PAY NO ATTENTION TO THOSE MONEYBAGS BEHIND THE CURTAIN: CNN: It’s those darn Republicans that are making the Clinton Foundation’s foreign donations an issue.

There those dastardly Republicans go again with their insistence that the Clinton Foundation accepting millions of dollars from foreign governments is some kind of issue for Hillary in 2016.

That’s at least according to the spin of a CNN story headlined “GOP seeks to make Clinton Foundation a 2016 headache.”

Because apparently this is a non-issue that only Republicans care about.

This kind of bias has been a complaint of conservatives for years, when major news outlets report an unfavorable story about Democrats from the lens that Republicans care about it, not that the story itself has any merit.

Perhaps CNN reporter Alexandra Jaffe didn’t come up with the title, but the article’s lead suggests that “Clinton’s allies are insisting controversial donations to her eponymous foundation won’t be an issue for her probable presidential bid” and that it’s Republicans who are trying to make the donations an issue. . . .

And several Democratic operatives around the country also expressed dismay with the donations.

Joe Trippi, a Democratic consultant, told the Wall Street Journal that if he were advising Hillary, “the advice would be that she should be the one who directs the foundation not to’’ accept donations from foreign governments — and to take that step “yesterday.”

Emily Jacobs, a Democratic county chairwoman in New Hampshire, said that Hillary needs to realize that, as a Democrat, “that is not something we stand for; that is nothing we believe in. … It’s not ethical.”

Kurt Meyer, a Democratic county chairman in Iowa said that the contributions appear to be a “curry-favor effort to get an advantageous seat on the bus with the next president of the United States,” which “scares” him.

It’s not a Clinton operation unless there’s tainted money involved, preferably from shadowy foreign sources.

AND YET NOBODY LEARNS: Walker’s Pro-Worker Law Has Crippled Labor Movement That Opposed Him.

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 ­public-sector unions were not just shrunken — 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.

Funny that you can “cripple” supposedly representative organizations just by requiring that they raise their money from people willing to be represented.

DO TELL: L.A. Times: Asian-Americans Figuring Out That “Affirmative Action” and “Diversity” Mean “Discrimination Against Asians.” “College admission season ignites deep anxieties for Asian American families, who spend more than any other demographic on education. At elite universities across the U.S., Asian Americans form a larger share of the student body than they do of the population as a whole. And increasingly they have turned against affirmative action policies that could alter those ratios, and accuse admissions committees of discriminating against Asian American applicants. That perspective has pitted them against advocates for diversity: More college berths for Asian American students mean fewer for black and Latino students, who are statistically underrepresented at top universities.”

It’s like the whole thing is just some sort of power-drunk scheme for racial redistribution of opportunity.

IT’S POTEMKIN OFFICIALS ALL THE WAY DOWN: VA chief falsely claimed special forces service.

Secretary of Veterans Affairs Robert McDonald falsely claimed that he served in a military special forces unit, he admitted to the Huffington Post.

When a homeless veteran told McDonald in a conversation captured by CBS that he had served in special forces, the head of the VA replied that he had, too. The conversation aired during a CBS News story chronicling how the agency is working to house homeless veterans.

“I have no excuse,” McDonald told The Huffington Post. “I was not in special forces.”

He added that he “reacted spontaneously” and “wrongly [with] no intent in any way to describe my record as any different than it is.”

McDonald, who was confirmed in July of 2014, served in the 82nd Airborne Division and completed his Army Ranger training, earning the coveted Ranger tab. Although he completed that training, he never actually served in a special forces unit.

Well, to be fair, that lie pales compared to the VA’s claim to provide adequate health care.

JOHN NOLTE: Giuliani, Walker, and the Media’s Pro-Obama McCarthyism. “Do you now or have you ever held a negative personal opinion of President Barack Obama?”

ROLL CALL: Capitol Police Chief’s Leadership Questioned.

The State of the Union night car chase that ended without arrest added new strains to already tense relationships inside the law enforcement community on Capitol Hill.

Capitol Police officers who were disturbed and embarrassed by the Jan. 20 incident allege it’s part of a frustrating pattern. They say commanders have instructed the rank and file to refrain from “low-value” stops — including traffic violations involving drunk driving and drug impairment on streets around the Capitol campus, multiple sources confirmed — because those arrests do not contribute to thwarting terrorism and protecting Congress.

Within the Capitol, House Sergeant-at-Arms Paul D. Irving and Senate Sergeant-at-Arms Frank J. Larkin were frustrated when they were unable to get an accurate portrayal of the facts about the high-speed chase that ended on Washington Avenue Southwest, adjacent to the Rayburn House Office Building.

Tensions came to a head during the late January Capitol Police Board meeting with Chief Kim C. Dine and Deputy Chief Daniel B. Malloy, according to a source with knowledge of the conversations, because of a perceived lack of information from the scene. Discussions about communication between commanders and the troops are ongoing.

In the midst of the State of the Union address, department brass overruled the supervisor on the scene with an order not to arrest a driver who police say violated multiple traffic laws, including blowing through red lights at speeds of up to 60 mph with no driver’s license.

“You cannot have a police department that you don’t allow to police,” said one department official, who reached out to CQ Roll Call after the car chase to accuse Capitol Police of internal problems and a “culture of micromanaging” that discourages officers from responding to crimes or making arrests before seeking approval from their supervisors.

Capitol Police officials refused to take the driver of the white Crown Victoria into custody, leaving police who initiated the pursuit in Maryland with no power to execute an arrest. The order not to arrest provoked harsh words among officers on the scene, who blamed Capitol Police for allowing a criminal to flee without running his tags or identification to check for outstanding warrants.

“There is no mutual aid anymore,” said the official, a 13-year veteran of Capitol Police.

Well, to be fair, if they’d run the driver’s ID he might have turned out to be an illegal alien, and that would have been inconvenient during the State Of The Union.

SHARPTONS GONNA SHARPTON: Comcast, Al Sharpton Hit With $20 Billion Racial Discrimination Lawsuit: The National Association of African-American Owned Media alleges that Sharpton and other advocates have been bought off.

To be fair, being bought off is Sharpton’s whole reason for existence.

ED ROGERS IN THE WASHINGTON POST: Why would anyone think Obama doesn’t love America? Plenty of reasons. “It’s easy to imagine Bill Clinton and either President Bush getting teary-eyed at the proverbial Fourth of July parade, as the veterans wave and flatbeds filled with 4-H kids roll by. It’s hard to imagine Obama in a similar situation. He has a cerebral, cool and aloof style that keeps him a little distant. It also probably makes some people wonder whether he feels much when faced with traditional triggers that warm the heart and produce the classic, patriotic, emotional response one would associate with the romanticized traditional love of country. Fair enough. But beyond generalities about style and persona, Obama’s policies, declarations and overall conduct in office make some think he is dissatisfied with America and its self-image. . . . Many were left flat-footed and with jaws dropped after the president’s remarks at the recent National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, where he let the Islamic terrorists know that he is keeping their actions in context. Obama felt compelled to equate today’s Islamic terrorist butchers to the Christian Crusaders of 900 years ago. It was just another example of how the president appears willing to try to understand — if not justify — the actions of those who hate America. When the president is slow to condemn our enemies, it raises doubts about what he really thinks of their case against America.”

THE HILL: McConnell moves to prevent Homeland Security shutdown.

But I love CNN’s surprisingly honest take from earlier tonight:

SEE, I’VE NEVER BEEN MUCH OF AN O’REILLY FAN, BUT THIS WHOLE HIT PIECE WAS JUST PAYBACK FOR BRIAN WILLIAMS. AND NOW IT’S FALLING APART: Mediaite: Hugh Hewitt Grills the Hell out of Mother Jones’ David Corn on O’Reilly.

The thing is, it was a miss even if the story held up. As I noted a while back: “The theory of the ‘anchorman’ is supposed to be that while you can’t know what’s behind all the stories you see on the news, you trust them because you trust the person who delivers them.” O’Reilly isn’t an anchorman, he’s a blowhard pundit. But Corn’s effort to take down O’Reilly doesn’t seem to be withstanding scrutiny.

HEY, FOR ONCE THOSE TIRED CHARGES MIGHT HAVE BEEN ON-TARGET: Debbie Wasserman Schultz planned to accuse Obama of being anti-woman and anti-Semitic.

Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz was prepared to go full force against President Obama if he tried to replace her in 2013.

Wasserman Schultz, according to Politico, was going to accuse Obama of being anti-woman and anti-Semitic — apparently to cover all the bases — if he dared consider replacing her as chairwoman.

Schultz was beginning to “line up supporters” to make the suggestion when she “sensed” Obama was considering removing her from the DNC.

Wasserman Schultz’s position as the head of the DNC has long been a source of contention among Democrats, and Politico has previously documented the issue. In September 2014, Wasserman Schultz’s gaffes caught up to her when a string of Democrats voiced their distaste for the way the Florida congresswoman had led the party.

That report found tension between Wasserman Schultz and Obama dating back to 2011 — two years before she considered accusing him of waging a war on a woman or being an anti-Semite. At the time, Wasserman Schultz had allegedly complained to Obama about not being able to hire a donor’s daughter to work for her at the DNC.

“Obama summed up his reaction to staff afterward: ‘Really?’ ” according to a source that was present.

So maybe Obama didn’t like Wasserman Schultz’s brashness or her propensity to spout gaffe after gaffe.

Of course, with her job on the line, perhaps Wasserman Schultz just prepared to go into default mode of accusing any opposition of hating women or Jews.

Default is her middle name.

UPDATE: From the comments: “Well now. DWS didn’t get on her knees and beg The One and instead was prepared to hit him back where it hurt him. And she kept her job because of it. Maybe there’s a lesson for the GOP in there….”

As a great man once said, punch back twice as hard.

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: North Carolina Law Faculty Push Back Against Board’s Decision to Close Law School Poverty Center. Expect to see more cutbacks of this kind, around the country.

AN INDEPENDENT HAWAII WOULD PROBABLY BE GOBBLED UP BY CHINA, BUT PRO-SECESSION TEXANS NEED HAVE NO SUCH WORRY: “Great powers” and the unconstitutionality of the annexation of Texas and Hawaii.

AT AMAZON, coupons galore in Health Care.

Also in Vitamins & Dietary Supplements.

BULLETS AND BOURBON: “CPAC For The Rest Of Us?” Stephen Green has thoughts.

MICKEY KAUS: Why Would Jeb Want To Narrow The Field?

Both Chris Christie and Marco Rubio are feeling a certain amount of pressure not to run for President. Christie’s been targeted in stories about how he’s losing donors, dropping from the top tier, etc. (Never mind that, as Howard Kurtz pointed out, it’s entirely possible to lose the “donor primary” and win the race if you get hot with voters at the right time.) Rubio, were told, is being urged to run for reelection to help prevent Democrats from winning the Senate. No doubt Jeb Bush’s extensive network had nothing to do with stoking either of these stories. … P.S.: But should Bush really want to push Rubio and Christie and other rivals out? Jeb isn’t doing terribly well in the polls, and his chances for winning would seem enhanced if the field is fragmented. The worst thing for Jeb would be if there is a single, viable anti-Bush candidate, especially if the anti-Bush candidate has contrasting views on immigration.

That seems right.

REMINDER: In 2009, Barack Obama “Joked” About Having The IRS Audit His Enemies.

GREAT, NOW GO AFTER ALL THE TERROR-FUNDERS IN QATAR AND SAUDI ARABIA: Roger Simon: A Landmark Court Victory over Terrorism in New York.

DEPENDS ON WHAT YOU MEAN BY “WE,” I SUPPOSE: A Pill That Boosts a Woman’s Sex Drive Is Almost Here. But Do We Need It?

WHAT THE NEW YORK TIMES THOUGHT ABOUT LAPTOPS 30 YEARS AGO:

For the most part, the portable computer is a dream machine for the few.

The limitations come from what people actually do with computers, as opposed to what the marketers expect them to do. On the whole, people don’t want to lug a computer with them to the beach or on a train to while away hours they would rather spend reading the sports or business section of the newspaper. Somehow, the microcomputer industry has assumed that everyone would love to have a keyboard grafted on as an extension of their fingers. It just is not so.

Heh. I remember this piece. Shortly after it came out, I bought a Toshiba T1100+ laptop, and I’ve never looked back.

AT AMAZON, Warehouse Deals on Cookware.

Plus, big markdowns in the Audio & Video Outlet Store.

WELL, FIRST THEY’D HAVE TO BE WATCHING CNN: If Don Lemon Says A Bad Word On CNN, Does Anybody Hear It?

GHOST RIDER IN THE SKY: The “Ghost Rider” B-52 Rises From The Grave To Ride Again. “U.S. Air Force serial number 61-0007, a B-52H known by its nose art as “Ghost Rider,” was brought out of seven years of storage at the Defense Department’s boneyard in Arizona. Its new mission? To replace an active B-52H that was badly damaged by fire while on the ground at Barksdale Air Force Base and make the USAF arms treaty-dictated fleet of 76 B-52s whole once again.”

MORE PROBLEMS WITH “THE INTERNET OF THINGS:” The Next CyberAttack Could Come From Your Alarm Clock.

NEWS YOU CAN USE: Sex After 50 Can Be the Best of Your Life.