The Commentariat -- Sept. 22, 2013

We probably can’t defeat or get rid of Obamacare.... I will continue to lead the fight until we win. I will not vote for any CR that funds Obamacare and if there is one penny for Obamacare I will vote no. -- Sen. Rand Paul (RTP-Ky.) ...

... I will shut down the entire federal government to make a political point about a hopeless cause. -- CW Translation

It’s rather extraordinary, if you think about it, that there are efforts under way to prevent Americans from getting benefits that they lawfully could enjoy and should enjoy. -- Jay Carney, presidential press secretary ...

... Michael Shear of the New York Times: "Starting this week, the White House will kick off a six-month campaign to persuade millions of uninsured Americans to sign up for health coverage as part of insurance marketplaces that open for business on Oct. 1. If too few people enroll, the centerpiece of the president's Affordable Care Act could collapse. But instead of offering the kind of grudging cooperation that normally follows even the most bitter of legislative battles, Mr. Obama's foes have intensified their opposition, trying to deepen the nation's anger about the health insurance program, which both sides often call Obamacare." ...

... CW: I try to avoid giving any space to Sarah Palin unless she does something really newsworthy -- like quitting the governor gig -- but her opinion piece in Breitbart is an excellent summation of Tea Party anti-ObamaCare rationale. Sadly, millions of Americans believe this nonsense. Not sure who wrote the headline: "... Bombs Away on Obamacare; Cruz Is over the Target," but it is certainly consistent with Palin's past use of violent imagery aimed at Democrats. Also, didn't know Texans were smaller than Alaskans.

Joe Picard of the Hill: "President Obama phoned Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) on Friday to tell him he will not negotiate with Republicans on the debt ceiling...."

"SNAP Judgments." Paul Krugman: "The idea that food stamps represent a problem -- not a small blessing that has made this ongoing economic disaster marginally less awful -- represents an awesome combination of ignorance and cruelty." Krugman provides a chart, demonstrating that the food-stamp program is far from "out of control," as Republicans claim. CW: But, hey, what are facts to MOCs who have watched Fox "News"'s Lobster Boy "documentary"? Somebody please send those nasty idiots DVDs of "A Place at the Table." And make them take a pop quiz to prove they watched it. ...

... Josh Barro of Business Insider: "Yesterday, House Republicans voted overwhelmingly for a plan that cuts the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) by 5% over the next decade. But 15 Republicans voted no, and some of them are explaining why." CW: I told you there were some decent Republicans. They'll probably be primaried back to civilian life. But don't worry; they'll become well-paid lobbyists. Thanks to Jeanne B. for the link.

Charles Arthur of the Guardian: "A major American computer security company has told thousands of customers to stop using an encryption system that relies on a mathematical formula developed by the National Security Agency (NSA). RSA, the security arm of the storage company EMC, sent an email to customers telling them that the default random number generator in a toolkit for developers used a weak formula, and they should switch to one of the other formulas in the product. The abrupt warning is the latest fallout from the huge intelligence disclosures by the whistleblower Edward Snowden about the extent of surveillance and the debasement of encryption by the NSA."

Robert Reich in the New York Times: economic inequality, with most Americans on "a downward escalator," explains the anger that accompanies the ideological divide.

Maureen Dowd takes a field trip to Georgetown U. where Warren Buffett gives a lecture. Fairly interesting. Nancy Pelosi apologizes for being late: "We were busy taking food out of the mouths of babies."

Congressional Race

Apocalypse Now. We are witnessing the end of a Western Christian empire. -- Dean Young, Tea Party candidate in an Alabama Congressional race

... Campbell Robertson of the New York Times: "... the outcome of Tuesday's [Republican] primary [in Alabama's First Congressional District], though likely to be a function of turnout here, may provide some hints on how much further the Republican shift to the right might go."

News Ledes

Washington Post: "Gunmen stormed a popular high-end shopping mall in the Kenyan capital Saturday afternoon, lobbing \ grenades and firing weapons in an attack that left at least 59 people dead and more than 150 injured, Kenyan officials said. On Sunday morning, nearly a full day after the initial assault, the attackers, strapped with grenades and wielding machine guns and AK-47 rifles, remained holed up with scores of hostages within the Westgate Premier Shopping Mall, exchanging gunfire with Kenyan police andsoldiers."

New York Times: "Bo Xilai, the pugnacious Chinese politician whose downfall shook the Communist Party, was sentenced to life in prison on Sunday after a court found him guilty of bribetaking, embezzlement and abuse of power in a failed attempt to stifle murder allegations against his wife."

New York Times: "A suicide attack on a historic Christian church in northwestern Pakistan killed at least 75 people on Sunday, in one of the deadliest attacks on the Christian minority in Pakistan for years."

Guardian: "Germany goes to the polls on Sunday in elections whose outcome will be vital for Europe's future.... While [Chancellor Angela] Merkel's party is expected to once again emerge as the most powerful force in the new Bundestag, the German chancellor will be anxiously watching the performance of the anti-euro Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party, which could enter parliament for the first time if it gains more than 5% of the vote."

The Commentariat -- Sept. 21, 2013

"In his weekly address, President Obama says the economy is making progress five years after the worst recession since the Great Depression, but to avoid another crisis, Congress must meet two deadlines in the coming weeks: pass a budget by the end of the month to keep the government open, and raise the debt ceiling so America can pay its bills. Congress should vote to do these now, so that we can keep creating new jobs and expanding opportunity for the middle class." -- White House:

Niels Lesniewski of Roll Call: "Sen. Ted Cruz said Friday that Republican senators should, in effect, filibuster the House-passed continuing resolution in the Senate. The Texas Republican is calling on his colleagues to oppose limiting debate on it, warning against what he calls procedural trickery.... Conservative senators, however..., know that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid will move to strike out the Obamacare defunding language after getting the 60 votes needed to limit debate, but they can't stop him without effectively endorsing a government shutdown." ...

... Philip Rucker of the Washington Post: "With Washington facing a potential government shutdown, President Obama traveled to the heartland Friday and delivered a combative rebuke of congressional Republicans for 'trying to mess with me' instead of governing responsibly. Obama railed at length against Republican lawmakers, whom he accused of 'holding the economy hostage' by threatening not to fund the government and not to raise the government's debt limit":

... Tim Alberta of the National Journal claims Boehner has a secret plan to force the delay of implementation of the Affordable Care Act for a year. CW: That might be the plan, but it's difficult to believe President Obama would fall for it. ...

... Ashley Parker & Jonathan Weisman of the New York Times: "... a rotating cast of characters -- often backbench newcomers whom few have heard of outside their [House] districts, and who were elected on a Tea Party wave -- has emerged to challenge Speaker John A. Boehner's leadership at every turn.... Representative Nancy Pelosi of California, the Democratic leader, did not mince words Thursday in calling the group a bunch of 'legislative arsonists' who had 'hijacked' the Republican Party." CW: Maybe Pelosi didn't mince words, but she mixed metaphors. ...

... Dylan Scott of TPM: "Just to be clear: Obamacare implementation will likely continue even if the government shuts down this fall as Congress fights over the law's funding. That was the conclusion of a Congressional Research Service report sent to Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) back in July. 'It appears that substantial ACA implementation might continue during a lapse in annual appropriations that resulted in a temporary government shutdown,' the CRS wrote. The main reason for that, according to the report, is that the Obama administration could likely use alternative funding sources...." ...

... Paul Courson of CNN: "Republican Rep. Peter King said Friday that his Republican colleague in the Senate, Ted Cruz, 'is a fraud' who will 'no longer have any influence in the Republican Party' after the House votes on a measure that could potentially lead to a government shutdown." CW: This would be a little more newsworthy if King & Cruz weren't both running for president. King has announced. ...

... Jed Lewison of Daily Kos: "... according to King, the GOP scheme to defund Obamacare is a kamikaze fraud that is guaranteed to lose.... He voted for it." ...

... Jake Tapper of CNN introduces us to Jim Jordan, delusional Congressman, who is sure the Senate will "find the Lord," defund the Affordable Care Act & sign onto the Republican "alternative" joke.

... Ezra Klein : John Boehner is being even more irresponsible than Ted Cruz." ...

... Gail Collins Goes Wild: Ted Cruz as Democratic mole, John Boehner as Jesus & Delphic prophecies.

John Cassidy & Ryan Lizza talk to Amelia Lester about the Federal Reserve & Washington's part in ruining the economy:

CW: Just because we are witnessing Big Bizarro World coming down doesn't mean Regular Bizarro World does not continue apace. Ginger Gibson of Politico: "Darrell Issa is scheduled to travel to Libya next week as part of his investigation into the attack last year on the Benghazi consulate, according to documents obtained by Politico. The California Republican, who chairs the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, did not invite Democratic counterparts on the trip, which has been in the works for over a week.... Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) -- the committee's ranking member -- called on Issa to postpone the trip to allow a Democrat to take part in the excursion. 'Stop your partisan efforts to deliberately exclude Democrats from this trip, and provide adequate notice to allow Democratic Members to join this delegation at a later date,' Cummings wrote in a letter to Issa sent on Friday afternoon."

Michael Fletcher of the Washington Post: "The growth of [federal] disability rolls has accelerated since the recession hit in 2007. As the labor market tightened, workers with disabilities that employers previously accommodated on the job -- painful hips, mental disorders, weak hearts -- were often the first to go. Finding new work often proved difficult, causing many to turn to the disability rolls for support. The migration of so many people from work to the disability rolls is raising concern among lawmakers in Congress.... Last week, the Government Accountability Office found that the program made $1.3 billion in potentially improper payments to people who had jobs when they were supposedly disabled. The allegedly improper payments represent less than 1 percent of disability payments."

Ed Pilkington of the Guardian: "Iran's new reform-minded president, Hassan Rouhani, may meet Barack Obama in an informal, orchestrated encounter at the UN general assembly next week, amid signs of a rapidly softening stance in Tehran." ...

... Paul Lewis of the Guardian: "The White House has left the door open to a personal encounter between Barack Obama and Iran's new reform-minded president, Hassan Rouhani, at the UN general assembly next week, amid signs that western powers plan to seize on recent diplomatic overtures from Tehran."

Jia Lynn Yang of the Washington Post: "Former employees [of USIS, the firm that supposedly vetted Edward Snowden & Aaron Alexis,] say the relentless demand to churn out background checks meant that even when USIS investigators wanted to do their best to follow up on red flags, there was limited time....No evidence has emerged that ... USIS cut corners when it vetted Snowden and Alexis. But the company, which has grown to become the biggest private contractor handling background checks for the government, has drawn the notice of lawmakers and the Justice Department. It is under criminal investigation over whether it misled officials about the thoroughness of its work. A number of former USIS employees have been charged with falsifying records in recent years. And Monday's Navy Yard shooting is raising questions about how the government vets employees who are given access to some of the country's most sensitive documents and facilities."

Edward Wong of the New York Times: "The government and military are striving to put China at the forefront of drone manufacturing, for their own use and for export, and have made an all-out push [-- which includes hacking U.S. defense contractors' data] to gather domestic and international technology to support the program."

Zack Kopplin of Slate: "The Texas state Board of Education is in the process of adopting new science textbooks that will be used in public schools for the next decade. On Tuesday, the board held its first hearing for public comment on which textbooks should be adopted. Creationists came out in full force and demanded that 'biblical truth,' rather than evolution, be presented in the state's biology textbooks. These anti-science activists could compromise the teaching of evolution all across the country. They've been working toward this moment for years.... Because Texas buys textbooks for more than 4 million students, publishers tend [to] write textbooks designed to capture the Texas market. They then sell the same textbooks in other states."

Local News

What You Get with a Democratic Legislature & a Democratic Governor. Jennifer Medina of the New York Times: "California is challenging the historic status of American citizenship with measures to permit noncitizens to sit on juries and monitor polls for elections in which they cannot vote and to open the practice of law even to those here illegally. It is the leading edge of a national trend that includes granting drivers' licenses and in-state tuition to illegal immigrants in some states and that suggests legal residency could evolve into an appealing option should immigration legislation fail to produce a path to citizenship."

News Ledes

Think Progress: "Anthony Badalamenti, Halliburton Energy Services Inc.'s cementing technology director, was criminally charged with one count of destroying evidence related to the Deepwater Horizon disaster in federal court Thursday. This is the latest twist in a legal battle involving oil giant BP and Halliburton, the company consulted on the drilling site's cement wellhead." Thanks to Jeanne B. for the link.

The Inquisition, Ctd. AP: "Pope Francis on Saturday effectively demoted a highly conservative Italian cardinal who led the Vatican's department on clergy, while keeping in place a German prelate who wages the Catholic church's crackdown on liberal U.S. nuns and helps craft its sex-abuse response.... Francis left Archbishop Gerhard Mueller in the powerful role of prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Mueller, originally appointed by Benedict XVI, directs the Holy See's crackdown on nuns suspected of undermining Catholic teaching on the priesthood and homosexuality. His office also shapes policy dealing with clergy who sexually abuse minors."

Guardian: "Iranian hardliners appear to have given their tacit support to president Hassan Rouhani as the moderate cleric prepares to travel to New York on what could be a critically important visit to the United Nations, which may include a historic meeting with his American counterpart."

Guardian: "At least 25 people have been killed in a suspected terrorist attack in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, after gunmen opened fire and threw grenades in an upmarket shopping centre. On Saturday evening the Kenyan presidency tweeted that one of the gunmen had been arrested. The country's head of police, David Kimaiyo, said several assailants were also apprehended when police and military entered the mall following the attack."

** Guardian: "A secret document, published in declassified form for the first time by the Guardian today, reveals that the US Air Force came dramatically close to detonating an atom bomb over North Carolina [in 1961] that would have been 260 times more powerful than the device that devastated Hiroshima." The declassified doc is here.

Los Angeles Times: "Police are searching for a gunman who used an assault rifle to fire on a pickup basketball game in a Chicago South Side neighborhood, injuring 13 people and dragging the city back into the international spotlight for its violent crime problem At least 16 bullets were fired into Cornell Square Park late Thursday, wounding a 3-year-old boy and a dozen other people. All are expected to survive, many with wounds to their arms and legs. Shell casings found around the blood-soaked basketball courts were 7.62-millimeter rounds, which are typically used in AK-47 assault rifles."

Chicago Tribune: Chicago "Bears legend Gale Sayers sued the NFL on Friday, claiming the league negligently handled his repeated head injuries during his seven-year career. Sayers, a Hall of Fame running back who played with the Bears from 1965 to 1971, said in the lawsuit filed Friday in U.S. District Court in Chicago that he suffered headaches and short-term memory loss after retirement."

The Commentariat -- Sept. 20, 2013

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

News Ledes

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

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

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

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