The Commentariat -- Sept. 22, 2015

Internal links removed.

Afternoon Update:

Abby Ohlheiser & Michelle Boorstein of the Washington Post: "Pope Francis descended from the plane at Joint Base Andrews to cheers under cloudy skies and a steady breeze that lifted the black robes of the awaiting bishops and kept the flags rippling on the tarmac. Waiting for him: President Obama, who rarely greets arriving foreign dignitaries on the tarmac, where a pink carpet had been rolled out just minutes before the pope's chartered Alitalia jet landed more than 10 minutes ahead of schedule." ...

Nick Gass of Politico: "Debbie Wasserman Schultz wants Marco Rubio to cancel his presidential fundraiser Tuesday evening at the home of a real estate investor who has collected art from Adolf Hitler and who also owns a signed copy of 'Mein Kampf.' There is 'really no excuse,' she said in a statement released through the Democratic National Committee, calling the event 'tasteless.' The Florida lawmaker and DNC chairwoman remarked that Rubio is 'adding insult to injury' by holding the event at the home of Harlan Crow and his wife Kathy in the tony Dallas suburb of Highland Park, Texas, on the eve of Yom Kippur...."

Mike DeBonis of the Washington Post: "The Senate failed on Tuesday to advance a bill that would ban most abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy in a high-profile messaging vote held by Republican leaders ahead of Pope Francis's visit to the Capitol. The result was expected. Democrats pledged to filibuster the bill, which passed the House earlier this year, and Republicans could not garner the 60 votes necessary to block it. The vote was 54 to 42. Two Republicans -- Susan Collins of Maine and Mark Kirk of Illinois -- voted against proceeding with the bill. Three Democrats -- Bob Casey Jr. of Pennsylvania, Joe Donnelly of Indiana and Joe Manchin of West Virginia, voted in favor. Four senators -- Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Mark Warner (D-Va.) -- did not vote."

James Kanter of the New York Times: "European Union ministers approved a plan on Tuesday that would compel member countries to take in 120,000 migrants seeking refuge on the Continent -- but only after overruling four countries in Central Europe. The plan to apportion the migrants, still only a small fraction of those flowing into Europe, was approved by home affairs and interior ministers of the member countries after a vigorous debate.... The Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia voted no. Finland abstained."

Burgess Everett & Seung Min Kim of Politico: Mitch McConnell has a plan to avoid a government shutdown. One itty-bitty catch: "... there's no guarantee that the House will accept what the Senate sends over." CW: Isn't it ridiculous that a party "leader" has to try to finagle -- possibly without success -- a convoluted strategy to get his own caucus to cooperate when a functioning government is at stake? Thanks, winger-voters everywhere, for foisting these yahoos on the rest of us.

*****

Your Government Is Working for You. Bill Vlasic & Aaron Kessler of the New York Times: "Volkswagen executives told environmental regulators for more than a year that discrepancies between pollution tests on its diesel cars and the starkly higher levels out on the road were a technical error, not a deliberate attempt to deceive Washington officials. But this month, the executives made a startling admission: The diesel vehicles it sold in the United States used software meant to cheat on the tests. VW made the admission only when the Environmental Protection Agency took the extraordinary action of threatening to withhold approval for the company's 2016 Volkswagen and Audi diesel models...."

Your Government Is Not Working for You. OR Why Journalism Matters. Andrew Pollack of the New York Times: "A huge overnight price increase for an important tuberculosis drug has been rescinded after the company that acquired the drug gave it back to its previous owner under pressure, it was announced on Monday.... Cycloserine[, a tuberculosis drug.] was acquired last month by Rodelis Therapeutics, which promptly raised the price to $10,800 for 30 capsules, from $500.... The drug made by generic companies abroad costs only about $20 for 100 capsules.... But the company agreed to return the drug to its former owner, a nonprofit organization affiliated with Purdue University, the organization said on Monday.... However, outrage over a gigantic price increase for another drug [-- Daraprim, used to treat parasitic infection --] spread into the political sphere on Monday, causing biotechnology stocks to fall broadly as investors worried about possible government action to control pharmaceutical prices. The Nasdaq Biotechnology Index fell more than 4 percent. 'Price-gouging like this in the specialty drug market is outrageous,' Hillary Rodham Clinton ... said in a tweet on Monday. She said she would announce a plan on Tuesday to deal with rising drug prices.... Senator Bernie Sanders ... sent Turing [Daraprim's new owner] a letter on Monday demanding information on the price increase. Turing's CEO, Martin Shkreli, a former hedge fund manager, who raised the drug's price from $13.50 per pill to $750, "does not appear ready to surrender." See also Pollack's story linked in yesterday's Commentariat.

Senate Republicans Inaugurate Keep 'em Pregnant Week. Jordain Carney of the Hill: "Senate Republicans on Monday night started the Senate's fast-track process on legislation that would block federal funding for Planned Parenthood.... Senate Republicans also started the fast-track process on a House-passed bill that would tighten restrictions on abortion doctors who violate infant protections."

Coral Davenport of the New York Times: "Senate Democratic leaders on Tuesday plan to unveil a measure intended to signal their full-throated support of President Obama's aggressive climate change agenda to 2016 voters and to the rest of the world. The Democrats hope that the bill, sponsored by Senator Maria Cantwell, of Washington, the top Democrat on the Senate Energy Committee, will demonstrate a new unity for the party on energy and climate change, and define Democrats' approach to global warming policy in the coming years."

GOP Hopes to Roll Obama. Alexander Bolton of the Hill: "Republicans want President Obama as a negotiating partner when it comes to budget talks, something Democrats are determined to avoid.... Democrats, however, are determined to keep a seat at the table -- in part because they think they'll drive a tougher bargain than Obama, whose past efforts to make deals with Republicans unnerves Capitol Hill liberals."

Juliet Eilperin of the Washington Post: "... an often-overlooked feature of the Obama presidency: Obama has presided over the most demographically diverse administration in history, according to a new analysis of his top appointments. The majority of top policy appointments within the executive branch are held by women and minorities for the first time in history. The transformation partly reflects a broader trend in U.S. society, but it also reflects the results of a calculated strategy by the nation's first African American president. The shifts are significant enough, experts say, that they may have forever transformed the face of government."

When the Ship of Fools Is Rudderless. Jonathan Martin of the New York Times: "... the debate over Islam is particularly worrisome for Republicans because it so vividly highlights the vacuum that has been created by the absence of a unifying leader who can temper the impulses of the rank-and-file."

Presidential Race

The Bible is full of stories about people who are called to be leaders in unusual ways. Today, I believe that I am being called to lead by helping to clear the field in this race so that a positive conservative message will rise to the top of the field. With this in mind, I will suspend my campaign immediately. -- Scott Walker, today

Alexander Burns, et al., of the New York Times: "Short of support and cash, Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin, saying he had been 'called to lead by helping to clear the field,' announced Monday that he was suspending his bid for the Republican presidential nomination." CW: So that was "God's plan." Proof there is a god & she has a sense of humor. ...

... The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's story, by Jason Stein & others, is here. ...

... Eli Stokols of Politico: "Scott Walker decided to end his 2016 campaign after burning through cash and disappointing donors who thought the one-time frontrunner would be one of the last men standing this primary season.... The sudden decision opens up opportunities for other candidates, among them Marco Rubio, who has already scored some of Walker's financial backers." ...

... Rat Race. BuzzFeed: The Walker story beats out pizza rat! ...

... Glenn Thrush of Politico: "From presumed front-runner to quitter, Walker's fall was fast.... After a promising start last winter, the two-term Wisconsin governor turned out to be a tentative and mistake-prone candidate who badly fumbled core Republican issues -- especially birthright citizenship -- that Trump and other top GOP candidates handled with relative ease." ...

... Steve M.: "Horserace journalists say that every candidate occupies a 'lane,' but most straddle a couple of lanes. Walker was in exactly two -- and in each one an outsider roared past him. So he was left in the dust." ...

I thought he could stand up to 'death threats' and poster-waving citizens and ISIS? This is exemplary of the entirely empty suit that pathetic little man is. Hopefully after showing he's a complete deadbolt nationally, Wisconsinites will wake up and throw his ass in the gutter where he belongs. -- safari, in yesterday's Comments

Watch out, Badgers. Wisconsin does not term-limit governors. -- Constant Weader

... See also Nadd2's commentary at the top of today's Comments. ...

... Jonathan Chait: Scott Walker won three statewide elections in Wisconsin, which has supported the Democrat in every presidential election since 1984. He led national Republican polling as recently as March. He led in Iowa by enormous margins as recently as August. The Koch brothers loved him. Walker had spent his entire adult life developing an almost superhuman fealty to the principles of the modern Republican Party, its Reaganolotry, and, above all, a ruthless commitment to crushing its enemies beneath his boot heel. If there was anything that gave Walker joy, other than eating copious amounts of trayf, it was the goal of wiping organized labor off the map. As Grover Norquist enthused in May, 'when you meet him, it's like seeing somebody who sits on a throne on the skulls of his enemies.' The collapse of his presidential campaign, culminating with his departure today, has taken place with head-spinning speed." ...

... "The Decline & Fall" of a Pipsqueak. Molly Ball of the Atlantic: " Scott Walker's fall was especially precipitous. The Wisconsin governor's campaign lasted just 70 days. He came in as the Iowa frontrunner and departed a few weeks later as an asterisk, with too little support even to be assigned a number in the last national poll. ...

... Nicholas Confessore of the New York Times: "Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin was among the most successful fund-raisers in his party, with a clutch of billionaires in his corner and tens of millions of dollars behind his presidential ambitions. But his swift decline and exit from the presidential race on Monday was a stark reminder that even unlimited money has its limits.... Super PACs, Mr. Walker learned, cannot pay rent, phone bills, salaries, airfares or ballot access fees. They are not entitled to the preferential rates on advertising that federal law grants candidates, forcing them to pay far more money than candidates must for the same television and radio time." CW: I'm sure the Supremes will want to dispose of that flaw. Look for superPAC lawsuits in a court near you. Because equality: a dollar here should be worth a dollar there.

** Craig Whitlock of the Washington Post: "As commander in chief of the New Jersey National Guard, [Gov. Chris Christie] is in charge of 8,400 citizen soldiers, a militia that has become increasingly dysfunctional under his watch.... Christie (R) reappointed a two-star Army general -- a childhood friend -- to lead the Guard. But the married general was forced to resign in disgrace after staff members caught him having an affair at work.... The governor's next pick, an Air Force pilot, was secretly reprimanded by the Pentagon last year for his excessive waistline and for repeatedly ducking physical-fitness tests.... More recently, several high-ranking officers have filed whistleblower complaints, alleging that the Guard's leadership is plagued by cronyism, racism and a 'toxic' command climate, among other problems."

Absolutely, I stand by the comments. What we have to do, we have to recognize that this is America, and we have a Constitution, and we do not put people at the leadership of our country whose faith might interfere with them carrying out the duties of the Constitution. -- Ben Carson, speaking to Sean Hannity ...

... CW: On Sean Hannity's show, of all places, Dr. Ben sort of walks back his remarks on Muslims. You have to read the Politico report to appreciate Carson's "reasoning." It's pretty hilarious. Remember as you read that Carson doesn't think Christian public officials have to follow the law & the Constitution. ...

... Jordan Fabian of the Hill: "The White House on Monday denounced Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson for saying a Muslim should not be president of the United States. Press secretary Josh Earnest said Carson's comments are 'entirely inconsistent with the Constitution' and the First Amendment.... Several of Carson's rivals have rebuked him over the remarks. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said the remarks are evidence that Carson is 'not ready to be commander in chief,' while Sens. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Ted Cruz (R-Texas) noted that the Constitution explicitly rules out a religious test for office. Carson's comments drew the ire of the Council of American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a prominent Muslim advocacy group, which called on the candidate to withdraw from the race." ...

... Kathie Obradovich & Linh Ta of the Des Moines Register: "It would be unconstitutional to disqualify a Muslim from the presidency because of religion, Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz said Sunday. 'You know, the Constitution specifies there shall be no religious test for public office and I am a constitutionalist,' the Texas senator said during the taping of 'Iowa Press' at Iowa Public Television.... He said [Muslim Syrian refugees] should settle in other Middle Eastern countries, citing concerns that some of the purported refugees may actually be terrorists." ...

... Dubya's scribe Michael Gerson of the Washington Post: "Carson argues that Muslims are unfit for high office because they hold a conception of divine law that is inconsistent with a liberal, democratic order. A significant portion of the country would disqualify Carson for exactly the same reason [because of his fundamentalist Christian views].... Carson, Donald Trump and other Republican candidates need to step back a moment and consider what they are doing. By targeting various groups for suspicion -- calling Muslims a danger to the Constitution or attacking undocumented immigrants as rapists and murderers -- they are opening up a space for some of the worst elements of our society.... What gain or goal is worth the cost of breathing life into bigotry?" ...

... Andy Borowitz: "Brain surgeons, long burdened with the onerous reputation of being among the smartest people in the world, are expressing relief that the Republican Presidential candidate Ben Carson is shattering that stereotype once and for all." Thanks to Barbarossa for the link. ...

... Alex Griswold of Mediaite: "When asked about the possibility of having a Muslim in the White House, Donald Trump said on NBC's Meet the Press that some people think it's already happened." ...

... digby: "At this stage of the electoral process the Donald Trump campaign is literally a live reality TV show that is being shown on several different networks at once, all of whom are making a bundle from it. And in the process, he is breaking down the system that's been dominating TV news for the past 20 years."

Re: the potential impacts of the Trumpster, Charles Pierce thinks Frank Rich is a dewy-eyed dilettante from Neverland. ...

     ... CW: Pierce can't see the irony of a billionaire's campaign. Trump is flouting the "invisible campaign" -- the one where the would-be leaders of the free world repeatedly grovel at the feet of the real power -- & flaunting his (supposed) billions as evidence of comparative purity. Like Ross Perot before him, he will probably flame out Rumplestiltskin-style, but not before reminding us again & again that all the other major candidates (save Bernie Sanders) are merely the tools of the mega-rich. The candidates are littlle rodents, whom the billionaires cannot save from themselves (Scott Walker, Newt Gingrich). Trump is not a populist, but he is demonstrating anew that (at least until Prince Rebus & his band of bandits get in there & fix the voting machines), the people have the last word. As further irony, albeit unintended, Trump is also reminding us that billionaires are not a helluva a lot better than the rest of us.

... Steve M. takes issue with Rich, too. ...

     ... CW: It isn't that Trump himself is exhibiting anything approaching candor; it's that all politicians are masters of duplicity, and every voter knows it. So it is in secret recordings -- the 47 percent -- or in gaffes -- "I'm not sure we need a half a billion dollars for women's health issues" -- that we glean any real sense of the candidates. Trump poll-tests, too, even if his "poll" is as informal as a finger in the wind. Trump is the clown -- the gross, cartoonish exaggeration of the politician -- whose mimicry exposes the farce that journalists & pundits so earnestly portray as consequential. ...

... Joe Nocera: "... my favorite moment in last week’s Republican debate came when Carly Fiorina and Donald Trump got into a spat over which of them had the lousier track record as business leaders.... They're both right. Fiorina's tenure at HP was indeed a disaster, and Trump's casino interests did indeed file for bankruptcy multiple times.... By every metric that mattered, HP was in far worse shape when she was fired than when she was hired.... The key fact about Trump's early success is that it would never have happened without his father Fred's money.... In effect, his post-1988 business career has cost him $5 billion.... Even putting aside their policy positions, their narcissism, their poor records as leaders and their lack of scruples in spinning failures as triumphs all suggest that Fiorina and Trump would make terrible presidents." Nocera goes on to suggest that Michael Bloomberg is the businessman who is qualified to run for president. ...

... Sam Stein & Igor Bobic of the Huffington Post: "... Carly Fiorina's explanation for a controversial business practice undertaken by Hewlett Packard during her time running that company appears incomplete, if not misleading.... If Fiorina was unaware of HP products ending up in Iran, it appears to be partially because she wasn't looking or listening.... As for Fiorina's assertion that HP only discovered the Iran-related transactions three years after she left the company, that too seems unlikely. The company, after all, was known to use subsidiaries to circumvent sanctions law.... With respect to Fiorina's suggestion that 'the S.E.C. investigation proved that neither I nor anyone else in management knew about' the company's business dealings in Iran, it's not entirely clear what investigation she's discussing." Stein & Bobic could not find any SEC investigation of HP's illegal sales to Iran; they found only SEC letters that referenced the sales but were not in any way part of an "investigation." ...

... Jeffrey Sonnenfeld in Politico Magazine on why Carly Fiorina was/would be a lousy leader.: she doesn't learn from her mistakes, she lies, she makes irresponsible decisions & "She is intolerant of dissent and resorts to personal attacks."

Steve Holland of Reuters: "... Jeb Bush will pledge on Tuesday to place a freeze on new federal government regulations if he is elected president in November 2016, saying bureaucratic rules are weighing down the U.S. economy." CW: Which is Bush's response to 1000-percent increases in drug prices & auto manufacturers' skirting clean-air standards. Elections matter .

Ken Thomas & Catherine Lucey of the AP: "Hillary Rodham Clinton is laying out a new plan to rein in the rising cost of prescription drugs, seeking to build upon President Barack Obama's health care law." ...

... Sarah Ferris of the Hill: "Hillary Clinton vowed to protect ObamaCare on Wednesday [sic.], one day before unveiling her own plan to make a mark on healthcare reform. 'It's not just a political issue, it's a moral issue,' the 2016 front-runner for the Democratic nomination said, according to the Baton Rouge Advocate. Underscoring the 16 million people who gained insurance under the law, Clinton vowed to prevent the GOP from rolling back its progress."

Josh Gerstein of Politico: "The FBI on Monday rebuffed a federal judge's request for information on the inquiry it is conducting into former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's private email account and server, raising the question of whether the courts or Congress will take more forceful action to try to secure data from Clinton's email system. About a month ago, U.S. District Court Judge Emmet Sullivan ordered the State Department to reach out to the FBI to address a Freedom of Information Act request by the conservative group Judicial Watch regarding Clinton aide Huma Abedin's employment arrangements and to report on arrangements for the FBI to share information about the ongoing investigation. In a terse letter Monday, FBI General Counsel James Baker appeared to reject the request."

Beyond the Beltway

Jordan Fabian of the Hill: "The United States saw a spike last month in the number of unaccompanied minors and families illegally crossing the southern border, the White House said Monday. 'We have seen, just in the last month, in the month of August, a surprising uptick,' press secretary Josh Earnest told reporters."

Angela Couloumbis & Craig McCoy of the Philadelphia Inquirer: "In an unprecedented move, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court on Monday temporarily suspended the law license of Attorney General Kathleen Kane [D], the latest setback for the state's embattled top law enforcement officer.The decision was unanimous, winning support from the court's three Republicans and two Democrats. Lawyers for the state Disciplinary Board, which oversees attorney conduct, had sought the suspension after Kane was charged last month with perjury, obstruction and other charges stemming from the leak of confidential grand jury material and an investigation into that leak.The board contended that allowing Kane to remain in office while under criminal charges would damage the administration of justice and cause 'immediate and substantial public harm.' Its lawyers suggested that stripping Kane of her law license would disqualify her from holding office."

That's young Donald in the center.Joseph Berger of the New York Times: "After struggling financially for years and filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in March, the private boarding school [New York Military Academy] did not open as promised last Monday. Its 113 acres of land and buildings are scheduled to go on the auction block at the end of this month for a minimum bid of $9.5 million, with no requirement that the buyer maintain a school there.... Among its thousands of alumni, the 126-year-old ... [school] counts ... Donald J. Trump, Stephen Sondheim and John A. Gotti.... There is ... a smidgen of hope among some alumni that Mr. Trump ... would be a rescuing angel and provide the $13 million the school needs to pay creditors and other costs." CW: Nah. I'll bet he sees it as a home for Trump "University."

Forget Scott Walker. There are still heroes from Wisconsin. Karen Crouse of the New York Times: Don "Pellmann, the most senior athlete in the San Diego Senior Games, became the first centenarian to break 27 seconds in the 100-meter dash and the first to clear an official height in the high jump. He also broke records for men in the 100 and over age group in the shot put and discus and set a record in the long jump." Pellman & his wife live in Santa Clara, California, now.

Kevin McCoy of USA Today: "Former peanut company executive Stewart Parnell was hit with a virtual life prison term Monday for his 2014 conviction on crimes related to a salmonella outbreak blamed for killing nine and sickening hundreds. A federal judge in Georgia sentenced the 61-year-old former head of Peanut Corporation of America to 28 years behind bars.... U.S. District Judge W. Louis Sands also sentenced the former executive's brother, Michael Parnell, 56, to serve a 20-year prison term.... Mary Wilkerson, 41, a former quality control manager at the now-defunct peanut firm, drew a five-year prison term for her conviction on obstruction in the tragedy.... Prosecutors presented evidence that Parnell and the co-defendants knowingly shipped salmonella-tainted peanut butter from the Georgia facility to Kellogg's and other customers -- who in turn used it in products...."

... AP: "A judge on Monday rejected defense efforts to exclude key witness testimony against the last remaining Angola Three member still behind bars and to throw out his indictment entirely in the 1972 killing of a prison guard. Judge William Carmichael also ruled that the trial against Albert Woodfox could go forward in West Feliciana parish, rejecting defense claims that he could not get a fair trial in a place where Louisiana's Angola prison is also located."

AP: "Gay couples in Kentucky are questioning the validity of altered marriage licenses issued by a defiant county clerk and have asked a federal judge to order her to reissue the licenses or close the office down.

AP: "The family of a 14-year-old Muslim student who got in trouble over a homemade clock mistaken for a possible bomb have withdrawn him from his suburban high school in Texas."

Way Beyond

Nicole Winfield & Christine Armario of the AP: "Pope Francis ends his visit to Cuba on Tuesday with a Mass at the country's most revered shrine and a pep talk with families before flying north to Washington for the start of his U.S. tour."

Rick Jervis of USA Today follows Pope Francis's travels through Cuba.

The Commentariat -- Sept. 21, 2015

Internal links removed.

Michael Gordon of the New York Times: "The Obama administration will increase the number of refugees the United States is willing to accept in 2017 to 100,000, a significant increase over the current annual worldwide cap of 70,000, Secretary of State John Kerry said on Sunday.... Under the new plan, the U.S. limit on annual refugee visas would be increased to 85,000 in 2016. The cap would then rise to 100,000 the following year."

Nahal Toosi of Politico: "The Obama administration has been quietly in touch with the Vatican about ways that Pope Francis can help free three Americans imprisoned in Iran -- a major source of friction as President Barack Obama and Iranian leaders finalize their nuclear deal."

Seung Min Kim & Jennifer Haberkorn of Politico: "As they rally behind a long-awaited measure that would ban abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy, GOP lawmakers are tying their messaging to the teachings of the Catholic Church, which opposes the practice. And the presence of Pope Francis on Capitol Hill this week shines an even brighter spotlight on the legislation, which has long been a top priority of advocacy groups thatoppose abortion."

Charlie Savage of the New York Times: "President George W. Bush sought to retroactively authorize portions of the National Security Agency's post-9/11 surveillance and data collection program after a now-famous incident in 2004 in which his attorney general refused to certify the program as lawful from his hospital bed, according to newly declassified portions of a government investigation.... Newly disclosed passages of a report by inspectors general of six agencies suggest that the confrontation in the hospital room came after the Justice Department identified several problems, including a 'gap' between what Mr. Bush had authorized the N.S.A. to collect and what the agency was collecting in practice." ...

... BTW, Dubya will be lecturing the intelligence community next month, likely for a generous stipend. CW: I'm sure the spooks will learn a lot.

Margaret Atwood, in the Guardian, on the history & meanings of freedom.

Joseph Goldstein of the New York Times: "Rampant sexual abuse of children has long been a problem in Afghanistan, particularly among armed commanders who dominate much of the rural landscape and can bully the population. The practice is called bacha bazi, literally 'boy play,' and American soldiers and Marines have been instructed not to intervene -- in some cases, not even when their Afghan allies have abused boys on military bases, according to interviews and court records."

David Sedaris in the New Yorker on the right to marry. It's David Sedaris. Laugh. Cry.

Chris Buckley & Jane Perlez of the New York Times: "Often described as the most powerful leader of the Chinese Communist Party in generations, [President] Xi [Jinping] is to arrive in the United States on Tuesday facing economic headwinds and growing doubts about his formula for governing -- a sharp contrast with the image of unruffled control he projected when he hosted President Obama last year.

Capitalism is Awesome, Ctd.

Our Legal Drug Cartels. Andrew Pollack of the New York Times: "Specialists in infectious disease are protesting a gigantic overnight increase in the price of a 62-year-old drug that is the standard of care for treating a life-threatening parasitic infection. The drug, called Daraprim, was acquired in August by Turing Pharmaceuticals, a start-up run by a former hedge fund manager [Martin Shkreli]. Turing immediately raised the price to $750 a tablet from $13.50, bringing the annual cost of treatment for some patients to hundreds of thousands of dollars.... Turing's price increase is not an isolated example. While most of the attention on pharmaceutical prices has been on new drugs for diseases like cancer, hepatitis C and high cholesterol, there is also growing concern about huge price increases on older drugs, some of them generic, that have long been mainstays of treatment." ...

     ... CW: Contributor MAG pointed out this story yesterday. As she wrote, "Nah! We don't need no regulations, the free market takes care of things nicely." I wish our socialist, communist dictator president would swoop in today & nationalize every damned drug company, from Pfizer to Granny's Amazing Elixir, Inc.

"It's the Bank Profits, Stupid." Paul Krugman: Banks are pressuring the Fed to raise interest rates. "... when you see ever-changing rationales for never-changing policy demands, it's a good bet that there's an ulterior motive. And the rate rage of the bankers -- combined with the plunge in bank stocks that followed the Fed's decision not to hike -- offers a powerful clue to the nature of that motive. It's the bank profits, stupid.... Low rates are bad for bankers.... It's widely assumed that bankers have special expertise on economic policy, although nothing in the record supports this belief. (The bankers do, however, have excellent tailors.)"

Presidential Race

Anne Gearan of the Washington Post: "... Hillary Rodham Clinton, a former secretary of state, said Sunday that U.S. efforts to train and equip Syrian rebels have failed and that many of the threats she foresaw from the Syrian conflict have come to pass.... Clinton, appearing on CBS's 'Face the Nation,' said that the Obama administration's announcement that it will take in 10,000 Syrian refugees is 'a good start' but that the United States should increase the number to 65,000 because of the scale of the refugee crisis after nearly five years of conflict."

Bradford Richardson of the Hill: "'I am very disappointed that Dr. [Ben] Carson would suggest that a Muslim should not become president of the United States,' [Sen. Bernie] Sanders said in a statement released late Sunday. 'It took us too long to overcome the prejudice against electing a Catholic or an African-American president. People should be elected to office based on their ideas, not their religion or the color of their skin.'" See Carson's remarks below. ...

... Colin Powell, October 2008:

Alex Isenstadt of Politico: "Rand Paul won the straw poll at the Mackinac Island Republican Leadership Conference, a show of organizational strength for a candidate who has seen his presidential hopes fade. Paul led with 22 percent, followed by Carly Fiorina with 15 percent, John Kasich with 13 percent, and Ted Cruzwith 12 percent. Trailing them were Jeb Bush with 9 percent, Marco Rubio with 8 percent, and Donald Trump with 6 percent. Further back: Ben Carson received 5 percent and Scott Walker finished with 2 percent.... The straw poll is electorally meaningless, but it is an exercise in political organizing and several campaigns worked the halls of the Grand Hotel aggressively -- especially Paul’s."

     ... Tapper sounds like he's calling an actual horse race. ...

... Eric Bradner of CNN: "Carly Fiorina shot into second place in the Republican presidential field on the heels of another strong debate performance, and Donald Trump has lost some support, a new national CNN/ORC poll shows." CW: Even if she is a lying sack of shit. ...

... Carly Fiorina Is an Accomplished Flim-Flam Artiste. Amy Chozick & Quentin Hardy of the New York Times: At last week's debate, "Mrs. Fiorina said a prominent venture capitalist who pushed for her firing at Hewlett-Packard in 2005 had recently taken out a full-page newspaper ad saying that he had been wrong to do so and that she had been 'a terrific C.E.O.' What Mrs. Fiorina did not mention was that the ad -- which cost roughly $140,000 -- was paid for by the 'super PAC' supporting her presidential candidacy." CW: So the "prominent venture capitalist," who happens to be the totally wacko Tom Perkins, did not "take out an ad"; Fiorina's superPAC did. Nice fake endorsement, Carly. ...

... (Sam Gustin of Time [February 2014]: "Tom Perkins..., who ... compar[ed] the persecution of Jews in Nazi Germany to the way rich people are treated in the United States, on Thursday offered a provocative idea about how to 'change the world.' During an interview with a Fortune magazine journalist, Perkins said that only U.S. taxpayers should be able to vote in elections. But that's not all. Perkins went on to say that wealthy people should get more votes than others because they pay more in taxes.") ...

... Ali Elkin of Bloomberg: "Carly Fiorina said Sunday that neither she nor Hewlett-Packard should be faulted for the sales of millions of HP printers in Iran when such business was prohibited by U.S. law. Appearing on Fox's Fox News Sunday, Fiorina said that despite being the CEO of HP when the Iranian sales took place via a third party, she was unaware them."

Ali Elkin: "Donald Trump on Sunday doubled down on last week's controversial comments about Muslims.... 'We have radicals that are doing things,' he said. 'It wasn't people from Sweden that blew up the World Trade Center.' Trump also declined several times during the ABC interview to say that he believed [President] Obama was born in the U.S." ...

... Here's a presidential poll that hasn't received enough attention. Andy Borowitz: "Two days after asserting that President Barack Obama was a foreign-born Muslim, a guy who asked Donald Trump a provocative question at a New Hampshire rally is now the front-runner in the Republican race for President, according to a new poll." CW: Seems realistic. ...

... ** Frank Rich: "In the short time since Trump declared his candidacy, he has performed a public service by exposing, however crudely and at times inadvertently, the posturings of both the Republicans and the Democrats and the foolishness and obsolescence of much of the political culture they share. He is, as many say, making a mockery of the entire political process with his bull-in-a-china-shop antics. But the mockery in this case may be overdue, highly warranted, and ultimately a spur to reform.... His passport to political stardom has been his uncanny resemblance to a provocative fictional comic archetype.... Trump's ability to reduce the head of his adopted party to a comic functionary out of a Gilbert-and-Sullivan operetta is typical of his remarkable success in exposing Republican weakness and hypocrisy."

... CW: I'd like to know what it is about Islam that Carson imagines is "inconsistent with our Constitution," while Christianity -- including Ben Carson's fundamentalist brand of Christianity -- apparently is "consistent with our Constitution." Of course, Chuck didn't bother to ask. I know journalism is not Chuck's job, but maybe he could have mentioned this: ...

... no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States. -- Article VI, U.S. Constitution

Oh, snap, Ben. What is "not consistent with our Constitution"; i.e., what is unconstitutional, is your dingbat religious test. -- Constant Weader

... Oh, Update. Here's Carson's answer. Jonathan Easley of the Hill: "... Ben Carson is standing by his view that a Muslim should not be president of the United States, telling The Hill in an interview on Sunday that whoever takes the White House should be 'sworn in on a stack of Bibles, not a Koran.'... 'I do not believe Sharia is consistent with the Constitution of this country,' Carson said. 'Muslims feel that their religion is very much a part of your public life and what you do as a public official, and that's inconsistent with our principles and our Constitution.' Carson said that the only exception he'd make would be if the Muslim running for office 'publicly rejected all the tenants of Sharia and lived a life consistent with that.'" CW: Yo, Ben, you know what else is not "consistent with our Constitution?": much of the Mosaic Law; i.e., the first five books of your Bible. By the Theory of Ben, it appears only nontheists are qualified to be president because all religions have rules that are not predicated on or consistent with U.S. Constitutional law. ...

... Ben Carson's campaign says he didn't say what he said. ...

... Steve M.: "Anyone who continues to think that the questioner at Trump's rally was a plant meant to embarrass Trump is nuts. Trump thinks this sort of talk wins him votes -- he's had a couple of days to revise and polish his message, so if he thought this was harmful to him, he'd back down, but he's not doing that. And Trump is almost certainly correct in his assessment of Republican voters. Carson also knows that Islamophobia sells to the GOP voter base, so that's what he's delivering. I don't think Fiorina will be able to keep up. You probably don't know this, but a lot of people on the right do: A few weeks after the 9/11 attacks, Fiorina made a speech that praised Islam." ...

... Christian Nation. To Steve M.'s point: Even John Kasich, the supposed moderate candidate, is afraid to say adherence to an Islamic faith is not a presidential disqualifier. Chuck asks Kasich, "Would you ever have a problem with a Muslim becoming president?" Kasich's response is Walkeresque: "You know, I mean, that's such a hypothetical question.... You've got to go through the rigors, and people will look at everything. But, for me, the most important thing about being president is you have leadership skills.... Those are the qualifications that matter to me." ...

... One More Abortion Restriction. Martin Pengelly of the Guardian: "The Ohio governor John Kasich has said he will sign a state bill currently under debate that would ban abortions carried out because a child has Down's syndrome." ...

... John Kasich Doesn't Care if Black Families Have Enough to Eat. Hannah Levintova of Mother Jones: As a Congressman, Kasich tried to restrict food stamp eligibility to three months in any three-year period. When Congress allowed state waivers to that restriction, Kasich manipulated food-stamp eligibility in Ohio so that "urban counties and cities, most of which had high minority populations, did not get waivers.... A USDA study released earlier this month ranked Ohio among the worst states in the nation for food security. The state has the highest rate of food insecurity in the Midwest and the sixth highest rate nationally." ...

     ... CW: This is one of the bajillion real ways Republicans manage to discriminate against minorities without blatantly calling them names or making accusations against them. I think I'd rather be called a nigger on a full stomach than get a sympathy card from a fellow who let my children starve to death. Hypocrtical prick.

So Long, Scottie. From Eric Bradner's CNN report, linked above: "Five other candidates received less than one-half of 1 percentage point support: former Virginia Gov. Jim Gilmore, Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, former New York Gov. George Pataki and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker."

Way Beyond the Beltway

Jim Yardley & Azam Ahmed of the New York Times: "Standing in the symbolic heart of political Cuba, Pope Francis on Sunday began his first full day in the island nation with an outdoor Mass at Revolution Plaza attended by President Raúl Castro and other leaders, and later met with the country's former leader, Fidel Castro." ...

... The AP has "the latest" on Pope Francis's visit to Cuba. "The latest," at this time is 6:30 pm ET Sunday. I don't know whether or not the report will be updated.

Griff Witte of the Washington Post: "The radical leftist party that stormed to a historic victory in January and then governed Greece through a tumultuous seven months won a convincing new mandate in elections on Sunday, giving it another chance to lead a country still mired in economic ruin." ...

... Suzanne Daly of the New York Times: "Alexis Tsipras, who won election as Greece's prime minister in January on an anti-austerity platform that he was later forced to abandon, was returned to power by Greek voters on Sunday, many of them saying that he had fought hard to get them a better deal from the country's creditors and deserved a second chance at governing."

William Booth & Anna Fifield of the Washington Post: "Asylum seekers whose journey had been slowed by bickering among Balkan countries began to arrive in Austria en masse Sunday, just one border away from the ultimate destination for many refugees, Germany. Thousands of economic migrants and war refugees walked across the border from Hungary into Austria on Sunday, while hundreds more crossed from Slovenia."

News Lede

New York Times: "Two Americans held hostage for months by rebels in Yemen were freed on Sunday and quickly flown to safety in nearby Oman, which helped the United States secure the release of the men, American officials said. Along with the Americans, a British citizen and three Saudis were also freed by the Houthi rebels, who ousted the government of Yemen this year and are now facing a campaign of airstrikes led by Saudi Arabia and backed by the United States."

The Commentariat -- Sept. 20, 2015

Internal links removed.

** "The Black Family in the Age of Mass Incarceration." Ta-Nehisi Coates writes the Atlantic's cover story: "American politicians are now eager to disown a failed criminal-justice system that's left the U.S. with the largest incarcerated population in the world. But they've failed to reckon with history. Fifty years after Daniel Patrick Moynihan’s report 'The Negro Family' tragically helped create this system, it's time to reclaim his original intent." ...

... CW: One thing Coates doesn't mention in this long & worthy essay is a peculiar lack of impact incarcertation has on the black community. That is, if incarceration becomes so common that every family has a son or nephew or brother in jail -- as is currently the case -- there is no shame to it. Yes, there are all the downsides Coates enumerates, but there is little or no social ostracism or embarrassment associated with incarceration. And why would there be? As Li'l Randy pointed out in the GOP debate (in one of its few high points), when Jeb! smoked weed, there were no consequences. And you can bet if Jeb! was dealing to his posh friends (and I have no reason to think he was), the consequences would have been minimal, too. Not so for a black kid living in an impoverished area. When a white guy tells me he's been in jail, I assume he did something bad. When a black man tells me he's served time, I figure there's about a 50-50 chance he did something bad, & I give him the benefit of the doubt. (I heard these admissions dozens of times when I was registering voters in Florida in 2008.) ...

... David Margolick, in the New York Times Book Review, pans Wil Haygood's book Showdown, about the appointment of Thurgood Marshall to the Supreme Court. I would give Margolick's review a good review, however, as it's quite informative.

David Sanger of the New York Times: "The United States and China are negotiating what could become the first arms control accord for cyberspace, embracing a commitment by each country that it will not be the first to use cyberweapons to cripple the other's critical infrastructure during peacetime, according to officials involved in the talks." ...

... CW: Sen. Tom Cotton (RTP-Ark.) immediately dashed off an open note to China's President Xi Jinping telling him he needed to understand that in our constitutional system, the POTUS is essentially powerless, so any so-called agreement his government might reach with the Obama administration is not worth the rice paper it's written on. Cotton told reporters it was a snap to write his missive to Xi. "I just changed the name of the addressee in the letter I wrote to the Iranian ayatollahs. International diplomacy is much easier than you might think."

Mimi Whitefield, et al., of the Miami Herald: "Pope Francis began his historic trip to Cuba with a message of solidarity and reconciliation. After his flight from Rome touched down Saturday afternoon at Jose Martí International Airport in Havana, the pontiff greeted the Cuban people by noting that this year marks the 80th anniversary of establishing diplomatic ties between Cuba and the Holy See." ...

... Jim Yardley, et al., of the New York Times: "... as he arrived in Havana on Saturday, the first stop of a nine-day papal trip to Cuba and the United States, Francis faced a new challenge altogether: Having helped open up Cuba to the world, the first Latin American pope must now try to fully open up Cuba to the Roman Catholic Church.... Francis was greeted at the airport by President Raúl Castro and children who welcomed him with flowers."

Presidential Race

Mario Trujillo of the Hill: "Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz repeatedly attempted on Saturday to quiet an audience of 4,000 in New Hampshire who called for more Democratic primary debates. During her opening speech at the New Hampshire Democratic Party Convention, she interrupted her prepared remarks on at least two occasions to address chants of 'more debates' and 'we want debates.'... C-SPAN cameras broadcasting live panned to audience members holding posters that called for more that half a dozen debates in the 2016 presidential primary."

Jordan Fabian of the Hill: "President Obama is throwing more punches at the Republicans vying to take his place in the White House as the 2016 campaign enters a busy fall. Obama this week went after GOP front-runner Donald Trump, as did Vice President Biden, who is considering his own presidential bid.... A White House official said there are not yet any major strategic discussions underway about Obama's role in the 2016 campaign. But the aide also expects the president to defend his record against GOP attacks and boost the Democratic nominee."

Kyle Cheney of Politico: "Vice President Joe Biden's last-minute decision to score some facetime with powerful black leaders may do little to shake their strong inclination toward Hillary Clinton. But among the rank-and-file attendees at Saturday's prayer breakfast hosted by the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, the Democratic primary is still a wide open fight. Biden earned several warm ovations from the admiring crowd, and he held court for 20 minutes while breakfast was served, posing for selfies with dozens of fans and turning on his classic, toothy charm as he clasped hands with well-wishers and slapped the backs of strangers angling to get close to him." ...

... Matthew Speiser of Business Insider: "Vice President Joe Biden's aides have begun suggesting to donors that he's more inclined to run for president than not, The Wall Street Journal reports, citing anonymous sources familiar with the matter. The aides say their talks have shifted largely from whether he's going to run to when he's going to announce, sources told the Journal, noting that he could still change his mind if his grief over his recent son's death becomes overwhelming."

Bernie Sanders appeared on Stephen Colbert's show Friday night. You can watch a clip here. The entire segment is here, beginning about 25 min. in. You'll have to watch quite a few capitalist commercials before the segment begins. ...

... Missed this, which aired Sept. 16:

Worse Than Trump. Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: "GOP presidential candidate Ben Carson says in an interview airing Sunday that he doesn't believe the United States should have a Muslim president because Islam is inconsistent with the Constitution."

Muchas Gracias, Don Donaldo. Eliza Collins of Politico: "Hispanic activists have two words for Donald Trump -- thank you.... While many activists find his comments downright offensive, they also see an opportunity. Trump has managed to get Latinos engaged with the 2016 race, and activists plan to exploit that to the fullest extent possible.

Am I morally obligated to defend the president every time somebody says something bad or controversial about him? I don't think so! -- Donald Trump tweet, Saturday, in response to across-the-board criticism of his response to a man who said President Obama was a Muslim & "not an American," then asked how we could "get rid of" Muslims in this country

... Update. Trump Discovers First Amendment Prohibits Disagreement with Others. Trip Gabriel of the New York Times: "In front of several hundred evangelical Christians on Saturday, Donald J. Trump took a dig at Senator John McCain for a well-known incident in which Mr. McCain took away a microphone from a woman to correct her after she said that Barack Obama was an Arab.... He told the Iowa crowd that if he had ... corrected the man..., he would have been attacked for violating the man's right to free speech." ...

... How is Donald Trump like George W. Bush? Neither one can think of any mistakes he's made. ...

... Update. M. J. Lee & Noah Gray of CNN: "Donald Trump on Saturday responded to a question from CNN about whether Muslims pose a danger to the country, saying: 'I love the Muslims. I think they're great people.'... During a question-and-answer session with students..., one student ... asked whether the billionaire businessman would consider putting a Muslim in his Cabinet or on his ticket. 'Oh, absolutely,' Trump responded. 'No problem with that.'"

How to Lose Wacko AND Sane Voters. Sean Sullivan of the Washington Post: "Jeb Bush responded Friday night to Donald Trump's decision this week not to correct a questioner who said President Obama is a Muslim who is 'not even an American.' 'Barack Obama is a talented man -- and by the way he's an American, he's a Christian -- his problem isn't the fact that he was born here or what his faith is,' said Bush in a speech here. 'His problem is that he's a progressive liberal who tears down anybody that disagrees with him.'" ...

     ... CW: Meanwhile, it's okay for Jeb! to claim President Obama is "incompetent," a failed leader, has created "chaos" in the world, lost the Iraq War that Dubya won, capitulated to Iran, threatened Israel's security, enabling ISIS, causing Washington gridlock, etc. etc., and also too uses too many "big-syllable words." See, that's not "tearing down" Obama; it's just stating facts.

... Do as I Say, Not as I Do. Eli Stokols of Politico: "Jeb Bush ... vowed in his first policy speech as a presidential candidate last June to halt the 'revolving door' between Congress and K Street.... But the promise was undercut both by the audience to which Bush spoke -- which included numerous lobbyists from his days as governor -- and by the intensity with which Bush replenished his personal bank accounts upon leaving office by cashing in on the connections he had made.... After two terms as governor, Bush left office in 2007 with a net worth of just $1.3 million -- but within seven years, according to a Politico analysis of his financial disclosure forms, he had built it up to $24.89 million. His new wealth was driven by income from consulting work and a dozen board seats on the firms of people with significant business interests before the state while he was governor -- including more than $12 million from firms that earned millions in fees when Bush redirected $350 million of Florida public workers' retirement funds into venture capital investments run by major donors to his brother and his campaigns." ...

... All My Delusions. Chas Danner of New York: "In a speech kicking off the Mackinac Republican Leadership Conference, Jeb first criticized Hillary Clinton's foreign policy record, asking the crowd to 'name a country in the world where our relationship is better today than the day that Hillary of Clinton became secretary of state.' He then claimed that he would be able to lead a stronger foreign policy for the nation, and that 'I know how to do this because, yes, I am a Bush. I happened to see two really good presidents develop relationships with other countries.'"

Andrew Prokop of Vox: "Over the last few weeks, the news for Scott Walker's presidential campaign has been getting grimmer and grimmer..... Word of money problems often serves as the canary in the coal mine -- signifying an imminent campaign collapse.... If Walker already isn't paying his consultants, fundraising has likely fallen well short of expectations, and the campaign has committed to much more spending than it can afford.... In person, Scott Walker simply isn't compelling or attention-grabbing. I argued nearly a year ago that Walker's lack of charisma would be his biggest problem 'in a world where primary candidates rise and fall in the polls based partly on their performance in televised debates.'" ...

... CW: It isn't so much his lack of "charisma," but his lack of intelligence & competence that defeated Scott Walker. Voters may or may not want a president they'd like to have a beer with, but they'd like one who doesn't take three days to come up with three different answers to a simple yes-or-no question, then deny he ever gave the first two answers. How Walker ever succeeded in Wisconsin, I'll never know, because besides being dumb & incompetent, he's a nasty piece of work.

Beyond the Beltway

Adam Beam of the AP: "In a court filing Friday, the attorney for one of [Kim] Davis' employees said he believes Davis has again violated a federal court order by altering marriage license forms.... In a separate court filing on Friday, attorneys for the gay couples who sued Davis appear to agree and say they are 'exploring legal options.'... When she returned to work, Davis altered the marriage forms by removing her name, making deputy clerk Brian Mason initial the form instead of sign it, and then requiring the form to be notarized.... Mason's attorney, Richard Hughes, told The Associated Press on Friday after filing a status report with the judge ... it was 'really bizarre' that Davis would alter the forms. 'Unless she's got a really good reason, and I'll certainly be patient and wait to hear it, the only inference I personally can draw from it is she is trying to circumvent the court's order,' he said.... Also Friday, the attorneys for the American Civil Liberties Union said in a court filing that the changes on the form require Mason to issue the licenses 'in his capacity as a "notary public" rather than a deputy clerk of the Rowan County Clerk's Office,' changes that 'do not comply' with the court's order to not interfere with her employees who issue the licenses."

Post Script. It Was a Hoax! Anthony, in ArtVoice, takes a close look at young Ahmed Mohamed's clock & discovers that "Ahmed Mohamed didn't invent his own alarm clock. He didn't even build a clock." Instead, he took apart an old Radio Shack clock & put it in a pencil box. ...

     ... CW: I didn't link to this story when I first read about it because I thought it was much ado about nothing. Then the President, Hillary Clinton & others weighed in, & I felt obligated to cover it. Now we're back to my original take: it's much ado about nothing. Even I could take the clockworks out of a 1980s fake-woodgrain box & insert it in a cooler-looking pencil box. (I actually did something similar last week. I have not been arrested & the President has not invited me to his place.) I think Ahmed has talent, but at this point his talent is artistic, not technological.

Way Beyond

Sewell Chan & Palko Karasz of the New York Times: "Thousands of migrants poured into Austria on Saturday after being bounced around countries overwhelmed by their arrival and insistent that they keep moving. Hungary -- which had taken the most draconian and visible measures to turn back the exodus, notably the construction of a razor-wire fence along its border with Serbia -- partly caved Friday evening. It grudgingly allowed at least 11,000 migrants to enter from Croatia, and then sent them by bus and train to processing centers along its border with Austria."

Addendum:

D. C. Clark reckons this clip is essential to today's Comments discussion:

News Ledes

New York Daily News: "A senior White House advisor was struck and killed by a car when he lost control of his bicycle while participating in a charity bike ride raising money for cancer. Jacob Thomas Brewer, 34, was entering a sharp bend in Mt. Airy, Md., when the married father and senior policy advisor crossed into an oncoming car's lane late Saturday afternoon, Howard County police said." ...

... Hill: "President Obama on Sunday mourned the loss of a top White House staffer who was killed in a bicycle crash."