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Energy
Climate change activists dismiss fossil fuel divestment push as waste of time, resources
WASHINGTON TIMES
Valerie Richardson
Four years after its inception, the divestment movement is under attack, and not just from its natural enemies in the oil, gas and coal business. Opposition is also emerging from liberal analysts, scientists and professors who are wholeheartedly dedicated to combating climate change, but insist that divestment is a waste of time and resources.

Safety standards for oil trains are way off track
WASHINGTON POST
Editorial
Accidents have become too frequent and are potentially too catastrophic. It’s unfortunate that the safety of rail freight wasn’t improved earlier, but now that the business is booming, the country needs to catch up.

Murkowski looks for wins on energy, not just anger
POLITICOPRO (Subscribe)
Darren Goode
Her criticism of the administration needs to be “constructive, directed anger,” she told POLITICO. “Not bombastic tone and approach that doesn’t gain results. And so this is where I’ve gotta use every tool, every skill set that I have to convey the extent of the problems that we’re up against and try to affect change.”

Technology
Poll finds skepticism on net neutrality
THE HILL
Julian Hattem
Three-fourths say they are unfamiliar with what the concept of net neutrality — which calls for federal rules to require that Internet service providers such as Comcast give equal access to all websites — refers to, the survey found. And just one out of three Americans support the idea of regulating Internet service like phone lines, as the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is in large part going to do.

Draft of Senate Cyber Bill Tackles Retaliation Rules
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Damian Paletta
Senate negotiators working on legislation to beef up cybersecurity protections are considering provisions to make it harder for cyberattack victims to retaliate with attacks of their own, two people familiar with the matter said, reflecting fears that an initial breach could lead to a chain reaction of hacks.

New squabbles as net neutrality comes down to the wire
THE HILL
Julian Hattem
Public bickering among members of the Federal Communications Commission is reaching a new high just days before a controversial vote on net neutrality rules. The five-member commission is no stranger to infighting, due in part to its split between three Democrats and two Republicans. But the recent squabbling comes amid the highest-profile issue the commission has tackled in years, and could point to lasting tensions.

Scrutiny of FCC mounts with third investigation
THE HILL
Mario Trujillo
The House Energy and Commerce Committee on Thursday became the latest panel to launch a probe into whether the agency is fulfilling its responsibilities in a manner that’s independent and transparent. … The committee, which has oversight over the agency, wants answers as to whether the FCC is avoiding important commission votes by letting bureaus inside the agency handle issues. It is also investigating allegations that Wheeler’s office has not always given commissioners — Republicans in particular — adequate time to review some orders before a vote.

T-Mobile hopes you’ll help win its next big battle in Washington
WASHINGTON POST
Brian Fung
T-Mobile’s role as the insurgent “Uncarrier” has brought wireless consumers a number of perks: Free international roaming and an end to device subsidies, contracts and early termination fees, to name a few. Now, to keep that streak rolling, T-Mobile is trying something else: It’s calling on consumers to advocate on its behalf in an obscure tech policy fight in Washington. If this sounds familiar, you’re not wrong: The tactic is ripped straight out of the net neutrality activists’ playbook. The question is, can it work?

Three Months Later, State Department Hasn’t Rooted Out Hackers
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Danny Yadron
Three months after the State Department confirmed hackers breached its unclassified email system, the government still hasn’t been able to evict them from the department’s network, according to three people familiar with the investigation.

Finance
New Rules Spur a Humbling Overhaul of Wall St. Banks
NEW YORK TIMES
Nathaniel Popper and Peter Eavis
Bonuses are shrinking. Revenue growth has stalled. Entire business lines are being cut. And some investors are even asking whether the biggest banks should be broken up — changes that are all largely attributed to a not-so-well-known set of rules regarding capital, a financial metric that captures how much cushion banks might have in the event of a crisis.

Treasury Official Says Keep Currency Measures Out of Trade Talks
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Ian Talley
The U.S. Treasury’s top financial diplomat on Thursday signaled the administration would oppose lawmaker efforts to include in trade legislation enforceable sanctions against countries that manipulate their currencies. U.S. Treasury Under Secretary for International Affairs Nathan Sheets said lawmakers instead should allow the administration to continue to press concerns about exchange rate policies through other venues.

Politics
Attacks on Koch brothers contributed to Democrats’ midterms losses, party officials say
WASHINGTON TIMES
S. A. Miller
“It raises money for sure. But is it good to motivate a voter? No,” said a state party executive director who said he didn’t want to publicly criticize the national party leaders. And Ken Martin, chairman of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, said campaign finances issues were “inside baseball.” “Americans are focused on bread and butter issues and could care less about who is funding the campaigns,” he said.

Critics in G.O.P. Say Chris Christie Is in a ‘Bubble’
NEW YORK TIMES
Maggie Haberman and Nicholas Confessore
He does not return phone calls. He does not ask for support. He arrives late for meetings. And he acts as if he has all the time in the world. The complaints have piled up for weeks, dismaying many longtime supporters of Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey and sending others into the arms of his rivals for the presidential nomination, according to interviews with more than two dozen Republican donors and strategists.

Chris Christie losing home-state donors as Jeb Bush makes inroads
WASHINGTON POST
Matea Gold and Robert Costa
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is rapidly losing support among some of his most prominent home-state donors and power brokers, who are either hesitant to back him or shifting allegiance to former Florida governor Jeb Bush. Bush’s aggressive moves to lock up the Republican Party’s premier fundraisers threaten to undercut the Garden State governor before his expected campaign can get off the ground, while raising questions about how robust of a network of support Christie will be able to muster.

Hillary Clinton’s Complex Corporate Ties
WALL STREET JOURNAL
James V. Grimaldi and Rebecca Ballhaus
Among recent secretaries of state, Hillary Clinton was one of the most aggressive global cheerleaders for American companies, pushing governments to sign deals and change policies to the advantage of corporate giants such as General Electric Co. , Exxon Mobil Corp. , Microsoft Corp. and Boeing Co. At the same time, those companies were among the many that gave to the Clinton family’s global foundation set up by her husband, former President Bill Clinton. At least 60 companies that lobbied the State Department during her tenure donated a total of more than $26 million to the Clinton Foundation, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of public and foundation disclosures.

The Clinton Foundation Super PAC
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Kimberley A. Strassel
Republican presidential aspirants are already launching political-action committees, gearing up for the expensive elections to come. They’ll be hard-pressed to compete with the campaign vehicle Hillary Clinton has been erecting these past 14 years. You know, the Clinton Foundation.

White House Sees Workforce as Best Bet to Tackle Deficits
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Nick Timiraos
The White House has a new tack for dealing with rising deficits: try to boost the workforce and its productivity in the hopes of muddling through the surge of retirees that will strain the social safety net for the next 20 years. Rather than seek to balance the budget and sharply reduce the debt, President Barack Obama ’s economic advisers now say the focus should be to stabilize the debt through the aging of the baby boomers, or those born roughly between 1946 and 1964.

On Terror, Gentle Hand or Iron Fist
NEW YORK TIMES
Peter Baker and Julie Hirschfeld Davis
As he sought to rally the world behind a renewed attack on terrorism, President Obama argued on Thursday that force of arms was not enough and called on all nations to “put an end to the cycle of hate” by expanding human rights, religious tolerance and peaceful dialogue. But the challenge of his approach was staring him right in the face. His audience of invited guests, putative allies in a fresh international counterterrorism campaign, included representatives from some of the world’s least democratic and most repressive countries.

The Nationalist Solution
NEW YORK TIMES
David Brooks
Young Arab men are not going to walk away from extremism because they can suddenly afford a Slurpee. They will walk away when they can devote themselves to a revived Egyptian nationalism, Lebanese nationalism, Syrian nationalism, some call to serve a cause that connects nationalism to dignity and democracy and transcends a lifetime. Extremism isn’t mostly about Islam. It is about a yearning for righteousness rendered malevolent by apocalyptic theology. Muslim clerics can fix the theology. The rest of us can help redirect the spiritual ardor toward humane and productive ends.

Jen Psaki returns to White House
POLITICO
Edward-Isaac Dovere
Jen Psaki, the spokeswoman for the State Department, is headed back to the White House as the new communications director.