The Commentariat -- October 21, 2015

Internal links & defunct video removed.

Afternoon Update:

** Peter Baker & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. said Wednesday that he will not be a candidate in the 2016 presidential campaign, bringing to a close a three-month exploration that began shortly after the death of his eldest child and threatened to fracture the Democratic Party. Mr. Biden's decision, announced in the White House Rose Garden with President Obama looking on, ends one of the most public episodes of indecision about a political path since Gov. Mario Cuomo of New York left a plane bound for New Hampshire idling on a tarmac in 1991 as he fretted over whether to run for president."

*****

Breaking! Breaking! Be Still, My Heart! Jennifer Steinhauer & Emmarie Huetteman of the New York Times: "Representative Paul D. Ryan said for the first time Tuesday that he would be willing to serve as speaker if all factions of House Republicans could unite behind him. Mr. Ryan addressed his colleagues and called for a change to the way the job is structured, saying the speaker should be more focused on communicating the message of the party and house and less on fundraising according to members in the room. He urged members to not try and change the rules 'for one group.'" ...

Mike DeBonis & Robert Costa of the Washington Post: Ryan "told colleagues he would seek to change the rule allowing a simple majority of the House to remove a sitting speaker. The threat of such a vote helped hasten [John] Boehner's departure." ...

... Greg Sargent: "I understand this right, it appears to mean that Ryan is looking to protect himself from the blowback and potential efforts to remove him that may be unleashed once he compromises with Democrats. In other words, it looks like he might already know that he will have to get conservatives very angry in order to get things done. Or, to put it another way, Ryan seems to know he can't unify House Republicans on policy, and thus that his best hope is to manage the fallout that will result from his coming sellout. Good luck, Paul Ryan. You're going to need it." ...

... Billy House, et al., of Bloomberg: "Representative Paul Ryan began meeting with House Republicans on his speaker bid as skeptical conservatives weighed whether they could accept conditions he set for succeeding John Boehner and ending turmoil that has gripped the party.... 'It is fair to say a number of people are open to him but it's with some reservations,' Representative Raul Labrador, a member of the Freedom Caucus, said Wednesday.... 'How does giving Paul Ryan more power solve the problem of John Boehner having had too much power?' asked [Tim] Huelskamp [R-Ks.], referring to some of Ryan's demands."

Follow the Money. Mike DeBonis of the Washington Post: "On Friday, [Trey] Gowdy’s campaign returned three donations after The Washington Post inquired about links to a political action committee [-- Stop Hillary PAC --] that aired a controversial ad about the Benghazi attacks during last week's Democratic presidential debate.... [In addition,] in April, the Stop Hillary PAC used Gowdy's name and image in a fundraising solicitation calling on donors to 'Support Trey Gowdy & Continue the Select Committee on Benghazi.'... Recent filings show that the group spent about $100,000 this month on a national ad campaign opposing Clinton -- and it reported conducting $10,000 worth of automated phone calls last month in support of Gowdy.... The links [between Gowdy & the Stop Hillary PAC] had the Benghazi panel's ranking Democrat, Elijah E. Cummings (Md.), fuming after they were disclosed Monday in The Washington Post...." ...

... Dana Milbank compares Trey Gowdy & his Benghaazi! committee to Inspector Clouseau & the Keystone Cops. CW: I find this totally unfair -- to the comedic characters. They, after all, meant well.

Ryan Cooper of the Week has quite a good response to Matt Yglesias' lament, linked yesterday, re: Democrats' failure to win many elections outside the presidency. Cooper argues, among other things, that Democrats moving to the center is not the answer.

Bob Ejelko of the San Francisco Chronicle: "Congressional action prohibits federal drug enforcers from shutting medical marijuana dispensaries that comply with state law, a federal judge in San Francisco ruled Monday in a potentially precedent-setting case. The decision by U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer is the first known ruling by a federal judge to protect pot dispensaries under a budget amendment approved by Congress in December 2014 and in effect through this December, when backers plan to renew it for another year. It bars the Justice Department from spending any money to prevent California and other states from 'implementing their own state laws' that authorize the medical use of marijuana." CW: Breyer is a Clinton appointee. His brother is Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer.

John Nichols of the Nation: Justin Trudeau showed U.S. Democrats how to win elections: campaign on taxing the rich & investing in infrastructure.

Trip Gabriel of the New York Times: "The anger of Republican primary voters at the political class could have blistered the paint in a conference room during a focus group in Indianapolis." CW: This is something we discussed briefly in yesterday's Commentariat.

Peter Baker of the New York Times: "Former President Jimmy Carter made his first visit to Washington since his cancer diagnosis on Tuesday and appeared in good shape and good humor. At a dinner honoring his vice president, Walter F. Mondale, Mr. Carter smiled, told war stories and cracked jokes as the two former partners recalled how they reinvented the relationship between presidents and vice presidents."

Neil MacFarquhar of the New York Times: "Russia and the United States signed an agreement Tuesday that regulates all aircraft and drone flights over Syria, the defense departments of both countries announced. At a Pentagon briefing, Peter Cook, the department's press secretary, said the agreement, called a memorandum of understanding, established safety protocols requiring the Russians and the United States-led international coalition fighting the Islamic State in Syria to maintain professional airmanship at all times, use specific communication frequencies and establish a communication line on the ground." See also today's News Ledes.

DeNeen Brown of the Washington Post: "A day after defeating Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Justin Trudeau told President Obama by phone that he would make good on a campaign promise to withdraw Canada's jets from the U.S.-led bombing campaign against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. Canada has committed a half-dozen fighter planes, a fraction of the American air power in the fight."

Parisa Hafezi of Reuters: "Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Wednesday approved the Iranian government's nuclear deal with world powers but said Tehran should not give up core elements of its atomic program until allegations of past military dimensions had been settled."

Hitler didn't want to exterminate the Jews at the time, he wanted to expel the Jews. And Haj Amin al-Husseini went to Hitler and said, 'If you expel them, they'll all come here.' 'So what should I do with them?' he asked. He said, 'Burn them.' -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in a speech to the World Zionist Congress yesterday

Then Ben Carson asked Netanyahu to be his running mate. (No, no. Not really. Yet.) -- Constant Weader

... William Booth of the Washington Post: "Reaction in Israel -- and around the Jewish world -- came hard and fast. First politicians were agog. Then historians of the Holocaust piled on. Then Netanyahu was mocked in social media memes and parodies. Isaac Herzog, the leader of the opposition in the Israeli parliament, wrote: 'This is a dangerous historical distortion and I demand Netanyahu correct it immediately as it minimizes the Holocaust, Nazism and ... Hitler's part in our people's terrible disaster.' Herzog pointed out that the Holocaust had already begun by the time the Grand Mufti met Hitler in November 1941. Zionist Union parliamentarian Itzik Shmuli demanded Netanyahu apologize to Holocaust victims, according to the Israeli newspaper Haartez."

Michelle Boorstein of the Washington Post: "Pope Francis's closed-door meeting in Rome this month, top clergy are intensely debating whether the church should bend more to the messy realities of modern families.... Questions on the agenda at the rare, high-level meeting that ends this weekend include whether those who divorce and remarry outside the church can receive Communion, and whether there is a place in Catholic life for same-sex couples. Changing Catholicism's stance towards such things could begin to unravel the unity of the world's largest church, say opponents who see the debate in Rome as directly tied to the future of Catholicism. But in many parts of the world -- the West in particular -- the church has for years quietly been making changes to engage with Catholic families who are transforming in ways that mirror the rest of the society."

Presidential Race

Dan Balz & Peyton Craighill of the Washington Post: "Aided by her performance in the first Democratic debate, Hillary Rodham Clinton has regained much of the ground she lost during a summer of controversy and holds a dominating lead nationally over Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) in the contest for her party's presidential nomination, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll. Vice President Biden, who has yet to announce whether he will join the Democratic race in the coming days or weeks, runs third amid signs of slippage over the past month."

Tom Jensen of Public Policy Polling: "PPP's new New Hampshire Democratic poll finds that Hillary Clinton's moved back into the lead in the state. She gets 41% to 33% for Bernie Sanders with Joe Biden at only 11%, Martin O'Malley at 4%, and Lincoln Chafee and Jim Webb each at 2%. Since PPP last polled New Hampshire in August Clinton's gone up 6 points from her then 35% standing, while Sanders has dropped 9 points from his then 42% standing. Clinton's rise comes as her image with Democratic voters in the state has improved by a good amount. Her favorability (+56 at 73/17) has improved a net 18 points from August when she was at +38 (63/25) with primary voters."

Mark Fahey of CNBC: "Hillary Clinton has received more donations from CEOs than any Republican candidate so far this year, according to a Big Crunch analysis of the last complete batch of individual Federal Election Commission records.... [Clinton has] about as many CEO backers as Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz combined. [Caveat: Jeb] Bush's Right to Rise USA super PAC has received the largest amount this year from CEOs, nearly $15 million."

Gardiner Harris & Jonathan Martin of the New York Times: "If Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. decides to run for the presidency again, his best chance may well be to present himself as President Obama's third-term successor. On Tuesday, Mr. Biden took the first step, describing himself as Mr. Obama's most essential partner while taking subtle swipes at his would-be rival for the Democratic nomination, Hillary Rodham Clinton. Along the way, Mr. Biden sought to recast his role in the raid to kill Osama bin Laden.... Mr. Biden had previously said that he had advised the president against launching the special forces raid on the Abbottabad compound" in a Situation Room meeting. Biden's story on this matter has evolved. "On Tuesday, Mr. Biden's evolution continued. Before an audience at George Washington University, Mr. Biden said he never gave Mr. Obama definitive advice on controversial issues in front of other officials.... After the meeting in the Situation Room, though, Mr. Biden said he privately gave the president his real view. 'As we walked out of the room and went upstairs, I told him my opinion, that I said that I thought he should go but to follow his own instincts,' Mr. Biden said Tuesday. William M. Daley, who was Mr. Obama's chief of staff at the time..., said shortly after Tuesday's forum that the meeting occurred as Mr. Biden described it." ...

... Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: Biden's latest account "seemed to conflict with the public memories of others who were involved in the decision and who suggested that Mr. Biden was against the raid." CW: Of course these others -- Leon Panetta, Bob Gates, Hillary Clinton & Michael Morell -- weren't privy to Biden's private conversation with President Obama, as perhaps William Daley was.

Alan Rappeport of the New York Times: "Former Senator Jim Webb announced Tuesday that he was dropping out of the race for the Democratic presidential nomination after his bid failed to gain traction. Mr. Webb shared his intentions to end his campaign at a news conference at the National Press Club in Washington. His plans ... come as Mr. Webb's standing in Democratic polls hovered near zero and his fund-raising efforts produced paltry results compared with his rivals. The announcement came after the campaign said on Monday evening that Mr. Webb was considering a bid as an independent, and at the news conference he did not rule that out. But independent campaigns are notoriously difficult because of financial and ballot access obstacles."

Seung Min Kim of Politico: "Marco Rubio's support for comprehensive immigration reform two years ago remains a major question mark hovering over his presidential campaign, even as he's cracked top-tier status in the GOP field. On Tuesday, the freshman senator's tightrope walk on the issue will continue, when the Senate takes up a bill, co-sponsored by Rubio and favored by the party's staunchest immigration opponents, to crack down on so-called sanctuary cities. But Rubio's attempts to explain his trajectory on immigration -- from chief GOP advocate of sweeping reform to largely disavowing that effort and now advocating an enforcement-first approach -- is drawing criticism from all sides." ...

... Sabrina Siddiqui of the Guardian: "Marco Rubio insists he supports immigration reform and a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants, even as he has shifted from once backing a comprehensive overhaul of the system to now advocating a piecemeal approach. But ... attempting to get underneath the rhetoric and into the specifics of his immigration plan proves challenging.... With immigration driving a wedge between Republican primary voters, Rubio has tried to straddle both sides of the immigration debate -- maintaining that he is 'personally open' to green cards for undocumented immigrants but emphasizing an enforcement-first approach."

Alex Griswold of Mediate: "In an interview with Fox Business, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said he would 'absolutely' revoke passports and close mosques in order to fight ISIS.... 'Can you do it?' pressed [Fox host Stuart] Varney. 'Can you close a mosque? We do have religious freedom.' 'Well, I don't know,' Trump admitted. 'I mean, I haven't heard about the closing of the mosque. It depends, if the mosque is, you know, loaded for bear, I don't know. You're going to have to certainly look at it.'" CW: When the crackpot Fox "News" guy is saner than the candidate.

We should have never gone into Iraq. I’ve said it loud and clear. I was visited by people from the White House asking me to sort of, could I be silenced because I seem to get a disproportionate amount of publicity. I mean, I was very strong, though: 'You're going to destabilize the Middle East." -- Donald Trump, interview on Fox News, October 6, 2015

There is no evidence the White House sent a 'delegation' out of concern over his 'vocal' opposition, though he publicly said at least twice that it happened. Trump has made no effort to clarify his statements or prove he was telling the truth. -- Michelle Lee of the Washington Post

Money Can't Buy You Love. John McCormick & Arit John of Bloomberg: "A month of extensive New Hampshire advertising on Jeb Bush's behalf has failed to boost his support and likely Republican primary voters there view him as inferior to frontrunner Donald Trump on most key attributes.... In the horse race, the former Florida governor has seen his overall support drop to 10 percent, from 11 percent in May. That puts him in third place, behind Trump at 24 percent and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson at 17 percent, despite an advertising push by the pro-Bush Right to Rise super political action committee that has dominated the state's television screens for the past four weeks." ...

... Jeb Bush in a National Review op-ed: "In the latest episode of the reality show that is Donald Trump's campaign, he has blamed my brother for the 9/11 terrorist attacks on our nation. That Trump echoes the attacks of Michael Moore and the fringe Left against my brother is yet another example of his dangerous views on national-security issues." And so forth. ...

... CW: Actually, Jeb!, Trump did not "blame your brother for the 9/11 terrorist attack"; rather, he said, "When you talk about George Bush -- I mean, say what you want, the World Trade Center came down during his time.... I'm not blaming George Bush. But I don't want Jeb Bush to say, 'My brother kept us safe,' because September 11th was one of the worst days in the history of this country." So besides being a whiney-baby, Jeb!, you're a big fat liar. ...

... Sean Sullivan of the Washington Post: "Jeb Bush, under fire from Republican rival Donald Trump over his brother's anti-terror policies, launched an attack on the same subject against Bill Clinton Monday night, charging that the 42nd president's administration did not pursue Osama bin Laden aggressively enough." ...

... Steve Benen: "During the interview [by Sean Hannity], [Jeb!] argued, 'I think the Clinton administration made a mistake of thinking bin Laden had to be viewed from a law enforcement perspective. Similarly, the -- President Obama's policies seem to be focused on that, as well.'... George W. Bush's brother is complaining about President Obama's counter-terrorism successes? Are. You. Kidding. Me?... Intelligence officials repeatedly urged George W. Bush and his team to recognize al Qaeda and bin Laden as a grave threat. The Republican administration chose not to heed those warnings.... As a result of Donald Trump's rhetoric (of all things), the failures of 2001 are suddenly a campaign issue in 2015 and Republicans are eagerly pretending that George W. Bush's missteps are Bill Clinton's fault." ...

... ** Peter Beinart of the Atlantic: "There's no way of knowing for sure if [George W.] Bush could have stopped the September 11 attacks. But that's not the right question. The right question is: Did Bush do everything he could reasonably have to stop them, given what he knew at the time? And he didn't. It's not even close." CW: I was not fully aware of how flagrantly Bush & Rummy ignored warning after warning from the CIA & the National Security Council. That famous CIA daily briefing titled,"Bin Ladin Determined to Strike the US" "was the 36th time the CIA had raised al-Qaeda with President Bush since he took office." ...

... Matt Flegenheimer & Steve Eder of the New York Times: "Since announcing his presidential candidacy in June, Jeb Bush has made clear his distaste for officials who trade on their connections.... Yet a review of Mr. Bush’s finances shows that he has built his personal wealth with the help of companies that had business interests with Florida while he was governor, and that singled out his political expertise and government experience as important assets. Roughly half of the $36.8 million he has earned since he left office in 2007 stems from such companies, according to campaign disclosures and government filings." CW: Surely just a coincidence, gentlemen.

As a black Republican, I know I don't fit the traditional mold, and I'm a threat to the liberal order. Because of the color of my skin, I'm supposed to think a certain way. Sorry, but that's racism.... I refuse to act like a politician and say whatever I need to say to get elected. I will speak the truth regardless of what the media and the PC police say is 'controversial.' It's time for honesty. -- Ben Carson, in a fundraising blast e-mail

Carson is a crackpot who should get nowhere near the White House, let alone the presidential nomination of a major political party. His incendiary and ignorant comments -- not political correctness, not racism -- are the cause of the 'relentless attacks' on him. -- Jonathan Capehart of the Washington Post

Ed Kilgore: "... the entire GOP could be experiencing the Grand Clong ... (defined in Jeff Greenfield and Jerry Bruno's classic political book The Advance Man as the feeling of a million pounds of s**t rushing to your heart) ... pretty soon if the nomination contest continues to be dominated by the Duopoly of Doom, Trump and Carson."

Beyond the Beltway

Lindsey Bever of the Washington Post: Arsonists have set fire to six St. Louis-area churches this month, five of them predominantly African-American & the sixth a mixed-race congregation.

Morgan Baskin of USA Today: "Triceten Bickford, a 19-year-old former Indiana University student, was expelled after publicly assaulting a Muslim woman on Saturday, a dean from IU reportedly confirmed to the Indiana Daily Student.... Bickford was charged with six counts including public intoxication, strangulation and felony-level battery after assaulting a Muslim woman Saturday evening, Fox 59 reported. According to the report, Bloomington Police were called to Sofra Café after Bickford grabbed the woman's neck and slammed her head into the table, yelling racial slurs that reportedly included 'white power' and 'kill them all.' The woman's husband and 9-year-old daughter were present.... After arriving at the Monroe County Jail, Bickford bit an officer in the lower leg." CW: Judging by his mug shot, Bickford is a white guy.

Jessica Contrera of the Washington Post: "Less than 24 hours after Ahmed Mohamed met President Obama, his family decided it's time to leave America for good. The 14-year-old Texas boy who was arrested for bringing to school a homemade clock that authorities said resembled a bomb will soon be living in Qatar.... The family is planning to move next week so Ahmed can begin school at the Qatar Foundation, where he will receive a full scholarship." ...

... CW: Hmm. I believe this is how Republicans envision self-deportation. Just harass people the hell out of here.

Way Beyond

Ian Austen of the New York Times: "Justin Trudeau's Canada is likely to present a very different face to the world than the one it wore under Stephen Harper, the Conservative prime minister he and his Liberals decisively routed on Monday. Mr. Trudeau has promised some major policy changes, among them legalizing marijuana, dropping out of the American-led bombing campaign against the Islamic State and deficit spending to pump up the economy and rebuild infrastructure. But the most noticeable difference will probably be in tone. Mr. Trudeau has been promising since he took over his floundering party in 2013 that he would put an end to Mr. Harper's often belligerent style of politics and diplomacy."

Jerusalem Post: "Hundreds of protesters in the Swedish city of Malmo were filmed chanting in Arabic about slaughtering Jews and stabbing soldiers. Pro-Palestinian groups organized a rally Monday in the city center against what they consider Israeli violence and to show solidarity with Palestinians amid deadly measures taken by Israeli authorities to stop the recent spate of attacks on Jews in Israel and the West Bank."

Also, contributor Gloria has an excellent commentary in yesterday's thread on voter fraud in Australia.

News Ledes

New York Times: "President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia called his counterpart, Bashar al-Assad of Syria, to Moscow for an unannounced visit to discuss their joint military campaign and a future political transition in Syria, the Kremlin announced on Wednesday. According to a transcript posted on the Kremlin’s website, Mr. Putin told the Syrian leader during the meeting late Tuesday that Russia was ready to contribute to the fight against terrorism and to a political settlement of the conflict that has raged for more than four years. Mr. Assad, in turn, briefed the Russian leader about the situation on the ground and on next steps."

New York Times: "The American airstrike against a Doctors Without Borders hospital in northern Afghanistan that killed at least 22 staff members and patients was approved by American Special Operations Forces normally assigned to other parts of Asia. The Afghan commandos who requested the strike had been rushed from another part of the country to help quell the Taliban attack. And the AC-130 gunship that unleashed the fire had not worked with either group before."

The Commentariat -- October 20, 2015

Internal links removed.

Craig Whitlock of the Washington Post: "Federal regulators said Monday that they will require recreational drone users to register their aircraft with the government for the first time in an attempt to track rogue flying robots that are increasingly posing a threat to aviation safety. The decision to compel drone owners to register their aircraft represents a policy shift by the Obama administration and a tacit admission by the Federal Aviation Administration that it has been unable to safely integrate the popular remote-controlled planes into the national airspace." CW: Apparently the Second Amendment does not cover drones. Or else the drone lobby sucks compared to the NRA.

** Matt Yglesias of Vox: "The Democratic Party is in much greater peril than its leaders or supporters recognize, and it has no plan to save itself.... Not only have Republicans won most elections, but they have a perfectly reasonable plan for trying to recapture the White House. But Democrats have nothing at all in the works to redress their crippling weakness down the ballot. Democrats aren't even talking about how to improve on their weak points, because by and large they don't even admit that they exist.... The worst part of the problem for the Democratic Party is in races that are, collectively, the most important: state government." ...

... Ed Kilgore: "... aside from Matt's questionable assessment of Democratic self-knowledge, his hypothesis also suffers a bit from the assumption that the party's downballot problems can be dispelled by more effort or some undefined 'plan.'" ...

... Elias Isquith of Salon: "... while Republicans have big money at the top, they have passionate rank-and-file support at the bottom, too. They have corporate overlords like the Koch brothers, sure. But they've also got 'boots on the ground' to make calls, knock on doors, and pass around campaign literature." CW: They also have old people, who vote in off-year elections. But more importantly, they have anger -- and greed -- on their side. The Republican establishment, including outlets like Fox "News," has convinced right-leaning voters that crazy demands are reasonable & that every time Democrats block the crazy demands, they further victimize the American people. GOP voters see even very conservative Republicans, like John Boehner & John Roberts, as part of a vast left-wing conspiracy to deprive ordinary Americans of their god-given right to do whatever the hell they want. That kind of anger does exist among liberals, but it's fringier.

You may see Gowdy's chapeau as a warlock's hat. On the other hand, you may see it as a dunce cap. Whatever the case, you're right.Gowdy "Endangers National Security." Josh Gerstein of Politico: "... Trey Gowdy appears to have accidentally released the name of a CIA source in the midst of a back-and-forth with Democrats about ... its presence in former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton/s private email account.... The email posted Sunday on the [Benghaazi! committee]'s website included in one instance the name of 'Mousa Kousa,' an alternative spelling of Moussa Koussa, a former Libyan government spy chief and foreign minister. The name appeared to have been redacted in several other instances but was included in a subject line of a forwarded email. The redacted email was released at Gowdy's direction.... By Monday morning, the committee had replaced the document online with another version in which Koussa's name does not appear.... A spokesman for [Rep. Elijah] Cummings [(D-Md.), the ranking member on the committee,] said the episode underscored why Gowdy should not have released the email until the State Department completed reviewing the records for public release...." ...

... Michael Isikoff's story on Gowdy's slip-ups is here. ...

... CW: This is hilarious. Last week, Rep. Gowdy said Secretary Clinton had "endangered national security" when she forwarded an e-mail that contained Koussa's name, a name Gowdy asserted was classified. But of course Clinton did not reveal Koussa's name to the public; she sent the information on to another person in the State Department. THEN Sunday, Rep. Cummings announced that, according to the CIA, Koussa's identity was not classified. So Gowdy, in his initial leak of the correspondence, had defamed Clinton over nothing. THEN, in response to Cummings' criticsim (and call for an apology to Clinton), Gowdy himself actually did release Koussa's name to the public -- for the first time. The person who "endangered national security," to borrow Gowdy's words, was not Clinton, but Gowdy. What an ass! ...

... Rachel Bade of Politico: "Three days out from Hillary Clinton's high-stakes appearance before the House Select Committee on Benghazi, panel Democrats released excerpts from closed-door committee interviews they said showed there was 'no evidence' substantiating 'wild Republican conspiracy theories' about Clinton's response to the Benghazi attacks. The 124-page report concludes that investigators thus far have found no evidence over the course of 54 transcribed interviews that suggests the former Secretary of State had specifically ordered the military to stand down on the night of the deadly attack, or 'personally' directed State's reduction of security in Benghazi beforehand." ...

... Charles Pierce: "Benghazi Committee Guy Thinks Criticism of His Committee Is the Biggest Conspiracy Since Benghazi." ...

... Brian Beutler: "Ever since Watergate, Republicans have been consumed with the certainty that a similar scandal will one day befall Democrats, and have gone to great lengths to make it so. But when their inquiries run aground, or devolve into partisan witch hunting, they eventually relent, and allow the investigations to fizzle out. The Benghazi committee is flirting with the same fate."

... MEANWHILE. Greg Miller of the Washington Post: "The FBI is investigating claims by an anonymous computer hacker that he stole potentially sensitive files from the private e-mail account of CIA Director John Brennan and posted them online, U.S. officials said. The exposed documents appear to include a roster of senior U.S. national security officials with their phone and Social Security numbers, a log of calls made by former CIA deputy director Avril Haines and a list of e-mail addresses that the hacker claimed were taken from Brennan's AOL account.... Other U.S. officials said that the FBI had launched an inquiry and that the Secret Service was investigating related claims that the hacker obtained private information from Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson.... The claims were first reported Monday by the New York Post, which described the unnamed hacker as a 'stoner high-school student.'..." ...

... No Knowledge of Computers Necessary. Sam Thielman of the Guardian has more details on the Brennan hack: "Former National Security Agency technical director Jasper Graham said the highly embarrassing breach of Brennan's email was likely a 'social engineering' attack, in which personal information supposedly only the account holder would know is used to break in." ...

... CW: It occurs to me that what is needed now is a hacker willing & able to break into Trey Gowdy's e-mail account & reveal that e-mail where he said, "Kevin McCarthy is an idiot." No, wait, he already said that on national TV. Something else, then, like the name of his hair stylist.

Way Beyond the Beltway

Bruce Campion-Smith of the Toronto Star: "Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. That title, which seemed improbable a mere 11 weeks ago, is now set to become a reality after the Liberals' historic, come-from-behind election result, besting incumbent Conservatives and hopeful New Democrats in one of the country's longest and costliest elections.... Preliminary results had the Liberals at 184 seats, comfortably more than the 170 seats needed for a majority government in the expanded 338-seat House of Commons. It's a stunning rebound for a party that had been knocked down to 34 seats in the 2011 election and left for dead. The Conservatives won 102 seats, the New Democrats 41, the Bloc Québécois 10 and the Green Party had one seat, won by leader Elizabeth May." ...

... The New York Times story on the results, by Ian Austen, is here. ...

... Robin King of the Toronto Star, linked below: "Polls are closing across Ontario, Quebec and the Prairies and three broadcasters have called the election for the Liberals after the party sweeps East Coast. CBC, CTV and Global news are projecting the Liberal Party will form the next government." ...

... From the Guardian Liveblog 1, linked below: "Although the networks have called victory for Trudeau and the Liberals, it's not clear whether the latter have enough clout to actually pull off a majority government." ...

... Ian Austen of the New York Times (linked above): "Despite a campaign that was the longest in modern Canada's history, if remarkably swift by American standards, no obvious outcome has developed as Canadians vote on Monday." ...

... The Toronto Star is posting results here. ...

... (1) The Guardian is liveblogging the election. (2) The Guardian's new liveblog on the election is here. ...

... Peter Edwards of the Toronto Star: On this week's "Last Week Tonight," John Oliver said he was "breaking a [Canadian] election law forbidding foreigners from influencing Canadian elections that comes with a $5,000 fine and six-month jail term to share it.... The good news, for Oliver: he need not fear being sent to the slammer.... Canadian elections authorities explained Monday that there's no law against foreigners expressing an opinion. They said the legal provision in question -- section 331 of the Canada Elections Act -- has been on the books since the 1920s and it doesn't cover people stating their view.... Elections Canada spokesman John Enright ... said the key provision refers to people who 'induce' Canadians: 'To induce there must be a tangible thing offered. A personal view is not inducement,' he added." See yesterday's Commentariat for context. ...

... Also see Cowichan's comment at the end of yesterday's thread: he provides a list of the documents that will suffice to prove your eligibility to vote in Canada. They're pretty much what you need in the U.S. to get a library card. And in all likelihood, you have the U.S. equivalent to a number of them. You must provide two of the listed documents if you don't have a driver's license picture I.D. Cowichan said he figured he had 18 of the type of documents required.

Jordan Fabian of the Hill: "President Obama had time to meet with 'clock kid' Ahmed Mohamed after all. Obama greeted Mohamed, 14, on Monday during the White House's Astronomy Night on the South Lawn. The president personally invited the Texas teenager to the event after he was arrested last month for bringing a homemade clock to school. Earlier Monday, White House press secretary Josh Earnest downplayed the possibility of Obama meeting Mohamed."

Gary Langer & Gregory Holyk of ABC News: "More than half of Americans in a new ABC News/Washington Post poll approve of Barack Obama's job performance, a first in nearly two and a half years. That compares with 71 percent disapproval of the Republicans in Congress with six in 10 calling their struggle to select a new House speaker a sign of dysfunction within the GOP caucus."

Art Swift of Gallup: "Fifty-five percent of Americans say they want laws covering the sale of firearms to be stricter than they are now, a distinct rise of eight percentage points from 2014. Fewer Americans than last year want the laws to be less strict, and the proportion who want the laws to stay the same has also declined slightly."

Dana Milbank: Sheldon Adelson "has no particular insight into politics. Yet, with the possible exception of the Koch brothers, he exerts more influence over elections than any person in America.... On Israel and Jewish issues, likewise, Adelson's insights are unoriginal. But he has become one of the most influential American Jewish figures -- and a leading voice for Israel hard-liners -- just by throwing around a lot of cash.... Nobody would listen to Adelson if he weren't worth $26 billion."

Catherine Thompson of TPM: "If Hillary Clinton wins the presidency, Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL) wants to impeach her on day one.... Brooks [said] that he thought Clinton's exclusive use of a private email account as secretary of state violated 'all rules of law that are designed to protect America's top-secret and classified information from falling into the hands of our geopolitical foes who then might use that information to result in the deaths of Americans.'" CW: I believe some while back I mentioned that Republicans would try to "pre-impeach" Hillary. Apparently, the proceedings are underway. I wonder if Mo feels the same way about Trey Gowdy, the actual publisher of "top-secret and classified information." (Okay, what Gowdy published was not classified, but he said it was.)

Charles Pierce is a bit exercised that ole Judd Gregg (R-N.H.-way back) is playing the class card. It's what Republicans do. They pretend you're just as good as they are & if only you'd vote for them, they would unlease their freeedom, & you'd become as rich as David Koch. It's a con millions of Americans have fallen for again & again. It's "devisive" Democrats, see, who want to keep you down & out & dependent upon food stamps, Obamaphones & other handy goodies to keep close by your hammock.

Annals of "Journalism," Ctd.

Josh Marshall of TPM: "Watching things unravel, it's hard not to ask, where'd they find Trey Gowdy? The latest, of course, is that he inadvertently revealed the name of a CIA asset in the course of falsely accusing Hillary Clinton of doing the same. Great work! This is after being reduced to demanding that fellow Republicans in the House stop saying his Committee is abjectly political and designed to attack Hillary Clinton.... It all goes back to Kevin McCarthy saying out loud what had long been transparently obvious: that the committee was designed to and was hammering Hillary Clinton's poll numbers. It got a bit more steam when other Republicans starting saying the same thing. But McCarthy's comment was [journalists'] permission slip.... Journalists either felt that they needed such a statement to start looking at what this investigation was about.... Everybody knew what was up. But you couldn't say it because doing so violated the 'two, equally valid arguments on both sides' rule.... And that's really not the way it should work."

The Very Brief Campaign of Joe Biden. Tom McGeveran of Politico: "The Washington Post published an item Monday evening to its website with the headline 'Biden to launch a presidential campaign.' But even the fast clickers were disappointed to reach a page on the Washington Post website titled 'Editor's Note' that read, 'This file was inadvertently published.'... Post congressional reporter Paul Kane, whose byline appeared on the article, was quick to tweet ... this wasn't news published before it was ready -- just a 'shell' story prepared so that the Post could push the button faster in case Biden did announce."

Jay Carney of Amazon, in Medium: "'Nearly every person I worked with, I saw cry at their desk.' If you read the recent New York Times article about Amazon's culture, you remember that quote. Attributed to Bo Olson, the image of countless employees crying at their desks set the tone for a front-page story that other media outlets described as 'scathing,' 'blistering,' 'brutal' and 'harsh.' Here's what the story didn't tell you about Mr. Olson: his brief tenure at Amazon ended after an investigation revealed he had attempted to defraud vendors and conceal it by falsifying business records. When confronted with the evidence, he admitted it and resigned immediately.... [Reporter Jodi] Kantor never asked us to check or comment on any of the dozen or so negative anecdotes from named sources that form the narrative backbone of the story." ...

... Times executive editor Dean Baquet responds: Did not. And you lie. ...

... Jay Carney responds to Baquet's response: Did, too. "The bottom line is the New York Times chose not to fact-check or vet its most important on-the-record sources, despite working on the story for six months. I really don't see a defensible explanation for that failure." ...

... Nick Wingfield & Ravi Somaiya of the New York Times: "In an unusually public tussle over a prominent article, a senior executive from Amazon and the top editor of The New York Times clashed on Monday over the details in a Times article about the Internet retailer's work culture." ...

... Jason Abbruzzese of Mashable rounds up some reactions to the set-to between Amazon & the Times. CW: No one seems to wonder if the Times piece had anything to do with the fact that Amazon's founder Jeff Bezos owns the Washington Post, the Times' biggest competitor. Whatever. Amazon still sucks.

Presidential Race

Leigh Ann Caldwell & Kristen Welker of NBC News: "Vice President Joe Biden is nearing a decision on if he will enter the presidential race, which could come within 48 hours, two sources tells NBC News."

This Should Work. Gabriel Debenedetti of Politico: "Jim Webb, the longshot Democratic presidential candidate, may run as an independent, his campaign said in an email to reporters on Monday evening. The former Virginia senator, who complained last week about not having enough talking time on the stage during the first Democratic debate in Las Vegas, will hold a press conference in Washington on Tuesday to discuss his options." CW: The move could force one of the other Democratic candidates to take up Webb's main campaign issue: "I'm not getting enough speaking time." I believe Bernie Sanders -- or Larry David -- would be exceptionally good at this.

Carrie Dann of NBC News: "Donald Trump remains the front-runner in the Republican presidential field, while former neurosurgeon Ben Carson holds a close second place, a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll shows. With the backing of 25 percent of Republican primary voters, Trump is at his highest level of support in the poll since entering the 2016 race." ...

... Nick Gass of Politico: "Carly Fiorina's time near the top of the Republican polls may have come to an end, as another national CNN/ORC poll out Tuesday suggests. Just 4 percent of Republican or Republican-leaning voters said they would cast their votes for her in a primary election, down from 15 percent in September."

Andrew Kaczynski of BuzzFeed: "In 2000, 19 months before Sept. 11, 2001, Donald Trump wrote extensively of the terrorism threat the United States was facing. Trump, who at the time was considering a presidential bid on the Reform Party ticket, went so far as to say that an attack on a major U.S. city was not just a probability, but an inevitability. 'I really am convinced we're in danger of the sort of terrorist attacks that will make the bombing of the Trade Center look like kids playing with firecrackers,' wrote Trump in his 2000 book, The America We Deserve. 'No sensible analyst rejects this possibility, and plenty of them, like me, are not wondering if but when it will happen.' Trump even mentions Osama bin Laden by name...." ...

... Andrew Kaczynski: "... Donald Trump says there are actually 100 million people who are unemployed in the United States.Trump has previously said the number was 93 million, a number that independent fact-checking site Politifact said was 'way too high.'... As noted by Politifact, Trump is including in his accounting every American of retirement age and those 16 years old and above and represents 'a basic misunderstanding of the labor market.' The Wall Street Journal brutally declared in a headline of Trump previous account, 'Donald Trump Is Right: About 42% of Americans Are Unemployed (If You Include My 88-Year-Old Grandma).'"

I just don't like the guy. -- George W. Bush, on Ted Cruz, speaking to Jeb! donors ...

... Eli Stokols of Politico: "One donor in the room said the former president had been offering mostly anodyne accounts of how the Bush family network views the current campaign and charming off-the-cuff jokes, until he launched into Cruz. 'The tenor of what he said about the other candidates was really pretty pleasant,' another donor said. 'Until he got to Cruz.'... George W. Bush is well acquainted with his home-state senator, who served as a domestic policy adviser on his 2000 campaign before rising to national prominence by distancing himself from -- and often going out of his way to antagonize -- the GOP establishment." ...

... Marc Caputo of Politico: "For the first time, former Florida governor Jeb Bush has fallen into single digits in a home-state Republican primary poll that shows Donald Trump still in front, trailed by Ben Carson and Sen. Marco Rubio. Jeb Bush's 9-percent, fourth-place showing in the University of North Florida poll is his worst showing in any survey of likely Florida Republican voters." ...

... Ryan Lizza has a long piece in the New Yorker on where Jeb! went wrong. Lizza concentrates on Jeb!'s neo-con foreign policy.

Beyond the Beltway

Carolyn Bankoff of New York: "It's 2015, yet a Rockland County[, New York,] newspaper still managed to publish a job ad specifying that Haitians need not apply." CW: Yeah, most people know enough not to put that in writing; but they won't even interview you if you "sound black" when you phone them about the job.

The Commentariat -- October 19, 2015

Internal links removed.

Michael Schmidt of the New York Times: "As the [House Benghazi] committee's chairman, Representative Trey Gowdy, Republican of South Carolina, prepared to go on television to provide his latest defense of the investigation, the committee's top Democrat, Representative Elijah E. Cummings of Maryland, released information undercutting one of Mr. Gowdy's recent allegations about Mrs. Clinton's use of her private email when she was secretary of state. Mr. Gowdy had claimed this month that messages sent and received by Mrs. Clinton included the name of a Central Intelligence Agency source in Libya. That information was 'some of the most protected information in our intelligence community,' Mr. Gowdy said. The fact that Mrs. Clinton sent and received these materials, he said, debunked her 'claim that she never sent any classified information from her private email address.' But Mr. Cummings said on Sunday that the C.I.A. had informed the committee that information about the source was not classified." ...

... Here's Cummings' letter to Gowdy. Once again, he lets it rip. ...

... Michelle Lee of the Washington Post: "Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) said Sunday on CBS's 'Face the Nation' that he has told Republican colleagues to 'shut up talking about things that you don't know anything about. And unless you're on the committee, you have no idea what we have done, why we have done it and what new facts we have found.'... House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) suggested in a recent Fox News interview that the committee was formed to drive down Clinton's poll numbers. Rep. Richard Hanna (R-N.Y.) and Bradley F. Podliska, a former Republican staffer on the committee, also called the investigation politically motivated. Gowdy said McCarthy, Hanna and Podliska are 'three people who don't have any idea what they're talking about.'" CW: Pretty cheeky to say right there on the teevee that your own majority leader doesn't know what he's talking about.

Nancy Cordes of CNN: "After weeks of insisting he would not run for Speaker, Wisconsin Republican Rep. Paul Ryan - according to those close to him - is now open to leading the fractured Republican conference, and seriously considering launching a bid for speaker of the House. But there's a caveat.... Ryan's confidants tell CBS News he will not horse trade with the House Freedom Caucus, a group of 40 or so deeply conservative members who have been demanding changes to House rules and other very specific promises from candidates for Speaker in exchange for their support. Ryan's confidants say he is not going to negotiate for a job he never sought...."

... Yastreblyansky, writing on Steve M.'s blog, has some thoughts on John Boehner, Ted Cruz, Paul Ryan & Democrats vis-a-vis the speaker's job.

Lauren Gardner of Politico: "Last spring's deaths of eight passengers in an Amtrak derailment in Philadelphia called attention to a glaring hole in the nation's rail safety network: railroads' failure to install an advanced anti-collision technology that Congress had mandated in 2008. But five months later, lawmakers are preparing to give railroads years past this December's deadline to put the systems in place -- heeding the railroads' warnings that they would otherwise have to impose a nationwide freeze on rail traffic that could wreck the economy and threaten national security. More than 100 oil, gas, coal, farming, manufacturing, retail and other business groups are also urging lawmakers to postpone the mandate, as are the U.S. Conference of Mayors, local transit agencies, newspaper editorials, more than 150 House members and nearly half the Senate."

Washington Post Editors: "... improper payments [by federal agencies have] ... totaled $1 trillion since fiscal 2003, the first year in which the GAO produced a government-wide estimate.... Three-quarters of the improper payments come from just three programs -- Medicare, Medicaid and the Earned Income Tax Credit -- all of which are meant to help the elderly and the poor. Nearly 10 percent of Medicare's $603 billion in outlays last year was improperly paid.... Everyone complains about waste, fraud and abuse, but it is remarkable how bureaucrats and special interests can come up with excuses not to carry out the managerial reforms necessary to eliminate them."

Paul Krugman: "... we can learn a lot from Denmark, both its successes and its failures. And let me say that it was both a pleasure and a relief to hear people who might become president talk seriously about how we can learn from the experience of other countries, as opposed to just chanting 'U.S.A.! U.S.A.! U.S.A.!'"

The Sky Is Falling! The Sky Is Falling! Ari Rabin-Havt of the Nation: "All the serious people in Washington know we have a debt problem.... There's just one problem. The numbers relied upon by ... far too many ... inside the Beltway, including the Congressional Budget Office itself, are completely bogus. The methodology used by the CBO to create these projections exaggerates the federal government's long-term debt projection by as much as 440 percent, creating a phony fiscal crisis where none exists.... How can there be such a large discrepancy in the numbers?... The CBO assumes that Social Security and Medicare Part A will draw on the general fund of the US Treasury to cover benefit shortfalls following the depletion of their trust funds, which at the current rate will occur in 2034. That would obviously lead to an exploding debt, but it's a scenario prohibited by law."

Reuters: "The US approved conditional sanctions waivers for Iran on Sunday, though it cautioned they would not take effect until Tehran had curbed its nuclear programme as required under the historic nuclear deal reached in Vienna in July. President Obama welcomed 'adoption day', saying: 'Today marks an important milestone toward preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon and ensuring its nuclear programme is exclusively peaceful going forward.'" President Obama's statement is here.

Joshua Partlow of the Washington Post: "In a setback for its multibillion-dollar effort to help Mexico fight its drug war, the U.S. State Department has decided that Mexico failed to reach some human rights goals, triggering a cutoff of millions of dollars in aid. The move, which has not been reported previously, affects a small portion of the annual anti-drug funds given to Mexico. But it is a clear sign of U.S. frustration."

Christopher Jensen of the New York Times: "Even as Volkswagen embarks on the task of fixing the emissions systems it disabled on almost 500,000 of its diesel vehicles in the United States, the automaker faces another hurdle: persuading owners to make the repair at all. That's because the software that allowed Volkswagen to fool federal emissions tests also lowered the car's performance and fuel economy while the device was turned on. So for owners, the prospect of having a car's emissions cleaned up, only to have the car perform worse -- whatever the pollution -- is not sitting well."

Alexander Stille of the New Yorker: "The honeymoon for Pope Francis is over -- at least in Rome. The first two weeks of the Synod on the Family have been characterized by open rebellion, corridor intrigue, leaked documents, accusations of lack of transparency, and sharp divisions among the bishops and cardinals. In the first real crisis of his papacy, Francis finds himself in the position of enjoying a rare degree of popularity among the public but facing an unusual degree of dissent within an institution generally so respectful of hierarchy."

Presidential Race

Greg Sargent: "As we continue to wait for Joe Biden to tell us whether he will run for president, a new CNN poll brings us what I believe is the most comprehensive polling yet on which candidate Democrats prefer on the issues -- and Hillary Clinton leads Biden and Bernie Sanders on all of them. The new poll casts doubt on whether there is all that much of a clamor among Democrats for Biden to enter the race."

Matea Gold, et al., of the Washington Post: "As he brags that he is turning down millions of dollars for his presidential campaign, Donald Trump has leveled a steady line of attack against his rivals: that they are too cozy with big-money super PACs and may be breaking the law by coordinating with them. 'You know the nice part about me?' he told reporters in Iowa in August. 'I don't need anybody's money.' What Trump doesn't say is that he and his top campaign aide have connections to a super PAC collecting large checks to support his candidacy -- a group viewed by people familiar with his campaign as the sanctioned outlet for wealthy donors." ...

... Tom McCarthy of the Guardian: "Jeb Bush ... threw a series of punches at Donald Trump on Sunday, saying his rival for the Republican presidential nomination was an 'actor' who was not serious about running for the White House and whose remarks about the 9/11 attacks undercut his 'credibility' as commander-in-chief. True to form, Trump hit back immediately, razzing Bush on Twitter even as the former Florida governor continued to talk on television. In a pre-taped interview with Fox News Sunday, Trump also said that had he been president, 'there's a good chance' the 11 September hijackers 'would not have been in our country'. All but one of the 19 men who hijacked planes and flew them into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a field in Pennsylvania entered the country legally on business or tourist visas. One entered on a student visa." ...

... Ezra Klein: "I don't know if Donald Trump will win the Republican nomination. But even if he doesn't, it's increasingly clear he's going to destroy Jeb Bush before he loses. Over the past week, Trump and Bush have been in an argument that basically boils down to the question of was George W. Bush president on 9/11/2001?... Jeb Bush ... argues that his brother was only responsible for what happened after 9/11, suggesting, perhaps, that someone else bore the responsibilities of the presidency on 9/11/2001. Or, to be a bit kinder to his position, he argues that the measure of as president isn't whether something like 9/11 happens, but whether it happens again.... The result is this absolutely brutal interview CNN's Jake Tapper conducted with Bush. 'If your brother and his administration bear no responsibility at all,' Tapper asks, 'how do you then make the jump that President Obama and Secretary Clinton are responsible for what happened at Benghazi?' Bush's response is almost physically painful to watch":

     ... CW: Jeb! is right about one thing: the Obama administration did not provide the security force Ambassador Stevens repeatedly requested in the months prior to his assassination; in fact, the State Department reportedly reduced the security force. This, of course, is analogous to the Bush administration's ignoring the infamous presidential daily briefing memo titled, "Osama bin Laden determined to attack in U.S." Moreover, no one in the Obama administration is claiming that "Obama kept Benghazi safe," but Jeb! repeatedly claims " my brother kept us safe." While it is true that the Libyan government was ultimately responsible for securing the Benghazi facility, no one at State could have thought Libya was up to the task. ...

... Kevin Drum: "Trump has lately moved on to a more defensible criticism of George Bush, asking Jeb, 'why did your brother attack and destabilize the Middle East by attacking Iraq when there were no weapons of mass destruction?' This is ... interesting ... because it gives us another chance to harass Trump for lying about his opposition to the war during the second GOP debate.... 'I'm the only person up here that fought against going into Iraq.'... So far, no one has managed to find even the slightest record of Trump opposing the Iraq War before it started.... It wasn't until November 2004 -- nearly two years after the war started -- that he finally spoke up."

Say What? Tom McCarthy: "... Ben Carson on Sunday upended a widely accepted narrative of the hunt for Osama bin Laden..., suggesting US ally Saudi Arabia cultivated secret ties with the terrorist leader and knew where he was after the attacks.... Pressed by ABC News host George Stephanopoulos on Sunday, Carson [said]..., 'I think [moderate Arab states] would have been concerned, and if we were serious about it ... I think that would have trumped any loyalty they had to Osama bin Laden.' Stephanopoulos said: 'But they didn't have any loyalty to him. The Saudis kicked him out. He was their enemy.' Carson responded: 'Well, you may not think they had any loyalty to him. But I believe otherwise.'"

Beyond the Beltway

Today in Responsible Gun Ownership. Peter Holley of the Washington Post: In Wyoming, a bicyclist shot & killed a combat service dog, who did two tours in Iraq, under conditions that his owner & handler find highly suspicious. CW: I hate stories like this.

Melissa Montoya, et al., of USA Today: "A manhunt was underway Sunday after a shooting rampage at a zombie-themed festival left one person dead, five wounded and pandemonium on downtown streets [of Fort Myers, Florida]. The wounded victims at ZombiCon on Saturday night were hospitalized with non-life threatening injuries, according to police Lt. Victor Medico. The shooting was the second instance of gunfire downtown within a week. ZombiCon, an annual event in its ninth year, was expected to draw more than 20,000 people." The Fort Myers News-Press story is here.

Packing Heat in the City of God. George Hunter of the Detroit News: "Violence marred a church service Sunday when a man with a brick attacked the pastor, who whipped out his Glock handgun and fired several shots, killing the man, Detroit police said. The incident allegedly happened about 15 minutes into the 1:30 p.m. service at the City of God ministries storefront church on Grand River near Lahser, Assistant Chief Steve Dolunt said. 'The pastor had had issues with the man before,' Dolunt said.... The pastor was taken into police custody for questioning, Dolunt said." ...

... Dear Pastor: In a roomful of people, there is more than one way to subdue a brick-wielding attacker. The other ways do not involve deadly force. Love, CW

Your Heartwarming Story of the Day. AP: "After a California couple called off their wedding, the bride-to-be's family decided to turn the $35,000 event into a feast for the homeless. The bride's mother, Kari Duane, said Sunday that rather than cancel the reception, they invited Sacramento's homeless for a once in a lifetime meal on Saturday at the Citizen Hotel, one of the city's finest venues.... She said they had already paid for a reception that would have hosted 120 guests. About 90 homeless single people, grandparents and whole families with newborns showed up and enjoyed a meal that included appetizers, salad, gnocchi, salmon, and tri-tip sirloin."

Way Beyond

Nicky Woolf of the Guardian: "Canadians head into a nail-bitingly close election on Monday in which the incumbent Conservative, Stephen Harper, is struggling to hold on to power in the face of a challenge by Justin Trudeau's Liberal party." ...

News Ledes

New York Times: "The wave of deadly attacks that has roiled Israel this month hit the southern desert city of Beersheba on Sunday, where a Palestinian armed with a pistol and a knife grabbed another weapon from a soldier, fatally shot him and wounded at least nine other people, including several police officers, according to the police. In the confusion as the attack unfolded, a migrant who was apparently mistaken for a second assailant was shot and seriously wounded by an Israeli security guard, then beaten by a mob. He later died of his wounds, according to Israeli news reports. Witnesses who said they knew the man identified him as an Eritrean asylum seeker."

Reuters: "More than 10,000 migrants are currently in Serbia, stranded by limits imposed further west in Europe, the UN refugee agency said on Monday, and warned of shortages in aid. Thousands of people clamoured to enter Croatia from Serbia on Monday after a night spent in the cold and mud, their passage west slowed by a Slovenian effort to limit the flow of refugees into western Europe."