The Commentariat -- Sept. 29, 2014

Internal links, defunct video removed.

Paul Krugman: "... most Americans have no idea just how unequal our society has become.... In the United States the median respondent believed that chief executives make about 30 times as much as their employees, which was roughly true in the 1960s -- but since then the gap has soared, so that today chief executives earn something like 300 times as much as ordinary workers.... Today’s political balance rests on a foundation of ignorance, in which the public has no idea what our society is really like."

Brian Knowlton of the New York Times: "President Obama acknowledges in an interview to be broadcast Sunday night that the United States underestimated the rise of the Islamic State militant group while placing too much trust in the Iraqi military, allowing the region to become 'ground zero for jihadists around the world.' In some of his most candid public remarks on the subject, Mr. Obama says in the interview with the CBS News program '60 Minutes' that it was 'absolutely true' that the United States had erred in its assessments of both the Islamic State -- also known as ISIS or ISIL -- and the Iraqi military." ...

... Here's a clip:

... Justin Sink of the Hill: "Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) would be willing to call the House back into session if President Obama submitted a war resolution for his fight against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), the Republican leader said Sunday. 'I'd be happy to,' Boehner told ABC News's 'This Week.' 'The president typically in a situation like this would call for an authorization vote and go sell that to the American people and send a resolution to the Hill. The president has not done that. He believes he has authority under existing resolutions.' Boehner said he agreed with the administration that the president has the authority to carry out the strikes against ISIS, but that 'Congress ought to consider' a resolution explicitly authorizing such action." ...

... Justin Sink: "The U.S. may have 'no choice' but to send in ground troops to fight the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) warned on Sunday. The top House Republican said he did not believe the strategy outlined by President Obama, which includes the use of American air power but rules out boots on the ground, will accomplish the goal of destroying the terror network." ...

... Timothy Cama of the Hill: "President Obama still supports repealing Congress's 2002 authorization to use military force in Iraq, despite relying on it for efforts to fight the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS). But Obama wants it replaced instead with an authorization specific to ISIS to support the current fighting, said Tony Blinken, deputy White House adviser for national security. 'We still would like to repeal it. We think what would be very helpful is if ... Congress worked to give us a targeted, focused authorization,' Blinken said on 'Fox News Sunday.' 'But while we welcome that, we don't need it,' he said."

Matthew Boesler & Kathleen Hunter of Bloomberg News: "U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren called for congressional hearings into allegations that the Federal Reserve Bank of New York has been too deferential to the firms it regulates. A radio program about the regional Fed bank raised 'disturbing issues' and 'it's our job to make sure our financial regulators are doing their jobs,' Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat and member of the Senate Banking Committee, said in a statement [Friday].... Senator Sherrod Brown, an Ohio Democrat who's also on the banking committee, backed Warren's call for a probe."

"Chastisement." Margaret Talbot of the New Yorker briefly reviews the history of U.S. laws on domestic violence: "It was not until the nineteen-seventies and eighties -- when feminists and the battered-women's movement brought renewed attention to the problem, introducing shelters and hot lines, and treating assault within the family as seriously as assault outside of it -- that law enforcement and legislatures responded, passing mandatory arrest laws, creating domestic-violence units in prosecutors' offices, and making it somewhat easier to obtain and enforce protection orders."

Jeffrey Rosen of the New Republic interviews Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Thanks to P. D. Pepe for the link.

Brent Kendall of the Wall Street Journal: "A U.S. appeals court on Tuesday will consider a fresh challenge to campaign-finance rules, this time a 74-year-old law prohibiting government contractors from making political contributions tied to federal elections. The case ... follows a string of Supreme Court rulings that have considerably eased federal restrictions on political donations. The ban applies to both individual and corporate contractors and is aimed at preventing corruption. The challenge comes as the government is outsourcing more work to the private sector: Spending on government contracts has grown to roughly $500 billion annually." Firewalled. If the link doesn't work, copy part of the lede sentence into a Google search box.

Vince Guerriri in Politico: "Jim Traficant was our kind of crook."

Let's Go the the Audiotape. Alice Ollstein of Think Progress: "At a town hall event in Ballantyne, North Carolina, ThinkProgress asked [North Carolina Rep. Robert] Pittenger: 'Do you think businesses should be able to fire someone because they are gay or lesbian?' He replied that businesses should have the 'autonomy' to fire workers for being LGBT, and asked rhetorically: 'Why should government be there to impose on the freedoms we enjoy?' The Charlotte Observer picked up the story, and reported that ... the congressman 'stood by his comments.' But after local and national human rights groups began ... protesting at Pittenger's office in Charlotte, he stood by them no longer. Local channel WSOC-TV reported: 'The congressman's office insists he never made the divisive statement....' The office repeated the denial to MSNBC." He blamed "the blogger" for misrepresenting his views. Post includes a surprising, sophisticated technological breakthrough: an audio tape of Pittinger's remarks. And, no, "the blogger" didn't misinterpret anything.

Another Sensitive GOP Candidate. Esther Lee of Think Progress: "During a debate for the 10th Congressional District with a Democratic challenger Wednesday, Virginia Republican congressional candidate Barbara Comstock said that the government can secure the border by tracking immigrants in a similar fashion to how the shipping company FedEx tracks packages." CW: Because immigrants are a lot like stuff you buy online: cheap & tax-free. As a bonus, no shipping charges.

David Streitfeld of the New York Times: Hundreds of writers have united to ask the Justice Department to investigate Amazon for monopolistic tactics.

Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. New York Post front page headline: "Another Liberal Crybaby for Dem Clintons. PARTY POOPER." In teensy, weensy print, a photo caption, which would be a normal headline: "Bill & Hillary Clinton welcome their first grandchild, Charlotte Clinton Mezvinsky."

Here's that Pew Research Know Your World Religions quiz that contributor Haley S. linked yesterday. CW: The test is kinda fun, especially when it makes you conjure up memories of stuff you haven't given any thought in 50 years. BTW, all you heathens who were boasting that you got perfect scores should bear in mind that atheists & agnostics know more about religion than do religious people. This makes one wonder why religious people of one faith system, denomination or sect are so willing to discriminate against those who belong to another. Answer: tribalism. I'm beginning to think tribalism accounts for 90 percent of social behavior.

Beyond the Beltway

American "Justice," New York City Edition. Jennifer Gonnerman of the New Yorker: "A boy was accused of taking a backpack. The courts took the next three years of his life."

Molly Hennessy-Fiske & Matt Pearce of the Los Angeles Times: "Far from finding peace after a round of summer protests and riots, Ferguson remains a city on the brink, its nearly every step troubled. The last week has been especially fraught. In separate incidents, one Brown memorial went up in flames and part of another was run over. When Ferguson Police Chief Thomas Jackson tried to speak to demonstrators one night, clashes broke out with officers. Then there was the city's newly hired spokesman, brought in to help Ferguson repair its image. He was fired after it was revealed that he had been convicted of shooting and killing a man in 2004." ...

... Richard Fausset of the New York Times: "Disparities between the percentage of black residents and the number of black elected officials are facts of life in scores of American cities, particularly in the South. The unrest that followed the shooting death of 18-year-old Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., has emphasized how much local elections can matter, and prompted a push there for increased black voter participation. The disparities result from many factors: voter apathy, especially in low-visibility local elections; the civic disconnect of a transient population; the low financial rewards and long hours demanded of local officeholders; and voting systems, including odd-year elections, that are often structured in a way that discourages broad interest in local races. But Ferguson has become a vivid example of the way a history of political disengagement and underrepresentation can finally turn toxic."

Senate Race

John McCormick of Bloomberg analyzes the first Iowa Senate debate between Bruce Braley & Joni Ernst. McCormick thinks Ernst managed to comport herself like a normal person & Braley did her no damage. ...

... Greg Sargent has some sensible commentary on the debate & on Braley's chances of keeping the Iowa Senate seat in Democratic control. His remarks are consistent with what Victoria D. wrote in yesterday's Comments: "It seems that the Ernst campaign has successfully taken a blunder by Braley last March wherein an open mic caught him criticizing Grassley for being a farmer, not a lawyer..........and run with it, painting Braley as an elitist dick. Still, it's surprising to read about voters such as the woman described in the article as a Democrat who is voting for Ernst largely on personality /character issues, seeming to ignore the significance of policy altogether. She "likes" Ernst and Braley is an elitist. Case closed."

Presidential Election

Ryan Lizza has a long profile in the New Yorker of Rand Paul. CW: Haven't read it yet, but I plan to. "In some respects, Paul is to Republicans in 2014 what Barack Obama was to Democrats in 2006: the Party's most prized fund-raiser and its most discussed senator, willing to express opinions unpopular within his party, and capable of energizing younger voters."

Tim Alberta of the National Journal: "Ted Cruz is running for president.... According to sources close to the Texas senator, Cruz could be preparing for an end-of-year announcement and is now dedicating considerable time and effort to cultivating a foreign-policy foundation that might help his candidacy stand out in what is guaranteed to be a crowded field. 'At this point it's 90/10 he's in,' one Cruz adviser said. 'And honestly, 90 is lowballing it.'"

Crazy Person Is the Religious Right's Choice for U.S. Veep. Josh Israel of Think Progress: "Dr. Ben Carson, a popular Tea Party activist and Fox News contributor who says he will likely seek the Republican nomination for president in 2016, said on Sunday that he is seriously concerned that there will not be 2016 elections in the United States because the country could be in anarchy by that point.... Carson finished a close second Saturday in a straw poll at the 2014 Values Voters Summit for 2016 presidential preferences." [Ted Cruz was first.] ...

     ... Julian Hattem of the Hill: "As a signal of Carson's popularity at the summit, the former Johns Hopkins University neurosurgeon came in first in the polling for vice president, winning 22 percent of the votes."

News Ledes

AP: "Militants of the Islamic State group were closing in Monday on a Kurdish area of Syria on the border with Turkey -- an advance unhindered so far by U.S.-led coalition airstrikes, including one that struck a grain silo, killing two civilians, according to activists. Islamic State fighters pounded the city of Kobani with mortars and artillery shells, advancing within three miles (five kilometers) of the Kurdish frontier city, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and Nawaf Khalil, a Kurdish official."

New York Times: "A wave of protest in Hong Kong further engulfed the city on Monday as thousands of residents defied a government call to abandon street blockades, students boycotted classes and the city's influential bar association added its condemnation of a police crackdown on protesters."

Los Angeles Times: "Ashraf Ghani was inaugurated Monday as president of Afghanistan, succeeding President Hamid Karzai and marking the first peaceful transition of power in the nation's history."

Oklahoman: "In a bizarre coincidence, a fired Oklahoma City nursing home employee was arrested Friday after a co-worker reported he threatened to cut her head off. Jacob Mugambi Muriithi, 30, is being held in the Oklahoma County jail on a terrorism complaint. His bail is set at $1 million... She said Muriithi identified himself as a Muslim and said he 'represented ISIS and that ISIS kills Christians,' the detective told a judge in the affidavit. The two had not worked together before."

The Commentariat -- Sept. 28, 2014

Internal links removed.

David Sanger & Anne Barnard of the New York Times: "The Pentagon said on Saturday that it had conducted its first strikes against Islamic State targets in a besieged Kurdish area of Syria along the Turkish border, destroying two armored vehicles in an area that has been the subject of a weeklong onslaught by the Islamic State. The action around Kobani, where at least 150,000 refugees have crossed into Turkey, appeared to signify the opening of a new front for American airstrikes in Syria, and came on a day when several other strikes took place in Raqqa, the de facto headquarters of the Islamic State's forces, and other sites in the eastern part of the country." ...

... Martin Pengelly of the Guardian: "As British jets took off from Cyprus to carry out strikes on Islamic State (Isis) targets in Iraq on Saturday, and US-led strikes continued in Syria and Iraq, President Barack Obama used his weekly address to say American leadership was 'the one constant in an uncertain world'.... On Saturday afternoon, the Department of Defence released a statement regarding the latest strikes, which said that Saudi Arabia, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates had participated in strikes on Syria." ...

... In a rambling column, Maureen Dowd makes one important point: "As the U.S. woos the Arab coalition, Arab leaders are not speaking out against the atrocities of ISIS against women.

Carol Leonnig of the Washington Post tells the chilling story of how in 2011 a man took seven shots that hit the White House residence while Sasha Obama & Marian Robinson were inside & Malia Obama was expected shortly. The Secret Service was clueless -- saying first that the shots were car backfires & later they were from gangs shooting at each other -- until a maid found a broken window & debris on the Truman balcony days later.

Thomas Frank interviews Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) for Salon. Sanders: "... there are some great people in the Democratic Party who spend an enormous amount of time and energy fighting for working people, and I work with those guys. But I don't think anybody would say, as a whole, that the Democratic Party is the party of the American working class." ...

... CW: I don't know that this is the video to which Sanders refers in the interview, but it's great anyway. From 2003, when Sanders was in the House. Greenspan's smirk while Sanders is speaking & his nonresponsive "answer" to Sanders' question are disgusting:

Christopher Ingraham of the Washington Post: "The Pew Forum on Religion and Public life ... finds a growing appetite for belief in the ballot box, and politics in the pulpit. These shifts are largely happening on the Republican side of the aisle. And among Republicans, the changes are driven by white evangelical concern that the country is becoming less favorable to religion and, inexplicably, more hostile toward white evangelicals.... Fifty-nine percent of Republicans want churches to speak out on political issues, compared to 42 percent of Democrats.... Fifty percent of white evangelicals say that there is a lot of discrimination against them." Via Steve Benen.

Ian Shapira of the Washington Post: "Hours before a controversial segment of 'The Daily Show with Jon Stewart' aired Thursday night, a lawyer for the four Washington Redskins fans featured in it sent one of the program's producers a letter revoking their consent to appear in the piece." Too bad, the segment aired anyway. See yesterday's Commentariat.

Midterm Elections

After reading Bernie Sanders' remarks, it's extra-disheartening to learn than Joni Ernst, a far-right Tea party loon who is Iowa's Republican nominee for U.S. Senate, is now leading Democrat Bruce Braley, a fairly liberal member of the House, by 6 points.

Jonathan Martin of the New York Times: "In an election year shaped by voter anger toward the political establishment, the outcome of an unusually large number of close Senate and governor's races could be determined by the outsize role of third-party candidates."

Election law expert Rick Hasen on the 7th Circuit's decision that allowed the Wisconsin voter suppression law to be imposed for the November election: "I expect that the plaintiffs will next try the Supreme Court. Ordinarily I've been saying that progressives need to stay out of the Supreme Court on these voting rights cases. But (a) this is a really egregious order changing the rules midstream in violation of the Supreme Court's own admonition in the Purcell v. Gonzalez case; and (b) now that the Court has before it the Ohio case, presenting a similar section 2 Voting Rights Act issue but with much worse facts for voting rights advocates, it would be better for this to be up there at the same time."

Lyle Denniston of ScotusBlog: "Arguing that early voting is necessary to continue to deal with the 'unprecedented disaster' at the polls in Ohio in 2004, several civil rights advocacy groups urged the Supreme Court on Saturday to permit Ohioans to start casting their ballots next Tuesday for this year's general election. Allowing that would merely keep in place what the state has been doing for the past four elections, and would not affect any other state, the fifty-four-page brief contended."

Beyond the Beltway

DeNeed Brown & Mark Berman of the Washington Post: "Two days after Ferguson's police chief issued them an apology, Michael Brown's parents said they have no confidence in the justice system in Missouri, where a grand jury will decide whether to charge the officer who killed their son. The lack of trust, they said, began the day their son was shot, when they rushed to the scene but were confronted by officers who 'gave us the finger' and 'sicced dogs' on the crowd. 'We just got rudeness and disrespect,' said Lesley McSpadden, the mother of the unarmed black teenager who was fatally shot Aug. 9 by a white police officer in the small suburb outside St. Louis." ...

... Jim Salter of the AP: "A Ferguson police officer was shot in the arm Saturday night after encountering two men at a community center who ran from him and then opened fire during a foot chase, authorities said. St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar said at a media briefing early Sunday that the officer approached the men around 9:10 p.m. because the community center was closed. As the officer approached, the men ran away. When the officer gave chase, 'one of the men turned and shot,' Belmar said."

Whitney Wild of KUSA Denver: "For the fifth school day in a row, students from Jefferson County[, Colorado,] public schools walked out in protest.... [Link fixed.] At the heart of it all, changes to the teacher pay scale and conservative board member Julie Williams' proposal to create a review committee for AP US History courses. Williams says materials shouldn't condone or encourage civil disorder and social strife.... When we asked for examples of historical events she fears are misrepresented, Williams couldn't point to one."

News Ledes

New York Times: "An American drone strike in northwestern Pakistan killed at least four people suspected of being militants, Pakistani officials said Sunday."

New York Times: "On Sunday, the sixth men's [marathon] world record was achieved in Berlin in the last 11 years as Dennis Kimetto of Kenya ran 2 hours 2 minutes 57 seconds. Running the flat course, aided by a phalanx of pacesetters in cool weather, Kimetto became the first person to run 26.2 miles under 2:03 and shattered the previous record by 26 seconds. It had been set only a year ago in Berlin by a fellow Kenyan, Wilson Kipsang."

AP: Alleged cop-killer Eric Frein of Canadensis, Pennsylvania, (Poconos) continues to evade searchers after 16 days. "Frein is described by authorities as a survivalist, marksman and war re-enactment enthusiast who planned the attack for years, extensively researching how to avoid police manhunts and experimenting with explosives. Frein has held anti-law enforcement views for many years, police said."

The Commentariat -- Sept. 27, 2014

Internal links, graph removed.

Neil Irwin of the New York Times: "From 2001 to 2007, 98 percent of income gains accrued to the top 10 percent of earners.... In the first three years of the current expansion, incomes actually fell for the bottom 90 percent of earners, even as they rose nicely for the top 10 percent. The result: The top 10 percent captured an impossible-seeming 116 percent of income gains during that span.... One percent of the population, in the first three years of the current expansion, took home 95 percent of the income gains." ...

... CW: Voters & reporters must confront politicians of both parties at every opportunity to ask them what their plan is to reverse this 75-year trend. I look forward to hearing from John Boehner & Paul Ryan about the sanctity of the free-market economy, blah-blah. Makers & takers, my ass. Ryan has it exactly backwards. ...

... digby has an illuminating post in Salon on why the majority of Republicans still believe in the "American dream": "They don't see it as a middle-class goal at all, much of it made possible by the promise of a decent education and secure retirement, guaranteed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government. No, they believe that the American dream is getting filthy rich." CW: Their dream is better than your dream. Their dream, however, is the impossible dream.

Joby Warrick of the Washington Post: "Data released Friday by the Energy Department show American factories and power plants putting more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere during the first six months of 2014 compared with the same period in each of the past two years. The figures confirm a reversal first seen in 2013, when the trend of steadily falling emissions abruptly halted. The higher emissions are primarily a reflection of a rebounding economy.... The shift also underscores the challenge confronting the Obama administration as it seeks to honor a pledge to sharply cut U.S. emissions of greenhouse gases by the end of the decade."

Patrick Wintour of the Guardian: "Britain has embarked on a renewed war in the Middle East, starting with air strikes in the next 48 hours, after MPs overwhelmingly sanctioned a UK air assault against Islamic State targets in Iraq." ...

... Griff Witte & Rebecca Collard of the Washington Post: "Three European nations [-- ... Britain, Denmark & Belgium] -- joined the widening U.S.-led air campaign against Islamic State militants in Iraq on Friday, even as the group's fighters renewed their attempt to overrun a strategic border city in Syria.... All three countries that authorized military action on Friday decided to limit their involvement to Iraq. Meanwhile, Islamic State militants demonstrated that airstrikes have failed to slow their assault on critical positions within Syria." ...

White House: "In this week's address, the President reiterated the forceful and optimistic message of American leadership that he delivered in his speech before the United Nations General Assembly earlier this week":

... AP: "American warplanes and drones hit Islamic State group tanks, Humvees, checkpoints and bunkers in airstrikes Friday targeting the extremists in Syria and Iraq, as the U.S.-led coalition expanded to include Britain, Denmark and Belgium." ...

... Joan Lowy of the AP: "An al-Qaida cell in Syria known as the Khorasan Group, which was targeted by U.S. airstrikes this week, represents 'a clear and present danger' to commercial flights to Europe and the United States, the Obama administration's top aviation security official said Friday. The purpose of the airstrikes was to disrupt an 'imminent attack or attack entering the last phases of execution,' said John Pistole, head of the Transportation Security Administration. The Khorasan Group has been researching and testing improvised explosive devices designed to elude airport security.'"

Somini Sengupta of the New York Times: "Japan said it would change its laws in order to be able to send soldiers on United Nations peacekeeping missions. Mexico said it would revive its involvement in United Nations peacekeeping. Indonesia, Mongolia and Bangladesh promised to prepare troops for rapid deployment. The pledges were part of an unusual session led by Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr.... There are more peacekeepers than ever before -- 130,000 troops, police officers and civilian staff members, according to the United Nations. Attacks on them are rising."

Brian Knowlton of the New York Times: "... Richard A. Stengel, the under secretary of state for public diplomacy, believes the United States has no choice but to counter [ISIS social media] propaganda with a forceful online response.... Digital operators at the State Department are directly engaging young people -- and sometimes jihadis -- on websites popular in Arab countries, publishing a stream of anti-Islamic State messages, and one somewhat shocking video, on Facebook or YouTube or Twitter, using the hashtag #Think Again Turn Away."

Mohammed Daraghmeh of the AP: "Facing pressure at home to come up with a new strategy for achieving Palestinian statehood, Mahmoud Abbas said Friday he would ask the U.N. Security Council to dictate the ground rules for any talks with Israel, including setting a deadline for an Israeli withdrawal from Palestinian lands. In a speech to world leaders at the U.N. General Assembly, the Palestinian leader also accused Israel of conducting a 'war of genocide' in Gaza, but stopped short of saying he would pursue war crimes charges against Israel."

Sahil Kapur of TPM: Michael Carvin, lawyer for the plaintiffs in Halbig v. Burwell, on why the Supreme Court will hear his case even though it is likely that the lower courts will all have consistently ruled against the plaintiff (a three-judge D.C. panel ruled in favor, but the full en banc court is likely to overturn that ruling): "I don't know that four justices, who are needed to [take the case] here, are going to give much of a damn about what a bunch of Obama appointees on the D.C. Circuit think." ...

... Ian Millhiser of Think Progress: "It's not every day that an attorney states openly to a reporter that he thinks he's going to win his case because he expects the justices to behave like partisan hacks."

Missed this. Craig Timberg & Greg Miller of the Washington Post (Sept. 25): "FBI Director James B. Comey sharply criticized Apple and Google on Thursday for developing forms of smartphone encryption so secure that law enforcement officials cannot easily gain access to information stored on the devices -- even when they have valid search warrants. His comments were the most forceful yet from a top government official but echo a chorus of denunciation from law enforcement officials nationwide.... He said he could not understand why companies would 'market something expressly to allow people to place themselves beyond the law.'" ...

... Markos Moulitsas thinks the new encryption is great!

Why the Fed Didn't Prevent the Financial Meltdown. Jake Bernstein of ProPublica writes a long piece based on secret recording & a confidential report for the Fed that shows how the big banks "captured" Federal Reserve employees supposed to oversee the banks' transactions. If the bank examiners found fault with a transaction, Fed higher-ups could be counted on to "rein in" the examiners. CW: It's no surprise that these banks operate with impunity, that every authority from the president on down kowtows to them. The ProPublica report shows how the nitty-gritty of how fix works re: Fed regulation. If a bank examiner tries too hard to curb a bank's illegal or questionable activity, she just might get fired for, um, failing to be a team player. ...

... The audio story by This American Life is here. The transcript is here. ...

... As Michael Lewis succinctly puts it in Bloomberg View: "The Fed encourages its employees to keep their heads down, to obey their managers and to appease the banks. That is, bank regulators failed to do their jobs properly not because they lacked the tools but because they were discouraged from using them.

Steve Peoples & Ken Thomas of the AP: "Fighting to improve their brand, leading Republicans rallied behind religious liberty at a Friday gathering of evangelical conservatives, rebuking an unpopular President Barack Obama while skirting divisive social issues. Speakers did not ignore abortion and gay marriage altogether on the opening day of the annual Values Voter Summit, but a slate of prospective presidential candidates focused on the persecution of Christians and their values at home and abroad -- a message GOP officials hope will help unify a divided party and appeal to new voters ahead of November's midterm elections and the 2016 presidential contest." CW: Yes, because Democrats are totally in favor of persecuting Christians. ...

... Olivia Nuzzi of the Daily Beast: "Rand Paul and Ted Cruz's back-to-back speeches at Friday's Values Voter Summit offered a preview of what the Republican presidential primary would look like should the two senators decide to run for president in 2016.... The crowd did not seem to notice Cruz's blatant pandering -- or if the did, they didn't mind. They were up on their feet so often to applaud the Texas senator that his speech was practically an aerobics class. Paul's reception, meanwhile, was markedly less enthusiastic." Read the whole post.

... Here's the New York Times report, by Jeremy Peters. Contra Nuzzi, it turns out Paul did cite some scripture. And contra the AP report, Paul didn't exactly "skirt social issues," Peters reports: "Mr. Paul emphasized his opposition to abortion. As he was introduced to the crowd, a video of an ultrasound and the murmur of a beating heart played, accompanied by lines from Mr. Paul's speeches like, 'I will always take a stand for life.'" Creepy. ...

... Luke Brinker of Salon runs down the five craziest things Cruz said in his speech. CW: Bear in mind, Ted's misrepresentations were totally lost on the "values voters." Facts don't matter to true believers.

Quit Picking on Republicans/"Pathetic Losers"!

... Chris Moody of Yahoo! News: "A Republican adman [-- Vinny Minchillo, who worked for Mitt Romney --] unveiled a new public relations campaign this week to soften the image of the Grand Old Party using the guiding slogan 'Republicans Are People, Too.' The promotional push came complete with a highly produced video, a website and social media efforts.... [Hilariously,] in 1974, when the heavily damaged GOP brand was reeling from the Watergate scandal that brought down Richard Nixon, the Republican National Committee launched its own 'Republicans Are People Too' initiative in an attempt to recast the party...." Minchillo told Moody he was unaware of the Nixon-era campaign. Craig Shirley, a political consultant & Reagan biographer, described the '74 campaign as "the wail of pathetic losers."

Gail Collins: Republican Congressional candidates want you to know their Democratic opponents are really fans of terrorism. Also, Scott Brown is an idiot. ...

... On that subject, Scot Lehigh of the Boston Globe attended Scott Brown's "major speech on foreign policy" (as advertised): "As far as I can tell, Brown has been studying under the tutelage of Sean Hannity. Which is to say, he has cast his gaze about the globe, catalogued the various problems that have arisen in the last half-decade -- and blamed them all on President Obama. His foreign-policy reasoning, to the extent it can be called that, runs this way: Post Barack ergo propter Barack." When asked, foreign-policy-expert/Obama basher Brown wouldn't answer whether or not Congress should vote on authorizing Obama to fight ISIS. Read the whole column.

Here's the "Daily Show" segment in which Jason Jones interviews Washington's football team fans & Native American activists about the team's name:

Beyond the Beltway

Jason Stein of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: "Opponents of Wisconsin's voter ID law fell just short Friday of getting a full federal appeals court to reconsider their recent loss in the case before a panel of judges. On Sept. 12, a three-judge panel of the 7th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in Chicago ruled that Wisconsin could implement the law for the Nov. 4 election. The law requires voters to show a photo ID in order to vote.... The members of the court split 5-5 on whether to hold the hearing, which means that the request did not get a majority of votes and failed as a result.... All five who declined to take the case were appointed by Republicans, and three of the five sat on the panel that first decided the case.... There is a chance that the U.S. Supreme Court could yet consider the matter." Thanks to Victoria D. for the lead. ...

... Ernst-Ulrich Franzen for the Journal Sentinel Editorial Board: "The voter ID issue is settled -- at least for the Nov. 4 election: Voters will be required to bring a photo ID to the polls. We think that's an unnecessary burden to place on voters and could cause some to stay home for lack of a proper ID. And, with only a few weeks before the election, some may find it difficult to get one. But our hope is that officials and voters will rise to the occasion and not allow this attempt at voter suppression to achieve its goal. Make sure you have or obtain a proper photo ID -- and vote. If you know someone who needs a photo ID, help that person get one. It does matter."

Julie Bosman of the New York Times: "The Justice Department on Friday pressured the Ferguson Police Department to stop its officers from wearing bracelets stamped with the message 'I am Darren Wilson,' in solidarity with the police officer who is being investigated for shooting an unarmed black 18-year-old, and from covering up their name plates with tape.... In a stern letter to Chief Thomas Jackson, Christy E. Lopez, deputy chief of the special litigation section of the Justice Department's civil rights division, said that the bracelets 'upset and agitated people.'" ...

... CW: It's pretty pathetic when the Justice Department has to urge a police chief to exercise common sense. If the Ferguson mayor & city council had any sense themselves -- which clearly they don't -- they would fire Tom Jackson.

News Ledes

New York Times: Chelsea Clinton "gave birth to her first child -- with her husband, Marc Mezvinsky -- on Friday and posted the news on Twitter early Saturday." The child, a daughter, is named Charlotte Clinton Mezvinsky.

Washington Post: "James A. Traficant Jr., an iconoclastic nine-term Ohio populist in the U.S. House of Representatives who was convicted on corruption charges in 2002, becoming the second member of Congress to be expelled since the Civil War, died Sept. 27 at a hospital in Youngstown, Ohio. He was 73."