EUROPE: A month after kosher market attack, French Jews plan an exodus. “The French government has scrambled to persuade them not to go, aware that if Jews see little future for themselves in Saint-Mandé — where Muslims, Christians and Jews have long lived in harmony — then there’s no chance for the European ideal of interfaith coexistence. And yet, for a rapidly rising number of Jews, here in Saint-Mandé and across France, the decision has already become clear.”

SORRY, PREEZY, BUT YOU CAN’T GET ON YOUR HIGH HORSE ABOUT THIS AFTER THE WAY THE ALBIGENSIAN HERESY WAS HANDLED BACK IN 1229: In Grammy video, Obama says of rape, ‘It’s not okay – and it has to stop.’ Nice move using that discredited 1-in-5 statistic again, though, when even the NYT now knows better. Rather lame of WaPo’s Juliet Eilperin to repeat that stat uncritically, something she never would have done for a GOP president.

ANDREW KLAVAN ON JOURNALISM: It’s Brian Williams All The Way Down.

From the movie Broadcast News, there’s this:

Aaron Altman: What do you think the Devil is going to look like if he’s around?

Jane Craig: God!

Aaron Altman: Come on! Nobody is going to be taken in by a guy with a long, red, pointy tail! What’s he gonna sound like?

[hisses]

Aaron Altman: No. I’m semi-serious here.

Jane Craig: You’re seriously…

Aaron Altman: He will be attractive! He’ll be nice and helpful. He’ll get a job where he influences a great God-fearing nation. He’ll never do an evil thing! He’ll never deliberately hurt a living thing… he will just bit by little bit lower our standards where they are important. Just a tiny little bit. Just coax along flash over substance. Just a tiny little bit. And he’ll talk about all of us really being salesmen. And he’ll get all the great women.

That movie is a forgotten classic. Also, the sit-on-the-coat trick works.

TED CRUZ: Obama Not Honoring Obligation To Ukraine.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) on Sunday called for the U.S. to send weapons to Ukraine to counter Russian aggression, saying that President Obama is not honoring a treaty obligation with the former Soviet republic.

Cruz spoke to ABC’s “This Week” from a security conference in Munich.

“You know, I’ll tell you, this conference in Munich the last three days has really highlighted the enormous national security threat that are facing America, that are growing and getting worse,” he said. “And when it comes to Russia and Ukraine, the path we’re on doesn’t make any sense. We need to be providing defensive arms to the people of Ukraine. “

Cruz said he was part of a bipartisan congressional delegation who on Saturday met with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, who “made clear that the Ukrainians are fighting to defend their nation. They want to defend their nation.”

“We have a treaty obligation to stand with them,” Cruz said. “And right now, unfortunately, the Obama administration is not honoring that obligation.”

“We need to come together and provide defensive arms so that they can stand up against this Russian aggression,” Cruz added.

Speaking at that same conference, Secretary of State John Kerry on Sunday said the U.S. and its European allies are united in a focus on diplomacy to ease tensions between Russia and Ukraine.

As between Kerry’s smart diplomacy and weapons, I’d take the guns, myself.

SO CALL ME CYNICAL, but when I start to see articles in places like the New York Times about the virtues of lying, I assume another Democrat scandal is on the way.

TEACH WOMEN NOT TO RAPE! (CONT’D): Teacher of the Year Charged With Raping Student. “Once deemed one of Washington state’s top teacher, Darcy M. Smith, is now accused of having sex with the boy when he was just 14 — and at the exact time she was named teacher of the year.”

BEFORE YOU CAN JUDGE IT A FAILURE, YOU MUST KNOW WHAT HE SET OUT TO ACCOMPLISH: Conn Carroll: Obama’s Failed Presidency.

KYLE SMITH: We shouldn’t believe Brian Williams’ lie was an innocent mistake. “What Williams’ lie was about was what lies are always about: No one who actually scored the winning touchdown on the high-school football team misremembers it as sitting on the bench. The term ‘fish tale’ does not mean you mistakenly tell people you caught a sickly ­8-ounce catfish when actually you snagged a 95-pound monster marlin.”

SALENA ZITO: Extreme-left Dems pushing Middle America away.

“It always strikes me as funny that the folks on TV call Republicans ‘extreme,’ and pretty much ignore that Democrats have left no room for people like me in my own party,” said Yvonne, a Youngstown native who did not want to give her last name.

To Yvonne, who has lived all of her 30-plus years in that eastern Ohio city, being a Democrat is like listing your religion, the part of town where you grew up, and the school you attended.

“It’s a part of my identity,” she said, adding after a pause: “Or was.”

When Ryan made his announcement last week, the national press offered no questions or headline-grabbing adjectives — just praise.

That was an interesting departure from the media reaction when then-candidate Cory Gardner, a Colorado congressman running for U.S. Senate last year, changed from support to non-support of “personhood.”

“Bombshell,” “extremist” and “cheap election-year stunt” were the words in some of the milder headlines.

Gardner moved to the center. Ryan moved to the left wing.

Ryan was praised. Gardner was hammered.

Now think about that for a moment: One politician moved to his party’s wing, not its center, and it was as if a tree fell in a forest — with no one listening. Another politician moved to his party’s center, and hair collectively caught fire. . . . The fact is, Democrats are losing or excluding evangelicals, blue-collar types, Jacksonians and moderates, not only from feeling welcome in the party but from filling the Democrat bench to run for or to hold local offices.

That is happening not just in Ohio but all across the country.

So while the story is told, over and over, about how the extreme right wing of the Republican Party is pushing people out, you never once hear the word “extreme” associated with the left or progressive wings of the Democratic Party.

Is it because those wings’ values are shared by many in the press who report on politics, so they view any move to the left as normal and sensible? Probably.

The press regards its own views as the “center.”

ED ROGERS IN THE WASHINGTON POST: Obama’s week of jaw-dropping follies. “Presidents are supposed to lead, guide and convince. Instead, Obama makes excuses for our enemies, ignores economic reality and acts unilaterally.”

Yeah, pretty much. He’s a crappy President, and we’re paying a stiff price for electing him twice. But it’s getting stiffer every day. . . .