The Commentariat -- Sept. 8, 2015

** The GOP Against the World. Jonathan Chait: "Those who have consigned the world to its doom should reconsider. The technological and political underpinnings are at last in place to actually consummate the first global pact to limit greenhouse-gas emissions. The world is suddenly responding to the climate emergency with -- by the standards of its previous behavior -- astonishing speed. The game is not over. And the good guys are starting to win.... If this sounds surprisingly optimistic, that may be because you reside in a highly peculiar place: the United States of America.... Of course, it is unfortunate for the future of mankind that climate-change denialism has surfaced as a regional quirk in the most powerful country on Earth.... The world is racing to decarbonize before the Republican Party -- as constituted in its current, delirious form -- can regain power over the U.S.... Eventually the world will wean itself almost completely off carbon-based energy. There is, suddenly, hope." ...

... Andrew Restuccia of Politico: "Top Republican lawmakers are planning a wide-ranging offensive -- including outreach to foreign officials by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's office -- to undermine President Barack Obama's hopes of reaching an international climate change agreement that would cement his environmental legacy. The GOP strategy, emerging after months of quiet discussions, includes sowing doubts about Obama's climate policies at home and abroad, trying to block key environmental regulations in Congress, and challenging the legitimacy of the president's attempts to craft a global agreement without submitting a treaty to the Senate.... By design, the State Department is pushing for a broad political agreement that has buy-in from each country but won't carry the legal authority of a treaty -- getting around the Constitution's requirement that treaties be ratified through a two-thirds vote in the Senate." CW: Love the way Politico treats the GOP as normal.

Charles Pierce: "The Keystone pipeline would probably leak, just like TransCanada's other projects.... Pretty plainly, TransCanada puts its pipelines in the ground and then you're on your own, rube." ...

... CW: Leak? How about go ka-boom? Let's run an XL-Xtension under Mitch McConnell's house.

Welcome Back, Congress. Seung Min Kim of Politico: "Congress returns from its long summer vacation Tuesday to an all-out, three-week sprint to avert a government shutdown -- and no apparent plan yet to quell the conservative rebellion over Planned Parenthood that has dramatically increased the odds of a closure. The mad dash -- just 10 legislative work days to solve the shutdown crisis, in between major votes on the Iran nuclear deal and the first-ever papal address to a joint session of Congress -- presents a major test for Republican leaders in both chambers who vowed to end crisis-driven legislating."

Jake Sherman & John Bresnahan of Politico: "Figures in his close-knit circle of allies are starting to privately wonder whether [John Boehner] can survive an all-but-certain floor vote this fall to remain speaker of the House. And, for the first time, many top aides and lawmakers in the House do not believe he will run for another term as House leader in 2017."

Matt Apuzzo, et al., of the New York Times: Justice Department "conflicts with Apple and Microsoft reflect heightened corporate resistance, in the post-Edward J. Snowden era, by American technology companies intent on demonstrating that they are trying to protect customer information."

Gene Robinson: President Obama is on a roll. "Obama gives the impression of having rediscovered the joy of being president." CW: Actually, I think President Obama has been on a roll since late 2014, when it finally dawned on him he didn't have to be nice to Republicans who treat him like dirt & accuse him of everything from fascism to terrorism to communism to tyranny. So thanks to whoever convinced him (Michelle) to lay off the polite."

Juan Williams of the Hill: "#BlackLivesMatter is fast becoming its own worst enemy. It lacks an agenda, it is antagonizing the black community's top white political allies, including Democrats running for the party's 2016 presidential nomination, and it is not finding common ground with any of the Republican majority in Congress.... The movement's failure to get its collective act together carries real danger for the political clout of the African-American community in the 2016 elections and beyond. With the movement potentially discouraging black American trust in Democrats, #BlackLivesMatter is increasing the odds of a sharp drop in black voter turnout in 2016."

Nahal Toosi of Politico: "The Obama administration is 'actively considering' ways to help ease the growing refugee crisis in the Middle East and Europe, an official confirmed Monday as pressure increased on the United States to take in more of the desperate migrants. The White House gave no details as to what it may do, but the administration official suggested that the contours of the United States' refugee resettlement program, which as of now accepts up to 70,000 people a year, were being examined. If the administration decides to let in more refugees, it could prompt a backlash among Republicans who fear terrorists lurk among those seeking aid." ...

... Juan Cole: The "grim [U.S.] landscape of racism, religious prejudice, blaming the victim and racial exclusion from immigration is deja vu all over again. In the 30s, it was the Jews that the troglodytes didn't want. Steve Jobs's father was an immigrant from Syria. We need more like him, and we need fewer children washing up dead on beaches. If we're going to bomb Syria, we need to take care of the displaced." CW: Well, in fairness, Steve Jobs was a dick. Thanks to P. D. Pepe for the lead. ...

... Anthony Faiola, et al., of the Washington Post: German "Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabrie' ... said his country could take half a million refugees a year 'for several years,' even as some critics questioned Tuesday whether generous asylum policies serve to entice more migrants to make the dangerous trek for Western Europe." ...

... Elliot Hannon of Slate: "As the Syrian refugee crisis continues to land on Europe's shores, the continent's leading governments at last began to step up their effort to cope with the influx of Syrians and provide aid. Germany, the U.K., and France all offered to accept tens of thousands of people fleeing the war-torn country (and beyond) as pressure continued to build at access points to Europe."

Greg Sargent: "With Dick Cheney set to deliver a speech today attacking the Iran deal, the Dem-allied Americans United for Change is releasing a new video that recaps all of his claims that he was actually right about Iraq, and contrasts them with headlines illustrating the contrary rather vividly.... If there is anything that can get the last remaining undecided Senate Dems to back the deal, averting a veto-override fight, a high profile speech from Cheney is it." ...

Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Chuck Todd V. Norma Rae. Jack Mirkinson in Slate: "Our media is [sic!] filled to the brim with stories of, by and for the wealthy.... A 2014 study by the stalwart media watchdog FAIR found that, over an eight-month period, exactly zero representatives of labor unions appeared on any of the five main Sunday talk shows. Billionaire CEOs, meanwhile, got lots of chances to put forward their vision of the American economy.... Every major news network in this country -- not to mention a good fraction of our top newspapers -- is owned by a multi-bajillion-dollar global conglomerate."

Presidential Race

Anne Gearan of the Washington Post: "... Hillary Rodham Clinton is proposing a federal program to match small political campaign donations as a way to dilute the influence of megadonors and unregulated outside money. Clinton plans to release details of the plan Tuesday. Her campaign provided a preview Monday, as she campaigned in Iowa." ...

... Michael Schmidt of the New York Times: "A special intelligence review of two emails that Hillary Rodham Clinton received as secretary of state on her personal account -- including one about North Korea's nuclear weapons program -- has endorsed a finding by the inspector general for the intelligence agencies that the emails contained highly classified information when Mrs. Clinton received them, senior intelligence officials said.... The special review -- by the Central Intelligence Agency and the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency -- concluded that the emails were 'Top Secret,' the highest classification of government intelligence, when they were sent to Mrs. Clinton in 2009 and 2011." ...

... Catherine Lucey of the AP: "Hillary Rodham Clinton said Monday she does not need to apologize for using a private email account and server while at the State Department because 'what I did was allowed.' In an interview with The Associated Press during a Labor Day campaign swing through Iowa, the front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination also said the lingering questions about her email practices while serving as President Barack Obama's first secretary of state have not damaged her campaign."

That's Napolean Trump in the center there. Via the New York Daily News.

Obnoxious from Day One. Michael Barbaro of the New York Times: "Donald J. Trump, who received draft deferments through much of the Vietnam War, told [Michael D'Antonio,] the author of a forthcoming biography, that he nevertheless 'always felt that I was in the military' because of his education at a military-themed boarding school.... Mr. Trump memorably told Mr. D'Antonio that 'when I look at myself in the first grade and I look at myself now, I'm basically the same. The temperament is not that different.' Mr. Trump's preoccupation with winning -- at anything and everything, big or small -- dominated his youth. His mentor at the New York Military Academy, Theodore Dobias, called Mr. Trump 'a conniver, even then.'"

Beyond the Beltway

Not So Much Liking the Martyr Part of Martyrdom. Ralph Ellis & Ed Payne of CNN: "Kim Davis, the Kentucky clerk who's refused to issue same-sex marriage licenses, on Monday asked the Kentucky governor to immediately free her from jail, according to court documents obtained by CNN.... Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear's office said Monday he won't respond, noting that the conflict was a 'matter between her and the courts.'" ...

     ... Via the Raw Story.

Charles Pierce on the Washington State Supreme Court's decision disallowing public funding of charter schools. "There is now great scrambling among the masters of the universe because public accountability and democratic institutions can be so damned ... inconvenient. (Not that they're done. There are higher courts.) Public education should be conducted in public schools. Period. Good on the Washington Supremes for reinforcing this simple truth."

The Commentariat -- Sept. 7, 2015

Internal links removed.

"City Building." Thomas Hart Benton. One of a ten-panel series at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.... Randy Kennedy takes a tour of art works in New York City that depict laborers & the fruits of their labor. Includes slide show.

Peter Baker of the New York Times: "President Obama plans to sign an executive order on Monday requiring federal contractors to provide up to seven days of paid sick leave a year, his latest use of executive power to change the rules of the American workplace, the White House said. The president will announce the order during a Labor Day trip to Boston, where, aides said, he will also renew his call on Congress to pass legislation expanding paid sick and family leave in the private sector. He chose Boston as the venue because Massachusetts voters approved a new paid sick-leave law last year. It took effect in July. The executive order will have no real effect until after Mr. Obama's presidency; because it must first go through a public comment period, it will apply only to new federal contracts starting in 2017." ...

... CW: You have to wonder why President Obama didn't do this years ago. If Republicans wanted to call out his "imperial presidency," or his "jobs killer" agenda. they'd have a hard time doing so by complaining "he made contractors pay workers for seven sick days a year." The appropriate response: "Yeah. I did." ...

... President Obama's speech in Boston:

Raymond Hogler, in a Hill op-ed: "Despite the falsity of its claims and the damage it does to workers, right-to-work marches on with the aid of well-financed campaigns. Politicians like Gov. Scott Walker (R-Wis.) bow and scrape at the altar of corporate wealth, and any legislation attempting to curb the power of capital faces long odds. The best chance of repeal combines a joint federal-state strategy with meaningful consequences for politicians who refuse to support a repeal bill. ...

Fifty years ago, the right-to-work movement in this country underwent a near-death experience. Organized labor and a powerful Democratic coalition during the Johnson administration joined in support of a bill to repeal Section 14(b) of the Taft-Hartley Act of 1947, a statutory provision which allows states to prohibit compulsory financial support to labor unions. President George Meany of the AFL-CIO viewed Section 14(b) as the major threat to the labor movement, and he made repeal his top legislative priority in 1964. President Johnson pledged in his 1965 State of the Union address to eliminate Section 14(b). Labor achieved a significant victory when the House passed H.R. 77, its version of repeal, by a 221 -- 203 vote on July 28, 1965. The legislative effort came to an unsuccessful end in October when Sen. Everett Dirksen (R-Ill.) led a filibuster against the bill, and Senate Majority Leader Mike Mansfield (D-Mont.) had to withdraw the proposal.

... E. J. Dionne: "Many conservatives and most libertarians argue that every new law or regulation means that government is adding to the sum total of oppression and reducing the freedom of individuals.... As long as there are markets, government will have to establish rules determining how they operate. These necessarily affect the interests of market participants. Many of the choices are not between more or less government. They are about whether what government does provides greater benefit to workers or employers, management or unions, individual investors or investment firms."

Charles Pierce (Sept. 4): "... the more I read Judge Richard Berman's haymaker of a decision vacating Tom Brady's Goodell-imposed and Goodell-reiterated punishment, the more I see it as ... a damned appropriate greeting card with which to begin Labor Day weekend. This is a win for all workers no matter the color of their collars. (I do admit to some amusement when I hear the more conservative members of the media, especially the ones on the radio, and the more conservative members of a football fan base, which is practically everybody, suddenly discover their inner liberal on this issue.... I consider this a minor day of jubilee.)"

Jared Bernstein in the Atlantic: Surprise! The welfare-to-work program doesn't work if there is no work available: "I cannot overemphasize the importance of this fundamental flaw in poverty policy, i.e., the assumption that there is an ample supply of perfectly good jobs out there that poor people could tap if they just wanted to do so. To this day, this misguided notion underlies the conservative policy agenda that views anti-poverty policy as a narcotic that weans people away from the jobs awaiting them. Kill the programs, and they'll get out of their hammocks (Rep. Paul Ryan's term for the safety net) and get to work."

Micahel Eisenscher in Foreign Policy in Focus on why labor should support the Iran nuclear agreement: "For most of its first 50 years of existence, the country's largest labor federation -- the AFL-CIO -- never once challenged the deployment of U.S. troops into foreign conflicts. But it turns out that workers have as much of a stake in those decisions as anyone.... With increasing clarity, unions have come to recognize that a country that commits over half its discretionary budget to war spending can't afford to address the increasingly pressing needs of its people.... If [war hawks] succeed [in scuttling the Iran deal], they'll put our country and the world on a fast track to yet another disastrous military conflict, the costs of which are too horrific to contemplate." Via Daily Kos. ...

... CW: While it's true that war destroys lives & things & wastes billions & billions of dollars, it also is a jobs creator. Ask any Republican. Somebody has to build those bombs; somebody has to fight those wars. You might think Hitler, Mussolini & Tojo would be GOP heroes -- they created a U.S. jobs program that ended the Great American Depression; Roosevelt couldn't do it without their help.

Peter Baker: "Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee, announced on Sunday that she will support the nuclear agreement with Iran that has roiled many in her Florida district. 'I'll be casting my vote to support the deal and if necessary sustain the president's veto,' she told Jake Tapper on 'State of the Union' on CNN. While she called it a 'gut-wrenching' decision-making process that caused her 'angst and pause,' she concluded that the agreement would 'put Iran years away from being a threshold nuclear state.'" CW: Also, I guess she really wanted to keep her DNC chair, not likely to happen if she had ditched the president on this. ...

... Here's Wasserman Schultz's op-ed in the Miami Herald. ...

... Alexandra Jaffe of NBC News: "Former Secretary of State Colin Powell expressed support for the nuclear agreement with Iran on Sunday, calling the various planks Iranian leaders accepted 'remarkable' and dismissing critics' concerns over its implementation. 'It's a pretty good deal,' he said on NBC's 'Meet the Press.'" ...

... Scott Wong of the Hill: "Former Secretary of State Colin Powell said Sunday he used two computers [link fixed] while leading the department, one for transmitting sensitive material and another for emailing 'housekeeping stuff.' 'I had a secure State Department machine for secure material and I had a laptop that I could use for email. I would email relatives, friends, but I would also email in the department," Powell explained on NBC's 'Meet the Press.'" ...

... David Edwards of the Raw Story: "Fox News host Chris Wallace forced former Vice President Dick Cheney to admit that Iran's centrifuges went from zero to 5,000 under his watch, not President Barack Obama's. During an interview on Fox News, Cheney refused to back down from his assertion that Obama's nuclear deal with Iran was like Neville Chamberlain appeasing Hitler":

... Jordain Carney of the Hill: "Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) on Saturday suggested Democrats wouldn't to try to block a final vote on the Iran nuclear deal -- but only if Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) agrees to a higher threshold for passage.... While Reid's offer would let Republicans bypass procedural votes on the Iran resolution, it would still require that they get 60 supporters -- the same number they would need to overcome a potential Democratic filibuster." Some Democratic senators may not support a filibuster if if they favor the Iran deal.

Shalia Dewan of the New York Times on the "collateral consequences" of our criminal justice system. The Justice Department gives light penalties when big banks commit crimes, but the justice system seldom gives "consideration to collateral consequences when prosecuting individuals," even when an individual is arrested on a minor charge &/or never convicted.

Steven Myers & Clifford Krauss of the New York Times: "The dream of an Arctic Klondike, made possible by the rapid warming of once-icebound waters, has been at the core of Russia's national ambitions and those of the world's biggest energy companies for more than a decade. But even as Royal Dutch Shell began drilling an exploratory well this summer off the north coast of Alaska, Russia's experiences here have become a cautionary tale, one that illustrates the challenges facing those imagining that a changing Arctic will produce oil and gas riches.... After years of planning and delays, Shell's drilling project in the stormy waters of the Chukchi Sea is now being watched by the industry, officials, residents and critics as a make-or-break test of the viability of production in the Arctic." ...

... War on the World. CW: AND the hopes & dreams of oil company executives provide just one example of why Republicans pretend climate change does not exist. The GOP is actually in favor of climate change. They would destroy the Earth for a few campaign donations from Big Oil.

Joshua Albert of the Daily Beast: "Fans of the Confederate flag marched on Washington, D.C., to defend their standard and claim victimhood.... According to the event page that was set up for the demonstration, 1,400 people were planning to attend. As it turned out, roughly 75 people made it.... 200 counter-protesters ... showed up with speakers, tubas, colorful signs, and infinitely more energy. D.C. law enforcement officials set up a barrier of about 100 yards using themselves as a fence between the 'we're not racist' Confederate flag demonstration and the counter-protesters."

"The Pope vs. the Donald." Nahal Toosi of Politico: "The anti-Donald Trump is coming to town. And he speaks Spanish, too. When Pope Francis addresses Congress later this month, U.S. Catholic leaders expect the popular, groundbreaking pontiff to call on Americans to set aside their political divisions and unite to tackle challenges such as climate change, economic inequality and immigration reform."

Dahlia Lithwick of Slate: "In a remarkable conversation, [Justice Sonia Sotomayor] talks about why she doesn't feel like she belongs on the Supreme Court."

Presidential Race

Mark Murray of NBC News: "Bernie Sanders has jumped out to a nine-point lead over front-runner Hillary Clinton in New Hampshire, and he's gained ground on her among Iowa voters in the Democratic presidential race, according to a pair of brand-new NBC News/Marist polls.... Without [Vice President] Biden in the race, Sanders' lead over Clinton in the current survey increases to 11 points, 49 percent to 38 percent. In Iowa, Clinton maintains her previous advantage over Sanders -- but her lead has declined from 24 points in July (49 percent to 25 percent) to 11 points (38 percent to 27 percent); Biden sits at 20 percent." CW: Do bear in mind that in 2008 Barack Obama was leading Clinton in New Hampshire days before the primary, but Clinton won.

In Iowa, Unions Still Matter. Grant Rodgers of the Des Moines Register: "Clinton, Sanders and former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley all courted union members at events surrounding the Labor Day holiday. Sanders on Friday stood alongside union members on a picket line outside Penford Products, a Cedar Rapids corn processing plant whose union workers are renegotiating a contract with management. O'Malley and Clinton are both scheduled Monday to be at union picnics in eastern Iowa. The three Democratic rivals also spoke at town hall events in Altoona and Newton organized by AFSCME, Iowa's largest public employees union." ...

... BTW, the number of GOP candidates in Iowa over the Labor Day weekend: zero.

Anne Gearan of the Washington Post: "... Hillary Rodham Clinton ridiculed Donald Trump's plan to deport all undocumented immigrants and then allow provisional returns as unrealistic 'political rhetoric' as she sought votes Sunday amid falling poll numbers [in Iowa]." ...

... David Atkins in the Washington Monthly: As Secretary of State, "Hillary Clinton was instrumental in reducing [Hungarian PM Viktor] Orban's influence in Europe and his efforts to thwart liberal democracy at home." (See also Guardian editorial on Orban, linked below.)

** Matt Taibbi of Rolling Stone: "The decision by huge masses of Republican voters to defy D.C.-thinkfluencer types like George Will and throw in with a carnival act like Trump is no small thing. For the first time in a generation, Republican voters are taking their destiny into their own hands. In the elaborate con that is American electoral politics, the Republican voter has long been the easiest mark in the game, the biggest dope in the room."

Scammer-in-Chief. Greg Smith of the New York Daily News: "... hundreds of ... 'students' ... [attended] now-defunct Trump University; an entity the New York attorney general says was a grand scam that put $5 million in Trump's pocket.... According to lawsuits filed in New York and California, 'students' got repeat come-ons to run up credit card debt to buy increasingly expensive mentorships topping out at nearly $35,000 per person.... In a lawsuit pending in Manhattan Supreme Court, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman says 600 ex-Trump U. students in the state were defrauded. Trump Organization counsel Alan Garten defended the school as 'a substantive, real program' that 'offered people valuable training, valuable courses and valuable mentorships.'... So far, Judge Cynthia Kerr has found Trump violated state education laws by calling his entity a 'university' when it wasn't licensed as one. She will decide on possible restitution after a yet-to-be scheduled hearing. Meantime, two more class-action lawsuits are pending in California."

Friend of Fraudsters. Steve Eder of the New York Times highlights one of Jeb!'s shady acquaintances, who while Jeb! was governor, defrauded the state of Florida of $1.2 million for a never-started "tribute" museum to Dorothy Walker Bush, Jeb!'s grandmother. Jeb! swore to investigators that he barely knew the fraudster Tony Campos. "But emails and letters between Mr. Bush and Mr. Campos suggest something more than a limited acquaintance, especially after Mr. Campos began corresponding with the family about his plans to honor Mrs. Bush." ...

... CW: This story strikes me as yet another of a series of tales of Jeb!'s SOP, where he pals around with crooks but manages to keep enough distance to establish plausible deniability of wrongdoing. The story won't stick, especially when you compare Jeb!'s culpability to Trump's. But when you see what kind of ethics the two top GOP presidential candidates have, all the sturm und drang over Hillary's private e-mail server seems damned silly. Hillary's e-mail saga repeatedly makes the front page of major news media like the New York Times. (As far as I can tell the only instance in which the Times carried the Trump "University" story this year was a Reuters-written item that appeared in the online business section of the paper.) ...

... Paul Krugman: "... the issues the Bush campaign is using to attack its unexpected nemesis are precisely the issues on which Mr. Trump happens to be right, and the Republican establishment has been proved utterly wrong.... Mr. Trump ... is exactly the ignorant blowhard he seems to be.... Some of [his rivals] may come across as reasonable and thoughtful, but in reality they are anything but. Mr. Bush, in particular, may pose as a reasonable, thoughtful type ... but his actual economic platform, which relies on the magic of tax cuts to deliver a doubling of America's growth rate, is pure supply-side voodoo.... All indications are that Mr. Bush's attacks on Mr. Trump are falling flat, because the Republican base doesn't actually share the Republican establishment's economic delusions.... Mr. Trump, who is self-financing, didn't need to genuflect to the big money, and it turns out that the base doesn't mind his heresies. This is a real revelation, which may have a lasting impact on our politics."

Amy Davidson of the New Yorker: "It doesn't seem to matter that [Ben Carson] is a man of science who does not believe in evolution and has called climate change 'irrelevant': he is an ideologue with the trappings of a technocrat. Insofar as Carson has a political platform, it involves a low flat tax, modelled on the Biblical tithe; an end to Obamacare and to welfare for able-bodied adults; and the removal of restraints on our military in the Middle East.... His success in the polls may be best understood as desperation on the part of voters who have rejected political experience as a test of competence."

Mark Hensch of the Hill: "Gov. John Kasich (R-Ohio) said on Sunday that state marriage clerks should issue same-sex marriage licenses even if they morally oppose the practice. Kasich added that government employees are responsible for obeying the law upon assuming their positions."

Hayley Walker of ABC News: "After exceeding his $1 million crowd-funding goal, Harvard Law School professor Larry Lessig announced today on 'This Week' that he is running for president. 'I think I'm running to get people to acknowledge the elephant in the room,' he told ABC's George Stephanopoulos. 'We have to recognize -- we have a government that does not work. The stalemate, partisan platform of American politics in Washington right now doesn't work.'"

Beyond the Beltway

Michael Muskal of the Los Angeles Times: "Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis, who spent her fourth day behind bars Sunday, has filed an appeal notice of the judge's decision that put her in a Kentucky jail for failing to follow his order to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples."

Valerie Strauss of the Washington Post: The state of "Washington's charter school law, which narrowly passed in a 2012 referendum with financial support from Microsoft founder Bill Gates and other wealthy philanthropists, has been struck down as unconstitutional by the state's Supreme Court.... The Washington state high court ruled Friday that the law violates the state constitution, which says that public school funds can be used only to support 'common schools.'" Thanks also to Ken W. for mentioning this on Saturday.

Brian Bakst of the AP: Walter Palmer, mild-mannered dentist & large-animal slayer, is going back to work after spending the last several weeks at "undisclosed locations." He granted his one-and-only interview to the Minneapolis Star Tribune & the AP, but refused to answer "several lines of inquiry" regarding the hunt in which he killed Cecil the Lion after his team lured Cecil from the Hwange National Park preserve in Zimbabwe.

Way Beyond

Guardian Editors: "Hungary’s prime minister, Viktor Orbán..., has been denting his country's standing for some time now. He has trampled on democratic principles, concentrated power in the hands of his rightwing Fidesz party, threatened the independence of the judiciary and bullied the media. He has been consistently provocative towards EU institutions, and made shows of solidarity with Vladimir Putin that have undermined EU efforts to make a strong stand on the war in Ukraine.... Now, with the refugee crisis, the 'Orbán problem' is clear for all to see. And it's getting worse. On Friday, the Hungarian parliament fast-tracked new laws to strengthen police powers and set strict new punishments, including jail terms, for unauthorised border crossing."

News Ledes

Washington Post: "The Iraqi military has used the F-16 fighter jet in combat operations for the first time, more than a year after Iraqi officials began pressing Washington to deliver them to assist in the fight against Islamic State militants."

New York Times: "In an acknowledgment of severe shortcomings in its effort to create a force of moderate rebels to battle the Islamic State in Syria, the Pentagon is drawing up plans to significantly revamp the program by dropping larger numbers of fighters into safer zones as well as providing better intelligence and improving their combat skills. The proposed changes come after a Syrian affiliate of Al Qaeda attacked, in late July, many of the first 54 Syrian graduates of the military's training program and the rebel unit they came from. A day before the attack, two leaders of the American-backed group and several of its fighters were captured."

The Commentariat -- Sept. 6, 2015

Defunct video removed.

Alison Smale of the New York Times: "Pope Francis on Sunday called on every parish, religious community, monastery and sanctuary in Europe to shelter refugees fleeing 'death from war and hunger,' adding that the Vatican's two parishes would lead the way by taking in two families." ...

... Katrin Bennhold, et al., of the New York Times: "Germans waving welcome signs in German, English and Arabic came to the train station [in Munich] Saturday to greet the first group of what is expected to be about 8,000 migrants to arrive in Germany by early Sunday, after an arduous and emotional journey through Hungary and Austria. Germans applauded and volunteers offered hot tea, food and toys as about 450 migrants arrived on a special train service from Austria, finally reaching Germany, which had held out an open hand to them." ...

... Griff Witte & Michael Birnbaum of the Washington Post: "A column of thousands of people fleeing war and poverty made it to Western Europe on Saturday, after forcing Hungary's anti-immigrant leaders to yield in a days-long campaign to turn them back. But with a fresh rush of migrants at Europe's borders, the broader refugee crisis only looked to be worsening." ...

... Ian Traynor of the Guardian: "Europe’s meltdown in the face of its biggest post-1945 immigration emergency is generating the worst east-west split since the Iraq war.... On Thursday Germany and France ordered the European commission to come up with a new 'permanent' and binding regime for spreading the refugee load around all of the 28 countries in the union. [British PM] David Cameron and home secretary Theresa May want nothing to do with the scheme and have absented themselves from the policymaking, carping from the sidelines. On Friday the prime ministers of Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic told Paris and Berlin to get stuffed, arguing that west European-style multiculturalism is nothing but trouble and that they have no intention of repeating the same mistakes.... On Wednesday [the commission] president, Jean-Claude Juncker, will unveil proposals obliging at least 22 countries with a combined population of almost 400 million to absorb 160,000 people from Italy, Greece and Hungary, which are struggling with influxes from the Middle East and Africa." ...

... Der Spiegel: "This year has seen a sharply increased number of attacks on asylum hostels in Germany, many of them perpetrated by right-wing extremists. Officials are concerned that neo-Nazi networks may be spreading across the country." ...

... Der Spiegel: "The attacks on refugee hostels in Germany have reached a shocking level this year. By July 6, there were fully 199 of them, and the attacks have shown no signs of stopping. At the same time, though, Germans seem more willing to help than ever before. They visit refugee hostels, bringing along clothes and toys. They cook together with the Syrians and Sudanese. They invite migrant boys to join the football teams where their own children play. Which Germany will prevail?" ...

... David Herszenhorn of the New York Times: "Pleas for more aggressive American-led rescue measures seem all the more futile given the failures to reach a consensus on the country's own immigration problems, made vivid in the simmering debate over policing the border with Mexico and calls by a leading Republican presidential candidate to deport 11 million undocumented immigrants." ...

... Ben Hubbard of the New York Times: Rich Gulf nations that won't aid Syrian refugees angry at critics.

Jana Kasperkevic of the Guardian on what has changed for American women -- and what hasn't -- since Hillary Clinton gave her speech on women's rights in Beijing.

Bob Cesca, in Salon: "... the GOP appears to be getting behind the idea that both public and private sector workers can refuse to do their jobs with impunity as long as they can recite a biblical verse to back it up." ...

... What Kim Davis & David Koch Have in Common. Elias Isquith of Salon: "... just as a socialist and a liberal can differ on many things but still share a fundamental belief in the legitimacy of redistribution, so too can conservatives find common ground in the 'defense of power and privilege.' As [Kim] Davis and her Republican champions show us, if there's one organizing principle to conservatism, that -- and not law, order, gradualism or liberty -- is it."

Presidential Race

Sabrina Siddiqui of the Guardian: "Twenty years to the day since her iconic address on women's rights in a suburb of Beijing, Hillary Clinton delivered a stirring speech on gender issues in America while casting her Republican rivals as decidedly anti-women. And for those who might accuse her of playing the gender card, Clinton repeated a simple message: 'Deal me in.' Clinton spoke before more than a thousand supporters on Saturday at a launch event for 'Women for Hillary' in New Hampshire, touching upon many of the familiar themes of her presidential campaign -- equal pay for women, paid family leave, raising the minimum wage."

Beyond the Beltway

Reuters: "A high school football player in Louisiana died from injuries he sustained on the field during a game, officials told Reuters on Saturday. Tyrell Cameron, 16, a student at Franklin Parish High School in north-east Louisiana, was wheeled off the field on a stretcher after he was injured during the fourth quarter on Friday night, Franklin Parish Sheriff Kevin Cobb said in an interview. Tyrell was pronounced dead later at a local hospital, Cobb said."

Way Beyond

Veit Medick of Der Spiegel: Jim Messina, "who organized Barack Obama's 2012 re-election campaign and this year orchestrated British Prime Minister David Cameron's spectacular, nail-biting win, is now getting into German politics. Messina has agreed to a consulting job in Berlin: He wants to help the center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD) beat Chancellor Angela Merkel of the conservative Christian Democrats in the next national election in 2017."