The Commentariat -- Nov. 6, 2015

Internal links & defunction videos removed.

Afternoon Update:

** Coral Davenport of the New York Times: "President Obama on Friday announced that he had rejected the request from a Canadian company to build the Keystone XL oil pipeline, ending a seven-year review that had become a flash point in the debate over his climate policies. Mr. Obama's denial of the proposed 1,179-mile pipeline, which would have carried 800,000 barrels a day of carbon-heavy petroleum from the Canadian oil sands to the Gulf Coast, comes as he is seeking to build an ambitious legacy on climate change." CW: Thanks to Akhilleus for the heads-up. AND thanks to John Kerry, who nixed the pipeline. President Obama's announcement is worth a listen:

Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court on Friday announced that it would again address a clash between religious freedom and access to contraception. The case concerns regulations under President Obama's health care law that require most employers to provide free insurance coverage for contraceptives to female workers. The regulations say the insurance must cover preventive services, including all forms of contraception approved for women by the Food and Drug Administration."

** "Gifted Grifter." Every Day a New Lie. Kyle Cheney of Politico: "Ben Carson's campaign on Friday admitted, in a response to an inquiry from Politico, that a central point in his inspirational personal story was fabricated: his application and acceptance into the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.... West Point ... has no record of Carson applying, much less being extended admission.... Also, according to West Point, there is no such thing as a 'full scholarship' to the military academy, as Carson represented in his book.... When presented with these facts, Carson's campaign conceded the story was false.... Carson has said he turned down the supposed offer of admission because he knew he wanted to be a doctor and attending West Point would have required four years of military service after graduation.... Carson repeated his West Point claim as recently as Aug. 13, when he fielded questions from supporters on Facebook." CW: Read the whole story: it's a typical boy's pipedream, not one a man relates as a real event of his youth. The fact that Carson has continued to repeat it makes me think he came to believe his boyish pipedream. ...

... Update 1. Steve Eder of the New York Times: "In an interview with The New York Times on Friday, Mr. Carson said: 'I don't remember all the specific details. Because I had done so extraordinarily well you know I was told that someone like me -- they could get a scholarship to West Point. But I made it clear I was going to pursue a career in medicine. It was, you know, an informal "with a record like yours we could easily get you a scholarship to West Point."'... , In a Facebook post in August responding to a question, he wrote that he had been 'thrilled to get an offer from West Point.'"

... Update 2. Rachel Stoltzfoos of the Daily Caller: "'The campaign never "admitted to anything,"' a spokesman for Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson told The Daily Caller News Foundation in response to a hit by Politico claiming his campaign admitted to 'fabricating' a key point about his West Point story. 'The Politico story is an outright Lie,' Doug Watts told TheDCNF." ...

... Carson gets the best honesty grades among top candidates [of both parties], a positive 62 - 24 percent. -- Quinnipiac poll, November 4

... Kevin Drum: "Evangelicals love stories of youthful rebellion followed by redemption and a full Christian life. They do not like serious lies told many years after finding God. They especially don't like lies about military service. If Carson's fans blow this off, then he's truly invulnerable.... He told this lie in 1992, when he was 39 years old and already director of pediatric neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital. He wasn't running for president at the time, so he figured no one would ever check up on it. He deliberately invented a story just because it made him look good. Ben Carson is either a serial liar or else he lives a very rich fantasy life. At this point, I'm honestly not sure which." ...

... Dave Weigel of the Washington Post: "Friday afternoon, conservative talkers like Rush Limbaugh, Hugh Hewitt, and Sean Hannity criticized the coverage that had made Carson out as a dissembler." ...

... Steve M.: "Many right-wing commentators concluded that this was real trouble for Carson's campaign.... But then the right remembered: Hey, wait. This is from the liberal media. We hate the liberal media. So it must be a lie! And now they're in the process of talking themselves into that.... Carson's going to get a lot more scrutiny, and there are going to be more skeletons in his closet, but the right is living in a post-truth environment, so it'll all be a liberal media plot." ...

... digby: "So, if you combine the weird stuff he said about how he would behave in the presence of a disturbed gunman (lead others to run into the line of fire like he's Audie Murphy), his unverified story of how he was a violent potential mad dog killer in his youth and now this fake story about getting a scholarship to West Point, Carson appears to be someone who is very insecure about his macho bona fides. (Most of his friends from school remember him as a smart nerdy kid which makes sense.) It's just sad since his verifiable real life story is truly great and needed no embellishment. On the other hand he's got a lot of nerve saying President Obama reminds him of a psychopath for 'lying' about the unemployment rate."

... Paul Waldman argues that Joseph the Pyramid Builder is a bigger story than the West Point lie: "Ben Carson's ideas about things like the pyramids, combined with what he has said about other more immediate topics, suggest not only that his beliefs are impervious to evidence but also an alarming lack of what we might call epistemological modesty. It isn't what he doesn't know that's the problem, it's what he doesn't realize that he doesn't know. He thinks that all the archeologists who have examined the pyramids just don't know what they're talking about, because Joseph had to put all that grain somewhere. He thinks that after reading something about the second law of thermodynamics, he knows more about the solar system than the world's physicists do. He thinks that after hearing a Glenn Beck rant about the evils of Islam, he knows as much about a 1,400-year-old religion as any theologian and can confidently say why no Muslim ... could be president. So what happens when President Carson gets what he thinks is a great idea, and a bunch of 'experts' tell him it would actually be a disaster? What's he going to do?" ...

... John Cole of Balloon Juice: "As a side note, IMHO, no profession has suffered more damage in my eyes in the last few years of enhanced wingnuttery than the medical profession. It's been eye opening how many doctors are just sociopaths."

*****

Michael Shear & Dan Bilefsky of the New York Times: "President Obama said Thursday evening that there was 'a possibility' that a terrorist bomb was responsible for the destruction of a Russian passenger plane that broke up last Saturday over the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt. Mr. Obama said in a radio interview that there may have been a bomb on the plane, but he did not go as far as his counterparts in Britain, who have suggested that the destruction of the plane, and the death of all on board, was likely the result of a terrorist explosion." ...

... Neil MacFarQuhar & Dan Bilefsky of the New York Times: "President Vladimir V. Putin on Friday suspended all flights from Russia to Egypt, the most popular tourist destination for Russians, as several airlines imposed bans on checked luggage over concerns that a bomb in the cargo hold brought down the Russian charter jet that broke apart over the Sinai Peninsula on Saturday, killing all 224 people on board."

Keith Laing of the Hill: "The House approved a bill to spend up to $325 billion on transportation projects on Thursday after a weeklong vote-a-rama and an intense debate about federal gas taxes. The measure also includes a reauthorization of the controversial Export-Import Bank's charter, which has been held up in Congress since it expired in June. The extension, which was included in the Senate's highway bill and left unchanged by the House, reauthorizes the bank's expired charter until 2019. The House voted to approve the bill in a 363-64 vote. It calls for spending $261 billion on highways and $55 billion on transit over six years. The legislation authorizes highway funding for six years, but only if Congress can come up with a way to pay for the final three years. The measure must now be conferenced with a separate Senate measure...." ...

... Ron Nixon of the New York Times: "From coast to coast, the country's once-envied collection of bridges, dams, pipelines, sewage treatment plants and levees is crumbling. Studies have shown that a lack of investment in public infrastructure costs billions of dollars a year in lost productivity, as people sit in traffic or wait for delayed shipments. But experts ... say the economic measures obscure the more dire threat to public safety: Every year, hundreds of deaths, illnesses and injuries can be attributed to the failure of bridges, dams, roads and other decaying structures. On Thursday, the House overwhelmingly approved a highway bill that would make significant investments in transportation infrastructure over the next three years. But the bill, and a similar Senate version passed earlier in the year, still fall far short of what many infrastructure experts say is needed, both in terms of time and money."

Remember the Catfood Commission? It Was Way Worse than We Knew. Paul Krugman: "... there's growing evidence that we critics [of austerity policies] actually underestimated just how destructive the turn to austerity would be. Specifically, it now looks as if austerity policies didn't just impose short-term losses of jobs and output, but they also crippled long-run growth."

     ... CW: There's another irony here, which Krugman is too polite to mention: the co-author of a 1986 paper warning of the affects of austerity & of a new paper documenting the actual effects on the Great Recession was Larry Summers -- the guy who hid from the Christina Romer's counsel to go big on the stimulus & who drove economic policies that specifically hurt the jobs market (& helped Wall Street). The country is suffering now because President Obama listened to a man instead of a woman, a man who would be Fed chair instead of a women had not another woman led the fight to give the Fed job to a woman. Just saying.

Capitalism Is Awesome, Ctd. Justin Gillis & Clifford Krauss of the New York Times: "The New York attorney general has begun a sweeping investigation of Exxon Mobil to determine whether the company lied to the public about the risks of climate change or to investors about how those risks might hurt the oil business. According to people with knowledge of the investigation, Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman issued a subpoena Wednesday evening to Exxon Mobil, demanding extensive financial records, emails and other documents.... The bitter irony of the story is that this catastrophic policy was undertaken in the name of long-run responsibility, that those who protested against the wrong turn were dismissed as feckless." ...

... Clifford Krauss: "The opening of an investigation of Exxon Mobil by the New York attorney general's office into the company's record on climate change may well spur legal inquiries into other oil companies, according to legal and climate experts, although successful prosecutions are far from assured." ...

... "Fossil Fools." Tim Egan: "It's not surprising, given its army of first-rate scientists and engineers, that Exxon was aware as far back as the 1970s that carbon dioxide from oil and gas burning could have dire effects on the earth. Nor is it surprising that Exxon would later try to cast doubt on what its experts knew to be true, to inject informational pollution into the river of knowledge about climate change. But what is startling is how a deliberate campaign of misinformation -- now disavowed by even Exxon Mobil itself -- has found its way into the minds of the leading Republican presidential candidates.... Trump calls climate change 'a total hoax.' He arrived at this position, judging by several tweets, after experiencing a couple of especially cold winter days in New York.... And here's Carson: 'I'll tell you what I think about climate change,' he said earlier this year. 'The temperature is either going up or down at any point in time, so it really is not a big deal.'... In trying to win the support of the Koch brothers, Senators Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio and Rand Paul have signed a pledge to do the bidding of the billionaire oil industrialists, promising to 'oppose any legislation relating to climate change' that would involve higher taxes or fees."

** Michael Lind, in Politico Magazine: "... it's fair to say that the three great projects of the post-1955 right -- repealing the New Deal, ultrahawkishness (first anti-Soviet, then pro-Iraq invasion) and repealing the sexual/culture revolution -- have completely failed. Not only that, they are losing support among GOP voters. This is nothing less than a failure of conservatism itself.... But instead of fading from the scene and opening the way to new thinking, old-fashioned Buckley-Goldwater-Reagan movement conservatism came back, in an even more radical form in the 2000s, catching me (by then an ex-neoconservative) and others by surprise."

Joseph Goldstein of the New York Times: "At a news conference in Kabul on Thursday, [Doctors Without Borders] said that more than a month after the attack the United States military had yet to offer an explanation for why a clearly marked hospital was struck, other than to say it had been hit by mistake. 'A mistake is quite hard to understand and believe at this stage, [Christopher] Stokes[, the organization's general director,] said at the news conference. The organization shared more details of the attack and renewed its call for an independent investigation, which both the United States and Afghanistan have resisted so far. 'From what we are seeing now, this action is illegal in the laws of war. You cannot do this. You cannot bomb a hospital.'"

Steven Mufson of the Washington Post: "President Obama has concluded that a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians is beyond reach during his presidency and will press Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to take steps to preserve the mere possibility of a two-state solution, senior administration officials said Thursday." ...

... CW: Yeah, when one party's likely top "diplomat" calls the President an anti-Semite & his chief negotiator a nincompoop, things might not work out. ...

... Jodi Rudoren of the New York Times: "Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel indicated Thursday night that he was reconsidering his choice for public diplomacy chief after a furor over the nominee's critiques of public officials, including a suggestion that President Obama was anti-Semitic and Secretary of State John Kerry had the intellect of a preteenager.... Mr. Netanyahu's pick for the post, Ran Baratz, is a conservative academic who lives in a settlement in the occupied West Bank. Just last week, he insulted Israel's president, Reuven Rivlin.... "

Presidential Race

Mahita Gajanan of the Guardian: "Hillary Clinton did not shy away from criticizing Republican candidates' platforms in an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live! on Thursday. Watching the most recent GOP debate left Clinton 'a combination of being appalled and being amused'..., [she] said."

Daniel Strauss & Hadas Gold of Politico: "Chris Christie and Mike Huckabee failed to make the cut for the main stage at next week's Fox Business Network/Wall Street Journal debate.... The two Republican candidates failed to meet the 2.5 percent average polling threshold, meaning they'll both be bumped to a 6 p.m. undercard debate on Tuesday, appearing alongside former Sen. Rick Santorum and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal.... Sen. Lindsey Graham, former New York Gov. George Pataki, and former Virginia Gov. Jim Gilmore failed to register enough in four recent national polls to participate in the Nov. 10 event at all. They needed to get just 1 percent support in one of those polls." ...

... So now the Demoted are all mad at their former BFFs -- Fox & the Wall Street Journal. I guess Fox & the WSJ are the new "liberal media." ...

... Greg Sargent: "... it's striking that four candidates with real governing experience are getting booted, while Donald Trump and Ben Carson will be at center stage."

Mythmakers. Elizabeth Wiliamson of the New York Times: "To run for president this year, it's not enough to be a neurosurgeon, a senator or a former secretary of state. One must be a neurosurgeon who chased his mother with a hammer as a child; a senator whose father was beaten toothless in prison and fled Cuba with $100 sewn into his underwear; or a former secretary of state whose mother went without food as a first grader.... Ever since Bill Clinton rode his hardscrabble history as an abused kid from Hope, Ark., into the White House, it has become increasingly fashionable for candidates to display authenticity by plumbing their family histories for (often questionable) examples of 'I made it, America, and you can, too.'"

Gene Robinson: "Majorities of Republicans do not favor deporting 11 million people, reject all gun control legislation or believe Obama is a psychopathic slave master. But enough do hold such views to make it unlikely that the Trump and Carson campaigns will collapse of their own weight. The outsiders look to be settling in for a long stay."

In today's Comments, bkeil writes, "Some Surgeons are the last of the 'Doctor as God' stereotype." CW: I'd say bkeil was onto something here.

... CW BTW: Six years later, when he made his Great Pyramids Speech, Carson boasted to the kidz that he had showed "a lot of courage" for dumping on his pro-life friends. But the facts Fahrenthold & Weigel lay out suggest that it was Carson's profound, inexplicable ignorance or confusion or something weird that forced him to reverse himself & denounce the anti-abortion group, not some heroic spasm of personal courage. His turnabout may have had something to do with the fact that he was advising his own patients to get abortions if he found fetal abnormalities. Courage had nothing to do with it. We need not wonder why Ben Carson does not want reporters delving into his history: his stories -- and his self-image -- are at odds with the facts.

... Tierney Sneed of TPM: "Ben Carson is standing by his theory that the Egyptian pyramid theory -- that the pyramids were built by the biblical figure Joseph to store grain -- which has come under scrutiny since Buzzfeed surfaced a 1998 video of Carson referencing it. 'Some people believe in the Bible, like I do, and don't find that to be silly at all, and believe that God created the Earth and don't find that to be silly at all.' Carson told reporters in Miami during a stop on his book tour. 'The secular progressives try to ridicule it any time it comes up and they're welcome to do that.'" CW: Once again, "secular progressives" are at fault here. I don't know that Carson believes any of what he says. In the video embedded in the story, he closes his eyes every time he launches a new whopper. It's creepy. ...

... Turns out Ole Doc is not the only "pyramid truther." Tierney Sneed: "In the fringier corners of the Internet, variations of the pyramids-as-grain-storage argument has spawned entire blogs and a 30-minute documentary." BTW, the Good Book never says Joseph built graneries, much less pyramids, some of which, as Akhilleus pointed out in yesterday's thread, were built centuries before the era in which Christians place Joseph.

I'm really big into conspiracy theories, so I think they were probably built by the aliens as grain silos, don't you think. -- Rand Paul, mocking Carson Thursday

​Aliens make more sense, both as regards the construction of the pyramids and as regards a candidacy for president of the United States.​ -- Charles Pierce

... Katherine Krueger of TPM: "The Wall Street Journal called out Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson Thursday for wrongly claiming the Founding Fathers 'had no elected office experience.' In a Facebook post late Wednesday, Carson wrote: 'Every signer of the Declaration of Independence had no elected office experience...What they had was a deep belief that freedom is a gift from God.' The Journal pointed out the historical inaccuracy Thursday. Thomas Jefferson, Sam Adams, John Hancock and many other signer of the Declaration of Independence all held elected seats in colonial assemblies.... A spokesman for the Carson campaign, when asked about the error, told the paper that the retired neurosurgeon had since edited his post to clarify the signers has no experience in 'federal' office." ...

... CW: Right. Because there was no U.S. federal government before there was a U.S. & the founders established a federation -- on confederation. See, that's why they're called "founders." ...

... "A Tale of Two Ben Carsons." Um, maybe Carson invented even the stories he likes to tell about his violent acts as a teen. CW: Why would he do that? Well, the holy conversion from violent youth to successful, soft-spoken neurosurgeon makes his life story more compelling. It's all part of the grift.

     ... UPDATE: Eric Levitz of New York: Carson defends himself by asserting he did too try to kill a kid, only it wasn't a fellow student, it was a relative who does not wish to come forward. "'I would say to the people of America: Do you think I'm a pathological liar like CNN does? Or do you think I'm an honest person?' Carson said." CW: I vote for pathological liar. Although I have no idea if he tried to kill somebody or if he tried to hit his mother over the head with a hammer. I'm with Trump on this: "The Carson story is either a total fabrication or, if true, even worse-trying to hit mother over the head with a hammer or stabbing friend!" ...

... Ed Kilgore: Carson's campaign is placing the ad "in six 'urban markets' (code for African-American stations) in the South... You do have to wonder if the real 'target audience' isn't African-Americans likely to vote in upcoming Republican primaries (a very small audience, particularly if it's limited to rap aficionados), or if instead it's part of an effort to convince white conservatives that Carson is willing and able to cut into the overwhelmingly Democratic African-American vote in a general election. That's a pretty compelling electability argument, particularly for primary voters who are in no position to question its credibility. Maybe Ted Cruz should try to same gambit by running some ads with salsa music." ...

... ** Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in Time: "Ben Carson is terrible for black Americans." Abdul-Jabbar counts the way. ...

... James Downie of the Washington Post runs down the list of recent remarks Carson has made that show "he doesn't know what he's talking about." But his "striking ignorance" doesn't stop him from arrogantly opining on matters about which he knows nothing or from criticizing people who know more about the subjects than he does. ...

... Dr. Carson's Traveling Medical Show & His Soothing Magical Elixirs. Charles Pierce: "... here is the most overwhelming irony of all as regards to what's happening with Doctor Ben Carson and his former career as a Mannatech shill. The entire Republican primary process has been rendered a travelling medicine show, and he's just one wagon in the caravan. After all, what is Republican economics, if not supply-side quackery and sleight of hand? All the candidates are playing the muscle men, flexing at Vladimir Putin and at Hafez al-Assad and at ISIL from across an ocean. Come early, bring the kids, watch the Magic Asterisk do its work, and make gold fall from the sky into your pockets! The process began with Ronald Reagan, the greatest patent-medicine salesman of them all."

CW: I don't know why we're mocking Ben Carson when we still have Rick Santorum to kick around. While we weren't looking, Santorum took on both ISIS & the Ladies of "The View." Meanwhile, Santorum reminds us, President Obama "doesn't have the guts to appear with Sean Hannity...."

Peter Baker of the New York Times: Former President George H.W. "Bush's assertion in a new biography that Vice President Dick Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld undercut George W. Bush's presidency rattled the extended Bush political world, and forced the second Bush son now seeking the presidency, Jeb, to straddle an awkward line between family and politics.... Once again [Jeb] was compelled on Thursday to talk about his family.... 'My brother is a big boy,' Jeb Bush told NBC News. 'His administration was shaped by his thinking, his reaction to the attack on 9/11. I think my dad, like a lot of people that love George, want to try to create a different narrative, perhaps, just because that's natural to do.' Jeb Bush said that Mr. Cheney 'served my brother well as vice president and he served my dad extraordinarily well as secretary of defense.'" ...

... CW: I'm pretty sure that thumbing his nose at his own father in service of Dick Cheney will help Jeb!'s campaign a lot. ...

     ... I'm Not Arrogant; He's Senile. Claire Phipps of the Guardian: "Donald Rumsfeld has dismissed George HW Bush's criticism of him as 'arrogant', saying the former president 'is getting up in years'."

News Ledes

New York Times: "The American economy added 271,000 jobs in October, the government reported Friday, a very strong showing that makes an interest-rate increase by the Federal Reserve much more likely when policy makers meet next month. The unemployment rate dipped to 5 percent, from 5.1 percent in September. Average hourly earnings also bounced back, rising 0.4 percent in October after showing no increase in September; that lifted the gain to 2.5 percent over the last 12 months, the healthiest since 2009."

Washington Post: "Confusion reigned at the airport in the Egyptian resort city of Sharm el-Sheikh on Friday as a British plan to quickly evacuate thousands of its citizens under emergency security rules was thrown into doubt. Despite repeated assurances from British officials that the airlift would go ahead as planned, the low-cost carrier EasyJet announced Friday that 'rescue plans that were put in place yesterday have been suspended by the Egyptian authorities.'"

The Commentariat -- Nov. 5, 2015

Internal links & defunct content removed.

Afternoon Update:

Michael Shear of the New York Times: "President Obama vowed a year ago to give Central American children fleeing violence a new, legal way into the United States by allowing them to apply for refugee status while in their own countries instead of accepting help from smugglers or resorting to a dangerous trek across Mexico. But not a single child has entered the United States through the Central American Minors program since its establishment in December, in large part because of a slow-moving American bureaucracy that has infuriated advocates for the young children and their families."

Ed O'Keefe of the Washington Post: "The revelations [In Bush I's biography] come at the absolute lowest point of the year for Jeb Bush, who is mounting his own quest for the presidency." ...

... Philip Rucker of the Washington Post: Jeb "Bush is suddenly campaigning as if he's in a therapy session, wounded and wrestling with his identity both as a political performer and as heir to the Bush family dynasty. On a comeback tour [of New Hampshire] this week to rehabilitate his sputtering candidacy, Bush wore his emotions on his sleeve and volunteered introspective interpretations of why he wasn't winning." CW: Let's all vote for Jeb! so he can feel better about himself.

Greg Sargent: "The relatively staid and civil Democratic presidential primary may be about to take a hard turn into much more contentious territory: Bernie Sanders is now declaring that he supports ongoing investigations into Hillary Clinton's e-mail arrangement. And he's claiming her reversals on issues speak to her 'character.'... Sanders appears to be giving his blessing to the ongoing FBI probe.... In [a] Wall Street Journal interview, Sanders stated that Clinton's inconsistencies on the Trans-Pacific Partnership and other issues 'does speak to the character of a person.'"

*****

David Nakamura & Mike DeBonis of the Washington Post: "The Obama administration released the full text of a 12-nation Pacific Rim free-trade accord on Thursday, launching what is expected to be a long and bruising fight to win final ratification in Congress for one of the president's top priorities."

Republicans Divided on How Much to Screw Old Folks. Robert Costa & Ed O'Keefe of the Washington Post: "Newly installed House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) said he plans to pursue a 'bold alternative agenda' that would include major revisions in entitlements [CW: as the WashPo likes to call social safety-net program]. At the same time, leading GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump railed against proposals to end or significantly change Medicare.... The Republican presidential candidates are jockeying to be seen as in solidarity with Ryan, the darling of party elders, or with Trump, a voice for grassroots voters."

Jordain Carney of the Hill: "Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) warned on Wednesday that Democrats will block a defense spending bill this week for a third time. Reid said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) was 'wasting the Senate's time' by repeatedly filing procedural motions to move forward with the defense bill that 'he knows will fail.'"

My Man Harry. Katherine Krueger of TPM: "Seasoned troll and Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) took his beef with Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski to the Senate floor on Wednesday, bashing the MSNBC hosts for their interview with the billionaire Koch brothers earlier this week. Reid called the 'Morning Joe' interview with conservative mega-donors Charles and David Koch an example of the media catering to 'modern-day robber barons,' and read aloud his favorite excerpts from the segment. 'Wow. Those were some really tough questions asked by the host of "Morning Joe." That's sufficient journalism,' Reid said [CW: Actually, Reid said sarcastically, "That's tough journalism."] ... after reading excepts of the hosts asking the brothers if they play rugby together and whether their 'graciousness' came from their mother. He continued: 'Those questions are so easy, they may even qualify them to moderate the next Republican presidential debate.'... In January this year, Brzezinski, the so-called 'liberal' foil to conservative Scarborough, announced on the show she had seen the light on the Koch brothers after attending a Koch-backed retreat in Palm Springs":

** Peter Baker of the New York Times: "After years of holding back, former President George Bush has finally broken his public silence about some of the key figures in his son's administration, issuing scathing critiques of Vice President Dick Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld. In interviews with his biographer [Jon Meacham], Mr. Bush said that Mr. Cheney had built 'his own empire' and asserted too much 'hard-line' influence within George W. Bush's White House in pushing for the use of force around the world. Mr. Rumsfeld, the elder Mr. Bush said, was an 'arrogant fellow' who could not see how others thought and 'served the president badly.' Mr. Bush's sharp assessments ... gave voice to sentiments that many long suspected he had harbored but kept private until now. While he continued to praise his son, he did tell Mr. Meacham that the younger Mr. Bush was responsible for empowering Mr. Cheney and Mr. Rumsfeld and was at times too bellicose in his language."...

... The Washington Post story, by Justin Moyer is here. It adds more detail, including the Big Dick's responses.

Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "At a Supreme Court argument on Wednesday about procedures in redistricting cases, the justices appeared to be trying to reconcile two conflicting impulses. They did not want to close the door entirely on challenges to gerrymandering, but they also did not want to be required to rule on them.... The case, Shapiro v. McManus, No. 14-990, is a challenge to Maryland's 2011 congressional maps. Democrats, the challengers said, had gone to elaborate and unconstitutional lengths to create oddly shaped districts to favor their candidates."

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), in a New York Times op-ed: "INSTEAD of blocking President Obama's efforts to close the costly Guantánamo Bay detention facility, Congress should be working with him to finally shut it down."

James Hohmann of the Washington Post: "Just like the midterms one year ago, [Tuesday's election results represented] another awful night for Democrats." ...

... Kevin Drum: "But that's not really right. Conservatives did win big victories in Virginia, Kentucky, and Houston. But Ohio's marijuana initiative most likely went down because it was too raw a giveaway to a bunch of rich donors, and San Francisco sheriff Ross Mirkarim was plagued by scandals that had nothing to do with his support for sanctuary cities. (The winner, Vicki Hennessy, was endorsed by SF mayor Ed Lee. She's hardly a conservative insurgent.) Elsewhere, liberals won public financing initiatives in Seattle and Maine. Pennsylvania elected three Democrats to the state Supreme Court. Movement conservatives lost big in two of Colorado's largest school districts." ...

... John Cheves of the Lexington Herald-Leader: "Whatever Republican Matt Bevin has in mind for Kentucky's health insurance reform efforts after he's sworn in as governor Dec. 8, there are unlikely to be changes this winter while people enroll for their 2016 coverage.... Legally, Bevin is free to reverse what Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear did two years ago when he established Kynect by executive order. However, no state so far has dismantled its health insurance exchange or repealed its Medicaid expansion -- not even those with Republican-controlled statehouses.... And the bureaucratic process for closing Kynect would not be swift.... Repealing Kentucky's Medicaid expansion, which covers people up to 138 percent of the poverty line, or even modifying the Medicaid program with federal waivers, could take months of negotiations with the federal government."

Presidential Race

Even. More. Un.Fucking.Believeable. Quinnipiac University: "One year before Election Day 2016, Dr. Ben Carson is virtually tied with Donald Trump as strong front-runners for the Republican nomination, and Carson tops former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton 50 - 40 percent in the final face-off, according to a Quinnipiac University National poll released today." ...

... Steve M.: "... forgive me if I'm not enjoying the craziness in the Republican presidential race as much as some of you are. Forgive me if I don't agree that what's going on in that race is going to lead to the party's demise.... It may not matter how crazy the GOP candidate is -- Republicans are fired up in every election, desperate to nullify the Obama era, while it's difficult to inspire Democrats to vote. Why do we automatically assume that Democrats will suddenly be hungry for a win next year? The right stirs up rage every day...." ...

... ** David Wasserman of the Cook Political Report, in 538: "There are plenty of reasons to be cautious of national polls that show Trump and Carson leading.... But perhaps the biggest reason ... is that they're simulating a national vote that will never take place. In reality, the GOP nominating contest will be decided by an intricate, state-by-state slog.... And thanks to the Republican National Committee's allocation rules..., the more moderate GOP primary voters who live in Democratic-leaning states and congressional districts -- could weigh more than those of more conservative voters who live in deeply red zones.... As The New York Times' Nate Cohn astutely observed in January, Republicans in blue states hold surprising power in the GOP presidential primary process even though they are 'all but extinct in Washington, since their candidates lose general elections to Democrats.'" This explains why Republicans have selected relatively moderate presidential nominees while the party's members in Congress have continued to veer right." ...

... Ed Kilgore: "... there are a couple of planted axioms here that need to be questioned. First of all, 'blue' states are more likely to go late in the presidential nominating contest calendar.... they will have to choose from the field left to them by the more conservative red-state contests, whose influence, of course, will be magnified by media coverage.... Second, there the whole matter of defining candidates as 'moderate' or 'conservative.'... So it's a little unclear how these dynamics are supposed to work. Add in the fact that some blue-state Republican Parties are by no means 'moderate' -- Wisconsin, anybody?"

Josh Gerstein of Politico: "An organization related to the Clinton Foundation has again reversed itself on fixing errors on its federal tax filings and now says it plans to submitted amended returns. Clinton Health Access Initiative spokeswoman Maura Daley said Wednesday that the group has now decided to refile two years worth of forms with the Internal Revenue Service."

Bloomberg: "Donald Trump's campaign said Wednesday it had placed a $300,000 radio ad buy in Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina to run through end of month."

Ashley Parker of the New York Times: "On Wednesday, more than a dozen of the nation's leading Hispanic groups are planning to hold a 'Dump Trump' rally outside 30 Rockefeller Plaza, where 'Saturday Night Live' is taped. Latino and immigration groups also plan to deliver a petition, with 460,000 signatures, calling on NBC Studios and [producer Lorne] Michaels to drop Mr. Trump.... On Monday, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus issued a statement also calling on NBC Universal and Mr. Michaels 'to disinvite Mr. Trump'" ...

... Meg Wagner of the New York Daily News: "Donald Trump used Twitter to let loose a slew of nasty images against GOP rival Jeb Bush: pictures that compared the former Florida governor to a Nazi, mocked his ties to Mexico and suggested he is intellectually disabled. 'ADIOS, JEB aka JOSÉ,' the billionaire-turned-presidential candidate posted to Twitter Tuesday, apparently retweeting a message from one of his followers.... The tweet included a collage of racist and derogatory pictures." ...

... Hadas Gold of Politico: "NBC removed several 'Saturday Night Live' promos featuring Donald Trump on Wednesday.... According to NBC co[r]respondent Peter Alexander, NBC had posted the link with eight SNL promos by mistake before removing three of them.... The original series of promos, posted as a single video, included a segment where SNL cast member Cecily Strong says, 'Because of equal time rules for television, Mr. Trump can only speak for four seconds in this promo.' Trump then says: 'So let me just say this. Ben Carson is a complete and total loser.' The Carson portion was edited out at some point on Wednesday afternoon...."

(New Jersey) Star-Ledger Editors: Ben Carson "has combined Rick Santorum's dogmatic conceit, Herman Cain's policy ignorance, and Michele Bachmann's unapologetic loopiness to create a woozy barstool doctrine that makes sense to a bloc of voters who are repulsed by the notion of electing anyone who once held high office." You lefties will want to read the whole editorial. It's excellent. Thanks to Marvin S. for the link. ...

'Cuba? Cuba?' You mean Cuba Gooding, Jr.? -- the guy who played me in that film classic "Gifted Hands"? Did you see it? They're featuring it on Netflix now. It's about my heroic rise from poverty to become a world-famous neurosurgeon.... 'Wet-foot, dry-foot?' Sounds like a medical condition. Did I tell you I separated twins conjoined at the head? I'm a world-famous neurosurgeon. Not a podiatrist, for crying out loud. My work was a little more complicated than removing plantar warts. That's why I would be great president.... Now, you may proceed. But no more 'gotcha' questions. -- Ben Carson, to Miami Herald reporters

Or something like that. -- Constant Weader

... Doc Ben Has Always Been Crazy. Nate McDermott & Andrew Kaczynski of BuzzFeed: "Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson told graduates during a commencement address in the late '90s that he believed the pyramids in Egypt were built by the biblical figure Joseph to store grain, and not, as most archaeologists contend, as tombs for pharaohs." Apparently Young Doc Carson believed that the Hebrew god directed Joseph in a dream to build the pyramids to accommodate the grain which Joseph advised the pharaoh to store. Joseph, BTW, is one of many mythical Bible characters. He was not a real guy. P.S. Do read the part about the aliens v. god. ...

... Still Crazy After All These Years. Erica Brown & Ellen Uchimiya of CBS News: "Ben Carson stood by his long-held belief about ancient pyramids in Egypt, that they were used to store grain, rather than to inter pharaohs. Asked about this Wednesday, Carson told CBS News, 'It's still my belief, yes.'" CW: The headline writers call this an "unusual theory." Why can't we get more honest headline writers? ...

... In Your Heart, You Know He's Nuts. Ed Kilgore: "... what should actually disqualify Carson [is] his extremist, paranoid 'world-view' which treats regular boring old center-left liberals as conscious and systematically deceitful would-be destroyers of this country bent on imposing a Marxist tyranny via 'politically correct' suppression of free speech and confiscation of guns. There's unquestionably a constituency for this point of view, but we may never know whether it would outnumber the Republicans baffled or horrified by it until such time as one of his rivals or the heretofore clueless media start talking about it. If they don't pretty soon, then one theory of the 2016 GOP nominating process could come true: conservatives want to rerun the 1964 elections, and they've finally found their Barry Goldwater." ...

... CW: Or what about the fact, Ed, that Ole Doc goes to Miami & submits to a phone interview with a Herald reporter without having the foggiest idea what U.S. Cuban policy is? This is a guy who thinks his own ignorance of the law is immaterial. Because he imagines he has "common sense" & can figure this stuff out if it ever comes up. It was mighty consequential that Dubya couldn't be bothered to read that daily briefing titled "Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S." It would be catastrophic if a President Carson had read it & decided to apply one of his "common sense" solutions. ...

... Kevin Drum on why Carson is so popular among evangelicals. And what an empty-headed huckster he is.

Michael Barbaro & Steve Eder of the New York Times: "A decade after he used a Republican Party credit card for personal purchases like stone pavers at his home, Senator Marco Rubio on Wednesday pledged to disclose spending records from that account as he urgently sought to inoculate himself against what could be his biggest liability as a presidential candidate: how he manages his finances.... As his once-plodding presidential campaign experiences a surge in the polls, Mr. Rubio's rivals are now rushing to resurrect the matter in an attempt to portray him as a careless manager of money, despite Mr. Rubio's assurances that he paid for every personal purchase himself.... During his 2010 Senate campaign Mr. Rubio refused to release the full records of his charges on the card..., calling it an 'internal party matter.'" ...

... Alex Leary of the Tampa Bay Times: "The Tampa Bay Times asked Rubio's team for the records in June and again in early October. A top strategist, Todd Harris, said Tuesday they would be released soon, possibly within the month, but declined to answer questions about what they might contain.... A Florida man filed an ethics complaint against Rubio in 2010, and in 2012 the state ethics commission cleared him, though an investigator said the level of 'negligence' exhibited by Rubio's confusion between the GOP American Express and his own MasterCard, and failing to recognize the error on monthly statements, was 'disturbing.' Now questions are resurfacing."

Andrew Husband of Mediaite: Jeb! tells middle-schoolers that his father (you know, the president guy) would reprimand him in a way that would send him "into a deep depression for days." "Let's hope Jeb Can Fix It." CW Safety Alert: Watch for incoming MoDo. I'll bet she wishes she still had two columns a week. Between Pappy's biography & Jeb!'s psychological problems, she's got plenty to milk for weeks.

Hadas Gold & Steven Shepard of Politico: "It's looking like Chris Christie may not make the primetime debate stage at next week's Fox Business Network/Wall Street Journal debate. While Fox Business will not officially announce the lineup until Thursday, a new Fox News poll released late Wednesday puts him at 2 percent. That likely means Christie will get bumped to the undercard stage -- a big blow for the New Jersey governor, especially because it comes as he appeared to be gaining some traction in the presidential race."

Beyond the Beltway

Dan Hinkel & Lauren Zumbach of the Chicago Tribune: "Upending the portrayal of Lt. Charles Joseph Gliniewicz as a hero cop tragically gunned down in the line of duty just before his planned retirement, authorities on Wednesday said the Fox Lake[, Illinois,] officer died in a suicide he staged as it became clear he could face consequences for years of criminal behavior. At a news conference, Lake County Major Crime Task Force Cmdr. George Filenko said Gliniewicz, 52, shot himself in a 'carefully staged suicide' designed to look like a murder after he had engaged in 'extensive criminal acts.'" ...

... Ruth Fuller, et al., of the Chicago Sun-Times: "Investigators said [Fox Lake, Illinois, Police Lt. Charles Joseph] Gliniewicz killed himself but staged it to look like a murder as he feared an ongoing internal village audit would reveal he stole tens of thousands of dollars from a police youth group he led.... The officer had been stealing and laundering the money over seven years from the Fox Lake Explorers Unit, which was supposed to teach youngsters about law enforcement."

Karen Kucher, et al., of the San Diego Union-Tribune: "A man who shot at San Diego police officers from a Bankers Hill penthouse surrendered Wednesday afternoon after a five-hour SWAT standoff that locked down nearby streets and schools and prompted aviation officials to cancel incoming flights at Lindbergh Field. No one was wounded as dozens of rounds were fired through the day by officers and the gunman, identified as Titus Colbert, 33."

Dan Lamothe of the Washington Post: "Police in Sacramento, Calif., said Wednesday that they have arrested a man in connection with the stabbing of a U.S. airman who helped foil a terrorist attack by an armed gunman on a Paris-bound train in August. James Tran, 28, of Elk Grove, Calif., was arrested Wednesday morning near his home and faces one count of attempted murder in the Oct. 8 attack on Spencer Stone, police said.... Stone is considered a victim in the altercation, and faces no charges."

Way Beyond

Rowena Mason, et al., of the Guardian: "The British government has suspended all flights between the UK and the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh after US and UK officials said they believe the Russian plane that crashed over the Sinai peninsula may have been brought down by an explosive device. The UK foreign secretary, Philip Hammond, said his government is now advising against all but essential travel through Sharm el-Sheikh airport in Egypt as there is a 'significant possibility' that the plane was brought down by an explosion on board, the strongest remarks yet by an official on the cause of the crash. US officials have also suggested a bomb was planted on the plane by Isis or an Isis affiliate, according to several media reports citing unnamed sources."

Elisabeth Malkin & Azam Ahmed of the New York Times: "The Mexican Supreme Court opened the door to legalizing marijuana on Wednesday, delivering a pointed challenge to the nation's strict substance abuse laws and adding its weight to the growing debate in Latin America over the costs and consequences of the war against drugs. The vote by the court's criminal chamber declared that individuals should have the right to grow and distribute marijuana for their personal use. The ruling is a first step -- applying only to a single cannabis club that brought the suit -- and does not strike down Mexico's current drug laws. But it lays the groundwork for a wave of legal actions that could ultimately legalize marijuana."

The Commentariat -- Nov. 4, 2015

Internal links removed.

Julie Davis of the New York Times: "The White House on Tuesday said President Obama had no intention of bowing to a request from the company behind the Keystone XL oil pipeline to delay a decision on the project, saying he wanted to take action before his tenure ends. The State Department is reviewing a request made on Monday by the company, TransCanada, to pause its yearslong evaluation of the proposed 1,179-mile pipeline, which has become part of a broader debate over Mr. Obama's environmental agenda. Josh Earnest, the White House press secretary, said on Tuesday that 'there's reason to suspect that there may be politics at play' in TransCanada's request. He strongly suggested that the review, which has been widely expected to result in a rejection of the pipeline as soon as this month, remained on track."

** Tommy Christopher of Mediaite demolishes Paul Ryan's repeated claim that Congress can't pass immigration reform because "President Obama is untrustworthy." While he's at it, Christopher takes down the Sunday showz, which every week "all feature the same exact press releases masquerading as interviews.... In every one of those [four] interviews, [when Ryan made the claim about President Obama,] the host elected to move on, rather than to challenge what Ryan had said, despite ample basis for such a challenge."

Aw, Shucks. Jonathan Swan & Kyle Plantz of the Hill: "The Koch brothers are on a publicity tour to change their image.... The brothers' appearance on MSNBC's 'Morning Joe' continues something of a coming-out tour for the publicity-shy Kochs, who became bogeymen to the left following their early funding of the Tea Party movement, their expensive and ultimately failed efforts to defeat President Obama, and their plan to spend $250 million to elect Republicans to Congress and the presidency in 2016." Includes video.

CW: Should an 18-year-old boy who talks a reluctant 15-year-old girl into having sex with him, even if he's a despicable little prick, be branded a sex offender for life? Ruth Marcus of the Washington Post says no. What say you? ...

... Jeannie Suk, in the New Yorker: "What we are really talking about here is not rape, as we have until recently understood it, but rather sex that we strongly dislike. We are in the midst of a significant cultural shift, in which we are redescribing sex that we vehemently dislike as rape, and sexual attitudes that we strongly disapprove of as examples of rape culture."

David Rising of the AP: "Germany's Volkswagen, already reeling from the fallout of cheating on U.S. emissions tests for nitrogen oxide, said Tuesday that an internal investigation has revealed 'unexplained inconsistencies' in the carbon dioxide emissions from 800,000 of its vehicles -- a development it said could cost the company another 2 billion euros ($2.2 billion). The investigation was undertaken by the company after the revelations that many of its vehicles had software that allowed them to deceive U.S. nitrogen oxide tests. CEO Matthias Mueller promised Tuesday that Volkswagen 'will relentlessly and completely clarify what has happened.'"

AFP: "Michelle Obama called for an end to 'outdated laws and traditions' preventing millions of girls around the world from completing their education, in an impassioned speech Wednesday in Qatar. Obama spoke for almost 25 minutes at the Qatar National Convention Centre to a packed audience which included ... political and education leaders from around the world."

Elections Results

Horrible! Sheryl Gay Stolberg & Alan Blinder of the New York Times: "Matt Bevin, a Republican political novice, wealthy Louisville businessman and Tea Party favorite, was elected Kentucky's next governor on Tuesday, a victory that could herald a new era in a state where Democrats have held the governor's mansion for all but four of the last 44 years. The Associated Press declared Mr. Bevin the winner shortly after 8 p.m. In beating his Democratic opponent, Attorney General Jack Conway, Mr. Bevin surprised many in his own party.... Mr. Bevin, a fierce opponent of the [Affordable Care Act], at first said he would reverse it, but has since softened his position and said he would stop enrolling new people but would not take coverage from people who had it." ...

     ... CW: We'll see if the Obama administration goes along with a plan to cut off new applicants while still providing assistance to current enrollees. Talk about unequal treatment under the law. ...

     ... Dave Weigel of the Washington Post: "Bevin's win, and the Republican victories in neighboring Virginia, were body blows to Democratic hopes of enforcing the Affordable Care Act. Virginia voters rejected a chance to hand the state Senate back to a party that would expand Medicaid; some Kentucky voters who had benefited from the expansion surely voted against the candidate who'd keep it as is." ...

... Greg Sargent: "The news that Tea Party Republican Matt Bevin snatched the Kentucky governor's mansion away from Democrats is a particularly stark reminder of how deep a hole Democrats have dug for themselves on the level of the states, and of the consequences that could have for the long-term success of the liberal and Democratic agenda."

Laura Vozzella & Jenna Portnoy of the Washington Post: "Republicans held onto the Virginia Senate in fiercely contested elections Tuesday, leaving Gov. Terry McAuliffe without legislative leverage or political momentum as he works to deliver Virginia for his friend and ally Hillary Rodham Clinton in 2016."

Katherine Dreissen of the Houston Chronicle: "Houston's controversial equal rights ordinance failed by a wide margin Tuesday, with voters opting to repeal the law that offered broad non-discrimination protections, according to incomplete and unofficial returns."

AP: "In a single stroke, Ohio voters rejected a ballot proposal Tuesday to legalize marijuana for both recreational and medical use." The Cleveland.com story, by Jackie Borchardt, is here.

Susan Haigh of the AP: "An ex-convict who spent seven years in federal prison for corruption reclaimed the Bridgeport mayor's office Tuesday, completing a stunning comeback bid that tapped nostalgia for brighter days in Connecticut's largest city. Joe Ganim, who was released from prison only five years ago, declared victory in a race involving seven opponents."

Alexander Burns of the New York Times: "Michael E. McMahon, a former congressman and New York City councilman, was chosen as the new district attorney of Staten Island on Tuesday, winning a contentious special election in the city's most conservative borough. In defeating Joan Illuzzi, a Republican, Mr. McMahon, a Democrat, takes over a position that drew national attention after a Staten Island grand jury decided not to indict a police officer in the death of Eric Garner, an unarmed black man."

Brent Johnson of NJ.com: "Democrats tightened their control of the [New Jersey] state Assembly in Tuesday's elections, wresting at least three seats away from a Republican party ruled by Gov. Chris Christie, a presidential candidate whose popularity has dropped at home. It means Democrats will control at least 51 of the 80 seats in the lower house of the state Legislature as of January -- their biggest majority since 1979."

Paul Egan of the Detroit Free Press: "Two former Republican state representatives who lost their seats in September amid a sex and cover-up scandal were soundly defeated Tuesday in their special primary bids to regain their seats. Cindy Gamrat of Plainwell was defeated Tuesday in her bid to regain her Allegan County state House seat by Mary Whiteford of South Haven. And former state representative Todd Courser, who admitted to having an extramarital affair with Gamrat and misusing state House resources in an attempt to cover it up, also lost his bid to win his seat back after resigning in September while facing expulsion from the House."

Ivan Moreno of the AP: "Suburban Denver voters on Tuesday ousted three conservative school board members who changed the way teachers are paid and briefly considered reviewing a U.S. history curriculum to promote patriotism. The high-profile political battle attracted a huge influx of cash from inside Jefferson County and from outside groups with an interest in what education reforms should look like. By overwhelming margins, voters agreed to recall Ken Witt, Julie Williams and John Newkirk, who were elected into office in 2013 and made up the majority in the five-member board of the second-largest school district in the state."

** Eitan Hersh of 538: "In the ongoing fight between Democrats and Republicans over election procedures like voter ID and early voting, the Democrats are supposedly the champions of higher turnout and reducing barriers to participation. But when it comes to scheduling off-cycle elections like those taking place today, the Democratic Party is the champion of voter suppression.... [Bills to consolidate elections], which were generally sponsored by Republicans, typically failed because of Democratic opposition.... Democrats opposed the bills at the urging of Democratic-aligned interest groups, namely teachers unions and municipal employee organizations.... For Democrats like [Hillary] Clinton who are apparently aghast at Republican efforts at voter suppression, today is a good day to take a look in the mirror." ...

... Zandar, in Balloon Juice, disagrees. ...

... CW: For what it's worth, I think Hersh is at least half-right. Whether or not it is the intention of Democrats to lower turnout, that is the effect of off-year elections. If you think I might be wrong, check out the results above. The only national-newsworthy election result that went liberals' way, at least up to what has been reported as of late last night, was a local school election. (I've since updated, so a few elections I've cited went the better way.)

Presidential Race

Un.Fucking.Believable. Mark Murray of NBC News: "One year out before the 2016 general election, Hillary Clinton and Ben Carson are tied in a hypothetical matchup, but Clinton leads three other major Republican candidates, according to brand-new numbers from the NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll."

Scott Morgan of Reuters: "The U.S. Republican Party filed a formal complaint against one of Hillary Clinton's family charities with the Internal Revenue Service on Tuesday and is calling for an audit after the charity said this week it would not refile erroneous tax returns. The Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation's flagship health program conceded earlier this year it had misreported by millions of the dollars the money it was given by governments compared with non-government donors in its tax returns for 2012 and 2013."

Sabrina Siddiqui of the Guardian: Among Republican presidential candidates, only Marco Rubio has been marginally supportive of the goals of BlackLivesMatter.

Jenna Johnson & Sean Sullivan of the Washington Post: "Donald Trump and Ben Carson are still dominating the polls, but many in the crowded Republican presidential race are now launching attacks on the candidate who seems poised to be their next major threat: Marco Rubio.... During a news conference Tuesday in Manhattan, Trump called Rubio 'overrated,' accused him of being 'a disaster with his credit cards' and attacked him as 'very weak' on immigration. At the same time, Bush -- whose campaign has disparagingly labeled Rubio as a 'GOP Obama' -- doubled down on criticizing Rubio for missing more than a third of his Senate votes this year.... Two other GOP presidential candidates, Sens. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Ted Cruz (R-Texas)...."

Kyle Cheney of Politico: "Ben Carson ... announced last week that he had shelved his plan to end ... [Medicare]. But the few components of a new plan he's revealed have only added to the confusion ... and his opponents are beginning to pounce.... Carson ... has struggled to define exactly what he'd like to see in its stead. Asked about his Medicare platform on two Sunday news shows last week, he left the hosts scratching their heads.... 'The liberal media -- and now one of my competitors -- is claiming I want to "abolish" Medicare. That is plain laughable,' Carson wrote to supporters, referring to the claim as 'slander.' He also told Wallace that it's a 'narrative that somebody's putting out there to scare people.'" ...

... CW: Uh, Doc, that "laughable" "somebody" who is "slandering" you & "scaring people" about abolishing Medicare would be -- you.

Even if all the media tries to shut you down -- which they have tried very much to do with me. But they can't because the good Lord has provided me with mechanisms like my syndicated column and like Fox News. We'd be Cuba if there were no Fox News. -- Ben Carson, conspiracy theorist, last year

Someone on that debate stage .. they're using National Review as their political tool [to attack me]. That's pretty obvious. -- Ben Carson, this week ...

... BTW, the core story Carson is claiming was the brainchild of one of his opponents ran in January of this year. It's author, Jim Geraghty, denies that any rival campaign contacted him about a follow-up he wrote after Carson lied during the last debate about his involvement with the dietary supplement company Mannatech. -- Constant Weader

... ** Grifter-in-Chief. Jonathan Chait: "Conservative politics are so closely intermingled with a lucrative entertainment complex that it is frequently impossible to distinguish between a political project (that is, something designed to result in policy change) and a money-making venture.... The notion that [Ben] Carson could be president is preposterous.... He has never run for elected office. He has never managed a large organization; he has not worked in and around public policy, and he lacks a competent grasp of issues. His stance on health care, the closest thing to an issue with which his professional experience has brought him into contact, is gibberish.... His campaign itself is structured much more like a scamming venture than a political one. An astronomical 69 percent of his fund-raising totals are spent on more fund-raising. (Bernie Sanders, by contrast, spends just 4 percent of his intake on fund-raising.)... He is a perfect con artist." ... BTW, Chait goes there, noting that Carson's manner is "subdued" "to the point of appearing medicated." ...

... Lie to Me. CW: Chait highlighted Carson's "chilling" ability to lie with a straight face by encouraging readers to watch the video where he lies to Carl Quintanilla bout his connection to Mannatech. So I did. Two things: when he's about to tell a lie, he closes his eyes. Maybe it's a little prayer where he asks god to forgive him for telling a whopper. Also, when he's pulled it off (or when he insults people & gets away with it), he laughs heartily. (See also his reaction to the audience response to his saying that "Many [Americans] are stupid.) ...

... Steve M.: "... it's ... a fallacy to imagine that a kook and a scammer can't also have a messiah complex. How many personality cults are there in which the guy robbing the flock blind actually believes he's the exalted figure he tells the follower he is?... Remember, conservative rhetoric values the untutored amateur over the professional. Society's real guarantors of personal safety are civilians with guns, not cops. College professors and Ivy League graduates are to be looked upon with suspicion; country musicians and the Duck Dynasty guys tell us the plain truth, even about science. The greatest man to ever occupy the Oval Office was an ex-movie actor regularly mocked as an unschooled dolt. Why wouldn't a guy who's imbibed this ideology of amateurism believe that he really can be president if lots of people are telling him he can?"

Caitlin MacNeal of TPM: "Fox News host Megyn Kelly on Monday night mocked the letter drafted by Republican presidential campaigns listing a series of rules and questions for networks hosting future debates. After listing some of the demands, including that networks not allow lightning rounds or candidate-to-candidate questioning, Kelly jokingly suggested, 'And then maybe the foot massage?'" ...

... Steve M.: "Fox News denounces Republican candidates for sounding like Fox News."

Peter Beinart of the Atlantic: "Jeb Bush fashions himself the thinking man's Republican candidate for president. Donald Trump, he declared late last month, is 'not serious.' When it comes to foreign policy, Trump hasn't 'thought these things through.' Trump is 'not taking the responsibility -- the possibility of becoming the president of the United States really seriously.' So what are Jeb's well-thought-out, serious foreign-policy views? He offered a few on Monday in what aides dubbed an important speech aimed at resetting his presidential campaign. And they were insane." ...

     ... Amy Davidson of the New Yorker on who counts as a "serious" presidential candidate. ...

<>... Zeke Miller of Time: Jeb Bush acknowledges he was wrong about the French workweek. "'I made the mistake of saying that the Congress operates on a French work week,' he deadpanned. 'I really did a disservice to the French,' Bush added with a chuckle Tuesday. 'My inbox was full of French journalists,' piped in campaign spokesman Tim Miller." ...

... Jeb? Nick Gass of Politico: Jeb Bush "apparently failed to secure the JebCanFixIt.com domain name when he rolled out the slogan as part of the relaunch of his sagging presidential campaign. In the meantime, Jimmy Flannigan, a former candidate for City Council in Austin, Texas, snapped it up and launched his own site, claiming Bush 'is trying to steal my slogan!' (Flannigan, in his failed bid for a council seat, ran with a 'Flannigan Can Fix It!' slogan.)... Flannigan told Politico that Bush's failure to secure it was an amateur move." CW: Looks as if the skeleton staff left after Jeb!'s purge is just not into the Internets. CW: Can Jeb! Fix It? Flannigan says the domain name is for sale.

I'm So Tough I Can Shoot Putin Without Even Looking Him in the Eye:

... Ted Gives New Meaning to "Tailgunner." Wes Siler of Gizmodo: "Staunch gun rights advocate Ted Cruz is here seen holding a shotgun" backwards [link fixed], with the muzzle pointed toward the people behind him, while he blathers on about "liberal moderators." "'He's either a poser who doesn't really hunt, or just a blindingly dangerous nincompoop,' concludes Scott [Nathan, a hunter & NRA member]. 'He's got moves like Cheney.'" CW: Hey, maybe Tailgunner Ted will strafe some of the unsuspecting locals with that ass-backward action, but at least he has his cap on frontwards -- unlike a certain Speaker of the House (see yesterday's Portrait of a Washington Homeless Man).

Beyond the Beltway

Lisa Black, et al., of the Chicago Tribune: "Authorities have called a news conference for Wednesday to announce 'significant new information' regarding the shooting death of a Fox Lake police officer, and multiple law enforcement sources with knowledge of the investigation have told the Tribune that authorities are expected to announce that he took his own life. The sources say that authorities believe Lt. Charles Joseph Gliniewicz, 52, died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound Sept. 1. The new information comes two months after officers found Gliniewicz mortally wounded in a remote, marshy area of the village near the Wisconsin border." ...

... Michael Miller of the Washington Post: Officials will say Gliniewicz died in "an elaborately staged suicide.... The revelation could alter public perception of not only Gliniewicz but also the argument that cops are increasingly under attack in America. The death of the Fox Lake cop ... became a touchstone for law enforcement officials across the country who believe they are under increased threat amid growing scrutiny of police in the wake of a string of high-profile police-involved killings.... According to recently released FBI data, however, assaults on police officers dropped sharply in 2014 and are at their lowest point since 1996. In a case similar to Gliniewicz's disputed death, an Arkansas police officer was arrested Tuesday for allegedly lying about being shot during a traffic stop."

News Ledes

Washington Post: Canada's Liberal party leader Justin "Trudeau was sworn in [as the country's prime minister] on Wednesday. At 43, he becomes the second-youngest prime minister in Canadian history."

Al Jazeera: "Romanian Prime Minister Victor Ponta announced the resignation of his government Wednesday in a surprise move that followed huge protests in the wake of a nightclub fire that killed at least 32 people."

New York Times: "Honda Motor Company on Tuesday dropped the embattled manufacturer Takata as its airbag supplier, concluding that the company, its longtime partner, had 'misrepresented and manipulated test data.'"

New York Times: "China, the world's leading emitter of greenhouse gases from coal, has been burning up to 17 percent more coal a year than the government previously disclosed, according to newly released data. The finding could complicate the already difficult efforts to limit global warming. Even for a country of China's size, the scale of the correction is immense. The sharp upward revision in official figures means that China has released much more carbon dioxide -- almost a billion more tons a year according to initial calculations -- than previously estimated."