Wiretap: European cartoonists and police and Jews

The shooting deaths in Copenhagen were strikingly, and eerily, familiar, echoing the Charlie Hebdo shooting deaths in Paris just a month ago, writes the Washington Post. The targets were similar: cartoonists, police and Jews. The shooters were similar: home-grown terrorists who, upon serving time in prison, had emerged with what can only be called a murderous ideology.

The day after the Copenhagen shootings, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says that European Jews should move to Israel. Let’s just say that not all European Jews agree. Via the New York Times.

For those still outraged by the Obama prayer breakfast mention of the Crusades, here’s a little history lesson: The first defenseless men, women, children to fall victim to the Crusaders were not Muslims, but Jews, longtime residents of the continent, whom the horde, in recession Europe, decided was an offense to Christ. Via the New York Times.

It’s the 50-year anniversary of Medicare this year and if you don’t have time to read the history on how it got passed, we can summarize in seven words: It was a lot like passing Obamacare. “Socialism!” “Un-American!” “The Moscow party line!” Etc. Via the New Yorker.

Dan Balz, the wise old head, reminds us that nothing that happens now will matter when it comes time to actually elect a president. Via the Washington Post.

Which doesn’t stop his Washington Post colleague Chris Cillizza from naming his top 10 contenders in the GOP race. (Ted Cruz is tied for sixth, but the Fix has him as the Republican to watch.)

Or stop Al Hunt from noting that the early polls, particularly those in Iowa and New Hampshire, show that the Bush name may be a bigger problem for Jeb than people realize. Via Bloomberg.

At National Review, John Fund says it’s not just Gov. Kitzhaber who’s corrupt, but also his partners in green energy. Watch this trend — comparing green energy influence to the oil boys. It’s the new Solyndra.

Waiting and waiting and waiting … and waiting for the conservative Jon Stewart. Why TV satire is biased toward liberals and talk radio is biased toward conservatives. Via the Atlantic.

If you missed the Palin-Seinfeld routine on SNL’s 40th Anniversary show, Vox offers readers a second look at the bit.

Statetap:

Were they being treated or bullied? A 775-page report obtained by the Colorado Springs Gazette shows Army commanders pressured health care providers at Evans Army Community Hospital to discharge mentally wounded soldiers en-masse for misconduct related to the trauma of war. Following up on “Other than Honorable,” the Gazette’s 2013 four-part investigative series, Tom Roeder reports that the investigation concludes with a quote from Army Surgeon General Lt. Gen. Patricia Horoho. “The Evans Army Community Hospital commander will conduct a phased behavioral health stand-down to address issues of professionalism in the workplace; dignity and respect during patient encounters; the use of profanity during patient encounters; how to balance demands from the chain of command with providing objective, patient-centered care and proper boundaries when discussing benefits with patients.”

Christo’s art installation, “Over the River,” survived its latest legal challenge in the Colorado Court of Appeals on Thursday. It faces another appeal on the federal level. If the Bureau of Land Management’s approval of the project is upheld again, nearly six miles of luminescent fabric will be strung over a stretch of the Arkansas River in southwestern Colorado for two weeks in an August of some yet-to-be-determined year in the future. Via the Canon City Daily Record.

Dietrick Mitchell, one of dozens of Colorado prisoners in for life for crimes committed as a juvenile, is still years away from parole — despite former-governor Bill Ritter’s commutation of his sentence in 2011. Mitchell is part of a class of “boyish men,” as Alan Pendergast puts it in his epic Westword feature last week, that the Colorado Department of Corrections holds for too long by failing to consider time served and good behavior. Ritter filed an affidavit in the suit, declaring that it was his “intention that [Mitchell] be released from jail as soon as possible” when he took executive action to cut down juvenile life sentences as one of his final acts as governor.

[Photo “Urban Targets” by Giani Domenici.]

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