The Commentariat -- Sept. 20, 2013

NEW. Ed O'Keefe of the Washington Post: "The House passed a short-term spending plan Friday morning that would continue funding government operations through mid-December but withhold funding for President Obama's signature health-care law, firing the opening salvo in what promises to be a contentious 10 days of debate on Capitol Hill over extending government operations by only three months." ...

... ** "The Crazy Party." Paul Krugman provides a history lesson that illuminates just how crazy the Republican party is. ...

... We Hope You & Your Children Starve! Ron Nixon of the New York Times: "House Republicans narrowly pushed through a bill on Thursday that slashes billions of dollars from the food stamp program, over the objections of Democrats and a veto threat from President Obama. The vote set up what promised to be a contentious fight with the Senate and dashed hopes for passage this year of a new five-year farm bill. The vote was 217 to 210." ...

House Republicans' vote to deny nutrition assistance to hungry, low-income Americans is shameful. The Senate will never pass such hateful, punitive legislation. -- Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) ...

     ... ** Tim Egan: "A Republican majority that refuses to govern on other issues found the votes to shove nearly 4 million people back into poverty, joining 46.5 million at a desperation line that has failed to improve since the dawn of the Great Recession. It's a heartless bill, aimed to hurt. Republicans don't see it that way, of course. They think too many of their fellow citizens are cheats and loafers, dining out on lobster." They're hurting their own voters: "Among the 254 counties where food stamp use doubled during the economic collapse, Mitt Romney won 213 of them, Bloomberg News reported." ...

... Charles Pierce: on the dangers of Chuck Todd-style "journalism": "According to Chuck's notion of what his job is, when conservative politicians latch onto a phony Fox News story [all SNAP recipients dine on lobster while you're whipping up mac & cheese for the kiddies!] in order to make policy, it is the job of the Democrats -- or, perhaps, of the SNAP recipients themselves, who have, as we know, virtually unlimited access to the airwaves -- to correct the arrant bullshit." ...

I guarantee you one thing, Mike [Lee] and I are going to fight with every breath in our body [the defund ObamaCare]. As Churchill said, we will fight on the beaches, we will fight in the streets, we will fight at every step to stop the biggest job killer in America. -- Ted Cruz (R-Texas), on Hannity Wednesday night

Or Not. Shutdowns are bad, shutdowns are not worth it, this law [the Affordable Care Act] is not worth causing a shutdown over. -- Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), at a press conference Thursday

... Dave Weigel of Slate explains the Republicans' "make-believe fight to defund ObamaCare." ...

... Ultra-conservative Byron York, writing in the Washington Examiner, explains an element of the ruse: under Senate rules, Cruz, Lee, et al., can't even filibuster for defunding ObamaCare. A Republican "Senate aide says no one should be surprised. 'This is not a gimmick or a scheme,' says the aide. 'It is Rule 22 of the U.S. Senate. Everybody knew this. This is an existing rule. It is taught in Senate class when you do your orientation. It is not a surprise. Nobody sprung it on him [Sen. Cruz].... As the prospect of an actual legislative battle over defunding nears, it's becoming more and more apparent that Sen. Cruz and his allies have very few options. In the end, it's not likely to be much of a battle at all." ...

... Alexander Bolton of the Hill explains how Harry Reid will nip the filibuster of the funding resolution in the bud -- without even allowing for the usual 30 hours of "debate" & at the same time sparing his Republican friends from having to vote for funding the Affordable Care Act. If this is how the story plays out, it's kinda fascinating. ...

... Jonathan Chait has an excellent long piece on "the plot to kill Obamacare.... The historical echo is fitting in the sense that Obamacare has come to fill the place in the conservative psyche once occupied by communism and later by taxes.... The transformation of Obamacare from a close relative of Republicans' own health-care ideas to the locus of evil in modern life is owing to several things, including the almost tautological political fact that its success would be Obama's.... [Obamacare] reforms have added up to a revolution in modern medical economics.... The contrast between the cautiousness of mainstream health-policy analysts and the perfervid certainty of those on the right reprises what has become a common pattern in American political debate.... The right has dominated the Obamacare public debate through blunt rhetorical force." ...

... This message brought to you by the Koch brothers: Ladies, if you sign up for ObamaCare, creepy Uncle Sam will rape you:

       ... Don't worry, gentlemen, creepy Uncle Sam is a proctologist, too:

     ... Jon Chait: "The rape-clown argument ... is the product of sheer fantasy. In what world does giving people tax credits to offset the cost of private insurance subject them to the risk of some kind of dystopian federal intrusion?" Read the post for wingers' answer to that question. ...

... We Hope You & Your Children Die of Curable Illnesses. Lizette Alvarez & Robert Pear of the New York Times: "As many states prepare to introduce a linchpin of the 2010 health care law -- the insurance exchanges designed to make health care more affordable -- a handful of others are taking the opposite tack: They are complicating enrollment efforts and limiting information about the new program. Chief among them is Florida, where Gov. Rick Scott and the Republican-dominated Legislature have made it more difficult for Floridians to obtain the cheapest insurance rates under the exchange and to get help from specially trained outreach counselors." ...

... New York Times Editors: "Florida has been shameless in attempting to destroy what top officials call 'Obamacare,' with tactics that will deprive its own poor and middle-income citizens of the benefits of the national reform law. Although almost 25 percent of Florida's population, or 3.8 million people, are uninsured, the state declined to expand its Medicaid program to cover more low-income residents despite extremely generous federal matching grants to pay for such expansions. And it refused to set up its own health care exchange, leaving that job to the federal government. A few months ago, the Republican-dominated Legislature and Republican governor stripped the state insurance commissioner's office of its broad powers to hold down premium increases to affordable levels. In the latest outrage, the state Department of Health on Sept. 9 ordered some 60 county health agencies, whose clinics treat large numbers of poor and uninsured people, to bar from their premises counselors, or 'navigators,' seeking to inform people how to enroll in insurance plans and get subsidies under the health reform law."

Michael Schmidt of the New York Times: "The director of the F.B.I., James B. Comey, provided on Thursday the most up-to-date account of the gunman's rampage at the Washington Navy Yard, saying that he was 'hunting people to shoot' as he made his way through the building but did not appear to have targeted a particular person or group of people." ...

... Jia Lynn Yang & Matea Gold of the Washington Post: "USIS, the Falls Church government contractor that handled the background check for national security leaker Edward Snowden, said Thursday it also vetted Navy Yard shooter Aaron Alexis for his secret-level clearance in 2007. The company, which is under criminal investigation over whether it misled the government about the thoroughness of its background checks, said earlier this week that it hadn't handled Alexis' case." CW: Vetted? Make that "was paid to vet." ...

... Danielle Ivory, et al., of Bloomberg News: "Both the Snowden and Alexis cases have called attention to an underfunded, flawed vetting process for obtaining clearances, where quality is forfeited in favor of speed and underpaid investigators rush to keep up with demand, according to security specialists."

The Hon. Tom Delay. Ed O'Keefe of the Washington Post: "A Texas appellate court has overturned the conviction of former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) for allegedly scheming to influence Texas state elections with corporate money. A three-judge panel voted 2-1 to overturn the conviction, calling the evidence 'legally insufficient,' according to court papers released Thursday. The decision formally acquits DeLay of all charges, but it could still be appealed by the government." (Read the court's majority opinion and dissenting opinions.)" Read the whole story. ...

... Charles Pierce: "Let us not forget that, indicted or not, convicted or not, imprisoned or not, redeemed or not, Tom DeLay never drew a breath in public life when he wasn't making it infinitely worse than it was before he got elected."

Nicolle Gaouette of Bloomberg News: "The Kennedy mystique dominated a Senate hearing [Thursday] on Caroline Kennedy's nomination to be U.S. ambassador to Japan, as lawmakers spent about as much time praising her family's legacy as they did asking questions." ...

Michigan Back Roads: Ionia, Michigan. "There is something going on all the time and much of it takes place in the historic downtown district. The historic architecture in downtown Ionia, Michigan is enough to encourage a day trip just to stroll along and admire the buildings. The museums and court house of Ionia sandstone are unique in the state.  The theatre is beautiful and will take you back in time." ...

     ... CW: Yes, indeed, there is always something going on in Ionia. That's why when you take that stroll, you might want to wear full-body armor. ...

     ... Responsible Gun Owners, Ctd. Angie Jackson of MLive: "Two men died Wednesday, Sept. 18, in a shootout that stemmed from a road rage confrontation, Ionia, [Michigan] police said.... Initial investigation shows the Ionia men, ages 43 and 56, pulled into the car wash parking lot after a road rage incident. They exited their vehicles and eventually drew handguns and exchanged fire, police said.... Police said both men ... held permits to carry concealed weapons." ...

     ... Digby: "... there is a lesson in this for all of us. Behave as though any nut you come across in public is armed and willing to use his gun whenever he's crossed. Because freedom." Thanks to James S. for the link. ...

     ... CW Note: authorities in Michigan -- which is not the craziest state in the Union -- decided these two violent, unstable men were fit to own firearms & to carry them into public places.

... Thanks to Jeanne B. for the above.

Laurie Goodstein of the New York Times: "Pope Francis, in the first extensive interview of his six-month-old papacy, said that the Roman Catholic Church had grown 'obsessed' with preaching about abortion, gay marriage and contraception, and that he has chosen not to speak of those issues despite recriminations from some critics. In remarkably blunt language, Francis sought to set a new tone for the church, saying it should be a 'home for all' and not a 'small chapel' focused on doctrine, orthodoxy and a limited agenda of moral teachings." ...

... Andy Borowitz: "Saying he was 'sorry it had to come to this,' Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia said today that he was forming an 'independent search committee' to select a new Pope.... Justice Scalia said he had 'no other alternative' but to pick a new Pope himself after reading what he called a 'disturbing' interview with Pope Francis today: 'The Pope said he doesn't want to speak out against abortion and gay marriage. Well, sorry, my friend, but that's the entire job description.'"

News Ledes

Chicago Tribune: A three-year-old boy was among "13 people shot as neighbors played basketball in Cornell Square Park in the Back of the Yards Thursday night.... Witnesses told police a gray sedan pulled up to the park around 10:15 p.m. and two people opened fire in the 1800 block of West 51st Street. Thirteen people who were on the court or were watching the pick-up game were hit by gunfire, many of them in the arms or legs."

Reuters: "New rules limiting emissions from U.S. power plants that are expected to be proposed on Friday will "provide certainty" to the coal industry, environment and energy chiefs told lawmakers anxious about the fuel's future."

Guardian: "The Syrian conflict has reached a stalemate and President Bashar al-Assad's government will call for a ceasefire at a long-delayed conference in Geneva on the state's future, the country's deputy prime minister has said in an interview with the Guardian."

New York Times: "Iran's leaders, seizing on perceived flexibility in a private letter from President Obama, have decided to gamble on forging a swift agreement over their nuclear program with the goal of ending crippling sanctions, a prominent adviser to the Iranian leadership said Thursday."

The Commentariat -- Sept. 19, 2013

Ben Protess & Jessica Silver-Greenberg of the New York Times: "More than a year after a group of traders at JPMorgan Chase caused a multibillion-dollar loss, government authorities on Thursday imposed a $920 million fine on the bank and shifted scrutiny to its senior management. Extracting the fines and a rare admission of wrongdoing from JPMorgan Chase, the nation's largest bank, regulators in Washington and London took aim at a pervasive breakdown in controls and leadership at the bank. The deal resolves investigations from four regulators..., but the bank has struggled to settle with another regulator, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, which is investigating whether the bank's trading manipulated the market for financial contracts known as derivatives."

We have anarchists running the House of Representatives. -- Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.)

We are completely united on this issue. We're not defunding ObamaCare and we're not negotiating on the debt ceiling.... If they think we're going to back off, they're wrong, they're on a different planet. -- Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), on Senate Democrats

We can't let the government shut down. We can't be kamikazes and we can't be General Custer. -- Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.), who now passes for a moderate

... Any strategy to repeal, delay or replace the law must have a credible chance of succeeding or affecting broad public opinion positively. The defunding strategy doesn't. Going down that road would strengthen the president while alienating independents. It is an ill-conceived tactic, and Republicans should reject it. -- Karl Rove, in a Wall Street Journal op-ed

... Paul Kane & Ed O'Keefe of the Washington Post: "House Republican leaders announced Wednesday morning that they would take a risky double-barreled attack on President Obama's health-care law, making it the cornerstone fight over government funding due to expire Sept. 30 and the effort to lift the Treasury's borrowing authority. Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio), flanked by his leadership team, told reporters that the stopgap government funding bill that they will advance Friday would yield to conservative demands of including a rider to block funding for the law commonly known as Obamacare." ...

... Greg Sargent: "... all that has changed today is that GOP leaders have just confirmed they are not yet willing to face the inevitable reckoning that will take place when they admit House Republicans don't have the leverage they need to block Obamacare. House GOP leaders have simply confirmed that they can't overcome internal conservative demands for a Total War posture against the health law, and -- for now, anyway -- will continue to placate those demands, even though those leaders themselves think this posture is insane, unworkable, and self destructive." ...

... The New York Times Editors call Boehner's move a step in "the march to anarchy." ...

... Dana Milbank: "As House Republican backbenchers hurtle toward a government shutdown and a default on the national debt, their leaders remain in charge in title only.... The GOP followership surrendered without much of a fight Wednesday morning at a meeting of House Republicans in the Capitol basement. After rank-and-file members shot down their plan to avoid a shutdown, the followers announced to the media a new plan: Not only would they refuse to fund the government beyond Sept. 30 unless President Obama agrees to abolish Obamacare ... but they would allow the government to default on its debt in October if Obama does not meet their demands on taxes, energy policy and the health-care law." OR, as Nicole G. writes in today's Comments, "Oxymoron Alert!!! 'House Republican leaders...'" ...

... Gail Collins, with a little help from Ted Cruz, summarizes the Republican obsession with repealing ObamaCare: "The new health care law is going to be terrible, wreaking havoc on American families, ruining their lives. And they are going to love it so much they will never have the self-control necessary to give it up." CW: the real problem Republicans have with ObamaCare is that they know it's a fairly good law, one that every voting American knows Republicans oppose. ...

... MEANWHILE, Elise Viebeck of the Hill: "Tensions are rising between House and Senate Republicans over which conference will lead the fight to defund ObamaCare. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and a spokesman for Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) each said Wednesday that the task is for Republicans in the other chamber as pressure rises to fund the government." ...

     ... Josh Marshall of TPM. "Truly in Lord of the Flies territory.... So [Cruz has] created this monster he can't control. Only he was the monster the last crew created. I can't keep up." ...

     ... Brian Beutler has an excellent piece in Salon on how Boehner has boxed in Senate Republicans -- like Ted Cruz & Mike Lee (Utah) who have been working the Defund ObamaCare circuit. "If they pass up the chance [to filibuster ObamaCare funding], they'll expose the defund campaign as a sham. And at the end of the process, some Senate Republicans are going to have to vote -- at least -- to give Reid and Democrats the power to strip the defunding measure. They'll be damaged goods. Either way, someone loses, and all because conservatives in the Senate thought they could demagogue the issue without ever having to put their credibility on the line." ...

... Bloomberg News Editors: "A mere 48 months after the law was introduced, only 42 months after it was signed, with just two weeks until one of its main provisions takes effect, Republicans today finally offered their alternative to the Affordable Care Act. Which would be cause for genuine (if belated) congratulations, except for one thing: It's not really an alternative.... Any plan billed as an alternative has to meet one definitional threshold, and only one: covering a similar number of Americans as Obamacare. To ... be a better alternative, a proposal should cover a similar number of Americans at a lower cost or with fewer unwanted consequences." Republicans provided no evidence their plan would do either.

... The Manchurian President. The good news out of all this is that John Boehner has finally found the smoking gun that proves once & for all that there is a commie-loving, anti-American imposter in the White House. Could be grounds for impeachment:

... Paul Krugman: "A decade ago..., I argued that the modern Republican party was a 'revolutionary power' in the sense once defined by, of all people, Henry Kissinger -- a power that no longer accepted any of the norms of politics as usual, that was willing not just to take radical positions but to act in ways that undermined the whole system of governance people thought they understood. At the time, I got a lot of grief for being so 'shrill'. The accepted thing was to criticize both sides equally.... So, now we face the imminent threat of a government shutdown and/or a U.S. government default because Republicans refuse to accept the notion that duly enacted legislation should be allowed to go into effect, and repealed only through constitutional means. Oh, and the cause for which most of the GOP is willing to threaten chaos is the noble endeavor of ensuring that tens of millions of Americans continue to lack essential health care." ...

... Tom Kludt of TPM: "MSNBC host Chuck Todd said Wednesday that when it comes to misinformation about the new federal health care law, don't expect members of the media to correct the record. During a segment on 'Morning Joe,' former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell (D) speculated that most opponents of the Affordable Care Act have been fed erroneous information about the law. Todd said that Republicans 'have successfully messaged against it' but he disagrees with those who argue that the media should educate the public on the law. According to Todd, that's President Barack Obama's job.... Todd took to Twitter later in the morning to argue that his actual point was that 'folks shouldn't expect media' to do what the White House has failed to do in its rollout of the health care law." Thanks to contributor James S. for the heads-up. Includes video. You decide. ...

     ... Charles Pierce: "What is my profession's primary contribution to the fact that this country is utterly fked? Right there, folks." ...

... Binyamin Appelbaum of the New York Times: "As Congressional Republicans and the White House hurtle toward another showdown over federal spending, the Fed said it was concerned that fiscal policy once again 'is restraining economic growth,' threatening to undermine what the Fed had described just months ago as a recovery gaining strength. Stock markets jumped after the 2 p.m. announcement, with the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index touching a record high and the Dow Jones industrial average ahead more than 150 points." ...

... Kevin Drum: Bernanke to Republicans: stop being the stupid party." ...

... Patti Domm of CNBC: "Stocks roared to new all-time highs and bond yields retreated as the Fed defied the market's conventional thinking by keeping its unconventional bond-buying program intact. Most major Wall Street banks and firms expected the Fed to slightly pare back its $85 billion monthly bond buying program, by $10 billion to $15 billion. But the Fed said it wasn't ready to cut back, citing a tightening in financial conditions that it said could hurt the economy and employment." ...

... Neil Irwin of the Washington Post: "Why didn't the Fed taper? Because Congress is horrible."

CW: In today's issue of Obama the Weakling, Major Garrett of the National Journal (formerly of Fox "News") provides the copy, putting the onus on Senate Democrats for crippling Obama. I'd give Garrett the David Brooks Award for this little masterpiece of hyperbole, carefully woven around scraps of factual fabric.

Ernesto Londoño, et al., of the Washington Post: "Defense Department officials on Wednesday ordered a broad review of the procedures used to grant security clearances to ­employees and contractors, acknowledging that years of escalating warning signs about Navy Yard gunman Aaron Alexis went unheeded. Top intelligence and military officials concede that issuing millions of people security clearances for up to 10 years without regular reviews is a serious safety risk." ...

... Steve Vogel, et al., of the Washington Post: "Navy Yard gunman Aaron Alexis had sought treatment for insomnia in the emergency rooms of two Veterans Affairs hospitals in the past month, but he told doctors he was not depressed and was not thinking of harming others, federal officials said Wednesday.... Alexis had left records of his troubles in local police reports, in Navy files and in VA medical records. But it was never quite enough to set off broader alarms or to revoke any of the privileges that the government had extended Alexis as an IT contractor." ...

... Sari Horwitz, et al., of the Washington Post: "Aaron Alexis carved bizarre phrases on the stock of his shotgun before he killed 12 people at the Washington Navy Yard on Monday, and investigators are hoping the words provide clues to what prompted the shooting, two law enforcement officials said. The phrases were 'Better off this way' and 'My ELF weapon,' according to the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing.... ELF generally stands for 'extremely low frequency' and can refer to weather or communications efforts, among other things." ...

... CBS News: "Washington Navy Yard gunman Aaron Alexis tried to buy an AR-15 assault rifle at a Virginia gun store last week after test firing one, but the store wouldn't sell it to him right away, CBS News has learned. The reason for the refusal isn't clear. Alexis then purchased a shotgun he used in his rampage, sources tell CBS News." ...

... ** Frank Rich: "Perhaps the best thing we can do is at least call out the problem for what it is: state-sponsored terrorism. The American people and their elected representatives allow our own homegrown equivalent of suicide bombers -- suicide shooters -- legal access to weapons with which they can mow down innocents almost anywhere they please.... This country is soft on domestic terrorism." Rich also weighs in -- brilliantly -- on other topics. ...

... On Tuesday, Ryan Broderick of BuzzFeed knocked out a piece titled "9 Potential Mass Shootings That Were Stopped by Someone with a Personally-Owned Firearm." ...

     ... Justin Peters of Slate: "The [Broderick] piece has been wildly popular on social media, which isn't surprising: it's a simple, provocative piece that ostensibly validates the gun lobby's contention that there’s an inverse relationship between private gun ownership and mass shootings. But like many simple and provocative things, the BuzzFeed story is more than a little misleading." Peters systematically, um, shoots down Broderick's post. Worth a read.

Chris Geider of BuzzFeed: "The Labor Department announced Wednesday that federal laws governing private employee pension and related benefit plans will be interpreted to recognize all legal marriages of same-sex couples, regardless of where the couple is living currently. The decision to utilize a 'place of celebration' rule, rather than a 'place of domicile' rule follows the lead set by the Treasury Department in recognizing marriages for purposes of the tax code so long as they were legal in the state where the marriage was granted."

Ray Hennessey of Entrepreneur: "Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz is asking customers to no longer bring guns to the coffee chain, saying the presence of weapons in its stores is 'unsettling and upsetting' to too many of its customers. The request is not an outright ban. Customers who bring a gun will still be served, Schultz says. But it is a marked change in policy for the chain, which, up to now, simply respected state law on the issue. The vast majority of U.S. states allow the open carrying of firearms." Via Patrick Himes of Salon.

CW: Pravda.ru published this opinion piece by John McCain, which he wrote in response to Vladimir Putin's New York Times op-ed, published last week. McCain ignores Syria & focuses instead on this theme: "Russians deserve better than Putin." It's a powerful piece. ...

     ... Pravda.ru, however is not exactly Pravda. Vadim Gorshenim, the CEO of Pravda.ru, gives his characterization of what Pravda is. Or isn't.

David Ignatius of the Washington Post: "Obama has accomplished goals that most Americans endorse [re: Syria], given the unpalatable menu of choices. Polls suggest that the public overwhelmingly backs the course Obama has chosen.... Yet the opinion of elites is sharply negative... He can propose what the country wants, succeed at it and still get hammered as a failure." Via Greg Sargent. ...

... A Step on the Road to Damascus. Barbara Starr of CNN: "The Pentagon has 'put a proposal on the table' for U.S. military forces to train and equip moderate Syrian opposition forces for the first time, two Obama administration officials told CNN. The idea has been under consideration since the August 21 chemical weapons attack outside Damascus, which the United States says was carried out by the regime of Bashar al-Assad. There are few specifics on troops or other aspects of the military proposal, but both officials said the effort envisions training taking place in a country near Syria." ...

... CW: There are back roads to my cottage in the Catskills. Taking them shortens my route, but the roads are not well-marked, & my car doesn't have a GPS. One of these routes takes me through the tiny town pf Damascus, New York. This year, I had to stop & ask a woman jogger, "Is this the road to Damascus?" This pleased me a great deal, but I did not experience a conversion, just a surer sense that I would not be getting lost in the backwoods. ...

... Nour Malas of the Wall Street Journal: "The spread of ISIS..., an Iraqi al Qaeda outfit..., illustrates the failure of Western-backed Syrian moderates to establish authority in opposition-held parts of Syria, some of which have been under rebel control for over a year. The proliferation of the Sunni jihadists and extremists has brought a new type of terror to the lives of many Syrians who have endured civil war in the north. Summary executions of Alawites and Shiites, who are seen as apostates, attacks on Shiite shrines, and kidnappings and assassinations of pro-Western rebels are on the rise." ...

... Sammy Ketz of AFP: "Syria and key ally Russia joined forces on Wednesday against any Western-backed United Nations resolution that would allow military action, as Moscow accused UN chemical weapons inspectors of bias. The United States, meanwhile, said it will maintain the threat of force if Damascus fails to abide by an accord to surrender its chemical arsenal, and the United Nations hit back at the Russian accusations." ...

... Thomas Erdbrink of the New York Times: "On the eve of a visit by Iran's moderate president, Hassan Rouhani, to the United States, the Iranian authorities on Wednesday unexpectedly freed 11 of Iran's most prominent political prisoners, including Nasrin Sotoudeh, a human rights lawyer." ...

... Tracy Connor of NBC News: "Iranian President Hassan Rouhani told NBC News on Wednesday that the country will never develop nuclear weapons and that he has the clout to make a deal with the West on the disputed atomic program." ...

... Mark Landler of the New York Times: "At the core of Iran's recent diplomatic charm offensive -- a process that has included the release of 11 prominent political prisoners and a series of conciliatory statements by top Iranian officials -- is an exchange of letters, confirmed by both sides, between Mr. Obama and President Hassan Rouhani. The election of Mr. Rouhani, a moderate, in June kindled hopes that diplomacy might end the chronic impasse with Iran over its nuclear ambitions. But the letters, and the cautious hope they have generated, suggest there is a genuine opportunity for change." ...

... Fareed Zakaria of Time: "This has been a particularly bad time for Obama officials to thump their chests about credibility because for the past few months, the Iranian government has been sending remarkably conciliatory signals."

Massimo Calabresi of Time: Rick "Perry's full-time job: taking credit for jobs he didn't create.... Unless Perry is claiming his policies would create more oil and gas, spike immigration or change the established borders of the United States, he might better serve Texans, and America, by cutting the amount of taxpayer-funded job posturing he engages in." CW: in fairness to Perry, he may be so damned dumb that he believes his own BS.

More Social Scientists Produce More Predictable Results. Tom Jacobs of Salon: "Writing in the Psychology of Women Quarterly, Indiana University researchers Paul Wright and Michelle Funk report people who admitted to watching pornography were less likely to support affirmative action for women...."

The Commentariat -- Sept. 18, 2013

NEW. Pedro da Costa & Alister Bull of Reuters: "The U.S. Federal Reserve said on Wednesday that it would continue buying bonds at an $85 billion monthly pace for now, surprising financial markets that were braced for a reduction in the central bank's economic stimulus."

Craig Whitlock, et al., of the Washington Post: "The man named as the shooter in Monday’s Washington Navy Yard rampage had a highly checkered four-year career as a Navy reservist, a period marked by repeated run-ins with his military superiors and the law.... Aaron Alexis was cited at least eight times for misconduct for offenses as minor as a traffic ticket and showing up late for work but also as serious as insubordination and disorderly conduct, said a Navy official.... Law enforcement officials said Tuesday that Alexis had acted alone in the rampage and engaged in a firefight with police that lasted more than 30 minutes. They said they are reviewing his medical and criminal histories...." ...

... Theresa Vargas & others of the Washington Post have more on Alexis's history of erratic behavior & run-ins with the law. "A Navy official ... said that Alexis received a general discharge for 'misconduct' and that [a] 2010 firearms incident in Texas played a role in his departure." ...

... Joseph Goldstein, et al., of the New York Times: "The former Navy reservist who killed 12 people in a shooting rampage at the Washington Navy Yard on Monday had exhibited signs of mental illness dating back more than a decade, including a recent episode in which he complained about hearing voices and of people sending 'vibrations to his body' to prevent him from sleeping, law enforcement officials said Tuesday. Only a month ago, the gunman, Aaron Alexis, 34, was suffering from hallucinations so severe that he called the Newport Police Department in Rhode Island where he told officers he was on business." ...

... Craig Whitlock, et al.: "Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel intends to order a security review at all U.S. military bases worldwide, a senior Pentagon official said Tuesday, a day after a contract worker -- who had obtained a security clearance despite a history of violent behavior -- killed 12 people in a shooting rampage at the Washington Navy Yard." ...

... Jake Tapper of CNN: "Navy officers were aware that in 2004 Aaron Alexis was arrested for shooting out the tires of a car in a black-out fueled by anger, and yet they admitted him into the Navy and granted him security clearance in 2007 anyway...." ...

... Carol Leonnig & Ed O'Keefe of the Post: "The owner of the company that employed Aaron Alexis, who police have identified as the Navy Yard shooter, said he would not have hired the Fort Worth computer technician if he had known about some of his brushes with the law and said the military should have shared more information with the company about Alexis' history. His complaints come amid calls from several members of Congress, including the senator [Thomas Carper (D-Del.)] with lead federal oversight over the District of Columbia and federal employees, for a serious examination of how federal agencies and government contractors conduct background checks on potential hires. A Defense Department report to be released Tuesday raised questions about whether the Navy had been properly conducting such checks on government contractors." ...

... The Post is liveblogging developments. ...

... The Post has sketchy profiles of the victims. ...

... Some Massachusetts academics do a regression analysis & conclude just what you & I would have expected, but not what Wayne LaPierre would want us to know: "We observed a robust correlation between higher levels of gun ownership and higher firearm homicide rates. Although we could not determine causation, we found that states with higher rates of gun ownership had disproportionately large numbers of deaths from firearm-related homicides." ...

     ... Charles Pierce: "The results of the study may seem little more than an exercise in confirming the obvious, but that's an exercise the country needs. It needs to have the obvious -- guns kill people, health-insurance helps keep them alive, large banks are all thieves, economic oligarchy is incompatible with political democracy ... proven to it, over and over again, because the industry of bullshit has become too efficient. The contempt for learning, the scorn heaped on reason, the distrust of expertise, has leached like foul water into all of our institutions, and particularly into our politics." ...

     ... CW: I don't know which comes first here, the chicken or the egg. Do wingers mistrust science & other book-learning stuff because the facts refute their beliefs, or do their beliefs "prove" to them that scholars & scientists are untrustworthy? ...

... Wingers would like you to know that Alexis was a "liberal who supported Obama," according to a self-described conservative friend of his. ...

... You may have heard -- because that is what has been reported -- that the NRA opposes allowing people with Alexis's mental health history to purchase a firearm, but Steve M. of NMMNB sets the record straight. Since no judicial authority had committed Alexis to a mental institution, the NRA deems him good to pack heat.

... David Edwards of the Raw Story: "New Fox & Friends host Elisabeth Hasselbeck [who used to be the winger dingbat on ABC's "The View"] on Tuesday suggested that 'the left' was trying to make Monday's mass shooting at the Washington Navy Yard about 'gun control,' when what the country really needed was a registry to track video game purchases." ...

... Don't worry, Elisabeth. As Dana Milbank notes, the prospects for gun control legislation are nil. Deranged Americans planning suicide by mass-murder will still acquire guns in our wonderful free-market system, and these periodic massacres will continue apace, providing the news media with occasional ratings boosts & non-victims many opportunities to tut-tut about whatever aspect of the latest shooting spree most irritates us.

C. J. Chivers takes the New York Times' third stab at reading the U.N. inspectors' report on the August chemical weapons attack. Each new version of the story differs from the one before. Now Chivers writes the lede, "Details buried in the United Nations report on the Syrian chemical weapons attack point directly at elite military formations loyal to President Bashar al-Assad, some of the strongest findings to date that suggest the government gassed its own people.... The inspectors, instructed to investigate the attack but not to assign blame, nonetheless listed the precise compass directions of flight for two rocket strikes that appeared to lead back toward the government's elite redoubt in Damascus, Mount Qasioun, which overlooks and protects neighborhoods and Mr. Assad's presidential palace and where his Republican Guard and the army's powerful Fourth Division are entrenched."

Peter Baker & Jeremy Peters of the New York Times: "... deep in his fifth year in office, Mr. Obama finds himself frustrated by members of his own party weary of his leadership and increasingly willing to defy him." CW: I don't have a lot of faith in either Baker or Peters when it comes to analyzing stuff, but this report seems to be pretty even-handed, & the writers manage to get real people commenting on the record. ...

... Arnie Parnes of the Hill: "A struggling President Obama is calling for help from members of his first-term A-Team, who have left the White House for other jobs. With his poll numbers falling and his second-term floundering so far, Obama has sought help from the former aides who helped catapult him to the presidency.... Ex-advisers like [David] Plouffe, [Robert] Gibbs and David Axelrod routinely participate in calls with current White House staffers, and Obama has invited the first-term all-stars to strategy sessions on other issues too, former aides said." ...

... Katrina vanden Heuvel of the Nation, in the Washington Post: "As the liberal revolt against the potential nomination of Larry Summers to head the Federal Reserve revealed, President Obama faces increasing pressure from a wing of the Democratic Party no longer willing to sign onto the conservative economic policies of Wall Street. President Obama announced that he would not negotiate on raising the debt ceiling. That he would not sign on to the delay or defunding of health-care reform. That he wanted the harsh and mindless across-the-board cuts known as sequestration repealed... This time his 'bright red lines' might mean something, because increasingly restive progressive legislators in the House and Senate will hold him to his promise." ...

... BUT. Extreme Austerity. Harry Stein of the Center for American Progress: The entire conversation about federal spending, across party lines, has moved way to the right. "Last year, the House of Representatives demonstrated an understanding that austerity could go too far when it rejected the extreme Republican Study Committee budget. Senate Democrats now accept spending levels in line with previous [Paul] Ryan budgets, and the federal budget is stable over the medium term. Despite all that, House Republican leaders are demanding a new round of discretionary spending cuts." ...

... Greg Sargent points to this National Review post by Bob Costa, which details how Tea Party & like-minded pressure groups are revved up & fiercely pushing GOP members of Congress to insist upon defunding ObamaCare, much to the consternation of Republican leadership. "For the tea-party coalition and its leaders, it's a triumphant return to power inside the Beltway...." ...

... Sargent: "The scam is working, successfully persuading untold numbers of GOP base voters Obamacare's demise is at hand. There's no sign GOP leaders know what to do about it or can get the votes to keep the government open." ...

... Even the austerity fanatics that comprise the Wall Street Journal editorial board are begging conservative House members not to pursue their quixotic plan to defund ObamaCare. "Kamikaze missions rarely turn out well, least of all for the pilots." Via TPM. Thanks to Jeanne B. for the link. ...

I cannot remember a time when one faction of one party promises economic chaos if it can't get 100 percent of what it wants. That's never happened before. But that's what's happening right now. -- Barack Obama, in a speech delivered Monday ...

... Jonathan Chait of New York: "Since taking control of the House of Representatives in 2011, a coterie of Republicans ... [hold the] belief ... that the absence of cooperation should lead not to stalemate but to the president bending to their will. That assumption implies a delegitimization of the presidency that Obama has come to understand, belatedly, that he can't accept." Thanks to contributor MAG for the link. ...

... CW: Teabaggers are sociopaths. They don't think they have to play by the rules because they think any rules that give their opponents a fair shake are illegitimate. It's like playing poker with a card cheat. Since he's stacked the deck against you, you lose most hands. Then, by the luck of the draw, you happen upon a hand so good you can't lose & win a big pot. So the card cheat sticks you up & leaves with the pot. The 2012 election was Obama's big pot. ...

... BUT. Many MOCs are acting out of sheer self-interest rather than from crazed ideology or delusions of defunding. New York Times Editors: "If you're wondering why so many House Republicans seem to believe they can force President Obama to accept a 'defunding' of the health care reform law by threatening a government shutdown or a default, it's because [hard-right activist] groups have promised to inflict political pain on any Republican official who doesn't go along.... These groups, all financed with secret and unlimited money, feed on chaos and would like nothing better than to claim credit for pushing Washington into another crisis. Winning an ideological victory is far more important to them than the severe economic effects of a shutdown or, worse, a default, which could shatter the credit markets. They also have another reason for their attacks: fund-raising. All their Web sites pushing the defunding scheme include a big 'donate' button...." ...

... Whatever the motivation, here's one outcome. Jake Sherman & John Bresnahan of Politico: "House Speaker John Boehner and Majority Leader Eric Cantor are playing the last cards in their hand -- and they're most likely losers. The House Republican leadership's decision to try to defund Obamacare this week in its government funding bill, and their promise to wage a a no-holds-barred fight to delay the health care law as part of the debt ceiling fight, is a double-barreled strategy that could set Boehner, Cantor, Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and the House Republican Conference up for two big defeats."

Michael Schuman of Time: Today Fed Chair Ben Bernanke will announce "whether the Fed will scale back, or 'taper,' its unconventional economic stimulus program known as quantitative easing...

Blame It on Boehner (Because It's His Fault.) Evan McMorris-Santoro of BuzzFeed: "President Barack Obama told Telemundo Tuesday that the future of immigration reform comes down to the decision of one man: House Speaker John Boehner. 'The only thing that's holdin' it back right now is John Boehner calling in to the floor,' Obama told Telemundo's Jose Diaz-Balart in a wide-ranging interview, 'because we've got a majority of members of Congress, Democrats and some Republicans, in the House of Representatives, who would vote for it right now if it hit.'"

Dana Milbank takes a field trip to the Heritage Foundation. President Obama has a secret plan to arm Al Qaeda in Libya & Hillary Clinton makes too much money & Valerie Jarrett controls the U.S. military and, and ... Benghaaaaazi!

Obama 2.0. New York Times Editors: "The coal industry and its allies [partially financed by the Koch brothers] are angry about President Obama's energy policies, and they have decided to take it out on his nominee to lead the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which regulates the interstate transmission of electricity, natural gas and oil. The commission has no regulatory authority over coal. But that doesn't matter to the industry. It has come out against Ronald Binz, the nominee, because he supported clean fuels when he was a state energy regulator.... Senators should ignore the attacks from vested special interests, many of whom deny the existence of climate change, and confirm Mr. Binz."

Maureen Dowd pulls out her Obama-Is-Aloof column. Same title & all, but she plugs in the news of the day, like why couldn't Obama be more like the CEO of a Washington hospital where victims of the Navy Yard massacre were being treated. Here's what the doctor/CEO said: "There is something wrong, and the only thing that I can say is we have to work together to get rid of it." Now, I'm in agreement with this sentiment, but it is hardly a memorable, president-worthy remark. If Obama had said that, MoDo would have pulled out her Obama-Is-Clueless template. Speaking of clueless, It isn't clear Dowd knows Obama was talking about her when he said, "I think that folks here in Washington like to grade on style," a remark which Dowd cites.

Local News

Weed Rules (wherein "Rules" may be a noun or a verb). Jeremy Meyer of the Denver Post: "Denver City Council Monday night passed a historic bill that sets the rules and regulations for the retail marijuana industry in the state's largest city." The ordinance is here.

David Wenner of the Central Pennsylvania Patriot News: "Gov. Tom Corbett [R] said Monday he's willing to use billions in federal Medicaid expansion funds to enable roughly 500,000 uninsured Pennsylvania residents to buy health insurance coverage on the Obamacare health insurance exchange. He'll do so only if the Obama administration gives in on many things, including allowing Corbett to impose new work and cost sharing requirements on people already covered by Medicaid, as well as on those who would obtain the new coverage." CW: looks like talking tough & pretending Medicaid expansion isn't Medicaid expansion is the way Republican governors plan to garner millions of federal dollars for their state while still railing against ObamaCare.

The Rent Is Too Damn High. Mireya Navarro of the New York Times: "With New York City's homeless population in shelters at a record high of 50,000, a growing number of New Yorkers punch out of work and then sign in to a shelter, city officials and advocates for the homeless say. More than one out of four families in shelters, 28 percent, include at least one employed adult, city figures show, and 16 percent of single adults in shelters hold jobs. Mostly female, they are engaged in a variety of low-wage jobs...." CW: Navarro cites one young woman-- Dierdre Cunningham -- who holds two part-time jobs, one as a bank teller & the other as a sales clerk for a Manhattan electronics store. Please somebody explain to me why multi-multi millionaires like "savvy businessman" Jamie Dimon of JPMorgan Chase should get away with keeping this woman working part-time (so she isn't eligible for benefits) for wages that don't allow her to put a roof over her head. ...

... ** CW: Which brings to mind this horrifying post by Tom Edsall, who details some of the ways Jamie & his banker buddies exploit the poor, through their interests in payday loan outfits that charge borrowers in the neighborhood of 400 percent interest. Edsall demonstrates how predators at all levels scam the poor. I'd really like to know what the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is doing about some of this. Other than collecting some data & making it available to reporters, as Edsall reports, I don't see that the CFPB is doing anything, & I don't think they have the authority to do anything other than to say, "Look, look, this guy is a crook." ...

... Which brings to mind the $700MM+ fine the feds imposed upon Jamie's Giant Bank. Contributor Diane calculated that the proposed fine would amount to no more than .0375% of JPMorgan Chase's 2012 profits, & "2013 profits are projected higher than 2012." In fairness to Jamie, Diane is just a girl so she probably doesn't have the "intrinsic aptitude" to do complicated stuff like math. ...

     ... Update. Oops, looks as if Larry was right. Diane is two decimal points off. The fine will be closer to three or four percent of profits, not .0375 percent. See comment by Maxwell's Demon below. (If anybody thinks MD's math & mine is wrong, please wise us up.) ...

... Which brings to mind this post by Juan Cole which contributor Kate M. remarked on the other day: "It is a great mystery why Barack Obama even considered rewarding Summers for his role in increasing income inequality in the US and around the world and in allowing the non-banks to play banks and both to operate as casinos. Obama praised Summers for his alleged role in helping dig back out of the 2008 hole. In fact, Summers made the recovery far less robust than it should have been, by arguing against a bigger stimulus. Moreover, Obama did not note Summers' role in helping cause it in the first place. Plus, since the recovery has been a recovery for rich people, Summers isn't owed much thanks from the 99%." ...

... So all of this makes us unsurprised by this report. Maya Rhodan of Time: "The poverty rate and the number of people living in poverty haven't budged since 2011 despite the slowly improving economy, according to a report released early Tuesday. 46.5 million people were living in poverty in 2012, according to new data from the U.S. Census Bureau's 2012 Income Poverty and Health Insurance report. That translates into a national rate of 15% of Americans below the poverty line." ...

** It's the Economy, Stupid. John Cassidy of the New Yorker wraps it all up: "Why is Washington so screwed up? Some people blame the Tea Party, others blame the lobbyists; my culprit is the economy. Countries with healthy economic systems tend to have polities that function pretty well. (The United States of the postwar era is a good example.) Countries with dysfunctional economies tend to have dysfunctional political systems, in which radical groups look for someone to blame and rival interest groups fight over the spoils. And that, sadly, is where we are now.... For forty years now, the engine that generates across-the-board rises in living standards has been stalled, with incomes stagnating at the bottom and in the middle while growing rapidly at the top."