The Commentariat -- Sept. 12, 2013

Michael Gordon & Steven Myers of the New York Times: "Secretary of State John Kerry and a team of American arms control experts arrived [in Geneva] Thursday to begin talks with their Russian counterparts on a plan to secure and dispose of Syria's chemical weapons. American officials said they were planning a series of early tests to determine if the Russian government, and more importantly President Bashar al-Assad of Syria, were serious about accepting international control of Syria's huge chemical arsenal." ...

... Ernesto Londoño & Greg Miller of the Washington Post: "The CIA has begun delivering weapons to rebels in Syria, ending months of delay in lethal aid that had been promised by the Obama administration, according to U.S. officials and Syrian figures. The shipments began streaming into the country over the past two weeks, along with separate deliveries by the State Department of vehicles and other gear -- a flow of material that marks a major escalation of the U.S. role in Syria's civil war." ...

... Nick Cumming-Bruce of the New York Times: "As the United States and Russia searched for a diplomatic solution to the crisis over Syria's chemical weapons, a four-person United Nations rights panel presented detailed evidence on Wednesday of what it said were war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by pro-government forces and, to a lesser extent, rebels in the 30-month-old conflict." ...

... Vladimir Putin in the New York Times: "The potential strike by the United States against Syria, despite strong opposition from many countries and major political and religious leaders, including the pope, will result in more innocent victims and escalation, potentially spreading the conflict far beyond Syria's borders." ...

     ... Steve M. of NMMNB: Putin alienates the wingnuts, potentially his strongest U.S. allies!

... New York Times Editors: "... the diplomacy could provide more of an immediate deterrent against further chemical attacks than the threat of an attack, and far more of a deterrent in the longer run. Russia will continue to make seemingly unreasonable demands until a deal is finally signed and is unlikely to admit that the Syrian regime carried out the gas attack. But Congress and Mr. Obama should be careful about setting hard deadlines or drawing any more red lines. At least Syria has admitted that it has chemical weapons, for the first time ever; Mr. Putin has acknowledged to the world that there must be limits on the blank checks he was writing his client state; and Russia and the United States are working toward a common strategic goal for the first time in a very long time." ...

... President Jimmy Carter, in a Washington Post op-ed: "A military strike by the United States is undesirable and will become unnecessary if this alternative [Russian] proposal is strongly supported by the U.N. Security Council.... The main goals of condemning the use of these outlawed weapons and preventing their further use can still be realized by concerted international action." ...

... Nicholas Kristof: "... the mere flexing of military power worked -- initially and tentatively. And while it seems that neither Congress nor the public has any appetite for cruise missile strikes on Syria, it will be critical to keep the military option alive in the coming weeks or Russia and Syria will play us like a yo-yo." ...

... Jon Stewart on Fox "News"'s coverage of the proposal to relieve Syria of its chemical weapons:

     ... CW: As we've discovered, it isn't only Fox "News" that sees the possibility of a peaceful resolution as a weakening of U.S. strength or a presidential blunder.

Bibi Is Reading Your E-Mails. Glenn Greenwald: "The National Security Agency routinely shares raw intelligence data with Israel without first sifting it to remove information about US citizens, a top-secret document provided to the Guardian by whistleblower Edward Snowden reveals. Details of the intelligence-sharing agreement are laid out in a memorandum of understanding between the NSA and its Israeli counterpart that shows the US government handed over intercepted communications likely to contain phone calls and emails of American citizens. The agreement places no legally binding limits on the use of the data by the Israelis."

Rich People Spend Big to Make You Stupid. Mike Allen & Jim Vandehei of Politico: "An Arlington, Va.-based conservative group, whose existence until now was unknown to almost everyone in politics, raised and spent $250 million in 2012 to shape political and policy debate nationwide. The group, Freedom Partners, and its president, Marc Short, serve as an outlet for the ideas and funds of the mysterious Koch brothers, cutting checks as large as $63 million to groups promoting conservative causes, according to an IRS document to be filed shortly." CW: Allen & Vandehei got this scoop, no doubt, because their wingnut sourcing is very, very good.

More Stupid GOP Tricks. Jonathan Weisman of the New York Times: "Facing another revolt by the House's most ardent conservatives, Republican leaders scrapped a vote this week on legislation that would keep the federal government financed through mid-December while ending financing for President Obama's health care law. The leaders say they will bring the measure up next week, but with just a handful of legislative days left until a government shutdown, Republicans are in a squeeze. Democrats are uniting in opposition to the bill, not only because of the resolution to starve the Affordable Care Act, but also because the level of financing for the government would reflect the across-the-board spending cuts known as sequestration." ...

... Greg Sargent: "At some point, House GOP leaders will have to pass an important bill with a lot of Democratic support -- stiff-arming the Tea Party in the process. GOP leaders are trying to defer that moment for as long as possible, but there's just no clear way around it."

... Brian Beutler of Salon: House "conservatives are poised -- once again! -- to align with progressives in temporarily handing control of the House of Representatives over to Nancy Pelosi, and protecting the poor from deep government spending cuts." ...

... CW: there are quite a few posts about the internecine struggles among House Republicans. Most of them get into the weeds, because it's all weeds. Matt Fuller of Roll Call notes that the House leadership is pissed at groups like their erstwhile friends at the Club for Growth who insist on attaching defund-ObamaCare language to every bill. James Downie of the Washington Post observes that House Republicans are turning on Senate Republicans for refusing to mount a series of filibusters with the objective of defunding ObamaCare. Ed Kilgore: "... at some point, 'the base' of the Republican Party needs to learn that sticking with The Crazy to and beyond the gates of delirium won't get them everything they want in life...." ...

     ... Update: To add to the GOP disarray, Senate Republicans are "screwing" the House Republican leadership. Burgess Everett of Politico: "[Ted] Cruz [R-Texas] and [Mike] Lee [R-Utah] have resisted the House approach because the Democratic-controlled Senate would surely vote to keep the government funded and easily defeat the Obamacare defunding component. Cruz called the approach 'procedural chicanery' and asserted that the House GOP would be 'complicit in the disaster that is Obamacare' if it supported the maneuver." ...

More Stupider GOP Tricks. "Is Nothing Sacred?" Dana Milbank: "Rather than join in the bipartisan ceremonies marking the 12th anniversary of the worst terrorist attack on U.S. soil, [conservatives] rallied on the West Lawn of the Capitol, carrying signs that said 'Impeach Obama' and, over a cartoon of the president trampling Uncle Sam, 'Americans Don't Support Terrorists or Their Minions.' On the other side of the Capitol, conservative leaders joined the eccentric Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Tex.) at what was supposed to be a 'memorial service for the victims of the 9/11 terrorist attacks in 2001 and 2012.' But the 3,000 who perished in 2001 got just a few passing references at the 35-minute event. The 'primary purpose' of the gathering, in the words of organizer Jerry Boykin, a retired Army general, was to remember the four men who were killed in Benghazi, Libya, on Sept. 11, 2012.... More to the point, the conservatives had assembled to blame the Obama administration for the deaths and to demand further investigation of the resulting 'scandal.' ... Some of the most prominent figures in the Republican Party joined in marring the memorials with Benghazi politics," including John Boehner, Darell Issa & Marco Rubio. ...

... Where's the Outrage? Dave Weigel of Slate provides this picture of the big Benghazi protest. Not exactly a cast of thousands. Though the so-called organizers predicted 3,000 protesters, Weigel's estimate was that only about 100 of the faithful showed up:

Dave Jamieson of the Huffington Post: "After extending health care coverage to many of its part-time employees for years, Trader Joe's has told workers who log fewer than 30 hours a week that they will need to find insurance on the Obamacare exchanges next year, according to a confidential memo from the grocer's chief executive. In the memo to staff dated Aug. 30, Trader Joe's CEO Dan Bane said the company will cut part-timers a check for $500 in January and help guide them toward finding a new plan under the Affordable Care Act. The company will continue to offer health coverage to workers who carry 30 hours or more on average."

Ann Marimow & Philip Rucker of the Washington Post: "The D.C. businessman at the center of an ongoing city corruption investigation secretly spent more than a half-million dollars on get-out-the-vote efforts for Hillary Rodham Clinton's 2008 presidential campaign.... Jeffrey E. Thompson, a former city contractor who allegedly financed a secret campaign for then-mayoral candidate Vincent C. Gray (D) in 2010, financed an independent effort to reach urban voters on behalf of Clinton in Texas and at least three other states during the 2008 Democratic primaries.... A search of federal campaign records found no evidence that Thompson or White disclosed the alleged expenditures or activities..., as required by campaign finance laws.... A senior official on Clinton's 2008 campaign said no one in the campaign's senior leadership or with budget-making authority knew about White's independent canvassing campaign. Other senior officials said they had never heard of White."

Professor Petraeus' First Day of Classes. Brian Jones of Business Insider: "A video recently posted to YouTube shows the former director of the CIA and retired Army general [David Petraeus] being followed down the street on his way to his first class by a small, but passionate group of students. It's hard to make out a lot of what they're saying, but there's a lot of 'war criminal!' And a general sense that they don't like him very much." Includes video. CW: All this aggravation for a $1/class. Maybe CUNY isn't the best venue for Prof. P.

Anna Palmer & Jake Sherman of Politico: "Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg will meet with the top four House Republicans next week in Washington. The high tech CEO's visit comes as Facebook is facing ongoing scrutiny over privacy concerns and Internet safety."

Local News

David Chen, et al., of the New York Times: "New York City’s Democratic power brokers moved swiftly on Wednesday to prevent a combative sequel to the party's primary for mayor, as union officials and party leaders rallied around the front-runner, Bill de Blasio, and urged the second-place finisher, William C. Thompson Jr. to end his quest for a runoff election.... With 99 percent of precincts reporting, Mr. de Blasio had won 40.3 percent of the vote, just over the 40 percent required by law to avoid a runoff, but there were more than 16,000 paper ballots, some still arriving by mail, that could push Mr. de Blasio below that threshold when they are counted next week." ...

... Gail Collins on lessons from the New York City elections. Here's the "racist" ad that irked Mike Bloomberg:

     ... CW: BTW, I disagree with Collins about Mark Sanford. Yeah, he's a narcissistic jerk, but his full-blown love affair with What's-Her-Name, whom he plans to marry, does not, in my book, equate with Weiner's sexting or Spitzer's hooking. I fault Sanford for dereliction of duty, but not for falling for somebody-not-his-wife.

Vivan Yee of the New York Times: "Charles J. Hynes, the district attorney who was Brooklyn's most powerful political figure and top law enforcement officer for more than 23 years..., accepted a stunning defeat as voters swept a much younger man [Kenneth Thompson, 47] into his place, and became the first district attorney in the city to lose a re-election bid since 1955."

Stupid Bigot (Admittedly Redundant) Tricks. Tamara Lush of the AP: " A Florida pastor was arrested Wednesday as he drove a pickup truck towing a large barbecue-style grill filled with kerosene-soaked Qurans to a park, where the pastor had said he was planning to burn 2,998 of the Muslim holy books -- one for every victim of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Sheriff's deputies in Polk County, Fla., arrested Pastor Terry Jones, 61, and his associate pastor, Marvin Sapp Jr., 44, each on a felony charge of unlawful conveyance of fuel."

Stupid Tricks, Right & Left

Mackenzie Weinger & Kate Brannen of Politico: Elizabeth O'Bagy, "the Syria researcher whose Wall Street Journal op-ed piece was cited by Secretary of State John Kerry and Sen. John McCain during congressional hearings about the use of force, has been fired from the [neoconservative] Institute for the Study of War for lying about having a Ph.D., the group announced on Wednesday.... According to [Kimberly] Kagan, [the founder of ISW,] O'Bagy in May led her to believe she had successfully defended her dissertation when she had actually failed her defense. The [WSJ] piece had also come under fire for misrepresenting her affiliations. Originally the op-ed only listed O'Bagy, 26, as only 'a senior analyst' at the ISW, later adding a clarification that disclosed her connection to a Syrian rebel advocacy group." ...

... Zack Beauchamp of Think Progress makes the case that O'Bagy was never in a Ph.D. program.

Jonathan Easley of the Hill: "Public Policy Polling (PPP) sparked controversy Wednesday after the left-leaning firm declined to release a survey it conducted last weekend that accurately forecasted the successful recall of a Democratic state senator from Colorado. The survey PPP conducted, but did not release, showed Colorado District 3 Sen. Angela Giron (D) would be recalled by a 54 percent to 42 percent margin. 'In a district that Barack Obama won by almost 20 points I figured there was no way that could be right and made a rare decision not to release the poll,' Director Tom Jensen wrote in a post on the firm's website. 'It turns out we should have had more faith in our numbers because she was indeed recalled by 12 points.'"

News Ledes

AP: "NASA’s Voyager 1 probe has left the solar system, boldly going where no machine has gone before. Thirty-six years after it rocketed away from Earth, the plutonium-powered spacecraft has escaped the sun's influence and is now cruising 11 1/2 billion miles away in interstellar space.... just in case it encounters intelligent life out there, it is carrying a gold-plated, 1970s-era phonograph record with multicultural greetings from Earth, photos and songs, including Chuck Berry's 'Johnny B. Goode,' along with Beethoven, Bach, Mozart and Louis Armstrong."

New York Times: "A Jersey Shore boardwalk barely rebuilt after Hurricane Sandy was ravaged by fire on Thursday, as flames that began in an ice cream shop quickly engulfed businesses along a stretch of beach in two towns."

AFP: "Russia said on Thursday that North Korea was apparently conducting work on a nuclear reactor, warning that the ageing facility was in such a 'nightmarish state' it could cause a disaster."

The Commentariat -- Sept. 11, 2013

... The New York Times has the transcript of the speech. ...

... Short Version. Erin McClam (a new McDonald's sandwich??) of NBC News recaps the President's speech & related news. ...

... Over there on MSNBC, Andrea Mitchell has nothing but bad stuff to say about President Obama & any deal that might be reached with Syria. Rachel Maddow, Chris Matthews, Chris Matthews. Ed Schultz & Al Sharpton contradicted her -- but mostly not till Mitchell moved on to spread her shit on NBC News. ...

... Maureen Dowd makes Andrea Mitchell sound like an Obama groupie, by comparison. Dowd trashes Obama, Kerry & any other Democrats (Hillary Clinton, Harry Reid) who come to mind. ...

... George Packer of the New Yorker is tough, too, but in a more measured & thoughtful way: "... the Administration has had the good fortune to stumble into diplomacy, randomly sprung from the trap it set for itself. I'd say the chances of missile strikes are now less than one in ten. The sudden turn of events has already led the Syrian government to reverse its longstanding policy of denying that it possesses chemical weapons, a situation that would have Monty Python-like possibilities if not for the daily horrors. That move suggests the better possibilities of diplomacy." ...

... John Dickerson of Slate is critical but fair: "The best new argument the president has for his Syria policy is that the threat appears to be working. The outlines of the Syrian offer to give up chemical weapons will become clear soon enough and we'll all learn whether this pause was a bluff or a genuine breakthrough. If it's the latter, then what looked like a confusing speech in the middle of a fishtailing policy will mark the moment when Obama's hard line started to pay off. If it's just a bluff, then the president will again need that Congressional vote, and his remarks from tonight will be long in the distance." ...

... Michael Shear, et al., of the New York Times: "The United States will begin working with its allies at the United Nations to explore the viability of a Russian plan to avert military action against Syria by having the international community take control of the Syrian chemical weapons stockpile, a senior White House official said on Tuesday. The decision to work through the United Nations came after President Obama spoke Tuesday morning with President François Hollande of France and Prime Minister David Cameron of Britain, the White House official said." ...

... Stacy Meichtry, et al., of the Wall Street Journal: "A nearly immediate impasse over a United Nations resolution on removing Syria's chemical weapons sent American, British and French diplomats into a huddle on Tuesday, as they sought to craft a version stern enough to ensure Syrian compliance without spurring a Russian veto. Russia rejected France's initial demand for muscular wording aimed at forcing Syria to hand over the weapons on a deadline and under the threat of force. Moscow canceled a meeting it had called at the Security Council and set the stage for a possible diplomatic standoff." ...

... RT: "Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Syria's chemical arms handover will only work if the US and its allies renounce the use of force against Damascus.... Putin confirmed that he and President Barack Obama had 'indeed discussed' such a possibility on the sidelines of the G20 summit in St. Petersburg last week. It was agreed, Putin said, 'to instruct Secretary of State [John Kerry] and Foreign Minister [Sergey Lavrov] to work together and see if they can achieve some progress in this regard.'" ...

I had some conversations about this [Russian proposal] with my counterpart from Russia last week. President Putin raised the issue with President Obama at St. Petersburg. President Obama directed us to try to continue to talk and see if it is possible. So it is not something that -- you know, suddenly emerged, though it did publicly. But it cannot be allowed to be a delay.... I didn't misspeak. I was asked about it. I responded because I was asked. -- Secretary of State John Kerry, at a House Armed Services Committee hearing Tuesday ...

... Rosie Gray of BuzzFeed on how the administration changed its story about Kerry's remark on Monday re: the Russian proposal. CW: I think if you can read diplomatese, you'll see that the statements about the statement (see, I can even write it!) are not inconsistent. ...

... The Times has a liveblog of events surrounding the Syrian crisis. The Washington Post's liveblog is here. ...

... Ezra Klein: "The White House may really be about to win on Syria.... If Assad is willing to sign the [chemical weapons convention] treaty and stop using chemical weapons [as the AP has tweeted], they should declare victory. It's a better outcome than they could have hoped for. And they might get it without firing a single shot." ...

... Charles Pierce on Senators' reactions to a visit from President Obama. He writes a special tribute to Li'l Randy: "Nothing about the swift turn of events was stranger, though, than hearing Senator Aqua Buddha's enthusiastic support of the U.N., an organization that his pappy, Crazy Uncle Liberty (!), has looked upon as a Trojan Horse of UnFreedom for 30 years. 'There's also a valid argument to be made in some of us who were working very hard to delay the bombing, we've had a chance to get to diplomacy,' said Rand Paul of Kentucky." ...

... Here's the Post's most recent update on where members of Congress stand on the vote to authorize the use of force against Syria.

** A Gilded Age of Our Own. Annie Lowrey of the New York Times: "An updated study by the prominent economists Emmanuel Saez and Thomas Piketty shows that the top 1 percent of earners took more than one-fifth of the country's total income in 2012, one of the highest levels recorded in the century that the government has collected the relevant data. The top 10 percent of earners took more than half of all income. That is the highest recorded level ever. The figures underscore that even after the recession the country remains in a kind of new Gilded Age, with income as concentrated as it was in the years that preceded the Great Depression, if not more so."

Josh Gerstein of Politico: "National Security Agency personnel regularly searched call tracking data using thousands of numbers that had not been vetted in accordance with court-ordered procedures, according to previously secret legal filings and court opinions released by the Obama administration Tuesday. The agency also falsely certified to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court that analysts and technicians were complying with the court's insistence that searches only be done with numbers that had a 'reasonable, articulable suspicion' of terrorism, according to a senior intelligence official who briefed reporters prior to release of the documents." ...

     ... The Guardian story, by Spencer Ackerman, is here. "... documents, mostly from 2009 and declassified Tuesday, describe what Walton said were 'thousands' of American phone numbers improperly accessed by government counterterrorism analysts.... They also indicate that US government officials, including NSA director Keith Alexander, gave misleading statements to the court about how they carried out that surveillance." ...

     ... Scott Shane of the New York Times: "The agency uses orders from the intelligence court to compel phone companies to turn over records of numbers called and the time and duration of each call.... Since [Edward] Snowden disclosed the program, the agency has said that ... it makes only a few hundred queries in the database each year, when it has 'reasonable, articulable suspicion' that a telephone number is connected to terrorism. But the new documents show that the agency also compares each day's phone call data as it arrives with an 'alert list' of thousands of domestic and foreign phone numbers that it has identified as possibly linked to terrorism. The agency told the court that all the numbers on the alert list had met the legal standard of suspicion, but that was false. In fact, only about 10 percent of 17,800 phone numbers on the alert list in 2009 had met that test, a senior intelligence official said." ...

     ... CW: It's worth emphasizing that these documents were not voluntarily released as a result of President Obama's enlightened "transparency" standards. As Ackerman reports, "The documents ... came after the American Civil Liberties Union and the Electronic Frontier Foundation successfully sued the FBI for more disclosure about the phone records collection through the Freedom of Information Act. A federal court in August ordered an initial round of disclosure to occur Tuesday." Not only does the public have a need to know when a government agency breaks the law, the agency itself will not function within the law if its lawbreaking is never subjected to public scrutiny.

Local News

David Halbfinger & David Chen of the New York Times: "Bill de Blasio, whose campaign for mayor of New York tapped into a city's deepening unease with income inequality and aggressive police practices, captured far more votes than any of his rivals in the Democratic primary on Tuesday. But as Mr. de Blasio, an activist-turned-operative and now the city's public advocate, celebrated a remarkable come-from-behind surge, it was not clear if he had won the 40 percent needed to avoid a runoff election on Oct. 1 with William C. Thompson Jr., who finished second. At night's end, he had won just over 40 percent of the ballots counted; thousands of paper ballots had yet to be tallied, which could take days.... The winner of the unusually spirited Republican contest was Joseph J. Lhota, a no-nonsense former chairman of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. He defeated John A. Catsimatidis, a voluble billionaire who ran an often whimsical campaign." ...

... Mara Gay of the Daily News adds a bizarre coda to election night in her report on Sydney Leathers -- Anthony Weiner's ex-sexting partner -- who attempted to crash Weiner's "victory" party. Article includes multiple mammograms; if she ever grows up, Leathers will be tremendously embarrassed by her youthful indiscretion. ...

... Kate Taylor of the New York Times: "Eliot Spitzer lost a bid for political redemption on Tuesday as he was defeated in the Democratic primary for New York City comptroller by the current Manhattan borough president, Scott M. Stringer. With 97 percent of the precincts reporting early Wednesday, Mr. Stringer was ahead 52.1 percent to 47.9 percent." ...

... Jonathan Chait of New York on "the dashed dreams of President Bloomberg.... Bloombergism is the sort of thing the Constitution was designed to prevent." A highly readable critique of Bloomberg's arrogance & how he decided to translate it into public policy, the public itself be damned.

** Lynn Bartels, et al., of the Denver Post: "An epic national debate over gun rights in Colorado on Tuesday saw two Democratic state senators ousted for their support for stricter laws, a 'ready, aim, fired' message intended to stop other politicians for pushing for firearms restrictions. Senate President John Morse and Sen. Angela Giron will be replaced in office with Republican candidates who petitioned onto the recall ballot."

John Eligon of the New York Times: "As a Democrat facing a State Legislature with veto-proof Republican majorities, Gov. Jay Nixon of Missouri has not claimed big victories lately. So when he began stumping the state against a deep Republican tax cut that he had vetoed, he might have seemed to be on a political fool's errand. But over the summer, Mr. Nixon has turned the debate away from the Republican argument that lower taxes bring jobs and recast the tax cut as one that would hurt education and mental health services. The state's school boards have rallied to his side. More than 100 of them have passed resolutions supporting the veto. And with a veto session set to begin on Wednesday, it is the supporters of the tax cut who are now pessimistic."

Stupid News

Julian Pecquet of the Hill: "Thousands of demonstrators are expected to descend on the Capitol on Wednesday to mark the Sept. 11, 2012, attack that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans." CW: I can't figure out who these thousands are demonstrators are. Guess I should watch Fox "News."

Matt Gutman & Colleen Curry of ABC News: Mark O'Mara, the lawyer who represented George Zimmerman in his murder trial, says he will not represent him in future matters "even as police say that Zimmerman or his wife could face charges over Monday's domestic dispute.... O'Mara appeared to struggle with his anger at his client during Monday's incident in which he went to Zimmerman's house while police were still there. During a press conference later, O'Mara was asked if he had any advice for Zimmerman, and he answered, 'Pay me.' ... During the 911 call, [Shellie] Zimmerman reported that George Zimmerman had a gun on him, a claim that police later debunked, saying there was no gun found at the scene and that no one, including Shellie Zimmerman, said they had seen a weapon during the argument." ...

... Cord Jefferson of Gawker: "O'Mara isn't severing all of his ties with his reviled client, of course, because there's still some money to be squeezed from the circus show that is George Zimmerman's life. The lawyer, who now moonlights as a CNN legal analyst, will still serve as Zimmerman's counsel in a defamation suit against NBC." ...

... Karoli of Crooks & Liars is not convinced that George Zimmerman didn't have a gun.

News Ledes

AP: " Sept. 11 victims' loved ones will gather at ground zero to commemorate the attacks' anniversary with the reading of names, moments of silence and serene music that have become tradition."

AFP: "A powerful blast caused serious damage to a foreign ministry building in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi on Wednesday, witnesses said. The explosion comes on the first anniversary of an attack by militants on the United States consulate in Benghazi, which killed four Americans, including the ambassador."

The Commentariat -- Sept. 10, 2013

NEW. Jonathan Weisman & Alan Cowell of the New York Times: "The White House and a bipartisan group of senators joined the international diplomatic momentum on Tuesday to avert an American military attack on Syria over its use of chemical munitions in that country's civil war, responding positively to a Russian proposal aimed at securing and destroying those weapons. The group of senators, including some of President Obama's biggest supporters and critics, were drafting an alternative Congressional resolution that would give the United Nations time to take control of the Syrian government's arsenal of the internationally banned weapons." ...

... NEW. William Englund, et al., of the Washington Post: "A last-ditch effort to avert a U.S. military strike by transferring control of Syrian chemical weapons ran into obstacles Tuesday, as Russia balked at a French plan to enforce an international agreement under a binding U.N. Security Council resolution with a military option if necessary. An unexpected Russian proposal to place Syria's chemical weapons under international monitoring and ultimately destroy them had appeared to be gaining traction earlier in the day, as Syria embraced it, China and Iran voiced support, and the United States said it would explore the idea seriously. But a telephone conversation between French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius and his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, revealed a deep divide over their visions of the Security Council's role -- and particularly over the prospect of military action to ensure that an agreement would be honored." ...

... NEW. Sergei Loiko of the Los Angeles Times: "Syria confirmed Tuesday that it has accepted a Russian plan to allow its chemical weapons to be placed under international control and eventually dismantled. The Syrian agreement is based on the understanding that the plan could prevent a U.S. military strike, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem said." ...

... Alan Cowell of the New York Times: "As the diplomatic pace quickened around Russia's plan for Syria to relinquish control of its chemical weapons, France said on Tuesday it would propose a United Nations Security Council resolution enshrining the idea while Moscow said it was working with the authorities in Damascus on a 'workable, precise and concrete plan' to carry the proposal forward." CW: I remain pleased that all of the world's superpowers are getting on board the Burns Plan bandwagon. ...

... In another New York Times "new analysis," Peter Baker writes, "In effect, Mr. Obama is now caught between trying to work out a deal with Mr. Putin, with whom he has been feuding lately, or trying to win over Republicans in the House who have made it their mission to block his agenda." ...

     ... CW: for what it's worth, I am more inclined to go with a version of contributor's Diane's analysis (see yesterday's Comments). You have to look at everybody's motives here. Obama credibly claims that the U.S. has been trying for a year to get Russia to encourage Assad to destroy his chemical arsenal. Either Russia wasn't going along or Assad was stonewalling (or a bit of both), but Putin has little motivation to approve of any other country's having chemical weapons, whether or not the country is currently a Russian ally. I have no doubt that Russia stepped up its pressure on Assad after the August attack. There is a reason Assad has been mum on this until Sunday; he, too, was looking for his best advantage. Whether he ordered the attack or, as seems quite possible, some of his military made the call, ultimately he has to take responsibility or he looks weak. There is also a reason that Obama suddenly decided to ask Congress for authorization. Domestically, it was prudent, but his main purpose was to stall to allow Russia time to further pressure Syria --which he was certainly aware was ongoing. There is also a reason that Obama & Putin met during the G-20 even though Obama had announced (a month or so ago) that he would not be meeting with Putin. At the G-20, they continued working out the details & discussing Russia's progress -- Obama or his spokesperson said as much following the meeting. ...

     ... I do think that the Kerry remark was serendipitous (I don't think the reporter, who spoke with an American accent [don't know who she is] was a plant.) After Kerry made the remark about Assad's destroying his weapons, he quickly said, "But that's not going to happen," or words to that effect; i.e., the negotiations between Russia & Syria were still in flux. There's also a reason that France is bringing the resolution to the Security Council; it's payback for their support (and & effort to solidify that support) for a U.S. military strike against Syria. And it's good for Holland, whose parliament is not supportive of a strike. If this whole thing works out, it's a win for everybody. Obama is not, as Baker thinks, caught between a rock & a hard place; it appears he may achieve his goal -- to relieve Assad of his chemical weapons capabilities without getting the U.S. into another trillion-dollar, ten-year war. He should tell the help to polish his Nobel medal. ...

     ... P.S. I should have mentioned another crucial player: Iran, whose new president, Hassan Rouhani, is no Ahm-a-dinnah-jacket, & who definitely does not want to be downwind of Assad's chemical fumes. It's likely he mentioned that to Assad. ...

     ... Update. Ed Kilgore: "... the Russian government's proposal ... could be a game-changer, at least temporarily. It comes, moreover, in the wake of a report from the Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz that Russia and Iran were already preparing a peace proposal that involved surrender of chemical weapons and perhaps even a path to free elections in Syria." CW: Haaretz is now subscriber-firewalled, so I'm relying on Kilgore's report. The Haaretz report supports my theory of how all this behind-the-scenes stuff has been unfolding. And Kilgore agrees with me & with the New York Times Editors (see next link) on this much: "... with the situation in the House and in public opinion deteriorating rapidly, this new development could represent a 180-degree change in a positive direction for the Obama administration, and a plausible way out of a military conflict no one but neocons seemed to relish." ...

... CW: The New York Times Editorial Board, whose members generally are smarter than the news staff, have what I think is a better take on the Russian proposal. After outlining how the inspections, etc., must be managed, the editors conclude, "The diplomatic proposal creates at least a pause in the action. It could mean that the United States would not have to go it alone in standing firm against the Syrian regime. And it could open up a broader channel to a political settlement between Mr. Assad and the rebels -- the only practical way to end this war. It could also be a boon for Mr. Obama, personally, because he could take credit for pushing Syria and Russia into making this move." ...

... CW: Zachary Goldfarb of the Washington Post is right about this much: "Speaking Monday in London, Secretary of State John F. Kerry said that a U.S. military strike on Syria would constitute an 'unbelievably small, limited kind of effort.' Later at the White House, President Obama insisted that any such action would be significant. 'The U.S. does not do pinpricks,' he told an NBC News interviewer.... The dueling statements underscored the administration's muddled message on Syria." The reason it's President Obama instead of President Kerry is that Kerry has a long history of veering off-message. ...

... OR, as Joshua Keating of Slate puts it: "Kerry: Turn Over Your Chemical Weapons or Face ... 'Unbelievably Small' Consequences." ...

... Digby has an excellent post, comparing the Kerry gaffe to a blooper that averted the Cuban missile crisis. Read it. ...

... AND Max Read of Gawker has a humorous take on all this war stuff: "So! Maybe an unplanned press-conference line can help us avoid the war that another unplanned press-conference line almost got us into. Not to mention the apocalypse!" (The links are original.) ...

... Meanwhile, Ted Cruz has an op-ed in the Washington Post explaining why a tough guy like him will vote against a resolution to strike Syria. I forgot to read it & forgot to link it (but you can get to it via the WashPo front page, if you're interested). ...

... AND Kevin Drum argues that President Obama, like most presidents, is a happy warrior. ...

... Michael Gordon & Steven Myers of the New York Times: "President Obama called a proposal by Russia on Monday to avert a United States military strike on Syria over chemical weapons use 'a potentially positive development' but said he would continue to press for military action to keep the pressure up":

     ... Jennifer Epstein of Politico: "Obama said the idea of having Russia intervene to try to get Syria to turn over control of its chemical weapons has been on the table for more than a year. 'This is not new,' he told Fox News. 'I've been discussing this with President Putin for some time now,' he said, including conversations at last year's G-20 summit in Los Cabos, Mexico, and more recently. 'I did have those conversations' last week at the G-2o in St. Petersburg, Russia, he told PBS." ...

     ... Mario Trujillo of the Hill: "President Obama acknowledged Monday [in an interview with NBC] that even his wife, Michelle, is skeptical of having the U.S. become embroiled in another overseas military conflict." ...

... Philip Rucker of the Washington Post: "Former secretary of state Hillary Rodham Clinton on Monday endorsed President Obama's call for military strikes against Syria and said 'it would be an important step' if Syrian President Bashar al-Assad surrendered his stockpile of chemical weapons." ...

... Alexander Bolton of the Hill: "Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) on Monday delayed a vote on using military force against Syria. Faced with stiffening opposition from Republicans and skepticism from many Democrats, Reid said he would not rush the vote to begin considering the controversial use-of-force resolution. He insisted he was not delaying action because of a lack of votes. 'I've spoken to the Republican leader. I've talked to virtually all my Democratic senators and we have enough votes to get cloture,' he said." ...

... AP: "President Barack Obama will meet with Republican senators on Capitol Hill Tuesday to appeal for support on a use-of-force resolution against Syria. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell's office says the president will attend lunch with the GOP lawmakers. The president had already planned to be on Capitol Hill Tuesday to meet with the Senate Democratic caucus." ...

... AP: "The State Department sought to tamp down the potential impact of [Secretary John] Kerry's comments by calling them a 'rhetorical' response to a hypothetical question and not 'a proposal.' Kerry spoke by phone with [Russian Foreign Minister Sergey] Lavrov shortly after making his comments in London, and officials familiar with the call said Lavrov had told Kerry that he had seen the remarks and would be issuing a public statement." ...

... James Fearon, in the Monkey Cage: "Much better to make a reasonable demand of Assad -- such as verifiably destroy your chemical weapons, and/or sign the CWC -- and then strike if he doesn't comply than to just jump to a punitive spanking. If he says Ok and complies, then Obama will have achieved the goal of stopping further use of chemical weapons in Syria and also of upholding and furthering a global norm against their use. If Assad says No or says Yes and then goes ahead and carries out more gas attacks,. then it is much easier to make the case and probably get more domestic and international support for a punitive strike."

Susan Stellin of the New York Times: "Newly released documents reveal how the government uses border crossings to seize and examine travelers' electronic devices instead of obtaining a search warrant to gain access to the data.... The documents were turned over to David House, a fund-raiser for the legal defense of Chelsea Manning, formerly known as Pfc. Bradley Manning, as part of a legal settlement with the Department of Homeland Security. Mr. House had sued the agency after his laptop, camera, thumb drive and cellphone were seized when he returned from a trip to Mexico in November 2010. The data from the devices was then examined over seven months." Homeland Security singled out House even though he had not been accused of a crime.

Lisa Rein of the Washington Post: "With fiscal pressures continuing to force spending cuts, government agencies made fewer than 90,000 new hires last year, the smallest number in six years and a 37 percent drop since 2009, federal data show." CW: somebody tell Rand Paul, please, because a year ago he thought the federal payroll was ballooning out of control, & I doubt Paul Krugman convinced him otherwise.

More Stupid GOP Tricks. Russell Berman, et al., of the Hill: "House Republican leaders on Tuesday will propose to their members that the House use a complex procedural tactic to defund ObamaCare that would press the fight but likely avoid a government shutdown.... Republicans who caught wind of the plan on Monday told The Hill it was unacceptable, and GOP leadership is anticipating push-back when it presents the proposal to the rank and file on Tuesday morning...."

Steve Benen on "The Three Stooges on the Road to Cairo" (Now Available in Video!): "Three sitting members of Congress decided on their own to do some foreign policy freelancing, contradicting the foreign policy of the United States, and making a propaganda video for those responsible for a military coup, offering support for a deadly crackdown on dissenters. Since when is this considered acceptable?" ...

... Emily Lodish of GlobalPost, in Salon, lists 11 amazing things Bachmann has said about the Middle East & North Africa. CW: only 11?

Local News

David Halbfinger of the New York Times: "On Tuesday, voters will take the first big step toward choosing a successor to Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, in a contest that has increasingly turned on key elements of his legacy on public safety and income inequality. But despite a widely publicized free-for-all among multiple candidates, fewer than one in four Democrats and Republicans are expected to cast a ballot in their party primaries." ...

... The New York Times' endorsements are here.

News Ledes

The New York Times is liveblogging New York City primary election results. Just now, at 9:00 pm ET, the Times reports that Bill DeBlasio has a "wide lead" in the race for Democratic candidate for mayor.

Reuters: "A federal appeals court rejected Google Inc's bid to dismiss a lawsuit accusing it of violating federal wiretap law when its accidentally collected emails and other personal data while building its popular Street View program. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals refused to exempt Google from liability under the federal Wiretap Act for having inadvertently intercepted emails, user names, passwords and other data from private Wi-Fi networks to create Street View, which provides panoramic views of city streets."

New York Times: It's election day in New York City. ...

     ... Update: "From Wall Street to Grand Army Plaza in Brooklyn, voters arrived at polling stations to find that none of the lever machines were working. Even with small crowds, voters described delays as workers struggled with jammed and broken equipment. In many cases, voters resorted to an even older technology: pen and paper."