Stormy Monday, 12/01/14

The Wall Street Journal CEO Council convenes for its annual meeting today and tomorrow in Washington, giving people noteworthy for having been promoted beyond their level of competence an opportunity to hear and applaud people noteworthy for having fleeced a majority of their constituents. This year’s scintillating guests include Jeb Bush, Mitch McConnell, Rob Portman and Rand Paul. National Security Adviser Susan Rice will also be there; perhaps the organizers got her confused with Condoleezza.

An NAACP protest march from Ferguson to Jefferson City, Missouri got underway on the weekend and is expected to reach the Governor’s Mansion on Saturday. Whatever time of day marchers arrive, I’m sure they’ll find Jay Nixon seriously out to lunch. Demonstrations continue in cities across the nation, while things have taken a turn for the better back in Ferguson: Darren Wilson tendered his resignation over the weekend.

The White House will announce badly needed changes to the disbursal of military surplus equipment to law enforcement agencies today, along with $263 million in new funding for body cameras and officer training. The President and Vice President will spend the afternoon in meetings with the Cabinet, civil rights leaders, politicians, clerics and law enforcement officials to seek ways to improve cooperation and communication between police departments and communities.

Will the least productive Congress in history use its lame duck session to get anything accomplished? Of course not, but they’re already pretending very hard that they want to. Keeping the government funded past December 11 is a nominal priority, with House and Senate Appropriations Committees aiming at having a spending bill ready by December 8, leaving up to three days for so-called legislators to preen in front of TV cameras while dispensing empty platitudes. Business tax break extensions will also be debated, though the President has signaled he’ll veto them for lacking cost offsets and failing to include renewed tax credits for low-income Americans. Also on the agenda is renewal of the NDAA, a once-routine matter that became litigious as soon as the President wasn’t a white guy. Both parties are still happy to confer obscene amounts of money on the Pentagon, of course, the only difference being the preferred degree of obscenity...