The Commentariat -- Nov. 4, 2015

Internal links removed.

Julie Davis of the New York Times: "The White House on Tuesday said President Obama had no intention of bowing to a request from the company behind the Keystone XL oil pipeline to delay a decision on the project, saying he wanted to take action before his tenure ends. The State Department is reviewing a request made on Monday by the company, TransCanada, to pause its yearslong evaluation of the proposed 1,179-mile pipeline, which has become part of a broader debate over Mr. Obama's environmental agenda. Josh Earnest, the White House press secretary, said on Tuesday that 'there's reason to suspect that there may be politics at play' in TransCanada's request. He strongly suggested that the review, which has been widely expected to result in a rejection of the pipeline as soon as this month, remained on track."

** Tommy Christopher of Mediaite demolishes Paul Ryan's repeated claim that Congress can't pass immigration reform because "President Obama is untrustworthy." While he's at it, Christopher takes down the Sunday showz, which every week "all feature the same exact press releases masquerading as interviews.... In every one of those [four] interviews, [when Ryan made the claim about President Obama,] the host elected to move on, rather than to challenge what Ryan had said, despite ample basis for such a challenge."

Aw, Shucks. Jonathan Swan & Kyle Plantz of the Hill: "The Koch brothers are on a publicity tour to change their image.... The brothers' appearance on MSNBC's 'Morning Joe' continues something of a coming-out tour for the publicity-shy Kochs, who became bogeymen to the left following their early funding of the Tea Party movement, their expensive and ultimately failed efforts to defeat President Obama, and their plan to spend $250 million to elect Republicans to Congress and the presidency in 2016." Includes video.

CW: Should an 18-year-old boy who talks a reluctant 15-year-old girl into having sex with him, even if he's a despicable little prick, be branded a sex offender for life? Ruth Marcus of the Washington Post says no. What say you? ...

... Jeannie Suk, in the New Yorker: "What we are really talking about here is not rape, as we have until recently understood it, but rather sex that we strongly dislike. We are in the midst of a significant cultural shift, in which we are redescribing sex that we vehemently dislike as rape, and sexual attitudes that we strongly disapprove of as examples of rape culture."

David Rising of the AP: "Germany's Volkswagen, already reeling from the fallout of cheating on U.S. emissions tests for nitrogen oxide, said Tuesday that an internal investigation has revealed 'unexplained inconsistencies' in the carbon dioxide emissions from 800,000 of its vehicles -- a development it said could cost the company another 2 billion euros ($2.2 billion). The investigation was undertaken by the company after the revelations that many of its vehicles had software that allowed them to deceive U.S. nitrogen oxide tests. CEO Matthias Mueller promised Tuesday that Volkswagen 'will relentlessly and completely clarify what has happened.'"

AFP: "Michelle Obama called for an end to 'outdated laws and traditions' preventing millions of girls around the world from completing their education, in an impassioned speech Wednesday in Qatar. Obama spoke for almost 25 minutes at the Qatar National Convention Centre to a packed audience which included ... political and education leaders from around the world."

Elections Results

Horrible! Sheryl Gay Stolberg & Alan Blinder of the New York Times: "Matt Bevin, a Republican political novice, wealthy Louisville businessman and Tea Party favorite, was elected Kentucky's next governor on Tuesday, a victory that could herald a new era in a state where Democrats have held the governor's mansion for all but four of the last 44 years. The Associated Press declared Mr. Bevin the winner shortly after 8 p.m. In beating his Democratic opponent, Attorney General Jack Conway, Mr. Bevin surprised many in his own party.... Mr. Bevin, a fierce opponent of the [Affordable Care Act], at first said he would reverse it, but has since softened his position and said he would stop enrolling new people but would not take coverage from people who had it." ...

     ... CW: We'll see if the Obama administration goes along with a plan to cut off new applicants while still providing assistance to current enrollees. Talk about unequal treatment under the law. ...

     ... Dave Weigel of the Washington Post: "Bevin's win, and the Republican victories in neighboring Virginia, were body blows to Democratic hopes of enforcing the Affordable Care Act. Virginia voters rejected a chance to hand the state Senate back to a party that would expand Medicaid; some Kentucky voters who had benefited from the expansion surely voted against the candidate who'd keep it as is." ...

... Greg Sargent: "The news that Tea Party Republican Matt Bevin snatched the Kentucky governor's mansion away from Democrats is a particularly stark reminder of how deep a hole Democrats have dug for themselves on the level of the states, and of the consequences that could have for the long-term success of the liberal and Democratic agenda."

Laura Vozzella & Jenna Portnoy of the Washington Post: "Republicans held onto the Virginia Senate in fiercely contested elections Tuesday, leaving Gov. Terry McAuliffe without legislative leverage or political momentum as he works to deliver Virginia for his friend and ally Hillary Rodham Clinton in 2016."

Katherine Dreissen of the Houston Chronicle: "Houston's controversial equal rights ordinance failed by a wide margin Tuesday, with voters opting to repeal the law that offered broad non-discrimination protections, according to incomplete and unofficial returns."

AP: "In a single stroke, Ohio voters rejected a ballot proposal Tuesday to legalize marijuana for both recreational and medical use." The Cleveland.com story, by Jackie Borchardt, is here.

Susan Haigh of the AP: "An ex-convict who spent seven years in federal prison for corruption reclaimed the Bridgeport mayor's office Tuesday, completing a stunning comeback bid that tapped nostalgia for brighter days in Connecticut's largest city. Joe Ganim, who was released from prison only five years ago, declared victory in a race involving seven opponents."

Alexander Burns of the New York Times: "Michael E. McMahon, a former congressman and New York City councilman, was chosen as the new district attorney of Staten Island on Tuesday, winning a contentious special election in the city's most conservative borough. In defeating Joan Illuzzi, a Republican, Mr. McMahon, a Democrat, takes over a position that drew national attention after a Staten Island grand jury decided not to indict a police officer in the death of Eric Garner, an unarmed black man."

Brent Johnson of NJ.com: "Democrats tightened their control of the [New Jersey] state Assembly in Tuesday's elections, wresting at least three seats away from a Republican party ruled by Gov. Chris Christie, a presidential candidate whose popularity has dropped at home. It means Democrats will control at least 51 of the 80 seats in the lower house of the state Legislature as of January -- their biggest majority since 1979."

Paul Egan of the Detroit Free Press: "Two former Republican state representatives who lost their seats in September amid a sex and cover-up scandal were soundly defeated Tuesday in their special primary bids to regain their seats. Cindy Gamrat of Plainwell was defeated Tuesday in her bid to regain her Allegan County state House seat by Mary Whiteford of South Haven. And former state representative Todd Courser, who admitted to having an extramarital affair with Gamrat and misusing state House resources in an attempt to cover it up, also lost his bid to win his seat back after resigning in September while facing expulsion from the House."

Ivan Moreno of the AP: "Suburban Denver voters on Tuesday ousted three conservative school board members who changed the way teachers are paid and briefly considered reviewing a U.S. history curriculum to promote patriotism. The high-profile political battle attracted a huge influx of cash from inside Jefferson County and from outside groups with an interest in what education reforms should look like. By overwhelming margins, voters agreed to recall Ken Witt, Julie Williams and John Newkirk, who were elected into office in 2013 and made up the majority in the five-member board of the second-largest school district in the state."

** Eitan Hersh of 538: "In the ongoing fight between Democrats and Republicans over election procedures like voter ID and early voting, the Democrats are supposedly the champions of higher turnout and reducing barriers to participation. But when it comes to scheduling off-cycle elections like those taking place today, the Democratic Party is the champion of voter suppression.... [Bills to consolidate elections], which were generally sponsored by Republicans, typically failed because of Democratic opposition.... Democrats opposed the bills at the urging of Democratic-aligned interest groups, namely teachers unions and municipal employee organizations.... For Democrats like [Hillary] Clinton who are apparently aghast at Republican efforts at voter suppression, today is a good day to take a look in the mirror." ...

... Zandar, in Balloon Juice, disagrees. ...

... CW: For what it's worth, I think Hersh is at least half-right. Whether or not it is the intention of Democrats to lower turnout, that is the effect of off-year elections. If you think I might be wrong, check out the results above. The only national-newsworthy election result that went liberals' way, at least up to what has been reported as of late last night, was a local school election. (I've since updated, so a few elections I've cited went the better way.)

Presidential Race

Un.Fucking.Believable. Mark Murray of NBC News: "One year out before the 2016 general election, Hillary Clinton and Ben Carson are tied in a hypothetical matchup, but Clinton leads three other major Republican candidates, according to brand-new numbers from the NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll."

Scott Morgan of Reuters: "The U.S. Republican Party filed a formal complaint against one of Hillary Clinton's family charities with the Internal Revenue Service on Tuesday and is calling for an audit after the charity said this week it would not refile erroneous tax returns. The Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation's flagship health program conceded earlier this year it had misreported by millions of the dollars the money it was given by governments compared with non-government donors in its tax returns for 2012 and 2013."

Sabrina Siddiqui of the Guardian: Among Republican presidential candidates, only Marco Rubio has been marginally supportive of the goals of BlackLivesMatter.

Jenna Johnson & Sean Sullivan of the Washington Post: "Donald Trump and Ben Carson are still dominating the polls, but many in the crowded Republican presidential race are now launching attacks on the candidate who seems poised to be their next major threat: Marco Rubio.... During a news conference Tuesday in Manhattan, Trump called Rubio 'overrated,' accused him of being 'a disaster with his credit cards' and attacked him as 'very weak' on immigration. At the same time, Bush -- whose campaign has disparagingly labeled Rubio as a 'GOP Obama' -- doubled down on criticizing Rubio for missing more than a third of his Senate votes this year.... Two other GOP presidential candidates, Sens. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Ted Cruz (R-Texas)...."

Kyle Cheney of Politico: "Ben Carson ... announced last week that he had shelved his plan to end ... [Medicare]. But the few components of a new plan he's revealed have only added to the confusion ... and his opponents are beginning to pounce.... Carson ... has struggled to define exactly what he'd like to see in its stead. Asked about his Medicare platform on two Sunday news shows last week, he left the hosts scratching their heads.... 'The liberal media -- and now one of my competitors -- is claiming I want to "abolish" Medicare. That is plain laughable,' Carson wrote to supporters, referring to the claim as 'slander.' He also told Wallace that it's a 'narrative that somebody's putting out there to scare people.'" ...

... CW: Uh, Doc, that "laughable" "somebody" who is "slandering" you & "scaring people" about abolishing Medicare would be -- you.

Even if all the media tries to shut you down -- which they have tried very much to do with me. But they can't because the good Lord has provided me with mechanisms like my syndicated column and like Fox News. We'd be Cuba if there were no Fox News. -- Ben Carson, conspiracy theorist, last year

Someone on that debate stage .. they're using National Review as their political tool [to attack me]. That's pretty obvious. -- Ben Carson, this week ...

... BTW, the core story Carson is claiming was the brainchild of one of his opponents ran in January of this year. It's author, Jim Geraghty, denies that any rival campaign contacted him about a follow-up he wrote after Carson lied during the last debate about his involvement with the dietary supplement company Mannatech. -- Constant Weader

... ** Grifter-in-Chief. Jonathan Chait: "Conservative politics are so closely intermingled with a lucrative entertainment complex that it is frequently impossible to distinguish between a political project (that is, something designed to result in policy change) and a money-making venture.... The notion that [Ben] Carson could be president is preposterous.... He has never run for elected office. He has never managed a large organization; he has not worked in and around public policy, and he lacks a competent grasp of issues. His stance on health care, the closest thing to an issue with which his professional experience has brought him into contact, is gibberish.... His campaign itself is structured much more like a scamming venture than a political one. An astronomical 69 percent of his fund-raising totals are spent on more fund-raising. (Bernie Sanders, by contrast, spends just 4 percent of his intake on fund-raising.)... He is a perfect con artist." ... BTW, Chait goes there, noting that Carson's manner is "subdued" "to the point of appearing medicated." ...

... Lie to Me. CW: Chait highlighted Carson's "chilling" ability to lie with a straight face by encouraging readers to watch the video where he lies to Carl Quintanilla bout his connection to Mannatech. So I did. Two things: when he's about to tell a lie, he closes his eyes. Maybe it's a little prayer where he asks god to forgive him for telling a whopper. Also, when he's pulled it off (or when he insults people & gets away with it), he laughs heartily. (See also his reaction to the audience response to his saying that "Many [Americans] are stupid.) ...

... Steve M.: "... it's ... a fallacy to imagine that a kook and a scammer can't also have a messiah complex. How many personality cults are there in which the guy robbing the flock blind actually believes he's the exalted figure he tells the follower he is?... Remember, conservative rhetoric values the untutored amateur over the professional. Society's real guarantors of personal safety are civilians with guns, not cops. College professors and Ivy League graduates are to be looked upon with suspicion; country musicians and the Duck Dynasty guys tell us the plain truth, even about science. The greatest man to ever occupy the Oval Office was an ex-movie actor regularly mocked as an unschooled dolt. Why wouldn't a guy who's imbibed this ideology of amateurism believe that he really can be president if lots of people are telling him he can?"

Caitlin MacNeal of TPM: "Fox News host Megyn Kelly on Monday night mocked the letter drafted by Republican presidential campaigns listing a series of rules and questions for networks hosting future debates. After listing some of the demands, including that networks not allow lightning rounds or candidate-to-candidate questioning, Kelly jokingly suggested, 'And then maybe the foot massage?'" ...

... Steve M.: "Fox News denounces Republican candidates for sounding like Fox News."

Peter Beinart of the Atlantic: "Jeb Bush fashions himself the thinking man's Republican candidate for president. Donald Trump, he declared late last month, is 'not serious.' When it comes to foreign policy, Trump hasn't 'thought these things through.' Trump is 'not taking the responsibility -- the possibility of becoming the president of the United States really seriously.' So what are Jeb's well-thought-out, serious foreign-policy views? He offered a few on Monday in what aides dubbed an important speech aimed at resetting his presidential campaign. And they were insane." ...

     ... Amy Davidson of the New Yorker on who counts as a "serious" presidential candidate. ...

<>... Zeke Miller of Time: Jeb Bush acknowledges he was wrong about the French workweek. "'I made the mistake of saying that the Congress operates on a French work week,' he deadpanned. 'I really did a disservice to the French,' Bush added with a chuckle Tuesday. 'My inbox was full of French journalists,' piped in campaign spokesman Tim Miller." ...

... Jeb? Nick Gass of Politico: Jeb Bush "apparently failed to secure the JebCanFixIt.com domain name when he rolled out the slogan as part of the relaunch of his sagging presidential campaign. In the meantime, Jimmy Flannigan, a former candidate for City Council in Austin, Texas, snapped it up and launched his own site, claiming Bush 'is trying to steal my slogan!' (Flannigan, in his failed bid for a council seat, ran with a 'Flannigan Can Fix It!' slogan.)... Flannigan told Politico that Bush's failure to secure it was an amateur move." CW: Looks as if the skeleton staff left after Jeb!'s purge is just not into the Internets. CW: Can Jeb! Fix It? Flannigan says the domain name is for sale.

I'm So Tough I Can Shoot Putin Without Even Looking Him in the Eye:

... Ted Gives New Meaning to "Tailgunner." Wes Siler of Gizmodo: "Staunch gun rights advocate Ted Cruz is here seen holding a shotgun" backwards [link fixed], with the muzzle pointed toward the people behind him, while he blathers on about "liberal moderators." "'He's either a poser who doesn't really hunt, or just a blindingly dangerous nincompoop,' concludes Scott [Nathan, a hunter & NRA member]. 'He's got moves like Cheney.'" CW: Hey, maybe Tailgunner Ted will strafe some of the unsuspecting locals with that ass-backward action, but at least he has his cap on frontwards -- unlike a certain Speaker of the House (see yesterday's Portrait of a Washington Homeless Man).

Beyond the Beltway

Lisa Black, et al., of the Chicago Tribune: "Authorities have called a news conference for Wednesday to announce 'significant new information' regarding the shooting death of a Fox Lake police officer, and multiple law enforcement sources with knowledge of the investigation have told the Tribune that authorities are expected to announce that he took his own life. The sources say that authorities believe Lt. Charles Joseph Gliniewicz, 52, died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound Sept. 1. The new information comes two months after officers found Gliniewicz mortally wounded in a remote, marshy area of the village near the Wisconsin border." ...

... Michael Miller of the Washington Post: Officials will say Gliniewicz died in "an elaborately staged suicide.... The revelation could alter public perception of not only Gliniewicz but also the argument that cops are increasingly under attack in America. The death of the Fox Lake cop ... became a touchstone for law enforcement officials across the country who believe they are under increased threat amid growing scrutiny of police in the wake of a string of high-profile police-involved killings.... According to recently released FBI data, however, assaults on police officers dropped sharply in 2014 and are at their lowest point since 1996. In a case similar to Gliniewicz's disputed death, an Arkansas police officer was arrested Tuesday for allegedly lying about being shot during a traffic stop."

News Ledes

Washington Post: Canada's Liberal party leader Justin "Trudeau was sworn in [as the country's prime minister] on Wednesday. At 43, he becomes the second-youngest prime minister in Canadian history."

Al Jazeera: "Romanian Prime Minister Victor Ponta announced the resignation of his government Wednesday in a surprise move that followed huge protests in the wake of a nightclub fire that killed at least 32 people."

New York Times: "Honda Motor Company on Tuesday dropped the embattled manufacturer Takata as its airbag supplier, concluding that the company, its longtime partner, had 'misrepresented and manipulated test data.'"

New York Times: "China, the world's leading emitter of greenhouse gases from coal, has been burning up to 17 percent more coal a year than the government previously disclosed, according to newly released data. The finding could complicate the already difficult efforts to limit global warming. Even for a country of China's size, the scale of the correction is immense. The sharp upward revision in official figures means that China has released much more carbon dioxide -- almost a billion more tons a year according to initial calculations -- than previously estimated."

The Commentariat -- Nov. 3, 2015

Internal links & defunct video removed.

Afternoon Update:

Nick Gass of Politico: "Despite pouring millions of his vast personal fortune into politics, in an interview with MSNBC's 'Morning Joe' aired Tuesday, megadonor Charles Koch said he and his brother David are 'so far ... largely failures at buying up influence and changing the level of political rhetoric in the United States. 'But I'm kind of like Martin Luther when he was on trial and "He said, here I stand, I can do no other,'" Koch said in a taped conversation in Wichita, Kansas, with co-hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski." ...

     ... CW: Yeah, Martin Luther was a jerk, too, once he acquired some political power.

Ed Kilgore: "The whole debate debate is beginning to look like an effort spearheaded by the one candidate who probably has the most to lose from probing debate question..., Ben Carson. As HuffPost's Sam Stein reports, Team Carson would apparently prefer a 'debate' made up basically of opening and closing statements.... If you do the math with ten candidates, and assuming (as you should not) no 'leakage' via candidates exceeding their time [of 5 minutes each], you're looking at 100 minutes of non-interrupted candidate talking points. If you also, as Carson earlier demanded, a two-hour cap on the whole show, and work in commercials, yeah, there's not any time for 'debating.' This is, of course, a guy who thinks any criticism of his wacky world-view is an effort to repress him and take away his liberties...." ...

... Kevin Drum: "The whole Republican bedwetting exercise over their allegedly heinous treatment at the hands of CNBC is certainly entertaining for those of us who aren't Republicans. But Republicans themselves are now making it even more Survivor-like by splitting into two competing tribes...."

Mitch Smith & Monica Davey of the New York Times: "Federal education authorities, staking out their firmest position yet on an increasingly contentious issue, found Monday that an Illinois school district violated anti-discrimination laws when it did not allow a transgender student who identifies as a girl and participates on a girls' sports team to change and shower in the girls’ locker room without restrictions." (Missed this this morning.) ...

... MEANWHILE, in Houston, Texas, bathrooms are on the ballot today. Mark Warren of Esquire reports.

*****

President Obama signed the Budget Act of 2015 yesterday:

... Loophole Lopped. Jonelle Marte of the Washington Post: "... the budget deal that President Obama signed into law Monday gets rid of one of the key strategies that has increased lifetime Social Security benefits by up to roughly $60,000 for some high-earning couples." ...

... Kelsey Snell of the Washington Post: "The budget victory party is already over for Democrats in Congress and the focus now is on preventing a government shutdown in December. Democratic leaders are anticipating a weeks-long fight with Republicans who could attach controversial provisions, like defunding Planned Parenthood, to the spending legislation that is necessary to prevent a government shutdown later this year. Their plan is to stay unified and refuse to vote on bills that they don't like.... In the coming weeks the Appropriations Committees will begin crafting an omnibus spending bill that must be signed into law by Dec. 11 to keep the government open, and Republicans have a long list of policy proposals they would like to tuck into the legislation."

... Amber Phillips of the Washington Post: "... there is no shortage of political drama facing voters going to the polls in states from California to Pennsylvania. There are gubernatorial, state legislative and mayoral races whose outcomes are anyone's guess and ballot initiatives that could change the way we think about social movements like marijuana legalization and LGBT equality." Key race: Kentucky's close gubernatorial contest where Democrat Jack Conway holds a slight edge in the polls over Tea Party fave Matt Bevin who "is cruising around Kentucky in a gold Cadillac Escalade with a Donald Trump-like message that he's the man for the job because he can't be bought." Hanging in the balance: health insurance for thousands of Kentuckians. ...

... CW: If you live in a state or community that is holding elections today, get thee to the polls.

Gone, the Beloved Felon. Jake Sherman of Politico: The House has "disappeared" former Speaker Denny Hastert's portrait, which had hung outside the House floor. Somebody replaced it with a portrait of Frederick Gillett, who "was speaker between 1919 and 1925." CW: That was silly. If Republicans were going to stuff Speaker Hastert back in the closet, so to speak, they should have replaced his portrait with this one:

Speaker of the House Paul Ryan. 2015 --

... CW: Now that's what I call classy.

Adam Liptak of the New York Times: During oral arguments before the Supreme Court Monday in a case on race discrimination in jury selection, the justices seemed to agree "that prosecutors in Georgia had crossed a constitutional line in 1987 in their efforts to exclude all blacks from a jury that would hear a capital case against a black man, Timothy T. Foster, who was accused of killing a white woman, Queen Madge White. Prosecutors used peremptory challenges -- ones that do not require giving a reason -- to exclude every potential black juror." ...

... Dahlia Lithwick of Slate: "Racism highlighted in a green marker." And one of these justices is not like the other ones: Justice Sotomayor gets personal about her wayward cousins.

Adam Liptak: "A case about false information on the Internet gave rise to a vivid and occasionally personal argument on Monday at the Supreme Court. The question in the case was whether companies that say false but seemingly benign things about consumers may be sued under the Fair Credit Reporting Act. Justice Sonia Sotomayor said that many sorts of apparently harmless misinformation could cause damage."

Christianist Law. Michael Corkery & Jessica Silver-Greenberg of the New York Times continue their investigation of arbitration: "For generations, religious tribunals have been used in the United States to settle family disputes and spiritual debates. But through arbitration, religion is being used to sort out secular problems like claims of financial fraud and wrongful death. An investigation by The New York Times found that ... Americans are being forced out of court and into arbitration for everything from botched home renovations to medical malpractice. By adding a religious component, companies are taking the privatization of justice a step further.... Some religious organizations stand by the process until they lose, at which point they turn to the secular courts to overturn faith-based judgments, according to interviews and court records."

Sam Thielman of the Guardian: "The world's top tech companies are failing when it comes to privacy and freedom of expression, according to the most comprehensive assessment to date of their user agreement policies.... All of the firms failed to offer their users basic disclosures about privacy and censorship, according to the survey, which was conducted by the New America Foundation thinktank. One didn't even provide user agreements in the proper language. 'There are no "winners",' said the group in its executive summary. 'Even companies in the lead are falling short.'"

Lenny Bernstein & Joel Achenbach of the Washington Post: "A large segment of white middle-aged Americans has suffered a startling rise in its death rate since 1999, according to a review of statistics published Monday that shows a sharp reversal in decades of progress toward longer lives. The mortality rate for white men and women ages 45-54 with less than a college education increased markedly between 1999 and 2013, most likely because of problems with legal and illegal drugs, alcohol and suicide, the researchers concluded. Before then, death rates for that group dropped steadily, and at a faster pace." ...

... Ian Sample of the Guardian: "A sharp rise in death rates among white middle-aged Americans has claimed nearly as many lives in the past 15 years as the spread of Aids in the US, researchers have said. The alarming trend, overlooked until now, has hit less-educated 45- to 54-year-olds the hardest, with no other groups in the US as affected and no similar declines seen in other rich countries."

Bruce Wallace of Reuters: "The company battling to build the Keystone XL pipeline made a plea for a ceasefire on Monday, asking the Obama administration to suspend its review of the controversial infrastructure project that would bring heavy oil from Alberta to U.S. refineries. If granted by the U.S. State Department, the delay would almost certainly hand the decision for the $8 billion project to a future president rather than Barack Obama, a Democrat."

Annie Lowrey of New York: In a "fantastically sexist" Huffington Post opinion piece, "Ralph Nader mansplains monetary policy to Fed chair Janet Yellen." He tells the little lady that since she obviously can't comprehend the effects of low interest rates, she should ask her husband to explain it all to her. Also, "If you need further nudging on monetary and regulatory policies of the Fed..., why not invite Berkeley Professor Robert Reich, one of your long-time friends and admirers, to lunch on your next trip home?" to help out. (Never mind that both hubby George Akerlof & Reich would agree with the Fed's current policy.) CW: Not sure why Nader doesn't suggest Yellen put on a pretty apron & make a tuna salad for Reich, tho I suppose that's implicit. P.S. If you voted for Nader in 2000, therein is what you voted for.

Simon Bowers of the Guardian: "The US has overtaken Singapore, Luxembourg and the Cayman Islands as an attractive haven for super-rich individuals and businesses looking to shelter assets behind a veil of secrecy, according to a study by the Tax Justice Network (TJN). The US is ranked third, behind Switzerland and Hong Kong, in the financial secrecy index, produced every two years by TJN. But the study noted that if Britain and its affiliated tax havens such as Jersey were treated as one unit it would top the list.... The US states of Delaware, Wyoming and Nevada have for decades been operating as onshore secrecy havens, specialising in setting up shell companies catering to overseas individuals and companies seeking to hide assets.... So far the US appears not to be cooperating with the creation of a common standard for information sharing between countries, as drawn up by the OECD."

David Morgan of Reuters: "Internet giant Alphabet Inc, the new holding company for Google, expects to begin delivering packages to consumers via drones sometime in 2017, the executive in charge of Google's drone effort said on Monday."

Jad Mouawad of the New York Times: "The Environmental Protection Agency said on Monday that it had discovered cheating software on more Volkswagen and Audi cars than previously disclosed and, for the first time, also found the illegal software in some of the carmaker's high-end Porsche models."

Ben Hubbard of the New York Times: "Weeks after the Obama administration canceled a failed Pentagon program to train and arm Syrian rebels to combat the Islamic State, American officials announced a new effort to equip ground forces in Syria to fight the jihadists. But 10 days of interviews and front-line visits across northern Syria with many of the forces in the alliance, called the Syrian Democratic Forces, made clear that so far it exists in name only, and that the political and logistical challenges it faces are daunting."

'Mr. Butterfield,' Fred Thompson asked, 'are you aware of the installation of any listening devices in the Oval Office of the president?'

'I was aware of listening devices," Butterfield said, 'yes, sir.'

That question led to Nixon's unraveling and ultimately his resignation, as various crimes and cover-ups were captured on those tapes -- tapes the U.S. Supreme Court ultimately ruled the White House had to turn over to Congress.

"The Fred Thompson Watergate Myth." Jake Tapper (August 2007), on the murky facts behind Fred Thompson's youthful star turn on the Watergate committee. Via Charles Pierce.

Presidential Race

Nick Corasaniti of the New York Times: "Lawrence Lessig, the Harvard professor who began a late campaign for president, announced that he was ending his bid for the Democratic nomination, citing his exclusion from the debate stage."

, Ctd. Alex Isenstadt, et al., of Politico: "A day after roughly a dozen Republican presidential campaigns came together in a show of force Sunday night to protest the debate process, their fragile consensus collapsed on Monday, with a number of candidates refusing to sign on to a group letter intended to compel TV networks to bow to their demands. The defections threw the talks into disarray, and by late Monday some senior advisers to GOP candidates were beginning to doubt whether their pact would hold up at all. Just 24 hours after the Republican campaigns declared they were seizing debate negotiating power from the Republican National Committee -- and empower themselves to deal with networks -- the advisers said they were beginning to consider handing it back." CW: So. Not tough enough, after all, to stand up to -- Reince Priebus? ...

... Ashley Parker of the New York Times: "On Monday morning, the Republican presidential campaigns circulated a detailed letter they plan to send to the television networks, outlining their demands and questions before agreeing to any future debates -- everything from the temperature in the debate hall ('below 67 degrees') to no 'lightning round.' And on Monday afternoon, Corey Lewandowski, the campaign manager for Donald J. Trump ... said the Trump campaign planned to negotiate directly with the networks." ...

... Robert Costa, et al., of the Washington Post: "The move by Trump, coming just hours after his and other campaigns huddled in a Washington suburb to craft a three-page letter of possible demands, thwarts an effort to find consensus.... Politically, Trump's go-it-alone strategy continues his pattern of casting himself as a master negotiator and the one contender who can take charge of a party that has lost its way.... After Trump's decision, the campaigns of Gov. John Kasich (R-Ohio) and Gov. Chris Christie (R-N.J) confirmed that they would not sign on to the group effort. 'Stop complaining,' Christie said in a 'Fox & Friends' interview Monday morning. 'Set up a stage, put podiums up there, and let's just go.'" ...

... Hadas Gold of Politico: "'As we have for the previous three debates, the Trump Campaign will continue to negotiate directly with the host network to establish debate criteria that will determine Mr. Trump's participation. This is no different than the process that occurred prior to the Fox, CNN, and CNBC debates,' [a] spokesperson [for Donald Trump's campaign] said in a statement." ...

David Nakamura of the Washington Post: "President Obama on Monday gleefully mocked the Republican presidential candidates [link fixed] who have called him weak on the world stage."

Kendall Breitman of Bloomberg: "Discussing the proposed changes to the party's presidential debates in a Monday interview with Bloomberg Politics..., Trump found a way to get in a dig at [Marco Rubio]..., saying he hoped the debate venues would be better air conditioned in the future. '[Rubio] is the one that sweats the most,' Trump said.... 'He's the youngest but I have never seen any human being sweat like that.'" With video, which is hilarious. ...

... Nick Gass of Politico: "Debbie Wasserman Schultz is a 'crazy,' 'highly neurotic woman' but the Democratic National Committee chairwoman 'negotiated a great deal' for Democratic debates, Donald Trump said Monday." ...

... Steve M. can't figure out what the new debate demands have to do with eliminating "liberal media bias": "So seated debate questioners are liberal, while True Patriot questioners are forced to stand? Or is it the other way around? Podiums are socialist, while constitutional conservatives insist on tables? Or vice versa?" And so forth. It is a puzzlement. ...

... Catherine Rampell of the Washington Post: "... while it's easy to mock some of these demands as petty and prima-donnish, many of them suggest a more insidious strategy: a concerted effort to extricate as much independent journalistic influence from the democratic process as possible and essentially turn the Fourth Estate into a bunch of stenographers.... Asked ... if candidates should be challenged by a free press, [Ben] Carson acknowledged, 'There's a place and time for that,' and indicated the debates were neither the place nor the time. Carson's camp has likewise proposed taking the debates out of the hands of journalistic organizations altogether and just streaming them over YouTube or Facebook. [If the candidates yet their way, they] won't have the media to kick around anymore. That's riskier than they may realize." ...

... Ryan Lizza of the New Yorker: "... the R.N.C. rejected the option of running these debates on its own. It is the media that is paying for the events, and it is over the media's airwaves that the events are broadcast.... What the candidates shouldn't be allowed to do is tell reporters what questions to ask or what graphics to show on the screen, or have any role whatsoever in the editorial judgments of a news organization. To paraphrase Ronald Reagan's famous quip, if the G.O.P. wants that much control, then it needs to pay for the microphone." ...

... Dana Milbank offers to serve as the debate moderator of Republican candidates' dreams. ...

... Bill Curry, in Salon on what's wrong with presidential "debates," in general. Specifically, he cites last week's "debate": "The candidates behaved like a high school class with a new substitute teacher -- shouting over one another, speaking without being called on. They'd beg for extra time to finish a point; a panelist would refuse, then cave, then sit mute as they took off on some other topic. The chaos reflected the panel's dearth of preparation and experience.... All night long: A candidate would lie; a moderator would thank him for it. Lack of preparation was part of the problem but not the only part. The larger culprit is the worldview of the network's top employees... If 'pay to play' politics and global finance capitalism are our real problem, you won't find out from a question posed by a network television employee. Few ever question the soundness of the economic system...."

Miles Johnson of Mother Jones: "On Monday morning, [Jeb] Bush delivered what was widely described as a 'reset' speech -- 'Our story is about action, doing, not just talking' he said -- and he debuted the new 'Jeb Can Fix It' motto. By Monday afternoon, #JebCanFixIt had gone viral, becoming a trending hashtag on Twitter. But not necessarily in the way the campaign wanted." ...

Memeographs ‏@memeographs BREAKING! @JebBush quits #GOP race, signs deal with @hgtv for new reality show: #JebCanFixIt!

... Greg Proops ✔ @GregProops  As a former voice of Bob the Builder I say. Can Jeb fix it? Well, he fixed the 2000 election. #JebCanFixIt http://bit.ly/1P6r4ZT ...

... digby takes a look at the New Jeb!'s big speech & asks, "Do they ever stop whining?" ...

... Martin Longman of the Washington Monthly: "... Jeb Bush this morning complain[ed] about the tone of the campaign right after he told everyone that the international effort to block Iran's nuclear ambitions will do absolutely nothing ... and that it has for the first time created a situation in which the United States is responsible for creating Israel's greatest existential crisis. Here Jeb is utilizing the same fear-mongering tactics that have wrecked the collective brain of the right and sunk his campaign. And he's endeavoring to use them to build enough 'credentials' with the deluded.... If you want to get beyond name-calling and bogus talking points and have a substantive discussion, you can't continue to try to prove your conservative bona fides by amplifying their stupid fear-mongering about Iran.... Whether you're in on the game or not, you've become a victim of epistemic closure. If you want to break out of that bubble, you have to stand with both feet outside it." ...

This Month, GOP Voters Embrace the Crazy. Mark Murray of NBC News: "Ben Carson has surged into the lead of the Republican presidential race, getting support from 29 percent of GOP primary voters, according to a brand-new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll. That's the highest percentage any GOP candidate has obtained so far in the survey." ...

Jonathan Swan of the Hill: "Sen. Marco Rubio's star turn in last Wednesday's GOP presidential debate is already paying off, with a new poll showing his numbers rocketing upward in New Hampshire. The Florida senator surged to third place, behind real estate mogul Donald Trump and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, in the Monmouth University poll of the state's likely Republican primary voters. While Rubio trails Trump by 13 points, he is within 3 percentage points of Carson."

News Ledes

Unleash the Chaing! AP: "Chinese President Xi Jinping will meet this weekend with his Taiwanese counterpart Ma Ying-jeou in a historic first culminating nearly eight years of quickly improved relations between the two sides, their governments said Wednesday.... Presidents of the two sides have not met since Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalists lost the Chinese civil war to Mao Zedong's Communists and the Nationalists rebased in Taiwan 160 kilometers (100 miles) away in 1949."

Washington Post: "Scraps of suggestive but inconclusive evidence surfaced Tuesday in the fourth day of a tense investigation into the Russian plane that flew apart over Egypt's troubled Sinai Peninsula on Saturday, killing all 224 aboard and scattering debris over seven square miles of desert."

New York Times: "Ahmad Chalabi, the Iraqi politician who from exile helped persuade the United States to invade Iraq in 2003, and then unsuccessfully tried to attain power as his country was nearly torn apart by sectarian violence, died at his home in Baghdad on Tuesday. He was 71."

The Commentariat -- Nov. 2, 2015

Internal links removed.

Liam Stack of the New York Times: "Fred D. Thompson, a former United States senator, actor and presidential candidate, died in Nashville, on Sunday, his family said in a statement. He was 73."

Peter Baker of the New York Times: "President Obama plans to announce a series of small initiatives on Monday intended to make it easier for former prisoners to find jobs and live in subsidized housing, part of his broader drive to remake the criminal justice system.In a trip to Newark, Mr. Obama will visit a residential drug-treatment center, Integrity House, to highlight efforts to ease the re-entry of offenders leaving prison."

Washington Homeless Man Discovered to Be Third in Line for Presidency. Scott Wong of the Hill: Even as Speaker of the House, Paul Ryan will continue to spend his nights sleeping on a cot in his old office. ...

... Paul Ryan, Media Rock Star. Jake Sherman of Politico: "Speaker Paul Ryan has hired eight communications staffers as he builds what he promises will be a large-scale press shop to lead the GOP messaging operation. Ryan (R-Wis.) has said he'll spend a lot of time on television communicating the party's message. He plans to hire upward of a dozen communications hands.... In what was, perhaps, a sign of things to come, Ryan went on all five Sunday morning news shows, just days after capturing the speakership."

Carl Hulse of the New York Times: "The big action in the House [this week] will be the consideration of a six-year, $325 billion highway and infrastructure measure as lawmakers look for a long-term resolution to a problem that has tied them in knots for years. The existing highway program last week was granted its 35th temporary extension since 2009 -- until Nov. 20.... But a few potholes are ahead. Neither the House nor a Senate bill approved in July have funding for the full program, so negotiators will have to smooth out that little wrinkle. And the final bill could be the vehicle to renew the Export-Import Bank, which many House conservatives oppose. So Ryan could face early tests on a measure that everyone agrees is long overdue."

Jessica Silver-Greenberg & Michael Corkery of the New York Times: "Over the last 10 years, thousands of businesses across the country -- from big corporations to storefront shops -- have used arbitration to create an alternate system of justice. There, rules tend to favor businesses, and judges and juries have been replaced by arbitrators who commonly consider the companies their clients, The Times found. The change has been swift and virtually unnoticed, even though it has meant that tens of millions of Americans have lost a fundamental right: their day in court.... All it took was adding simple arbitration clauses to contracts that most employees and consumers do not even read. Yet at stake are claims of medical malpractice, sexual harassment, hate crimes, discrimination, theft, fraud, elder abuse and wrongful death...."

Michelle Obama, in the Atlantic: "... we cannot address our girls' education crisis until we address the broader cultural beliefs and practices that can help cause and perpetuate this crisis. And that is precisely the message I intend to deliver this week when I travel to the Middle East."

Laurie Goodstein of the New York Times: "The F.B.I. is about to introduce an interactive program it developed for teachers and students, aimed at training them to prevent young people from being drawn into violent extremism. But Muslim, Arab and other religious and civil rights leaders who were invited to preview the program have raised strong objections, saying it focuses almost entirely on Islamic extremism, which they say has not been a factor in the epidemic of school shootings and attacks in the United States."

Carol Morello of the Washington Post: "Secretary of State John F. Kerry sat down Sunday with the leader of Uzbekistan, an authoritarian nation that routinely persecutes government critics, and discussed the potential for cooperation on trade, security and the environment if it improves its human rights record.... When a Washington Post reporter [Morello] called out a question about human rights at the conclusion of Kerry's meeting with Karimov, an Uzbek official and an American wearing a 'diplomatic security' pin each took her by an arm and firmly guided her from the room." Video of Morello's removal is here.

Presidential Race

** Jonathan Chait: Bernie "Sanders's campaign has made socialism relevant to the national political debate for the first time since Eugene V. Debs garnered 6 percent of the vote in 1912. It is looking increasingly likely that the 2016 election will mark a historical turning point in the relationship of socialism to mainstream politics in the United States.... That socialism is no longer a dirty word has freaked out conservatives.

     ... American Bridge, the superPAC which produced this spot, is allied with Clinton.

Factual Bias -- Paul Krugman Answers Carly Fiorina: "Last year the economists Alan Blinder and Mark Watson circulated a paper comparing economic performance under Democratic and Republican presidents since 1947. Under Democrats, the economy grew, on average, 4.35 percent per year; under Republicans, only 2.54 percent. Over the whole period, the economy was in recession for 49 quarters; Democrats held the White House during only eight of those quarters.... Yes, the recovery from the Great Recession of 2007-2009 has been sluggish. Even so, the Obama record compares favorably on a number of indicators with that of George W. Bush. In particular, despite all the talk about job-killing policies, private-sector employment is eight million higher than it was when Barack Obama took office, twice the job gains achieved under his predecessor before the recession struck."

Adios, GOP. Greg Sargent: "Republicans are pulling out of their only scheduled debate that would be aired on a Spanish-language TV network. So Democrats may respond by holding a second gathering aired on one." ....

... Robert Costa & Dave Weigel of the Washington Post: "Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus decided late Sunday to shake up his senior staff in response to campaigns' complaints about the party's management of primary debates." ...

     ... Update: Dave Weigel publishes a copy of the draft letter attorney Ben Ginsburg brought to the meeting. "The campaigns agreed that more needed to be done. Ginsberg agreed, and the campaigns left the Hilton Alexandria Old Town expecting to see a new list of demands, incorporating their ideas, in the next few days." Almost as funny as the "ransom note" Oliver Willis found (see below). ...

... Katherine Faulders, et al., of ABC News: "Representatives for many of the Republican presidential candidates have gathered tonight near Washington, DC to work on reshaping their party's primary debates. The meeting comes in the wake of last week's widely-criticized debate, hosted by CNBC, which drew sharp rebukes from the Republican National Committee as well as many of the candidates. The campaign of former neurosurgeon Ben Carson organized Sunday night's summit. Carson came out swinging following the debate in Colorado, saying it 'so clearly demonstrated a need for change in format,' and criticizing what he called the "gotcha questions" posed by the moderators." With video. ...

... Update. Ashley Parker of the New York Times: The campaigns' representatives "emerged with a modest list of demands, including opening and closing statements of at least 30 seconds; 'parity and integrity' on questions, meaning that all candidates would receive similarly substantive questions; no so-called lightning rounds; and approval of any graphics that are aired during the debate. The campaign representatives also moved to take the Republican National Committee out of the debate negotiating process.... The TV networks have indicated no willingness to relinquish editorial control." ...

     ... Politico's story, by Alex Isenstadt, is here. ...

     ... Dave Weigel & Robert Costa: During the meeting, "Bush campaign manager Danny Diaz recommended that Telemundo be reinstated after being dropped along with NBC. But the campaign of businessman Donald Trump, represented by manager Corey Lewandowski, threatened to boycott a debate if the Spanish-language network that Trump has clashed with was granted one." ...

Oliver Willis ‏@owillis

hey everyone i just found the #GOPDebate ransom note #GOPdebatedemands

... David Ferguson of the Raw Story found a few more demands, culled from Twitter. CW: Just shows how clueless the GOP candidates are. Isn't it obvious that their whines & demands necessitated ridicule? ...

I think we should have moderators who are interested in disseminating the information about the candidates, as opposed to, you know, 'gotcha' 'you did this' and 'defend yourself on that.' You know, what is very important right now, we have so many incredible problems that are facing us as a nation, you know.... -- Ben Carson, on ABC's "This Week"

... John Amato of Crooks & Liars: "Ben Carson appeared on ABC's This Week and explained the problems he has with the debate format as it is. He's not a man who has ever been involved in politics so he finds them distasteful in many ways including being asked questions about past behavior.... In Carson's world, the candidates should gather round, eat cheese and crackers, talk a little policy with Sean Hannity, let the voters get to know them. Explain their thoughts without having to bother about facts and other nonsensical things." ...

     ... CW: Well, I agree with Ole Doc there. CNBC treated these candidates like criminals, making them stand for hours, interrogating them about past crimes & misdemeanors, cutting off their long-winded responses, berating them for not answering the questions -- AND providing no sustenance except water. Where were the cheese & crackers? Wine? ...

... digby is catching up with Reality Chex contributors: "Basically [Ben Carson] thinks 'debates' should be infomercials where a 'host' acts as if he or she is "interviewing" the salesman and the 'audience' pretends to be thrilled and claps wildly at every applause line.... I think Carson may be a person who suffers from psychological disorder called extreme gullibility. It seems to me that he simply believes everything he reads and sees. And since he's also in the wingnut bubble he reads and sees a whole lot of crazy rubbish.... Also too, very creepy. His preternatural calm is started to really freak me out." ...

... ** David Atkins in the Washington Monthly: "It should astonish even the jaded that Republicans are calling CNBC, that stodgy home of supply-side Wall Street cheerleading, an agent of the left. Still apoplectic at being asked some basic questions at the debate, Republican candidates are doubling down on their freakout.... Donald Trump, who openly lied during the debate about what is on his own website, called debate moderator John Harwood a 'dope' and a 'fool.' All of this after Republican candidates spewed forth one of the most embarrassing explosion of lies ever witnessed during a television presidential debate. The press is facing an existential threat. With Republicans increasingly unashamed to tell grandiose lies and respond to any press criticism with derogatory insults and whines about media bias as well as blackmail threats to cancel appearances if the questions are too tough, the press must decide how to respond on two fronts. First, it must decide how to present an objective face while acknowledging that both sides do not, in fact, behave equally badly. Second, it must determine whether it will continue to ask the tough questions that need answers regardless of the threats made by the GOP, or whether it will meekly submit to the demands for kid-glove treatment.... Tthe GOP has far more to fear from the press than the other way around."

... Steve M.: "I think we're supposed to believe that the various Republican presidential candidates will be tough enough to defend America against its enemies because they're tough enough to wage war on ... John Harwood. ...

... Charles Blow: "Marco Rubio is thought to have won the last debate, not so much because he brilliantly articulated reasonable, or intellectually invigorating policy -- 'I'm against anything that's bad for my mother' is a kindergarten truism, not a nuanced policy position -- but because he remained relatively even and unperturbed. And yet, it's [Ben] Carson who is now the front-runner, one of the candidates who spoke the least during the last debate and who seemed to want to say nothing at all. And that candidate is the one worrying about the precious few questions he will have to answer."

David Graham of the Atlantic: Marco Rubio's personal financial problems don't matter much. "The president's job isn't to be accountant-in-chief, and the most business-astute presidents have tended to be mediocre at best in the White House, while failed haberdasher Harry Truman is well regarded. That means questions about Rubio's finances are perhaps most useful as a litmus test about his probity. Since voters seem to generally find Rubio trustworthy, that's a battle he’s in a good position to win in the absence of clear evidence of wrongdoing."

Jeb! Has No Idea What His Campaign Is Doing. Michelle Lee of the Washington Post: "... Jeb Bush said he did not see a 112-page internal memo by his campaign that included a presentation to donors on why Sen. Marco Rubio was a 'risky bet' before the document became public.... 'I didn't see it," Bush answered. 'It's your campaign.... You don't know this memo? You don't know this PowerPoint?' Todd asked about the memo, obtained by the U.S. News and World Report. 'I read about it when it was leaked, for sure. I didn't know about the PowerPoint....'" CW: Yo, Jeb!, in these situations, you're supposed to blame an intern. ...

Jeb! Has Okay Healthcare Plan -- for the Rich. Washington Post Editors: Jeb!'s plan, centered on "health spending accounts," "would help high-income people avoid taxes, but they wouldn't much help people lacking spare wages to deposit into them. Bush would drag the country through another massive policy transition in order to reduce the value of health coverage now available to vulnerable people. He would enact a plan premised on the hope that the states will solve all of the hardest problems. If this is the alternative, better to keep Obamacare and move on."

Jordan Phelps of ABC News: "... Carly Fiorina acknowledged that she was incorrect during last week's primary debate when she claimed '92 percent of the jobs lost during [President] Barack Obama's first term belonged to women.' After the debate, fact checkers pointed out Fiorina had recycled the statistic from former Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, who first made the claim in the 2012 election. It rated 'Mostly False' by Politifact four years ago.... Until now, Fiorina has defended her use of the "92 percent" figure as accurate. 'The fact-checkers are correct,' she said. 'The 92 percent -- it turns out -- was the first three and a half years of [President] Barack Obama's term and in the final six months of his term things improved,' she said Sunday. Fiorina then criticized the 'liberal media' for picking apart the statistic rather than her broader argument, which was that liberal polices are bad for women economically." ...

... digby: "But she also kept on with the misleading nonsense anyway.... Here's the Fact Check which explains that the men had already lost their jobs under George W. Bush's Great Recession when Obama took office.... '... First, Obama cannot be held entirely accountable for the employment picture on the day he took office.... Second, by choosing figures from January 2009, months into the recession, the statement ignored the millions of jobs lost before then, when most of the job loss fell on men. In every recession, men are the first to take the hit, followed by women." ...

It is factually true that the number of women living in extreme poverty is at the highest rate in recorded history. It is factually true that 16.1 percent of women live below the poverty line, the highest level in 20 years. It is factually true that 3 million women have fallen into poverty. -- Carly Fiorina, on ABC's "This Week," Sunday

... Kevin Drum: Fiorina only looked at the women's poverty rate for the past 20 years. Why? Because the highest levels ever were in 1982, under Ronald Reagan, and 1992, under George H.W. Bush. It's true that the absolute number of women in poverty is at its highest level ever. Needless to say, this is only because the population is bigger than it was under Reagan and Bush. The current rate of women in poverty is indeed 16.1 percent according to the Census Bureau. Does this mean that liberal policies are bad for women? Well, that number went up 3 percent during George W. Bush's term and has (so far) gone down 0.2 percent during Barack Obama's term. I report, you decide. Since Fiorina is now dedicated to getting her facts straight, I figured she'd appreciate this clarification. You're welcome, Carly."

Rick Hertzberg of the New Yorker: In last week's debate, Ted Cruz accused Bernie Sanders (one infers) of being a Bolshevik. "Well, let's see. The Bolshevik faction was prepared to split the party of which they were members. Bolsheviks scorned Mensheviks as socialists in name only, and they utterly despised the Kadets. The Bolshevik deputies in the State Duma were strangers to any notion of reaching across the aisle. The Bolsheviks were extremists. When they couldn't get their way, they shut down the government. They had no problem with repudiating the public debt. They stockpiled guns. They were ideologically rigid fanatics who regarded those who disagreed with them, however slightly, as enemies. Their leader, educated at the finest schools, was known for his cold intelligence, his contempt for compromise, his fondness for tea, his eloquence and debating skills, and his steely determination to achieve power by unconventional, even disruptive, means. Step forward, People's Commissar Cruz!"

Beyond the Beltway

How Stupid Are Your State's Legislators? New York Times Editors: "The Florida Legislature, never one to leave bad enough alone when it comes to gun safety, is returning to the state's notorious Stand Your Ground law to make it even easier for defendants to use it as a shield for intimidating and shooting people. Senate committees approved legislation this month that would relieve defendants of the need to prove that they were in fear for their lives. Instead, prosecutors would be required to disprove the self-defense claim in a pretrial evidentiary hearing.... In aiming to compound the deadliness of the current law, Florida can only worsen its reputation as the Gunshine State. The issue before the Legislature should be full repeal of the law, not another gift to the gun zealots." CW: I wrote to my state senator. She's a Republican & doesn't look too bright. Apologies for the tautology.

WXII TV: "A Winston-Salem State University student was killed and another student was injured in an on-campus shooting early Sunday morning. Anthony White Jr., 19, of Charlotte, died at the scene of the shooting reported around 1:20 a.m.... The injured student was found nearby with non life-threatening injuries and treated and released from a hospital." CW: Maybe the killer was standing his ground.

News Ledes

New York Times: "Two Syrian activists who used video and social media to expose human rights abuses committed by the Islamic State were tracked down by jihadists and killed in their home in a southern Turkish city, according to their colleagues. The Islamic State ... released a graphic video claiming responsibility for their deaths on Sunday."

Guardian: "A new cancer treatment strategy is on the horizon that experts say could be a game-changer and spare patients the extreme side effects of existing options such as chemotherapy.... Last week the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the first time approved a single treatment that can intelligently target cancer cells while leaving healthy ones alone, and simultaneously stimulate the immune system to fight the cancer itself."

New York Times: "The Vatican announced on Monday that two members of a commission set up by Pope Francis to study financial operations at the Holy See had been arrested on suspicion of leaking confidential documents to journalists."

Reuters: "The Russian airliner that crashed in Egypt on Saturday was not struck from the outside and the pilot did not make a distress call before it disappeared from radar, a source in the committee analyzing the black box recorders said." ...

... AP: "Only an external impact could have caused a Russian plane to dive into the Egyptian desert, killing all 224 people on board, the airline said Monday, adding to a series of incomplete and confusing statements from investigators that left unclear why the plane broke up in mid-flight."

Reuters: "Iran has begun decommissioning uranium enrichment centrifuges under the terms of the nuclear deal struck with six world powers in July, Tehran's nuclear chief was quoted as saying on Monday during a visit to Tokyo. 'We have started the preliminary work' on implementing the agreement, Iran's Atomic Energy Organization chief Ali Akbar Salehi was quoted as saying by Japan's Kyodo news agency...."

Washington Post: "The leaders of South Korea and Japan held their first formal summit in three and a half years Monday, a meeting that was almost entirely devoid of substance, but will nevertheless come as a relief to Washington, which has despaired about tensions between its two key Asian allies."

AP: "Iraqi lawmakers have voted to limit the powers of the country's prime minister in enacting reforms, forcing him to seek parliament's approval before going ahead and implementing new measures."