china, though, there may really be a stock bubble. jay z announced a streaming music company that will be owned by artists, who seem to feel they should be paid for their work. do mutual fund managers who invest heavily in their own funds outperform? why, yes. losing a job is always terrible. for workers over 50, it<u+2019>s worse. more than a third of americans have no emergency savings.

with a bullet: oil prices headed to the basement

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ted cruz did everything right in his campaign for the white house. he built a happy campaign operation that achieved all of its ambitious goals. cruz elbowed out candidate after candidate to consolidate support among social conservatives, tea partiers and libertarians in the republican field. he raised considerable amounts of money to build a political apparatus unrivalled in the gop field. there was only one problem. every successful move, every stratagem that took cruz <u+2013> who dropped out of the presidential race on tuesday night after a disastrous loss in indiana <u+2013> from an ambitious ivy leaguer to one of the final three republican candidates for the presidency prevented him from attaining the ultimate goal. the texas republican was elected to the senate in 2012 after winning a bitter primary as a tea party candidate. he was positioning himself for a white house bid almost from the get-go, travelling to iowa for presidential cattle calls less than six months into taking office. in a legislative body that values tradition, cruz<u+2019>s undisguised ambition didn<u+2019>t help him make friends. but what really alienated colleagues was his push to shut down the government in october 2013 in an attempt to defund obamacare, the president<u+2019>s signature healthcare reforms. the quixotic effort alienated almost all of his colleagues who were left calling him a <u+201c>wacko bird<u+201d> and viewed him as an amoral opportunist who would do anything for his own political gain. cruz did nothing to alter his image when he became the first candidate for the white house in 2016 to announce his campaign, in an event at liberty university in virginia in march last year. he was then racing to beat competitors with stronger roots in iowa <u+2013> such as rand paul and mike huckabee <u+2013> to be the first out of the starting gate. cruz<u+2019>s message that day was consistent with what the texas senator would say every day on the campaign trail until the moment he withdrew from the race in indianapolis on tuesday. he told a crowd of college students: <u+201c>i believe in the power of millions of courageous conservatives rising up to reignite the promise of america<u+201d> and pledged to <u+201c>reclaim the constitution<u+201d>. in fact, cruz<u+2019>s campaign was remarkable for its consistency. there was only one key issue on which cruz changed his message significantly in the course of the campaign <u+2013> donald j trump. for months after trump<u+2019>s entry into the race, cruz engaged in a virtual bear hug with the new york billionaire. immediately after trump said that cruz<u+2019>s senate colleague john mccain, a former pow who was tortured in vietnam, was not a hero, cruz called him a friend. he told reporters in iowa in july 2015: <u+201c>i recognize that folks in the press love to see republican on republican violence. so you want me to say something bad about donald trump or bad about john mccain or bad about anybody else. i am not going to do it. john mccain is a friend of mine. i respect and admire him. he is an american hero. donald trump is a friend of mine.<u+201d> in contrast, the then candidate rick perry immediately condemned trump and called on him to drop out of the race. this pattern continued throughout 2015. as late as december, cruz even tweeted that he thought trump was terrific <u+2013> long after other candidates had begun to condemn the frontrunner<u+2019>s rhetoric. but eventually, after cruz<u+2019>s win in the iowa caucuses, the two turned to focus on each other. cruz targeted trump as a <u+201c>new york liberal<u+201d> who was no more a conservative than hillary clinton. after trump had endured months of attacks for failing to adhere to conservative orthodoxy, this had little impact. but trump<u+2019>s labelling of cruz as <u+201c>lyin<u+2019> ted<u+201d> <u+2013> based on the campaign rushing to inform iowans that ben carson might drop out of the race after misconstruing a report on cnn just minutes before the caucuses were scheduled to begin <u+2013> did have some effect. the result was that exit poll after exit poll showed that voters thought cruz ran a dirtier campaign than trump and the texas senator<u+2019>s favorability numbers dropped with republicans. this happened even though the most personal attacks came from trump, not cruz. trump tweeted an unflattering image of cruz<u+2019>s wife and threatened to <u+201c>spill the beans on her<u+201d> and, on the day of the indiana primary, implied cruz<u+2019>s father was involved in the assassination of john f kennedy. a campaign surrogate even repeatedly referenced a totally unproven tabloid story about cruz<u+2019>s personal life at multiple trump rallies in contrast, cruz insisted that he was merely going after trump<u+2019>s record when he slammed the frontrunner<u+2019>s past support for abortion rights and gun control and current support for allowing grown men <u+201c>alone in bathrooms with little girls<u+201d>, ie his contention that transgender people should use whichever bathroom they felt appropriate. like other candidates in the race, cruz had no way to cope with trump<u+2019>s strange political jujitsu. even as cruz out-organized trump on the ground, it was to little avail. the texas senator<u+2019>s campaign concentrated on illinois in the final days before the 15 march primary after poll numbers showed him solidly ahead in north carolina and missouri. however, the backlash among republican voters after unrest at a canceled trump rally in chicago led to the frontrunner surging in the polls there, and cruz was shut out in those crucial primaries as a result. cruz<u+2019>s only hope was to somehow unite the gop behind him. as the last remaining opponent to trump, he should have been the standard bearer for the stop trump forces, and indeed some longtime detractors like lindsey graham <u+2013> who had joked about him being murdered on the senate floor just a week earlier <u+2013> begrudgingly endorsed him. as jimmy kimmel joked to cruz in late march: <u+201c>yeah, what you did is you kind of held out until they found someone that they liked less than you.<u+201d> cruz responded by saying: <u+201c>there you go. it is a powerful strategy.<u+201d> the problem was the strategy didn<u+2019>t work. the antagonism cruz inspired among many mainstream republicans made this a near impossible task. they sat on their hands and viewed cruz as just as bad as trump. the same factors that got him to the brink of the republican nomination, his disdain for the <u+201c>washington cartel<u+201d> and impatience with politics as usual, kept him from grasping the ring. after a campaign in which he appealed to conservatives who were tired of voting for the lesser of two evils, cruz could never win over those establishment republicans he had spent the past year calling the lesser evil. that became undeniable this tuesday.

ted cruz, the master strategist, was no match for trump's cult of personality

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president obama called for an end to "mindless austerity" on thursday as he announced his desire to end "sequester" spending cuts in his budget for 2015. the across-the-board cuts, agreed to by both parties, have been in effect since 2013, after lawmakers were unable to produce a more strategic deficit-cutting plan. members of both parties have problems with the cuts, which indiscriminately affect both domestic and defense programs. obama's proposed $74 billion in added spending <u+2014> about 7 percent <u+2014> would be split about evenly between defense programs and the domestic side of the budget. although he's sought before to reverse the sequester spending cuts, obama's pitch in this year's budget comes with the added oomph of an improving economy and big recent declines in federal deficits. taking a defiant tone, obama vowed not to stand on the sidelines as he laid out his opening offer to congress during remarks in philadelphia, where house democrats were gathered for their annual retreat. "we need to stand up and go on offensive and not be defensive about what we believe in," obama said. mocking republicans for what he called their leaders' newfound interest in poverty and the middle class, he questioned whether they would back it up with substance when it mattered. republicans promise to produce a balanced budget blueprint this spring even as they worry about pentagon spending. the senate's no. 2 republican, john cornyn of texas, dismissed the obama proposals as "happy talk." and sen. pat toomey of pennsylvania chided the president for "abandoning spending discipline." gop lawmakers are focused primarily on reversing restraints on military spending, while democrats and obama are seeking new domestic dollars for education, research, health care and infrastructure. republicans argue that spending more in so many areas would undo the hard-fought reductions in the country's annual deficit. they also oppose many of the tax hikes obama has proposed to pay for the increased spending. neither party has tender feelings for the sequester, which cut bluntly across the entire federal budget and was originally designed more as a threat than as an actual spending plan. with the economy gaining steam while deficits decline, both parties have signaled they want to roll some of the cuts back. a bipartisan deal struck previously softened the blow by about a third for the 2014 and 2015 budget years. both parties are generally inclined to boost spending for the military, which is wrestling with threats from terrorism and extremist groups and has been strained by budget limits and two long wars. "at what point do we, the institution and our nation, lose our soldiers' trust?" asked gen. raymond odierno, the army chief of staff, at a senate hearing wednesday. yet among congressional republicans, there's no unanimity about where more pentagon funds should come from <u+2014> a division within the gop that obama appeared eager to exploit. some house republicans want to cut domestic agency budgets to free money for the military <u+2014> an approach that failed badly for republicans two years ago. some are eying cuts to so-called mandatory programs such as social security and medicare, while others want to ignore the spending restraints altogether. "whatever it takes within reason to get this problem fixed is what i'm willing to do," said sen. lindsey graham, r-s.c., adding that he would be willing to consider more tax revenue "just to get the damn thing done." the budget constraints stem from the hard-fought budget and debt bill of august 2011 that both parties negotiated and obama signed into law. the threat of across-the-board cuts to virtually every federal agency was supposed to force democrats and republicans to compromise on smarter, less onerous spending cuts, but the measure kicked in when a supercommittee failed to reach an overall fiscal deal. the white house said obama's budget would be "fully paid for" by cutting inefficient programs and closing tax loopholes <u+2014> particularly a trust fund provision the white house has been eying. spokesman josh earnest said that and a few other tax tweaks would not only pay for obama's increased spending but also offset middle-class tax cuts the president wants to create or expand. at the same time, earnest was quick to concede, "no president has ever put forward a budget with the expectation that congress is going to pass it in its current form." details of what obama will ask for in his budget began to trickle out ahead of the budget's formal release monday. the interior department announced obama would seek $1 billion for native american schools, while vice president joe biden said the budget would call for another $1 billion in aid for central american nations. at the pentagon, obama's increases would help pay for next-generation f-35 fighter jets, for ships and submarines and for long-range air force tankers. on the domestic side, obama has proposed two free years of community college and new or expanded tax credits for child care and spouses who both work. in his meeting with house democrats, obama also insisted that republicans must not be allowed to use a funding bill for the homeland security department to try to quash his executive actions on immigration. the white house has called that approach a "dangerous view" that would risk national security. the associated press contributed to this report.

obama seeks to end sequester cuts, raise spending caps in budget plan

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the revolving door between politics and journalism and sometimes right back again has been spinning for a very long time. journalism depends so much on credibility. the recent brian williams scandal reminds us that this is not simply an academic issue. politicians and political operatives are all about the spin. their mission isn't to get as close as they can to the truth. it's to win elections. which means casting everything in a light most favorable to their prospects. not the finest or most appropriate credential for truth-seeker. "one day they are calling journalists to spin them to write favorably about their prominent political patrons and the next minute they are sitting at the table with journalists and indistinguishable from the journalists," the late david broder, an outstanding washington post political reporter who loathed that spinning door, once told american journalism review. yet there are people who have overcome their substantial political baggage and made that transition in a most impressive way. none more than the late tim russert, a onetime aide to the late new york democratic sen. daniel patrick moynihan. russert became a sterling host of nbc's meet the press. another political player who seemed to have successfully navigated those treacherous waters was george stephanopoulos. i thought it was a truly bad idea when the former top aide to president clinton, a hugely partisan figure, became a news analyst for abc back in 1996. but stephanopoulos, now abc's chief anchor, host of its sunday morning political talk show this week with george stephanopoulos and co-anchor of good morning america, turned out to be a pleasant surprise, shedding his political warrior past and showing journalism chops. the recent revelation that stephanopoulos had donated $75,000 to the clinton foundation between 2012 and 2014 not only raises serious questions about his judgment. it also disqualifies him from having anything to do with covering the 2016 presidential race. he has already said he won't moderate abc news' republican primary debate in february, which is a start. so far abc is standing firmly behind its embattled anchor. but it's early in the saga, and that could change quickly. regardless, there is no way he should allow himself <u+2014> or be allowed <u+2014> to deal in any way with a contest in which hillary clinton is the overwhelming favorite to become the democratic candidate for president. exhibit a of why that is the case came on april 26, when stephanopoulos aggressively grilled peter schweizer, author of the book clinton cash, which is critical of the clinton foundation. stephanopoulos failed to disclose that he was a benefactor of said foundation. but even if he had, that would hardly have eliminated the problem. the issue is the donations themselves. making them would be inappropriate for any political journalist. but it's particularly crucial for a former clinton consigliere. even though he had had a public break with the clintons, stephanopoulos of all people should not be giving money to anything having to do with them. what was he thinking? sure, the foundation is a charitable enterprise. but all things clinton tend to be closely intertwined. and there has been no shortage of suggestions that people have been ponying up to the foundation to curry favor with the clintons, one of whom is a potential next president. there are lots of worthy causes out there with no links to hillaryland. one key point: stephanopoulos' role <u+2014> and that of his network, for that matter <u+2014> are very different from the jobs and the forum of the ex-candidates who have made fox news a full employment act for failed gop presidential aspirants. fox is a political force. abc news is not. stephanopoulos' apologies have not been reassuring, certainly not the initial one. he first said he should have told his employer and his viewers about the donations, which are a matter of public record, not that he shouldn't have made them. he later conceded that the donations were problematic. for someone so politically and journalistically astute, this was a boneheaded <u+2014> and totally tone deaf <u+2014> error indeed.

rieder: why stephanopoulos flap matters

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with nearly all votes counted in elections for the knesset, israel's parliament, benjamin netanyahu's center-right likud party has won at least a five-seat victory over its principal rival, the center-left zionist union. israeli media report likud has 29 or 30 seats in the 120-member knesset to the zionist union's 24 seats. exit polls by israel's three main television channels initially showed likud and the zionist union more or less tied. shortly after midnight in israel the zionist union chairman yitzhak herzog predicted a return to power of the center-left. but as the actual votes were counted the results were quite different. netanyahu must assemble a coalition of parties totaling at least 61 seats to form a new government. if he succeeds in forming a coalition government, netanyahu would begin a historic fourth term as prime minister of israel. the associated press says netanyahu's victory "likely spells trouble for mideast peace efforts and could further escalate tensions with the united states. "netanyahu, who already has a testy relationship with president barack obama, took a sharp turn to the right in the final days of the campaign, staking out a series of hard-line positions that will put him at odds with the international community. "in a dramatic policy reversal, he said he now opposes the creation of a palestinian state <u+2014> a key policy goal of the white house and the international community. he also promised to expand construction in jewish areas of east jerusalem, the section of the city claimed by the palestinians as their capital. "netanyahu infuriated the white house early this month when he delivered a speech to the u.s. congress criticizing an emerging nuclear deal with iran. the speech was arranged with republican leaders and not coordinated with the white house ahead of time."

netanyahu defeats center-left rival in israel's parliamentary election

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we are now at the point in this political season where everyone is hating on everyone else. think about it: when was the last time you saw a piece or watched a segment in which a candidate was portrayed positively? presidential campaigns are a tough business where every contender gets roughed up as the price of admission. but the level of vitriol<u+2014>the pundits against donald trump and his rivals, and the candidates sliming each other<u+2014>has spiraled way out of control. it hasn<u+2019>t been morning in america for a long time. in fact, it<u+2019>s pretty close to a dark and stormy midnight. and the hyperspeed news cycle has all this unfolding at a head-snapping pace, like an endless feed of twitter taunts. in the deafening din of the media echo chamber, it sometimes seems like these are the sounds that break through: --donald trump is a fascist threat to our way of life, says racist things and loves to attack women over their looks. --ted cruz is the most unlikable man in washington, maybe the world, and such a nutty right-winger he<u+2019>d probably like to shut down the government forever. --john kasich is a cranky spoiler impersonating a nice guy who is staying in the race out of pure ego. --hillary clinton is a deceitful woman who gets on everyone<u+2019>s nerves, keeps lying about her email server and is lucky she<u+2019>s not in jail. the <u+201c>war over the wives<u+201d> controversy is perhaps the perfect encapsulation of the gutter campaign, with trump blaming cruz for the posting of a nude magazine photo of his wife, cruz blaming trump for unsubstantiated mistress allegations in the enquirer, and the media breathlessly following each twist and tweet. it<u+2019>s a chicken-and-egg game to assign blame for the campaign<u+2019>s locker room tone to either the politicians or the journalists. perhaps it reflects the crude and often mean-spirited tone of our culture. here, among thousands of possible selections, is a sampling. let<u+2019>s start with sunday<u+2019>s new york times op-ed page, where everyone gets whacked. ross douthat, a thoughtful conservative voice, says ted cruz looks like he<u+2019>s faking it: <u+201c>the fact that he seems so much like an actor hitting his marks fits with the story of how he became mr. true conservative outsider in the first place. basically, he spent years trying to make it in washington on the insider<u+2019>s track, and hit a wall because too many of the insiders didn<u+2019>t like him <u+2014> because his ambition was too naked, his climber<u+2019>s zeal too palpable. so he deliberately switched factions, turning the establishment<u+2019>s personal disdain into a political asset, and taking his ivy league talents to the tea party instead.<u+201d> on such issues as the government shutdown over obamacare, an exercise in <u+201c>self-serving cynicism<u+2026>cruz has proceeded with several fingers in the wind; every time the conservative mood has shifted even a little, he<u+2019>s shifted quickly too.<u+201d> he accuses cruz of first being obsequious toward trump, but turning to self-righteousness now that <u+201c>the name-calling and scandal-mongering have been turned against his reputation and his family.<u+201d> after that, and with a parting shot that <u+201c>his cynicism can be repellent,<u+201d> douthat allows that the hard-working cruz has earned his standing in the primaries. on the liberal side, i have a lot of respect for nick kristof, but in his times column he buys into an increasingly common myth. the headline is <u+201c>my shared shame: the media helped make trump<u+201d>: <u+201c>although many of us journalists have derided trump, the truth is that he generally outsmarted us (with many exceptions, for there truly have been serious efforts to pin him down and to investigate trump university and his various business failings). he manipulated television by offering outrageous statements that drew ever more cameras <u+2014> without facing enough skeptical follow-up questions. <u+201c>it<u+2019>s not that we shouldn<u+2019>t have covered trump<u+2019>s craziness, but that we should have aggressively provided context in the form of fact checks and robust examination of policy proposals.<u+201d> while the press could always do a better job, i<u+2019>d argue that there has been endless fact-checking and it hasn<u+2019>t hurt teflon trump. the second <u+201c>failure<u+201d> is that <u+201c>we wrongly treated trump as a farce.<u+201d> not all of us, nick, but that is especially true among the huffington post liberal crowd (though plenty of conservative pundits fell into this trap). but i strongly agree with kristof<u+2019>s last point: <u+201c>we failed to take trump seriously because of a third media failing: we were largely oblivious to the pain among working-class americans and thus didn<u+2019>t appreciate how much his message resonated<u+2026>.we inhabit a middle-class world and don<u+2019>t adequately cover the part of america that is struggling and seething. we spend too much time talking to senators, not enough to the jobless.<u+201d> also on the op-ed page, maureen dowd looked at president obama <u+201c>tangoing into history<u+201d><u+2014>that is, enjoying his trip to argentina and cuba and failing to reflect the public alarm over the brussels bombings: <u+201c>barack obama started off as a man self-consciously alone on stage and that<u+2019>s how he is exiting. he is, for better and worse, too cool for school. his identity is defined by his desire to rise above the fray. unfortunately, he is in politics, which is the fray<u+2026> <u+201c>the president has a bristling resistance to what he sees as cheap emotion. (see: flag pin, 2008.) that has led him, time after time, to respond belatedly or bloodlessly in moments when americans are alarmed, wanting solace and solutions.<u+201d> well, how about john kasich? he hasn<u+2019>t offended too many people, right? national review editor rich lowry is in the #neverkasich camp: <u+201c>this truly is a year when the rules don<u+2019>t apply. if they did, john kasich would be back in columbus trying to figure out whether he sells his soul to donald trump or endorses ted cruz. <u+201c>instead, the ohio governor is still out on the trail running a delusional vanity project masquerading as a presidential campaign. there is no appetite for his pragmatic, <u+2018>can<u+2019>t we all get along<u+2019> campaign among republican-primary voters, who have made that abundantly clear.<u+201d> oh, and the times news section joins the fray by quoting kasich associates who <u+201c>recall a three-decade career in government punctuated by scolding confrontations, intemperate critiques and undiplomatic remarks.<u+201d> i could go on and on. slate says trump <u+201c>seeks to destroy people who stand in his way, especially women, even if he looks disgusting doing it.<u+201d> new york magazine says that <u+201c>unfortunately for cruz, his logic backfires. because if real men do not attack women, cruz is fake as hell. in fact, he might be faker than trump.<u+201d> maybe, on some level, we get the elections we deserve. this is a reality show campaign in which reality, perhaps in the form of terror attacks, sometimes intrudes. it is endlessly entertaining, but often feels like tragicomedy with no heroes. howard kurtz is a fox news analyst and the host of "mediabuzz" (sundays 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. et). he is the author of five books and is based in washington. follow him at @howardkurtz. click here for more information on howard kurtz.

political hatefest: why the media<u+2014>and the candidates<u+2014>are dragging down the campaign

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update: june 4 -- the health insurance enrollment figures cited in this video were derived from a report that counted enrollment as of feb. 22, which the department of health and human services published on march 10. the department released new data on june 2, detailing enrollment as of march 31. according to the new report, 7.3 million people were covered by plans purchased via the federally operated health insurance exchanges in the 34 states subject to the supreme court ruling, and 6.4 million of them received subsidies. the new report includes additional information about each state, but does not update the calculation of average unsubsidized premiums.

the supreme court case that could gut obamacare, explained in 2 minutes

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the democratic debate clock: which issues got the most time the three democratic candidates for president met in des moines on saturday night for their second debate. the cbs debate was originally going to focus on the economy but shifted gears after the attacks in paris on friday. christopher isham, cbs news vice president and washington bureau chief said, "last night's attacks are a tragic example of the kinds of challenges american presidents face in today's world, and we intend to ask the candidates how they would confront the evolving threat of terrorism." npr tracked which issues got the most time during the debate. if the candidates veered off the question posed to them, we kept track of that too: what experience would you draw on in a crisis? 3:41

the democratic debate clock: which issues got the most time

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(cnn) for many americans across the country, donald trump's victory is an outcome they simply refuse to accept. "not my president," protesters chanted in rallies coast to coast. tens of thousands filled the streets in at least 25 us cities overnight -- with demonstrations outside trump's properties. while most protesters were peaceful, dozens were arrested. at least three officers were wounded. and about 40 fires were set in one california city. here's a snapshot of the rallies across the nation: on thursday afternoon, more than 200 anti-trump protesters marched from the union square area to washington square park in manhattan. some carried signs with messages such as, "white men stop ruining everything." they chanted, "trump and pence make no sense." overnight, about 5,000 people protested the real estate mogul's victory outside trump tower, authorities estimated. they included pop star lady gaga, a staunch hillary clinton supporter. their concerns ranged from policies, such as trump's proposed plan to build a wall along the us-mexican border, to the polarizing tenor of his campaign that they say stoked xenophobic fears. "i came out here to let go of a lot of fear that was sparked as soon as i saw the results," protester nick powers said in new york. he said he feared trump will support stronger stop-and-frisk policies that would put many people in prison. powers said he was also worried that trump's victory would embolden sexist views. at least 15 protesters at trump tower were arrested wednesday night for disorderly conduct, new york police said. about 7,000 demonstrators filled streets in oakland on wednesday night -- and some turned violent. protesters hurled molotov cocktails, rocks and fireworks at police. three officers were injured, police spokeswoman johnna watson said. trash fires smoldered on a highway, and a downtown business was set ablaze. by thursday morning, emergency workers extinguished about 40 fires. "throughout the evening, the large group splintered into smaller groups that began vandalizing numerous businesses in the downtown area," oakland police said. at least 30 people were arrested and 11 citations were issued for vandalism, assaulting officers, unlawful assembly, failure to disperse and possession of a firearm. three police cars from nearby pleasanton were damaged, officials said. a few miles away at berkeley high school, about 1,500 students walked out of classes wednesday. in san francisco, more than 1,000 students across the city walked out of the school and headed to the civic center to engage in a peaceful protest, according to a tweet from the san francisco unified school district. "people are furious, not just at the results of the election but the rhetoric of donald trump," said ahmed kanna, an organizer for social alternative at berkeley. in chicago, activists marched down lake shore drive -- an eight-lane expressway along lake michigan -- toward the windy city's trump tower. "i still can't believe i have to protest for civil rights," one sign read. cnn's ryan young, who saw a few thousand people there, said many chanted vulgarities toward the president-elect. "as a nation we thought we had come so far, but it seems like we're taking many steps back," one woman said. "we want to come together to change that." in omaha, nebraska, authorities deployed pepper balls on a crowd of more than 200 people protesting trump's election after they defied police orders to stay out of the streets. dozens of high school and college students staged rallies near the usc and ucla campuses. overnight, more than 1,000 protesters rallied outside los angeles city hall, including many young latinos. they chanted, "i will not live in fear," "fight back, stand up" and "<u+00a1>si se puede!" (spanish for "yes, it can be done"). protesters also set on fire a pi<u+00f1>ata depicting the head of the president-elect. several protesters said they feared that family or friends might be deported once trump takes office. brooklyn white, an 18-year-old who voted for clinton, held a sign that said, "hate won't win." "we can't let it stop us," she said. "if he's the president, then fine. but if donald trump is going to be it, then he has to listen." as many as 3,000 people joined wednesday's demonstrations in the city, and 28 people were arrested for running into the 101 freeway, said los angeles police spokeswoman liliana preciado. there was some property damage, but it's too early to know the exact extent, she said. mayor eric garcetti said in a statement, "i understand that the results of tuesday's election are painful for many of us, and this kind of engagement can be a meaningful part of the healing we need after such a long and divisive campaign. "but walking and throwing objects onto freeways is dangerous for pedestrians and drivers -- and it puts a heavy burden on people just trying make it home to their families or get to work safely." garcetti emphasized that the protests were largely peaceful, but said police would take quick action against those blocking traffic on interstates or vandalizing property, including news media vans. "there is no place for the destruction of property, for the dangerous stopping of traffic," he said at a press conference thursday. "don't lose the message here. the message is that los angeles stands as the great hope." garcetti said 28 protesters have been arrested. meanwhile, protesters in washington chanted, "no trump, no kkk, no fascist usa," as they marched downtown to the trump international hotel. elsewhere in the nation's capital, an illuminated sign proclaimed that the us is "better than bigotry." trump supporters also rallied, showing their elation outside his current and future homes -- new york's trump tower and the white house. nicholas elliot, a georgetown university student, compared trump's victory to the united kingdom's brexit vote to leave the european union. j.d. vance, author of the book "hillbilly elegy," said trump supporters in middle america voted for him because so few people -- including clinton or her supporters -- had paid attention to their plight. "they see trump as an agent of change and (an) agent of protest against folks who they feel have really failed in government," vance said. now comes the hard part: finding middle ground, cnn's marc preston said. "all that anger that has been contained outside of washington, d.c., and new york that we don't see in middle america ... everyone's starting to see it," preston said. "there is a lot of healing that has got to happen."

protesters target trump buildings in massive street rallies

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the senate moved closer tuesday to a deal to avert a partial shutdown of the department of homeland security, but the proposal faced an uncertain future in the house, where republican leaders conspicuously refused to embrace it. senate majority leader mitch mcconnell (r-ky.) told reporters he was prepared to move swiftly to extend funding for dhs through the fiscal year in a bill that is not contingent on republican demands to repeal president obama<u+2019>s executive actions on immigration. under mcconnell<u+2019>s proposal, the senate would vote first on the funding measure and then hold a separate vote on a bill to undo obama<u+2019>s new immigration initiatives. mcconnell hopes to assuage conservatives who are determined to confront the president on what they see as abuse of his executive authority. <u+201c>i don<u+2019>t know what<u+2019>s not to like about this,<u+201d> mcconnell said. <u+201c>this is an approach that respects both points of view.<u+201d> if successful, the proposal will break a two-month deadlock over funding for the agency that is responsible for border security, airport security checks and a range of other functions. but house speaker john a. boehner (r-ohio) did not immediately warm to the proposal, and it was not clear whether he could marshal enough backing in his chamber to complete the deal to keep dhs open beyond friday, when its spending authority expires. house republicans will huddle behind closed doors wednesday morning. the unsettled dhs debate is expected to be the central focus of their discussion. the stalemate has tested republicans<u+2019> ability to govern now that they are in full control of congress. senate democrats have blocked four attempts by mcconnell to move forward on a house bill that would fund the department but that ties that funding to a repeal of the president<u+2019>s immigration actions, which would allow millions of undocumented immigrants a temporary reprieve from deportation. again on the brink mcconnell<u+2019>s move represented a concession in a fight that has threatened to shut down the agency less than a year and a half after a budget standoff shuttered a broad swath of the federal government for more than two weeks in october 2013. senate minority leader harry m. reid (d-nev.) said democrats want assurances from boehner that a <u+201c>clean<u+201d> funding bill will pass the house before they will support mcconnell<u+2019>s plan and allow the votes to move forward. <u+201c>now, all eyes are on speaker boehner,<u+201d> said sen. charles e. schumer (d-n.y.). asked about the emerging senate plan, boehner spokesman michael steel said by e-mail: <u+201c>the speaker has been clear: the house has acted, and now senate democrats need to stop hiding. will they continue to block funding for the department of homeland security or not?<u+201d> exiting a house leadership meeting later on, house rules committee chairman pete sessions (r-tex.) said he did not support approving mcconnell<u+2019>s plan. instead, sessions said, congress should pass a temporary extension of funding for up to six weeks and convene a house-senate conference to try to hammer out the differences between the two chambers. dhs is scheduled to begin furloughing nonessential workers if congress does not extend its $40<u+00a0>billion budget by friday. at the white house, obama prepared to inject himself more forcefully into the debate with a town-hall-style forum planned for wednesday in miami, which has a heavily latino population. the president is expected to address the funding standoff and his immigration plan. the administration has appealed a federal judge<u+2019>s decision last week temporarily blocking the deferred deportations program, under which up to 5<u+00a0>million of the nation<u+2019>s 11<u+00a0>million undocumented immigrants would be eligible for renewable three-year deportation waivers. many could receive work permits. as the president tries to rally the public, however, obama and his aides have limited their dealings with capitol hill. white house and democratic aides said there is little the president can do, because he will not undo his immigration actions. it is up to republicans to decide whether they are willing to shut down dhs over the issue, the aides said. <u+201c>this is not a battle with the white house. this is a battle taking place on capitol hill,<u+201d> a white house official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal thinking. <u+201c>legislators on the hill need to work on this. .<u+2009>.<u+2009>. what you<u+2019>re going to see from the administration on dhs up until friday is continuing to call attention publicly to the potential impact of shutting down dhs.<u+201d> to that end, homeland security secretary jeh johnson and two predecessors from the george w. bush administration <u+2014> michael chertoff and tom ridge <u+2014> will attend a news conference scheduled for wednesday to warn of problems that could occur if the agency is forced to begin furloughs. essential personnel, as many as 200,000 employees, would continue to report to work without pay during a partial shutdown. although johnson and the white house have said that national security would not be jeopardized, they have warned that long-term planning could be affected. in an interview, chertoff warned of morale problems in the agency and said he thinks a shutdown would <u+201c>no doubt adversely affect the nation<u+2019>s security.<u+201d> <u+201c>a couple days of delay [of pay] will not make a difference, but if it starts to mount up and there<u+2019>s real uncertainty, people will start to feel demoralized, and that could have an impact over a long period,<u+201d> chertoff said. <u+201c>you wouldn<u+2019>t do this to [military] troops in the field, send them into combat but not get paid. they need to take this seriously.<u+201d> doubts on the right while mcconnell<u+2019>s plan to split off the immigration issue into a stand-alone measure opened the door to winning over democrats, conservatives were skeptical. <u+201c>senators arguing fund dhs but vote a separate bill to defund executive amnesty. have you heard of obama veto? think we were born yesterday?<u+201d> rep. steve king (r-iowa), a staunch opponent of obama<u+2019>s immigration actions, wrote on twitter. meanwhile, the administration has struggled to explain how a partial shutdown would affect national security. white house press secretary josh earnest, asked repeatedly about it monday, declined to say that the nation would be more at risk. rather, he said, the situation would not improve the nation<u+2019>s safety. <u+201c>it<u+2019>s hard to imagine a good time for congress to be mucking around with the funding of the department of homeland security,<u+201d> earnest said. <u+201c>but now seems like a particularly bad one.<u+201d> politically, the standoff could help the white house and democrats. republicans drew the brunt of public anger over the 2013 shutdown, and administration aides believe the same will happen if dhs is affected at week<u+2019>s end. it is not lost on white house allies that the president is traveling to florida, a key swing state in presidential races, for the wednesday event, co-hosted by msnbc and telemundo. <u+201c>in our travels to the immigrant community, the faith community, the law enforcement community and the business community, they want someone in d.c. to do something,<u+201d> said ali noorani, executive director of the national immigration forum. <u+201c>the president has done something. the political risk to the administration is only there if they stop doing something. right now, it<u+2019>s on republicans to kind of meet the bar.<u+201d> senior administration officials are scheduled to appear at another immigration forum, hosted by univision, on sunday in los angeles, the city with the largest number of immigrants potentially eligible for deportation relief under obama<u+2019>s executive actions. <u+201c>for the first time in a long time, the immigrant community and advocates are very aligned with the white house,<u+201d> said marielena hincapi<u+00e9>, executive director of the national immigration law center. <u+201c>i think the fact that he<u+2019>s coming to miami to meet with immigrant community members and take questions directly from folks speaks volumes.<u+201d>

mcconnell plan moves senate closer to deal on homeland security funding

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authorities friday released the names of those killed in the mass murder at an oregon community college, a collection of male and female victims ranging in age from 18 to 67 and including a professor as well as some of his students in an introductory writing class. at a late afternoon press conference, douglas county sheriff john hanlin intoned the names as aides posted their pictures on a wall behind him. they were: lucero alcaraz, 19, quinn glen cooper, 18, kim saltmarsh dietz, 59, lucas eibel,18, jason dale johnson, 33, lawrence levine, 67, sarena dawn moore, 44, treven taylor anspach, 20, and rebecka ann carnes, 18. statements were read from several families. "we have been trying to figure out how to tell everyone how amazing lucas was, but that would take 18 years," the family of lucas eibel said in their statement. eibel, who was studying chemistry, volunteered at a wildlife center and animal shelter. quinn glen cooper's family said their son had just started college and loved dancing and voice acting. "i don't know how we are going to move forward with our lives without quinn," the coopers said. "our lives are shattered beyond repair." hanlin also said he was raising the number of those injured in the carnage at umpqua community college in roseburg, ore. from seven to nine. the announcement came shortly after investigators found at least 13 weapons linked to the gunman: six at the crime scene, including a rifle, and seven at his apartment. all of the weapons were purchased legally, seven of them by the gunman or a relative, according to the bureau of alcohol, tobacco, firearms and explosives. it reports that investigators recovered body armor including a flak jacket at the school, and additional ammunition in the apartment. in addition to the rifle, the shooter also carried five handguns, a law enforcement source tells fox news. details on the shooter's background are slowly emerging. the u.s. army says the gunman, christopher harper mercer, flunked out of basic training in 2008. lt. col. ben garrett, an army spokesman, said mercer was in service at ft. jackson, south carolina, starting on november 5, 2008. but by december 11, 2008, he was discharged for failing to meet the minimum administrative standards. the army spokesman did not say which standards mercer failed to meet. generally, the army requires recruits to pass physical fitness tests and to be generally in good physical and mental health. recruits also must score highly enough on a multiple-choice test covering science, math, reading comprehension and other topics. authorities say mercer killed nine people at umpqua community college in roseburg before he was killed in an exchange of gunfire with police. witnesses said the gunman specifically targeted christians. there didn't seem to be many recent connections on the social media sites linked to the gunman, with his myspace page just showing two friends. he appeared to have at least one online dating profile. on a torrents streaming site and blog that appeared to belong to mercer, posts referenced multiple shootings and downloads included several horror films and a documentary on a mass shooting at sandy hook elementary school in newtown, connecticut. a blog post urged readers to watch the online footage of vester flanagan shooting two former colleagues on live tv in virginia, while another lamented materialism as preventing spiritual development. a myspace page that appeared to belong to mercer included several photos and graphics of the irish republican army as well as a picture of mercer holding a rifle. one law enforcement official described mercer tothe new york times as appearing to be "an angry young man who was very filled with hate." another official said investigators were poring over what he described as "hateful" writings by mercer. mercer's father says he's as shocked as anybody else. ian mercer spoke to kabc-tv and several other media outlets gathered outside his house in tarzana, california late thursday night. he said it's been a "devastating day" for him and his family and said he has been talking to police and the fbi about the shooting. he refused to answer questions and asked that his family's privacy be respected. mercer "seemed really unfriendly" and would "sit by himself in the dark in the balcony with this little light," according to neighbor bronte harte, speaking to the associated press. the new york post identified the dating site as spiritualpassions.com and reported that mercer used the screen name "ironcross45," a possible reference to a wwii decoration awarded to nazi soldiers. the shooting sparked panic at the usually quiet college, more than 70 miles south of eugene. some students ran for their lives, while others crammed into buses taking them to safety. two people remain in critical condition in the icu at sacred heart medical center in springfield, oregon. doctors there say one victim was shot in the head. one other victim is in critical condition at mercy medical center in roseburg, according to chief medical officer dr. jason gray.he said his hospital initially received 10 patients. twitter user @bodhilooney posted a statement on the social network claiming that her grandmother was inside the classroom. hundreds went to a candlelight vigil thursday night, with many raising candles as the hymn "amazing grace" was played. former student sam sherman said roseburg was a "poor town, a mill town." oregon's timber industry went into a tailspin 25 years ago. "people don't generally aspire to greater things here," he said. "so having a place you can go to do that is a big deal. for something that terrible to happen at such a small school is frustrating." the associated press contributed to this report.

names of oregon victims released, range in age from 18 to 67

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in what was an emotional and contentious scene at the rowan county, ky., courthouse this morning, one dramatic legal standoff came to an end when a gay couple was issued a marriage license. james yates and william smith, who had tried this five times before, arrived at the courthouse just as the sun started peeking out from under the mountains on the horizon. they walked past protesters <u+2014> some condemning them and some cheering them <u+2014> and entered the clerk's office. kim davis, the county clerk who had stood in their way those five previous attempts, was in jail. she was held in contempt by a federal judge thursday for refusing to hand out marriage licenses in defiance of the u.s. supreme court. so early friday, yates and smith walked up to deputy clerk brian mason. mason was all business. he checked their licenses, asked them if they were related, took their $35 and, in about five minutes, handed them an envelope and said, "congratulations." yates and smith had become the first same-sex couple to receive a marriage license from rowan county. they exited to chants of "love has won. love has won." "i don't want her in jail," yates said of davis. "no one wanted her in jail. we just wanted the licenses given out. this isn't a blessing. it's an official license." "this means, at least for this area, civil rights are civil rights and they're not subject to beliefs." davis' husband, joe davis, was also outside the courthouse with a group of protesters who called this a moral fight. "we don't hate these people. that's the furthest thing from our hearts," he said. "we don't hate nobody. we just want to have the same rights that they have. they're saying, 'hey we're gonna make you accept us.' but they don't want to accept our beliefs. but they want us to accept theirs." there is still some question about the legality of the marriage licenses handed out today, because they don't bear davis' signature.

kentucky clerk's office issues same-sex marriage license

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every preliminary electoral-map forecast this spring paints a bleak picture for donald trump in his effort to win the presidency against hillary clinton. the consensus is that there is only a very narrow path to victory, and that will probably shape the opening phase of the general-election campaign. among the earlier forecasts, the university of virginia<u+2019>s larry sabato sees a clinton romp in the making. a year ago, his forecast showed democrats with an advantage in states adding up to 247 electoral votes, republicans with an edge in states adding up to 206 and six states totaling 85 votes rated as toss-ups. today, sabato sees no states as toss-ups. instead, he shows clinton with 347 electoral votes and trump with just 191. the cook political report shows a similarly dire map for trump: 304 electoral votes leaning or solid for clinton, 190 leaning or solid for trump and 44 up for grabs. the four states cook rated as toss-ups include three carried by obama in 2012 (iowa, new hampshire and ohio) and one carried by mitt romney (north carolina). the rothenberg & gonzales political report offers a more conservative estimate, but one no less daunting for trump and republicans: 263 leaning or solid for the democrats, 206 for the republicans and the remaining as toss-ups. the toss-ups in this analysis are colorado, florida, ohio and virginia. these forecasts are the reason so many elected republicans are worried about trump at the top of their ticket. if he crashes, so too might their current majorities, particularly in the senate. no wonder house speaker paul d. ryan (r-wis.) remains a holdout in his willingness to fully embrace trump and why senate leaders expressed their concerns to the presumptive nominee when they met thursday. to hold the senate, republicans must fend off a series of democratic challenges in states that are traditional presidential battlegrounds or, worse, states that have been in the democrats<u+2019> presidential column repeatedly. cook<u+2019>s senate list shows six republican-held seats as toss-up races. three are in presidentially blue states: mark kirk in illinois, patrick j. toomey in pennsylvania and ron johnson in wisconsin. three others are in traditional battlegrounds: rob portman in ohio, kelly ayotte in new hampshire and the seat being vacated by marco rubio in florida. only one democratic seat is currently a toss-up, that of retiring democratic leader harry reid of nevada. if it becomes necessary, these embattled republican incumbents will distance themselves from trump in an instant to run their own campaigns <u+2014> but will need to defy recent history to be successful. for some years now, voters increasingly have cast their votes for senate in line with their presidential preference. this election could become a major test of whether that trend toward straight-ticket voting in recent years can be reversed. a counter to the electoral-map projections showing trump a potentially sizable drag on other republican candidates came last week, when quinnipiac university released polls from ohio, florida and pennsylvania. clinton and trump were neck and neck in florida and pennsylvania, and trump led narrowly in ohio. critics of the surveys asserted that the samples understated the likely size of the nonwhite vote and overstated the percentage of republicans. it<u+2019>s also worth noting that all of the surveys had a relatively high percentage of undecided voters. more evidence is needed, and subsequent surveys will either ratify or contradict those numbers. but the three states in question are one path to the presidency for trump. if he could hold all of the states that romney won <u+2014> by no means a certainty <u+2014> and flip florida, ohio and pennsylvania, he would become president. many democrats express the belief that there are traditional gop states that may be in play in november, starting with arizona. clinton strategists are not assuming major changes in the geography of the battlegrounds. to that end, the key will be to prevent trump from bringing out disaffected white, working-class voters while energizing the obama coalition. the washington post<u+2019>s abby phillip described one step that the clinton campaign is planning to protect states that are must-wins this fall, which is by starting to organize as early and as robustly as possible in midwestern states with white, working-class constituencies, including michigan, wisconsin and pennsylvania. all three states have voted for the democratic nominee six times in a row, although obama won pennsylvania, where there was no real campaign, by just more than five points in 2012. that five-point margin was almost identical to the margins by which he won the contested states of colorado and new hampshire and is a source of potential concern for clinton<u+2019>s team. [nine house committee chairs endorse trump, but not yet speaker ryan] the clinton camp has been eager to get moving on its general-election operations for weeks, knowing that it takes time and resources to build the kind of organization they need to get all of their voters to the polls in november. the persistence of the challenge from sen. bernie sanders of vermont notwithstanding, the leadership of clinton<u+2019>s campaign in brooklyn is now moving ahead on that front. clinton<u+2019>s other strategy will be to disqualify trump to any possible persuadable voters, among them independent women, and to generate the biggest possible turnout among latinos and african americans. clinton<u+2019>s liabilities as a candidate make it more difficult for her simply to run a positive campaign to win over these voters, although she will need to do that. in addition, she and her outside allies will probably emulate the strategy followed by obama against romney four years ago by unloading soon. the barrage will come in the form of tv ads and other means of communication <u+2014> through social media, surrogates and talking heads, all recounting the many controversial things trump has said about women, about mexicans, about muslims and anything else that might be in the opposition research files. trump should expect an all-out assault from the democrats starting in early june. the goal will be to make it as difficult as possible for him to gain a foothold in the places where he will need it most. whether trump and the republicans, who are all scrambling to try to unify as best as they can, will be ready to answer is a major question. trump has proved to be largely impervious to attack in the primaries, but he<u+2019>s now facing a much different electorate. if he isn<u+2019>t ready for what is coming at him, the opening phase of the general election could prove decisive.

the map is tough for any republican. it<u+2019>s completely daunting for donald trump.

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the white house made formal veto threats wednesday against house bills that would allow the construction of the keystone xl pipeline<u+00a0>and change a key mandate under the affordable care act, signaling a rocky start to the 114th congress. while white house press secretary josh earnest had announced tuesday that president obama<u+00a0>intends to veto the first bill headed to his desk under the gop-controlled congress, the new statement of administration policy elaborates on the president's objection to the bill. the house version <u+2014> which is identical to the one just introduced in the senate on tuesday by sens. john hoeven (n.d.) and joe manchin (d-w.va.) <u+2014> "conflicts with longstanding executive branch procedures regarding the authority of the president and prevents the thorough consideration of complex issues that could bear on u.s. national interests (including serious security, safety, environmental, and other ramifications)," reads the statement, which was released by the office of management and budget. "if presented to the president, his senior advisors would recommend that he veto this bill," it adds. the president also laid down the gauntlet when it comes to house republicans' latest effort to chip away at his signature health-care law. currently the affordable care act requires employers to provide health insurance if they have at least 50 full-time workers, which is defined by anyone working 30 hours a week or more. the save american workers<u+00a0>act would change the definition of a full-time employee to someone working at least 40 hours a week. obama will reject the measure "because it would significantly increase the deficit, reduce the number of americans with employer-based health insurance coverage, and create incentives for employers to shift their employees to part-time work <u+2013> causing the problem it intends to solve." "rather than attempting once again to repeal or undermine the affordable care<u+00a0>act, which the house has tried to do over 50 times, it is time for the congress to stop fighting old political battles and join the president in forwarding an agenda focused on providing greater economic opportunity and security for middle class families and all those working to be a part of the middle class," the statement of administration policy adds. during his regular press briefing wednesday, house speaker john boehner (r-ohio) questioned why the president was starting out the new session on such an adversarial note. "too many americans are out of work, too many are working harder just to keep pace in the face of rising costs and frankly, we<u+2019>ve got an awful lot of work to do," boehner said. "unfortunately, by threatening two of these bipartisan jobs bills, the president essentially is telling the american people he really doesn<u+2019>t care what they think. well, our commitment is to stand up for the american people and their priorities, and it<u+2019>s a commitment we will not break.<u+201d> brendan buck, a spokesman for house ways and means committee chairman paul ryan (r-wisc.), noted in an e-mail that 18 house democrats voted for a similar health care bill last congress. a companion bill in the senate is sponsored by sens. susan collins (r-maine) and joe donnelly (d-ind.). polls show a clear majority of americans support approving the keystone pipeline, with 60 percent in a november usa today survey saying obama and congress should authorize the project; 25 percent said it should not and the rest were unsure. separate polling finds most republicans, independents, and moderate or conservative democrats support the pipeline, liberal democrats and those with the most education more opposed. along with overall public support, americans are bullish about the pipeline<u+2019>s job-creation prospects. more than eight in 10 respondents in a washington post-abc news poll said the pipeline would create a significant number of jobs, while just under half thought it would pose a significant risk to the environment.

white house makes formal veto threat against keystone, aca bills

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george w. bush famously described himself as <u+201c>a uniter, not a divider.<u+201d> a few years into his presidency there was a survey that reported that 49<u+00a0>percent<u+00a0>of americans thought he was a <u+201c>uniter<u+201d> and 49<u+00a0>percent<u+00a0>thought him a <u+201c>divider<u+201d><u+00a0><u+2014><u+00a0>a poignant reminder that americans are so polarized, they<u+2019>re even polarized about polarization. and of course the same goes for obama who, like bush, spent two terms as president trying, but failing, to be a bipartisan figure. a characteristic feature of polarization seems to be the impression that one<u+2019>s own side is reasonable and that all the polarizing comes from the other side of the political aisle. i came across an amusing example of this today, ironically from a political scientist, gerard alexander, who, in an op-ed entitled, <u+201c>jon stewart, patron saint of liberal smugness,<u+201d> writes: this is just too perfect. it<u+2019>s a beautiful paradox. if alexander is right, then there is an important asymmetry in american politics, which is the thing that he<u+2019>s saying conservatives don<u+2019>t believe! if he<u+2019>s wrong, then there is no asymmetry, which is what he<u+2019>s saying conservatives believe in the first place. it<u+2019>s like something out of lewis carroll. i<u+2019>m reminded of economist emily oster<u+2019>s quote that economists are different from almost everyone else in society in that they assume everybody is fundamentally alike. i also think it<u+2019>s a bit odd for alexander to describe liberals as <u+201c>fixated<u+201d> on sarah palin: it<u+2019>s not liberals who nominated palin for vice-president, or who put her on tv. unless you want to describe william kristol and roger ailes as liberals. also this, from alexander: my strongest memory of mr. stewart, like that of many other conservatives, is probably going to be his 2010 interview with the berkeley law professor john yoo. mr. yoo had served in mr. bush<u+2019>s justice department and had drafted memos laying out what techniques could and couldn<u+2019>t be used to interrogate al qaeda detainees. mr. stewart seemed to go into the interview expecting a menacing clint eastwood type, who was fully prepared to zap the genitals of some terrorist if that<u+2019>s what it took to protect america<u+2019>s women and children. mr. stewart was caught unaware by the quiet, reasonable mr. yoo, who explained that he had been asked to determine what legally constituted torture so the government could safely stay on this side of the line. the issue, in other words, wasn<u+2019>t whether torture was justified but what constituted it and what didn<u+2019>t. first off, let me say that this is a horrible thing to say about clint eastwood, who was never involved in this: it<u+2019>s interesting to see what alexander did there. first, he changed the question from <u+201c>crushing the testicles of the person<u+2019>s child<u+201d> (which yoo refused to say the government couldn<u+2019>t do) <u+201c>zap[ping] the genitals of some terrorist<u+201d> (which is, presumably, also a treaty violation but doesn<u+2019>t sound so bad). second, alexander didn<u+2019>t even say <u+201c>suspected terrorist,<u+201d> he said <u+201c>terrorist.<u+201d> but of course one of the concerns with torture is that it<u+2019>s not only done on terrorists, it<u+2019>s also done on people who get picked up on suspicion of terrorism, or just people who somebody thinks might have some information. alexander gets to characterize yoo as <u+201c>reasonable<u+201d> only by shifting the ground of the debate. he also describes yoo as <u+201c>quiet,<u+201d> which seems pretty irrelevant to me. personally, i<u+2019>d prefer someone who yells but opposes torture to someone who is soft-spoken and supports it. then again, i don<u+2019>t personally know anyone who<u+2019>s been killed by a terrorist; maybe if i did, i<u+2019>d feel differently. anyway, the point is that alexander demonstrates political polarization in his column, in the very way that he is castigating liberals for unreasonable for seeing themselves as more reasonable than conservatives. and, if you<u+2019>d like, you could characterize this post as even more polarization, in that of all the things i could write about today, i<u+2019>ve chosen this. my point, though, as a political scientist, is that along with our very reasonable concerns about difficulties of communication between the left and the right <u+2014> an often disturbing lack of national unity <u+2014> comes a corresponding split in perceptions. alexander is correct to see a tendency among many liberals to think of themselves as more reasonable than conservatives. but his column, ironically, demonstrates the symmetric tendency of many conservatives to see themselves as the reasonable ones. so, instead of mere disagreements on policy, we get disputes about the legitimacy of each side<u+2019>s concerns, as well as ahistorical views such as an attribution to liberals of sarah palin<u+2019>s fame. none of this is new, but it has been getting worse in the past generation, and this particular column reminded me of it. finally, it<u+2019>s data time. this is the monkey cage, after all. here are some graphs from my book red state blue state on partisan polarization during the korean, vietnam and iraq wars.

why do people on the other side seem so unreasonable?

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this is true at both the national and state levels. modern conservative mythology begins with reagan, a man who tripled the federal budget deficit (which shot up to $3 trillion during his tenure) and raised taxes 11 times during the course of his presidency. reagan didn<u+2019>t shrink the size of government or grow the middle class. on the contrary, he made government more bloated, more defense-oriented, more corporatist. george w. bush<u+2019>s 8 years in office were similarly disastrous: more corporate welfare, more debt, more utopian military campaigns, more disorder. today republican governors are plunging <u+2013> or have plunged <u+2013> their states into one abyss after another, all under the banner of conservatism. there are almost too many examples to cite: sam brownback in kansas; bobby jindal in louisiana; rick snyder in michigan; phil bryant in mississippi; scott walker in wisconsin; chris christie in new jersey; paul lepage in maine; rick scott in florida. the list goes on and on and on. the point is obvious enough: the conservative brand is tainted. now that donald trump has hijacked the republican party, the conservative intelligentsia is apoplectic. trump isn<u+2019>t a real conservative, they say. he<u+2019>s ideologically incoherent, they say. the assumption is that trump is an aberration, a chimera born of anti-establishment rage. or that he<u+2019>s a threat to the <u+201c>conservative movement<u+201d> rather than its natural outgrowth. consider the latest wall street journal op-ed by conservative columnist bret stephens. stephens writes: there are two problems with this. first, there<u+2019>s a disconnect between establishment republicans and conservative voters. if you watch fox news or listen to right-wing radio, it<u+2019>s clear that the base isn<u+2019>t animated by a coherent worldview. many self-identify as conservative, but their conservatism is a vague stew of cultural resentment, religious certainty, and half-baked talking points. there is no consistent <u+201c>conservative cause<u+201d> to preserve. and if there is a genuine conservative coalition, the know nothings and the john birchers are now central to it. indeed, the gop has cultivated these wings since its adoption of the <u+201c>southern strategy<u+201d> roughly 50 years ago. second, to the extent that conservative ideas have been implemented in recent years, they haven<u+2019>t worked. the <u+201c>conservative cause<u+201d> is already crippled. neoliberal economics, which is what conservative elites support, has gutted the country and the working class. the trade deals, the tax cuts for the wealthiest americans, the privatization schemes <u+2013> have redistributed wealth upwards at the expense of everyone else. <u+201c>conservatives,<u+201d> stephens writes, are <u+201c>supposed to believe that it<u+2019>s folly to put hope before experience,<u+201d> but they<u+2019>ve put ideological dogma over empirical reality for decades. <u+201c>trickle-down<u+201d> economics didn<u+2019>t work for reagan (revenue decreased and unemployment spiked to 10.8 percent after his initial 1981 tax cuts, for example) and it didn<u+2019>t work for the bush administrations. and yet gop presidential candidates speak as though the contrary were true, as though history doesn<u+2019>t exist. one can argue that this isn<u+2019>t classical conservatism; that real conservatism involves prudence, a pragmatic respect for existing institutions, and careful responsiveness to change. but that<u+2019>s not what passes as conservatism. today<u+2019>s <u+201c>conservatives<u+201d> are hopelessly wedded to discredited abstractions. when elected, their ideas have failed. now voters are revolting against the establishment and choosing instead to embrace the ethno-nationalism of trump. stephens writes that <u+201c>a trump presidency means losing the republican party.<u+201d> i disagree. trump<u+2019>s nomination means the republican party is already lost. or perhaps it was never found. the gop has been ideologically fractured since at least the early <u+2019>80s, when it morphed into a quasi-religious movement. the wall street journal editorial board cares about tax policy and capital gains, but the republican base doesn<u+2019>t. the people voting for trump are losers in the new economy to be sure, but they<u+2019>re animated by cultural angst and identity-based fears as much as anything else. republicans have exploited their base in similar ways for years; trump has just taken it to another level. i<u+2019>m not sure what a trump presidency really means. but it<u+2019>s not the death knell for conservatism. the gop ruined conservatism long before trump. if people like stephens want to save conservatism, they need a new party, not a new candidate.

the republican party ruined conservatism long before trump: why they still don<u+2019>t get it

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donald trump, in an extensive interview with fox news<u+2019> megyn kelly, responded to critics of his barbed campaign style by saying he never would have been successful in the primary race if he had acted <u+201c>presidential<u+201d> and held back on hitting his political rivals <u+2013> while declaring that if he doesn<u+2019>t win the election this fall, he<u+2019>ll consider his campaign a <u+201c>complete waste.<u+201d> the presumptive republican presidential nominee was blunt in describing the stakes of the 2016 race as he sees it. without a victory in the fall, he said, he won<u+2019>t be able to lower taxes, strengthen the military or <u+201c>make america great.<u+201d> <u+201c>i will say this: if i don<u+2019>t go all the way, and if i don<u+2019>t win, i will consider it to be a total and complete waste of time, energy and money,<u+201d> trump said, in the interview that aired tuesday night on fox broadcast network affiliates. the candidate addressed a range of topics in his sit-down with kelly, from his tone to the lead-off presidential debates to his past clashes with the fox news host. trump conceded that, in looking back, he <u+201c>absolutely<u+201d> has regrets, without going into detail. but he said if he hadn<u+2019>t conducted himself in this way, he wouldn<u+2019>t have come out on top. <u+201c>if i were soft, if i were presidential <u+2026> in a way it<u+2019>s a bad word, because there<u+2019>s nothing wrong with being presidential, but if i had not fought back in the way i fought back, i don<u+2019>t think i would have been successful,<u+201d> he told kelly. trump argued that he<u+2019>s a <u+201c>counter-puncher<u+201d> who<u+2019>s only responding to the attacks against him. <u+201c>i respond pretty strongly, but in just about all cases, i<u+2019>ve been responding to what they did to me,<u+201d> trump said. <u+201c>it<u+2019>s not a one-way street.<u+201d> the interview was conducted on the heels of an april meeting between kelly and the republican candidate at trump tower in new york city. before that meeting, the two had been at odds for months <u+2013> dating back to a fox news-hosted debate last august, when trump accused <u+201c>the kelly file<u+201d> host of asking him unfair questions. today, trump is the presumptive republican presidential nominee, having vanquished 16 primary rivals and now turning his attention toward an expected general election battle against democratic front-runner hillary clinton. the former secretary of state, while still trying to shake a primary challenge from bernie sanders, has sharpened her criticism of trump as well in recent weeks, even saying monday that he<u+2019>s a <u+201c>loose cannon<u+201d> who would be dangerous for the country. and she said he<u+2019>d return to <u+201c>failed<u+201d> economic policies. speaking with kelly, trump suggested the august debate actually helped prepare him for the battle ahead. <u+201c>in a certain way, what you did might have been a favor, because i felt so good about having gotten through -- i said, <u+2018>if i could get through this debate, with those questions, you can get through anything,<u+2019><u+201d> he said. trump pointed to that debate when asked at what moment he realized he might actually win the race. <u+201c>i think that first debate meant something,<u+201d> trump said, adding that he felt comfortable with the subject matter and the people he was competing against. at the same time, trump tried to explain why he fired back at kelly for confronting him about his past disparaging comments about women. <u+201c>i thought it was unfair,<u+201d> trump said of the question, while noting it was the first question he<u+2019>d ever been asked at a debate. <u+201c>and i<u+2019>m saying to myself, man, what a question.<u+201d> he added, <u+201c>i don<u+2019>t really blame you because you<u+2019>re doing your thing, but from my standpoint, i don<u+2019>t have to like it.<u+201d> as for his role in the presidential election in this year, trump said: <u+201c>i really view myself now as somewhat of a messenger<u+2026> this is a massive thing that<u+2019>s going on. these are millions and millions of people that have been disenfranchised from this country.<u+201d> trump for the last several weeks has been working to reach out to members of the so-called republican establishment in washington he<u+2019>s spent much of his campaign railing against. he met last week with gop congressional leaders, including house speaker paul ryan <u+2013> who has held back an endorsement for now. trump and the lawmakers came away describing the meetings as positive. in the interview with kelly, trump briefly discussed his personal life, and how his older brother fred died after a battle with alcoholism. <u+201c>i have never had a glass of alcohol,<u+201d> he said, calling his brother<u+2019>s death the <u+201c>hardest thing for me to take.<u+201d> and while defending his tone on the campaign trail, trump also said he takes <u+201c>very seriously<u+201d> the responsibility of the office he<u+2019>s seeking. <u+201c>i understand what's going on. and when i see the fervor, when i see 25,000 people that have seats, and not one person during an hour speech will sit down. i say, sit down, everybody, sit down.<u+00a0> and they don't sit down," he said. "<u+2026> i mean, that's a great compliment. but i do understand the power of the message. there's no question about it.<u+201d>

megyn kelly special: trump defends tone, says bid will be <u+2018>complete waste<u+2019> if he doesn<u+2019>t win

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at least nine people were arrested wednesday and st. louis police used tear gas to clear a street of protesters after an armed man fleeing from officers was shot and killed when he pointed a gun at them. st. louis police chief sam dotson said at a press conference late wednesday night that a group of protesters who had blocked an intersection threw glass bottles and bricks at officers and refused orders to clear the roadway. inert gas was used and when that didn't have any effect on the crowd, police turned to tear gas to clear the intersection, dotson said. those arrested face charges of impeding the flow of traffic and resisting arrest, he said. in addition to the arrests, officers responded to reports of burglaries in the area and the fire department was called after a car was set ablaze, according to dotson. the chief blamed the crimes on people seeking "notoriety" in a neighborhood "plagued by violence." dotson added that police would release video showing that officers gave multiple orders to clear the street and repeatedly warned that the tear gas would be used. the latest shooting came with tensions already high in the area after violence erupted during several events earlier this month marking the anniversary of the death of michael brown, the 18-year-old fatally shot last year by a police officer in nearby ferguson. dotson said two police officers serving a search warrant wednesday afternoon at a home in a crime-troubled section of the city's north side encountered two suspects, one of which was 18-year-old mansur ball-bey. the suspects were fleeing the home as ball-bey, who was black, turned and pointed a handgun at the officers, who shot him, the chief said. ball-bey died at the scene. both officers, who are white, were unharmed, according to a police report. dotson said four guns, including the handgun wielded by ball-bey, and crack cocaine were recovered at or near the home, which last year yielded illegal guns during a police search. police are searching for the second suspect, who they said is believed to be in his mid-to-late teens. a man and woman who were also inside the home were arrested, dotson said. police obtained the search warrant because they believed the home harbored suspects in other crimes, dotson said. he didn't specify which crimes, but noted that a killing happened on the same street monday and a nearby market just was riddled by bullets. that area also is near where a 93-year-old veteran who was part of the tuskegee airmen -- black world war ii pilots -- was the victim of crimes twice within a few minutes sunday, being robbed and then having his car stolen. the veteran was unhurt, and his car was found tuesday blocks from where it was taken. roughly 150 people gathered wednesday afternoon near the scene of the shooting, questioning the use of deadly force. some chanted "black lives matter," a mantra used after brown's death. as police removed their yellow tape that cordoned off the scene, dozens of people converged on the home's front yard, many chanting insults and gesturing obscenely at officers. several onlookers surrounded individual officers, yelling at them. "another youth down by the hands of police," dex dockett, 42, who lives nearby, told a reporter. "what could have been done different to de-escalate rather than escalate? they (police) come in with an us-against-them mentality. you've got to have the right kind of cops to engage in these types of neighborhoods." another neighborhood resident, fred price, said he was skeptical about dotson's account that the suspect pointed a gun at officers before being mortally wounded. "they provoked the situation," price, 33, said. "situations like this make us want to keep the police out of the neighborhood. they're shooting first, then asking questions." some of those who protested ball-bey's death had already spent the morning in downtown st. louis, marching to mark the anniversary of the fatal police shooting of kajieme powell. he was fatally shot by two st. louis officers after police said he approached them with a knife. circuit attorney jennifer joyce is still reviewing the case to determine whether lethal force was justified. protests have become a familiar scene across the st. louis region since brown, who was black and unarmed, was fatally shot by ferguson officer darren wilson on aug. 9, 2014. a st. louis county grand jury and the u.s. justice department declined to charge wilson, who resigned in november. the associated press contributed to this report.

at least nine protesters arrested after st. louis police shooting

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a day after a mass shooting in san bernardino, california, authorities are trying to figure out why a couple would embark on a deadly killing spree. was it workplace violence or islamic-inspired terrorism or both that left 14 people dead and more than a dozen injured? late wednesday night, police announced that 28-year-old syed rizwan farook and 27-year-old tashfeen malik were the two lone assailants in the mass shooting. the husband and wife team were clearly ready for a battle with police. an atf spokesman said the couple was wearing military tactical-style clothing loaded with ammunition for a gunfight. so far, the fbi has not ruled out terrorism as a motive in these tragic shootings. cbn news terrorism analyst erick stakelbeck shares his<u+00a0>perspective. click play to watch. "we are pretty comfortable that the two shooters that we believe went into the building are the two shooters that are deceased up on san bernardino avenue," san bernardino police chief jarrod burguan said. farook, an american citizen, had been a san bernardino county employee for five years. his father told the daily news that "he was very religious." "he would go to work, come back, go to pray, come back. he's a muslim," farook's father said. on wednesday morning, farook and his wife reportedly dropped off their 6-month-old daughter with grandparents. farook then went to a christmas party for employees of the public health department at the inland regional center. "he did leave the party early under some circumstances that were described as angry or something of that nature," burguan said. around 11 a.m. local time, farook returned to the celebrations with his wife malik dressed in matching assault-style military fatigues and body armor and started shooting. "based upon what we have seen, and based upon how they were equipped, there had to be some degree of planning that went into this," burguan speculated. "so i don't think they just ran home, put on these types of tactical clothes, grabbed guns and came back on a spur-of-the-moment thing," he said. police chief burguan said the attack lasted "only minutes." but in that short period of time, the couple managed to kill 14 people and injured 17 others. fox news says authorities found multiple pipe bombs and other explosive devices at various locations, including three devices at the scene of the attack. the couple was later killed by police in a shoot-out several hours after the incident. according to the los angeles times, farook reportedly took a trip to saudi arabia and returned with his new wife that he apparently met online. speaking to reporters late wednesday night, farook's brother-in-law farhan khan expressed his grief over the tragedy. "i just cannot express how sad i am for what happened today. i mean, my condolences to the people that lost their lives," he said. wednesday's attack was the deadliest mass shooting since sandy hook. president barack obama and some democratic leaders immediately called for stricter gun controls. meanwhile, the new york daily news ran with the controversial title "god isn't fixing this" on their front page. the story criticized republican presidential candidates for "preaching about prayer" while being silent about gun control. the paper's front page quickly became a hot item on twitter. california already has strict gun control laws. meanwhile, the search for a motive continues.

workplace violence or terrorism? ca massacre probe unfolds

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washington (cnn) the top united states commander of u.s. and nato forces in afghanistan told congress he has provided his chain of command with options for the drawdown of troops this year that would give both u.s. and afghan leaders flexibility as the security situation evolves on the ground. while the united states has close to 10,000 u.s. troops currently in afghanistan following the end of combat operations at the beginning of the year, the obama administration has already announced plans to draw that number down to 5,500 by the end of this year. gen. john campbell told the senate armed services committee on thursday his recommendations deal with both the "glide slope" and "locations" for where to make withdrawals as the summer fighting season in afghanistan gets underway. "i have provided options on adjusting our force posture through my chain of command," campbell said, adding that he "absolutely" favored the options without elaborating on their specificity. "i think i provide some options both for [afghan president ashraf] ghani and for my senior leadership here to take a look at what would allow us the flexibility to continue to get after the [train, advise and assist] mission and the [counterterrorism] mission" in afghanistan, he said. there are currently 9,800 u.s. troops in afghanistan, and an additional 3,000 from other nato partner nations. campbell told the committee he was "concerned" about the coming summer season, when fighting with the taliban typically reaches its highest levels, because it will be the first fighting season for afghan forces on their own without the assistance of coalition assistance. "we're doing everything right now in the winter campaign to get them ready to do that," he said, in reference to the ongoing training and advising mission. many republican leaders on capitol hill have voiced their concern over both the pace, and specific time frame, laid out by the obama administration for the additional drawdown of u.s. troops. some are drawing parallels to the quick removal of u.s. forces in iraq at the end of 2011, and the deteriorating condition that followed. "a lack of presence creates a vacuum, and we've seen what fills that vacuum in syria and iraq," sen. john mccain, chairman of the committee, said in his remarks. "the ungoverned spaces will allow terrorists to foment the same disaster in afghanistan as we have seen in iraq -- growing instability, terrorist safe havens and direct threats to the united states." and as the drawdown of the u.s. presence envisions an eventual consolidation of the u.s. footprint to kabul, and the american embassy there, mccain says afghan officials have also voiced concern over the strategy. "a group of us met with president ghani over the weekend, and he was very strong and adamant that this current plan will put the nation in danger. and i hope that our leadership will pay attention to him," mccain said. beyond kabul and bagram, where the american presence in afghanistan is largest, the u.s. still maintains tactical advise and assist teams in mazar-i-sharif, herat, kandahar, jalalabad and gamberi. when the u.s. draws down to the final numbers in the current plan, the presence will be restricted mostly to kabul. "the taliban don't have the d-30 howitzers, they don't have the unarmored humvees, they don't have the mi-17s, they don't have the intel fusion," campbell said, voicing confidence that with continued training and good leadership, the afghan security forces would be able to keep the country stable. senators also expressed concern about isis gaining ground in afghanistan, especially following a u.s. drone strike earlier this week that killed a senior taliban commander who has also expressed fealty to isis. "you do have some of the taliban breaking off and claiming allegiance toward isis," campbell said, attributing it partly to a feeling of disenfranchisement on the parts of some taliban members who may be looking to use isis tactics as a way to exploit media attention. "it is a concern to president ghani, therefore, a concern to me," he said. "but we continue to work that with our afghan partners and to make sure that we understand where this is going inside of afghanistan and pakistan." campbell called the isis presence in afghanistan "nascent" but said their presence represents "more of a rebranding of a few marginalized taliban, but we're still taking this potential threat, with its dangerous rhetoric and ideology, very, very seriously."

u.s. provides options for drawdown of forces in afghanistan amid isis fears

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the national rifle association, the all-powerful guardian of americans' gun rights and driving force of america's pro-gun policies, is arguably more influential<u+00a0>than ever. it has largely dominated and<u+00a0>pretty much won<u+00a0>the modern-day gun-control war. it has<u+00a0>wielded its dollars and<u+00a0>political influence over lawmakers in both parties to<u+00a0>ensure congress doesn't pass even a limited<u+00a0>(and polls show, popular) expansion of gun-control laws such as universal<u+00a0>background checks. and it has withstood the charge even as the country deals with an average mass shooting a day in 2015. it's now safe to say the nra is<u+00a0>one of the most powerful lobbying organizations of all time.<u+00a0>and according to the latest pew research poll, republicans are overwhelming in favor of that. the<u+00a0>survey taken july 14-20 on gun rights found that just 13 percent of republicans think the nra has too much influence. and that's actually down -- significantly -- from 2000, when 32 percent of republicans (one in three!) thought the nra had too much sway. as you can see from the chart above, democrats disagree with republicans on the nra wholeheartedly. and they are moving in the other direction. that partisan split could provide a hint as to why<u+00a0>republicans are so united<u+00a0>today behind the<u+00a0>nra. some of<u+00a0>america's biggest social-issue shifts<u+00a0>have been driven by motives other than ideology; young people regardless of party have buoyed<u+00a0>america's increasing tolerance of same-sex marriage and marijuana legalization, for example. gun rights, by contrast, have<u+00a0>magnetized americans toward the political poles. so republicans might<u+00a0>be naturally lining up with the more conservative factions in their party on everything from gun rights to immigration. [the sad reality of how we feel about mass shootings, in 3 charts] but republicans<u+00a0>also have a fairly complex relationship with gun laws. and in fact, the shift described above might undersell it. witness their<u+00a0>changes over time<u+00a0>on the idea of protecting gun ownership versus controlling it. republicans' lines are much squigglier<u+00a0>than democrats. but the trend among republicans since 2008 is clear as day: gun rights over gun control. what was an even split seven years ago is now a 3-to-1 edge<u+00a0>in favor of<u+00a0>gun rights. what's more, republicans are arguably<u+00a0>at odds with the nra on several basic issues, such as whether to expand background checks (according to pew,<u+00a0>79 percent<u+00a0>of republicans say yes; the nra says no) and to expand laws keeping guns out of the hands of the mentally ill (79 percent<u+00a0>of republicans say yes; the nra says we should focus on treating mental health issues instead). for a deeper explanation of<u+00a0>republicans' position on the nra, we<u+00a0>should go back<u+00a0>to when the organization was last under attack: the clinton years. gun laws were a major issue for bill clinton, and at the time, pew writes,<u+00a0>his campaign to limit the nra's influence had broad support. clinton spent<u+00a0>a<u+00a0>lot of political capital to actually pass legislation limiting gun rights -- something no president has done since. in<u+00a0>1993, congress passed the brady bill requiring federal background checks<u+00a0>for purchases from federally licensed gun dealers. one year later, clinton<u+00a0>signed into law a<u+00a0>crime bill that included a ban on assault weapons. gun-control supporters paid a significant<u+00a0>political price for his success. the nra mobilized its members -- who studies<u+00a0>have shown to be more politically active than gun-control-supporting proponents -- and in 1994 ousted many congress members who voted for the two bills. it seems republicans have been coalescing in greater numbers around the nra ever since -- though particularly in the obama years -- partly driven by our country's increased political polarization. as this latest survey on gun rights shows, in<u+00a0>the gun debate, the nra is still king.

the nra-ification of the republican party

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to watch the video of photographer tim tai getting pushed around by a turf-protecting scrum of protesters at the university of missouri is to experience constitutional angst. <u+201c>you don<u+2019>t have a right to take our photos,<u+201d> said one protester at the university<u+2019>s mel carnahan quadrangle following the news that university system president tim wolfe and chancellor r. bowen loftin would resign amid an uproar about racial issues on campus. <u+201c>i do have the right to take photos,<u+201d> replied tai, a 20-year-old senior at the university who was shooting the proceedings on monday on assignment for espn.com. a former staff photographer for the columbia missourian, tai was forced by circumstances to double-task as he attempted to take photographs and provide civics lessons. following the announcement of the resignations, tai chronicled a celebration including the protest group concerned student 1950. after 10 minutes or so of jubilation, said tai in an interview with the erik wemple blog, protesters decided that it was time to push the media away from an encampment of tents on the quad<u+2019>s lawn. <u+201d> <u+2018>media, get off the grass,<u+2019> <u+201d> said the organizers, as tai recalls. yet he wasn<u+2019>t backing up. he wanted some good shots of the tents, and that<u+2019>s where the trouble started. <u+201c>you<u+2019>re an unethical reporter; you do not respect our space.<u+201d> those were just a few of the taunts that tai received as he attempted to do his work. his references to a certain founding document persuaded precisely none of his opponents. <u+201c>ma<u+2019>am, the first amendment protects your right to be here and mine,<u+201d> he said. at one point, tai tangled with a protester about the absence of any law proscribing his presence on this disputed grass. <u+201c>forget a law <u+2014> how about humanity?<u+201d> protested the protester. so much for the ideal of the american collegiate quad as a locus of tolerance and free expression. time to usher in a new ethic of intimidation, a twist that carries some irony at the columbia, mo., campus. back in february 1987, 58 protesters seeking the university<u+2019>s divestiture from companies that do business in south africa were arrested for trespassing on the quad. they were dropped in all cases but one, who secured an acquittal on the grounds that the quad was a highly public space. <u+201c>the people who were trying to impede the photographer, in effect, were trying to impede his rights to be there,<u+201d> says sandy davidson, a curators<u+2019> teaching professor at the university of missouri school of journalism. nor was tai intent on peering into the tents with his lenses. <u+201c>i was not trying to get into the tents,<u+201d> says tai. <u+201c>i wanted a picture of the tents, placing it in the quad <u+2026> because that<u+2019>s part of the story.<u+201d> regarding the restraint that the protesters were demanding, tai felt this wasn<u+2019>t the time. <u+201c>i think <u+2026> there are times when it<u+2019>s best for photographers to put their camera down,<u+201d> he says. however: <u+201c>in this situation, this was national news, breaking news <u+2026> at a public university and the students involved have become public figures.<u+201d> upon checking his photos, tai realized that the obstruction worked. <u+201c>they didn<u+2019>t turn out well because all the hands were in the way, and you know <u+2026>,<u+201d> he says. were he to be given a redo, he<u+2019>d likely just move to another spot. <u+201c>at the moment, i felt i had to stand up for being there,<u+201d> he says. tom warhover, executive editor of the columbia missourian, said the tai video aligns with recent events. <u+201c>the protesters all week have asked people kind of to stay out of the tent area proper, if you will, and so we<u+2019>ve had many confrontations because it is a public space and <u+2026> other students have a right to be there,<u+201d> says warhover, who approves of how tai carried himself: <u+201c>i<u+2019>m pretty proud of tim<u+2019>s actions, both standing up for himself and his job but doing it in a way that didn<u+2019>t provoke.<u+201d> through his travels, tai has learned that on one hand, the protesters <u+201c>want to protect idea of privacy and protect a safe space where not they<u+2019>re not overwhelmed with the attention. on the other hand, they want to control the narrative themselves because they feel the media has not treated minority or black stories accurately.<u+201d> there<u+2019>s no excuse for protesters to push a photographer in a public square; there<u+2019>s no excuse for protesters to appeal for respect while failing to respect; there<u+2019>s no excuse for protesters to dis the same rights that allow them to do their thing. and there<u+2019>s even less excuse for faculty and staff members at the university of missouri to engage in some of this very same behavior. in his chat with this blog, tai cited the involvement of richard j. <u+201c>chip<u+201d> callahan, professor and chair of religious studies at the university. in the opening moments of the video, callahan faces off with tai over whether the photographer can push to get any closer to the tents. <u+201c>i<u+2019>m not gonna push them,<u+201d> says tai. moments later, the protesters resolve to throw up their hands (literally) to show tai who owns this public roost. callahan participates in this collective action. as tai swivels his camera from place to place, callahan shuffles to block the sight paths. behold these screenshots: callahan, after moving a bit to the left and holding up his hands. callahan again, after moving to the right with hands aloft. the religious studies prof paired agility drills with his censorship. a source with access to callahan<u+2019>s tweets (they<u+2019>re <u+201c>protected<u+201c>) passes along these screenshots to yield some insight on his views regarding the media and the protests at the university: callahan didn<u+2019>t respond to e-mails and phone calls. the university<u+2019>s media office said it has no comment at this point on the staffers. not only did tai identify callahan as the person at the start of the video, but so did peter legrand, a graduate who took courses from callahan. at the 2:00 minute mark in the above video, janna basler, the university<u+2019>s assistant director of greek life and leadership, adds her own thuggish sensibilities to the mix: <u+201c>sir, i am sorry, these are people too. you need to back off. back off, go!<u+201d> in her showdown with tai, basler lays bare how little she knows about photography. as they tussle about a woman with whom tai had just finished arguing, basler says, <u+201c>she gets to decide whether she<u+2019>s going to talk to you or not.<u+201d> tai responds like someone who<u+2019>s interested in securing images, not quotes: <u+201c>i don<u+2019>t want her to talk to me,<u+201d> he says as basler gets in his face. when tai asks her whether she<u+2019>s with the office of greek life, basler responds, <u+201c>no, my name is concerned student of 1950.<u+201d> and the video ends with assistant professor of communication melissa click essentially threatening a journalist: <u+201c>who wants to help me get this reporter out of here? i need some muscle over here.<u+201d> these three university employees had a chance to stick up for free expression on monday. instead, they stood up for coercion and darkness. they should lose their jobs as a result. update: the university<u+2019>s journalism school dean has released a statement reading, in part, as follows:

university of missouri, please immediately fire employees who taunted media

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nearly five years after president barack obama signed the affordable care act into law, federal budget scorekeepers have sharply revised down the projected costs of the signature bill. in the latest projection, published by the nonpartisan congressional budget office on monday, the major provisions of the law will cost the government 11% less than they forecast six weeks ago, or $142 billion over the coming decade.

future obamacare costs keep falling

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clinton<u+2019>s campaign did just that this week, condemning sanders for <u+201c>trying to convince the next generation of progressives that the democratic party is corrupt.<u+201d> the notion that sanders had to try to convince progressives of this in the first place is ludicrous. the warmongering, corporate-funded, pro-privatization democratic party leadership has long made it loud and clear that it is thoroughly corrupt and reactionary. yet clinton and her supporters happen to be correct about one thing; they are just right for the wrong reasons. bernie sanders is not a democrat. and this is a good thing. what the clinton camp appears to be incapable of understanding is that the democratic party is less and less popular among progressive americans. since the rise of the clintonian <u+201c>new democrat<u+201d> almost three decades ago, the party has moved so far to the right it has little in common with the base it purports to represent. president obama campaigned on the promise of change, but, in many ways, his presidency <u+2014> particularly in the first term <u+2014> was george w. bush lite. the obama administration barely even slapped the banks and financial elites responsible for the great recession on the wrist. not a single wall street executive went to jail while, today, the very banks responsible pose just as much of a systemic risk as they did in 2008. the obama administration killed thousands of people, including an unknown number of civilians, with its secretive drone war. it expanded the war in afghanistan <u+2014> twice <u+2014> dragged its feet on guant<u+00e1>namo,<u+00a0>backed a right-wing military coup that overthrew honduras<u+2019> democratically elected left-wing government and dropped 23,400 bombs on six muslim-majority countries in 2015. the obama administration waged a mccarthyite crackdown on whistleblowers, using the world war i-era espionage act to clampdown on more than all previous presidential administrations combined, while drastically expanding the surveillance state. this is the democratic party americans have grown up with in the past nearly 30 years, since the rise of the clintonism. and, in these same decades, wages have stagnated, poverty has increased and people have become more and more dissatisfied with the way things are. it is true that sanders<u+2019> social democratic politics are similar to those of new deal democrats. he often jokes that many of his policies were supported by president dwight eisenhower <u+2014> a republican in the 1950s. yet the democratic party of the mid-20th century is long gone. since the fall of the soviet union, the u.s. has drifted more and more to the right <u+2014> and taken much of the international community with it. during the cold war, western capitalist countries had to at least pretend to be concerned with fighting inequality and systemic discrimination. today they no longer have to compete with an alternative. as the republican party has shifted to the extreme, far-right, the democratic party moved along to the right with it. instead of holding ground (shifting to the left was not even on the table), the democratic party embraced neoliberalism. the so-called <u+201c>third way<u+201d> paved by the clintons is just another word for this process. hillary clinton, a figure greatly admired by neoconservatives (who are overwhelmingly backing her over trump), represents a continuation of this status quo <u+2014> a status quo millions upon millions of americans have said they refuse to tolerate anymore. americans are desperate for actual change, and sanders has offered a new path. clinton has flatly insisted that americans cannot have basic things that much of the world takes for granted <u+2014> single-payer health care, free public higher education, environmental policies that don<u+2019>t rely on fossil fuel corporations that destroy the planet. sanders says otherwise. the democratic party is a party of corporate influence and military power. it is chock-full of 1 percenters, with leaders like chicago mayor rahm emanuel <u+2014> who shuts down public schools en masse and covers up police killings of unarmed black residents <u+2014> or debbie wasserman schultz <u+2014> who is working to help loan sharks. many of the things that have been called for by donald trump, a fascistic demagogue, have already been implemented by the democratic party. the obama administration has deported more than 2.5 million people <u+2014> more than any other president. it is sending central american refugees fleeing violence back to where they are killed. the obama administration is more and more heavily militarizing the border, a process that began with the clinton administration<u+2019>s passing of nafta. the obama administration is discriminating against muslims throughout society, with widespread police surveillance and entrapment, along with shadowy policies like the no-fly list. when clinton<u+2019>s campaign and her supporters implore americans to oppose sanders because he is not a democrat, it is nothing more than a disingenuous appeal to authority. what they are really saying is loyalty to the democratic party is more important than loyalty to the left-wing ideals that it supposedly espouses. this is the textbook definition of rank opportunism. for them, being a loyal democrat is more important than having left-wing politics. under eight years of a democratic presidential administration, life for the average working-class american, and particularly for the average working-class american of color, has not gotten better; it has gotten worse. the clintons, the most powerful force in the democratic party, happen to embody everything that is wrong with it. it was under their leadership that the party took its most reactionary, and despicable, turn. bill and hillary gutted welfare and passed the anti-lgbtq defense of marriage act. bill and hillary advocated for neoliberal trade deals like nafta and the trans-pacific partnership. bill and hillary have made millions of dollars speaking for corporations and banks. moreover, the clintons are one of the most corrupt families in u.s. politics. the clinton foundation has been described by investigative journalist ken silverstein as a <u+201c>so-called charitable enterprise [that] has served as a vehicle to launder money and to enrich family friends.<u+201d> unlike that of the clintons, sanders<u+2019> record is not just consistent; it is squeaky clean. and it is consistent and squeaky clean precisely because sanders is not an opportunist. sanders, a longtime independent, is not a party hack. he is a principled leftist who is only running on the democratic ticket because he knows this, at the present political moment, is the only way he could have a chance of winning. when it comes to third parties, the u.s. is an incredibly undemocratic country. most of the world<u+2019>s democracies have some kind of space for non-hegemonic parties. and in much of europe in particular, where governments are based on parliamentary systems, third parties can play at least a small role in the political system. this is not so in the u.s., where there are countless obstacles to democracy in u.s. elections <u+2014> with limited debates, closed primaries, unelected superdelegates and of course the electoral college. sanders<u+2019> popularity proves that americans are hungry for real left-wing politics, for the kind of left-wing politics the democratic party has long abandoned. the fact that a 74-year-old, bald and frankly unattractive man, a vermont senator with a brooklyn accent whom most americans had never heard of until this year, has been doing so incredibly well is a testament to just how popular <u+2014> and one might even say correct <u+2014> his socialist ideas are. an enormous grassroots movement has been built around sanders. this movement has exploded in very little time. it is led by the youth, particularly by young women and people of color. what we are witnessing right now is the resurgence of a new left throughout the u.s. <u+2014> and throughout the world. sanders is part of this much larger international trend, with figures like jeremy corbyn in the u.k., or podemos in spain. and sanders is aware of this. when he says <u+201c>not me, us,<u+201d> he is acknowledging that the social movements around him are much more important than he is as a mere individual. the fact that he has responded to pressure from black lives matter and the palestinian solidarity movement demonstrates this. those like hillary clinton, who are desperate to cling on to the old vestiges of establishment power, are not part of this new left-wing resurgence; they are in fact impediments to it. even if sanders does not win the primary, one of his many important accomplishments will be helping to expose to millions upon millions of americans just how reactionary and corrupt the democratic party is. he should be thanked for this, not condemned.

yes, bernie sanders is not a democrat <u+2014> and hillary represents the very worst of the party

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hillary clinton<u+2019>s camp late sunday issued a significant clarification about the steps they say were taken to review thousands of personal emails before they were deleted, claiming her team individually read <u+201c>every email<u+201d> before discarding those deemed private. clinton spokesman nick merrill made the clarification in a written statement to fox news. this comes after the former secretary of state<u+2019>s office revealed last week that while more than 30,000 <u+201c>work-related<u+201d> emails were turned over to the state department, nearly 32,000 were deemed <u+201c>private<u+201d> and deleted. this admission raised questions over how her team decided to get rid of those messages. merrill on sunday clarified an earlier fact sheet that described some of those methods but did not say every email was read. <u+201c>we simply took for granted that reading every single email came across as the most important, fundamental and exhaustive step that was performed. <u+00a0>the fact sheet should have been clearer in stating that every email was read,<u+201d> merrill said. clinton, a likely democratic presidential candidate, tried to tamp down the controversy over her exclusive use of personal email while secretary of state during a press conference last week. but the admission that she deleted thousands of messages, and her insistence that her personal server remain private, stirred the ire <u+2013> and curiosity -- of lawmakers who want greater access to her communications as secretary and complain much of it may be gone forever. whether the assurance that <u+201c>every email<u+201d> was read before being either deleted or turned over eases those concerns remains to be seen. <u+201c>i have zero interest in looking at her personal emails,<u+201d> south carolina gop rep. trey gowdy said on <u+201c>fox news sunday.<u+201d> <u+201c>but who gets to decide what<u+2019>s personal and what<u+2019>s public? and if it<u+2019>s a mixed-use email, and lots of the emails we get in life are both personal and work, i just can<u+2019>t trust her lawyers to make the determination that the public<u+2019>s getting everything they<u+2019>re entitled to.<u+201d>

clinton camp issues clarification on deleted emails, claims <u+2018>every<u+2019> message was reviewed

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(cnn) cnn commentators and guest analysts offer their take on monday night's presidential candidate debate. the opinions expressed in these commentaries are solely those of the authors. david gergen: clinton crushed trump, but was that enough? coming into the presidential debate, i thought that if hillary clinton won decisively, she would virtually lock up the election. coming out, it was clear that she did win decisively but i suspect that the campaign will remain ferociously close. by all traditional standards of debate, mrs. clinton crushed. she carefully marshaled her arguments and facts and then sent them into battle with a smile. she rolled out a long list of indictments against donald trump, often damaging. by contrast, he came in unprepared, had nothing fresh to say, and increasingly gave way to rants. as the evening ended, the media buried him in criticisms. even so, i doubt she has put him away. for one thing, trump supporters aren't judging him by traditional standards. they have heard establishment politicians over-promise and under-deliver for so long that they crave something different. they were quick last night to see yet more signs of media bias. trump was an angry figure, yes, but he is also giving voice to their anger. those who are for him are likely to stick, despite his ineffectual performance. equally to the point, mrs. clinton seemingly struggled in the debate to create closer emotional bonds with voters. she has been vexed with the issue of likeability throughout this campaign and in recent months her team has become concerned about her ability to mobilize millennials in the way that barack obama did so successfully. her arguments last night should have made voters think, but i am not sure they will make them march. perhaps i am wrong. perhaps hillary did lock up the race monday night. trump certainly blew it. but i imagine the race goes on, and the ultimate decision will be left where it should be: with the voters. stay tuned for the vice presidential debate next tuesday! s.e. cupp: trump (mostly) did the job i had two criteria upon which i would judge monday night's debate. not "who looked more presidential," or "who fact-checked whom the best." those aspects go to their bases, not the voters who will determine this election outcome: undecideds. hillary clinton had one job. she had to make donald trump look dumb. for undecideds, it will matter less that he's a bully or a liar. she has issues with trust, too. what will scare them is how unprepared he is. every chance she gets to point this out has the potential to add points. unfortunately for clinton, she didn't take many of them. while she pointed out that his "cavalier attitude" toward nuclear weapons was dangerous, time and again, she punted at opportunities to point out how ill-informed and unprepared trump is. instead, she preferred to argue his vague platform on its merits. for her, this wasn't damaging, but it didn't move the needle in her favor. in contrast, trump mostly did the job he had to do. to move undecideds, he had to hammer one point home: clinton is a politician who doesn't get it. over and over again, he attacked her as more of the same, out of touch, and a politician who hasn't gotten it right. he didn't go after her character or personal issues, for the most part -- which voters know well. she outmanned him on specifics and details. but his attacks were far more effective than hers. while clinton was right to suggest the fact-checkers get busy on his statements -- many were misleading -- if i'm looking at who moved the needle tonight with voters, it was trump, not clinton. and, robby mook, i assure you, this anti-trump conservative isn't grading him "on a curve." hillary clinton did her homework on donald trump in the week leading up to tonight's debate, and the prep work paid off, especially when it came to his business record. "it must be something really important, even terrible, that he's trying to hide," clinton said of trump's tax returns, turning the tables on allegations that she's hiding something in her deleted emails. "it just seems to me that this is something the american people deserve to see." clinton even took a step further and pointed out that trump didn't pay any income tax returns in certain years, a strategy designed to chip away at the blue-collar demographic that he's cultivated in the last few years. trump, who's worked up a populist campaign saying that the government has stiffed the little guy, put his own foot in his mouth, butted in and said "that makes me smart." it was a tough attack to which trump will need an answer in future debates. as a clinton supporter, it pains me to say trump won. clinton was too restrained, too smart -- and as much as i hate to say it -- she was too presidential. and being presidential won't help her win the election. she spoke to the intellectuals tuning in; she did not speak to the average american. her advisers told her to restrain from attacking trump. she got the wrong counsel and it could cost her the election. her rebuttal to trump's incoherent rants was to chuckle and tell viewers to check in with the fact checkers. the fact checkers won't win the election for her. she needed to take him out at the knees. we know clinton is smart, what we needed to see was a woman who is tough and won't take nonsense from anyone. she failed to do that tonight. tonight, she was nice. nice won't win the presidency. donald spent the night sniffing constantly before he spoke. to paraphrase one tweeter: he's allergic to his own crap. he lost the 400-pound vote but he won the debate and unless clinton changes tactics he's going to win the election. as a real estate mogul, donald trump is more than familiar with the expression "location, location, location." in presidential debates, it's temperament, temperament, temperament. history has not been kind to dan quayle's perceived weakness, george h. w. bush's time check or al gore's sighs. and it won't be kind to trump's undisciplined, defensive rants. trump's debate performance was a combined rehash of the insolence of his primary debates, the rambling hyperbole of his rallies, with a sprinkle of detail to bolster his message of economic populism. although trump scored points on that issue, he whiffed badly when confronted about his failure to release his taxes and struck out on the issues of race, birtherism and foreign policy. it was, frankly, surprising how easily trump took hillary's bait. coming into monday night's debate, national polls were essentially tied and battleground states were tightening. with expectations set historically low, all trump had to do was behave well enough to convince undecided voters he was in fact fit to hold the highest office in the land. in order to win the white house, trump needs more moderates, minorities and women to support him. yet he engaged in juvenile attacks on hillary's looks and stamina instead of her failed record. trump had an opportunity to put hillary clinton away and failed miserably. he is who is he is and continues to act unworthy of the office. hillary clinton was the closer. she pulled off a victory, but only after trump looked as if he might run away with that victory in the first half of the debate. clinton was clearly in command of the facts, but trump was making the simpler -- if highly inaccurate -- case for defending american jobs. substance aside, he initially came across as caring about those who have lost jobs to trade. but trump's initial strength unraveled as the debate progressed. by the time it was over, clinton unmasked trump as a con man over his failure to release tax returns and penchant for not paying his workers. he all but acknowledged he doesn't pay taxes, saying "they would be wasted," seeming more like an abusive one-percenter than a man of the people. his birther explanation made no sense, and his claim that hillary has been "fighting isis your entire life," was as ridiculous as his notion of stealing iraq's oil. his denial of the well-established fact that he supported the iraq war was a most awkward dance. that was probably the first and last debate in presidential history to include a discussion of rosie o'donnell's looks. as such, it was tremendous entertainment -- pure reality tv. but it was also very hard to pick a winner. donald trump won on the basis of spectacle. hillary clinton's strategy was to rise above the occasion and let him talk himself into losing. that actually allowed trump to land one blow after another without clinton fighting back. she wittily put him down a couple of times. but mostly she just smiled oddly at the camera. she was, to use a trumpism, low energy. that was a mistake. yes, trump sunk to new lows when discussing the birther issue -- claiming that he helped put it to rest when he actually stirred it up. yes, he was barely coherent on defense, taxes etc. there was a three-minute section when he detailed a phone call with sean hannity about iraq. yes, the donald was low on specifics, too. but he did have clear themes that he rammed home. after 90 grueling minutes, i looked down at my pad and read back the key words that i'd jotted down. "law and order." "country doing badly." "bad experience." "emails." clinton's policies on solar panels and equal pay did not cut through. it could not compete with his passion, his articulation of populist anger. so i give this a technical win to trump because he understood the format, he blew it apart, and he dominated the evening. but that will alienate as many people as it will attract. moreover, i'm not even sure it'll make that big a difference. objectively deducing who won or lost is almost impossible when partisan tensions are this high. most viewers either agree with him or with her. and a small minority watched it and thought, "how the hell did things come to this?" the debate will likely harden impressions, not soften hearts. the impression is that trump has matured into an effective champion of the working class. but clinton looks like a president-in-waiting. timothy stanley is a historian and columnist for britain's daily telegraph. he is the author of "citizen hollywood: how the collaboration between l.a. and d.c. revolutionized american politics." out of control. that's how i'd describe the first presidential debate between hillary clinton and donald trump. what a train wreck for any voter who wanted to hear details about policy. instead, we got trump shouting insults and one-liners, interrupting clinton, trying to take over the conversation. shockingly, trump admitting to the world: he was "smart" not to pay his federal income taxes; he supported a return of "stop and frisk" policing, even though it was ruled racial profiling and unconstitutional by the courts; and he defended his family's housing discrimination practices against blacks and latinos, essentially saying it was just something everyone did back then. clinton's sit-back-and-watch-him-implode strategy was frustrating at times but it worked. she could, however, show more passion when discussing her policies. on the issue of race, clinton missed a perfect opportunity to talk more about her plan for law enforcement reforms and systematic racism in our justice system. still for me, trump lost the debate tonight. talking loud and saying little shouldn't be a path to the white house. roxanne jones, a founding editor of espn magazine and former vice president at espn, has worked as a producer and as a reporter at the new york daily news and the philadelphia inquirer. she was named a 2010 woman of the year by women in sports and events, is a co-author of "say it loud: an illustrated history of the black athlete," and ceo of the push marketing. she supports hillary clinton for the presidency. julian zelizer: debate unlikely to have dramatic impact overall, it is unclear that monday night's debate will have a huge impact on the direction of the polls. the best moments for donald trump came in the first half hour, where he baited her into defending unpopular free trade deals. there were many reasons that hillary clinton supporters could be pleased with her performance. at several points, trump was irritated and angry. he delved into some of his more controversial claims. he referred to sean hannity as evidence to support his claims about the iraq war. clinton consistently appeared poised and attacked with methodical precision. the most effective part of clinton's attacks was to connect him to a kind of trickle-down economics and raise questions about his business record. clinton's best moments came when she attacked him on birtherism. in the final half hour, trump was mired deep in his trumpian statements about women's looks and more. but clinton's greatest advantage remains the dynamics of the electoral college and the continued doubts about his capacity to be president. it is very hard for a single debate to change the game. and it is unclear that this debate had the kind of dramatic moment that will fundamentally reshape public opinion -- overwhelming all of the other factors that have caused her lead to shrink. the most unfavorable moments for trump are not worse than anything he's done before -- and those moments have not undercut his campaign thus far. haroon moghul: trump lost, but so did all of us near the end of monday night's debate, hillary clinton looked straight into the camera to address america's allies. she wanted our friends and partners in nato, and allies like japan, south korea, and others to know that we meant to honor our obligations. in that moment, donald trump entirely disappeared, and clinton no longer looked like a candidate for president. she sounded like she was already president. trump? he managed to incorporate his very large portfolio into nearly every comment he made. eventually i expected him to announce he knew best how to defeat isis because he built a hotel in mosul. so, yes, trump lost. but we lost, too. all of us, as americans. it's a disaster for any democracy when there is only one responsible candidate running for office, let alone the highest in any land. trump's language over the campaign has been racist and authoritarian; he has indulged anti-semites and winked at white supremacists when he was not busy with plans for mass deportations or islamophobic bans. it's not a good thing that 100 million people are watching these two candidates debate, because 100 million people shouldn't take a would-be fascist seriously enough to debate his case for the white house. one of my favorite new shows is netflix's "stranger things." unfortunately, we're the ones living in the upside down. haroon moghul is a senior fellow and director of development at the center for global policy. his next book, "how to be a muslim," will be out in 2017. civility went south fast in monday's debate. donald trump lost his composure early, ranting, interrupting (over 20 times) and sniffing. (under the weather, or out of his comfort zone?) hillary clinton started out soft, playing the grandmother card, but quickly escalated to tough talk and occasional sarcasm. it could hardly have gone otherwise. clinton hit hard at trump, bringing up his admiration of russian president vladimir putin, his "long record of engaging in racist behavior," his denial at having supported the iraq war, and his refusal to allow the american people to see his tax returns. in doing so, clinton did americans a big favor: she revealed trump's limitations. he is simply unable to make those leaps of imagination and generosity necessary to transform from a businessperson to a national political leader. the candidate who claims to do everything big showed the smallness of his thinking tonight. with his off-key rejoinders, he demonstrated repeatedly how he sees everything -- people, properties, cities, and entire countries -- in terms of how they factor into his business and personal universe, which seem to be one and the same. i'll get to pennsylvania avenue one way or another, he said tonight, as though the white house and his new trump hotel are entities of equal importance. perhaps they really are, in his mind. clinton alone demonstrated the composure, wisdom, and broad vision necessary for executive office. she won the debate hands down. ruth ben-ghiat is a professor of history and italian studies at new york university, a specialist in 20th-century european history and a frequent contributor to cnn opinion. her latest book is "italian fascism's empire cinema." she supports hillary clinton for the presidency. the reality tv star and businessman who loves giving nicknames earned himself one tonight: "sniffles." from the beginning through the end of the first debate donald trump seemed to have something going on with his sinuses. it seemed a fitting metaphor for a night on which the usual expert showman was seriously off his game. besides the sniffles, trump made faces and sighed. he scowled. he interrupted. he took innumerable drinks of water, something for which he used to mock marco rubio. in so doing, trump lost this debate to a clearly up-to-the-task hillary clinton. either trump failed to prepare, or his prep sessions did not stick. this is a debate that will likely be studied in college communications, advertising, and gender courses for years to come. without the benefit of a live audience cheering his one-liners, trump seemed deflated and not on his best form at all. his constant interruptions of clinton will do him no favors with women voters. his bragging, in effect, about forcing president barack obama to produce his birth certificate will not go over well with black voters. and his rambling answers at times descended into incoherence. in response to a question about cybersecurity, he mentioned that cyberattacks could be coming from "someone sitting on their bed weighing 400 pounds." uh, what? clinton did not let opportunities go by to score points with independents or moderate voters, reminding viewers that trump once saw the mortgage crisis as a business opportunity, and she discussed race relations in thoughtful terms. meanwhile, trump made truly bizarre statements, such as she has been been fighting isis for 30 years! and "african-americans and hispanics are living in hell, you walk down the streets, you get shot." note to trump: testiness is not a presidential look. the fact that at several points trump was arguing with moderator lester holt showed that things were not going his way. in one of the most notable moments of the night, trump's declaration that he had a much better temperament than clinton earned spontaneous laughter from the audience at hofstra university. as trump might say: "sad." unusual omissions tonight: no mentions of trump's feuds with everyone from a distinguished mexican-american judge to a gold star family. more glaringly: no discussion of immigration. whether viewers agree with clinton's positions or not, she was able to articulate them in a reasonable and rational manner. she did well, and she knew it. she was obviously ready to discuss problematic issues like her emails. the grin on her face near the end of the debate was evidence that she was aware that she had had a great night. once you've traveled the world, negotiated treaties, and testified before congress for 11 hours, she said to trump with a hint of mockery, then "you can talk to me about stamina." mic drop. game over. tonight at least, hillary clinton won. this was a remarkable moment in american political history. has there been a prior event in which a candidate has so completely and remarkably demonstrated his unfitness for the presidency, in character, temperament, preparation and aptitude? donald trump's now-familiar pattern of winning debates through sheer bluster and braggadocio was effective when he was facing a gaggle of opponents, all of whom had similar ideologies but less exaggerated stage personas. but faced with a single rival with clearly distinct ideas and experience and a staunchly unflappable attitude, he seemed rude, ignorant, volatile and churlish. despite pundit assertions that hillary clinton had the burden of proof in this debate, the truth is that she simply needed to hold strong and let hurricane trump blow itself out. and she did. sadly, moderator lester holt was a non-presence in the debate. but his inability to restrain trump proved an asset to clinton, who spent much of the time leaning back and smiling to herself, knowing that her opponent was weaving his own hanging rope. jeff yang is a columnist for the wall street journal online and contributes frequently to radio shows, including pri's "the takeaway" and wnyc's "the brian lehrer show." he is the co-author of "i am jackie chan: my life in action." donald trump's supporters like to refer to his movement as "the trump train." well, tonight the trump train went off the rails. big time. but for those who somehow thought, up until monday night, that donald trump might somehow be qualified to be president, monday's debate was a wakeup call. he seemed like a defensive, petulant bully who could only insult hillary clinton and america -- and couldn't offer a single solution, let alone details. he came across as not only dreadfully unprepared for the debate, but dreadfully unprepared to be president. which is the truth. and it's high time all americans know it. in moment after moment, hillary clinton presented a knowledgeable and clear-eyed vision for how to help working families and continue america on the path to security and prosperity. donald trump, in contrast, lied, and got defensive. he was petty and insulting, and then lied some more. lies apparently can only get the trump train so far. eventually it runs out of steam. hillary clinton showed herself to be the kind of person you want in the white house. and donald trump showed himself to be the kind of kindergartner who should have his train taken away and instead given a timeout. the conventional wisdom going into the first debate was that donald trump would have to tone it down and appear more presidential. trump definitely took a more staid and steadied approach, but it didn't work. his bravado and charm were largely absent from the stage. trump the showman can dance around policy pitfalls and distract from some of his less than successful business dealings. sedate donald had far fewer tools at his disposal, and looked like he couldn't wait for the 90-minute snooze-fest to end. hillary clinton didn't give a memorable performance, but she didn't have to. most americans expect madame secretary to drone on, joylessly, about policy, and wave her curriculum vitae like a club against her enemies. she met expectations, which was enough, and during some of the actual policy exchanges clearly had the upper hand on knowledge and background. trump had huge areas of vulnerability to exploit in his opponent, and he barely touched her on them -- from benghazi to her emails to the allegations of clinton foundation corruption. he will need a much stronger showing in his next debate or this thing will be over long before november. nayyera haq: trump looked more like grumpy cat than a leader trump's glass jaw was exposed throughout clinton's onslaught of policy laden counter-punches. trump came into this debate attempting to appeal to a broader audience, so he needed to leave behind the showmanship and bravado that worked for him in the primary and instead carry himself with presidential composure. but his calm voice lasted only 20 minutes and his listening face made him look more like grumpy cat than a leader, showing that rehearsed moves just don't work for him. trump had clinton momentarily against the ropes early on about nafta and tpp, but then he allowed his emotion to take over and did not regain his own footing for the remainder of the debate. his heavy handed depictions of america's problems didn't hold up against hillary's detailed, solution oriented answers. his snorting asides were countered with some surprising zingers from hillary -- "donald criticized me for preparing for this debate. you know what else i prepared for? to be president." trump crumbled under hillary's attacks on his business record, lack of transparency on taxes, and understanding of african-american communities. by the time it came around to national security, the contrast in experience was even more clear, with clinton nimbly moving around the globe and trump invoking his 10-year-old son--who, he told us, is good at computers -- in a discussion of cyber security. trump's abrupt defensiveness, especially on the issue of his temperament, allowed clinton to come across as the champion of those who have been taken taken advantage of by big business and systemic racism. calling this fight for hillary.

who won the debate?

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"to just be grossly generalistic, you could put half of trump's supporters into what i call the 'basket of deplorables,'" hillary clinton said at a new york fundraiser on sept. 9. "the racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, islamaphobic, you name it. and unfortunately, there are people like that, and he has lifted them up." (video: the washington post / photo: ap) hillary clinton's declaration friday night at a new york fundraiser that<u+00a0>"half" of donald trump's supporters fit into a "basket of deplorables" seems, in its tersest formation, like a stupid comment to make. the new york times's michael barbaro sums up that sentiment. but my summary above is not a fair condensation what clinton said <u+2014> and the fuller context makes it clear what she was aiming at. "to just be grossly generalistic," clinton said according to a transcript from buzzfeed's ruby cramer, "you could put half of trump's supporters into what i call the basket of deplorables. right? the racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, islamophobic <u+2014> you name it. and unfortunately there are people like that. and he has lifted them up." she talked a bit about how trump has interacted with that racist element and then continued. "but the other basket <u+2014> and i know this because i see friends from all over america here <u+2026> but that other basket are people who feel that the government has let them down, the economy has let them down, nobody cares about them, nobody worries about what happens to their lives and their futures <u+2014> they're just desperate for change. <u+2026> those are people we have to understand and empathize with as well." trump's campaign <u+2014> and trump himself <u+2014> quickly tried to make hay from the first part. but there are two ways in which this differs from something like president obama's "cling to guns and religion" comments from another fundraiser in 2008. the first is that the "clingers" remark disparaged something that was positive: a person's religion or their cultural affinity for gun ownership and sportsmanship. it was a dismissal of things of which people were proud. clinton, however, was saying that half of trump's base was motivated by negative inclinations: racism, sexism. no one is going to say, "hey, how dare you disparage my family's history of being racist." trump's tweet said she insulted his supporters, but clinton clearly delineated between two groups of supporters, and she offered words of understanding to the latter. so let's break the electorate out into four groups and consider how the comment will play. 1. clinton supporters. they support clinton; it seems unlikely they'll be put out. 2. racist/sexist/xenophobic/islamophobic<u+00a0>trump supporters. how big a group is this? it's hard to say. clinton's spokesman nick merrill tried to defend his boss's use of "half" by saying on twitter that the racist/xenophobic types "appear to make up half of his crowd" at events. (update: clinton issued a statement on saturday apologizing for implying it was "half" of trump supporters.) we do know that 7 percent of trump supporters think the candidate is racist, suggesting that they themselves don't see racism as a dealbreaker. regardless of the actual fraction of the trump base this group constitutes, clinton's not likely to change their minds away from their preferred candidate, either. 3. non-'deplorable' trump supporters. this group will go one of two ways. they'll either a. see clinton's remarks as insulting them as a whole, or b.<u+00a0>be reminded that there are elements of trump's base of support that makes them uncomfortable. that sense may spur them to be less enthusiastic to go vote for trump in november. but notice: either way, there's no loss for clinton! if she spurs some trump supporters to reconsider, the loss is to trump. [republicans think hillary clinton just made her own <u+2019>47 percent<u+2019> gaffe. did she?] 4. undecided voters. they'll go one of two ways, too, it seems. some may think clinton was being rude and be less likely to support her. some may similarly be reminded about elements of trump's base that they don't like and be less likely to back him. this is a much smaller group than the number of trump backers, mind you. in the current realclearpolitics average, trump backers are about 43 percent of the electorate and undecided voters are about 12 percent. if clinton sways 5 percent of the (let's say) 90 percent of trump backers who aren't "deplorables"<u+00a0>to rethink their support, that's 2 percent of the overall electorate. if she loses 10 percent of the undecideds, that's 1.2 percent of the electorate. that's assuming the shorthand here doesn't collapse into "clinton insulted all trump supporters." this is the point that barbaro was making. clinton may have been trying, once again, to separate out non-racist/sexist/xenophobic trump backers by pointing to those supporting trump who do hold those objectively deplorable views. it's a tricky line to walk <u+2014> but compared with<u+00a0>"clingers," for example, she's in a slightly better position. and then there's that other thing about obama's "clingers" comment: he won anyway <u+2014> twice.

who will hillary clinton<u+2019>s <u+2018>basket of deplorables<u+2019> comment actually alienate?

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u.s. authorities said friday there is no known threat to the american homeland in the wake of the deadly terror attacks in paris, but cities across the country were taking precautions while intelligence officials expressed alarm over the methodology and planning that was evident behind the terrorist acts. more than 120 people were killed when a series of apparently coordinated shootings and explosions rocked paris, which officials said evoked memories of the deadly 2008 terror attacks in mumbai, india. "the department of homeland security and the federal bureau of investigation are closely monitoring events in paris and we are in contact with our counterparts in the region," homeland security secretary jeh johnson said in a statement. "at this time, we know of no specific or credible threats of an attack on the u.s. homeland of the type that occurred in paris tonight." it is still unclear who was behind the attacks. one u.s. counterterrorism official told cnn that the attacks resemble tactics that have been used by a number of terror groups -- including al qaeda's focus on mass casualty and visibility, and the small, tactical nature of attacks that are more the hallmark of isis and its acolytes. the official noted that algerian terrorist groups have attacked in paris in the past, though they don't have much capability to do what unfolded in paris. meanwhile, u.s. officials are still trying to determine if there are any u.s. connections with the terrorists or the victims and are working with their french counterparts to ensure there are no immediate threats to the u.s. two additional u.s. counterterrorism officials told cnn that authorities across the u.s. have convened secure conference calls to try and gather information. and a federal law enforcement official said federal authorities are working with local police agencies around the country to task sources domestically and internationally for information about any individuals possibly associated with the attacks. they're also going back to look at whether there was any intelligence missed indicating these attacks were going to happen, the law enforcement official said, adding that the fbi is also putting additional personnel on standby to be deployed to france to offer any support such as bomb technicians and computer analysts. president barack obama, french president francois hollande, second from right, and paris mayor anne hidalgo arrive at the bataclan, site of one of the paris terrorists attacks, to pay their respects to the victims after obama arrived in town for the cop21 climate change conference early on monday, november 30, in paris. the eiffel tower in paris is illuminated in the french national colors on monday, november 16. displays of support for the french people were evident at landmarks around the globe after the deadly terrorist attacks in paris on friday, november 13. people hold hands as they observe a minute of silence in lyon, france, on november 16, three days after the paris attacks. a minute of silence was observed throughout the country in memory of the victims of the country's deadliest violence since world war ii. french president francois hollande, center, flanked by french prime minister manuel valls, right, and french education minister najat vallaud-belkacem, center left, stands among students during a minute of silence in the courtyard of the sorbonne university in paris on november 16. a large crowd gathers to lay flowers and candles in front of the carillon restaurant in paris on sunday, november 15. a man sits next to candles lit as homage to the victims of the deadly attacks in paris at a square in rio de janeiro on november 15. people light candles in tribute to the paris victims on november 15 in budapest, hungary. people gather outside notre dame cathedral in paris on november 15 for a national service for the victims of the city's terror attacks. people write messages on the ground at place de la republique in paris on november 15. people pray during a candlelight vigil for victims of the paris attacks at a church in islamabad, pakistan, on november 15. french golfer gregory bourdy passes a peace symbol for the paris victims during the bmw shanghai masters tournament november 15 in shanghai, china. a man offers a prayer in memory of victims of the paris attacks at the french embassy in tokyo on november 15. a woman holds a candle atop a miniature replica of the eiffel tower during a candlelight vigil saturday, november 14, in vancouver, british columbia. front pages of japanese newspapers in tokyo show coverage and photos of the paris attacks on november 14. an electronic billboard on a canal in milan, italy reads, in french, "i'm paris," on november 14. the eiffel tower stands dark as a mourning gesture on november 14, in paris. more than 125 people were killed in a series of coordinated attacks in paris on friday. people around the world reacted in horror to the deadly terrorist assaults. lithuanians hold a candlelight vigil in front of the french embassy in vilnius, lithuania, on november 14. thousands gather in london's trafalgar square for a candlelit vigil on november 14 to honor the victims of the paris attacks. a woman lights candles at a memorial near the bataclan theater in paris on november 14. a man places a candle in front of le carillon cafe in paris on november 14. a woman holds a french flag during a gathering in stockholm, sweden, on november 14. nancy acevedo prays for france during the opening prayer for the sunshine summit being held at rosen shingle creek in orlando, florida on november 14. french soldiers of the united nations' interim forces in lebanon observe the national flag at half-staff at the contingent headquarters in the village of deir kifa on november 14. a couple surveys the signature sails of the sydney opera house lit in the colors of the french flag in sydney on november 14. a woman places flowers in front of the french consulate in st. petersburg, russia, on november 14. candles are lit in hong kong on november 14 to remember the scores who died in france. a woman lights a candle outside the french consulate in barcelona, spain, on november 14. britain's prince charles expresses solidarity with france at a birthday barbecue in his honor near perth, australia, on november 14. the french national flag flutters at half-staff on november 14 at its embassy in beijing. dutch prime minister mark rutte after a speech on november 14 in the hague following the attacks. japanese prime minister shinzo abe becomes emotional after his speech on the french attacks during the opening ceremony of a japanese garden in istanbul, turkey, on november 14. a woman mourns outside le carillon bar in the 10th district of paris on november 14. the attackers ruthlessly sought out soft targets where people were getting their weekends underway. people lay flowers outside the french embassy in moscow on november 14. mourners gather outside le carillon bar in the 10th district of paris on november 14. "we were listening to music when we heard what we thought were the sounds of firecrackers," a doctor from a nearby hospital who was drinking in the bar with colleagues told le monde. "a few moments later, it was a scene straight out of a war. blood everywhere." people attend a vigil outside the french consulate in montreal. prime minister justin trudeau offered "all of canada's support" to france on friday, november 13, in the wake of the attacks. police show a heightened presence in times square in new york on november 13, following the terrorist attacks in paris. people light candles at a vigil outside the french consulate in montreal on november 13. university of nevada, las vegas, fans observe a moment of silence for the victims of the terrorist attacks in paris before a basketball game november 13. the house lights are shut off and scoreboard dark as boston celtics players pause for a moment of silence for the paris victims before an nba basketball game against the atlanta hawks in boston on november 13. people light candles at a vigil outside the french consulate in montreal on november 13. one of the primary reasons for alarm among u.s. counterterrorism officials is the lack of relevant intelligence before the attacks began. intelligence agencies are looking at communications intercepts for clues as to any advanced planning or coordination, a u.s. intelligence official said. the u.s. collects overseas communications in europe and elsewhere, and in the past, such reviews have uncovered emails and other communications that show planning, the intelligence official added. local police departments moved quickly to place units on extra alert. in los angeles, extra police were deployed at critical sites like airports. in washington, enhanced patrols were sent near the capitol. in new york city, the new york police department was giving special attention and increasing its presence at soft targets such as nightclubs, theaters and museums, along with locations tied to france, another federal law enforcement official said. authorities are also scrutinizing known terror suspects in the u.s. and boosting surveillance of them, the law enforcement officials said. "we will not hesitate to adjust our security posture, as appropriate, to protect the american people," an fbi spokesperson said in a statement. "dhs and the fbi routinely share information with our state, local, federal and international law enforcement, intelligence and homeland security partners, and continually evaluate the level of protection we provide at federal facilities." sign up for cnn politics' nightcap newsletter, serving up today's best and tomorrow's essentials in politics.

u.s. officials: no known threat in wake of paris attack

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the drudge report has aggressively portrayed ted cruz<u+2019>s sweep of all the delegates from colorado<u+2019>s republican convention as a corrupt power grab. the site named for matt drudge, who broke the story of bill clinton<u+2019>s affair with monica lewinsky and still runs it, links to nine stories this morning with salacious headlines about the convention. among them: <u+201c>savage: cruz should disavow rigged colorado election <u+2026> buchanan: apparatchiks thieve delegates for ted <u+2026> 1 million republicans sidelined <u+2026> border patrol agents: colorado voters disenfranchised.<u+201d> keep in mind that this is three days after the colorado convention. our analytics partners at zignal labs say the drudge attacks are breaking through on social media in a significant way. this word cloud, which tracks all cruz mentions since saturday, shows the extent to which drudge has shaped the conversation about cruz<u+2019>s win in colorado. note the prominence of the words <u+201c>cheating<u+201d> and <u+201c>drudge<u+201d>: this kind of squabbling will only get louder as the delegate wrestling and wrangling intensifies. and it has clearly gotten under cruz<u+2019>s skin. in a radio interview yesterday, the texas senator ripped into drudge as an arm of donald trump<u+2019>s campaign. <u+201c>in about the past month, the drudge report has basically become the attack site for the trump campaign,<u+201d> he told conservative host mike slater. <u+201c>so every day they have the latest trump attack. they<u+2019>re directed at me. <u+2026> most days they have a six-month-old article that is some attack on me, and it<u+2019>s whatever the trump campaign is pushing that day will be the banner headline on drudge.<u+201d> <u+201c>by the way, they no longer cover news,<u+201d> cruz added of drudge. <u+201c>when we win a state, suddenly the state doesn<u+2019>t matter. you know colorado <u+2014> there was no red siren on drudge when we won all 34 delegates in colorado.<u+201d> drudge responded by posting a link to a january fox news<u+00a0>interview in which cruz praised the conservative site for breaking the mainstream media<u+2019>s <u+201c>stranglehold." it<u+2019>s never good to pick a fight with a guy who buys ink by the barrel, as they say. or whatever the 2016 version of that line is. if it was just trump complaining about the <u+201c>crooked<u+201d> system, it would seem like sour grapes from a guy who got out-hustled. but the donald<u+2019>s allies in the right-wing media, including drudge and breitbart, are trying to<u+00a0>make cruz<u+2019>s wins seem illegitimate in the eyes of the conservative base.<u+00a0>if cruz wins the nomination at a contested convention in cleveland, he will need these grass-roots activists<u+00a0>to rally around him. if regular drudge readers believe he did not win fair and square, they will be less inclined to do so. interestingly, the increasing scrutiny from drudge comes as the democratic national committee begins to train more of its fire at cruz. after focusing almost single-mindedly on trump for months, the dnc held a press call yesterday to blast the texan ahead of campaign stops in california. ironically, they pushed a similar message as drudge: <u+201c>cruz<u+2019>s campaign is proving to be just as divisive for the republican party as his tenure in the senate has been for our country,<u+201d> said the dnc communications director. <u+201c>that<u+2019>s why there just isn<u+2019>t a whole lot of excitement for cruz being the republican nominee.<u+201d> <u+2013> donald trump says he identifies with howard roark from ayn rand<u+2019>s <u+201c>the fountainhead.<u+201d> he praised the novel and its protagonist in a broader interview with usa today that posted yesterday. <u+201c>it relates to business, beauty, life and inner emotions. that book relates to ... everything,<u+201d> the gop front-runner told the paper. columnist kirsten powers writes that she pointed out that <u+201c>the fountainhead<u+201d> is <u+201c>in a way about the tyranny of groupthink.<u+201d> trump reportedly sat up and told her, <u+201c>that<u+2019>s what is happening here.<u+201d> for those who haven't read the book<u+00a0>since high school, roark is an architect who dynamites a housing project he designed because he is angry about changes that others made to his blueprints. he<u+2019>s then put on trial for arson, but a jury acquits him after he delivers an eloquent speech about the need to always stay true to one<u+2019>s self. gary cooper delivered the courtroom monologue in the 1949 film adaptation: bottom line, roark is a self-centered individualist who steadfastly refuses to submit to the will of others. <u+201c>he is presented as the author's version of an ideal man <u+2014> one who embodies the virtues of rand's objectivist philosophy,<u+201d> the cliffnotes character analysis explains. <u+201c>roark is an example of free will <u+2014> the theory that an individual has the power, by virtue of the choices he makes, to control the outcome of his own life. a man's thinking and values are not controlled by god or the fates or society or any external factor <u+2014> but solely by his own choice.<u+201d> is the donald threatening to blow up the republican party if he<u+2019>s spurned in cleveland? he almost certainly has not thought through the implications of publicly identifying with roark and embracing objectivism. but it<u+2019>s nonetheless another revealing window into his psyche. it<u+2019>s also a reflection of how trump does not play by the same rules that normal politicians must.<u+00a0>in<u+00a0>2012,<u+00a0>paul ryan tried hard to distance himself from rand, whose work he had often praised. <u+201c>i adored her novels when i was young, and in many ways they gave me an interest in economics,<u+201d> he told the new york times magazine in 2014. <u+201c>but as a devout, practicing catholic, i completely reject the philosophy of objectivism.<u+201d> while you were sleeping: -- forty percent of former nfl players show signs of traumatic brain injuries, according to a groundbreaking study that will be presented at next week<u+2019>s american academy of neurology. this is one of the largest studies performed on living nfl players, and it offers <u+201c>the most conclusive evidence yet<u+201d> of a definitive link between brain injury and playing football. travis m. andrews explains that the study is based on sensitive mri scans called diffusion tensor imaging. more on the republican race: -- phyllis schlafly is facing backlash after endorsing trump last month, including an attempt<u+00a0>to oust her as the head of the eagle forum, the conservative group she founded 44 years ago to stop the equal rights amendment.<u+00a0>from<u+00a0>david weigel: "ed martin, who schlafly elevated to president of eagle forum in 2015, told [the post]<u+00a0>that schlafly had not been ousted yet, but that it was clearly the plan of eagle's board. in an interview with worldnetdaily, which publishes her work, the<u+00a0>91-year-old schafly speculated<u+00a0>that her trump endorsement and opposition to the idea of a national convention of states had roiled her opponents." -- john<u+00a0>kasich, speaking<u+00a0>today in manhattan, will call<u+00a0>his candidacy the gop's only way out of a <u+201c>path to darkness.<u+201d> <u+201c>without naming cruz or trump, kasich plans to indict them both,<u+201d> writes weigel, who<u+00a0>reviewed<u+00a0>the planned remarks. -- ben carson continues to be the worst surrogate of the cycle. he<u+00a0>admitted yesterday that his support for trump is <u+201c>purely pragmatic" and said he'd<u+00a0>probably oppose him <u+201c>if the stakes weren<u+2019>t so high.<u+201d> (buzzfeed) --<u+00a0>trump told usa today he could envision putting marco<u+00a0>rubio in his cabinet. <u+201c>yes. i like marco rubio. yeah. i could,<u+201d> he said. <u+201c>there are people i have in mind in terms of vice president. i just haven<u+2019>t told anybody names. ... i do like marco. i do like kasich. <u+2026> i like [scott]<u+00a0>walker actually in a lot of ways. i hit him very hard. ... but i<u+2019>ve always liked him. there are people i like, but i don<u+2019>t think they like me because i have hit them hard.<u+201d> -- more delegate setbacks for trump,<u+00a0>in addition to the ones outlined in yesterday's 202. per<u+00a0>ed o'keefe,<u+00a0>trump also<u+00a0>got outgunned last weekend in: more on the democratic race: -- three new york polls: with one week until the primary, trump and clinton are dominating: so much for home-field advantage: that<u+00a0>monmouth survey finds only 29 percent of voters consider clinton -- who has lived in the state for 16 years and served as senator for eight years --<u+00a0>to be a <u+201c>real new yorker,<u+201d> while 28 said the same for sanders, who left the state after high school. -- tensions continued to escalate in the battle for new york: clinton devoted a long island campaign event entirely to gun control, all but blaming sanders for crime in new york city.<u+00a0>from philip rucker and abby phillip: <u+201c>clinton convened a round table-style discussion <u+2026> where she, along with the local congressman, rep. steve israel (d), and gun-safety advocates hammered sanders....<u+00a0>'here<u+2019>s what i want you to know: most of the guns that are used in crimes and violence and killings in new york come from out of state. the state that has the highest per-capita number of those guns that end up committing crime in new york come from vermont,<u+2019> clinton said, eliciting gasps.<u+2026> <u+2018>so this is not, <u+2018>oh, no, i live in a rural state. we don<u+2019>t have any of these problems.'" the post's fact checker gives clinton three pinocchios for this line of attack: "clinton has carefully crafted the talking point to find the particular government data that support her point, which gives a wildly different view than how trafficking flows are tracked," michelle ye hee lee writes. "we do not find the per capita measure as a fair assessment of gun flows from vermont into new york. the difference between this point using per capita calculation and the raw number (1 percent of crime guns with source states identified in 2014 came from vermont) is so stark that it creates a significantly misleading impression to the public." sanders called for a national ban on fracking. the vermont senator released a new ad to highlight<u+00a0>his opposition, narrated by actress susan sarandon. "do washington politicians side with polluters over families?" asks sarandon. "they sure do, because big oil pumps millions into their campaigns. bernie sanders is the only candidate for president who opposes fracking everywhere." -- joe biden said sanders calling clinton "unqualified"<u+00a0>was not<u+00a0>sexist but something said<u+00a0>in the heat of a campaign. during an interview with mic.com,<u+00a0>the vice president was asked about sanders<u+2019> comment and if he thought hillary is held to a higher standard because she is a woman. <u+201c>no, i don<u+2019>t think she<u+2019>s held to a higher standard,<u+201d> he replied. <u+201c>this country<u+2019>s ready for a woman,<u+201d> biden elaborated. <u+201c>there<u+2019>s no problem. we<u+2019>re going to be able to elect a woman in this country.<u+201d> when the female interviewer asked biden if he<u+2019>d like to see a woman elected, a male aide to the vp interrupted from off camera and tried to end the interview. <u+201c>that<u+2019>s it,<u+201d> he said. <u+201c>i would like to see a woman elected,<u+201d> biden said. <u+201c>i don<u+2019>t mind,<u+201d> he told the staffers standing off camera. <u+201c>the president and i are not going to endorse because we both when we ran said, <u+2018>let the party decide.<u+2019> but gosh almighty, they<u+2019>re both qualified,<u+201d> he added. <u+201c>hillary is overwhelmingly qualified to be president.<u+201d> -- <u+201c>past cases suggest hillary won<u+2019>t be indicted,"<u+00a0>by politico's<u+00a0>josh gerstein:<u+00a0>a review of dozens of recent federal investigations<u+00a0>"suggests that it<u+2019>s highly unlikely, but not impossible.<u+00a0>the examination <u+2026> found some parallels to clinton<u+2019>s use of a private server for her emails, but, in nearly all instances that were prosecuted, aggravating circumstances [existed]<u+00a0>that don<u+2019>t appear to be present in clinton<u+2019>s case. the relatively few cases that drew prosecution almost always involved a deliberate intent to violate classification rules as well as some add-on element <u+2026> a boeing engineer who brought home 2000 classified documents and whose travel to israel raised suspicions; a [nsa] official who removed boxes of classified documents and also lied on a job application form. and former prosecutors, investigators and defense attorneys generally agree that prosecution for classified information breaches is the exception rather than the rule.<u+2026> 'they always involve some <u+2018>plus<u+2019> factor,<u+2019> one former federal prosecutor said.<u+201d> -- bill de blasio intimated in an interview with katie couric that his kids are supporting sanders, even though he<u+2019>s backing clinton.<u+00a0><u+201c>my kids will speak for themselves,<u+201d> he told the yahoo anchor, <u+201c>but i<u+2019>ll say this much, they<u+2019>re the kind of young person that is going to fight for change, no matter what. and absolutely will support the democratic nominee, whoever it is.<u+201d> (watch the full interview here.) -- <u+201c>denmark, a social welfare utopia, takes a nasty turn on refugees,<u+201d> by griff witte:<u+00a0>"lise ramslog was out for a stroll in denmark when she stumbled upon hundreds of exhausted asylum seekers. 70-year-old ramslog instantly decided to help, transporting several refugees to sweden. many would consider ramslog a good samaritan. but the danish government has a different term for her: convicted human smuggler. denmark is celebrated as a social-welfare utopia. ranking high in its pantheon of heroes are those who protected jews during the holocaust, or who helped oppressed during the cold war. but when it comes to those fleeing 21st-century conflicts, denmark has gone into overdrive to broadcast hostility <u+2026> while germany continues to welcome asylum seekers, and others held doors open for as long as they could, denmark has taken a hard line almost from the beginning. now ordinary danes are getting caught up in the crackdown, punished for quintessentially good deeds. 'i<u+2019>m proud of what i did and will never regret ... it,'<u+00a0>said ramslog, her eyes welling with tears. 'but i don<u+2019>t want to be known as a criminal.'" -- meet trump<u+2019>s <u+201c>beltway establishment guy<u+201d> --<u+00a0>campaign lawyer and former fec chairman donald f. mcgahn ii. by<u+00a0>ben terris:<u+00a0>"the night trump notched his first presidential win, he took the stage and lit into special interests that he declared corrupted washington. over his shoulder, a ruddy-faced man licked his teeth. he appeared out of place and seemed to know it. mcgahn is one of [the country<u+2019>s] top election lawyers, a job so highly specialized that its practitioners are almost unavoidably <u+2018>washington insiders<u+2019> by definition....<u+00a0>for a while, mcgahn's colleagues either didn't know the firm was representing trump or didn't mind. that changed late last month when mcgahn organized a meeting between the candidate and more than a dozen lawmakers at the firm [jones day].<u+2026> many current employees just about lost their minds.<u+201d> lesson learned: if you tweet to ernest moniz about his hair, he might tweet back: there was a cash bar at cruz's event in orange county: looks like shailene woodley is for sanders: the scaffolding keeps coming down around the capitol dome: more than 400 arrests were made yesterday at the capitol in connection with democracy spring demonstrations. (martin weil) former senator<u+00a0>carl levin now has a ship named after him: cindy mccain hung out with heidi heitkamp and cory booker over the weekend: the old washington post building is almost gone: -- cbs, <u+201c>meet the <u+2018>trump bros,<u+2019><u+201d> by jacqueline alemany: "eighteen-year-old jack rowe sat in the front row of a trump rally sandwiched between friends. rowe had some thoughts on trump's rhetorical treatment of women, which had been dominating headlines. 'misogyny was an issue about maybe 60, 80 years ago,'<u+00a0>said rowe. 'you know, isis is chopping off heads <u+2026> we<u+2019>ve got bigger fish to fry.'<u+00a0>young men like rowe are a common sight at trump rallies: mostly white, they travel in packs. they are dudes, jocks, preps <u+2026> on the campaign trail, they<u+2019>re known simply as 'trump bros.'<u+00a0>david portnoy, the founder of barstool sports, said trump's appeal to young men speaks to anxiety over creeping 'political correctness.'<u+00a0>'it's an f-u to society, who is telling us we are a bad guy because we like hooking up with girls on spring break,'<u+00a0>he added. and they see trump sticking up for that.<u+00a0>manas, a young entrepreneur <u+2026> whose twitter bio reads 'bros do bro things'<u+00a0>and who made a point of checking himself out in his iphone camera in selfie mode before speaking with a reporter, piped in enthusiastically. 'i love women!'<u+00a0>he said. trump took the stage, and they screamed." -- new york times, <u+201c>trump and new york tabloids resume their elaborate dance,<u+201d> by michael m. grynbaum: <u+201c>as newspaper assignments go, this was a delicate one. fly to florida. walk into trump<u+2019>s hospital room. witness the birth of his second daughter. linda stasi, a gossip columnist for the daily news, did as she was told. <u+2018>i called donald, and he said, <u+2018>you can<u+2019>t come to the hospital!<u+2019><u+2019> she recalled 22 years later. <u+2018>i said, i know, but i<u+2019>m coming anyway.<u+2019> <u+2018>o.k.,<u+2019> trump replied. <u+2018>then come.<u+2019> as the presidential spotlight swings to new york <u+2026> trump is reuniting with the press corps he knows best, a boisterous tabloid culture that spawned and nurtured [his] outsize trump personality. it is also the ink-stained caldron in which trump, over decades, honed the method of media management, cajoling, combating, at times dissembling, that he has unleashed <u+2026> in this year<u+2019>s national campaign. some americans have been caught off guard by [trump<u+2019>s style] but new york<u+2019>s media veterans detect the old playbook at work. <u+2018>we<u+2019>ve had that advantage throughout the whole campaign,<u+2019> said daily news editor jim rich.<u+201d> on the campaign trail: everyone but clinton is in new york. here's the rundown: at the white house: president obama speaks at the belmont-paul women's equality national monument. in the evening, vice president biden speaks at the world foodprogram usa mcgovern-dole leadership award at the organization of american states. on capitol hill: the senate meets at 10 a.m. to resume work on the faa bill. the house meets at 2 p.m. for legislative business. four suspension votes are expected at 6:30 p.m. news you can use if you live in d.c.: -- a damp and cloudy morning followed by sunshine through the rest of the week. <u+201c>scattered showers with a few heavier downpours are possible this morning, bringing our early starting temperatures in the 60s back down into the 50s," the capital weather gang forecasts. "rainfall should be from a tenth to a quarter inch with locally heavier totals. clouds are slow to depart and hence temperatures slower to warm back up vs. yesterday. we<u+2019>ll aim for partly sunny skies by mid to late afternoon with afternoon highs in the low-middle 60s.<u+201d> -- police are seeking the killer of a 15-year-old boy who was stabbed to death yesterday<u+00a0>at the deanwood metro stop in northeast. no word yet on<u+00a0>motive. (clarence williams and peter hermann) -- maryland lawmakers eliminated mandatory minimum sentences for nonviolent drug offenders, marking a major shift to dependency-based treatment and education as alternatives to incarceration. (ovetta wiggins, josh hicks and fenit nirappil) -- in the final hour of maryland<u+2019>s session, legislators<u+00a0>passed a <u+201c>noah<u+2019>s law.<u+201d> the safe-driving bill was named after a slain montgomery county police officer and expands the use of ignition locks for convicted drunk drivers. (ovetta wiggins and josh hicks) -- terry mcauliffe has now vetoed more legislation than any virginia governor since 1998, nixing<u+00a0>bills from the republican legislature on hot button issues like gay rights and<u+00a0>women's access to health<u+00a0>care.<u+00a0>(jenna portnoy) -- the latest of those vetoes:<u+00a0>mcauliffe blocked a bill that would require the<u+00a0>use of the electric chair if virginia could not obtain lethal injection drugs. the governor instead offered a <u+201c>secrecy measure<u+201d> that shields the identity of pharmacies who supplied the drugs.<u+00a0>(laura vozzella and mark berman) -- a 35-year old woodbridge woman was accused of stabbing a three-month-old baby with a kitchen knife. (martin weil) -- police arrested a metrobus rider in silver spring after he began assaulting other passengers and attempted to kick open the bus door. (faiz siddiqui) excited about baseball season? watch this kid bust a move on first base: a rare black rhino was euthanized in zimbabwe after a poacher attack: watch a baby wallaby peek out from his mom's pouch for the first time: finally, check out snl's clinton impersonators through the years:

the daily 202: ted cruz<u+2019>s war with matt drudge could become a huge problem for his campaign

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why a vote for an establishment candidate could be a vote for trump in n.h. a lot of republicans will head to the polls in new hampshire on tuesday, motivated to vote against donald trump. but because of a quirk in how the state party allocates delegates and how fractured the "establishment" field is, it could mean that an anti-trump vote will actually be a vote for the new york billionaire. the state party awards delegates on a proportional basis to presidential candidates based on their vote statewide and by congressional district. but it also has a 10 percent threshold. what does that mean? it means that if a candidate does not get 10 percent of the vote, he gets no delegates. (and this is a hard threshold <u+2014> no rounding.) what's more, not only do those underperforming candidates get no delegates, but whatever delegates they could have gotten based on their vote share go to the winner of the primary (!). and, right now, the favorite is trump. trump, after all, has been leading in the polls in new hampshire by double digits for six straight months. meanwhile, the so-called "establishment" candidates <u+2014> the kind of mainstream republicans that usually prevail in new hampshire <u+2014> are split. and after saturday night's debate, with marco rubio's lackluster performance, that establishment vote could be fractured even further. there are 20 delegates at stake in new hampshire on primary night. here's a look at how the candidates are performing in the polls currently, what that could translate to delegate-wise and how the 10 percent threshold could affect things. according to the realclearpolitics polling average, here's the order of the candidates (with a line inserted to represent the 10 percent cutoff): so let's do some math: everyone below the 10 percent threshold <u+2014> bush, christie, fiorina and carson <u+2014> add up to 22 percent. so 22 percent of 20 is 4.4. round down, and that means, roughly, another four delegates would be added to trump's total. instead of a 6-3 delegate win, trump would get 10. thought about another way: some 40 percent of trump's delegates could be coming from people who cast their votes explicitly in opposition to him <u+2014> or at least for candidates running very different campaigns. and, by the way, those delegates are bound to vote for trump at the republican national convention in july, because of changes to the republican national committee's rules <u+2014> that all states that hold their nominating contests before march 15 must award their delegates on a proportional basis, and they must be bound to the candidates.

why a vote for an establishment candidate could be a vote for trump in n.h.

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washington<u+00a0><u+2014> president obama said saturday that u.s. air strikes are hitting the islamic state "harder than ever" amid a stepped-up u.s. campaign in iraq and syria. "we<u+2019>re taking out more of their fighters and leaders, their weapons, their oil tankers," obama said in his weekly radio address saturday. "our special operations forces are on the ground,<u+00a0>because we<u+2019>re going to hunt down these terrorists wherever they try to hide.<u+00a0>in recent weeks, our strikes have taken out the isil finance chief, a terrorist leader in somalia and the isil leader in libya." much<u+00a0>of the recent effort has been directed at the oil smuggling that is the source of much of the islamic state's revenue.<u+00a0>the national security council says coalition airstrikes have destroyed 283 oil trucks, 120 oil storage tanks, and a "significant amount of oil field infrastructure" in eastern syria since nov. 17. the weekly radio address, which focused on terrorism for the second week in a row, was a more optimistic assessment of the war on terror than any obama has given since the islamic state-inspired<u+00a0>dec. 2 shooting in san bernardino that killed 14 people.<u+00a0>"our message to these killers is simple:<u+00a0>we will find you, and justice will be done," he said. obama did not directly address the debate over whether to block muslims from entering the united states, but instead emphasized that most americans are reaching out to their muslim neighbors "to let them know we<u+2019>re here for each other." "political leaders across the spectrum <u+2014> democrats and republicans, liberals and conservatives <u+2014> are standing up, forcefully, for freedom of religion," he said. "that<u+2019>s the message i hope every muslim american hears <u+2014> that we<u+2019>re all part of the same american family." in the republican radio address, rep. will hurd, r-texas, said congress was doing its part by voting to tighten<u+00a0>the visa waiver program that allows people to travel to the united states from many european countries without advance approval. if we get the right information to the right people, we can keep terrorists on the run and off our shores," said hurd, a former cia agent. he said the obama also has to do his part. "we can<u+2019>t contain this threat. we have to defeat it. we need a plan and that<u+2019>s why the house passed a bill that requires the president to come up with a real strategy to defeat isis," he said. "we have to be in this for the long haul."

u.s. is hitting islamic state 'harder than ever,' obama says

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the war on coal is not just political rhetoric, or a paranoid fantasy concocted by rapacious polluters. it<u+2019>s real and it<u+2019>s relentless. over the past five years, it has killed a coal-fired power plant every 10 days. it has quietly transformed the u.s. electric grid and the global climate debate. the industry and its supporters use <u+201c>war on coal<u+201d> as shorthand for a ferocious assault by a hostile white house, but the real war on coal is not primarily an obama war, or even a washington war. it<u+2019>s a guerrilla war. the front lines are not at the environmental protection agency or the supreme court. if you want to see how the fossil fuel that once powered most of the country is being battered by enemy forces, you have to watch state and local hearings where utility commissions and other obscure governing bodies debate individual coal plants. you probably won<u+2019>t find much drama. you<u+2019>ll definitely find lawyers from the sierra club<u+2019>s beyond coal campaign, the boots on the ground in the war on coal. beyond coal is the most extensive, expensive and effective campaign in the club<u+2019>s 123-year history, and maybe the history of the environmental movement. it<u+2019>s gone largely unnoticed amid the furor over the keystone pipeline and president barack obama<u+2019>s efforts to regulate carbon, but it<u+2019>s helped retire more than one third of america<u+2019>s coal plants since its launch in 2010, one dull hearing at a time. with a vast war chest donated by michael bloomberg, unlikely allies from the business world, and a strategy that relies more on economics than ecology, its team of nearly 200 litigators and organizers has won battles in the midwestern and appalachian coal belts, in the reddest of red states, in almost every state that burns coal. <u+201c>they<u+2019>re sophisticated, they<u+2019>re very active, and they<u+2019>re better funded than we are,<u+201d> says mike duncan, a former republican national committee chairman who now heads the industry-backed american coalition for clean coal electricity. <u+201c>i don<u+2019>t like what they<u+2019>re doing; we<u+2019>re losing a lot of coal in this country. but they do show up.<u+201d> coal still helps keep our lights on, generating nearly 40 percent of u.s. power. but it generated more than 50 percent just over a decade ago, and the big question now is how rapidly its decline will continue. almost every watt of new generating capacity is coming from natural gas, wind or solar; the coal industry now employs fewer workers than the solar industry, which barely existed in 2010. utilities no longer even bother to propose new coal plants to replace the old ones they retire. coal industry stocks are tanking, and analysts are predicting a new wave of coal bankruptcies. this is a big deal, because coal is america<u+2019>s top source of greenhouse gases, and coal retirements are the main reason u.s. carbon emissions have declined 10 percent in a decade. coal is also america<u+2019>s top source of mercury, sulfur dioxide and other toxic air pollutants, so fewer coal plants also means less asthma and lung disease<u+2014>not to mention fewer coal-ash spills and coal-mining disasters. the shift toward cleaner-burning gas and zero-emissions renewables is the most important change in our electricity mix in decades, and while obama has been an ally in the war on coal<u+2014>not always as aggressive an ally as the industry claims<u+2014>the sierra club is in the trenches.<u+00a0>the u.s. had 523 coal-fired power plants when beyond coal began targeting them; just last week, it celebrated the 190th retirement of its campaign in asheville, n.c., culminating a three-year fight that had been featured in the climate documentary <u+201c>years of living dangerously.<u+201d><u+00a0> beyond coal isn<u+2019>t the stereotypical sierra club campaign, tree-huggers shouting save-the-earth slogans. yes, it sometimes deploys its 2.4 million-member, grass-roots army to shutter plants with traditional not-in-my-back-yard organizing and right-to-breathe agitating. but it usually wins by arguing that ditching coal will save ratepayers money. behind that argument lies a revolution in the economics of power, changes few americans think about when they flick their switches. coal used to be the cheapest form of electricity by far, but it<u+2019>s gotten pricier as it<u+2019>s been forced to clean up more of its mess, while the costs of gas, wind and solar have plunged in recent years. now retrofitting old coal plants with the pollution controls needed to comply with obama<u+2019>s limits on soot, sulfur and mercury is becoming cost-prohibitive<u+2014>and the epa is finalizing its new carbon rules as well as tougher ozone restrictions that should add to the burden. that<u+2019>s why the sierra club finds itself in foxholes with big-box stores, manufacturers and other business interests, fighting coal upgrades that would jack up electricity bills, pushing for cheaper renewables and energy efficiency instead. in a case i watched in oklahoma city, every stakeholder supported beyond coal<u+2019>s push for a utility to buy more low-cost wind power<u+2014>including a coalition of industrial customers that reportedly included a koch industries-owned paper mill. <u+201c>they<u+2019>re not burning bras. they<u+2019>re fighting dollar to dollar,<u+201d> says attorney jim roth, who represented a group of hospitals on beyond coal<u+2019>s side in the oklahoma case. <u+201c>they<u+2019>ve become masters at bringing financial arguments to environmental questions.<u+201d> as the affordability case for coal has lost traction, the industry<u+2019>s defenders have portrayed the war on coal as a war on reliability, an assault on 24-hour <u+201c>baseload<u+201d> plants that provide juice when the sun isn<u+2019>t shining and the wind isn<u+2019>t blowing. they ask how the sierra club expects america to run its refrigerators around the clock<u+2014>since it also opposes nuclear power and has a separate beyond gas campaign. duncan<u+2019>s group started a twitter meme warning that americans could end up #coldinthedark, and even bloomberg suggested to me in a recent interview that the club<u+2019>s leaders seem to want americans to wear loincloths and live in caves. in fact, neither the decline of coal, nor the boom in renewables has blacked out the grid, and beyond coal<u+2019>s leaders are confident electricity markets can handle much more intermittent power. in any case, they see coal as the lowest-hanging fruit in the struggle to stabilize the climate, not only our dirtiest fossil fuel but the one with the cheapest alternatives. in the long run, combating global warming will depend on a multitude of factors, from electric vehicles to carbon releases from deforestation to methane releases from belching cows, but for the next decade, our climate progress depends mostly on reducing our reliance on the black stuff. coal retirements have enabled obama to pledge u.s. emissions cuts of up to 28 percent by 2025, which has, in turn, enabled him to strike a climate deal with china and pursue a global deal later this year in paris. <u+201c>we<u+2019>ve found the secret sauce to making progress in unlikely places,<u+201d> says bruce nilles, who leads beyond coal from the club<u+2019>s san francisco headquarters. <u+201c>and every time we beat the coal boys, people say: <u+2018>whoa. it can be done.<u+2019><u+201d> the sierra club can<u+2019>t claim full credit for the coal bust. it didn<u+2019>t ratchet down the prices of gas, wind and solar or enact the flurry of epa rules ratcheting up the price of coal, although its lobbyists and lawyers have pushed hard for government support for renewables while fighting in court over just about every coal-related regulation. it didn<u+2019>t produce the energy efficiency boom that has reined in electricity demand, either. still, a bloomberg philanthropies analysis found that at least 40 percent of u.s. coal retirements could not have happened without beyond coal<u+2019>s advocacy. the status quo wields a lot of power in the heavily regulated power sector, where economics and mathematics don<u+2019>t always beat politics and inertia. the case for change keeps getting stronger, but someone has to make the case. when mary anne hitt, beyond coal<u+2019>s national director, first visited indianapolis to fight an inner-city plant, the headline in the<u+00a0>star<u+00a0>was: <u+201c>beyond coal<u+2019>s director faces tough sell in indiana.<u+201d> but after two years of door-knocking, phone-banking and educating officials on the new realities of electricity, the sierra club and its local partners helped shut down the plant. hitt has seen the same kind of miracle in chicago, in omaha, alongside a paiute tribe reservation in nevada, even in coal strongholds like kentucky. it<u+2019>s starting to feel more like a pattern than a miracle. <u+201c>david is fighting goliath every day, and david keeps winning,<u+201d> hitt says. energy analysts have a way of making goliath<u+2019>s new underdog status seem inevitable. then again, it wasn<u+2019>t long ago that their burning question about the u.s. coal industry was not how fast it would go away, but how fast it would grow. the story of coal is a rich vein in the american story, powering our industry, our railroads, our politics. for decades, the work of extracting coal after millions of years underground<u+2014>so dangerous for some, so lucrative for others<u+2014>was seen as god<u+2019>s work. the alchemy of converting coal into valuable energy was seen as a fulfillment of america<u+2019>s destiny to exploit nature for the benefit of mankind, even as the smog spewing out of coal smokestacks was seen as part of the dystopia of urban life. these days, growing concerns about climate have heightened concerns about coal, which produces 75 percent of the power sector<u+2019>s carbon, and more emissions than all our cars and trucks combined. but even at the dawn of the 21st<u+00a0>century, the george w. bush administration<u+2019>s main concern about coal power and fossil energy in general was that the u.s. wasn<u+2019>t producing enough of it. in 2001, an energy task force led by dick cheney, after a series of secret meetings with fossil-fuel executives, called for a new power-plant construction boom, warning that the alternative was a national reprise of the rolling blackouts that had just roiled california. utilities quickly proposed about 200 new coal plants, and faced no organized national opposition. coal plants have a useful lifespan of at least 40 years, so the u.s. was poised to lock in a new generation of dirty power. and all that new capacity was poised to destroy any incentive to develop clean wind or solar power. that<u+2019>s when the sierra club got into its first big coal fight over a proposed billion-dollar plant south of chicago, a welcome-to-the-nfl episode. the chicago area already had poor air quality<u+2014>the coal plants around the loop were known as the ring of fire<u+2014>and local volunteers, led by an indefatigable german immigrant named verena owen, were desperate to block the project. their cause seemed hopeless, but for owen, who is now beyond coal<u+2019>s lead volunteer, it was personal. her best friend had struggled to breathe whenever the air was hazy and eventually died of lung disease, leaving behind a daughter in kindergarten. <u+201c>i don<u+2019>t know how many people we ended up saving, but i know one we didn<u+2019>t,<u+201d> owen says. the first time nilles, at the time a lawyer for the sierra club<u+2019>s midwest office in chicago, tried to attend a hearing about the plant, union members who supported the project came early and packed the hall while the club was holding a news conference. illinois regulators soon rubber-stamped the permit. owen and nilles can still recite the date and time of the news dump: friday, oct. 10, 2003, at 5:10 p.m., so the bureaucrats could ignore their calls and escape for the weekend. and the industry had an even easier time of it elsewhere. nilles later reviewed the record for another billion-dollar plant that broke ground in iowa about the same time, and discovered there hadn<u+2019>t been a single public comment in opposition. <u+201c>everything was going full speed in the wrong direction, and we had no capacity to fight,<u+201d> he says. <u+201c>we realized we needed a strategy. fast.<u+201d> the strategy that nilles devised was to fight every new plant from every conceivable environmental, economic and political angle. the sierra club began organizing boot camps to teach lawyers and volunteers around the region how to block coal permits. demand for the seminars was so intense that, at one point, nilles<u+2019> boss had to remind him that texas was not part of the midwest. but he figured texans who breathed air and drank water had as much to lose from exposure to coal-fired pollutants as midwesterners had. some of the club<u+2019>s funders thought his fight-everything-everywhere approach was unrealistic during a national coal rush, but every proposed plant was in someone<u+2019>s backyard, and the club had members in every corner of the country. nilles couldn<u+2019>t imagine telling any of them their communities would have to be sacrificed for the greater tactical good. environmentalists have always been good at blocking stuff, and over the next few years, the kitchen-sink strategy produced some improbable victories. nilles exploited threats to an endangered clover to delay the chicago-area plant, and the utility eventually abandoned it. a local sierra club chapter stopped a massive plant in kentucky coal country after a 63-day hearing, convincing regulators that the proposal had inadequate pollution controls, and that adequate controls would be exorbitant for ratepayers. these were shoestring crusades with expert witnesses crashing on the couches of volunteers, but the victories felt contagious, spreading hope to activists in other states who read about them on the club<u+2019>s coal listserv. meanwhile, the sierra club was canvassing its members to develop a new long-term strategic plan. to the surprise of then-director carl pope, they overwhelmingly wanted climate and energy to be the top priority, a major shift for a group that had emphasized wilderness conservation since its creation by the legendary outdoorsman john muir. at a meeting in tucson in early 2006, the club<u+2019>s board voted to build the fledgling midwestern anti-coal effort into a national campaign. climate activists are often accused of wasting energy on symbolic movement-building efforts with relatively limited impact on emissions, like their crusades to stop keystone and get universities to divest from fossil fuels. beyond coal<u+2019>s leaders do oppose the pipeline and support the divestment movement, but the rationale for the campaign was all about hunting where the ducks are. <u+201c>it was existential necessity: look how many coal plants they want to build. look how much carbon they<u+2019>d produce. well, it<u+2019>s game over if we don<u+2019>t stop them,<u+201d> pope recalls. <u+201c>if we were going to focus on climate, we had to focus on coal.<u+201d> in a bow to political realism, the initial goal was to make sure coal was <u+201c>mined responsibly, burned cleanly and disposed of safely.<u+201d> but the campaigners didn<u+2019>t really believe coal could be burned cleanly. the original mouthful of a mission soon evolved to <u+201c>move beyond coal,<u+201d> then just <u+201c>beyond coal.<u+201d> it was a much simpler message, helping to unite a variety of activists<u+2014>working for specific neighborhoods, indian tribes, mountains targeted by mining outfits, public health, environmental justice, clean energy, and the climate<u+2014>against a common enemy. the sierra club would be the one constant presence in the war on coal, but it began partnering with more than 100 local, regional and national groups in its battles around the country. the campaign was remarkably successful. nilles and his team scoured every permit application for vulnerabilities<u+00a0>and managed to block all but 30 of the 200 plants proposed in the bush era. the nice thing about fighting new plants was that they didn<u+2019>t exist yet, so it only took one deal breaker<u+2014>too much smog in a high-smog area, too close to a national park, too expensive for ratepayers, whatever<u+2014>to break a deal. some of the plants that did get built still haunt nilles, but those defeats did not doom the decarbonization of america. the game was not over. by 2008, with the economy crashing and power demand slumping, utilities had stopped pushing new coal plants. that<u+2019>s when nilles began plotting to go after old ones<u+2014>an even tougher challenge, but a vital one to avoid the game-over scenario. he had moved to the liberal college town of madison, and he was amazed that an old coal plant a mile from his home still had no pollution controls; it was way dirtier than the new plants he was fighting around the country. the nation<u+2019>s fleet of existing coal plants was still emitting nearly 2 billion tons of carbon and causing an estimated 13,000 premature deaths every year. it felt good to stop projects that would have increased those numbers, but nilles wanted to use the club<u+2019>s newfound expertise to reduce them. <u+201c>it<u+2019>s a lot easier to throw ourselves in front of bulldozers to stop something than it is to shut something down that<u+2019>s already part of the community, paying taxes, generating power, providing jobs,<u+201d> nilles says. <u+201c>but that<u+2019>s where the emissions are.<u+201d> that was also the year obama won the presidency, creating hope for stricter epa regulation of sulfur, soot and ozone, plus the first-ever regulations of mercury, coal ash and carbon. as difficult as it would be to kill plants that had been operating for decades<u+2014>two-thirds of the coal fleet predated the clean air act of 1970<u+2014>nilles thought the combination of top-down rules from washington and bottom-up pressure at state and local hearings could force utilities to confront investment decisions they had been delaying all those decades. most utilities would need approval from their financial and environmental regulators before they could install expensive pollution controls. and while the utilities might be happy to charge their customers tens of millions of dollars for upgrades in order to comply with one new rule<u+2014>plus a tidy profit they<u+2019>re usually guaranteed for capital improvements<u+2014>utility commissions might not let them start down that road if they faced hundreds of millions of dollars in additional compliance costs from rules still to come. once again, the campaign produced some inspiring early wins, including the retirement of that antiquated plant near nilles in madison. he also filed a lawsuit against his alma mater, the university of wisconsin, to get it off coal. the club quickly found that when it could stop investor-owned utilities from getting a blank check to charge ratepayers for coal upgrades, they would usually shut down the plants rather than risk shareholder dollars. that was even true in coal country, where homeowners, businesses and regulators were just as allergic to pricey upgrades<u+2014>and utilities were just as reluctant to foot the bill themselves. as nilles<u+2019> new deputy, hitt, a west virginia activist who had spent years trying to stop mining companies from blowing up mountains in appalachia, found she could do more to protect the mountains by shutting down the plants that used their coal. beyond coal had grown from three staffers to a 15-state operation, but it still lacked the scale to fight 523 plants all over the country. it needed to get a lot bigger. that<u+2019>s when the combative billionaire who has financed his own wars on guns, tobacco and big gulps took an interest in the war on coal. beyond coal<u+2019>s pivotal moment came at a meeting in gracie mansion about, of all things, education reform. michael bloomberg, the wall street savant-turned media mogul-turned new york city mayor, was looking for a new outlet for his private philanthropy. it quickly became clear that education reform would not be that outlet. <u+201c>it was a terrible meeting in every way, and mike was angry,<u+201d> recalls his longtime adviser, kevin sheekey. <u+201c>i said: <u+2018>look, if you don<u+2019>t like this idea, that<u+2019>s fine. we<u+2019>ll bring you another.<u+2019> he said: <u+2018>no, i want another<u+00a0>now.<u+2019><u+201d> as it happened, sheekey had just eaten lunch with carl pope, who was starting a $50 million fundraising drive to expand beyond coal<u+2019>s staff to 45 states. the cap-and-trade plan that obama supported to cut carbon emissions had stalled in congress, and the carbon tax that bloomberg supported was going nowhere as well. washington was gridlocked. but pope had explained to sheekey that shutting down coal plants at the state and local level could do even more for the climate<u+2014>and have a huge impact on public health issues close to his boss<u+2019>s heart. <u+201c>that<u+2019>s a good idea,<u+201d> bloomberg told sheekey. <u+201c>we<u+2019>ll just give carl a check for the $50 million. tell him to stop fundraising and get to work.<u+201d> bloomberg had never thought of himself as a sierra club kind of guy. but he saw coal as a killer, as well as the main threat to the climate, and the club was in the field doing something about it. his only demand was a more analytical approach to the war on coal, with measurable deliverables, complex predictive models for vulnerable plants, and kpi<u+2014>key performance indicators, as pope later learned. <u+201c>the sierra club had never heard of kpi,<u+201d> pope says. <u+201c>we just had a gut instinct for what would work. the mayor said: <u+2018>oh, no, no. this will be data-driven.<u+2019><u+201d> on a sweltering day in july 2011, bloomberg announced his gift to the club on a boat he had chartered on the potomac river, in front of a 63-year-old coal plant he had always noticed on flights into washington. he saw it as a perfect illustration of the city<u+2019>s inability to get anything done. <u+201c>you<u+2019>d think the politicians would at least care about the air they breathe themselves!<u+201d> bloomberg marveled to me in a recent interview. that plant on the potomac is now closed. so is the massachusetts plant that mitt romney once said <u+201c>kills people,<u+201d> a line obama actually used against him in coal-state campaign ads in 2012. so are all of chicago<u+2019>s plants, as mayor rahm emanuel boasted in his first campaign ad in 2015. overall, the 190 plants that u.s. utilities have agreed to retire will eliminate about one fourth of america<u+2019>s coal-fired capacity, a total of 79 gigawatts. and for every watt of coal capacity they<u+2019>re taking out of commission, they<u+2019>ve already installed a watt of wind or solar capacity. the clean air task force estimate of coal-fired premature deaths is down to about 7,500 a year, a decrease of 5,500 since beyond coal went national. and bloomberg<u+2019>s early support has helped attract more than $100 million from top foundations and wealthy individuals like the silicon valley billionaire tom steyer, the climate movement<u+2019>s top political donor. <u+201c>it<u+2019>s a reminder that you can do a lot with no help from congress,<u+201d> bloomberg says. <u+201c>i just wish we could point out the specific people who were saved.<u+201d> to coal backers, beyond coal is pure urban elitist lunacy, the kind of nightmare you get when a nanny-state mayor from new york hooks up with eco-radicals from san francisco and a liberal president in washington. republican senator james inhofe of oklahoma<u+2014>chairman of the environment and public works committee, author of <u+201c>the greatest hoax,<u+201d> thrower of a senate-floor snowball designed to highlight the folly of global-warming alarmism<u+2014>told me it<u+2019>s hard to believe some americans actually want to keep our abundant energy resources in the ground. <u+201c>it<u+2019>s a war on all fossil fuels, and coal is the no. 1 target,<u+201d> inhofe says. <u+201c>you got a president who doesn<u+2019>t care how many jobs it costs, and rich people who don<u+2019>t care how much money they spend. they can do a lot of damage.<u+201d> i got to watch the war in inhofe<u+2019>s state, and the damage wasn<u+2019>t getting done the way inhofe imagined. the job creators were siding with the environmentalists. economics was the most powerful weapon in the sierra club<u+2019>s arsenal. at a dry hearing in a drab courtroom in oklahoma city, a methodical beyond coal attorney named kristin henry, whose bio identifies her as <u+201c>one of the few environmentalists who would never be caught wearing birkenstocks,<u+201d> was pinning down an oklahoma gas & electric executive with a barrage of wouldn<u+2019>t-you-agrees, isn<u+2019>t-it-trues, and would-it-be-fair-to-say<u+2019>s. the power company was out of compliance with a federal air-quality rule called <u+201c>regional haze,<u+201d> so it was offering to convert one of its two coal plants into a natural gas plant. henry knew she couldn<u+2019>t stop that. but og&e also wanted to install massive new scrubbers on the other plant so it could keep burning coal for decades to come. henry was determined to stop that. in the 90 minutes henry spent cross-examining og&e<u+2019>s joseph rowlett in early march, she didn<u+2019>t ask a single question about climate or public health. she focused exclusively on og&e<u+2019>s request for the largest rate increase in state history, a 15 percent hike to finance the utility<u+2019>s $700 million compliance plan. through her deadpan, leading questions, she portrayed og&e as a company desperate to get its customers to foot the bill to prop up an inefficient plant, pursuing retrofits it would never consider if its own shareholders had to swallow the costs, operating in a dream world where regional haze was coal<u+2019>s only challenge. at one point, she got rowlett to admit his calculations assumed there would be no additional coal regulations for the next thirty years, even though the epa intends to finalize at least four new coal regulations this year alone. <u+201c>isn<u+2019>t it true you<u+2019>re assuming zero over the next 30 years?<u+201d> henry asked. the sierra club, even though it didn<u+2019>t sound much like the sierra club, was clearly in hostile political territory. oklahoma attorney general scott pruitt, a conservative republican who has spearheaded a national campaign to protect fossil fuels from legal challenges, had joined og&e in fighting the epa haze rule all the way to the supreme court. now he was supposed to be representing consumers at the og&e hearing before the oklahoma corporation commission, but he hadn<u+2019>t even filed a brief about the record rate hike. <u+201c>that<u+2019>s unheard of,<u+201d> one commission official told me. pruitt didn<u+2019>t attend the hearing, either<u+2014>the day it began, he was in tulsa with mike huckabee raising money for his pac<u+2014>but one of his deputies who did attend occasionally raised objections when og&e witnesses were asked uncomfortable questions. but if the political deck seemed stacked against the sierra club, henry held the economic cards. in oklahoma, coal imported from wyoming now costs more per kilowatt hour than the abundant gas under the ground or the wind that famously comes sweeping down the plain. in another recent haze case, the sierra club cut a deal requiring oklahoma<u+2019>s other major utility to phase out its only coal plant and buy 200 megawatts of wind<u+2014>and the bids came in so low, the utility ended up buying 600 megawatts of wind. that<u+2019>s why wal-mart, the hospital group and the coalition of industrial ratepayers all supported beyond coal<u+2019>s push for more wind in the og&e case. cheap electricity has a way of scrambling political alliances. henry and the lawyers for og&e<u+2019>s corporate customers formed a kind of tag team, taking turns blasting the company for refusing to even study new wind power. they repeatedly pointed out that in-state competitors as well as florida and new mexico utilities were buying oklahoma wind for just 2 cents per kilowatt hour, even cheaper than coal<u+00a0>without<u+00a0>pollution controls, while og&e hadn<u+2019>t purchased new wind in four years<u+2014>even though its ads boasted about its commitment to wind. when its witnesses claimed their transmission lines were too congested to add new wind, henry produced internal documents suggesting the congestion could be fixed for about 3 percent of the cost of the new coal scrubbers. as she pointed out, other oklahoma utilities have much higher percentages of wind power on their systems. closing coal plants can sound radical, but henry framed it for the republican utility commissioners as the conservative response to epa rules, avoiding the risk of <u+201c>stranded<u+201d> investments in outdated plants that might have to be shut down anyway. the most economical way to meet haze limits, she suggested, would be to stop burning the coal that causes the haze. al armendariz, who was obama<u+2019>s dallas-based regional epa administrator and is now beyond coal<u+2019>s austin-based regional representative, says the club<u+2019>s victories in states like georgia, mississippi and kentucky have helped normalize the idea of abandoning coal in oklahoma. <u+201c>we get respect because of our track record,<u+201d> armendariz says. <u+201c>when we say a utility isn<u+2019>t acting prudently, people can<u+2019>t just dismiss us as <u+2018>oh, of course the sierra club says that.<u+2019> they see how we keep winning. they see these big industrial customers agreeing with us. then they look at the numbers and see we<u+2019>re right.<u+201d> still, there<u+2019>s no denying the war on coal is leading america into uncharted territory. the sierra club wants to eliminate all coal power by 2030, but what will replace it? wind and solar, despite their rapid obama-era growth, still make up just 5 percent of u.s. power capacity. and while technologies to store renewable energy (such as tesla<u+2019>s newly announced battery packs) are getting cheaper, they<u+2019>re still a rounding error on the grid. beyond coal<u+2019>s leaders are content to push cleaner power and let utilities figure out how to deliver it, but as og&e vice president paul renfrow told me: <u+201c>that<u+2019>s easy for them to say. we have to keep the lights on.<u+201d> inhofe thinks the sierra club is simply obsessed with rooting out fossil fuels, citing <u+201c>the guy who wants to crucify people<u+201d> as an example of its extremism. he meant armendariz, who left the epa after he was caught on tape suggesting that harsh sanctions for law-breaking oil and gas companies could scare others into compliance, just as public crucifixions helped keep the peace in roman times. <u+201c>the sierra club wants to stop coal now?<u+201d> inhofe asked. <u+201c>you<u+2019>ll see, they<u+2019>ll be after gas next.<u+201d> long-term, he<u+2019>s right.<u+00a0> while the club accepted some donations from natural gas interests under pope, it is now formally committed to eliminating gas as well as coal by 2030, and it has helped block new gas plants in cities like austin and carlsbad, california. after its victory last week in asheville, beyond coal vowed to keep fighting to overturn duke energy<u+2019>s decision to build a new gas plant to replace its 50-year-old coal plant. even bloomberg thinks the club<u+2019>s opposition to the fracking boom that has helped replace so much domestic coal with domestic gas is silly. that said, beyond coal<u+2019>s leaders, including armendariz, understand that beyond gas is more aspirational than practical for now. they deeply prefer renewables to gas, but they almost as deeply prefer gas to coal. in oklahoma city, henry grilled og&e witnesses about why they wanted to spend $500 million on scrubbers for coal boilers that could be retrofitted to burn gas for just $70 million. she shredded the implausible assumptions og&e had made in its economic models to make scrubbing coal look cheaper than converting to gas, forcing one witness to admit gas prices were already 25 percent lower than his low-cost scenario. i sat in on one friendly lunch the club<u+2019>s legal team had with lawyers for a conoco phillips front group; they all hoped to move og&e beyond coal, and gas is clearly part of the short-term solution. <u+201c>we want to be principled but pragmatic,<u+201d> says sierra club executive director michael brune, who stopped the club<u+2019>s gas-industry gifts when he took over in 2010. <u+201c>we<u+2019>ve wrestled with this, and there<u+2019>s a definite disagreement with bloomberg. we don<u+2019>t see gas as an environmental fix. but we acknowledge that we still need some gas.<u+201d> coal is different. bloomberg calls it <u+201c>a dead man walking.<u+201d> when he made his initial gift to the sierra club, the goal was to secure the retirements of one third of the coal fleet by 2015. the club is only slightly behind schedule, and in april, bloomberg came to washington to announce another $30 million donation, with a new goal of retirement announcements for half of the fleet by 2017.<u+00a0> <u+201c>we<u+2019>re doubling down on an incredibly successful strategy,<u+201d> bloomberg said. the campaign<u+2019>s leaders believe coal has already passed a tipping point toward oblivion. coal giants like alpha natural resources, arch coal and walter energy are struggling to stay afloat. just last week, in addition to the retirement announcement for the asheville plant<u+2014>as well as another for a milwaukee plant that wasn<u+2019>t official enough for beyond coal to count as #191<u+2014>the insurance giant axa announced that it will sell off more than $500 million worth of coal investments, the largest financial institution to flee the space to date, while the epa announced it was closing a loophole that allowed virtually unlimited emissions from malfunctioning coal plants, a response to yet another sierra club lawsuit. and the more dirty plants get shut down, the more residents near other dirty plants are asking: why not ours? it<u+2019>s hard to change the status quo, no matter how compelling the economic logic. beyond coal does not just deploy data. it organizes rallies and petitions and float-ins on kayaks; it shames utility executives on billboards and airplane banners; it mobilizes its members to show up at boring hearings where showing up can make a difference. if the oklahoma city case displayed the war on coal as a numerical dispute, another hearing i watched south of detroit was more like a street fight. river rouge is a depressed community at the city<u+2019>s edge, a blightscape of boarded-up bungalows, overgrown lots and pawn shops. there<u+2019>s no grocery store and virtually no medical services, but there is a nice little park where kids play at the playground and adults fish in the detroit river. unfortunately, the park smells like rotten eggs, thanks to sulfur dioxide from a dte energy coal plant overlooking the playground. michigan health officials have called this area <u+201c>the epicenter of the state<u+2019>s asthma burden.<u+201d> the fish aren<u+2019>t safe to eat, either, though people eat them. <u+201c>it<u+2019>s just an unhealthy situation,<u+201d> says alisha winters, a local resident and mother of seven children, two with asthma. <u+201c>they figure they can get away with dumping on us.<u+201d> the epa has called out this area<u+2019>s elevated sulfur dioxide levels, and last year republican governor rick snyder<u+2019>s administration floated a compliance plan that would have required dte to upgrade the coal-fired river rouge power plant or (more likely) close it. but dte proposed an alternative plan with no costly upgrades, and the state quietly accepted it. the sierra club has been mobilizing opposition ever since, drawing an unusual coalition of local whites, african-americans, latinos and arab-americans<u+2014>as well as a busload of white liberals from ann arbor<u+2014>for an environmental hearing in mid-march. the hearing had to be moved from city hall to a school auditorium to accommodate the groundswell of protests, a far cry from that chicago-area hearing over a decade ago where the sierra club got frozen out. <u+201c>we<u+2019>re getting people to cross borders, physical and imaginary,<u+201d> says rhonda anderson, a sharecropper<u+2019>s daughter who is now an organizer for beyond coal. if the oklahoma city hearing was financial, the river rouge hearing was political, a multiracial show of force in <u+201c>i love clean air<u+201d> t-shirts. every speaker opposed the dte plan, including an indian-american medical student, an arab-american law student, an african-american asthma educator, a latina anti-poverty activist and a white nun. ebony elmore, a child care provider who lives a block from the plant, talked about her four siblings and three nieces with asthma, as well as her two parents with pulmonary disease. i happened to ask democratic rep. debbie dingell, who was watching the testimony from the side of the hall, why she was there, just as another resident started telling a story about an 11-year-old local girl who died because she couldn<u+2019>t get to her inhaler in time. a few days later, governor snyder<u+2014>whose top campaign supporters included one michael bloomberg<u+2014>announced a new effort to cut michigan<u+2019>s reliance on coal. that would have been a huge political burden for snyder if he had run for president in a gop primary, where <u+201c>anti-coal<u+201d> will be an epithet like <u+201c>anti-gun<u+201d> or <u+201c>anti-freedom,<u+201d> but he decided not to run, and coal is becoming a huge economic burden for his industrial state. the already frenetic national pace of plant retirements will have to double for beyond coal to meet its 2017 goal, but utilities will face daunting investment decisions over the next two years. the epa recently settled a sulfur lawsuit with the sierra club that could replicate the river rouge dilemma across the nation. the agency has also imposed regional haze plans that already are replicating the oklahoma dilemma in arizona, arkansas and texas. today, beyond coal has more than 100 legal cases pending over power supply. meanwhile, it<u+2019>s pursuing a new strategy on the power demand side, pushing blue states like oregon to stop importing coal-fired electricity, which could shutter plants in red states like montana. even inside texas, the club has worked with relatively progressive cities like austin, san antonio and el paso to replace their coal power with renewables. beyond coal is also continuing to lobby and litigate in washington, pushing obama to drop his <u+201c>all-of-the-above<u+201d> approach to energy and formally enlist in the war on coal. obama has not been as maniacally anti-coal as the industry suggests, punting on ozone rules in his first term to avoid alienating voters in ohio, issuing relatively weak restrictions on coal ash, taking a lenient approach to mining on public land, floating carbon rules with mild targets for the most coal-reliant states. still, when you add up all he<u+2019>s done and all he<u+2019>s doing, you get a tremendously uncertain regulatory environment. senate majority leader mitch mcconnell of kentucky<u+2014>whose wife, elaine chao, recently quit the bloomberg philanthropies board over coal<u+2014>has urged states to defy the clean power plan, but utilities with fiduciary responsibilities don<u+2019>t engage in much civil disobedience. they have already shut down dozens of plants to comply with mercury rules the supreme court could still strike down, and they<u+2019>re starting to think about carbon, too. some coal advocates still hold out hope that the decline can be reversed if republicans can win the presidency and keep congress. <u+201c>we<u+2019>ve got a congress that<u+2019>s sympathetic, but we<u+2019>ve still got a bureaucracy running amok,<u+201d> says mike duncan, the rnc chairman-turned-coal advocate. <u+201c>that will play in 2016. obviously, anytime you elect a leader, it<u+2019>s important to this industry.<u+201d> if the epa stands down under the next president, the pace of retirements could slow. but it probably won<u+2019>t stop. the trends are too strong. nilles recently met with leaders of the utility southern company, which has slashed its dependence on coal in half over the past five years. its executives rejected his vision of a coal-free america by 2030, but some of them suggested 2050 could be realistic. in any case, the sierra club won a lot of coal fights during the pro-coal bush administration, because they were ultimately local fights over local air. the fights also have a global context. the earth is already getting hotter, and the death of american coal would not avert a climate catastrophe if the rest of the world did not follow our lead. but the decline of american coal emissions will help u.s. negotiators insist that other countries do their part in the global negotiations in paris. and while critics of climate action often grumble that it would be foolish for the u.s. to make sacrifices when china is still building a new coal plant every week, that<u+2019>s no longer true. china actually decreased its coal use last year, and is shuttering all four plants in smog-shrouded beijing. the trends killing coal in america<u+2014>cheap gas, wind and solar; more energy efficiency; stricter regulations<u+2014>are trending abroad as well. cash-strapped u.s. mining firms are desperate to solve their domestic problems by selling more coal in foreign markets, but the sierra club has helped lead the fight to block six proposed coal export terminals in the pacific northwest, which will help keep even more coal in the ground. there will be no formal surrender in the war on coal, no battleship treaty to mark the end. but beyond coal<u+2019>s leaders believe they can finish most of their work setting the u.s. electric sector on a greener path over the next five years. the next phase of the war on carbon would be to try to electrify everything else<u+2014>cars and trains that use oil-derived gasoline and diesel, as well as homes and businesses that rely on natural gas and heating oil. nilles hopes power companies like og&e and dte that beyond coal has spent the last decade fighting with<u+2014>but then cutting deals with<u+2014>can become allies in phase two. and allies will be vital, because if king coal seems like a rich and powerful enemy, it<u+2019>s a pushover compared to big oil. <u+201c>once we<u+2019>ve taken out coal, we<u+2019>ll need to take on oil, and who better to help than our new friends in the utility sector who can make money from electrification?<u+201d> nilles says with a grin. <u+201c>it<u+2019>s a long fight. this is how we win.<u+201d>

inside the war on coal

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pope francis, in the first-ever papal address to a joint meeting of congress, delivered a simple but passionate plea for humanity -- urging lawmakers to protect "every human life" and calling for a united response of "hope and healing, of peace and justice" for a world racked by violence and unrest. speaking at the center of american power thursday morning, the pontiff tackled urgent topics spanning immigration, family, the death penalty, climate change, extremism, religious freedom and the refugee crisis.<u+00a0>specifically, he joined american bishops in urging the abolition of capital punishment, and said congress has a "role to play" in addressing global warming. but he also issued a broader and more fundamental appeal, saying lawmakers are tasked with pursuing the "common good," and citing the "golden rule" as a starting point for how countries should respond to all these challenges. "the rule points us in a clear direction," he said, after receiving loud applause and a standing ovation. francis cited the "golden rule" while discussing immigration and the refugee crisis and in making a reference to abortion, a subtle theme during the address. "the golden rule also reminds us of our responsibility to protect and defend human life at every stage of its development," he said, after earlier urging policymakers to use the law to protect "the image and likeness fashioned by god on every human life."<u+00a0>touching on the marriage debate, francis also said he's concerned about "the family," and said "fundamental relationships are being called into question, as is the very basis of marriage and the family." looking beyond social issues, though, the pope bluntly addressed religious violence and the refugee crisis that has resulted. while urging the world to safeguard religious freedom, he warned thursday of rising "fundamentalism" of all kinds. "our world is facing a refugee crisis of a magnitude not seen since the second world war," the pope said, while referencing immigration to the u.s. as well. "... we must not be taken aback by their numbers, but rather view them as persons, seeing their faces and listening to their stories, trying to respond as best we can to their situation. to respond in a way which is always humane, just and fraternal. we need to avoid a common temptation nowadays: to discard whatever proves troublesome." after speaking in the house chamber, francis visited the capitol's statuary hall and its statue of father junipero serra, the 18th-century missionary whom francis elevated to sainthood wednesday in the first canonization on u.s. soil. he then briefly stepped out onto a capitol balcony to address the cheering crowds on the west front. "thank you very much, and god bless america," he said in english to the crowd, and waved. even in a chamber accustomed to receiving foreign dignitaries, the pontiff's historic address stirred an energy and enthusiasm rarely seen at the capitol, with huge crowds showing up outside to catch a glimpse of him and some lawmakers inside showing up early for a good spot -- despite a warning from leaders to refrain from trying to shake the pope's hand. several lawmakers, including house speaker john boehner, were visibly emotional during the pope's visit and address. boehner also met briefly with the pope before he took the podium.<u+00a0>the house chamber was packed with supreme court justices, cabinet officials, diplomats, lawmakers and their guests. during his address, the pope said, "our efforts must aim at restoring hope, righting wrongs, maintaining commitments, and thus promoting the well-being of individuals and of peoples." francis also declared during the address that he sides with u.s. bishops calling for the abolition of the death penalty, saying he believes in "rehabilitation." the pontiff who has been outspoken on the issue of climate change also said the "environmental challenge we are undergoing and its human roots concern and affect us all." he said the u.s. and congress "have an important role to play." some of his strongest remarks, toward the end of his address, concerned the arms trade. "why are deadly weapons being sold to those who plan to inflict untold suffering?" he asked. "sadly, the answer ... is simply for money, money that is drenched in blood." he said "it is our duty to confront the problem and to stop the arms trade." the address was one of the pope's last engagements in washington before leaving for new york on his three-city visit to america that also includes philadelphia. he spoke at the dais where the president delivers the annual state of the union address and monarchs and heads of state have addressed congress. behind sat vice president joe biden and boehner, r-ohio, the first and second in line to the presidency, both catholics. ahead of francis' remarks lawmakers of both parties busily sought political advantage from his stances, with democrats in particular delighting in his support for action to overhaul immigration laws and combat global warming and income inequality. one house republican back-bencher announced plans to boycott the speech over francis' activist position on climate change, which the pontiff renewed alongside president obama on wednesday. but boehner, a former altar boy who invited francis to speak after trying unsuccessfully to bring his two immediate predecessors, john paul ii and benedict xvi, to the capitol, has dismissed concerns that the politically engaged francis would stir the controversies of the day. "the pope transcends all of this," boehner said. for congress and boehner, the pope arrives at a moment of particular turmoil, with a partial government shutdown looming next week unless lawmakers can resolve a dispute over funding for planned parenthood related to the group's practice of providing fetal tissue for research.<u+00a0>for members of congress, his visit may prove little more than a brief respite from their partisan warfare, offering moments of unusual solemnity, uplift and pomp, but without fundamentally shifting the intractable gears of the u.s. political system. after visiting st. patrick's catholic church and the catholic charities of the archdiocese of washington, the pope will depart later thursday for new york for more prayer services and a speech to the united nations. separately, maryland gov. larry hogan, who is battling cancer, said he received a blessing from the pope thursday. the blessing reportedly was given during the event at the catholic charities of washington. "it was an incredible honor to meet his holiness pope francis today in washington and receive his blessings on behalf of all cancer patients," hogan wrote on facebook. "my faith, like the faith of countless other patients like me, gives me strength to defeat this disease, and continue to be the best public steward i can be for the people of this great state." fox news' chad pergram and the associated press contributed to this report.

pope francis delivers message of 'hope and healing' in address to congress

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indeed this movement has its fair share of skeptics, including black folks quick to declare the movement dead on arrival. when i listen to these people, i can never quite detect whether they are being descriptive or prescriptive, but frequently i<u+2019>m convinced it<u+2019>s the latter. there is also a more insidious kind of participant in the movement, the moderate black folks, the respectables, i call them, who still believe that our energies should be spent demonstrating to white people that black people can be self-critical. one such person is jonathan capehart. in a recent column for the washington post, capehart argues, on the heels of the release of the official department of justice report on the shooting of michael brown, that brown is an <u+201c>inappropriate symbol<u+201d> for this new, burgeoning movement. the doj report does ultimately back wilson<u+2019>s recounting of events, that brown reached into his car, punched him, tried to take his gun, ran after being shot, and then turned around and came forward. thus capehart concludes that: i get capehart<u+2019>s play. he ostensibly believes in the rightness of the black lives matter movement, and he hopes that if as a black person, he acknowledges that <u+201c>we<u+201d> were wrong in our assumptions about mike brown<u+2019>s innocence, then he, and by extension <u+201c>we,<u+201d> will retain the moral high ground upon which the movement is built. our claims will be more credible to <u+201c>reasonable<u+201d> white people, who want to believe us, but can<u+2019>t because of their innate disposition toward believing that nothing is racist, unless the n-word is used. moderate black people <u+2013> barack obama included <u+2013> continue to believe that the way to bring white people into the anti-racist fold is by conceding some ground in order to gain more ground. it<u+2019>s an old debate tactic, but it only works if everyone plays fair. there are two problems with this. first, those with racial privilege generally don<u+2019>t play fair in racial discussions.<u+00a0> more than that, they play downright dirty, denying the persistence of racism, trotting out erroneous statistics, blaming black behavior for white racism. the ferguson police department, for example, has conceded nothing even after being found guilty of decades of egregious, consistent and systematic violations of the rights of ferguson<u+2019>s black citizens. second, capehart implicitly concedes that it is black people who must prove that incidents are racially inflected, rather than white people who must prove that they are not. since we now know for a fact that darren wilson policed in a racially hostile city and police department, and since ferguson residents <u+2013> michael brown included <u+2013> knew that long before a justice department report merely affirmed their experience, it is perfectly reasonable for black folks to view ferguson police and police around the country with suspicion. and it is reasonable for black folks to want clear evidence that this incident was not racial. the doj<u+2019>s own report foregoes such conclusions. moreover, though i am absolutely fatigued in my relitigation of the events of aug. 9, i do want to point to two statements in the doj report on the killing of brown, that capehart glosses over in his attempt to be undeservedly magnanimous to darren wilson. first, the report states that though wilson, knowing of the incident with the cigarillos at the convenience store, suspected brown and his friend dorian johnson of the petty crime, when he initially saw them, he told them to <u+201c>walk on the sidewalk.<u+201d> they refused. having visited canfield drive, and seeing the narrowness of the street, i can attest that such a request would have seemed ridiculous and unnecessarily harassing. coupled with the generally hostile context in which the fpd polices, the resistance from the two teen boys makes sense. wilson did not approach them and say he wanted to question them about a crime at a convenience store. he approached them and told them to <u+201c>walk on the sidewalk,<u+201d> according to the doj, or <u+201c>get the fuck up on the sidewalk,<u+201d> according to michael brown<u+2019>s friend. then the report says that wilson parked his car at an angle to keep the two young men from walking any further. <u+201c>wilson attempted to open the driver<u+2019>s door of the suv to exit his vehicle, but as he swung it open, the door came into contact with brown<u+2019>s body and either rebounded closed or brown pushed it closed.<u+201d> then the altercation where brown allegedly reached into wilson<u+2019>s vehicle happened. now let us lay that aside for a moment, to consider that during this entire time, wilson has not let these young men know what his business is with them. he rolled up on them and demanded that they get on the sidewalk in a small apartment complex. beyond that point, the report remains inconclusive on the question of the door making initial contact with brown<u+2019>s body. his friend said the officer slammed the door into brown<u+2019>s body, while wilson says the door either rebounded closed or brown pushed the door closed. this is not insignificant. if these boys perceived this officer as harassing them about the sidewalk and then slamming a door into brown<u+2019>s body, then certainly brown may have reacted aggressively. i do not know, and won<u+2019>t further speculate. i will say, however, that wilson receives the benefit of the doubt even though he works for a corrupt police department with a hostile relationship to the community. are police always worthy of the benefit of the doubt? are young black men ever deemed worthy of the benefit of the doubt? moreover, there are the pure shenanigans that took place in the grand jury in which the prosecutor used an out-of-date and unconstitutional statute about an officer<u+2019>s right to shoot a fleeing suspect in his statements to the grand jury. one of those grand jurors later sued because of blatant irregularities in the legal procedure. but none of this matters in determining mike brown<u+2019>s appropriateness for movement work. first, brown doesn<u+2019>t have to be a perfect victim to be deserving of a place in movement history. the department of justice would never have investigated the ferguson police without brown being killed and the people rising up in protest. second, even if, for the sake of argument, i concede that brown did everything wilson said he did (and i<u+2019>m not conceding any of this, mind you), we must ask why we are outraged at these two young men for not respecting the rule of law in a city where a corrupt police force has exploited and abused its black residents for decades. those who take an oath to uphold the law and protect citizens surely are held to a higher standard than two teen boys engaged in youthful mischief. three, there is no scenario in which a teenager or any other person should be dead for stealing cigarillos and not walking on the sidewalk. period. the black lives matter movement is asking us at base level to reject many of the assumptions that undergird our current thinking about how policing takes place in black and brown communities. why are the police trained to shoot-to-kill rather than to shoot to disarm? why do police use authority and weapons to escalate situations rather than deescalate them? and why, then, are black men the most frequent casualties of these severe police tactics? these are not the kinds of questions that can be asked when the victim is a perfect victim. what, then, is to be gained by arguing that wilson was justified for shooting a kid who allegedly took some cigarillos? to me, this killing is evidence at best of a piss-poor policing structure. moreover, while some witnesses may have been mistaken, all of them were not. just because brown had no bullet wounds in his back, does not mean wilson did not shoot at him as he ran away. the bullet wounds in his forearms very easily could have entered his body while he was running away. the report remains inconclusive on this point, and it is a major point. the report is also inconclusive about whether brown was in fact charging wilson. it concludes only that brown was <u+201c>coming towards wilson.<u+201d> michael brown remains an appropriate symbol of this movement. for one, his acts of resistance and refusal <u+2013> and i do see them as such <u+2013> pointed us to a city that balances its budget on the backs of poor black residents. the police merely act as thuggish enforcers for the racket that constitutes city government. beyond that, this movement, before it is all said and done, will force all of us to grow up and stop believing in the myth of our own purity. we must stop believing that our lives only have value, that they are only worthy of protection, when we<u+2019>ve done everything right. even though i am no believer in capital punishment, we do have an understanding in this country that capital punishment is reserved for capital crimes. if michael and dorian were two white teenagers, it would be easier for us to look at the adult and the person with more power in this situation <u+2013> darren wilson <u+2013> and hold him responsible for escalating a conflict and devastating a community over a pack of cigarettes. in his desire to placate white folks and appear reasonable, jonathan capehart lets wilson off the hook. the implication of capehart<u+2019>s argument is that michael brown is an acceptable, justifiable casualty in this decades-long police war on a small midwestern community. but if you believe that all black lives matter, that is an unconscionable conclusion, one that <u+201c>offends my sense of right and wrong.<u+201d> as <u+201c>respectable<u+201d> blacks are wont to do, the capeharts of the world need to believe that if black people would just <u+201c>act right<u+201d> and <u+201c>do right,<u+201d> we would be all right. but in a system of white supremacy, there isn<u+2019>t that much act right in the world. jonathan, surely you know a suit and tie won<u+2019>t protect you. so we<u+2019>re going to keep on marching, as you said. and we will keep holding aloft the banner of michael brown. we will do so, because black folks have already tested out your theory of respectability. we<u+2019>ve been trying to save our lives by dressing right, talking right and never, ever fucking up since about 1877. that shit has not worked. in an ideal world of crime and punishment, the officer would have had the legal leeway and good sense to pick these boys up, take them back down to the convenience store, make them apologize and work out an arrangement to work off the cigarillos they stole. that is one example of restorative justice and of the world we are fighting for. we are trying to get free, and that means we bring everybody with us, whether your suit is tailored or your pants sag. when the revolution comes, we will leave no one behind.

stop poisoning the race debate: how <u+201c>respectability politics<u+201d> rears its ugly head <u+2014> again

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back in march, some of the financial sector<u+2019>s leading analysts bumped the chances of a global economic recession from 20 percent to 30 percent. the chances are still minuscule, but the danger always looms. and given the tragic consequences of the great recession, any new indicators leading to another potential recession ought to be met with, at the very least, a tone of seriousness. today, with the brexit referendum passing in favor of leaving the european union, and the subsequent decline in the british pound and, specifically, worsening indicators leading toward a british recession, there<u+2019>s renewed fears of the brexit shockfront crushing neighboring economies as well. in the united states, meanwhile, the republican position on brexit seems to be based upon everything except the economic repercussions. instead, the gop<u+2019>s posture appears to be simply blurting the opposite of whatever president obama and the democrats have to say about it. indeed, the standard for any gop argument since 2008 has been, simply put, opposite day. if obama<u+2019>s for it, they<u+2019>re against it <u+2014> even if obama<u+2019>s position was once a gop position (the individual mandate, nsa metadata collection, predator drones, immigration reform, cap-and-trade, and the list goes on). while the gop never really supported brexit, they should have, especially knowing that the e.u. was one of the u.s.<u+2019>s signature achievements after world war ii, further assuring there aren<u+2019>t continued world wars as the atomic age began. beyond that, the possibility of a brexit-induced recession should<u+2019>ve frightened them away. however, we<u+2019>re assuming the gop is driven by rational policy choices in 2016. it<u+2019>s not. donald trump, for his part, isn<u+2019>t interested in the justifications for, or the post-war history of europe. he<u+2019>s only really interested in taking a position because, as with his party, it<u+2019>s the opposite of obama<u+2019>s and hillary<u+2019>s. had he been less driven to blurt a reaction to a potentially cataclysmic event <u+2014> an event that he was totally unfamiliar with just a month ago, and if he had thought through a strategy that was a slightly more detailed than the 140 character limit on twitter, he would<u+2019>ve picked up on a golden opportunity to link hillary and the obama administration to a forthcoming recession, regardless of whether it was precipitated by brexit. this week, while appearing on stage with elizabeth warren for the first time, hillary clinton accurately observed that the wall street fallout from brexit cost americans around $100 billion, all of which vanished when the markets reacted to the trump-supported brexit vote: average americans weren<u+2019>t the only people impacted by trump<u+2019>s beloved brexit vote. around 400 of his fellow billionaires (if you believe what he says about his net worth) worldwide lost $196.2 billion due to the <u+201c>leave<u+201d> vote. this is what trump supports? weird. at the very least, experts at goldman-sachs are foreseeing a decline in the u.s. economy from around 2.25 percent growth to two-percent straight up. britain itself appears to be poised for a recession late this year or in early 2017. nevertheless, trump missed a fantastic opportunity to sidestep the brexit vote and, therefore, to fully blame a would-be recession on hillary clinton and her allies in the obama administration. instead, if brexit continues to disrupt the world economy, he<u+2019>ll absolutely remain on-record as having supported the spark that touched off the decline. simultaneously and moving forward, hillary can easily marry trump to brexit and brand the downturn as the <u+201c>trump recession.<u+201d> conversely, had trump kept his self-defeating mouth shut and, perhaps, continued to mock disabled people <u+2014> you know, because he has <u+201c>the best words<u+201d> <u+2014> he could<u+2019>ve solely linked hillary and obama to the recession, without even mentioning brexit as an inciting incident. but, once again, trump stepped into the pitch and, for no real political gain, took a fastball to the side of his clown-wigged noggin. sure, trump is politically astute enough to realize that playing opposite day politics plays well with his brainwashed cult-like base. they<u+2019>re with him no matter what, so, in the near-term it shouldn<u+2019>t matter. after all, another feature of modern gop strategy is political expedience over long-term gains. trump<u+2019>s got a lock on around 30 percent of american voters, but he<u+2019>s clearly underestimating the number of republicans, like george will, glenn beck or sen. mark kirk (r-ill.), who are easily capable of sidestepping a vote for trump and supporting someone <u+2014> anyone <u+2014> else, not to mention the scores of moderate undecided voters. the question moving forward is whether trump is capable of making any winnable political choices, given how he<u+2019>s vowed to <u+201c>have so much winning, you may get tired of winning.<u+201d> instead of positioning himself to immediately link hillary to a sputtering economy, he<u+2019>s linked himself to it. he<u+2019>s, in effect, dropped the ball on two issue areas that are normally owned by the gop: the economy and national security. according to the new abc news / washington post poll, obama<u+2019>s approval on the economy is hovering around 55 percent, while hillary has been seen more favorably than trump on her reaction to orlando. if trump can<u+2019>t win on these issues, he might as well give up. and i<u+2019>m not sure he hasn<u+2019>t.

the trump recession: he<u+2019>s linked himself to potential economic calamity with brexit stance

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after five republican debates, most americans know about donald trump<u+2019>s provocative beliefs, like his desires to end birthright citizenship, stop muslim immigration and kill families of suspected terrorists. much less attention has been paid to carly fiorina<u+2019>s conclusion that the minimum wage is unconstitutional, mike huckabee<u+2019>s pledge to defy supreme court rulings he deems incompatible with god<u+2019>s law, rick santorum<u+2019>s claim that islam is not protected by the first amendment or chris christie<u+2019>s threat to shoot down russian planes and launch cyberattacks on chinese leaders. those provocative beliefs, believe it or not, were also expressed during the five republican debates. they were just overshadowed by the furor over trump. it might be natural for an opposition party to sound bombastic during primary season, especially when its front-runner is blessed with a seemingly inexhaustible supply of bombast, but the debate transcripts read like a democratic opposition researcher<u+2019>s dream. the good news for republicans, arguably, is that their rhetoric has been so consistently over-the-top that it has started to sound routine; academics call this <u+201c>shifting the overton window,<u+201d> the range of what<u+2019>s considered politically acceptable. i<u+2019>ve watched all the debates as well as the undercards live, but when i reviewed the transcripts, i was amazed how many radical statements had slipped under my radar. ted cruz called for putting the united states back on the gold standard. marco rubio accused president barack obama of destroying the u.s. military. huckabee said bernie madoff<u+2019>s rip-offs weren<u+2019>t as bad as what the government has done to people on social security and medicare. lindsey graham said his administration would monitor all <u+201c>islamic websites,<u+201d> not just jihadist ones. i had even forgotten trump<u+2019>s claim that vaccines caused autism in a 2-year-old girl he knew. vaccines do not cause autism. goldbuggery is crackpot economics. the u.s. military is still by far the strongest in the world. and what the government has done to people on social security and medicare is give them pensions and health care. but none of those statements drew any pushback from the other republican candidates, or, for that matter, the media moderators. neither did ben carson<u+2019>s assertion that if the united states had set a goal of oil independence within a decade, moderate arab states would have <u+201c>turned over osama bin laden and anybody else you wanted on a silver platter within two weeks,<u+201d> which is wackadoodle on multiple levels. after the first trump-obsessed debate in august, i wrote about how the republicans were racing to the right to try to attract the scraps of attention that weren<u+2019>t going to trump. my favorite example that night was bobby jindal<u+2019>s promise to sic the irs and the justice department on planned parenthood on his first day as president<u+2014>basically, an impeachable crime. but that didn<u+2019>t turn out to be an isolated incident. in fact, cruz made the same promise in a later debate, except for the irs part, presumably because he also vowed to abolish the irs. the democratic candidates have also appealed to their party<u+2019>s ideologically committed base during their primary debates, which, perhaps for that reason, have been scheduled at odd times when few americans have been watching. but with occasional exceptions from socialist bernie sanders, who suggested that he wouldn<u+2019>t mind 90 percent tax rates on the rich, they haven<u+2019>t said much that felt particularly surprising or politically damaging. debt-free college may or may not be a good idea, but it<u+2019>s hard to imagine republicans turning it into an attack line. by contrast, the gop debates have felt like madcap purity contests, with the candidates competing to demonstrate their commitment to supply-side tax cuts and foreign-policy belligerence, as well as their fierce opposition to illegal immigration and every imaginable government regulation. rubio, supposedly the establishment alternative to trump, vowed to repeal wall street reform in its entirety and oppose abortion without any exceptions. john kasich, supposedly the moderate in the gop race, vowed to <u+201c>punch russia in the nose.<u+201d> wild accusations by non-trump candidates<u+2014>that the independent federal reserve has kept interest rates low to prop up obama, that obama shows more respect to iran<u+2019>s ayatollah than israel<u+2019>s prime minister, that 300,000 veterans died last year while waiting for health care, that obama is trying to strip away the sovereignty of the united states, that david petraeus was prosecuted for sharing classified information with his girlfriend because obama didn<u+2019>t like him<u+2014>have provoked no reaction whatsoever during the debates. democratic leaders have expressed glee about these nationally televised festivals of right-wing me-too-ism, but another way of thinking about them is as highly rated, mostly unrebutted advertisements for the notion that obama is a disaster and america is in peril. so far, the republicans have had more than 20 hours to tell the public that <u+201c>the idea of america is slipping away,<u+201d> that <u+201c>we<u+2019>re on a path to socialism,<u+201d> that <u+201c>america has been betrayed.<u+201d> nobody on the debate stage disagreed when, for example, christie declared that obama doesn<u+2019>t respect the military or the police, or that americans believed in a more prosperous future in january 2009 (when the economy was losing 800,000 jobs a month) until obama <u+201c>stole<u+201d> that belief. you might not take christie at his word that obama is a <u+201c>feckless weakling,<u+201d> but when you hear it over and over, you might assume he must be missing at least some feck. at times, a few of the republican contenders have dared to challenge the magical thinking that has dominated the debates. rand paul has been a consistent voice against regime change as a cure for what ails the middle east. kasich has mocked the <u+201c>fantasy<u+201d> that massive high-end tax cuts would create balanced budgets. and trump has bucked gop conventional wisdom on foreign and domestic issues, denouncing the iraq war as a waste of thousands of lives and trillions of dollars that could have shored up american infrastructure instead, while defending progressive taxation as a logical approach to raising revenue from those who can afford it. when i slogged through the transcripts, i also noticed a few interesting ideas buried amid the can-you-top-this rhetoric. when he wasn<u+2019>t accusing obama of criminalizing christianity while exalting the faith of guant<u+00e1>namo detainees, huckabee was often calling for more focus on chronic diseases like diabetes and cancer that cause so much pain and cost so much money. when she wasn<u+2019>t telling whoppers about planned parenthood videos and obama firing a general who never served in his administration, fiorina kept pushing for <u+201c>zero-based budgeting,<u+201d> the idea that every program and agency should have to justify every dollar every year. when he wasn<u+2019>t complaining that obama cares more about anti-muslim sentiment than anti-semitism, santorum suggested that veterans should get most of their care from private hospitals, and that the veterans administration should become a specialized center of excellence for military-focused health issues like prosthetics and ptsd. but policy entrepreneurialism was not the gist of the republican debates. the gist was that the survival of the united states is at risk; that obama has been weak on isil and assad and russia and china and iran and hezbollah and every other distasteful figure on the world stage; that calling radical islam by its name and <u+201c>targeting the bad guys<u+201d> and <u+201c>taking the fight to the enemy<u+201d> will solve all the problems in the middle east. on domestic issues, the gist was that the united states in the obama era has become a dystopia of rampant unemployment, high taxes, runaway deficits, porous borders and job-killing regulation<u+2014>and that undoing what obama did would make america great again. these are presumably winning messages in a republican primary. it<u+2019>s not clear whether they would be in a general election. the reality of the obama era, for all its warts, is that unemployment has dropped to 5 percent, the deficit has shrunk by two thirds, illegal immigration has plateaued, far fewer u.s. soldiers are dying abroad and americans are more likely to be killed by lightning than by terrorists at home. the question is whether the run-for-your-lives talking points will crash into statistical reality, or whether they will gradually help create a new political reality. the democrats would say the gop is simply defying reality<u+2014>on climate, on economics, on the ease with which muscular foreign policies can fix the world, on just about everything. then again, the gop isn<u+2019>t the party that<u+2019>s hiding its debates on weekend nights. its views may be extreme, but it<u+2019>s airing its views for all to see. it<u+2019>s acting like a confident party<u+2014>perhaps an overconfident party<u+2014>while the democrats are acting like they<u+2019>ve lost their feck.

the wild ideas you missed while donald trump was talking

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(cnn) thousands gathered in riyadh on friday to say farewell to saudi arabia's king abdullah bin abdulaziz al saud, a cautious reformer who succeeded in securing broader freedoms in the conservative kingdom, but fell short in gaining greater independence for women. abdullah died early friday, several weeks after the state-run saudi press agency said he was suffering from pneumonia and had been admitted to a hospital . the royal court didn't release an exact cause of death. he was 90. to ensure a smooth transition, the kingdom quickly appointed his 79-year-old half-brother, salman bin abdulaziz, to the throne. his half-brother prince muqrin, a decade younger, is the new crown prince. after friday afternoon prayers at riyadh's imam turki bin abdullah grand mosque, the body of abdullah, wrapped in a pale shroud, was carried from the mosque toward a cemetery, followed by a solemn procession of saudi men in traditional dress. he was later laid to rest after a simple, swift ceremony. those present at the graveside -- the royals closest to the late king -- were then to move on to a royal palace, where they were to pay their respects to the new monarch. the ceremony of "al bayaah," or pledging of allegiance to the new king, followed the funeral. condolences and remembrances poured in from all corners of the globe. "to god we belong and indeed to him we shall return," said the homepage of the english-language saudi newspaper arab news. bahrain, jordan and the palestinian territories, among others, declared days of mourning. the u.n. secretary-general praised abdullah for his arab peace initiative to end the arab-israeli conflict. u.s. vice president joe biden said he would lead a delegation "in the coming days" to pay respects. "king abdullah's life spanned from before the birth of modern saudi arabia through its emergence as a critical force within the global economy and a leader among arab and islamic nations," u.s. president barack obama said in a statement. speaking to cnn's richard quest in davos, switzerland, u.s. secretary of state john kerry said he expects no changes in his government's relations with saudi arabia. "i don't anticipate anything based on the conversation we have had, no," he said. in an address to the nation -- his first televised appearance since becoming king -- salman offered his condolences to the saudi people. "we will, with god's will and power, adhere to the straight path this country followed since its establishment by king abdulaziz and his sons after him, and will not deviate at all from it, since our constitution is the book of allah (quran) and the teachings of prophet mohammed," he said. he also spoke of the "desperate need" for unity and solidarity among the followers of islam, saying saudi arabia would continue to promote that. he had already issued six royal decrees friday, the saudi press agency reported, including appointing prince mohammed bin naif bin abdulaziz as the deputy crown prince. salman, who has 1.33 million followers on twitter but follows no one, changed his twitter handle to @kingsalman. in the context of the kingdom's conservative circles, abdullah was seen as a reformer and often came up against more hardline clerics. after ascending to the throne, abdullah took steps toward broader freedoms and invested some of the country's vast oil wealth in large-scale education and infrastructure projects. "he was really quite (an) extraordinary figure. he was probably the most progressive and liberal-minded king of saudi arabia since king faisal, which is a long time ago, in the early 1970s," cnn's fareed zakaria said about abdullah, whom he described as "much loved." "i had the opportunity to meet with him once, and what you got a sense of was somebody who really was determined to move his country forward," zakaria said. "it's a conservative country and a conservative society -- and he kept emphasizing that to me -- but he was very clear in the direction he wanted to go." however, resistance from conservative factions hindered some of his efforts, leaving many women, in particular, disappointed by a lack of progress toward greater independence. under abdullah's leadership, the country slowly squashed al qaeda, capturing or killing its leaders in the kingdom, forcing the remnants underground and sidelining radical preachers. it also took a more prominent role in international affairs. "remember, the last time the price of oil fell like this, the soviet union collapsed," said zakaria. "that said, the successor is a very competent man." he added: "i don't expect any major shift, but it marks a big change, and we'll have to see what the new king is like."

saudi arabia says farewell to king abdullah

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a deeply divided supreme court on friday delivered a historic victory for gay rights, ruling 5 to 4 that the constitution requires that same-sex couples be allowed to marry no matter where they live. the court<u+2019>s action rewarded years of legal work by same-sex marriage advocates and marked the culmination of an unprecedented upheaval in public opinion and the nation<u+2019>s jurisprudence. marriages began friday in states that had previously thwarted the efforts of same-sex couples to wed, while some states continued to resist what they said was a judicial order that changed the traditional definition of marriage and sent the country into uncharted territory. as of the court<u+2019>s decision friday morning, there were 14 states where same-sex couples were not allowed to marry. justice anthony m. kennedy, who has written all of the court<u+2019>s decisions recognizing and expanding gay rights, said the decision was based on the fundamental right to marry and the equality that must be afforded gay americans. <u+201c>under the constitution, same-sex couples seek in marriage the same legal treatment as opposite-sex couples, and it would disparage their choices and diminish their personhood to deny them this right,<u+201d> kennedy wrote. he was joined in the ruling by the court<u+2019>s liberal justices ruth bader ginsburg, stephen g. breyer, sonia sotomayor and elena kagan. all four of the court<u+2019>s most conservative members <u+2014> chief justice john g. roberts jr. and justices antonin scalia, clarence thomas and samuel a. alito jr. <u+2014> dissented, and each wrote a separate opinion. the common theme in their dissents was that judicial activism on the part of five members of the court had usurped a power that belongs to the people. <u+201c>if you are among the many americans <u+2014> of whatever sexual orientation <u+2014> who favor expanding same-sex marriage, by all means celebrate today<u+2019>s decision,<u+201d> wrote roberts, who for the first time in his tenure marked his disagreement with a decision by reading part of his dissent from the bench. <u+201c>celebrate the achievement of a desired goal. celebrate the opportunity for a new expression of commitment to a partner. celebrate the availability of new benefits. but do not celebrate the constitution. it had nothing to do with it,<u+201d> he wrote. scalia called the decision a <u+201c>threat to american democracy,<u+201d> saying it robs citizens of <u+201c>the freedom to govern themselves.<u+201d> [it<u+2019>s the first time roberts has had such a bold statement from the bench] in a statement in the white house rose garden, president obama hailed the decision: <u+201c>this ruling is a victory for america. this decision affirms what millions of americans already believe in their hearts. when all americans are truly treated as equal, we are more free.<u+201d> it wasn<u+2019>t until 2012 that obama declared that same-sex couples should be able to marry, and it was only last year that he said he thought the constitution provided such a right. but by friday evening, the rainbow colors that gay rights activists have adopted were projected onto the north face of the white house. with the supreme court<u+2019>s ruling, obama said, <u+201c>today we can say in no uncertain terms that we have made our union a little more perfect.<u+201d> there were wild scenes of celebrations on the sidewalk outside the supreme court. same-sex marriage supporters had arrived early, armed with signs and rainbow flags. they cheered at the announcement of a constitutional right for gay marriage, which did not legally exist anywhere in the world until the turn of this century. the first legally recognized same-sex marriages in the united states took place just 11<u+00a0>years ago, the result of a massachusetts state supreme court decision. jim obergefell, who became the face of the case, obergefell v. hodges, when he sought to put his name on his husband<u+2019>s ohio death certificate as the surviving spouse, said, <u+201c>today<u+2019>s ruling from the supreme court affirms what millions across the country already know to be true in our hearts: that our love is equal.<u+201d> <u+201c>it is my hope that the term gay marriage will soon be a thing of the past, that from this day forward it will be, simply, marriage,<u+201d> he said. but austin r. nimocks, senior counsel for the alliance defending freedom, a group that supports traditional marriage, said: <u+201c>today, five lawyers took away the voices of more than 300<u+00a0>million americans to continue to debate the most important social institution in the history of the world. .<u+2009>.<u+2009>. nobody has the right to say that a mom or a woman or a dad or a man is irrelevant. there are differences that should be celebrated.<u+201d> [opponents of gay marriage are divided on whether to resist the ruling] the supreme court used cases from michigan, ohio, kentucky and tennessee, where restrictions against same-sex marriage were upheld by an appeals court last year, to find that the constitution does not allow such prohibitions. kennedy over the past 20 years has written the supreme court<u+2019>s most important gay rights cases: overturning criminal laws on homosexual conduct, protecting gays from discrimination and declaring that the federal government could not refuse to recognize same-sex marriages performed where they were legal. he often employs a lofty, <u+00ad>writing-for-history tone, and friday<u+2019>s decision was no different. referring to the couples who brought the cases before the court, kennedy wrote: <u+201c>it would misunderstand these men and women to say they disrespect the idea of marriage. their plea is that they do respect it, respect it so deeply that they seek to find its fulfillment for themselves. their hope is not to be condemned to live in loneliness, excluded from one of civilization<u+2019>s oldest institutions.<u+201d> kennedy did not respond directly to the court<u+2019>s dissenters, but he addressed the argument that the court was creating a constitutional right. the right to marriage is fundamental, he said. the difference is society<u+2019>s evolving view of gay people and their rights, he said. <u+201c>the limitation of marriage to opposite-sex couples may long have seemed natural and just, but its inconsistency with the central meaning of the fundamental right to marry is now manifest,<u+201d> he wrote. <u+201c>with that knowledge must come the recognition that laws excluding same-sex couples from the marriage right impose stigma and injury of the kind prohibited by our basic charter.<u+201d> as in previous decisions, kennedy did not spell out how courts should scrutinize laws that treated gays differently. but mary bonauto, who argued the case for gay plaintiffs at the supreme court, said that message from kennedy<u+2019>s combined opinions <u+201c>is one of inclusion: stop making rules for gay people.<u+201d> scalia was a sharp critic of kennedy<u+2019>s style, saying it was <u+201c>as pretentious as its content is egotistic.<u+201d> <u+201c>the supreme court of the united states has descended from the disciplined legal reasoning of john marshall and joseph story to the mystical aphorisms of the fortune cookie,<u+201d> scalia wrote. roberts wrote a lengthy dissent that was a point-by-point takedown of the majority opinion. gay activists had wondered whether the 60-year-old justice might take note of the increasing public support for same-sex marriage and find a way to join the majority on what they called the <u+201c>right side of history.<u+201d> but he and the other dissenters said the question was not whether same-sex marriage was a good idea, but who should decide. <u+201c>the court invalidates the marriage laws of more than half the states and orders the transformation of a social institution that has formed the basis of human society for millennia, for the kalahari bushmen and the han chinese, the carthaginians and the aztecs,<u+201d> roberts wrote. <u+201c>just who do we think we are?<u+201d> roberts rejected a comparison to loving v. virginia, in which the court struck down bans on interracial marriage. that did not change the age-old definition of marriage as between a man and a woman, he said. he raised concerns that the decision could lead to polygamous marriages <u+2014> he mentioned a married threesome of lesbians called a <u+201c>throuple.<u+201d> he noted that voters and legislators in only 11 states had authorized same-sex marriages, and said it was better for gay marriage to be adopted through the democratic process than by judicial order. he said religious leaders could take little comfort from the majority opinion that their beliefs would be respected. that theme was picked up by alito in his dissent. he said there could be <u+201c>bitter and lasting wounds<u+201d> from the decision and warned that the decision will be <u+201c>exploited by those who are determined to stamp out every vestige of dissent.<u+201d> the questions raised in the cases decided friday were left unanswered in 2013, when the justices last confronted the issue of same-sex marriage. a slim majority of the court said at the time that a key portion of the defense of marriage act <u+2014> withholding the federal government<u+2019>s recognition of same-sex marriages <u+2014> was unconstitutional. in a separate case that year, the court said procedural issues kept it from answering the constitutional question in a case from california but allowed same-sex marriages to resume in that state. since then, courts across the nation <u+2014> with the notable exception of the cincinnati-based federal appeals court that left intact the restrictions in the four states at issue <u+2014> have struck down a string of state prohibitions on same-sex marriage, many of them passed by voters in referendums. jerry markon, david nakamura and sandhya somashekhar contributed to this report.

supreme court rules gay couples nationwide have a right to marry

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when it comes to energy policy, the 2016 presidential election really isn't all that complicated. hillary clinton<u+00a0>plans to continue president obama's strategy of pushing down carbon dioxide emissions via regulations. that means using less coal and oil and more wind and solar. donald trump, by contrast, doesn't much care about global warming and plans to greatly expand us oil drilling and coal mining <u+2014> largely by repealing various environmental rules. on may 26, trump fleshed out his vision in a speech at an oil industry conference in bismarck, north dakota. there were no real surprises. trump's energy policy sounds nearly identical to mitt romney's energy policy in 2012, only with more exclamation points. (at one point trump actually used the phrase "very, very pure, sweet, beautiful oil.") he's happily adopted the standard gop playbook: fewer regulations, more domestic fossil fuel production, approve the keystone xl pipeline, and "cancel" the paris climate deal. the crowd loved it. here were six big takeaways: before the speech, many reporters were wondering if trump might finally clarify his views on global warming. this is a guy, after all, who once tweeted,<u+00a0>"the concept of global warming was created by and for the chinese in order to make u.s. manufacturing non-competitive." surely he'd like to elaborate? instead, trump mostly ... ignored the issue. he talked about guns in his energy speech. he talked about rising crime in cities. he even reiterated his pledge to build a wall on the border with mexico <u+2014> evidently a hit at north dakota oil gatherings. but he barely discussed climate change. he did promise that upon taking office, he'd "rescind all job-destroying obama executive actions ... including the climate action plan." here he's referring to a series of regulations that the environmental protection agency has enacted over the past eight years to cut us carbon dioxide emissions. trump would presumably try to scrap obama's<u+00a0>clean power plan, which aims to reduce co2 from power plants. i've written about how trump might go about dismantling obama's climate policies<u+00a0>here. suffice to say, this would be easier to do if a gop-controlled congress could pass a law taking away the epa's authority over carbon dioxide. it'd be harder (but not impossible) for trump to do via executive action alone. trump also pledged to "cancel the paris climate agreement" <u+2014> the deal reached last december in which every country on earth pledged to restrain emissions and address global warming. while trump couldn't just scuttle a global deal by himself, he could certainly undermine it by abandoning america's efforts to cut emissions. trump also seemed perplexed about how the paris agreement even works, claiming it "gives foreign bureaucrats control over how much energy we use." this isn't true at all. under the deal, every country submits<u+00a0>its own (voluntary) plan for curbing emissions. the united states is currently the largest producer of petroleum and natural gas in the world, thanks in part to the massive fracking boom that's been taking place around the country since the 2000s: but to hear trump tell it, we're barely producing anything at all. he wants more <u+2014> much more. on his first day in office, "american energy dominance will be declared a strategic, economic, and foreign policy goal of the united states," he said. "it's about time!" trump dropped a few hints about how he'd try to expand oil and gas drilling. he criticized the obama administration for keeping certain federal lands and waters off limits from drilling <u+2014> including parts of alaska and the outer continental shelf. (romney proposed opening up these areas in 2012; you could likely<u+00a0>get more production by doing so, though the impacts are often exaggerated.) trump also attacked clinton's proposals to regulate fracking; like obama, she<u+00a0>has backed rules to restrict methane leaks from natural gas operations. at times, trump didn't seem to appreciate that energy production is frequently outside the president's control. for instance, he blamed obama for the fact that the number of active drilling rigs in the united states has fallen to its lowest level in nearly a decade. the rig count<u+00a0>has indeed plummeted. but that's primarily due to the fact that the recent us oil boom has created a glut of oil worldwide, causing crude prices to crash and giving companies less incentive to drill. "under my administration," trump promised, "we'll accomplish complete american energy independence. complete. imagine a world in which our foes, and the oil cartels, can no longer use energy as a weapon. it will happen. we're going to win." presidents have been promising "energy independence" since forever and a day, but it doesn't really make much sense. the us currently produces enough crude oil to supply about 74 percent of its needs. in theory, with vastly expanded production we could bump that up to 100 percent. but we still wouldn't be shielded from foreign oil cartels. oil is traded on the world market, and if tensions in the middle east cause prices to spike, everyone is affected, regardless of where they get their crude. the easiest way to observe this is to look at canada. canada is a net oil exporter, a bona fide oil-independent nation. but gasoline prices in canada still rise and fall in accordance with world events, just as they do in the united states or japan or europe. there are perfectly sound reasons to boost domestic energy production <u+2014> as trump says, it can create jobs and economic activity. but "energy independence" is a misguided notion. coal production in the us has fallen off a cliff in recent years. back in 2008, the country produced a record 1.2 billion short tons of coal. by 2015, that had fallen 25 percent. coal mining employment has also plummeted as a result <u+2014> a real blow to various communities in places like west virginia and eastern kentucky. there are a couple of reasons for coal's recent fall: the fracking boom has led to a flood of cheap natural gas, propelling many utilities to switch from coal to gas. but obama's epa has also enacted a number of strict air pollution regulations <u+2014> on mercury and sulfur dioxide and carbon dioxide from coal-burning plants <u+2014> that have accelerated this shift to gas. (falling chinese steel production<u+00a0>has also weakened demand for metallurgic coal.) donald trump wants to bring back coal mining by repealing those epa regulations. "we're going to save the coal industry," trump promised.<u+00a0>but utilities wouldn't necessarily rush back to coal once that happened, because natural gas would still have a cost advantage. (and remember, trump wants to expand natural gas production.) it's extremely unlikely that the coal industry would rebound to its former levels. indeed, even coal industry execs who support trump are skeptical that he can bring back all those lost jobs. "i don't think it will be a thriving industry ever again," coal mining ceo robert murray<u+00a0>recently told taylor kuykendall of snl. "it will be an extremely competitive industry and it will be half size. <u+2026> the coal mines cannot come back to where they were or anywhere near it." in his speech, trump said that his energy strategy "does include nuclear, wind, and solar." but, he added, he wouldn't support them "to the exclusion of other forms of energy" <u+2014> referring to fossil fuels <u+2014> "that right now are working much better." in his press conference with reporters before the speech, trump elaborated: "i know a lot about solar," he said. "the problem with solar is it's very expensive." he made no mention of the fact that solar prices have been dropping precipitously. he also criticized wind turbines for killing birds in california. "wind is killing hundreds and hundreds of eagles, one of the most beautiful, one of the most treasured birds," he said. "so wind is a problem." (while this is technically true, wind turbines kill orders of magnitude fewer birds than power lines or windows or cats. and many wind developers<u+00a0>are currently experimenting with ways to reduce bird deaths.) "a trump administration will focus on real environmental challenges, not the phony ones," trump said. "we'll solve for environmental problems, like the need for clean and safe drinking water." later he elaborated: "my priorities are simple: clean air and clean water." but he gave no indication of how he'd actually do that. in the past, the epa has been a major driver of cleaning up america's air pollution. as the chart below shows, the six most common air pollutants in the us have all fallen 72 percent since 1970 <u+2014> due, in large part, to rules imposed under the clean air act. trump made clear he's not a fan of the epa. so he'd push for clean air and water ... how? he didn't say. read more: how the next president could expand obama's climate policies <u+2014> or dismantle them

the 6 most important parts of donald trump's energy policy

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washington (cnn) the body of late justice antonin scalia is lying in repose friday inside the supreme court building where he built a legacy as a conservative legal icon. more than 6,000 mourners -- including members of congress -- began streaming by to view scalia's casket as the court opened its doors to the public at 10:30 a.m. earlier friday, all the current supreme court justices attended a private ceremony led by scalia's son, father paul scalia, in the great hall. in the afternoon, president barack obama and first lady michelle obama visited the court to honor scalia. they were greeted by chief justice john roberts and then met with members of scalia's family, including army lt. col. matthew scalia, the late justice's son, and his wife, michelle, in the solicitor general's office. the president and first lady stayed for roughly 25 minutes. sri srinivasan and patricia millett, two members of the u.s. court of appeals for the district of columbia circuit and potential nominees for obama to pick to replace scalia, were seen in the line of those paying their respects along with other judges on the dc circuit. the casket was placed on the lincoln catafalque, which was loaned to the court by congress for the ceremony, and a 2007 portrait of scalia by nelson shanks is on display. supreme court police officers served as pallbearers while scalia's law clerks served as honorary pallbearers. "as is the tradition, justice scalia's law clerks will stand vigil by his side at the court all day tomorrow and through the night," tweeted kannon shanmugam, who clerked for scalia. outside the court, mourners left flowers and jars of applesauce -- a nod to scalia's dissent in the supreme court's 2015 decision to uphold obamacare, in which he wrote that the majority's opinion was "pure applesauce." scalia's funeral service is saturday at the basilica of the national shrine of the immaculate conception. the justice's son will also deliver mass for his father. vice president joe biden is scheduled to attend. other justices who have laid in repose in the supreme court include former chief justice william rehnquist, former justice harry blackmun, former justice william j brennan jr., former justice thurgood marshall and former chief justice earl warren. one close family friend -- brian donato, 75, of earlysville, virginia, and the godfather of paul scalia -- was shaken up as he left the morning's private ceremony. he said he studied law under scalia at the university of virginia, and called the justice a tough professor who'd harshly critique his logic. donato recalled leaving the u.s. navy in 1967 to attend law school, and said his moving truck crashed, spilling his goods and possessions across the road. when neither the navy, which had hired the movers, nor the moving company itself offered any financial help after the crash, he looked at the university for a lawyer to help him after that crash and found scalia -- who won the case but wouldn't accept any legal fees. "when i asked him what the fee was after the case, he said, 'dinner at your house and i'm bringing my wife,'" donato said. he attended thursday's wake for scalia, saying he saw his friend "lying in his casket, and he looked like a guy who was just the warm loving guy he always was." students on a field trip from st. mary's high school, an episcopal school in raleigh, north carolina, were among the crowd of about 200 on hand as scalia's casket arrived. "it's definitely a big loss for our country he was definitely a very influential figures and i don't necessarily agree with him on everything but i have a lot of respect for him as a justice," said emily weatherspoon, 17. larry cirignano, an anti-abortion rights activist, said that scalia's loss will be felt on the court. his group, 40 days for life, has been outside of the supreme court every day since ash wednesday. "i'm from new jersey originally, so he's great -- and italian-american -- so all the way around," he said of scalia. "i was here for his swearing in. and we're sorry to see him go." as scalia is remembered friday, talk is likely to also focus across the street, to the capitol, where the question hovers over whether senate republicans will successfully block obama from winning a third appointment to the high court.

scalia lies in repose at supreme court

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in early august, donald trump suffered<u+00a0>a drop in the polls in the wake of an especially<u+00a0>bad week, which included him feuding with<u+00a0>a muslim gold star family whose son died fighting for<u+00a0>the u.s. army<u+00a0>in iraq. for the record<u+2019>s week in review<u+00a0>summarized that week<u+00a0>as <u+201c>trump hit rock bottom and then basically tried to dig to china.<u+201d> we didn<u+2019>t think things could get much worse. boy, were we<u+00a0>wrong!<u+00a0>this week, trump hit rock bottom, dug to china and then set the hole on fire. on friday, more women came out with<u+00a0>accusations against trump for sexual misconduct. kristin anderson told the washington post that trump<u+00a0>had groped her under her skirt in the early 90s while she was sitting next to him at a nightclub. later friday, a former apprentice contestant said trump kissed her and groped her<u+00a0>during a meeting about a potential job. they were just two<u+00a0>of<u+00a0>multiple women<u+00a0>to come forward this week with accusations against the republican presidential nominee. trump and his campaign have vehemently denied the accusations. during a rally friday, trump called the accusations "totally and completely fabricated" and said the women were just making things up to become famous. he also seemed<u+00a0>to insult the appearance of one of his accusers,<u+00a0>a woman who said he groped her on an airplane three decades ago, when he said "believe me, she would not be my first choice, that i can tell you." trump has threatened to sue at least the new york times, to which the newspaper<u+2019>s lawyer<u+00a0>basically replied <u+201c>bring it.<u+201d><u+00a0>and his wife, melania, demanded<u+00a0>people<u+00a0>magazine<u+00a0>publish a retraction and apologize<u+00a0>for a story that alleged trump assaulted a<u+00a0>people<u+00a0>reporter who was writing a story about<u+00a0>the couple. but melania's demand<u+00a0>had nothing to do with the assault allegations. melania<u+00a0>was just unhappy about a section of the piece that said the reporter ran into her on the street and the two had a pleasant conversation. "the two are not friends and were never friends or even friendly," the letter demanding the retraction<u+00a0>stated. last friday, a 2005<u+00a0>access hollywood<u+00a0>video was released that included trump saying that women would let him do anything, including grabbing their genitals, because he was a star.<u+00a0>trump apologized<u+00a0>for the remarks but maintains it was just <u+201c>locker room banter.<u+201d> the release of the tape sent his campaign scrambling and forced even those backing him to denounce his<u+00a0>comments. the usa today network<u+00a0>conducted a survey<u+00a0>of the<u+00a0>republican governors, senators and house members and found that 26% of them are not endorsing trump. while some of them were "never trumpers" all along, many pulled their<u+00a0>support for trump following the release of the video. on<u+00a0>monday, ryan announced he wouldn<u+2019>t<u+00a0>defend or campaign for trump<u+00a0>ahead of the election, although ryan didn't officially withdraw his endorsement of trump. trump was not thrilled at the rebuke. on tuesday, he unleashed his wrath on ryan and other members of his party who he felt had spurned him. at<u+00a0>one point he tweeted: <u+201c>our very weak and ineffective leader, paul ryan, had a bad conference call where his members went wild at his disloyalty.<u+201d> trump spun<u+00a0>the denunciations by congress members<u+00a0>as a good thing, declaring that he could finally do what he wanted with the election now that the<u+00a0><u+201c>shackles<u+201d> were off. trump has sucked up a<u+00a0>lot of the oxygen this week, but a steady stream of hacked emails from wikileaks has sent reporters digging through the clinton team<u+2019>s dirty laundry as well. every day this week, emails from<u+00a0>clinton campaign chairman john podesta have been released. the clinton campaign has neither<u+00a0>confirmed nor denied whether the emails are real, but they have<u+00a0>accused russia<u+00a0>of doing the hacking in an effort to help<u+00a0>trump. so far, there haven<u+2019>t been any major bombshells in the emails, but there are definitely some cringe-worthy moments. one email by clinton campaign aides mocked some<u+00a0>catholics and evangelical christians. another raised questions about the impartiality of then a vice chairwoman<u+00a0>of the democratic national committee donna brazile<u+00a0>during the democratic primary. brazile<u+00a0>forwarded a question to be used in a town hall to the clinton campaign. (it<u+00a0>also was strange that brazile<u+00a0>had the question ahead of time in the first place.) one email categorized two high-profile latino politicians who clinton was trying to get an endorsement from as <u+201c>needy latinos.<u+201d> and another email had a campaign staffer discussing conversations he had with department of justice officials as the doj dealt with the timing of their public release of<u+00a0>clinton's state department emails. here<u+00a0>are some more details of some of the juicier emails. <u+2022><u+00a0><u+00a0><u+00a0><u+00a0><u+00a0><u+00a0><u+00a0><u+00a0><u+00a0><u+00a0> michelle obama on trump comments: they<u+2019>ve <u+201c>shaken me to my core<u+201d> (usa today) carson, the<u+00a0>retired neurosurgeon and former gop primary competitor of trump<u+2019>s, often appears on tv in support of his former rival. on friday, he did so to discuss the allegations of sexual misconduct against the republican nominee. in a heated interview on msnbc<u+2019>s <u+2018>morning joe,<u+2019> carson repeatedly asked for bbc news reporter katty kay<u+2019>s microphone to be turned<u+00a0>off when she asked him if he thought the women making accusations against trump<u+00a0>were lying. he<u+00a0>finally responded: "it doesn<u+2019>t matter whether they<u+2019>re lying or not."

for the record's week in review: trump's list of accusers grows

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hillary clinton's recent pneumonia diagnosis raises questions about how previous presidents dealt with health crises, and why mrs. clinton's health has become a flashpoint issue during this campaign. during an event commemorating sept. 11, 2001 on sunday, democratic presidential candidate hillary clinton excused herself early after becoming "overheated." mrs. clinton's physician, lisa bardack, revealed that the candidate was dealing with pneumonia, which had been diagnosed on friday. politically, the timing was not ideal. the revelation came as the clinton campaign has been hit by a wave of conspiracy theories elevated by the donald trump campaign and his supporters about the candidate's health over the past few weeks, with many online theorists questioning whether clinton was well enough to be president. is clinton being held to a double standard because she is a woman? for most presidential candidates throughout history, presidential health concerns have not seemed to concerned the public nearly as much as this election, raising questions about what makes this campaign different. a recent report from nbc news on clinton's health posed the question of why clinton's diagnosis was hidden until hours after her sunday near-collapse<u+00a0>and wondered if clinton would "accept the obligation to inform the public about her health." but for much of history, such an obligation did not exist. according to gallup, many presidents have maintained silence on their respective health problems. woodrow wilson had a stroke in office, ronald reagan underwent secret surgeries, and franklin delano roosevelt famously went to great lengths to give the public the impression that he was fully mobile after his battle with polio even though he spent much of his life in a wheelchair.<u+00a0>grover cleveland once disappeared from the white house for a full four days so that he could have a tumor removed on a yacht, away from prying reporters, according to npr. john f. kennedy "suffered from more ailments, was in far greater pain and was taking many more medications than the public knew at the time or biographers have since described,"<u+00a0>the new york times reported in 2002. and that's only to name a few. these presidents all kept their physical ailments secret in order to project an image of strength and reliability to the public, a standard that was maintained through much of the history of the office until relatively recently. as candidates' lives have become increasingly open to scrutiny on the internet and various taboos in media about candidates' personal lives have been broken, it has become much more difficult for a candidate to hide an illness. in response to increasing transparency, presidential candidates have begun to come forward with health problems early on in their campaigns, including dick cheney's heart issues and john kerry's successful battle with prostate cancer before his campaign began, according to gallup. at the time of the mr. kerry campaign, 92 percent of voters, both republican and democrat, said that they were not concerned about his ability to serve as president. in contrast, clinton's health has become an increasingly important issue for voters during this election. a rasmussen report survey from before sept. 8 shows that<u+00a0>86 percent of likely voters say a candidate's health is important to their vote, with 43 percent who characterize candidate health as <u+00a0>"very important." some 17 percent of democrats and 73 percent of gop and<u+00a0>unaffiliated<u+00a0>voters said that clinton's<u+00a0>health was a legitimate concern for them.<u+00a0>those numbers could rise after news of clinton's diagnosis. while clinton's desire to keep her health issues quiet is nothing new on the presidential front, the response from her opponents has proven intense. as a female candidate, she has proven more susceptible to accusations of "weakness" from republican presidential nominee donald trump and his supporters, in contrast to mr. trump's "strongman" image. the trump campaign has had a great deal of success in presenting the republican candidate as a traditionally masculine figure that fights rather than compromises, representing his opponents as weaker and incapable of making the tough decisions necessary to run the country. in contrast, clinton's transparency about her health opens herself up to rhetorical attacks along this line. even before her diagnosis became public, however, clinton was already under attack for similar reasons, with many fringe conservative sites<u+00a0>sharing fake medical records as "proof" that she does not have the physical strength to effectively lead the country, according to usa today. while trump stands to benefit from clinton's diagnosis, neither candidate has released a complete medical report to the public.

what history tells us about the health of presidents and candidates

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a couple of weeks ago, i wrote a mostly facetious article about six events that could occur to flip the polls in favor of donald trump over hillary clinton, and then i assessed how much each would matter. no single occurrence, apart from the preposterously unlikely event of barack obama endorsing trump, seemed to have a ton of power on its own. non-silly scenarios included the release of new and questionable clinton e-mails, a month of passable behavior from trump, and a serious health setback for clinton. what the column failed to consider, however, was the power of a few of these incidents occurring at the same time. we<u+2019>ve now seen new unfavorable e-mail stories (this was inevitable), two weeks of moderately controlled behavior from trump (the previous record had been about two days), and a genuine health issue for clinton (a near-collapse during a 9/11 ceremony). we also saw a small but foolish gaffe from the democratic nominee on friday night, when she dismissed fully half of trump<u+2019>s supporters as part of a <u+201c>basket of deplorables,<u+201d> which she defined as <u+201c>the racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, islamophobic, you name it.<u+201d> at a time when trump should have been further on the defensive, contending with almost comically devastating revelations about his approach to charity (more on that in a bit), he is instead pulling even with his rival. rumors of clinton<u+2019>s failing health<u+2014>which had been easy to write off because they were so obviously orchestrated<u+2014>have become legitimate concerns. there<u+2019>s no use in discussing clinton<u+2019>s e-mails here, at least for now. it<u+2019>s not just that there are plenty of other outlets that will further beat that horse<u+2014>so much so that the washington post editorial page has hollered <u+2019>nuff. it<u+2019>s that nothing we<u+2019>ve learned is likely to move anyone<u+2019>s opinion. the general narrative out there, whether that<u+2019>s fair or not, is that clinton is untrustworthy. the bottom line, in horse-race terms, is this: the drumbeat persists. there<u+2019>s only slightly more use in dwelling on trump<u+2019>s streak of good behavior. yes, he has kept his impulses under control for a couple of weeks, a near-miracle, especially given the rise to power of campaign chief steve bannon, widely viewed as the high priest of full-freak trumping. (while trump has said plenty of recent things to appall the sober-minded, like resurrecting a promise to steal the oil of any place we bother to invade, he has said them calmly, rather than in a way that makes news.) so this is an important development, especially if trump starts to notice how big a friend he has in silence. but one ludicrous outburst changes that, and those used to come at about one per cockcrow, so we<u+2019>ll have to see if he can keep the lull going. unfortunately, the near-collapse of clinton on sunday from feeling <u+201c>overheated<u+201d><u+2014>now diagnosed as pneumonia<u+2014>does call for some sentences. (clinton<u+2019>s line about the <u+201c>basket of deplorables<u+201d> might have caused a blip, but it has now been overshadowed.) the video of her seeming to buckle is terrible and heartrending, and it feels almost indecent to witness. but now the rumors of clinton<u+2019>s failing health<u+2014>which had been easy to write off because they were so obviously orchestrated, with help from rudy giuliani, no less<u+2014>have become legitimate concerns. it<u+2019>s easy to dismiss symptoms like extended coughing, especially with a candidate who must endure countless hours and speeches on the campaign trail. it<u+2019>s impossible to dismiss being overcome at a commemoration for 9/11, the sort of event during which every political bone in your body is telling you, <u+201c>do not make news. do not make news. do not make news.<u+201d> the setting for clinton<u+2019>s overheating was especially unfortunate. you could argue (and i have) that clinton<u+2019>s health doesn<u+2019>t matter that much, politically, because not many of those who favor her over trump<u+2014>a split viewed by many of clinton<u+2019>s supporters as akin in severity to god versus satan<u+2014>will suddenly prefer him instead. but voters do think a lot about national security, and, if you believe scott adams, <u+201c>when a would-be commander-in-chief withers<u+2014>literally<u+2014>in front of our most emotional reminder of an attack on the homeland, we feel unsafe.<u+201d> is adams right? he might be<u+2014>or at least right enough that two out of a hundred voters could change their minds, which is all that it takes. clinton<u+2019>s health problems are just the latest example of how fortune so often works in favor of trump. they hit just after the publication of a remarkable piece of reporting by *the washington post<u+2019>*s david a. fahrenthold, who revealed that the candidate<u+2019>s record of philanthropy seems to be close to nonexistent. apparently, trump is so pathologically stingy that even organizations to which he claimed to donate had received no money. worse, his own family foundation took in nothing from trump himself after 2008, relying instead on funds from outside donors. even worse: trump illegally redirected $25,000 of the money toward the fund-raising committee of florida attorney general pam bondi, who was deciding on whether to pursue a lawsuit against trump university. even worse than that: donald trump spent $20,000 of his charity<u+2019>s money to purchase a six-foot-tall painting of<u+2014>maybe you guessed it?<u+2014>donald trump. that would all be poor optics, as they say, except that news of clinton<u+2019>s health came in and dwarfed everything. but let<u+2019>s suppose that investigations of trump<u+2019>s charity come back to the fore, as they probably will. they will still have close to zero effect on most trump supporters. those who still believe trump is a benevolent fellow have already had to process several container ships full of cognitive dissonance and don<u+2019>t mind a few tons more. those who believe trump is a non-benevolent fellow<u+2014>and this includes many, probably most, of his supporters, to judge by what they write and say<u+2014>already know he<u+2019>s a rascal. they accept that. the thing is, he<u+2019>s their rascal. for those who find such loyalty hard to understand or accept, recall that trump, in the eyes of many voters, is the only candidate who has bucked the bipartisan globalist consensus and seemed to mean it. just imagine if you were on the left but, among both democrats and republicans running for office, nearly everyone in political life had long expressed indifference to climate change and had views on abortion that ranged from strongly pro-life to weakly pro-life. then along came one candidate who loudly insisted on combatting global warming and fighting for a woman<u+2019>s right to chose. on the minus side, he also said nasty things about coal miners and fetuses, repelling everyone. would you be tempted to forgive him? this brings us, finally, to a much-discussed recent essay in the claremont review of books called <u+201c>the flight 93 election,<u+201d> written by one <u+201c>publius decius mus.<u+201d> decius<u+2014>who writes as if he were born in 1850, meaning he was probably born well after 1980<u+2014>is one of those intellectuals who, because of trump<u+2019>s positions on immigration, trade, and war, forgive trump for his many sins. the use of flight 93 is an allusion, of dubious taste, to the hijacked plane in which passengers heroically charged the cockpit on 9/11<u+2014>the point being that trump versus clinton is possible death versus guaranteed death. <u+201c>yes, trump is worse than imperfect,<u+201d> decius writes. <u+201c>so what? we can lament until we choke the lack of a great statesman to address the fundamental issues of our time.<u+201d> decius has not been alone in his mind-set. trump supporters know he<u+2019>s a uniquely risky candidate, but they make the case for gambling on him all the same<u+2014>no matter the poor track record of huge political rolls of the dice (our recent wars come to mind). they feel things are very bad, and many americans agree. this is why trump is again pulling even with hillary clinton. unfortunately, we understand one another less and less across this divide. one side says, <u+201c>i know how bad you think things are out there, but you have no idea how bad trump is.<u+201d> the other side says, <u+201c>i know how bad you think trump is, but you have no idea how bad things are out there.<u+201d> it<u+2019>s a conversation designed to fail, leaving only hardened factions. all that remains, at this point, is to wait and count up. the polls, while technically within the margin of error, still favor clinton. yet the energy, on balance, seems to favor trump. even when john mccain briefly led obama in 2008, he never attracted swooning and feverish supporters, at least not when he wasn<u+2019>t addressing a hospital. obama did, and trump does. many americans seem to want an excuse to vote for him, and the rise of bannon seems, ironically, to be leading to a more controlled candidate. if he keeps cool and collected during the debates, even if he calls for plundering the globe<u+2019>s energy supplies, he probably comes out ahead. so no one can relax anymore. on the plus side, we<u+2019>ll enjoy the extra oil. full screenphotos: the art of the donald: alison jackson pictures trump<u+2019>s <u+201c>me time<u+201d> the torch will be passed, and a new leader must be capable of gripping it securely. will he prove equal to the challenge? as commander in chief, would the candidate use military force responsibly<u+2014>and tastefully? above all, success in the oval office requires an ability to sit still for long hours of exacting prep work. america needs a leader who won<u+2019>t flinch under fire, whether literal, metaphoric, or tonsorial. there is not a black america or a white america or a creamsicle-hued america (waterproof and evenly applied). there is only a united states of america. when the candidate looks in the mirror, a president should stare back. with newfound confidence, he is now ready to fill lincoln<u+2019>s mittens.

sorry, america, but trump can actually win

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a federal judge has given the world an unprecedented glimpse into the ruthless business practices donald trump used to build his business empire. us district court judge gonzalo curiel on tuesday made public more than 400 pages of trump university <u+201c>playbooks<u+201d> describing how trump staff should target prospective students<u+2019> weaknesses to encourage them to sign up for a $34,995 gold elite three-day package. trump university staff were instructed to get people to pile on credit card debt and to target their financial weaknesses in an attempt to sell them the high-priced real estate courses. the documents contained an undated <u+201c>personal message<u+201d> from trump to new enrollees at the school: <u+201c>only doers get rich. i know that in these three packed days, you will learn everything to make a million dollars within the next 12 months.<u+201d> the courses are now subject to legal proceedings from unhappy clients. judge curiel released the documents, which are central to a class-action lawsuit against trump university in california, despite sustaining repeated public attacks from trump, who had fought to keep the details secret. curiel ruled that the documents were in the public interest now that trump is <u+201c>the front-runner in the republican nomination in the 2016 presidential race, and has placed the integrity of these court proceedings at issue<u+201d>. trump hit back calling curiel a <u+201c>hater<u+201d>, a <u+201c>total disgrace<u+201d> and <u+201c>biased<u+201d>. <u+201c>i have a judge who is a hater of donald trump. a hater. he<u+2019>s a hater,<u+201d> trump said at a rally near the courthouse in san diego. <u+201c>his name is gonzalo curiel. and he is not doing the right thing ... [he] happens to be, we believe, mexican.<u+201d> curiel, who is hispanic, is american and was born in indiana. trump went on to attack curiel further on twitter on monday and at a press conference in new york on monday. the playbook contains long sections telling trump u team members how to identify buyers and push them to sign up for the most expensive package, and to put the cost on their credit cards. <u+201c>if they can afford the gold elite don<u+2019>t allow them to think about doing anything besides the gold elite,<u+201d> the document states. if potential students hesitate, teachers are told to read this script. as one of your mentors for the last three days, it<u+2019>s time for me to push you out of your comfort zone. it<u+2019>s time for you to be 100% honest with yourself. you<u+2019>ve had your entire adult life to accomplish your financial goals. i<u+2019>m looking at your profile and you<u+2019>re not even close to where you need to be, much less where you want to be. it<u+2019>s time you fix your broken plan, bring in mr. trump<u+2019>s top instructors and certified millionaire mentors and allow us to put you and keep you on the right track. your plan is broken and we will help you fix it. remember you have to be 100% honest with yourself! trump university staff are instructed in how to persuade students to put the cost of the course on their credit cards, even if they have just battled to pay off debts. trump staff are told to spend lunch breaks in sign-up seminars <u+201c>planting seeds<u+201d> in potential students minds about how their lives won<u+2019>t improve unless they join the programme. they are also told to ask students personal questions to discover weaknesses that could be exploited to help seal the deal. new york attorney general eric schneiderman, who has also sued trump university, renewed his attacks on trump on tuesday. <u+201c>you are not allowed to protect the trade secrets of a three-card monte game,<u+201d> schneiderman said ahead of the document<u+2019>s release. <u+201c>if you look at the facts of this case, this shows someone who was absolutely shameless in his willingness to lie to people, to say whatever it took to induce them into his phony seminars,<u+201d> schneiderman said.

trump university 'playbooks' offer glimpse of ruthless business practices

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watch cnn and ny1's democratic debate, moderated by wolf blitzer, thursday, april 14 at 9 p.m. et. milwaukee (cnn) two candidates vying to take down their parties' front-runners could get big boosts if they win tuesday in wisconsin . texas sen. ted cruz is leading donald trump in the badger state's polls. and a bernie sanders win would mark his sixth victory over hillary clinton in the last seven states to vote. it's the last big test until april 19, and each candidate has a lot to win <u+2014> or lose. here are five things to watch tuesday: wisconsin is the first electoral test of whether he's paying a price. but the polls show cruz with a 10-point lead in wisconsin -- and if that margin grows tuesday, it'd be a sign that the controversies swirling around trump's campaign are taking their toll. still, trump was inflating expectations monday in la crosse. "i really believe tomorrow were going to have a very, very big victory. very very big," he said. "you know, i've been up here a lot. and i love it, and the people i love." "his team doesn't understand how these processes work so any time they lose they scream, 'the election's been stolen from us,'" cruz said monday on wisn radio in wisconsin. "it's just silliness." a loss would dent trump. but it would crush cruz, who has retail politicked his way across the badger state as if it were iowa in recent weeks. he'll try to pick up 42 more in wisconsin: 18 that go to the statewide winner, plus 24 more chosen three apiece by the state's eight congressional districts. part of wisconsin's importance to cruz is that the calendar soon shifts to shakier ground for him. he's favored in the winner-take-all south dakota, montana and nebraska contests, but could lose big in the next contest on the calendar, new york on april 19, and then maryland, pennsylvania, connecticut, rhode island and delaware the following week. "just a couple of weeks ago, all of the media commentators were saying wisconsin was a state that i could not compete and do well," cruz said monday in kenosha. "they were saying it was a state that was a natural state for donald trump. the state historically has been a purple or even a blue state at times. it's a state that is, that is very heavily based on manufacturing, that has a lot of union members and working class members. supposedly, it was donald trump's sweet spot, and yet i think the people of wisconsin, they're looking at the records of the candidates, and they realize that donald screams and yells a lot, but he has no solutions." he was swept in the south, and bloodied in the rust belt. but when the race shifted west, bernie sanders won five out of six states, regaining his footing and bolstering his argument to take the race all the way through the last contests on june 7. a win in wisconsin would give him a significant boost just as the race heads to new york -- the state where he was born, and which clinton represented in the senate. it would also give him victories in six out of the seven states in the month leading up to it -- helping to fuel the passion and small-dollar donations driving his candidacy. at a rowdy monday evening rally in milwaukee, sanders talked repeatedly about "momentum" -- touting poll results, his growth from 2015 and a string of recent victories. "tomorrow, if there is a good turnout here in wisconsin, if there is a record-breaking turnout here in wisconsin, we are going to win here as well," he said. how problematic is a loss for clinton? clinton's campaign has downplayed the wisconsin primary for weeks, arguing that the state's results won't tip the delegate count significantly in either direction. the former secretary of state wasn't even in wisconsin on monday -- instead campaigning in new york, where she faces a closer-than-expected contest in two weeks. for more than a month, clinton has tried to shift her attention to republicans and the general election. yet much like clinton against then-sen. barack obama in 2008, sanders' persistent presence won't allow it. clinton campaign manager robby mook is telling supporters not to worry. in a memo posted on medium monday evening, mook wrote: "sanders has to win the four remaining delegate-rich primaries -- new york, pennsylvania, california, and new jersey -- with roughly 60% of the vote. to put that in perspective: sanders has thus far won only two primaries with that margin: vermont and new hampshire." he calls the campaign's delegate lead "nearly insurmountable." rubio, in fact, still has more delegates than kasich. "he's just a stubborn guy," trump said of kasich. "he's stubborn. he doesn't want to leave." wisconsin, just like michigan and illinois before it, is the sort of state where kasich ought to have a strong showing. public polls have showed him within striking distance of trump for second place -- and finishing ahead of trump would be a major boost.

wisconsin primary: 5 things to watch

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on super tuesday, donald trump continued his surprise series of wins, gaining seven out of the 11 states in play that day. in response, many are asking: why have establishment candidates had such a hard time in this year<u+2019>s republican nomination contest? some suggest that republicans who bother to vote in the primaries are farther to the right than the republicans as a whole <u+2013> and are unimpressed with the <u+00a0>somewhat more moderate establishment candidates. others suggest that <u+00a0>less-educated citizens who don<u+2019>t usually vote are turning out just to vote for trump. these may be part of the answer. but we offer a different suggestion to explain trump<u+2019>s meteoric rise: the gop establishment is out of touch with its base. trump actually represents republicans better if you examine beliefs issue by issue. [how political science helps explain the rise of trump: most voters aren<u+2019>t ideologues] to investigate, we have teamed up with pollfish, a start-up survey platform, to track american public opinion on 11 key campaign issues weekly during the election season. pollfish<u+2019>s survey platform delivers online surveys to almost 200 million potential respondents. we specifically target smartphone owners in the united states. our sampling technique is best described as randomly targeting people of a sample of adults in the u.s. with smartphones. using highly technical statistical techniques to adjust for non-response (a legitimate concern in all surveys) coupled with demographic breakdowns of the voting population derived from big data on all registered voters in the u.s., we monitor public opinion on these issues broken down by the general population and by party, and compare it to leading political figures in the 2016 primary season. let<u+2019>s look here at opinion on three highly divisive and partisan issues: on all three issues, most democratic politicians (including both hillary clinton and bernie sanders) agree very strongly or strongly. the <u+201c>establishment<u+201d> republican candidates (including both sens. ted cruz and marco rubio) disagree very strongly or strongly. but where do republican voters stand? let<u+2019>s compare them to the general population to see. [how political science helps explain the rise of trump: the role of white identity and grievances] if you look at the figure below, you can see that only 20 percent of the general population supports a complete abortion ban, even in cases of rape and incest <u+2013> and only 25 percent of republican voters do. cruz and <u+00a0>rubio advocate this position. trump breaks with the gop establishment <u+2013> and agrees with the nearly 60 percent of republicans who support the right to abortion in these circumstances. [donald trump may be showing us the future of u.s. rightwing politics] less than 35 percent of the general population would oppose any additional gun regulation or control. more than 50 percent support at least some increased gun regulation. on both abortion and guns, less than 15 percent of the general population holds the neutral position; 75<u+00a0> percent hold strong or very strong views. on guns, the republican voters agree with their elites; all democratic candidates favor increased gun control while all of republican candidates favor no additional gun control. [okay, so what would a trump presidency be like?] we find that 35 percent of the general population strongly support government action to reduce differences in income inequality; 20 percent strongly oppose; and 45 percent hold positions that are either neutral or soft. however, there is a partisan divide. most democratic voters do strongly support such measures. sanders strongly advocates this position; we have defined clinton as neutral on the issue, both in her rhetoric and her policy proposals, although this may change in coming months. republican voters are less clearly aligned <u+2013> and are certainly not as cleanly aligned with the republican elite. trump, cruz, and rubio<u+2019>s tax plans would massively redistribute after-tax income to the highest earners, although that<u+2019>s not what their rhetoric says. despite proposing the largest tax cuts, trump calls ceo pay <u+201c>a joke and disgraceful,<u+201d><u+00a0>but offers no policy solutions, and has specifically advocated for the end of the hedge fund carried interest loophole. we asked a total of eight questions, all framed to measure whether people hold strong or moderate positions on hot-button issues. we consistently found that people were more likely to hold strong opinions on one side or the other than they were to be neutral or mildly opinionated. in other words, public opinion was very polarized. this indicates<u+00a0>that elite polarization (i.e., the distance between the policy positions of republican and democratic lawmakers) has certainly rubbed off on the general population, at least to a small extent. but here<u+2019>s something interesting. across these three representative issues, 60 percent of the democratic electorate supports democratic candidates<u+2019> policies strongly (or more so). but only 35 percent of the republican electorate supports their candidates<u+2019> positions. does this misrepresentation matter to the voters? it<u+2019>s hard to know. in 2012, 92 percent of self-identified democrats voted for barack obama, while 93 percent of self-identified republicans voted for mitt romney. only 6 and 7 percent, respectively, crossed over to vote for the <u+201c>other<u+201d> party<u+2019>s candidate. if trump secures the republican nomination, a greater proportion of republican voters<u+00a0>may cross over, or the republican party may splinter on policy, losing pro-immigration business leaders. but the democratic candidates are further from the republican base than trump is. and trump<u+2019>s breaks with republican orthodoxy may actually be closer to the beliefs of the republican base. he breaks left to match republican voters<u+2019> beliefs on abortion <u+2013> and he breaks even further right to match those voters in his extreme positions on on opposing immigration and any pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. in other words, trump<u+2019>s apparent hodgepodge of moderate and conservative positions may actually make him a more representative republican presidential candidate than the establishment candidates we<u+2019>ve seen in the past eight years. it<u+2019>s certainly possible that trump<u+2019>s candidacy will pull the republican party back towards the views of republican voters. notes on methodology: we sampled about 1,000 american smartphone users once a week for five weeks between jan. 11 and feb. 12, 2016. the total respondents is 4,209. we then model each question using a bayesian hierarchical regression with age, race, gender, education, race, and party identification. we then weight the obtained probability estimates based on total counts of likely voters derived from the targetsmart voter file. tobias konitzer is a ph.d. candidate in communication at stanford university. david rothschild is an economist at microsoft research. find him on twitter @davmicrot and predictwise.com

trump is closer to what most republicans believe than the <u+2018>establishment<u+2019> candidates are

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philadelphia <u+2014> charging that donald trump <u+201c>wants us to fear the future and fear each other,<u+201d><u+00a0>hillary clinton took him on with the most powerful line in her party<u+2019>s tradition. <u+201c>well, a great democratic president, franklin delano roosevelt, came up with the perfect rebuke to trump more than eighty years ago, during a much more perilous time: <u+2018>the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.'<u+201d> clad in white, the color of the women<u+2019>s suffrage movement, she noted her special role: that this convention marked <u+201c>the first time that a major party has nominated a woman for president.<u+201d> it was, she said, happy news <u+201c>for grandmothers and little girls and everyone in between.<u+201d> but she spoke first of her hopes for the country and how her vision and approach to governing contrasted so sharply with her opponent<u+2019>s divisive, angry and self-centered campaign. <u+201c>don<u+2019>t<u+00a0>believe anyone who says: <u+2018>i<u+00a0>alone<u+00a0>can fix it.<u+2019><u+00a0>those were actually donald trump<u+2019>s words in cleveland.<u+00a0>and they should set off alarm bells for all of us.<u+201d> she made clear that she had no intention of ceding economically discontented <u+00a0>voters to trump. <u+201c>democrats,<u+201d> she declared, <u+201c>are the party of working people.<u+201d> <u+201c>my primary mission as president will be to create more opportunity and more good jobs with rising wages, right here in the united states,<u+201d> she said. <u+201c>from my first day in office to my last. especially in places that for too long have been left out and left behind.<u+201d> this was a convention in which the word <u+201c>we<u+201d> was invoked by speaker after speaker, from president obama to the rev. william barber as a talisman and a commitment. in the hour before clinton spoke, barber gave a stirring stem-winder of a sermon that ended with the whole convention shouting <u+201c>alleluia!<u+201d> clinton embraced the communitarian theme, signaling that her <u+201c>stronger together<u+201d> slogan would remain at the heart of her campaign. <u+201c>every generation of americans has come together to make our country freer, fairer and stronger,<u+201d> she declared. <u+201c>none of us can do it alone. that<u+2019>s why we are stronger together.<u+201d> and she underscored the other side of that catchphrase by warning that trump would divide the nation. <u+201c>powerful forces are threatening to pull us apart,<u+201d> she said. <u+201c>bonds of trust and respect are fraying. and just as with our founders, there are no guarantees. it<u+2019>s truly is up to us. we have to decide whether we<u+2019>re going to work together so we can all rise together.<u+201d> as she often has in the past, clinton cited as her guiding principle a favorite teaching from her methodist faith:<u+00a0><u+201c>do all the good you can, for all the people you can, in all the ways you can, as long as ever you can.<u+201d> she included a lengthy tribute to bernie sanders, whom she praised for having <u+201c>put economic and social justice issues front and center, where they belong.<u+201d> and she pledged to live up to the hopes that inspired their engagement. <u+201c>your cause,<u+201d> she said, <u+201c>is our cause.<u+201d> she struck populist themes that should resonate with sanders<u+2019>s backers.<u+00a0><u+201c>wall street can never ever be allowed to wreck main street again,<u+201d> clinton said. she<u+00a0>attacked big money in politics and promised fairer trade deals, a higher minimum wage and an expansion of social security benefits. it was a speech that ratified the progressive thrust of the party<u+2019>s platform and its move in a more progressive direction. her speech capped a star-studded,<u+00a0>thematically coherent and methodically organized convention that contrasted sharply with a shambolic trump gathering in cleveland that most leading republicans shunned. she faced the challenge of following a passionately persuasive address on her behalf by obama, much as obama had to follow a similarly successful speech by bill clinton four years ago. her style was very different from obama<u+2019>s. she spoke quietly, deliberately and often affectingly, particularly when discussing her mother, who was abandoned by her parents and <u+201c>was<u+00a0>saved by the kindness of others.<u+201d> it was a powerful speech in which she combined the personal with policy, a vigorous defense of the obama record with an insistence that she would tackle the problems left unsolved and the injustices that still needed righting. again and again, she came back to trump<u+2019>s shortcomings and hypocrisies. she charged he was <u+201c>in the pocket of the gun lobby<u+201d> and displayed<u+00a0>that her party is no longer fearful of the gun issue. sounding a theme her campaign has signaled it will drive home, she highlighted trump<u+2019>s failure to pay many who had<u+00a0>worked for him <u+2014> <u+201c>people who did the work<u+00a0>and needed the money, and didn<u+2019>t get it <u+2013> not because he couldn<u+2019>t pay them, but because he wouldn<u+2019>t<u+00a0>pay them.<u+201d> and she noted<u+00a0>trump<u+2019>s statement: <u+201c>i know more about isis than the generals do . . .<u+201d> <u+00a0>she clearly enjoyed reciting the next line: <u+201c>no, donald, you don<u+2019>t.<u+201d> in the primaries, trump<u+2019>s opponents were fearful of attacking him until it was too late. clinton showed she would be a happy warrior with no compunction about taking him on. democrats have often criticized themselves as putting too much faith in policy. she embraced her persona as someone who proudly sweated policy details.<u+00a0>and she promised a campaign rooted in a moral challenge to her opponent:<u+00a0><u+201c>yes, the world is watching what we do.<u+201d>

clinton takes the fight to trump

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based on the possibility that you will become the nominee of the republican party, and perhaps the<u+00a0> president of the united states, i offer you the following thoughts on what you need to do as this unusual primary season approaches its homestretch. i do this out of dedication to my country and party. <u+00a0>i want republicans to win the presidency and i am worried about the harm that will be done if secretary hillary clinton becomes president. your loss in wisconsin on tuesday is a sign that your style of campaigning is catching up to you. you have done a powerful job of energizing some 35 to 40 percent of republican primary voters and you have made the republican party more attractive to lower-income, working americans who typically question whether the gop cares about them.<u+00a0> but getting to 50 percent is your problem and many of your recent statements and tweets are driving away the people you need to close the deal. if you want to close the gap and win a majority of the party, you need to: 1. stop fighting with everyone and don<u+2019>t be so nasty.<u+00a0> when you tweet unflattering pictures of senator cruz<u+2019>s wife and threaten to <u+201c>spill the beans<u+201d> about her, question ben carson<u+2019>s faith, offer to pay the legal bills of those who engage in violence, fault pows, or accuse president bush of being a liar, you push away voters you need to get to 50 percent.<u+00a0> if you keep acting like this, you will keep your 40 percent -- they love it <u+2013> but you<u+2019>ll never hit 50 percent. <u+00a0>it<u+2019>s too hot, too much, too often.<u+00a0> pick smarter fights and do so in a less belittling and pejorative manner.<u+00a0> you can make provocative points and be true to yourself if you would only be smarter about how and when you fight. 2. get your facts right.<u+00a0> think about how much stronger you would be if you supported your statements with accurate facts or anecdotes.<u+00a0> if you had said <u+201c>a small group<u+201d> of muslims cheered from rooftops in new jersey on september 11th, no one could have faulted you.<u+00a0> same thing when you say we <u+201c>send nothing<u+201d> to japan, or when you misstate the trade deficit with china. you often fudge up your poll numbers too.<u+00a0> you regularly show that facts are malleable to you, and that raises doubts about your substantive knowledge on all sorts of matters. 3. learn more policy.<u+00a0> your comments about abortion were a double-edged disaster.<u+00a0> you alienated everyone.<u+00a0> they showed you are not familiar with the background of an important emotional issue.<u+00a0> anyone aware of right to life<u+2019>s thinking knows, mothers are not criminals.<u+00a0> you need to take the time to learn a variety of issues. you might think everyone in washington is stupid, but there are a lot of smart people in that town who actually care about issues and you should find the ones you trust and listen to them. no one expects you to memorize arcane policy points.<u+00a0> but it will be harder for you to reach 50 percent if voters think you can<u+2019>t demonstrate sufficient knowledge to sit in the oval office. 4. make policy announcements.<u+00a0> you<u+2019>re an outsider with business experience and people want to hear what you would do if elected, beyond building a wall.<u+00a0> on energy policy, corporate welfare, agriculture policy and dozens of other matters, you would surprise people and grow your support if you gave a small number of actual policy addresses.<u+00a0> the point will be less what you say about each specific matter (so long as you demonstrate some level of fluency and expertise) and more that you<u+2019>re capable of doing it.<u+00a0> some one-third of the party supports you because they think you<u+2019>re tough.<u+00a0> you would make inroads with other voters if they thought you were thoughtful. 5. stop citing polls.<u+00a0> politicians who talk about polls do so to show the election is all about them.<u+00a0> but elections are not about politicians.<u+00a0> elections are about the hopes and dreams of the voters and especially now, voters want someone who can lift up our country, defend us, and grow the economy.<u+00a0> i get that you talk about the polls to show you<u+2019>re a winner.<u+00a0> but if and when you start losing more contests, the polls will define you as a loser. what will you talk about then?<u+00a0> it<u+2019>s better to knock it off now.<u+00a0> and of course, all the recent polls show you are losing to hillary. you got yourself to where you are today by demonstrating an uncanny, powerful, outsider<u+2019>s bravado.<u+00a0> but the gap between 40 percent and 50 percent support is immense.<u+00a0> the higher hanging fruit is tough to get, and you won<u+2019>t likely earn that support if you stay on your current path. the super tuesday news conference you held at mar-a-lago and your policy speech (on a teleprompter) to aipac were your two best moments demonstrating there is more to you than bravado. whatever you do, just remember, you can<u+2019>t win if you can<u+2019>t earn a majority. former white house press secretary, ari fleischer was the primary spokesperson for president george w. bush. he served as spokesman during the historic presidential recount, september 11th, two wars and the anthrax attack. his best-selling book, "taking heat," details his years in the white house. since leaving the white house, ari has worked extensively in the world of sports. he has helped major league baseball deal with its controversies, as well as its opportunities, and he has worked for the sony ericsson wta tour and the sporting goods manufacturers association. he also helps advise several major corporations about their communications issues through his company, ari fleischer sports communications.

an open letter to donald trump from ari fleischer: five things you need to do now

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and it looks like that time is nigh. clinton is starting to deliver public orations again, as consultants start to eye the chessboard and grassroots activists start to gin up support and raise ducats for a campaign-in-waiting. there's no doubt that we're still several steps short of a critical mass -- let alone an announcement from the former secretary of state and presidential aspirant herself. but whatever dam had been previously holding back the flood has started to show some signs of cracking, and the discussion has begun anew. we must pause here at the outset and offer praise to clinton for doing everything in her power -- by which i mean, nothing at all -- to delay the sort of advance-hype for the 2016 election cycle that we might otherwise be in up to our waist. see, as long as clinton says nothing definitive about whether she's running, she effectively "freezes the field." other democratic contenders can't start contending. republican rivals who lack real game have to keep their mouths shut as well. we're not drowning in stories, speculating about when andrew cuomo is going to visit des moines (though i'm sure des moines can't wait), and no one is getting tumescent over the tricksy consultants martin o'malley is hiring. and that's great for america! most people can't wait to keep right on waiting to spend their every waking hour reading about the 2016 election. i don't know if there is some large group of non-partisan, single-issue voters whose primary desire is to be allowed to not have to contemplate elections four years before they happen, but if such a voting bloc exists, they all owe hillary clinton their support, for being a force for good in this area. they should also stop reading now, because i'm going to cave in, and try to highlight what's interesting about these recent developments. despite clinton's best field-freezing efforts, we were never destined to live in a world where hot speculation over her presidential prospects were restrained. the biggest news that came out of clinton's appearance on "60 minutes" alongside president barack obama was obama playfully calling interlocutor steve kroft "incorrigible" for asking whether he was endorsing clinton for president. days later, people went nuts over a public policy polling poll that found that the state of texas was "in play" for clinton. and grousing from political speculators over clinton's coyness began to manifest itself. chris cillizza wrote a post insisting in one breath that "clinton likely won't have as much time to luxuriate in not working -- and not thinking about whether she wants to run in 2016 -- as she might want," and admitting in the next, "it's hard to pinpoint a particular date but it's hard to imagine her being able to wait much beyond the 2014 midterm elections." if i'm not mistaken, bill clinton also launched an "office of bill clinton" website after his term ended, so if you wanted to hew to safe assumptions, you would probably just contend that hillary clinton is following the same practice. but cnn continued in an altogether different vein, contending that the photo was "attention-grabbing," that there was special meaning in the way her old website sent visitors to the new one that was a de facto reason to speculate on her presidential ambitions, and that there was a special mystery in the way that the "site was purchased through a service allowing the purchaser to remain anonymous." it's not uncommon, of course, for political luminaries to find themselves the beneficiaries of supporters who want to build a "campaign-in-waiting." back in 2008, ed rollins tried to do much the same for mike huckabee. similar efforts were made on behalf of jon huntsman and mitch daniels. the efforts didn't amount to much. huntsman was the only one of the three who ran, and he didn't get much out of the odd surreal motorcycle ads that were created ahead of the launch beyond low-single digits in most national polls. rollins, failing to earn huckabee's assent, migrated to the campaign of michele bachmann. it was a strange arrangement, and it did not end well. but what clinton supporters may have brewing could end up being a thing apart. for starters, this undertaking is going to move real money. my colleague michael mcauliff offers a game prediction: when the next round of campaign filings are perused, you're going to see donations in the amount of $20.16 moving in clinton's direction. with carville's imprimatur, ready for hillary pac is going to catch some of that scratch for its coffers. that means the unannounced clinton "campaign" is going to have a double-freeze on the field -- money will be piling up in her corner from the grassroots, and big institutional donors will remain leery of backing someone else's horse until an official decision from clinton makes it okay to mull backing an o'malley or a cuomo. more importantly, these supporters aren't taking a flier on an unknown. if you recall the draft effort to bring gen. wesley clark into the 2004 campaign, in the apparent belief that his military background would be a compelling "x-factor" in the democratic field, this isn't it. draftwesleyclark did a respectable job -- in the opening two-week stretch of clark's campaign, they raised over $3.5 million. but clark ran from an underdog position, never manifested much facility for communicating on the stump, badly miscalculated by avoiding the iowa caucuses (where the entire campaign storyline shifted in john kerry's favor), and ended up as one of the field's semi-respectable also-rans -- not a guy who'd proved worthy of being "next in line." pareene suggests that the "rebranding" efforts the gop is currently embarked upon might serve as a vital check against the possibility of a return to the paranoid style of clinton bashing. but between now and 2016, there's going to be a midterm election. the vagaries of redistricting makes the gop's retention of a house majority a rather easy hang. in the senate, they have a puncher's chance at returning harry reid to minority status, and even if they don't, their filibustering super-minority is working out just fine. by the time the dust has settled on election night 2014, the gop may well declare their "rebranding" to have been a success.

the week that hillary clinton 2016 speculation moved from trickle to stream

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top dems want white house to call off part b demo <u+2014> the next cancer drug shortage

boehner's big week

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but he still takes some time out for twitter feuds.

bernie's not-so-secret-weapon

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belgian authorities missed a chance to press a key terrorism suspect for intelligence in the days ahead of the suicide bombings that struck the capital, prosecutors said friday, acknowledging a significant security lapse that may have allowed his allies to attack unimpeded. even as the men involved in tuesday<u+2019>s attacks were racing to strike, fearful that authorities were closing in on them, investigators did not ask the attackers<u+2019> jailed ally, salah abdeslam, about his knowledge of future plots, belgian federal prosecutors said friday. abdeslam, believed to be the logistics chief of the islamic state<u+2019>s november attacks in paris, was apprehended march 18, apparently spurring one of the brussels attackers to write that he feared capture by the police. but after abdeslam<u+2019>s arrest, investigators concentrated solely on the paris attacks. abdeslam was questioned for two hours last saturday, the day after he was captured in a raid at a brussels safe house <u+2014> and then no other discussions were held until after tuesday<u+2019>s attacks, when he refused to speak further, prosecutors said. the failure to push abdeslam for concrete intelligence <u+2014> even as close associates were known to be on the loose <u+2014> adds to an emerging picture of intelligence agencies, police forces<u+00ad> and criminal investigators that repeatedly failed to take advantage of opportunities to avert the attacks on tuesday, the worst single day of violence in belgium since world war ii. <u+201c>we cannot exclude that, if everybody had been perfect, this could have gone differently,<u+201d> belgian justice minister koen geens told a special session of parliament convened friday to question top security officials about the lapses. the acknowledgment from the prosecutors came as authorities conducted raids across brussels and in france and germany, an indication that they were still hotly pursuing terrorist plots and that the network may spread across a wide stretch of europe. two belgian islamic state fighters threatened that <u+201c>this is just the beginning of your nightmare,<u+201d> in a video released friday. <u+201c>know we have other targets and we are determined,<u+201d> said a man identified as abu abdullah al-beljiki, according to a translation by the site intelligence group, which monitors jihadist propaganda. belgian commandos and bomb-disposal units on friday swept through a district at the heart of the brussels attack probe. the raids followed police operations in france and germany that displayed the expanding crackdowns that increasingly connect the last two terrorist blows in europe: november<u+2019>s bloodshed across paris and tuesday<u+2019>s twin-site suicide bombings in brussels that killed at least 31 people <u+2014> including at least two americans. among those arrested in the latest roundups was a french suspect who officials believe was directing a plot for an impending attack in france. the investigation touched off a series of related police raids in belgium on friday. the police actions came as secretary of state john f. kerry touched down in brussels to discuss strategies about how to combat the islamic state with top european leaders. kerry met with belgian prime minister charles michel before joining a europe-wide security meeting to examine ways to counter militant reach into the continent. officials have raised alarms about potential threats from citizens returning after fighting with the islamic state and other groups. speaking to reporters after a meeting with michel, kerry defended belgium<u+2019>s security efforts. he said that it appeared to him at first glance that the brussels attackers were moved to act because they feared being apprehended by authorities. <u+201c>that tells you the dragnet is closing in. it tells you law enforcement is in fact having an impact,<u+201d> kerry said. <u+201c>it may not have worked out as everyone might have wished here, but if that is true .<u+2009>.<u+2009>. it tells you a lot about what<u+2019>s beginning to become effective.<u+201d> but even abdeslam<u+2019>s attorney has suggested that his client may possess knowledge that could avert future terrorist attacks on european soil, further highlighting the lapse by belgian investigators not to press abdeslam for intelligence ahead of the brussels attacks. the prosecutors said that they were slowed by the doctors<u+2019> treatment of the gunshot wound to the leg that abdeslam suffered in the raid before his capture. abdeslam was not <u+201c>up to date<u+201d> about the brussels attacks, his attorney, sven mary, told the europe 1 radio network on thursday. but, mary said, <u+201c>i would not want him to stop talking for lots of reasons. to stop talking could face us again with other zaventems and other bataclans, and i would perhaps like to avoid that.<u+201d> he was referring to brussels airport in zaventem, where two suicide bombers struck on tuesday, and the bataclan nightclub in paris that was a target of the november attacks. in raids across brussels on friday, police detained three people, including in a large operation in the schaerbeek area, which has become a focal point of investigations into tuesday<u+2019>s attacks. dozens of black-clad security officers swarmed a wide avenue to detain one person, setting off fears in a city still on edge from the recent violence. belgian tv aired amateur footage of the detention that appeared to show a man who had been shot in the leg being dragged away from a tram stop by counterterrorism police while a bomb-disposal robot waited nearby. belgian prosecutors said the man was arrested in connection with a french raid a day earlier. in germany, authorities held a man who was deported from turkey in july alongside brussels suicide attacker ibrahim el-bakraoui, 29, over suspicions of trying to fight in syria. a german official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said it was not immediately clear whether the man detained thursday had direct ties to bakraoui. [families still in desperate wait for news after attacks] both bakraoui and his 27-year-old brother, khalid el-bakraoui, who also blew himself up on tuesday, were on a u.s. terrorism watch list ahead of the attack, according to a u.s. official speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence matters. it was not clear whether they had been on the u.s. <u+201c>no-fly<u+201d> list. neighbors said friday that the bakraoui family appeared unexceptional in the diverse laeken area of brussels. the brothers<u+2019> father was a butcher and their mother is a housewife. as for the siblings themselves, <u+201c>they seemed very nice people, never the thugs with the caps who make people scared. absolutely not,<u+201d> said fatima, 31, a family friend and neighbor who spoke on the condition that her last name not be used. belgium<u+2019>s federal prosecutor said friday that the suspect detained in a raid the previous night in the paris suburb of argenteuil is believed to have connections to abdelhamid abaaoud, the deceased ringleader of the november attacks that left 130 dead. reda kriket, a 34-year-old french citizen, had been convicted in a belgian court in july of participating in the activities of a terrorist group, the prosecutor said. french authorities said that he had been planning an imminent attack on their country. meanwhile, the list of the brussels victims became clearer. at least two americans were killed, a u.s. official said friday, but their names were not disclosed. also among the dead from the airport bombings: a dutch brother and sister who lived in the united states. they were alexander pinczowski, 29, and sascha pinczowski, 26, said a representative for their family, james cain. cain, the father of alexander pinczowski<u+2019>s fiancee and a former u.s. ambassador to denmark, said the siblings had hoped to become u.s. citizens. the belgian foreign ministry announced that andr<u+00e9> adam, a former ambassador to the united states, died in the attacks. britain, china and france also confirmed at least one citizen each among the fatalities, while the netherlands confirmed one citizen in addition to the pinczowskis. james mcauley, missy ryan, annabell van den berghe and souad mekhennet in brussels and adam goldman, lindsey bever and brian murphy in washington contributed to this report. in syria and iraq, the islamic state is in retreat on multiple fronts anti-terrorism crackdowns may have spurred attackers, belgian prosecutor says the many missing pieces in the brussels attacks investigation

belgian police mount raids; prosecutors acknowledge missed opportunities

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veterans affairs secretary<u+00a0>robert<u+00a0>mcdonald<u+00a0>apologized monday for misstating that he served in the military's special forces<u+00a0>while speaking to a homeless veteran during a segment that aired last month on 'cbs evening news.' veterans affairs secretary robert mcdonald testifies on capitol hill in washington, before the house veterans' affairs committee hearing on the department of veterans affairs budget, feb. 11, 2015. mcdonald apologized monday, feb. 23, 2015, for misstating that he served in the military's special forces. mcdonald made the erroneous claim while speaking to a homeless veteran during a segment that aired last month on 'cbs evening news.' veterans affairs secretary<u+00a0>robert<u+00a0>mcdonald<u+00a0>apologized monday for misstating that he served in the military's special forces. mcdonald<u+00a0>made the erroneous claim while speaking to a homeless veteran during a segment that aired last month on "cbs evening news." in a statement released monday by the va,<u+00a0>mcdonald<u+00a0>said: "while i was in los angeles, engaging a homeless individual to determine his veteran status, i asked the man where he had served in the military. he responded that he had served in special forces. i incorrectly stated that i had been in special forces. that was inaccurate and i apologize to anyone that was offended by my misstatement." the va website says<u+00a0>mcdonald<u+00a0>is an army veteran who served with the 82nd airborne division. the huffington post website, which first reported on<u+00a0>mcdonald's<u+00a0>mistake, noted monday that the 82nd is not considered part of special forces. mcdonald<u+00a0>said he remains committed "to the ongoing effort to reform va." the white house issued a statement monday saying, "we take him at his word and expect that this will not impact the important work he's doing to promote the health and well-being of our nation's veterans." president barack obama chose the former procter & gamble ceo to take over the scandal-plagued va last year, and<u+00a0>mcdonald<u+00a0>took office last july. the questions about<u+00a0>mcdonald's<u+00a0>service come as tv newsmen brian williams and bill o'reilly have had their claims about covering foreign wars called into question.

va secretary apologizes for misstating military service to homeless veteran

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(cnn) donald trump's campaign is undergoing a major staff shake-up with less than three months to election day, adding two officials to top posts overseeing his struggling campaign and signaling a shift toward campaigning as a scorched earth outsider in order to win. trump has named steve bannon, the executive chairman of breitbart news and a former investment banker, to the post of chief executive and promoted kellyanne conway, a senior adviser and pollster to his campaign, to the position of campaign manager, conway confirmed to cnn early wednesday morning. the addition of bannon -- known for his brass-knuckled demeanor and his website's sharp tone -- came hours after reports surfaced that roger ailes, the recently ousted head of fox news, will begin to advise trump as he prepares for the presidential debates. the influence of both men lays the groundwork for unleashing trump this fall from the more traditional presidential candidate framework, which campaign chairman paul manafort's leadership was brought on to create. manafort, the campaign's chief strategist, will stay on in his campaign chairman role, conway said. "i look at it as an expansion of the team. paul remains as chairman," conway told cnn. manafort himself said it was an "exciting day for team trump" in an emailed memo to the campaign staff that was provided to cnn by a campaign source. he added that he will provide the "big picture, long-range campaign vision" that will guide the campaign to victory in november. but sources close to the campaign told cnn that while manafort and his deputy rick gates will remain on staff, they will return to their washington, d.c. base largely sidelined. instead of manafort's attempts to make trump a more traditional candidate, bannon will take over as trump's top adviser, giving trump free rein to run as the outsider candidate who won the republican primaries. bannon's ascension solidifies an informal, mutually beneficial relationship between breitbart, which has unapologetically championed trump, and the campaign. the website, which bannon has been closely involved with since its launch in 2007, has also been a center for conspiracy theories about clinton's health as well as stories about bill clinton's alleged treatment of women. the campaign's changes came as tensions mounted inside trump's campaign in recent weeks and as trump's relationship with manafort soured to the point that several people close to the campaign warned that a major staff shake-up might be imminent, sources close to the campaign told cnn. the staffing shake-up follows several weeks of negative headlines and alarming polls for trump who is trailing hillary clinton, the democratic nominee, in nearly every key battleground state and lagging in the latest national polls. trump decided on the changes this weekend after speaking with campaign donors at a fundraiser in the hamptons, including rebekah mercer, a high-profile gop donor with longstanding ties to conway, who shared her concerns with trump about the direction of the campaign, a source told cnn. trump then called conway on sunday from his golf club in bedminster, new jersey, to express his displeasure with the direction of his struggling campaign, sources close to the campaign said. notably, he made the decision without input from his adult children who were off traveling during the weekend, sources close to the campaign said. donald, jr., eric and ivanka trump have been influential advisers in the campaign and key mediators between trump and manafort, often also guiding their father to mollify his rhetoric and run a more conventional campaign. trump's call to conway came the same day trump also met with ailes at the same golf club. returning from an overseas vacation, trump' son-in-law jared kushner, a top campaign official, convened a meeting at trump tower with manafort, gates, bannon and conway on trump's orders to announce the shift in roles, sources said. the trump campaign denied that ailes would be taking on any role with the campaign and campaign aides also received a memo tuesday slapping down those reports, according to a source close to the campaign. in a statement from the campaign wednesday morning outlining the changes, trump said he was willing to do "whatever it takes to win this election." "i have known steve and kellyanne both for many years. they are extremely capable, highly qualified people who love to win and know how to win," trump said in the statement. "i believe we're adding some of the best talents in politics, with the experience and expertise needed to defeat hillary clinton in november and continue to share my message and vision to make america great again." second major shake-up of the summer the shake-up marks the second major change in the top rungs of the billionaire's campaign. trump just two months ago fired his campaign manager corey lewandowski after weeks of internal fighting between lewandowski and manafort, who was initially brought on to oversee trump's efforts to stave off the possibility of a contested convention. as the campaign shake-up neared, campaign aides pointed fingers at each other, the campaign's pollsters quarreled over strategy and the friction between trump and manafort became apparent. both trump and manafort discussed the friction in their relationship with friends in recent days, and a close associate described trump as frustrated at the state of the race, leveling complaints that he has been the victim of bad advice from his political team. "mr. trump doesn't trust him anymore. that's it. pure and simple," a source familiar with the tensions told cnn, adding that trump's gaffes and controversial statements in recent weeks have been fueled in part by his "exasperation" with the campaign's management. "when mr. trump doesn't feel comfortable with the way things are managed or the way things are, he has a tendency to try to do everything, thus his exasperation becomes apparent. it manifests itself," the source said. several people in touch with trump or his top political advisers in recent days said they had heard a shake-up was possible. but some cautioned that such chatter was predictable and inevitable when any campaign faces tough times. trump's decision to overhaul his campaign's leadership came as recent polls showed clinton thrashing trump in the key battleground states and even gaining a lead in several states that typically lean republican, such as georgia. and the decision also follows a slew of self-inflicted wounds since the democratic national convention wrapped, with trump exchanging barbs with the parents of a slain us soldier, reigniting intra-party tensions by initially declining to endorse house speaker paul ryan in his reelection bid and ultimately suggesting that "second amendment people" could act to keep clinton from appointing liberal supreme court justices should she become president. trump's campaign advisers have sought to refocus him, including through a pair of scripted policy speeches on the economy and terrorism that offered a stark contrast to trump's freewheeling style. but trump has repeatedly said he is resistant to change and reiterated that tuesday in an interview with a local news station in wisconsin. "i am who i am. it's me. i don't want to change. everyone talks about, 'oh are you going to pivot?' i don't want to pivot. you have to be you. if you start pivoting you are not being honest with people," trump told wkdt. lewandowski, who is now a cnn political commentator, has continued to informally advise trump, according to sources familiar with their ongoing conversations. lewandowski said tuesday evening on cnn that while trump may try to be "more inclusive," trump "knows who he is internally." "what he's going to do is remain true to himself, which is what this campaign has been about," lewandowski said. internal finger pointing abounded in recent days as recent media accounts have portrayed a campaign in disarray and at-times feuding with frustrated gop leaders. differences between the trump campaign's pollsters tony fabrizio and conway, who was promoted to campaign manager, were also the source of recent tensions. the source noted that lewandowski had issued a similar campaign memo when manafort was hired in a volunteer capacity with the campaign.

trump campaign shake-up

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killing obama administration rules, dismantling obamacare and pushing through tax reform are on the early to-do list.

5 things to watch in tonight<u+2019>s debate

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romney's condemnation, made here at the stein eriksen lodge before hundreds of his donors and business partners, highlighted the ill will between the last two gop nominees for president. the former massachusetts governor harshly criticized republican candidates such as ohio gov. john kasich and texas sen. ted cruz, as well as super pacs such as jeb bush's well-funded right to rise group, for not stopping trump in the primary. the two candidates largely avoided attacking trump for much of their campaigns. he made the comments before many of the individuals who had helped fund those very candidates. "ted cruz was basically praising donald trump through the whole process until the very end," romney told cnn's wolf blitzer, who was hosting the discussion. as for kasich, "he was in well after the time there was no possible pathway to becoming the nominee." romney's broadsides were warmly received by many of his allies, earning a 21-second round of applause when he wondered aloud about the future of the gop. "i find this so troubling, and i know a lot of folks are saying, 'mitt just get off your high horse on this and get behind the guy.' but these things are personal. i love this country. i love the founders. i love what this country is built upon and its values and seeing this is breaking my heart," romney said. the 2012 nominee was visibly emotional and appeared to tear up when making the remarks. yet romney still preached tolerance. he declined to criticize previous speakers, including house speaker paul ryan and republican national committee chairman reince priebus, who pitched trump to the well-heeled crowd this weekend, and said he would not try and sway the gop elites assembled here to abandon their nominee. and he recognized as legitimate the notion that some republicans may choose to back trump solely to prevent hillary clinton from appointing supreme court nominees, calling it a "darn good reason." the day before, romney had told blitzer in an interview that he worried about the moral fraying of society should trump become the nominee: "i don't want to see trickle-down racism," he said. donald trump: mitt romney 'let us down' donald trump: mitt romney 'let us down' and before the crowd here on saturday, romney used another former president as an example of how society is shaped by his example. "bill clinton's dalliances in the white house affected the sexual inclinations and practices of a generation, and probably beyond," he said. but romney was also challenged by some questioners who were trying to whip up support for trump. romney has pledged to never support trump, and many of his fund-raisers feel similarly. "we've got to get behind him," one man implored the crowd. "these are the cards we've been dealt." romney was also pressed as to why he accepted the endorsement of trump during his 2012 presidential run given trump's zest for "birtherism," or the idea that president barack obama was not born into the united states and is thus ineligible to be president. romney said he saw trump's comments as "nutty" but not disqualifying. now, the pair are using one another as political foils, with trump blasting his gop predecessor. on saturday in tampa, florida, he called romney someone who "let us down" and writing on twitter that romney "choked like a dog." the former massachusetts governor brushed off the attacks. "i have dogs. i don't know dogs choking," romney said to laughs. "that's an insult that somehow doesn't work." romney did, though, express some regret over his failed 2012 campaign, saying that he, like bush, had failed to connect his economic vision with average, middle-class voters. but for now, romney said he was trying to remain focused on the future, though he has now ruled out serving in the next white house. "had there been a president bush or a president (marco) rubio or a president (scott) walker, i might've been happy to be a part of their administration," romney said.

romney tears into gop for not criticizing trump

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when theodore roosevelt was president of the new york city police board, he discovered that reporters made remarkably effective assistants. roosevelt would invite the correspondents on his midnight rambles through the seedy sections of the city, where he sought out corrupt patrolmen. he understood the bitterly competitive nature of the newspaper business in new york in the 1890s, and he recognized the pressure the papers felt to deliver headlines that would arrest readers<u+2019> attention. <u+201c>a baghdad night,<u+201d> shouted the commercial advertiser after a typical trawl. <u+201c>roosevelt in the role of haroun alraschid. police caught napping.<u+201d> the board president took pains to cut a dashing figure. <u+201c>sing, heavenly muse, the sad dejection of our poor policemen,<u+201d> the world lyricized. <u+201c>we have a real police commissioner. his name is theodore roosevelt. his teeth are big and white, his eyes are small and piercing, his voice is rasping. he makes our policemen feel as the little froggies did when the stork came out to rule them.<u+201d> the papers didn<u+2019>t uniformly like roosevelt <u+2014> the mockery in the world<u+2019>s tone was evident <u+2014> but they couldn<u+2019>t resist the stories he gave them. david greenberg rightly begins <u+201c>republic of spin,<u+201d> his history of spin and the american presidency, with tr. roosevelt won the new york governorship on the strength of <u+201c>rough riders,<u+201d> a shamelessly self-promoting account of his exploits in the spanish-american war; from there he vaulted into the vice presidency and, upon the murder of william mckinley, the presidency. roosevelt employed the publicity tools that had won him office to work the levers of power. he made himself a story no washington reporter could pass up, gathering around him a coterie of correspondents whose inside access required strict adherence to ground rules he set. they could quote him only with his express permission. a french writer whom roosevelt wanted to impress was included in one of the <u+201c>seances,<u+201d> as the gatherings were called, and emerged with a notebook of revealing remarks from the american chief executive. the gist shortly appeared in the press. roosevelt denied having said anything of the sort or even having spoken to the man. he later explained his apparent duplicity: <u+201c>of course i said it, but i said it as theodore roosevelt and not as the president of the united states!<u+201d> what worked for one president became institutionalized, as successful practices do. and the institutionalization of presidential spin paralleled the permeation of spin throughout american life. greenberg neatly weaves a history of public relations into his political tale; we see the emergence of pr as an accepted and eventually respected industry during the 1920s and after. equally crucial was the evolution of technology. to get his message to millions, roosevelt had to work through the press; his fifth cousin, nephew by marriage and progressive protege franklin roosevelt exploited the capacity of radio. the new broadcast medium<u+2019>s apparent absence of spin made its spin all the more powerful. fdr<u+2019>s radio addresses were cast as fireside chats, with the president speaking simply to his fellow americans as though they were all sitting around a communal hearth. the first chat set the tone. at a moment when the banking system was paralyzed, when millions of americans had no idea whether they would ever again see their hard-earned deposits, when the chill of the great depression clutched at hearts all across america, roosevelt<u+2019>s calm voice came into living rooms and bedrooms like that of a reassuring father and told americans that everything was going to be all right. they believed him. and their belief became the crucial last link in roosevelt<u+2019>s rescue of the banks. the success of the spin didn<u+2019>t prevent americans from realizing they were being spun, and greenberg devotes another theme of his story to critiques of the whole business. from h.l. mencken to hannah arendt and garry trudeau, nearly everyone who has commented on modern politics, modern communications or simply modern life has weighed in on the struggle to shape the terms of debate of democracy. the critiques themselves, meanwhile, contributed to another part of greenberg<u+2019>s story: the evolution of what amounted to anti-spin defense systems on the part of the media. responsible journalists had always sought to counter presidential claims with sources of their own, but during the decades of world war ii and the early cold war, a certain symbiosis developed between big government and big media. citing national security, presidential administrations would warn the media against peering too closely into the black box of policy, and the media obliged. but when the vietnam war went badly, and the pentagon papers revealed that administrations had been lying about the war for years, and when watergate, which grew out of the pentagon papers, showed that the deceit went far beyond anything touching national security, the cozy compact was blasted to bits. the media went into full opposition mode. almost everything every administration official uttered or published was presumed to be dangerously misleading; the radar of the anti-spin systems tracked the enemy missiles from launch and sent interceptors to destroy them. it didn<u+2019>t help the government side in its contest with the media that its high ground was soon seized by conservatives who claimed that government was not the solution to america<u+2019>s problems but the problem itself. yet, as greenberg notes, even the anti-government government forces had their spin specialists, with ronald reagan being one of the best. how else to explain the gipper<u+2019>s ability to walk away from the train wreck of iran-contra with barely a scratch? which leads to the most basic question of all: does any of this matter? greenberg guides the reader through six ages of efforts to manage the news (<u+201c>age of publicity,<u+201d> <u+201c>age of ballyhoo,<u+201d> etc.), culminating in today<u+2019>s comprehensive <u+201c>age of spin.<u+201d> yet even in our present advanced era, greenberg declines to grant the spin machines decisive credit. the reagan revolution, he says, was marked by shrewd management of the media, but it succeeded on its merits. <u+201c>the idea that reagan and his team used their media proficiency to fool the public into buying a conservative agenda belonged to the tradition of frustrated protests of antagonists unwilling to credit a rival<u+2019>s successes. by and large americans knew what they were getting with reagan.<u+201d> nor is the resistance president obama has encountered from the republicans on health care and other issues due to a failure of his spin skills. <u+201c>you know, i can make some really good arguments defending the democratic position, and there are going to be some people who just don<u+2019>t agree with me,<u+201d> obama told <u+201c>60 minutes,<u+201d> with greenberg nodding silently. perhaps the spinners offset one another, the way the twin rotors of large helicopters do. perhaps the american people have become inured to decades of message-massaging. greenberg<u+2019>s title suggests disdain for its subject: <u+201c>spin<u+201d> is a label usually reserved for what one<u+2019>s opponents do. yet greenberg is far from categorically critical. <u+201c>if spin is used for misleading, it is also used for leading,<u+201d> he writes. <u+201c>throughout history, presidents, using the machinery of spin, have contributed to wartime hysteria and baleful complacency, resentment and fear. but they have also given us the golden flares of inspiration that moved the public, in their own times and for decades after.<u+201d> which shows that historians can do it, too.

how presidents manipulate the media and the public

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to its critics, president obama<u+2019>s strategy to combat the islamic state in syria and iraq is weak and incoherent. even some of the staunchest u.s. allies and partners in the fight worry that the time for what they see as the administration<u+2019>s incremental approach has long since passed. the white house maintains that its strategy is comprehensive and that it<u+2019>s working. sharp increases in airstrikes and obama<u+2019>s recent decision to deploy special operations troops, officials say, are part of a fundamental change in the military<u+2019>s mission developed this fall, along with a new diplomatic push to end the distraction of syria<u+2019>s civil war. in his sunday-night address to the nation following last week<u+2019>s san bernardino, calif., shooting, obama outlined the elements of the strategy, assuring americans that there is a viable plan underway to decimate the islamic state where it lives. <u+201c>we will destroy isil and any other organization that tries to harm us,<u+201d> he said, using an alternative name for the militants. but the white house is clearly frustrated by its failure to communicate the elements of that plan and what it believes has been accomplished. <u+201c>yes, there is a strategy,<u+201d> secretary of state john f. kerry snapped in a speech saturday. <u+201c>i know the criticism. we all hear them. .<u+2009>.<u+2009>. but that doesn<u+2019>t mean it<u+2019>s wisdom.<u+201d> the administration<u+2019>s insistence that its prudence and patience will pay off <u+2014> vs. charges of too little, too late <u+2014> have been the two opposing narratives of the 18-month battle against the islamic state and the four-year syrian war it has now overshadowed. an examination of the recent course of events on the military and diplomatic fronts and interviews with a broad range of stakeholders and experts provide fuel for both arguments. for more than a year after the islamic state blitzkrieg swept across syria and through iraq to the baghdad suburbs in the early summer of 2014, u.s. military operations, including airstrikes and training of local ground troops, were in what a coalition spokesman, col. steve warren, called <u+201c>crisis mode, just trying to keep the barbarians off the gate.<u+201d> the iraqi army had fallen apart. in syria, as civil war raged in the west, the militants consolidated their control over the north-central and eastern areas of the country, with virtually free access to syria<u+2019>s border with turkey to infiltrate tens of thousands of foreign fighters and equipment. airstrikes begun by the united states and its coalition partners <u+2014> europeans in iraq and arab states in syria <u+2014> were tactical, focused on targets of opportunity and the need to prevent collapse. while domestic critics and allies in the region called for more strikes, more support for syrian rebels, more u.s. boots on the ground and no-fly zones, the administration demurred. in a broad assessment in august, the pentagon determined it had succeeded in its initial goals of stopping further islamic state expansion and reestablishing the foundations of a viable iraqi military. amid repeated failures in syria to organize and arm a rebel force to fight against the militants in syria, it found hope in the establishment of a syrian kurdish and arab force that has driven the militants from much of the turkish border. adoption of what the military says is its first real operational strategy, following the chaos of the initial year, was marked by september<u+2019>s change of command of the baghdad-based headquarters of the u.s.-led coalition against the islamic state. <u+201c>you have done what was necessary,<u+201d> u.s. central command gen. lloyd j. austin iii told departing lt. gen. james l. terry. the new commander, lt. gen. sean macfarland, was charged with <u+201c>operationalizing<u+201d> the mission, warren said. <u+201c>we always wanted to get into a position where we could apply multiple points of pressure at once, across the whole battle space,<u+201d> said a senior administration official. <u+201c>we<u+2019>re now in position to actually do it. it<u+2019>s not going to be perfect, it<u+2019>s not going to be linear, it<u+2019>s going to be extremely hard.<u+201d> military and administration officials, most speaking on the condition of anonymity about internal decision-making, listed the elements of the comprehensive offensive against <u+201c>core isil<u+201d> on the ground in both syria and iraq. in iraq, the focus has been on cutting islamic state supply lines into mosul, the militant bastion in the northwest, in preparation for an eventual ground assault, and applying simultaneous pressure along militant front lines stretching south to the city of ramadi, 70<u+00a0>miles west of baghdad. <u+201c>these are not blitzkrieg gains,<u+201d> warren said, <u+201c>but painstaking, incremental work against a dug-in enemy<u+201d> now made more effective with the ability to integrate airstrikes with a more organized and robust ground force. obama has authorized a new, iraq-based special operations task force to conduct ground raids against islamic state leadership targets in both iraq and syria. administration officials have described a snowballing cycle in which more raids will take more leaders off the battlefield and provide more intelligence to plan still more raids. but it is unclear when the force, initially to number about 100, will be deployed. syria, with its separate wars against the islamic state and between forces of president bashar al-assad and rebels seeking to unseat him, is far more complicated. regional allies such as saudi arabia, the united arab emirates and jordan, who once flew strike missions along with u.s. warplanes, have largely dropped out, an absence the united states hopes to make up with new agreements with france and britain. the <u+201c>whole battle space<u+201d> concept includes simultaneous airstrikes along the eastern border with iraq to further cut militant supply lines, on islamic state-controlled oil fields, and in the north-central area, where syrian kurdish and arab forces who have captured a wide swath of territory along the border from the militants are organizing to attack the de facto militant capital of raqqa. obama has authorized the deployment of 50 special operations troops, the first official u.s. boots on the ground in syria, to join those forces to assess their readiness and help develop tactical plans, although the americans are not expected to arrive for several months, defense officials said. in southern syria, anti-assad rebels have met with significant success against government forces, but the islamic state, sensing an opening, has begun moving into the area. the united states is sending more money and equipment, including heavy, long-range artillery, to jordan, both to protect its own border and to engage militant targets inside syria. but given the new threat to the homeland, the administration<u+2019>s claims of incremental success have left scornful critics asking why it does not do more. asked on nbc<u+2019>s <u+201c>meet the press<u+201d> on sunday what he hoped to hear in obama<u+2019>s speech, presidential hopeful sen. lindsey o. graham (r-s.c.) replied: <u+201c>that he<u+2019>s going to change his strategy and come up with a regional army to go in destroy the caliphate in raqqa. .<u+2009>.<u+2009>. the president doesn<u+2019>t have a strategy.<u+201d> mutual frustration has also been ongoing between the united states, as coalition leader, and regional allies, with some calling for a more aggressive u.s. policy. the united arab emirates said last week that it was willing to send ground forces into syria <u+2014> something obama has consistently refused <u+2014> if others would do the same as part of an international force. but the region<u+2019>s governments, including turkey, are also deeply divided among themselves, leaving the administration as both whipping boy for their complaints and mediator for their disagreements as it tries to implement a broad strategy. in recent weeks, as kerry has launched a diplomatic effort to bring the civil war to an end in order to shift attention to the counterterrorism fight, obama himself has intervened in a series of conversations with regional leaders, including turkish president recep tayyip erdogan and saudi king salman. nowhere is the dissention more acute than in northwest syria, where rebel groups separately backed by the united states and europe, the persian gulf arab states and turkey are locked in a melange of battles, often beside forces of al-qaeda affiliate jabhat al-nusra, against assad<u+2019>s military. the entry of russian warplanes and iranian troops on assad<u+2019>s side in western syria has further complicated the situation, increasing the conundrum of how to take back the nearby, remaining 60-mile strip of the syria-turkey border in islamic state hands. the coalition has said it is ready to launch an all-out air offensive to drive the militants out of the area, located north of aleppo, syria<u+2019>s most-populous city, but not until there are opposition forces on the ground ready to occupy the terrain. and the more the rebels are engaged in the russian-aided fight against assad, the less willing they are to switch their attention to the border. u.s. officials say that a small force of opposition fighters in the area, including about 130 syrians trained by the americans in jordan who are in direct communication with u.s. forces, have had some success. but their operations are still rudimentary. to delineate their lines from those of the islamic state and avoid their own casualties from coalition airstrikes, they light tires on fire and warn pilots to avoid the smoke.

the white house insists it has a plan to fight islamic state and that it<u+2019>s working

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at the pentagon, "we have duplicated staff, and we have staffs that are four and five times larger than they were during the vietnam war," said mccain. "we have to get rid of the duplicate ways in the pentagon and get rid of sequestration because it is destroying our ability to fund the nation."

john mccain: nsa phone surveillance program is necessary

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(cnn) a pair of dramatic raids friday in france led to the killing of three terrorists -- one suspected in the fatal shooting of a policewoman and four hostages, the other two in the massacre at the offices of charlie hebdo magazine -- and to the freeing of more than a dozen people being held hostage. the french government's work is not over. there's still a lot of healing to do, a lot of questions to answer about how to prevent future attacks, and the pursuit of a woman wanted in the policewoman's shooting. hollande: we are proud of our police hollande: we are proud of our police 01:04 hollande: we are proud of our police still, as interior minister bernard cazeneuve said, "the nation is relieved tonight." <u+2022>the wife of suspect cherif kouachi and the girlfriend of hostage taker amedy coulibaly-- hayat boumedienne -- exchanged 500 phone calls in 2014, according to paris prosecutor francois molin. the wife told investigators that cherif and coulibaly knew each well. <u+2022> cherif kouachi, a suspect in the charlie hebdo slaughter, visited yemen in 2011 and french authorities were aware of his contacts with terrorist organizations in yemen and syria, molins said at a press conference. <u+2022> the government of yemen has launched an investigation into a possible al qaeda in the arabian peninsula link to the charlie hebdo magazine attack, mohammed albasha, yemen's spokesman in washington, tweeted friday. <u+2022> four hostages were killed and 15 survived in the standoff between an armed terrorist and police at a paris kosher grocery store on friday, according to israeli government sources who characterized a phone conversation between israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu and french president fran<u+00e7>ois hollande. <u+2022> u.s. president barack obama said he wants the people of france to know that the united states "stands with you today, stands with you tomorrow" after this week's terror. he told a crowd in tennessee that "we stand for freedom and hope and dignity of all human beings, (and) that's what paris stands for." <u+2022> the fbi and u.s. department of homeland security issued a bulletin to law enforcement across the united states discussing the paris terrorist attack this week and the sophistication of the tactics, a u.s. law enforcement source told cnn. the bulletin says the attacks demonstrated "a degree of sophistication and training traditionally not seen in recent small armed attacks," the official said. a salesman, who identified himself only as didier, told france info radio that he shook one of the gunman's hands at about 8:30 a.m. as they arrived at the business. didier said he first thought the man, who was dressed in black and heavily armed, was a police officer. as he left, the armed man said, "go, we don't kill civilians." didier said, "it wasn't normal. i did not know what was going on." the gunmen told police that they wanted to die as martyrs, yves albarello, who is in france's parliament, said on channel itele. the area, meanwhile, was locked down -- with children stuck in schools, roads closed and shops shuttered. shortly before 5 p.m., gunshots and at least three large explosions pierced the relative silence. . soon after, men could be seen on the roof of the building where the brothers had holed up. four helicopters landed nearby. word came that the brothers were dead and that a man who had been hiding in the building was safe, said bernard corneille, the mayor of nearby othis. at the same time, in a different setting near paris's porte de vincennes about 40 kilometers (25 miles) away, a similar crisis played out at a kosher store. like cherif kouachi, a man claiming to be coulibaly called bfmtv on friday. at the scene, witnesses heard coulibaly demand freedom for the kouachi brothers, according to police union spokesman pascal disand. law enforcement swarmed the area. dozens of schools went on lockdown. a resolution came a few minutes after the dammartin-en-goele climax, in the form of explosions and gunfire. up to 20 heavily armed police officers moved into the store. they came out with a number of civilians. not everyone made it. hollande said four people were killed. israeli government sources told cnn that hollande told netanyahu that four hostages were killed and 15 were rescued. molins said four hostages were killed by the gunman before police stormed the market. in a speech friday night, hollande called the porte de vincennes deaths an "anti-semitic" act. he urged his countrymen not to respond with violence against muslims, saying, "those who committed these acts have nothing to do with the muslim religion." "unity" he said, "is our best weapon." that kind of military language is apt when you're talking about two deadly attacks and violent standoffs in a few days. it's something that a man, who asked to be called simply teddy, understands. he was outside henri dunant elementary school in dammartin-en-goele on friday, hoping to pick up his young son. and, eventually, the students did leave the school -- accompanied by police officers who held their hands and, in some cases, lifted them onto an awaiting bus that would take them to safety. "it's like a war," teddy said. "i don't know how i will explain this to my 5-year-old son." this "war" erupted two days ago, when a pair of heavily armed men -- hooded and dressed in black -- entered the paris offices of charlie hebdo, the satirical magazine known for its provocative, often profane, take on religion, politics and most anything else. they burst into a meeting, called out individuals, and then executed them. the dead included editor and cartoonist stephane charbonnier and four other well-known cartoonists known by the pen names: cabu, wolinski, honore and tignous. authorities followed a lead thursday morning from a gas station attendant near villers-cotterets, about 40 kilometers (25 miles) from dammartin-en-goele, whom cherif kouachi, 32, and said kouachi, 34, reportedly threatened as they stole food and gas. police think the brothers may have later fled on foot into nearby woods. as the suspects moved, the french government -- including more than 80,000 police deployed across the country -- also didn't stand still. some of them tried to prevent more bloodshed, which might have something to do with nine people detained after the charlie hebdo attacks. investigators also dug to learn about the attackers. both men had ties to islamist extremists. said, the elder of the kouachi brothers, spent several months in yemen in 2011, receiving weapons training and working with al qaeda in the arabian peninsula, according to u.s. officials. his younger brother, cherif, has a long history of jihad and anti-semitism, according to documents obtained by cnn. in a 400-page court record, he is described as wanting to go to iraq through syria "to go and combat the americans." "i was ready to go and die in battle," he said in a deposition. "... i got this idea when i saw the injustices shown by television. ... i am speaking about the torture that the americans have inflicted on the iraqis." a man claiming to be cherif told cnn affiliate bfmtv in a phone call before he was shot and killed friday that he was sent to carry out the massacre by al qaeda in yemen and that the late anwar al-awlaki financed his trip. cnn cannot independently confirm the authenticity of the recording. al-awlaki, an american-born muslim scholar and cleric who acted as a spokesperson for al qaeda in the arabian peninsula, was killed in 2011 by a cia drone strike. cherif and coulibaly were involved in a 2010 attempt to free an algerian incarcerated for a 1995 subway bombing. coulibaly was arrested with 240 rounds of ammunition for a kalashnikov rifle and a photo of djamel beghal, a french algerian once known as al qaeda's premier european recruiter. the western intelligence source said that coulibaly lived with boumeddiene, his alleged accomplice in the police shooting, and that the two traveled to malaysia together. charlie hebdo columnist: 'they didn't want us to be quiet' a unity rally will be held sunday "celebrating the values behind" charlie hebdo, said british prime minister david cameron, who will travel to paris to attend. and the magazine itself -- whose former offices were firebombed in 2011, on the day it was to publish an issue poking fun at islamic law and after it published a cartoon of the muslim prophet mohammed -- will go on as well, even without its leader and most talented staffers. it's set to publish thousands of copies of its latest edition next wednesday. patrick pelloux, a columnist for the magazine, told cnn that "i don't know if i'm afraid anymore, because i've seen fear. i was scared for my friends, and they are dead." he and many others are defiant. "i know that they didn't want us to be quiet," pelloux said of the slain charlie hebdo staffers."they would be assassinated twice, if we remained silent."

charlie hebdo attack: three terrorists killed in raids

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that may soon be possible thanks to a provision tacked onto this year's national defense authorization act, which the house of representatives is set to pass this week. the provision was added as an amendment during a late-night session at the end of last month during which the legislation authorizing the nation's military activities for 2016 was drafted. according to a white paper prepared for congress by the army opposing the amendment, the measure would allow the unregulated distribution of up to 100,000 colt .45s, more formally known as .45-caliber semiautomatic m1911 handguns. the provision, added by rep. mike rogers (r-ala.), changes parts of federal rules that were meant to boost rifle skills in the country under a program dating back to teddy roosevelt. under existing law, which was updated in 1996, the department of defense makes surplus military rifles available to the public through something known as the civilian marksmanship program, which has a regional headquarters in rogers' state. rogers' amendment would change language in the law that specifies certain rifles allowed in the program to include the much broader category of "firearms." although the marksmanship program aims to educate youth about safety and shooting, according to the military's white paper, "there is a significant risk of approximately 100k semi-automatic handguns that are virtually untraceable, being released into commerce." that's because although the amendment specifies that the weapons cannot be sold to people who are barred by law from having guns, the cmp sells guns over the internet, and has no mechanism to verify who is making purchases. by law, the cmp "can sell ... only to members of cmp affiliated clubs who are also u.s. citizens, over 18 years of age and who are legally eligible to purchase a firearm," according to eligibility requirements posted on its website. on top of that, although the cmp is allowed by law to sell guns across state lines, it is not covered by the gun control act, and is not required to keep records tracking purchasers. the army noted in its opposition that the department of justice has tracked an average of nearly 1,800 colt .45s being used in crimes every year over the last decade, including a significant but unspecified number of those guns that were originally military surplus. a spokesman for rep. adam smith (wash.), the top democrat on the house armed services committee, said his boss agreed with the army and would try to strip the amendment. "this provision, which the army has said it does not want or need, could potentially put nearly 100,000 untraceable .45-caliber military-grade handguns on our streets," the spokesman, michael amato, said in an email. "this provision is an unnecessary risk."

defense bill would put 100,000 untraceable guns on streets

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protests and vigils have erupted in major cities and smaller towns across the united states in response to donald trump's election as the 45th president last night. students in california also participated in a walk-out, and there were protests at some college campuses. it turns out it's important for everyone to vote, but also to vote in the correct way. protesters chanted various anti-trump slogans, with some calling attention to hillary clinton's apparent victory in the popular vote. the protest in new york city was organized by socialist alternative nyc, which blamed the democratic party for failing to stop trump, insisting the party should have nominated bernie sanders instead of clinton. based on the results, where trump performed at about the level of the last two republican nominees, mitt romney and john mccain, while clinton received millions of votes fewer than barack obama did, any other democratic nominee would have done better. some protesters burned american flags, but there were no immediate reports of violence at the demonstrations<u+2014>protests in the bay area last night over trump's victory did descend into violence, and may do so again. anti-trump protests are not a new thing this election cycle, nor is violence, although these are the first after the democratically-held election on tuesday. in mid-october, video released by james o'keefe's project veritas showed a democratic operative bragging about hiring protesters to incite violence at trump rallies. in march, trump, then in the midst of his run of primary wins, said protests like the ones that occurred in chicago outside the trump tower had "energized" his supporters. those protests also did not have specific messages on policy. in june, i wrote that attacks by anti-trump protesters on trump supporters because of the danger he posed as an imperial president was an exercise in blame-shifting. "those so concerned about what trump might do to the country that they feel called to stalk and attack trump supporters should take a long look in the mirror instead," i wrote. "it'll have the added benefit of not building more support for trump, as violence against his supporters certainly will." the tactics and the attitudes underlying them continued, and probably helped trump pull off one of the biggest upsets in modern presidential history. outside of demonstrations surrounding specific police shootings, and the anti-trump protests, there seem to have been few major protests in the u.s. in the last eight years over the kinds of policies<u+2014>like u.s. wars overseas and even immigration policy<u+2014>that purportedly animated protests during the bush years. certainly, the candidate produced by the party that claims to be concerned about these issues did not reflect an electorate that voted based on those issues. clinton was the architect of a number of u.s. interventionists and an advocate of policies like the drug war that contributed to the refugee crisis at the southern border. the obama administration ramped up deportations, and has continued to rip families apart into its last year. trump's election has already re-ignited concern about these issues. the left has rediscovered the usefulness of limited government power, as robby soave noted tuesday night. although republicans retained control of congress in the elections, a number of republican members did not endorse trump. while failed presidential candidate sen. lindsey graham of south carolina is a pro-interventionist fan of executive power, others, such as kentucky's sen. rand paul, could become important advocates of limited executive and government power and non-interventionism. arizona's sen. jeff flake, another republican who didn't endorse trump, meanwhile, is likely to press trump and republicans on immigration. rep. justin amash of michigan tweeted a picture of himself, kentucky's rep. tom massie, and rand paul, with the the caption "we're putting the band back together #teamliberty". on one level, the protests are a neat demonstration of the first amendment, and would be so if the roles were reversed, although i'm skeptical if tonight's protesters would feel the same way. a progressive friend suggested trump supporters would have gotten violent if clinton won<u+2014>not an uncommon belief. clinton called the idea that trump might not accept the outcome of the election, as protesters appear to be doing, "horrific." the protesters are also risking the salience of the message against policies there is now an opportunity to try to push a new president in a better direction on, and avoid the bipartisan continuity of the war on terror and related policies from the bush administration to the obama administration. donald trump may personify the problem of unchecked executive power, but the problem is with how the system has developed into that position. many obama voters believed they were voting for "change," but president obama brought a lot of bush policies along with him. guantanamo bay is still open, the u.s. is engaged in military operations in at least half a dozen countries, the post-9/11 security apparatus remains in place. obama did not personify the solution to unchecked executive power or violent u.s. foreign policy. the solutions have to be codified (and, woah, actually are, in the constitution), with a rollback of the decades-long project of accumulated executive power and a restoration of co-equal branches of a constitutional government. if the debates are again made about personalities, the opportunity for positive change could be lost, yet again.

protesting donald trump<u+2019>s election, not wars, surveillance, or deportations

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windham, new hampshire (cnn) donald trump pumped up his attacks on hillary clinton's character saturday night by suggesting that the former secretary of state is not mentally fit to be president. "she took a short-circuit in the brain. she's got problems," trump said, seizing on clinton's explanation that she "short-circuited" a recent answer about her truthfulness in discussing her email server. "honestly, i don't think she's all there," he added. the attacks flowed from the republican nominee as he once again tore into clinton as "unstable," "unbalanced" and "totally unhinged." trump's stepped-up attacks on clinton come as he has been falling in a slew of recent battleground states and national polls and as top republicans have fretted about trump repeatedly knocking himself off message by engaging in controversies rather than focusing on clinton. while trump in the last week escalated a feud with the parents of a fallen u.s. soldier and opened a party rift by saying he was not yet ready to endorse the republican speaker of the house, trump on friday launched into a lengthy and focused attack on clinton during his rallies, and built on those attacks on saturday. "she's a liar. she is a horrible, horrible human being," trump told a crowd of supporters gathered in a sweltering new hampshire high school gym. "she's incompetent and i don't' think that you can even think of allowing this woman to become president of the united states." but before taking the stage in new hampshire, trump previewed the "short-circuit" line of attack online, tweeting earlier saturday that "anybody whose mind 'short circuits' is not fit to be our president! look up the word 'brainwashed.'" and in a video posted on his facebook page earlier saturday, trump's campaign suggested clinton was "melting down," calling her "robot hillary." clinton's use of the term "short-circuited" came as she answered a question friday at a gathering of black and hispanic journalists about her recent assertion in a fox news interview that fbi director james comey said she had been "truthful" in discussing her use of a private email server during her time as secretary of state. clinton's claim in that interview has been widely debunked as false. "i was pointing out in both of those instances, that director comey had said that my answers in my fbi interview were truthful. that really is the bottom line here," she said. "what i told the fbi, which he said was truthful, is consistent with what i have said publicly. i may have short-circuited, and for that, i will try to clarify." stumping saturday night, trump also alleged that the terrorist group isis is dreaming of a clinton presidency. "remember, remember, remember isis is looking, folks. they dream of hillary clinton," trump said. "they look at her and they say this can't be happening to us. how great is this." trump's latest barrage of attacks against clinton -- while not a departure from his brand of personal and aggressive attacks against his opponents -- did mark an escalation in his attacks, just as clinton and her allies are stepping up their attacks against trump. clinton has accused trump of being "temperamentally unfit" to be president and a slew of top former government officials have raised questions about trump's character and his fitness to become the next commander-in-chief. "the character traits he has exhibited during the primary season suggest he would be a poor, even dangerous, commander in chief," morell wrote, pointing to trump's "obvious need for self-aggrandizement, his overreaction to perceived slights" and "his routine carelessness with the facts." trump also pushed back on those attacks on saturday. "i get a kick out of these dopey, dopey, dopey people. these stupid foolish people when they talk about, "can we trust donald trump with nuclear? can we trust him?" trump said. "you know, it's a whole little narrative. they'll spend a billion dollars on this but the people aren't buying it."

trump on clinton: 'she took a short-circuit in the brain'

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there's evidence that when weighing donald trump versus rival ted cruz, many republican leaders have become more concerned about senator cruz. donald trump speaks to a crowd on jan. 4, 2016, in lowell, mass. thousands attended the rally in packed paul e. tsongas center arena at the lowell campus of the university of massachusetts. is the republican establishment <u+2013> or at least some of it <u+2013> coming to terms with the possibility that donald trump will be the gop presidential nominee? a number of signs in recent days indicate that<u+2019>s the case. or, to be more specific, there<u+2019>s evidence that when weighing mr. trump versus rival ted cruz, many republican leaders think senator cruz the greater danger. that<u+2019>s an implicit admission that they<u+2019>re beginning to think trump might not be, you know, so bad. let<u+2019>s go to the list: earlier this month, right-leaning new york times columnist david brooks unloaded on cruz, saying the texas senator<u+2019>s speeches are full of a sort of <u+201c>pagan brutalism.<u+201d> since then, two former republican senate majority leaders, trent lott and bob dole, have indicated they think a cruz nomination would be cataclysmic for the gop and lead to widespread losses down the ticket. then this week, the republican governor of iowa, terry branstad, said flatly that he hopes anyone but cruz wins his state<u+2019>s first-in-the-nation caucuses. true, governor branstad cited cruz<u+2019>s opposition to ethanol subsidies, crucial to iowa<u+2019>s economy, as the reason for his opposition. but the open and vehement nature of the anti-endorsement indicated a high level of political enmity. <u+201c>it is no surprise that the establishment is in full panic mode,<u+201d> cruz told reporters after hearing of this news. why does this imply anything about trump? well, the iowa caucuses are now less than two weeks away. the new hampshire primary is within three. the primary season moves quickly through south carolina and other states after that. if the republican party as an entity is to exert influence on the nominating process, now is the time. many have expected republican leaders to band together against trump, given that some party figures see him as an existential threat to the gop in its current form. that doesn<u+2019>t seem to be occurring. <u+201c>the sort of gop effort against trump that many anticipated is happening instead vs. cruz,<u+201d> tweeted sunlight foundation political analyst richard skinner on thursday. yes, this description of the state of play is a bit simplistic. the republican establishment is not a cohesive entity chaired by the ghost of nelson rockefeller. many gop journalists and public intellectuals continue to worry that trump, with his belligerent populism, will push the party so far from its small-government roots that it will become unrecognizable. <u+201c>what we<u+2019>re seeing is the attempt at the normalization of trump on the right, and defining conservatism down. can be resisted and defeated,<u+201d> tweeted right-leaning weekly standard editor william kristol earlier this week. but the fact remains that the legislative, washington wing of the party now seems inclined to cut trump slack. mr. dole, the party<u+2019>s nominee in 1996, said in a new york times interview that trump could probably work with congress, because <u+201c>he<u+2019>s got the right personality and he<u+2019>s kind of a dealmaker.<u+201d> it may be as simple as that. trump, for all his insults, is the kind of person members of congress understand. he<u+2019>s a businessman who knows that deals aren<u+2019>t all one-sided, and a political neophyte who would be willing to defer to their judgment. that<u+2019>s the theory, anyway. cruz? he<u+2019>s proved that the only legislative opinion he listens to is his own, in the view of the establishment. many in the gop believe he pushed them into the 2013 government shutdown and then blamed their lack of courage for the shutdown<u+2019>s inevitable collapse. consider this: back in the 2008 campaign, questions arose about whether nominee john mccain was a <u+201c>natural born citizen,<u+201d> and thus eligible for the presidency under the constitution, because he was born in the canal zone. the senate quickly moved to pass a nonbinding resolution affirming senator mccain<u+2019>s citizenship. when cruz became embroiled in the same question, because of his canadian birth, that did not happen. <u+201c>i just don<u+2019>t think the senate ought to get into the middle of this,<u+201d> said majority leader mitch mcconnell of the issue on abc news<u+2019>s <u+201c>this week<u+201d> earlier this month. does the gop establishment think it can block cruz, then turn to oppose trump and boost someone else? maybe, but it<u+2019>s getting late to pull off that kind of maneuver. trump may rocket through the first primaries, and then, who could head him off? jeb bush? (hey, he<u+2019>s at 10 percent in some new hampshire polls!) are gop figures counting on influencing someone who<u+2019>s not that easy to push around? sure, trump knows little about the day-to-day operation of government. that doesn<u+2019>t mean he<u+2019>ll be silly putty in senator mcconnell<u+2019>s hands. he<u+2019>s a billionaire with little vested interest in the party per se. <u+201c>he might well completely ignore congress<u+2019>s wishes and just do whatever feels right to him on any given day. trump<u+2019>s primary goal over the past several decades has been to enhance the trump name. what policies that translates into is anyone<u+2019>s guess,<u+201d> writes seth masket at vox. or does the party leadership still think that somehow or other, without its involvement, trump is just going to lose?

is gop establishment learning to like donald trump? (+video)

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sharm el-sheik, egypt, march 14 (reuters) - on the eve of fresh talks with iran, u.s. secretary of state john kerry said it was unclear whether an interim agreement over its nuclear power program was within reach. "i can't tell you whether or not we can get a deal, whether we are close," kerry told a news conference on saturday in the red sea resort of sharm el-sheik, where he attended an egyptian investment summit. "the purpose of these negotiations is not just to get a deal, it is to get the right deal," he added. the united states and five other major powers -- britain, germany, france, china and russia -- will resume negotiations with iran in lausanne, switzerland, from sunday. they hope to clinch a framework agreement by the end of the month. the two sides would then seek to negotiate by june 30 a final agreement to would curb iran's most sensitive nuclear activities for at least 10 years. in exchange, sanctions on the islamic republic would gradually end. kerry expressed concern again that a letter to iran last week from republican senators may have undermined the talks. the letter warned iran that any deal made by president barack obama might last only as long as he remained in office -- a highly unusual intervention in u.s. foreign policy-making. kerry said he would assure iranian negotiators and europeans allies during the upcoming talks that congress did not have the authority to change the deal. "as far as we're concerned, congress has no ability to change an executive agreement," kerry said, adding that "important gaps" still remained between the sides. the letter followed a speech to congress earlier this month by israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu, who warned that obama was negotiating a "bad deal" with iran. republicans invited netanyahu to speak about iran without consulting the white house or democrats. with israel preparing to elect a new government next week, kerry said the united states hoped that whatever the outcome it would help push forward the peace process with palestinians. "president obama remains committed to a two-state solution," kerry said, adding "he remains hopeful that whatever choice that people of israel make, that there will be an ability to be able to move forward on those efforts." he declined to elaborate on the prospects of resuming the talks, with an election just days away. peace talks broke down in april 2014 after nine months of negotiations led by kerry, with the long-standing goal of a two-state solution no closer. abbas has steered clear of taking a position on the israeli election, saying only that he was ready to work with who wins. (reporting by lesley wroughton; editing by larry king)

john kerry says it's unclear whether iran deal is within reach

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(cnn) it began with the arrests of a handful of children in 2011. since then, it's exploded into the biggest humanitarian crisis since the second world war. it all starts with graffiti a sandstorm blows over damaged buildings in the rebel-held area of douma, east of damascus, on september 7, 2015. a sandstorm blows over damaged buildings in the rebel-held area of douma, east of damascus, on september 7, 2015. a man's body lies in the back of van as people search for the injured after airstrikes allegedly by the syrian government on a market in a rebel-held eastern ghouta town on august 31, 2015. a man's body lies in the back of van as people search for the injured after airstrikes allegedly by the syrian government on a market in a rebel-held eastern ghouta town on august 31, 2015. a refugee carries mattresses as he re-enters syria from turkey on june 22, 2015, after kurdish people's protection units regained control of the area around tal abyad, syria, from isis. a refugee carries mattresses as he re-enters syria from turkey on june 22, 2015, after kurdish people's protection units regained control of the area around tal abyad, syria, from isis. a syrian child fleeing the war gets lifted over fences to enter turkish territory illegally near a border crossing at akcakale, turkey, on june 14, 2015. a syrian child fleeing the war gets lifted over fences to enter turkish territory illegally near a border crossing at akcakale, turkey, on june 14, 2015. a syrian boy receives treatment at a local hospital following an alleged chlorine gas attack in the idlib suburb of jabal al-zawia on april 27, 2015. a syrian boy receives treatment at a local hospital following an alleged chlorine gas attack in the idlib suburb of jabal al-zawia on april 27, 2015. nusra front fighters inspect a helicopter belonging to pro-government forces after it crashed in the rebel-held idlib countryside on march 22, 2015. nusra front fighters inspect a helicopter belonging to pro-government forces after it crashed in the rebel-held idlib countryside on march 22, 2015. rebel fighters dig caves in the mountains for bomb shelters in the northern countryside of hama on march 9, 2015. rebel fighters dig caves in the mountains for bomb shelters in the northern countryside of hama on march 9, 2015. a man gives medical assistance as two wounded children wait nearby at a field hospital in douma on february 2, 2015. a man gives medical assistance as two wounded children wait nearby at a field hospital in douma on february 2, 2015. a long-exposure photograph shows a rocket being launched in aleppo on october 5, 2014. a long-exposure photograph shows a rocket being launched in aleppo on october 5, 2014. medics tend to a man's injuries at a field hospital in douma after airstrikes on september 20, 2014. medics tend to a man's injuries at a field hospital in douma after airstrikes on september 20, 2014. volunteers remove a dead body from under debris after shelling in aleppo on august 29, 2014. according to the syrian civil defense, barrel bombs are now the greatest killer of civilians in many parts of syria. the white helmets are a humanitarian organization that tries to save lives and offer relief. photographs of victims of the assad regime are displayed as a syrian army defector known as "caesar," center, appears in disguise to speak before the house foreign affairs committee in washington. the july 31, 2014, briefing was called "assad's killing machine exposed: implications for u.s. policy." caesar, apparently a witness to the regime's brutality, has smuggled more than 50,000 photographs depicting the torture and execution of more than 10,000 dissidents. cnn cannot independently confirm the authenticity of the photos, documents and testimony referenced in the report. rebel fighters execute two men on july 25, 2014, in binnish, syria. the men were reportedly charged by an islamic religious court with detonating several car bombs. rebel fighters execute two men on july 25, 2014, in binnish, syria. the men were reportedly charged by an islamic religious court with detonating several car bombs. a giant poster of al-assad is seen in damascus on may 31, 2014, ahead of the country's presidential elections. he received 88.7% of the vote in the country's first election after the civil war broke out. a giant poster of al-assad is seen in damascus on may 31, 2014, ahead of the country's presidential elections. he received 88.7% of the vote in the country's first election after the civil war broke out. a free syrian army fighter fires a rocket-propelled grenade during heavy clashes in aleppo on april 27, 2014. a free syrian army fighter fires a rocket-propelled grenade during heavy clashes in aleppo on april 27, 2014. a u.s. ship staff member wears personal protective equipment at a naval airbase in rota, spain, on april 10, 2014. a former container vessel was fitted out with at least $10 million of gear to let it take on about 560 metric tons of syria's most dangerous chemical agents and sail them out to sea, officials said. a u.s. ship staff member wears personal protective equipment at a naval airbase in rota, spain, on april 10, 2014. a former container vessel was fitted out with at least $10 million of gear to let it take on about 560 metric tons of syria's most dangerous chemical agents and sail them out to sea, officials said. a man holds a baby who was rescued from rubble after an airstrike in aleppo on february 14, 2014. a man holds a baby who was rescued from rubble after an airstrike in aleppo on february 14, 2014. residents wait to receive food aid distributed by the u.n. relief and works agency at the besieged al-yarmouk camp, south of damascus, on january 31, 2014. residents wait to receive food aid distributed by the u.n. relief and works agency at the besieged al-yarmouk camp, south of damascus, on january 31, 2014. an injured man is helped following an airstrike in aleppo's maadi neighborhood on december 17, 2013. an injured man is helped following an airstrike in aleppo's maadi neighborhood on december 17, 2013. syrian children wait as doctors perform medical checkups at a refugee center in sofia, bulgaria, on october 26, 2013. syrian children wait as doctors perform medical checkups at a refugee center in sofia, bulgaria, on october 26, 2013. residents run from a fire at a gasoline and oil shop in aleppo's bustan al-qasr neighborhood on october 20, 2013. witnesses said the fire was caused by a bullet from a pro-government sniper. residents run from a fire at a gasoline and oil shop in aleppo's bustan al-qasr neighborhood on october 20, 2013. witnesses said the fire was caused by a bullet from a pro-government sniper. the u.n. security council passes a resolution september 27, 2013, requiring syria to eliminate its arsenal of chemical weapons. al-assad said he would abide by the resolution. the u.n. security council passes a resolution september 27, 2013, requiring syria to eliminate its arsenal of chemical weapons. al-assad said he would abide by the resolution. a handout image released by the syrian opposition's shaam news network shows people inspecting bodies of children and adults who rebels claim were killed in a toxic gas attack by pro-government forces on august 21, 2013. a week later, u.s secretary of state john kerry said u.s. intelligence information found that 1,429 people were killed in the chemical weapons attack, including more than 400 children. al-assad's government claimed that jihadists fighting with the rebels carried out the chemical weapons attacks to turn global sentiments against it. an aerial view shows the zaatari refugee camp near the jordanian city of mafraq on july 18, 2013. an aerial view shows the zaatari refugee camp near the jordanian city of mafraq on july 18, 2013. rebels launch a missile near the abu baker brigade in al-bab, syria, on january 16, 2013. rebels launch a missile near the abu baker brigade in al-bab, syria, on january 16, 2013. syrians look for survivors amid the rubble of a building targeted by a missile in the al-mashhad neighborhood of aleppo on january 7, 2013. syrians look for survivors amid the rubble of a building targeted by a missile in the al-mashhad neighborhood of aleppo on january 7, 2013. a rebel fighter prepares the wires of a car-mounted camera used to spy on syrian government forces while his comrade smokes a cigarette in aleppo's bab al-nasr district on january 7, 2013. a rebel fighter prepares the wires of a car-mounted camera used to spy on syrian government forces while his comrade smokes a cigarette in aleppo's bab al-nasr district on january 7, 2013. a father reacts after the deaths of two of his children in aleppo on january 3, 2013. a father reacts after the deaths of two of his children in aleppo on january 3, 2013. the bodies of three children are laid out for identification by family members at a makeshift hospital in aleppo on december 2, 2012. the children were allegedly killed in a mortar shell attack that landed close to a bakery in the city. the bodies of three children are laid out for identification by family members at a makeshift hospital in aleppo on december 2, 2012. the children were allegedly killed in a mortar shell attack that landed close to a bakery in the city. smoke rises in the hanano and bustan al-basha districts in aleppo as fighting continues through the night on december 1, 2012. smoke rises in the hanano and bustan al-basha districts in aleppo as fighting continues through the night on december 1, 2012. rebels celebrate next to the remains of a syrian government fighter jet that was shot down at daret ezza, on the border of the provinces of idlib and aleppo, on november 28, 2012. rebels celebrate next to the remains of a syrian government fighter jet that was shot down at daret ezza, on the border of the provinces of idlib and aleppo, on november 28, 2012. an israeli tank crew sits on the golan heights overlooking the syrian village of breqa on november 6, 2012. israel fired warning shots toward syria after a mortar shell hit an israeli military post. it was the first time israel fired on syria across the golan heights since the 1973 yom kippur war. an israeli tank crew sits on the golan heights overlooking the syrian village of breqa on november 6, 2012. israel fired warning shots toward syria after a mortar shell hit an israeli military post. it was the first time israel fired on syria across the golan heights since the 1973 yom kippur war. relatives of syrian detainees who were arrested for participating in anti-government protests wait in front of a police building in damascus on october 24, 2012. the syrian government said it released 290 prisoners. relatives of syrian detainees who were arrested for participating in anti-government protests wait in front of a police building in damascus on october 24, 2012. the syrian government said it released 290 prisoners. a syrian rebel walks inside a burnt section of the umayyad mosque in aleppo hours before the syrian army retook control of the complex on october 14, 2012. a syrian rebel walks inside a burnt section of the umayyad mosque in aleppo hours before the syrian army retook control of the complex on october 14, 2012. smoke rises over the streets after a mortar bomb from syria landed in the turkish border village of akcakale on october 3, 2012. five people were killed. in response, turkey fired on syrian targets and its parliament authorized a resolution giving the government permission to deploy soldiers to foreign countries. free syrian army fighters are reflected in a mirror they use to see a syrian army post only 50 meters away in aleppo on september 16, 2012. free syrian army fighters are reflected in a mirror they use to see a syrian army post only 50 meters away in aleppo on september 16, 2012. a syrian man carrying grocery bags dodges sniper fire in aleppo as he runs through an alley near a checkpoint manned by the free syrian army on september 14, 2012. a syrian man carrying grocery bags dodges sniper fire in aleppo as he runs through an alley near a checkpoint manned by the free syrian army on september 14, 2012. family members mourn the deaths of their relatives in front of a field hospital in aleppo on august 21, 2012. family members mourn the deaths of their relatives in front of a field hospital in aleppo on august 21, 2012. a free syrian army fighter runs for cover as a syrian army tank shell hits a building across the street during clashes in the salaheddine neighborhood of central aleppo on august 17, 2012. a free syrian army fighter runs for cover as a syrian army tank shell hits a building across the street during clashes in the salaheddine neighborhood of central aleppo on august 17, 2012. rebel fighters with the free syrian army capture a police officer in aleppo, syria, who they believed to be pro-regime militiaman on july 31, 2012. dozens of officers were reportedly killed as rebels seized police stations in the city. rebel fighters with the free syrian army capture a police officer in aleppo, syria, who they believed to be pro-regime militiaman on july 31, 2012. dozens of officers were reportedly killed as rebels seized police stations in the city. people gather on may 26, 2012, at a mass burial for victims reportedly killed by syrian forces in syria's houla region. u.n. officials confirmed that more than 100 syrian civilians were killed , including nearly 50 children. syria's government denied its troops were behind the bloodbath. an injured man gets treated in a damascus neighborhood on april 3, 2012. an injured man gets treated in a damascus neighborhood on april 3, 2012. syrian refugees walk across a field in syria before crossing into turkey on march 14, 2012. syrian refugees walk across a field in syria before crossing into turkey on march 14, 2012. supporters of al-assad celebrate during a referendum vote in damascus on february 26, 2012. opposition activists reported at least 55 deaths across the country as syrians headed to the polls. analysts and protesters widely described the constitutional referendum as a farce. "essentially, what (al-assad's) done here is put a piece of paper that he controls to a vote that he controls so that he can try and maintain control," a u.s. state department spokeswoman said. suicide bombs hit two security service bases in damascus on december 23, 2011, killing at least 44 people and wounding 166. jamal al-wadi of daraa speaks in istanbul on september 15, 2011, after an alignment of syrian opposition leaders announced the creation of a syrian national council -- their bid to present a united front against al-assad's regime and establish a democratic system. jamal al-wadi of daraa speaks in istanbul on september 15, 2011, after an alignment of syrian opposition leaders announced the creation of a syrian national council -- their bid to present a united front against al-assad's regime and establish a democratic system. syrian children walk over bricks stored for road repairs during a spontaneous protest june 15, 2011, at a refugee camp near the syrian border in yayladagi, turkey. syrian children walk over bricks stored for road repairs during a spontaneous protest june 15, 2011, at a refugee camp near the syrian border in yayladagi, turkey. anti-government protesters demonstrate in daraa on march 23, 2011. in response to continuing protests, the syrian government announced several plans to appease citizens. anti-government protesters demonstrate in daraa on march 23, 2011. in response to continuing protests, the syrian government announced several plans to appease citizens. an injured man lying in the back of a vehicle is rushed to a hospital in daraa, south of damascus, on march 23, 2011. violence flared in daraa after a group of teens and children were arrested for writing political graffiti. dozens of people were killed when security forces cracked down on demonstrations. an injured man lying in the back of a vehicle is rushed to a hospital in daraa, south of damascus, on march 23, 2011. violence flared in daraa after a group of teens and children were arrested for writing political graffiti. dozens of people were killed when security forces cracked down on demonstrations. pro-government protesters hold pictures of syrian president bashar al-assad and his late father, hafez al-assad, during a rally in damascus, syria, on march 18, 2011. bashar al-assad has ruled syria since 2000, when his father passed away following 30 years in charge. an anti-regime uprising that started in march 2011 has spiraled into civil war. the united nations estimates more than 220,000 people have been killed. pro-government protesters hold pictures of syrian president bashar al-assad and his late father, hafez al-assad, during a rally in damascus, syria, on march 18, 2011. bashar al-assad has ruled syria since 2000, when his father passed away following 30 years in charge. an anti-regime uprising that started in march 2011 has spiraled into civil war. the united nations estimates more than 220,000 people have been killed. as arab spring demonstrations overthrow governments across the middle east, a group of children in daraa, southern syria, are arrested and allegedly tortured for scrawling graffiti on a school reading "the people want to topple the regime." outrage over the arrests turns into protests and a brutal crackdown protesters clash with syrian security forces on the streets of daraa in march 2011. as the bloodshed gets worse, the opposition gets organized the west calls for assad to quit, but russia and china have other ideas meanwhile, the influence of islamist groups grows in rebel ranks the u.n. brokers a ceasefire that falls apart almost immediately as refugees flee, the u.n. accuses syria of crimes against humanity barack obama announces his 'red line' in syria for the first (but not last) time two years in, 60,000 are dead, and the u.s. says it will send aid to rebels february 2013: the u.s. the u.s. promises to send food and medical supplies -- but not weapons -- to syrian rebels. it's the first such move since the conflict began two years before, in an effort to hem in the radical islamist groups vying for influence in syria. more than 60,000 people are now dead and nearly a million have fled the country. european nations join the list of countries sending weapons into syria syria crosses obama's 'red line,' and the u.s. prepares to attack john kerry goes off script, and the russians pounce 140,000 are dead in syria as peace talks go nowhere fast isis declares an independent state in iraq and syria the u.s. launches airstrikes on isis in syria kurdish forces, backed by u.s. strikes, take back kobani from isis isis seizes palmyra and blows up its priceless ruins donors pledge more than $10 billion to syria february 11, 2016: diplomats from more than a dozen countries, including the united states and russia, diplomats from more than a dozen countries, including the united states and russia, agree in munich, germany, to a "cessation of hostilities" -- a temporary halt in fighting that commonly happens at the start of a peace process -- and to the delivery of aid. terrorist groups, including isis and al-nusra, are not included in the deal. the partial truce does not take hold a week later as originally hoped, but there are renewed efforts to implement the deal the following friday

syria's war: how did we get here?

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frida ghitis is a world affairs columnist for the miami herald and world politics review and a former cnn producer and correspondent. follow her @fridaghitis . the opinions expressed in this commentary are hers. (cnn) the unmistakable smell of hypocrisy permeating the latest congressional hearings on benghazi is so pungent that few people believe the claims from the panel's leaders that they are only searching for the truth. almost three-quarters of americans now believe the investigation is motivated by a quest for political gain rather than by a genuine wish to get at the facts. it's no wonder. other national tragedies, other terrorist attacks, other major failings of u.s. operations overseas have received limited attention -- sometimes none at all -- from congressional investigators. a comparison of the way congress responded to other u.s. security disasters that deserved close scrutiny strongly suggests all you need to know about the partisan, electoral politics at play in washington today. to be sure, the events of sept. 11, 2012 , in which the u.s. ambassador to libya, j. christopher stevens , and three other americans were killed in benghazi constituted a calamitous failure and most certainly warranted a congressional investigation. but that investigation already happened, over and over and over. what we see now is clearly political theater, a maneuver by the republican majority aimed at eroding support for the likely democratic presidential candidate, former secretary of state hillary clinton. vast majorities of democrats and independents see it that way, and almost half of all republicans agree. while benghazi has been the subject of seven congressional investigations, in addition to one by an accountability review board, there are countless cases where congress spent little time and money examining what went wrong. for example, congress does not appear particularly interested in looking at what caused the disaster a few weeks ago, when the u.s. bombed a hospital operated by the charity doctors without borders, in kunduz, afghanistan, even though the mistake cost nearly two dozen lives and harmed america's efforts in the area. but that tempered interest is hardly a fluke. in fact, the enthusiasm with which congress has jumped to investigate the benghazi debacle is unprecedented. in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, a joint inquiry in congress looked at five previous major terrorist attacks or attempted attacks against the u.s. to see where intelligence had failed. the incidents included the 1993 bombing of the world trade center, the 1996 bombing of the khobar towers barracks in saudi arabia, the 1998 bombings of the u.s. embassies in kenya and tanzania, the 1999 "millennium" plot, and the strike on the uss cole in 2000. these were not minor or inconsequential terrorist operations. they were deadly and they foreshadowed what came later. the embassy bombings, two simultaneous explosions in nairobi and dar es salaam, killed more than 200 people and left more than 4,000 injured. congress held a handful of hearings, but no formal investigation. the investigation was conducted by the fbi and ultimately resulted in the indictment of several men, including one osama bin laden. not one of these five terrorist plots against the u.s. produced a level of congressional interest even remotely approaching what we see now on benghazi and on hillary clinton. no investigation took as long. even that joint congressional investigation was completed in 10 months. if congressional leaders believe concern for the safety of diplomatic personnel warrants the magnitude and duration of their efforts, it's curious that congress spent so little time reviewing the africa embassy bombings, or any of the many other attacks on american diplomats who have died in the line of duty over the years; people like 33-year-old john granville, a diplomat working for the u.s. agency for international development, shot to death in khartoum, sudan in 2008, or david foy, 51, killed in a massive blast outside the u.s. consulate in karachi, pakistan in 2006. if the issue is the failures of security, of intelligence, or of judgment that have cost the lives of u.s. citizens on dangerous assignments, it's curious that the events of an awful day in late 2009 at camp chapman in afghanistan did not merit this kind of scrutiny. that was when seven americans working for the cia were killed when a man who was supposed to be an informant, invited by american agents to be the base, turned out to be a radical jihadi, a suicide bomber who blew himself up. the dead included jennifer matthews, 45, one of the cia's top al qaeda experts. that incident was investigated by the cia, not congress. if it's terrorism that justifies the obsessive attention to benghazi, it's interesting that the 1995 oklahoma city bombing, the worst terrorist attack before 9/11, was not the target of a slew of congressional panels the way benghazi is. the only report from congress on the oklahoma bombing was privately released by republican congressman dana rohrabacher, who was searching for an elusive "foreign connection." the attack, which killed 168 people, was investigated by the fbi. yes, all of those happened years ago. but what about the boston bombings of april 2013? they did warrant an investigation by the homeland security committee, which produced a couple of reports. that's a minuscule investigation compared with the benghazi work by congressional committees including, the house committee on oversight and government reform, the senate committee on homeland security & governmental affairs, the senate select committee on intelligence, the house committee on foreign affairs, and others, each of which has already conducted its own investigation and issued its own report. what happened in benghazi back in 2012 was horrific and it is crucial that the u.s. learns from its mistakes. investigating what exactly went wrong is an imperative. but what is unfolding in washington is not about that. history proves it. that's the whiff so many people detect. we know what it is.

what's really behind clinton's benghazi grilling?

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a south korean naval vessel fired five shots as a warning to a north korean patrol boat that briefly moved south of the countries' disputed boundary line in the yellow sea, seoul's defense ministry said monday. a south korean military official told the yonhap news agency that the north korean vessel retreated northward after the warning shots were fired into the water. however, the incident underscores the heightened hostilities between the two koreas. the brief encounter came hours after the united nations security council<u+00a0>condemned north korea's launch of a long-range rocket that world leaders described as a banned test of ballistic missile technology and south korea's president called another "intolerable provocation." north korean leader kim jong un went ahead with the launch just two hours after an eight-day window opened early sunday, and a month after the country's fourth nuclear test. he ignored an appeal from china, its neighbor and important ally, not to proceed, and, in another slap to beijing, he chose to launch the rocket on the eve of chinese new year, the country's most important holiday. china and the united states have been negotiating the text of a new security council sanctions resolution since pyongyang's jan. 6 nuclear test, which it claimed was a hydrogen bomb. that claim has been met with outside skepticism. the u.s., backed by japan and south korea, wants tough u.n. sanctions reflecting kim's defiance of the security council. but diplomats say china, the north's key protector in the council, is reluctant to impose economic measures that could cause north korea's economy to collapse <u+2014> and a flight of north koreans into china across their shared border. the 15-member security council strongly condemned the launch and pledged to "expeditiously" adopt a new resolution with "further significant measures" <u+2014> u.n. code for sanctions. the word "robust" referring to the measures was in an initial draft, but was dropped in the final statement. u.s. ambassador samantha power told reporters that "it cannot be business as usual" after two successive north korean acts that are "hostile and illegal." "what's important is that the security council unites," power said. "china is a critical player. ... we are hopeful that china, like all council members, will see the grave threat to regional and international peace and security, see the importance of adopting tough, unprecedented measures, breaking new ground here, exceeding the expectations of kim jong un." he said a new resolution should "do the work of reducing tension, of working toward denuclearization (of the korean peninsula), of maintaining peace and stability, and of encouraging a negotiated solution." "i believe the council needs to work together for a new resolution," liu added, indicating that china may want negotiations with the united states to be widened. russia's u.n. ambassador, vitaly churkin, whose country is also a north korean ally, said: "it has to be a weighty resolution, but it also has to be a reasonable resolution" that doesn't lead to north korea's economic or humanitarian collapse, or further heighten tensions. russia's goal is to see six-party talks aimed at denuclearization resume, he said, but in the current atmosphere that's unlikely because the north koreans "have been very unreasonable" and are challenging the entire international community. "we think this is wrong for their national interests ... for the korean peninsula ... for the region," churkin said. north korea, which calls its launches part of a peaceful space program, said it had successfully put a new earth observation satellite, the kwangmyongsong 4, or shining star 4, into orbit less than 10 minutes after liftoff, and vowed more such launches. a u.s. official said it might take days to assess whether the launch was a success. but in pyongyang, north koreans celebrated the launch with an official fireworks display monday night, state broadcaster kctv reported, according to cnn. japan's u.n. ambassador, motohide yoshikawa, told reporters the missile, which went over japan and landed near the philippines, was "a clear threat to the lives of many people." the security council underscored that launches using ballistic missile technology, "even if characterized as a satellite launch or space launch vehicle" contribute to north korea's development of systems to deliver nuclear weapons and violate four security council resolutions dating back to the north's first nuclear test in 2006. north korea under kim jong un has pledged to bolster its nuclear arsenal unless washington scraps what pyongyang calls a hostile policy meant to collapse kim's government. in a development that will worry both pyongyang and beijing, a senior south korean defense ministry official, yoo jeh seung, told reporters that seoul and washington have agreed to begin talks on a possible deployment of the thaad missile-defense system in south korea. north korea has long decried the 28,500 u.s. troops stationed in south korea, and beijing would see a south korean deployment of thaad, which is one of the world's most advanced missile-defense systems, as a threat to its interests in the region. in a statement, north korea's national aerospace development administration, in typical propaganda-laden language, praised "the fascinating vapor of juche satellite trailing in the clear and blue sky in spring of february on the threshold of the day of the shining star." juche is a north korean philosophy focusing on self-reliance; the day of the shining star refers to the feb. 16 birthday of kim jong un's father, former dictator kim jong il. north korea has previously staged rocket launches to mark important anniversaries. fox news' jonathan wachtel and the associated press contributed to this report.

south korean naval vessel fires warning shots near north korean patrol amid high tension

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who has trump picked for his cabinet so far? donald trump is filling put his white house team with cabinet picks and other top aides.

onpolitics | 's politics blog

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republicans have rallied behind donald trump in recent weeks, as the businessman and reality-tv star cleared an all but assured path to the party<u+2019>s presidential nomination. trump has narrowed democratic candidate hillary clinton<u+2019>s lead to 3 percentage points, according to a new nbc news/wall street journal poll. the margin of error for the poll is plus-minus 3.1 percentage points. clinton leads trump 46 percent to 43 percent, marking a significantly smaller margin between the two likely nominees and the first time clinton has not led trump by double digits since december. in april, clinton led trump by 11 percentage points, 50 percent to 39 percent, according to a nbc news/wsj poll. insofar as individual polls mean anything, the swell of support for trump could suggest that republican voters are accepting their presumptive nominee after his win in the indiana primary earlier this month, and after senator ted cruz, trump<u+2019>s final primary opponent, dropped out. the poll comes out amid new bitterness in the democratic primary battle. nbc points out just 66 percent of democratic voters who prefer sanders will support clinton in a matchup against trump, underscoring the challenge she faces in winning over necessary votes in the general election. according to the poll, clinton and trump have one thing in common: both are currently the two most unpopular likely presidential nominees, with 54 percent of registered voters who have a negative opinion of clinton and 58 percent having a negative opinion of trump. if nominated at such rates, they would also be the most unpopular candidates since the poll began in 1984.

new poll finds donald trump almost caught up with hillary clinton

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clinton emails on trade deal held until after election

clinton emails on trade deal held until after election - video

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reps. kevin mccarthy, r-california, jason chaffetz, r-utah, and daniel webster, r-florida, are the three candidates vying for the post, and the winner becomes the favorite to become second in line to succeed the president of the united states. but thursday's vote inside the house gop conference is just the first step. the candidate who gets the republican party's internal nod still has to be approved by the full house of representatives on october 29. and that's where things can get tricky. if the republican nominee can't garner 218 votes on the house floor, then boehner will remain the speaker. and the potential for multiple rounds of votes on the house floor could open up the election to other candidates beyond the three that are in the race now. it would also prolong the deeply divisive and public process for house republicans, who are hoping to chart a new path forward and prove they can make the dysfunctional capitol work. the three candidates will make their pitch to gop colleagues at a "candidate forum" on thursday morning in a conference room in the basement of the capitol. each gets three minutes to make a speech before answering questions from members. at noon, the 247 members of the house republican conference gather in the ornate ways and means committee room to vote. under the house gop conference rules, the three candidates are not allowed to make their own speeches. instead each can designate one supporter to make a three-minute address nominating them for the post. then up to two additional supporters can speak for another minute each on the candidate's behalf. to win the gop nomination, a candidate needs a simple majority of all house republicans -- or 125 votes. (that number could change if any house republicans are absent or opts not to vote in the election.) boehner plans to vote for mccarthy before heading to new york to tape an appearance on "the tonight show," according to a spokesman. the delegate from american samoa, amata radewagen, who doesn't get a vote on the house floor, does get to cast a vote for speaker inside the conference meeting. related: john boehner to appear on 'the tonight show' three members serve as "tally clerks" and collect the ballots and count how many votes each candidate receives. once all the ballots are counted, a representative of the conference will announce the results, along with the vote totals. if no candidate gets a majority of the conference on the first vote, a second ballot circulates with the names of the top two vote-getters, and a winner is announced after those ballots are counted. the new speaker can't take the gavel from boehner until the full house of representatives votes. unlike the private contest on thursday, the floor vote is covered live by c-span's television cameras inside the house chamber. each member of congress is called on in alphabetical order to stand and announce their choice for speaker. the winner must win the votes of a majority -- 218, if everyone in the house is present -- in order to win. the vast majority of house democrats are expected for to vote for former speaker and current minority leader nancy pelosi. house republican conference rules require that gop members support their party's nominee on the floor, but many conservatives have ignored that rule in recent elections. that's where any drama will occur. if the gop nominee fails to get a majority, the contest on the house floor could go to multiple ballots. boehner will remain the speaker until a majority of the house votes to elect a new candidate. the last time it took more than one ballot to elect a speaker was in 1923 when it took nine ballots over the course of three days. and you don't need to be in the house to get the job. the constitution does not require that the speaker be someone currently serving in congress, but all who have been elected to the post have been house members. former secretary of state colin powell, sen. rand paul and sen. jeff sessions received votes in the january 2015 election . and two years earlier, david walker, the former head of the general accounting office, received one vote

how republicans will choose the next speaker

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speaking at a joint press conference thursday morning at the white house with canadian prime minister justin trudeau, president obama makes extended comments regarding the 2016 election, and its unprecedented political polarization. "i have been blamed by the republicans for a lot of things," the president said. "but to be blamed for their primaries and who they are selecting is... novel." "i<u+2019>m not going to validate some notion that the republican crackup that<u+2019>s been taking place is a consequence of actions that i<u+2019>ve taken," he said. "i don<u+2019>t think i was the one to prompt questions about my birth certificate, for example," he said. "i don<u+2019>t recall saying, 'hey, why don<u+2019>t you ask me about that.'" "it's not as if there's a massive difference between mr. trump's position on immigration and mr. cruz's. mr. trump may be more provocative in terms of how he sighs, but says them, but they're not that different."

obama: for all the things republicans blame me for, getting blamed for rise of donald trump is "novel"

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on the way into the colorado republican party's state convention in colorado springs saturday morning, a ted cruz supporter waved a big broom with the letters "cruz" fastened to the top. the convention took place in a hockey arena, and the prop is probably familiar to most sports fans. the cruz supporter was looking for a sweep, and a sweep was what he got. cruz picked up all 34 republican national convention delegates that colorado republicans awarded this week. delegates backing cruz won all three spots in each of the state's seven congressional districts, as well as 13 statewide slots. the colorado win follows a similar outcome in north dakota, where republicans elected a mostly cruz-approved slate of delegates at a state convention last week. those two delegate hauls, along with more complex delegate maneuvering in states like louisiana that had already held their primaries and caucuses, highlight a growing organizational gap between cruz's campaign and frontrunner donald trump's. as recently as last month, the cruz campaign insisted that he was fighting to win 1,237 delegates and clinch the gop nomination outright, though cruz told the denver post on saturday that a contested convention is a "very significant possibility." cruz also expressed confidence that he would win in such a scenario. the texas senator has become the candidate of choice for many republicans simply trying to stop trump. cruz's organizational successes offer hope to them that he will succeed in blocking trump's path. though many of them stop short of saying they'd like cruz to be the eventual nominee. most political observers didn't figure colorado would play a role in the republican primary, after the state declined to hold a binding primary or caucus. still, congressman ken buck, who chairs cruz's colorado campaign, said, "dozens of volunteers have been working since december" in colorado to vet delegate candidates and organize at local caucuses and regional meetings. on saturday morning, cruz volunteers wearing bright orange shirts swept through the arena, handing out glossy sheets listing the campaign's preferred delegate candidates. the campaign also blasted out text messages to convention attendees, listing their delegate choices. "we put 15 delegate [candidates] forward," said buck, who won a spot as a delegate himself. "we looked at people that had run and won in the past. we looked at people who had been supporting cruz for a long time. we looked at elected officials who knew how to run campaigns." that organizational effort was a stark contrast to trump's campaign, which only had a handful of volunteers distributing delegate candidate lists. the trump slate was riddled with errors. according to nbc news, the trump campaign failed to put forward a candidate slate in some of the earlier district-level contests. in another congressional district, two of the candidates they urged voters to back did not, in fact, make it onto the ballot. "what this says for the trump campaign is, you need to get your stuff in gear," said former republican national committee chairman michael steele. "because you're about to get your clock cleaned on the easy stuff. a lot of folks look at, we just won the primary. the isn't about just winning the primary. it's about winning delegates. you get your delegates wherever and however you can." indeed, the trump campaign has made changes in recent days, bringing in longtime washington operative paul manafort to play a role in convention preparation, as well as broader campaign strategy. manafort was asked about the result in colorado on nbc's meet the press on sunday and responded, "i acknowledge that we weren't playing in colorado and they did." he went on to criticize the pro-cruz efforts as too aggressive, making an accusation of "gestapo tactics" in various local party conventions. steele praised the cruz campaign's organizational efforts, but cautioned against reading too much into the colorado and north dakota convention victories when looking forward to a possible cleveland floor fight. "going into a state and grabbing unbound delegates and getting commitments and all that is not the same as going into a convention hall where overlaying everything is the rnc rules," he said. having a political and legal staff that understands the party's regulations and guidelines are key, he said, giving the cruz campaign the advantage on that front. but steele argued that another important factor is, "having delegates on the floor and relevant committees," steele said, primarily the rules committee, which will shape the convention proceedings. "the trump team is going to be competitive on that front, because they've got a lot of delegates, and the ability to put their people on that committee and have weight on that committee," said steele. both campaigns will spend the next two months gearing up for a historic floor fight. that's because while trump may still secure the delegates he needs to avoid one, there's no chance he can do so until june 7, the very last day of the primary calendar. clarification: this post has been updated to reflect cruz's recent comments entertaining the notion of a contested convention. an earlier version stated only that cruz was insisting he would win enough delegates to clinch the gop nomination before the party's convention in july.

cruz's methodical delegate strategy narrows trump's path to gop nomination

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obama to limit police acquisition of some military-style equipment president obama said military-style equipment used by police departments "can alienate and intimidate local residents and send the wrong message," as he ended federal transfers of such weapons to local law enforcement. obama's remarks, made in camden, n.j., are an attempt to ease tensions between police and minority communities in the wake of several high-profile police-involved shootings. under new recommendations, police forces will be banned from acquiring some types of military-style equipment from federal agencies. the proposal was one of several made by a white house task force that obama is putting into place using an executive order on monday. according to a report issued by the white house, the task force recommended banning the sale of some equipment <u+2014> such as tracked armored vehicles, weaponized aircraft and high-caliber weapons and ammunition <u+2014> after weighing their utility to local police and the "the potential negative impact on the community if the equipment was used arbitrarily or inappropriately." local police departments can still buy this equipment on their own. they just can't buy them from the feds or buy them using federal money. "obama's visit to one of new jersey's poorest cities comes as he seeks to ramp up federal funding for community policing initiatives in the wake of a series of high-profile incidents that have frayed trust between officers and residents in ferguson, mo., new york and baltimore, among other cities. "camden has long been among new jersey's most crime-ridden cities, but reforms over the past two years have led to falling crime statistics and an increased number of officers in the community." based on a fact sheet distributed by the white house, here are a few other initiatives obama will highlight monday: <u+2014> police data initiative will help police departments across the country track things like use of force and police stops. data scientists will help some police departments polish an early warning system, using data to flag problems. <u+2014> twenty-one jurisdictions will also release big data sets that will help "communities gain visibility into key information on police/citizen encounters." <u+2014> the white house will release a body-cam tool kit that will help police plan and implement body-cam programs. <u+2014> the department of justice "will begin taking applications for grants designed to advance the practice of community policing in law enforcement agencies through hiring, training and technical assistance, the development of innovative community policing strategies, applied research, guidebooks, and best practices that are national in scope."

obama to limit police acquisition of some military-style equipment

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president obama on tuesday followed through on his vow to veto bipartisan-backed legislation authorizing the keystone xl pipeline, marking his first veto of the republican-led congress and only the third of his presidency. the president, in a brief statement, claimed the bill would "circumvent" the existing process for reviewing the pipeline, which would extend from canada to texas. "the presidential power to veto legislation is one i take seriously," obama said. "but i also take seriously my responsibility to the american people. and because this act of congress conflicts with established executive branch procedures and cuts short thorough consideration of issues that could bear on our national interest -- including our security, safety, and environment -- it has earned my veto." the decision, while expected, was met with tough criticism from republicans -- and tees up another showdown with congress in the coming days as gop leaders try to override. "it's extremely disappointing that president obama vetoed a bipartisan bill that would support thousands of good jobs and pump billions of dollars into the economy," senate majority leader mitch mcconnell, r-ky., said in a statement. "even though the president has yielded to powerful special interests, this veto doesn't end the debate." mcconnell's office said the senate plans to vote on overriding sometime before march 3. but so far, congressional leaders have not demonstrated they have the votes to override, which takes a two-thirds majority in both chambers. the keystone bill garnered 62 yeas in the senate, but they would need 67 to override. in the house, the bill got 270 votes -- but they would need 281 to override. it remains unclear whether moderate lawmakers could be swayed to switch in the coming weeks. while tuesday's veto marked only the third of obama's presidency -- fewer than any u.s. president since the 19th century -- his sparing use of the presidential tool is likely to change. with republicans now in control of congress, their efforts to chip away at the president's health care law and other legislative accomplishments are just as likely to be met with obama's veto pen. to date, obama rarely has used the veto in part because democrats for six years controlled at least one chamber in congress -- acting as a buffer to prevent unwanted bills from ever reaching the president's desk. that buffer is now gone. a look back at past presidencies, especially where control of the white house and congress was split during at least one point, shows far more liberal use of that presidential power. in the clinton presidency, the president issued 37 vetoes in his two terms. president ronald reagan issued 78. president george w. bush issued 12. his father issued 44. not since the warren g. harding administration has the number of vetoes been in the single digits; harding issued six. the keystone bill is as contentious an issue as any for obama to fire his first veto shot of the new congress. first proposed in 2008, the keystone pipeline would connect canada's tar sands to gulf coast refineries. the white house has said repeatedly it would wait to make its decision about whether to let the project go forward until after a state department review. it regards the legislation as circumventing that process. the associated press contributed to this report.

obama vetoes keystone xl pipeline bill

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washington, jan 26 (reuters) - conservative political advocacy groups supported by the billionaire koch brothers plan to spend $889 million in the 2016 u.s. elections, more than double what they raised in 2012, the washington post reported on monday. the newspaper said the goal was announced to donors at a weekend meeting in rancho mirage, california, hosted by freedom partners, a business lobby at the center of the koch brothers' political operation. the post cited a person who attended the gathering. the money will be doled out by a network of 17 organizations funded by industrialists charles and david koch, who have become a major force in conservative politics in recent years, and other wealthy donors. the network raised $407 million for the 2012 campaign. during the 2012 election cycle, the national republican party collectively spent about $675 million, according to election data compiled by the center for responsive politics. the post said the $889 million would be spent on field operations, technology, policy study and other expenses. the freedom partners network spent almost $300 million on november's congressional elections, in which republicans won control of the senate and retained their majority in the house of representatives. the potential field for the republican presidential nomination is fairly crowded and the post said the koch group was still considering whether it would support candidates in the republican primaries, which could dramatically shape the campaign and possible lead to intraparty conflict. senators rand paul, marco rubio and ted cruz, and wisconsin governor scott walker, all of whom are mentioned as possible presidential candidates, took part in the rancho mirage meeting, the post said. the newspaper said the freedom partners network included americans for prosperity and funded groups such as concerned veterans for america, the libre initiative and generation opportunity. (writing by bill trott; editing by peter cooney)

koch groups to spend nearly $1 billion on 2016

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