The Commentariat -- October 11, 2015

Internal links removed.

Afternoon Update:

Mike Lillis of the Hill: "The United States will 'make condolence payments' to the families of those killed last week in an errant strike on a trauma hospital in Afghanistan, the Pentagon announced Saturday. A Defense Department spokesman said it's 'important to address the consequences of the tragic incident' which killed 22 people at the facility in Kunduz, which was run by the international aid group Doctors Without Borders."

Jake Tapper's interview of Bradley Podliska, the Behghaazi! investigator whom the committee fired, is here. (See link to related NYT story below.) ...

... Carol Leonnig of the Washington Post: Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.), "the chairman of the House committee on Benghazi, struck back Sunday morning at a fired staffer who is accusing the panel of engaging in a partisan probe to tarnish Hillary Rodham Clinton, with the lawmaker saying that the claims appear newly manufactured and that the staffer himself appeared obsessed with the presidential candidate.

David Hoffman of the Washington Post: "President Richard Nixon believed that years of aerial bombing in Southeast Asia to pressure North Vietnam achieved 'zilch' even as he publicly declared it was effective and ordered more bombing while running for reelection in 1972, according to a handwritten note from Nixon disclosed in a new book by Bob Woodward.... Nixon's private assessment was correct, Woodward writes: The bombing was not working, but Nixon defended and intensified it in order to advance his reelection prospects. The claim that the bombing was militarily effective 'was a lie, and here Nixon made clear that he knew it,' Woodward writes."

Erica Hellerstein of Think Progress: "An attorney for [Tamir] Rice's family called the reports [which called the killing of Rice "reasonable"] a 'charade' and blasted the prosecutor's office for 'releasing supposed "expert reports" in an effort to absolve the officers involved in Tamir's death of responsibility.'z' See related NYT report linked below under Beyond the Beltway.

Still Crazy. Patrick Temple-West of Politico: "...Ben Carson said on Sunday he wasn't exaggerating when he suggested limiting access to guns in the U.S. could hinder Americans' ability to topple a government authority like the Nazis.... Appearing Sunday on CBS's 'Face the Nation,' Carson said the history of the Nazis' rise to power could repeat in the U.S. if access to guns were to be limited." ...

The Gun Lobby's interpretation of the Second Amendment is one of the greatest pieces of fraud, I repeat the word fraud, on the American People by special interest groups that I have ever seen in my lifetime. The real purpose of the Second Amendment was to ensure that state armies - the militia - would be maintained for the defense of the state. The very language of the Second Amendment refutes any argument that it was intended to guarantee every citizen an unfettered right to any kind of weapon he or she desires. -- Chief Justice Warren Burger, The Right to Bear Arms, Parade Magazine, January 14, 1990

*****

Nicole Perlroth & David Sanger of the New York Times: "The Obama administration has backed down in its bitter dispute with Silicon Valley over the encryption of data on iPhones and other digital devices, concluding that it is not possible to give American law enforcement and intelligence agencies access to that information without also creating an opening that China, Russia, cybercriminals and terrorists could exploit. With its decision, which angered the F.B.I. and other law enforcement agencies, the administration essentially agreed with Apple, Google, Microsoft and a group of the nation's top cryptographers and computer scientists that millions of Americans would be vulnerable to hacking if technology firms and smartphone manufacturers were required to provide the government with 'back doors,' or access to their source code and encryption keys."

David Nakamura & Hamil Harris of the Washington Post: "Thousands of black men, women and children gathered on the [National] Mall on Saturday to demand justice at a time of growing anger and fraying tensions in African American communities across the nation over the killings of young black men by police. By noon Saturday, the crowds had swelled just beyond the stage at the west front of the Capitol, with onlookers watching on several jumbo screens set up on the lawn. Some people sat on lawn chairs and others on blankets to listen to the speakers, including Louis Farrakhan, the leader of the Nation of Islam, which sponsored the 'Justice or Else' rally."

Noam Scheiber, et al., of the New York Times: "Bradley Podliska, "a former investigator for the Republicans on the House Select Committee on Benghazi, plans to file a complaint in federal court next month alleging that he was fired unlawfully in part because his superiors opposed his efforts to conduct a comprehensive investigation into the 2012 attack on the American diplomatic mission in the Libyan city. Instead, they focused primarily on the role of the State Department and former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, he said.... The committee firmly disputed Major Podliska's allegations, saying Saturday that he had been 'terminated for cause.' In a statement, the committee cited Major Podliska's 'repeated efforts, of his own volition, to develop and direct committee resources to a PowerPoint "hit piece" on members of the Obama administration, including Secretary Clinton, that bore no relationship whatsoever to the committee's current investigative tone, focus or investigative plan.'... Major Podliska, a lifelong Republican, holds a doctorate in political science from Texas A & M University and spent more than 15 years working at a federal defense agency, as an intelligence analyst for much of that time." ...

... Jake Tapper of CNN has interviewed Podliska. The interview is to air during "State of the Union" at 9 am ET.

Paul Krugman: "... the [White House] is telling me that the [TPP] agreement just reached is significantly different from what we were hearing before, and the angry reaction of industry and Republicans seems to confirm that. What I know so far: pharma is mad because the extension of property rights in biologics is much shorter than it wanted, tobacco is mad because it has been carved out of the dispute settlement deal, and Rs in general are mad because the labor protection stuff is stronger than expected. All of these are good things from my point of view."

Andrew O'Hehir of Salon: "The fanatics of the Satanic Suicide Caucus [a/k/a Freeedom Caucus] and their supporters do not want the current Republican leadership to govern anything, or even try to. They have devoured the old Republican Party ... from within, like an alien parasite. When they repeat its catchphrases about fiscal responsibility and social order in their metallic parasite voices, what they really mean is fiscal holocaust, social anarchy and class war against poor women, black people and immigrants. They dream of conquest, but whatever they can't conquer -- starting with their own political party -- they will happily destroy." CW: Excellent personification of the old GOP in O'Hehir's Mrs. Supinger. ...

... Sophia Tesfaye of Salon: "While calls for [Paul] Ryan to jump into the speaker’s race may be mounting, they are hardly deep enough to be emanating from the right-wing base, which seems to be working up its machine to lay claim to its third 'establishment' victim in two weeks."

William Saletan of Slate dissects the latest House Planned Parenthood "show trial." ...

... CW: When I was young, I learned to associate show trials with the most repressive, horrifying dictatorships. They were unconscionable miscarriages of justice that could never happen in the Land of the Free. Ha! I realized later that even then, we had conducted plenty of show trials in the U.S., especially in the South, & honorable Americans were their victims. Today, show trials are a feature of Capitol Hill. Once again, the House conducted such a show trial with the accused in abstentia. (Planned Parenthood was not invited to the hearing.) The most exercised members of these House judges "represent" districts so gerrymandered that they would have to dance with Claire Richards to be removed from office. That is, they're just like members of the Soviet Union's Politburo. "Hitler can happen here," Dr. Ben? Looks like Stalin already is.

Matt Apuzzo, et al., of the New York Times: "Last fall, federal agents raided the home and office of Robin L. Raphel in search of proof that she, a seasoned member of America's diplomatic corps, was spying for Pakistan. But officials now say the spying investigation has all but fizzled, leaving the Justice Department to decide whether to prosecute Ms. Raphel for the far less serious charge of keeping classified information in her home.... If the Justice Department declines to file spying charges, as several officials said they expected, it will be the latest example of American law enforcement agencies bringing an espionage investigation into the public eye, only to see it dissipate under further scrutiny.... Over the years, the stories of American officials mishandling classified information have at times seemed as peculiar as they were serious."

Elias Isquith on how one of Mitt Romney's billionaire backers tried to shut down Mother Jones, & why this tactic against a free press will work more & more effectively in the United States of Plutocrats. If you can't buy 'em, sue 'em. More on the Anthony Kennedy Show linked under Presidential Race.

CW: At the end of yesterday's Comments thread, there's an interesting discussion on gun safety legislation: Haley S. wrote, "I think I know a good way to stand a chance of passing some gun control laws. Pictures. Pictures of dead victims taken at the crime scene. And yes, I mean Sandy Hook. Most certainly Sandy Hook. I think we'd have new gun control laws in a NY minute."

The Washington Post has a long account of the attack on the Kunduz Médecins Sans Frontières hospital, although the U.S. military has refused to release details.

Presidential Race

Nicholas Confessore, et al., of the New York Times: "Just 158 families, along with companies they own or control, contributed $176 million in the first phase of the [presidential] campaign, a New York Times investigation found. Not since before Watergate have so few people and businesses provided so much early money in a campaign, most of it through channels legalized by the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision five years ago.... They are overwhelmingly white, rich, older and male, in a nation that is being remade by the young, by women, and by black and brown voters.... And in an economy that has minted billionaires in a dizzying array of industries, most made their fortunes in just two: finance and energy."

Daniel Strauss of Politico: "Hillary Clinton sat down with Black Lives Matter activists Friday for a policy-centered discussion of criminal justice in the African American community.... The meeting, at the National Council of Negro Women in Washington D.C., comes as Clinton plans to roll out more of her criminal justice reform platform in the next few weeks, according to the Clinton aide with knowledge of what was discussed at the meeting."

Beyond the Beltway

Motor Voter. Alice Ollstein of Think Progress: "On Saturday, California Governor Jerry Brown signed a bill that will allow the state to automatically register millions of residents to vote, using their DMV records. Starting in 2016, every eligible California citizen who goes to a DMV office to get a driver's license or renew one will be instantly registered to vote, unless he or she chooses to opt out." ...

... Patrick McGreevy of the Los Angeles Times: "Brown also signed a bill that permits county elections officials to offer conditional voter registration and provisional voting at satellite offices during the 14 days immediately preceding Election Day.... Another bill signed by the governor will make voting more convenient by allowing voters who use vote-by-mail ballots to drop them off at secure boxes to be located throughout the community before election day." ...

... CW: California voters can also register to vote online. ...

... The U.S. Election Assistance Commission has a helpful Website that tells voters in every state how they can register & when they must do so.

Mitch Smith of the New York Times: "Two outside investigators looking into the death of Tamir Rice have concluded that a Cleveland police officer, Tim Loehmann, acted reasonably in deciding last year to shoot when he confronted the 12-year-old boy carrying what turned out to be a replica gun. Those opinions, reached separately by a Colorado prosecutor and a former F.B.I. supervisory special agent, were released Saturday night by the Cuyahoga County prosecutor, Timothy J. McGinty, whose office will ultimately present evidence in the case to a grand jury to decide on possible criminal charges."

News Ledes

Reuters: "Eight senior figures from Islamic State were killed in an air strike while meeting in a town in western Iraq, but the group's reclusive leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi did not appear to be among them, residents of the town and hospital sources said. Iraq said on Sunday its air force had hit the meeting and had also struck a convoy that was carrying Baghdadi to attend it. It said Baghdadi had been driven away from the convoy in an unknown condition.... The United States military declined to comment on the Iraqi military's report."

Washington Post: "Iranian judiciary spokesman said a verdict has been reached in the espionage case of Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian, but he gave no details on the judge's decision or a potential sentence."

CNN: "The U.S. military officer in charge of last month's hearing for Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl has recommended he not do any jail time, Bergdahl's legal team says. In a memorandum dated Friday, the legal team said it agreed with Lt. Col. Mark Visger's conclusion that their client face 'nonjudicial punishment.' The recommendation, which hasn't been announced publicly by the U.S. military, is a significant development for Bergdahl, who in March was charged with desertion and misbehavior before the enemy."

The Commentariat -- October 10, 2015

Internal links removed.

White House: "In this week's address, the President spoke to the merits of the high-standards trade agreement reached this past week. The Trans-Pacific Partnership helps level the playing field for American workers and businesses, so we can export more Made-in-America products all over the world, supporting higher-paying American jobs here at home":

Francis Wilkinson of Bloomberg: "The difference between the Ultras in the House and the mainstream Republicans they delight in humiliating isn't so much about tactics as democracy. The Ultras bulk up on the former -- holding their leadership hostage, pushing the party to hold the nation's credit hostage, or government funding hostage -- but they have little use for the latter.... the Ultras are not big on ... democracy.... Their influence is not confined to the House or even the Republican presidential primary. When Republican legislatures enact voting restrictions expressly designed to keep Democratic constituencies away from the polls, they are ... fighting democracy. And they're winning."

Paul Waldman: "The most important thing to understand about what's happening now [in the House] is that this is a permanent rebellion.... That's why it doesn't really matter much who actually ends up in the Speaker's chair." (Also linked yesterday.) ...

... Gail Collins weighs in on the "speaker chaos inferno." Although not her top pick, Collins does consider a former speaker: "But there are other options -- like Newt Gingrich! It turns out you don't have to actually be in Congress to be elected speaker of the House. And Newt said in a radio interview that if the Republicans came and begged for his leadership, it would be like 'when George Washington came out of retirement, because there are moments you can't avoid.' Coming soon: Gingrich Crossing the Delaware." ...

... David Herszenhorm & Carl Hulse of the New York Times: "The courtship of Representative Paul D. Ryan to be speaker of the House escalated on multiple fronts Friday, and Mr. Ryan, the powerful chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, signaled that he was headed home to Wisconsin to reconsider his repeatedly stated position that he does not want the job. Even that thin reed of possibility seemed to only further fuel the ardor of Republicans, many of whom emerged from a conference meeting on Friday morning saying they saw no one else with the potential to bring the fractured party back together." ...

... Katherine Krueger of TPM (11:36 am ET): "Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) told NBC News through a spokesperson Friday that despite Republicans calling for him to enter the race for Speaker of the House, he's still not interested." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Dana Bash, et al., of CNN (12:15 pm ET): "Rep. Paul Ryan is telling House Republicans privately he is considering running for speaker, several members say." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Paul Krugman: "As the Paul Ryan clamor gets louder, a public service reminder: he's a con man.... His reputation as a serious thinker is based on deception.... Ryan is to budget analysis as Carly Fiorina is to corporate leadership: he's brilliant at self-promotion, but there's no hint that he's actually able to do the job. There is, in particular, no example I know of where he's actually been right about anything involving budgets or economics, and some remarkable examples -- like his inflation screeds -- of being completely wrong, and learning nothing from the experience. So is this really the GOP can do? And the answer, sad to say, is that it probably is." ...

... If Speaker Ryan, All Will Be Rosy. Peter Schroeder of the Hill: "While top House Republicans are trying to push a reluctant Ryan into the job, on the grounds that he alone can unify the conference, conservative lawmakers gave a decidedly cool response Friday when asked if they want him to be their new leader." ...

... Scott Wong of the Hill: "House GOP lawmakers this week confronted Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) about rumors they worried could have hampered his bid for Speaker. At a closed-door meeting on Tuesday with Texas's GOP delegation, members pressed McCarthy for reassurances." Wong doesn't say what the rumors were, but we spelled it out yesterday. Wong adds some details re: circulation of the rumors. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Ed Kilgore on why one can't "reason" with Second Amendment aficionados: "... to a remarkable extent, the default position of conservatives has less and less to do with arguments about the efficacy of gun regulation or the need for guns to deter or respond to crime. Instead, it's based on the idea that the main purpose of the Second Amendment is to keep open the possibility of revolutionary violence against the U.S. government." ...

... Tim Egan urges the mothers of the nation to do something about gun violence because politicians won't. Really, Tim?

Daniel Marans of the Huffington Post: "Guns don't kill people -- media coverage of mass shootings kills people. That's according to Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), who on Friday cited a common argument against journalists printing the names and other identifying details of shooters. 'Why do we have what we consider copycats of tragedies? Well, a lot of it is because this is plastered all over the news and these mentally ill, these sick people see it,' Johnson said in an interview on WRDN, a Wisconsin radio station.... But rather than call for the media to restrain itself, Johnson went on to argue that there's really no way to reduce gun violence through public policy." Via Greg Sargent.

Let There Be Pollution. Timothy Cama of the Hill: "A federal court ruled Friday that President Obama's regulation to protect small waterways from pollution cannot be enforced nationwide. In a 2-1 ruling, the Cincinnati-based Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit delivered a stinging defeat to Obama's most ambitious effort to keep streams and wetlands clean, saying it looks likely that the rule, dubbed Waters of the United States, is illegal." Actually, the court imposed a temporary stay while they think about it.

Presidential Race

It's the Media's Fault. Jonathan Easley of the Hill: "... Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson admonished the Washington press corps Friday, calling the news media 'embarrassing' and 'insincere' and vowing to 'expose' the institutional bias he says runs rampant. Speaking at a gathering of reporters and communications professionals at the National Press Club in Washington, Carson lashed out at the press, citing several instances where he believes his views have been misrepresented." Also, too, because he's black. CW: That's right, Ben. You're not crazy. It's just that when the media quotes you verbatim, they make you sound crazy. Because they're biased. ...

After being pilloried in the press for not knowing what the debt limit means, Ole Doc Carson still doesn't know what the debt limit means. But he's against raising it. Jesse Byrnes of the Hill: "'It's the same crap every year. Why do we keep doing it?' Carson asked of the debt-limit showdown during an interview on MSNBC's 'Andrea Mitchell Reports.' 'If I was president we wouldn't be in this situation, OK, because long before we reached the deadline, I would have been saying we're not going to raise the debt number,' Carson said. 'I'm not going to sign anything that in any way increases our obligations.' Carson also penned a lengthy Facebook note late Thursday, saying a warning about the U.S. defaulting on its debt if the ceiling isn't raised is 'absurd Washington spin.'" Emphasis added. ...

... Here's part of Friendly Doc Ben's Facebook page where he "explains" the debt limit & "exposes" the media:

I was asked the other day if I would vote to raise the debt limit and I said No. Almost immediately, the leftwing media and the CNN pundits started losing their minds. I was called all kind of things but mainly they described how irresponsible I was for saying no more debt.

... CW: Raising the debt ceiling does not "increase our obligations" nor does it add "more debt." Rather, it provides the means to pay for obligations the Congress already incurred. Look at it this way, Ben: What you're saying is analogous to declaring that people need not pay their credit card debts, their mortgages, their medical bills, etc., if these payments kinda strain their bank balance. Or if they don't feel like it. Or something. Except if the U.S. government takes that 'tude, there could be world financial chaos, & the faith & credit of the U.S. dollar will definitely be kaput. You're an idiot. Now go ahead: "expose" me.

     ... P.S. Neurosurgeon or not, Ben Carson is not smart. I'm sure that between the time the "biased," mindless pundits exposed his ignorance of the debt ceiling, a staff member or a supporter tried to explain it to him in simple terms so he wouldn't embarrass himself again. It ain't brain surgery, but he still could not understand it. Yesterday, Kate M. speculated that Carson may be self-medicating. That seems a plausible explanation of his inability to comprehend fairly simple concepts. ...

... Nick Gass of Politico: "'Ben Carson has a right to his views on gun control, but the notion that Hitler's gun-control policy contributed to the Holocaust is historically inaccurate,' ADL national director Jonathan Greenblatt said.... 'The small number of personal firearms available to Germany's Jews in 1938 could in no way have stopped the totalitarian power of the Nazi German state.' Carson, speaking with George Stephanopoulos ABC's 'Good Morning America,' called the [Greenblatt] response 'total foolishness.'... 'There are many countries where that has occurred where they disarm the populous [sic.] before they impose their tyrannical rule,' he explained on MSNBC's 'Andrea Mitchell Reports.' 'That's not a rare situation and that's something that we don't want to ever even think about and that's one of the reasons that Daniel Webster said ... there will never be tyranny in the United States because the people are armed.'" (No link.) ...

... Steve Benen: "First, it was Noah Webster, not Daniel Webster. Second, Noah Webster was debating standing armies in the late 18th century, not consumers' access to deadly weapons in the 21st century. Third, plenty of countries have restricted consumer access to firearms without creating dictatorial dystopias. And finally, Carson really ought to scale back his frequent Nazi references. This is a subject he obviously knows very little about, and his frequent references to Hitler are both creepy and alarming." ...

... CW: Not fair, Steve. I believe Dr. Ben has been reading up on WWII, & he sees himself -- like Allied troops -- as a freeedom fighter against evil. Friday he kind of compared the trials of his presidential campaign to "our soldiers invading the beaches of Normandy [who] had seen their colleagues being cut down, a hundred bodies laying in the sand, a thousand bodies laying in the sand ... but they didn't turn back. They stepped over the bodies of their colleagues, knowing in many cases that they would never see their homeland or their loved ones again. And they stormed those Axis troops, and they took that beach, and they died." ...

     ... I think it would be a service to the nation if we all chipped in to buy Ole Doc a nice diorama & a bunch of toy soldiers so he can play with them instead of with real soldiers. Here's a nice starter kit ...

Pow! Pow! Ack-ack! Rat-a-tat-tat. Aaargh!

(BTW, if you missed it, D. C. Clark has a very nice remembrance of his meeting with John Wayne & Benjamin Vandevoort, an "old guy down the street." It applies here. [About 2/3rds of the way down the Comments section]).

... Even the WashPo's winger-blogger Jennifer Rubin has Ben Carson's number: "Donald Trump wants to round up 11 million people in two years for deportation. He approves of Russia’s incursion into Syria. He has a tax plan that adds at least $10 trillion to the debt. And with all that, he is not the most ignorant or unfit GOP presidential contender. That distinction goes to Ben Carson.... There is a Chauncey Gardner-like quality to Carson. He speaks softly, smiles a lot and lulls his audience into the belief he possess great insights and wisdom.... He is, however, entirely unfit for the presidency, seemingly oblivious to basic historical facts, constitutional concepts and world events."

After insulting Central Americans (anchor babies), Asians (the real anchor babies) & AfroAmericans (free stuff), Jeb! suddenly realized he had left out AmerIndians:

There was a big argument about the Washington Redskins, the 'Redskins' being a pejorative term. I think 'Washington' is the pejorative term, not the 'Redskins.' -- Jeb!

Jesse Byrnes of the Hill: The owner of the NFL team, Daniel Snyder, has stood firmly behind the Redskins name. He also donated $100,000 to the pro-Bush super-PAC Right to Rise earlier this year.

Beyond the Beltway

Alex Isenstadt of Politico: "A federal judge on Friday threw out four of five counts stemming from a campaign fraud case against Jesse Benton, a top political adviser to Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul. In August, Benton was indicted on charges of concealing payments to an Iowa state senator while working for Paul's father, Ron, during the 2012 presidential race. But John Jarvis, the chief judge for the southern district of Iowa, dismissed most of the charges against Benton, leaving one remaining count, alleging that Benton lied to federal investigators. Since his indictment, Benton has been on leave from America's Liberty PAC, a political action committee he helped to found that supports Rand Paul's presidential campaign."

Lori Aratani & Paul Duggan of the Washington Post: Washington "Metro will become the first U.S. subway system placed under direct federal supervision for safety lapses under a plan announced late Friday by Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx."

Greg Botelho & Sonia Moghe of CNN: "The family of the late Walter Scott and the city of North Charleston, South Carolina, have reached a $6.5 million settlement. The North Charleston City Council approved the settlement on Thursday night. Scott was fatally shot on April 4 by former North Charleston police officer Michael Slager after being pulled over, reportedly for a broken brake light, and later struck in the back as he was running away from police."

Charles Pierce on the shooting at Northern Arizona U. in Flagstaff: "So, the 'mental illness' dodge isn't going to work this time. This is an ordinary Thursday night campus brawl that escalated to homicide only because one of the participants had a gun which, I guarantee you, he did not have to work hard to obtain. Maybe we should look into why these things happen. No. Because we are free. One per week now. That's the American way." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

News Ledes

New York Times: "Two devastating explosions struck Saturday morning in the heart of Ankara, the Turkish capital, killing more than 80 people who had gathered for a peace rally and heightening tensions just three weeks before snap parliamentary elections. At least 86 people were killed and 186 were wounded, said the health minister...."

Washington Post: "Jerry S. Parr, the quick-thinking and fast-moving Secret Service agent who was credited with saving the life of President Ronald Reagan after the 1981 assassination attempt in Washington, died Oct. 9 at a hospice center near his home in Washington. He was 85."

The Commentariat -- October 9, 2015

Internal links & defunct video removed.

Afternoon Update:

Paul Waldman: "The most important thing to understand about what's happening now [in the House] is that this is a permanent rebellion.... That's why it doesn't really matter much who actually ends up in the Speaker's chair." ...

... Katherine Krueger of TPM (11:36 am ET): "Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) told NBC News through a spokesperson Friday that despite Republicans calling for him to enter the race for Speaker of the House, he's still not interested." ...

... Dana Bash, et al., of CNN (12:15 pm ET): "Rep. Paul Ryan is telling House Republicans privately he is considering running for speaker, several members say." ...

... Scott Wong of the Hill: "House GOP lawmakers this week confronted Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) about rumors they worried could have hampered his bid for Speaker. At a closed-door meeting on Tuesday with Texas's GOP delegation, members pressed McCarthy for reassurances." Wong doesn't say what the rumors were, but it's spelled out below. Wong has details on circulation of the rumors.

Charles Pierce on the shooting at Northern Arizona U. in Flagstaff: "So, the 'mental illness' dodge isn't going to work this time. This is an ordinary Thursday night campus brawl that escalated to homicide only because one of the participants had a gun which, I guarantee you, he did not have to work hard to obtain. Maybe we should look into why these things happen. No. Because we are free. One per week now. That's the American way."

*****

David Herszenhorn of the New York Times: "House Republicans will meet Friday morning at the Capitol to begin charting a path forward after Representative Kevin McCarthy of California's stunning withdrawal from the race for speaker dashed expectations of an orderly succession and threw Congress deeper into turmoil." ...

... Too busy to read the news? Seth Meyers has a pretty good summary of "Chaos in the House." CW: I'll go with Don Young (R-Alaska) for Speaker. His charm & gallant manners should win over members of Congress of every political persuasion:

... Karen Tumulty of the Washington Post: "Republicans are on the verge of ceasing to function as a national political party." ...

... Carl Hulse of the New York Times: "Republicans expanded their numbers in the House and won the Senate in 2014 by asking voters to give them control of Congress and let them prove that they could govern the country. Right now they appear unable to govern themselves." ...

... CW: I thought this sentence from Hulse's analysis was a little odd: "The move by Mr. McCarthy ... echoed the events of December 1998, when another Republican speaker-in-waiting, Representative Robert L. Livingston of Louisiana, was forced to withdraw his name for the job because of a sexual scandal." ...

... Maybe Not So Odd. Anna Merlan of Jezebel: "Gossipers on the right side of the aisle are heavily implying that McCarthy bailed to avoid having an alleged extramarital affair with Congresswoman Renee Ellmers of North Carolina made public." ...

... Winger Matt Lewis, now at the Week: "Add to the whole weird mix this, from a letter that Rep. Walter Jones (R-N.C.) wrote to Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.): 'With all the voter distrust of Washington felt around the country, I am asking that any candidate for speaker of the House, majority leader, and majority whip withdraw himself from the leadership election if there are any misdeeds he has committed since joining Congress that will embarrass himself, the Republican Conference, and the House of Representatives if they become public.' [via Politico]" ...

... As Dana Milbank notes in his column linked below, Jones' letter "was widely interpreted as targeting McCarthy." ...

... AND, Arturo Garcia of Raw Story nails it: "Erick Erickson, noted that the email also contained links to Internet posts regarding rumors of an affair between McCarthy and Rep. Renee Elmers (R-NC). CW: Beats that "for the good of the party" explanation. ...

... Amanda Marcotte, in Salon, explains McCarthy's real language problem, & it isn't his inability to express himself in actual sentences: "... you can kind of see why Republicans would be exasperated with McCarthy. Disingenuous posturing is really the first skill of a 21st century Republican, the base from which other skills are built upon. Being unable to hold the line when it comes to conservative bullshit is mandatory for a modern Republican who wants to hold office. McCarthy's inability to keep this one rule in mind probably should mean, by their standards, that he has to go." ...

... Robert Costa of the Washington Post: "The sudden decision Thursday by House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (Calif.) to withdraw from the speaker's race thrust congressional Republicans into chaos and left the contest wide open, with a crowd of lesser-known players jockeying for power and rank-and-file members fretting that the political unrest on the hard right that drove McCarthy and House Speaker John A. Boehner away from the position has left the party unmanageable in the lower chamber." ...

... Ben White of Politico: "Chaos in the U.S. House of Representatives makes an already scary autumn even more uncertain for Wall Street with debt limit and shutdown fights looming and no one clearly in charge.... 'We will not mince words -- this is the political equivalent of a dumpster fire,' said Chris Krueger of Guggenheim Securities. 'We are increasing our odds from 30 percent to 40 percent for some kind of accident that would keep Congress from raising the debt ceiling in time due to brinkmanship, procrastination or political gridlock.'" ...

Well, at least we know he can pump a gavel.... Paul Kane & Robert Costa of the Washington Post: "By mid-afternoon, outgoing speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) had spoken to [Paul] Ryan [R-Wisc.] at least twice, trying to convince the reluctant congressman that he was the only man who could save House Republicans from their own self-created chaos.... Boehner and several other prominent Republicans are turning to their party's 2012 vice-presidential nominee out of desperation, believing that he is the only member of the House with the stature to be speaker. Two other members, Reps. Daniel Webster (R-Fla.) and Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), have announced their candidacies, but they are widely seen as too inexperienced or underwhelming to handle the job." ...

... Nick Gass of Politico: "Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) said Friday that he could 'potentially' be a candidate for speaker of the House but also gave the name of Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) as someone who he would support for the position." CW: Wow! That would really upset President Obama because, according to Matt Drudge, Obama so dislikes Issa that he named ISIS after him. "'I'm really being honest with you,' Drudge said." (Never mind that Obama refers to the Islamic State as ISIL. When you're making up shit, however "honest," no part of it has to be factual.)

... Dana Milbank: "The next speaker -- whoever that may be -- will have to pick between two poisons: Defy the few dozen conservative zealots who hold the balance of power in the House and thereby lose his gavel, or surrender to the conservatives and take the Republican Party (and perhaps the country) into a quagmire of default and shutdown.... Even if Ryan or another figure can temporarily unite the caucus, the conservatives' demands will inevitably lead to chaos." ...

... Wait, Wait! Comes Now a Savior! Al Weaver of the Washington Examiner: "Gingrich says he'd consider interim speakership." CW: I don't suppose Rep. Walter Jones will be getting behind Newt. ...

     ... MEANWHILE, over at US News, they have a "communications expert" recommending Dick Cheney for speaker (she isn't kidding). CW: So my Don Young preference is perfecty sound. ...

... Jake Sherman of Politico: "Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) has abandoned his bid for House speaker Thursday afternoon, just minutes before the election was about to begin. Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), who resigned the post last month, announced in the meeting that elections were being postponed." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Jennifer Steinhauer & David Herszenhorn of the New York Times: "Representative Kevin McCarthy on Thursday abruptly took himself out of the race to succeed John A. Boehner as House speaker, apparently undone by the same forces that drove Mr. Boehner to resign.... As shocked members left the room there was a sense of total disarray, with no clear path forward and no set date for a new vote." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

Cap'n. Gohmert.... Steve M.: "... enjoy the Republicans' crisis while it lasts. Unless it lasts all the way through the fall of 2016, it will be a non-factor in the election, just as the 2013 shutdown was a non-factor in 2014. Liberal and centrist voters have no long-term memory for this sort of thing. The mainstream press always wants to revert to the preferred narrative: that the GOP is a sane, responsible party. There would probably have to be tanks in the streets in late 2016, with Louis Gohmert as the lead driver, before GOP chaos had an electoral effect." ...

Sarah Ferris of the Hill: "Top House Democrats are accusing the chairman of the House Oversight Committee of refusing to share the unedited footage from the recent undercover videos targeting Planned Parenthood. 'Oversight Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz has in his possession right now, a computer hard drive that contains videos produced by David Daleiden, the head of the group that tried to entrap Planned Parenthood,' Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-N.Y.) declared from the House floor, interrupting the chamber's debate on legislation expanding the investigation into Planned Parenthood." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Juliet Eilperin of the Washington Post: "In response to the latest mass shooting during his presidency, President Obama is seriously considering circumventing Congress with his executive authority and imposing new background-check requirements for buyers who purchase weapons from high-volume gun dealers. Under the proposed rule change, dealers who exceed a certain number of sales each year would be required to obtain a license from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and perform background checks on potential buyers."

Danielle Ivory & Keith Bradsher of the New York Times: "Federal and California regulators have begun an investigation into a second computer program in Volkswagen's diesel cars that also affects the operation of the cars' emission controls.... The disclosure of the software was made in testimony by the head of Volkswagen's American unit, Michael Horn, before a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee hearing, and later confirmed by the Environmental Protection Agency and the California Air Resources Board."

Helene Cooper & Eric Schmitt of the New York Times: "The Obama administration has ended the Pentagon's $500 million program to train and equip Syrian rebels, administration officials said on Friday, in an acknowledgment that the beleaguered program had failed to produce any kind of ground combat forces capable of taking on the Islamic State in Syria." ...

... Jim Michaels & Doug Stanglin of USA Today: "Four Russian cruise missiles launched from the Caspian Sea fell short of their Syrian targets and landed in a rural part of Iran, U.S. officials said Thursday, amid growing international concern about Russia's actions in the region. The errant strikes were part of a volley of 26 long-range cruise missiles that Russia fired Wednesday, U.S. officials told USA Today."

Annals of "Journalism," Ctd.

Paul Krugman: "I often wonder about commentators who write about things like those hearings as if there were some real issue involved, who keep going on about the Clinton email controversy as if all these months of scrutiny had produced any evidence of wrongdoing, as opposed to sloppiness.... Somehow, though, politicians who pretend to be concerned about issues, but are obviously just milking those issues for political gain, keep getting a free pass. And it's not just a Clinton story.... Once fiscal scare tactics started to lose political traction, even the pretense went away. Just look at the people seeking the Republican presidential nomination. One after another, they have been proposing giant tax cuts that would add trillions to the deficit. Debt, it seems, only matters when there's a Democrat in the White House. Or more accurately, all the talk about debt wasn't about fiscal prudence; it was about trying to inflict political damage on President Obama...." ...

... Greg Sargent: "... the basic problem has long been that observers refuse to accurately describe what [the Tea party Republicans'] actual position is in demanding these terms. The resulting standoffs have for years been described as a failure to compromise, as if these have been conventional negotiations, in which each side is asking for what it wants, and the two fail to meet in the middle. But that isn't what has been happening." ...

... CW: It would appear the Washington Post editors are trying to make Krugman's & Sargent's points. In an editorial urging the House to put itself in order (that means you, too, Democrats!), the editors write, "Most House Republicans ... understand the danger of shutting down the government or refusing to raise the debt limit in order to register anger and score ideological points. They recognize that a great democracy can't function when one faction issues unrealistic demands and threatens to burn everything down if it doesn't get its way." Really, Fred? Just last month, the House voted 277 to 151, with only 91 Republicans joining House Democrats to avoid a government shutdown. There are 247 House Republicans. So slightly more than one-third of Republicans, no doubt with considerable arm-twisting by leadership, voted in favor of a short-term measure to keep the government running. Sorry, but one-third is not "most Republicans." In 2013, Boehner himself refused to call a vote for a bill that would have averted a shutdown. So the government shut down.

Presidential Race

Jonathan Martin of the New York Times: "The group attempting to persuade Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. to run for president will not televise a commercial recalling the death of Mr. Biden's first wife and his daughter after a report indicated that the vice-president was uncomfortable with the content. 'We will be respecting the vice-president's wishes,' said Brad Bauman, a spokesman for Draft Biden.... 'He has seen the ad and thinks the ad treads on sacred ground and hopes they don't run it,' a person close to the vice-president told the [Los Angeles Times]."

Michael Isikoff of Yahoo! News: "Hillary Clinton used her private email account to pass along the identity of one of the CIA's top Libyan intelligence sources..., according to excerpts from previously undisclosed emails released Thursday by Rep. Trey Gowdy, the Republican chairman of the House Select Committee on Benghazi.... The redacted information was 'the name of a human source,' Gowdy wrote to his Democratic counterpart, Rep. Elijah Cummings of Maryland, and was therefore 'some of the most protected information in our intelligence community.' 'Armed with that information, Secretary Clinton forwarded the email to a colleague -- debunking her claim that she never sent any classified information from her private email address,' wrote Gowdy in a letter to Cummings.... Cummings immediately shot back that ... the letter 'is a defensive and desperate attempt to save face, but it only proves that McCarthy's statement [that the Benghazi committee was formed to hurt Hillary Clinton] is true -- [Gowdy's] new proposal to selectively release yet another subset of emails reveals his obsession with Secretary Clinton and no new information about the Benghazi attacks,' Cummings said in a statement."

Adrian Carrasquillo of BuzzFeed: "Hillary Clinton was interrupted by an immigration protester while presenting an award to chef Jose Andres at the annual Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute gala in Washington, D.C. on Thursday. Holding up a sign that read 'Hillary for immigrants in prisons,' Juan Carlos Ramos of the advocacy organization United We Dream Action stood near the stage, yelling at Clinton as she spoke over him. Ramos was protesting Clinton accepting donations from corporations that run private prisons." CW: Andres is the restaurateur locked in breach-of-contract lawsuits with Donald Trump. ...

... Déjà vu All Over Again: The Sleaze Factor. Jonathan Chait: "The mechanism that transferred [Bill] Clinton's well-known moral failings onto his vice-president was an exceedingly technical fund-raising scandal. [Al] Gore made fund-raising calls for the Democratic Party from the White House, which did not violate either the letter or the spirit of the law (the Pendleton Act, which was intended to prevent shaking down potential officeholders for donations).... The email scandal currently dogging the Hillary Clinton campaign has played a similar role.... Ironically, both Al Gore in 2000 and Hillary Clinton today inherited much of their reputation for shadiness from the same person: Bill Clinton.... The precedent ... also shows the challenge [Hillary Clinton] will face. A bored and disillusioned base, the likelihood of indefinite gridlock, and a skeptical media is a formula not necessarily for defeat, but surely a long, hard, joyless slog."

After seeing Ben Carson as a candidate, I'm re-evaluating my usage of the phrase 'It's not brain surgery.' -- John Cole of Balloon Juice ...

... Mark Hensch of the Hill: "... Ben Carson, under fire for his advice about what to do when facing a gunman, late Wednesday recounted the time when a gun was pointed at him. 'I have had a gun held on me when I was in a Popeyes,' Carson told host Karen Hunter on SiriusXM radio, referencing an incident at a Baltimore fast-food restaurant. '[A] guy comes in, put the gun in my ribs,' he added. 'And I just said, "I believe that you want the guy behind the counter."'" CW: So our hero Dr. Ben says, "Don't shoot me, bro. Shoot him." Say what? (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Ellie Shechet of Jezebel: "In other words, not only did Carson completely cooperate with the gunman in this very possibly made-up fairy tale event, he actually redirected him towards a more appropriate victim." ...

... But Wait. You Haven't Yet Heard Carson's Argumentum ad Hitlerum. Nick Baumann of the Huffington Post: "Ben Carson ... blamed the Holocaust on Nazi gun control in an interview on CNN Thursday." Which, um, has no basis in fact & has been thoroughly debunked. But so what? If you're going to play blame-the-victim against American college kids, you might as well go all out & blame European Jews for "letting" Hitler massacre them. ...

... When looking for the next crazy thing to say, Dr. Ben turns to Reality Chex. Yesterday D. C. Clark wrote, "It is a persistent and impenetrable belief among the gun-nuttery that if every European Jew had owned firearms and defended themselves, the Holocaust would never have happened." Five minutes later, Ole Doc tells Blitzer, "I think the likelihood of Hitler being able to accomplish his goals would have been greatly diminished if the people had been armed." (In fairness to Doc Sleepy, yesterday was not the first time he's blamed Jews & gun control for the Holocaust.)

... CW: How would Sanders & Clinton fare in debates against Carson? I can imagine Bernie dismissively telling Dr. Know-Nothing that his opinion on this or that was nonsensical. I can't quite see Hillary being so direct. What do you think?

Graydon Carter of Vanity Fair: "Like so many bullies, Trump has skin of gossamer. He thinks nothing of saying the most hurtful thing about someone else, but when he hears a whisper that runs counter to his own vainglorious self-image, he coils like a caged ferret. Just to drive him a little bit crazy, I took to referring to him as a 'short-fingered vulgarian' in the pages of Spy magazine [which Carter cofounded]. That was more than a quarter of a century ago. To this day, I receive the occasional envelope from Trump. There is always a photo of him.... On all of them he has circled his hand in gold Sharpie in a valiant effort to highlight the length of his fingers. I almost feel sorry for the poor fellow because, to me, the fingers still look abnormally stubby." ...

     ... CW: Huh. Apparently no objection to the "vulgarian" part of the insult. You'd think he might be upset that Spy had inaccurately portrayed him as a native of Vulgary (or Vulgaria, as Kevin McCarthy might say).

Catherine Rampell of the Washington Post: "... Bobby Jindal, Louisiana governor, Rhodes scholar and celebrated policy wonk..., through his newly released hack-job of a tax plan has achieved the impossible: He has made Donald Trump look like a grown-up.... In a sprawling, largely detail-free plan released Wednesday, Jindal tried his hand at the tax-cut buzz saw. On a static basis, the Tax Foundation estimates, Jindal's proposal would cut revenue by $11.3 trillion over the next decade.... Jindal's plan is also, impressively, even more regressive than Trump's. While Trump would raise the after-tax incomes of the top 1 percent by a mere fifth (21.6 percent), Jindal would increase their incomes by a full quarter (25 percent). Then, in addition to lowering taxes on the rich, Jindal -- but not Trump -- would raise taxes on the poor.... This may not be surprising, though, given that as governor of Louisiana, Jindal has backed other measures to shift more of the tax burden onto the poor to fund tax cuts for the wealthy."

Beyond the Beltway

Mark Peters of the Wall Street Journal: "The top official at the nation's third-largest school district is resigning amid a federal investigation of the school system.... The exit of Barbara Byrd-Bennett as chief executive of Chicago Public Schools, which is effective immediately, comes less than two months after she took a leave absence. Ms. Byrd-Bennett stepped aside on a temporary basis in mid-April as school officials confirmed a federal probe into an undisclosed matter was under way and the Chicago Tribune citing unnamed sources, said investigators were focusing on a $20.5 million leadership-training contract awarded by the school board to SUPES Academy, where Ms. Byrd-Bennett once worked." (Firewalled, so Google it.

Michael Miller of the Washington Post: "As a video circulated online Wednesday showing what appeared to be a sexual hazing ritual at an Indiana University fraternity, some who saw it shrugged. Others thought it was funny, tweeting 'LOL' and 'LMAO.' Some, however, thought it was rape. On Wednesday night, the university weighed in, announcing via Twitter that it was suspending Alpha Tau Omega 'immediately, pending investigation into hazing allegations.' On Thursday morning, the fraternity's national leadership issued a harshly worded statement calling the video 'highly offensive' and promising 'swift disciplinary action.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Sam Biddle of Gawker has more on the video. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

News Ledes

New York Times: "The Islamic State registered significant gains Friday in the area of northwestern Syria that Russian warplanes have been bombing heavily, taking six villages near Aleppo and threatening to cut off an important route north to the Turkish border. Late in the day, there were reports that rebels had reasserted control in one of the villages."

Houston Chronicle: "One Texas Southern University student was killed another wounded in a shooting Friday at a student housing complex on the campus in southeast Houston."

New York Times: "Israeli soldiers killed six young Palestinians on Friday in the Gaza Strip, including a 15-year-old boy, as they opened fire to quell crowds that hurled rocks and rolled burning tires close to the fence separating Gaza from Israel, Israeli military and Gaza health officials said."

New York Times: "The National Dialogue Quartet in Tunisia won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday 'for its decisive contribution to the building of a pluralistic democracy in Tunisia in the wake of the Jasmine Revolution of 2011'.... The quartet comprises four organizations: the Tunisian General Labour Union; the Tunisian Confederation of Industry, Trade and Handicrafts; the Tunisian Human Rights League; and the Tunisian Order of Lawyers. But the Norwegian Nobel Committee emphasized that the prize 'is awarded to this quartet, not to the four individual organizations as such.'"

AP: "Officials say one person is dead and three others are wounded following an early morning shooting at Northern Arizona University. School public relations director Cindy Brown says the suspected shooter is in custody." ...

     ... New York Times Update: "G. T. Fowler, the chief of campus police, said that Steven Jones, a freshman, had opened fire after two groups of male students were involved in a confrontation. The police were able to take Mr. Jones into custody after he stopped firing the weapon and 'everything calmed down for a few minutes,' Chief Fowler said."