Wednesday: 5/29/13

Michele Bachmann

So long and good riddance.  "Faced with the twin threats of a growing ethics investigation and the prospect of a repeat fight with a challenger that came close to beating her in 2012, Michele Bachmann announced last night that she will not be running for re-election. ... There really isn’t anywhere else for Bachmann to go politically, polling statewide in Minnesota show her being mostly a non-factor outside of her own district, so I don’t expect this to be the beginning of a bid or higher office. Instead, I expect we’ll see Bachmann showing up on the speaking circuit and following in the footsteps of other failed conservative politicians and showing up on Fox News."  Doug Mataconis at Outside the Beltway.

Bachmann, champion of anti-democracy.  "The most important thing about what Bachmann represents is the profoundly undemocratic impulse of adopting a world view that took her own personal life experience and attempted to impose its lesson on the rest of us. ... She was in politics to give people fathers in Jesus, to give them her experience.  This might sound nice to a lot of people, but it’s deeply anti-American; it’s the nature of a democratic society that we respect one another’s different experiences, and Jesus has nothing to do with being a good American. But you can’t convince Bachmann and people like her of that."  Michael Tomasky at the Daily Beast.

Reading between the lines of the Bachmann retirement video.  Garance Franke-Ruta at the Atlantic.

It's all about the scandals.  "That’s so Bachmann: All smiles and chirpy optimism, she’s going to tell you up front that the swirling scandal and her dropping poll numbers aren’t the reason behind her departure – when they are precisely the reason."  Joan Walsh at Salon.

Probably made a good financial choice.  "She's an unusually famous House member, but becoming a powerful House member is hard work and often takes a long time. The state of Minnesota as a whole isn't nearly conservative enough for Bachmann to become governor or senator without moderating somewhat, and back-bench House members can't really run for president. But if Bachmann gets out, I'm sure she can earn plenty of money writing books or making TV shows or doing speaking appearances. ... The conservative movement has become strong enough as a social force that you can get rich by being a conservative media star."  Matthew Yglesias at Slate.

And the GOP is electorally better off without her.  "That’s not to say that Democrats will have zero chance of picking up Mrs. Bachmann’s seat. ... But parties rarely have strong years in midterm elections when they hold the White House, and Congressional races are becoming more and more predictable based on the overall partisanship of a district. The Democrats’ chance of winning the Minnesota seat might now be on the order of 5 to 10 percent, versus perhaps 40 percent with Mrs. Bachmann on the ballot."  Nate Silver at FiveThirtyEight.

Bachmann's "ten greatest insights as President of Crazyland." Jonathan Chait at New York Magazine. 

Bachmann's nine greatest foreign policy moments.  Elias Groll at Foreign Policy.

Just what has Bachmann done in Congress this year?  Plenty, but nothing useful.  "This Congress, Bachmann has introduced nine bills, four of which have attracted no co-sponsors. One would repeal Dodd-Frank, the 2010 law that sought to overhaul Wall Street regulation. Another would require the federal government to fly POW/MIA flags at federal buildings every day the U.S. flag is flown. ... Bachmann was the main sponsor of the GOP’s most recent effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act. That bill passed the House on May 16."  Alex Isenstadt and Jake Sherman at Politico.

Her influence won't be seen in legislation, but in the Republican party.  "Bachmann has left Congress, but her style of politics — steeped in paranoia and resentment — has become the norm for the Republican Party. Prominent figures in the party — ranging from McConnell to Ted Cruz and Rand Paul — are happy to stoke conspiracies if it means gaining a political advantage over Obama and the Democratic Party."  Jamelle Bouie at the Plum Line.

Politics

California

California, the beacon of political polarization (with a chart, of course).  "California really is two states. Not northern and southern, though. Unless water is involved, LA and San Francisco can get along OK. Basically, what this chart shows is coastal vs. inland. Most of coastal California is as liberal as its stereotype, while inland California is somewhere to the right of rural Georgia. Lately, the coastals have taken firm command of Sacramento, and the inlanders haven't yet figured out how to respond. I don't think they will anytime soon."  Kevin Drum at Mother Jones.

Congress

Congress is great ... at naming post offices.  "Lawmakers in the Capitol are remarkably productive: they name post offices like nobody’s business.  A new report from the Congressional Research Service, the nonpartisan research division of Congress, found that about 20 percent of laws passed in recent years were for naming post offices.  As Congress has become less and less efficient, the numbers are all the more striking. In the 111th Congress, which met from 2009 to 2010, members passed 383 statutes, 70 of which named post offices. In the 112th Congress, the last Congress to meet before the current one convened in January, members passed 46 measures naming post offices, out of 240 statutes over all."  Jeremy Peters at the Caucus.

The Economy

Can we agree that 'equality of opportunity' makes no sense?  "Take equality of opportunity. Everyone in American life professes to believe in equality of opportunity. But nobody really believes in it. ... Equality of opportunity and equality of outcome aren’t opposites. They’re partners. ... You can’t have real equality of opportunity without equality of outcome. ...  The inequalities of the parents always and everywhere become the inequalities of the children. As Theodore Dalrymple has written, 'true equality of opportunity is unachievable – or could only be achieved through a level of social engineering that would make North Korea look like a paradise of laissez-faire.'"  Ezra Klein at Wonkblog.

And equality of outcomes is about as real as the yeti - tax breaks edition.  "The 10 largest breaks in the U.S. tax code will save taxpayers more than $900 billion this year, with a little more than half the benefits flowing to the richest 20 percent of households, congressional budget analysts said Wednesday.  And the richest 1 percent of households, those with at least $327,000 in annual income, get an especially big haul — about 17 percent of the total savings, according to the report by the Congressional Budget Office."  Lori Montgomery in the Washington Post.

Jason Furman to chair the Council of Economic Advisors.  "Roughly speaking, I’d describe the values of Furmanomics thusly: –Progressive taxation that raises ample revenue; –Boosting efficiencies and squeezing out inefficiencies in the tax code and the health care system; –Solidly Keynesian in recession ...; –Crafting policies with a clear eye to implementation constraints ...; –Strong supporter of the safety net ..."  Jared Bernstein at On the Economy.

Upside of low employment is longer life. "Deep economic declines, such as the one we experienced in the U.S. a few years ago, probably lengthen life expectancy. This is exactly the opposite of what most people believe. A reasonable estimate is that for every percentage-point increase in the unemployment rate, the U.S. mortality rate drops by 0.3 percentage point. In other words ... recessions may be bad for our wallets but good for our health. ... None of which should make us wish for economic trouble. ... There may be some small consolation, though, in learning that it probably doesn’t harm human health the way that we all imagined." Peter Orszag at Bloomberg.

Elections

How one obscure Washington election has global implications.  "Whatcom’s biggest claim to fame until now was as the nation’s top raspberry producer. But this year, a local election—the race for four seats on the Whatcom County Council—is shaping up to have a profound ... global, impact. The outcome could affect the U.S. coal industry, trade relations with China, and the planet’s changing climate. ... Just north of the Whatcom County city of Bellingham is the site of a proposed $600 million port ... which, if constructed, would ship 48 million tons of coal annually ... to Asia—enough to power 15 to 20 new coal-fired power plants a year. ... That’s where the Whatcom County Council comes in."  Coral Davenport at the National Journal.

Dems have demographic problems too - and it couldn't be more obvious in the House of Representatives.  "At the presidential level, and in a number of states, solid Democratic support from African-Americans, Latinos, younger voters and seculars has created serious problems for Republicans ... While this coalition confers obvious advantages ... its limitations create obstacles to Democratic efforts to retake the House. ... Democratic constituencies are highly concentrated in metropolitan areas that deliver large majorities to Democrats, while Republicans are spread more efficiently throughout the country so they 'waste' fewer votes."  Mark Mellman at the Hill.

Virginia is still the toss-up gubernatorial race with the two candidates that nobody seems to like.  "According to a new poll from Public Policy Polling, presumptive Democratic nominee Terry McAuliffe is leading Republican nominee Ken Cuccinelli in a race where the voters don’t really seem to like either of the candidates at the top of the ticket: PPP’s first look at the race for Governor of Virginia since January finds that as voters get to know the candidates better…more are becoming undecided. That’s not the normal trend, but it’s also not normal to have an election where voters dislike both candidates five months out.  That’s the case here."  Doug Mataconis at Outside the Beltway.

A familiar face re-emerges in Alaska.  "It looks like it’s time to stop calling Joe Miller a former Senate candidate.  The Alaska conservative activist who lost a 2010 bid for the Senate after besting incumbent Sen. Lisa Murkowski in a GOP primary, has filed a form indicating he intends to run for Senate again in 2014, according to documentation from the office of the Secretary of the Senate."  Alexander Burns at Politico.

Energy and the Environment

Coal's comeback and the consequences.  "According to the latest data from the Energy Information Administration, coal has been reclaiming some ... of its market share in 2013: This shouldn’t be too much of a surprise ... Natural gas prices have been creeping up over the past year, thanks to a combination of a colder winter, higher demand for heating fuel, scaled-back drilling, and also new storage facilities that are preventing a glut of gas on the market. The ultra-low gas prices that were devastating the coal industry in 2011 and 2012 weren’t sustainable forever."  Brad Plumer at Wonkblog.

Meanwhile, the solar industry is running into some problems of its own.  "Worldwide, testing labs, developers, financiers and insurers are reporting similar problems and say the $77 billion solar industry is facing a quality crisis just as solar panels are on the verge of widespread adoption.  No one is sure how pervasive the problem is. ... But at stake are billions of dollars that have financed solar installations, from desert power plants to suburban rooftops, on the premise that solar panels will more than pay for themselves over a quarter century."  Todd Woody in the New York Times.

FBI

New director on deck.  "Former Justice Department official James B. Comey is in line to become President Obama's choice as the next FBI director ... He served as the deputy attorney general — the second in command at Justice — in the George W. Bush administration, and as the top federal prosecutor for the Southern District of New York ... Comey is a Republican, but he famously threatened to resign in the Bush years over a program that's been described as a form of warrantless wiretapping of Americans.  ...  He also angered some in the Bush administration by expanding the mandate of a special prosecutor investigating a leak of the identity of CIA operative Valerie Plame."  Carrie Johnson at NPR.

Filibuster Fights

Dear stupid talking point, go away.  "'Court packing' has a specific meaning: it was an FDR-era idea in which the executive branch would expand the number of seats on a bench in order to tilt the judiciary in the president's favor. ... Is Obama planning a similar ploy? Not even a little. ... I hate to break this to Senate Republicans, but President Obama was elected -- twice. Presidents submitting judicial nominations to the Senate to fill vacancies is pretty much the definition of normal presidential behavior. If the GOP finds this annoying, they'll have to take it up with the Constitution." Steve Benen at Maddowblog.

For the GOP, it's the new normal.  "There is something especially brazen about being the party that has blocked the regular, constitutional business of holding votes on judicial nominees, and thereby causing irregular (and numerous) vacancies on those courts, and then turning around and stating an attempt to fill those vacancies is 'packing' the court.  This is part of an ongoing attempt to upturn established institutions and reasonable electoral expectations, including the notion that a president has the constitutional right to make nominations to fill judicial vacancies."  Steven Taylor at Outside the Beltway.

Fiscal Fights

Why can't we pass a budget?  Wonder no more.  "Rep. Paul Ryan, the House GOP’s budgetary chieftain, gave a brief but remarkable interview to the Washington Examiner’s David Drucker in which he essentially conceded that Republicans will only negotiate with Democrats over the budget if they can hold the U.S. economy hostage to increase their leverage."  Greg Sargent at the Plum Line.

Public opposes offsets for disaster relief.  "The public isn’t too supportive of the Republican idea that disaster relief ought to be offset by spending cuts elsewhere: When it comes to disasters, Americans have one word of advice for the federal government: spend. ... 59 percent of the public doesn’t believe disaster aid should be offset by cuts elsewhere in the federal budget. That includes 52 percent of Republicans, 57 percent of independents and 69 percent of Democrats.  Only 29 percent of the public wants federal disaster aid to be offset by cuts elsewhere in the budget.  Get a clue, Republicans."  Doug Mataconis at Outside the Beltway.

As more people are affected by the sequester, more people realize how stupid it is.  "An ABC News/Washington Post poll in May found that 37 percent of Americans say they’ve been negatively affected, up from 25 percent in March. And 18 percent say they’ve felt a 'major impact.' Not surprisingly, those most affected by the cuts are sharply opposed to sequestration. About 80 percent of those who say they’ve felt a 'major impact' oppose the budget cuts. (The public as a whole opposes the cuts by a 56 percent to 35 percent margin.)  Brad Plumer at Wonkblog.

But sequestration is just getting started.  "To really understand what sequestration means, look to next year. ... Next year, however, sequestration is different in two ways: It's much deeper and much more selective. The results won't be pretty. ...  A 26 percent cut in the budget for the departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education. These agencies are losing a combined $43 billion relative to their 2012 budget, adjusted for inflation. Such cuts aren't merely unreasonable or inhumane, they're also likely to be operationally impossible."  Evan Soltas at Bloomberg.

So who, then, actually supports austerity?  "A new Washington Post/Pew Research poll makes you wonder who these austerity-obsessed GOP lawmakers are speaking for: It finds that even a majority of Republicans say federal disaster aid does not need to be offset with cuts to other areas of government. ... This mirrors another recent Post poll, which found that a majority of Republicans, 54 percent, disapprove of the spending cuts being imposed by sequestration ... It all reveals the degree to which the GOP is hostage to a vision — one dedicated to shrinking government for its own sake — that is far outside the mainstream. Including, at times, even among Republican voters."  Greg Sargent at the Plum Line.

Guns

Public support for gun safety measures holds strong, even in the South.  "New PPP polls in Arkansas, Georgia, and Tennessee find that even in dark red states there's strong, bipartisan support for expanded background checks. ... In Georgia there's 71/22 support for them, in Tennessee it's 67/26, and in Arkansas it's 60/31. ... In each of the three states, voters disapproved of their senators' decision to oppose the bipartisan compromise on background checks, which Republicans killed in April."  Steve Benen at Maddowblog.

More ricin letters.  "Two letters that contained threats to Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg — one addressed to him, the other to a lobbyist who works on his gun control campaign — have tested positive for the deadly poison ricin, the authorities said ... Both letters were identical in content, bore references to the debate over gun regulation and contained written threats to Mayor Bloomberg... 'It’s threatening, and it’s very clearly about one issue,' one official said of the letters."  Joseph Goldstein at the New York Times.

Health

GOP floats a permanent 'doc fix.'  "House Republicans moved forward ... with their effort to permanently repeal Medicare's payment formula for doctors.  Overhauling the payment system is a long-standing priority for ... Congress. Both are frustrated by the constant string of expensive, temporary patches to the system and want to pursue a permanent fix. ... The proposal does not address the most controversial aspect ... how to pay for it. Although both parties support a permanent solution ... there is still no consensus on the best way to pay for the overhaul.  A permanent doc fix would cost roughly $140 billion over 10 years, according to the Congressional Budget Office."  Sam Baker at the Hill.

For the last time, the IRS isn't in charge of health care.  Good god.  "Clearly, Republicans would like to raise doubts about the health-care law by associating it with the stench of the IRS scandal. But it’s a bit much to suggest that the IRS would now be running health care in the United States ... After all, as Republicans frequently note, the Department of Health and Human Services has been charged with writing the ... regulations ... The IRS, by contrast, is mostly the bill collector. ... 'The Internal Revenue Service is an important cog in the implementation of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010.' A 'cog' does not mean it is in charge of people’s health care."  Glenn Kessler at the Washington Post.

Apparently hand-washing at hospitals isn't as automatic as you might expect.  Sketch.  Good thing the threat of losing funding appears to be curing the disease.  "With drug-resistant superbugs on the rise ... and with hospital-acquired infections costing $30 billion and leading to nearly 100,000 patient deaths a year, hospitals are willing to try almost anything to reduce the risk of transmission. ... Studies have shown that without encouragement, hospital workers wash their hands as little as 30 percent of the time that they interact with patients. ...  But the incentive to do something is strong: under new federal rules, hospitals will lose Medicare money when patients get preventable infections."  Anemona Hartocollis in the New York Times.

Rhode Island

Rhode Island's formerly Republican, now Independent governor - just became a Democrat!  "Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee, currently an independent, intends to switch his party registration and join the Democratic Party...  Chafee, a former Republican senator, was elected governor as an independent in 2010, although he campaigned for President Barack Obama in both 2008 and 2012." Perry Stein at Talking Points Memo. 

He was already a Democrat on the issues of the day.  "The move represents the culmination of a long journey from the GOP to the Democratic Party that began in 2007 when he left the party of his father, John Chafee, an archetypal New England moderate Republican Senator ... and member of a tribe that no longer exists.  Chafee’s positions on multiple issues are far more in sync with today’s Democratic Party ... Chafee’s priorities... 'are the same ones the Democratic Party puts a real focus on today: affordable public education, investing in infrastructure, equal rights, marriage equality.' ... What’s remarkable is that someone with Chafee’s priorities was once a Republican. "  Greg Sargent at the Plum Line.

Maybe it's a New England thing.  "Rhode Island Governor Lincoln Chafee’s decision to join the Democratic Party, following a stint as an independent after a career in the Republican Party, makes him the third New England statewide officeholder since 2001 to switch his affiliation.  The frequency of incumbents leaving their longtime parties – often accompanied by the pat explanation that their parties have, in fact, left them – reflects the region’s decades-long leftward trend and the collapse of the Republican Party as an electoral force in what was once fertile territory."  Jim O'Sullivan in the Boston Globe.

Scandals

People are really missing the boat on the IRS debacle. "Sekulow is trying to widen the scandal by changing the premise: He’s arguing that the real problem here was the actual questioning of tea party groups applying for 501(c)(4) status, and so anyone who participated in the work of trying to follow up on the applications chosen for extra scrutiny did something wrong. That gets this backwards: The problem wasn’t that the IRS closely scrutinized questionable applications from tea party groups. It’s that they didn’t closely scrutinized the applications from other questionable groups as well. The scrutiny was the part they did right. The targeting was the part they did wrong."  Ezra Klein at Wonkblog.

SCOTUSwatch

The most important case that you haven't heard about.  "A divided court decided Arlington v. FCC, an important victory for Barack Obama’s administration that will long define the relationship between federal agencies and federal courts.  The underlying question was this: If a law is ambiguous, who gets to interpret it? Federal judges or the agency that carries it out? ... The divisions within the court defied the usual ... predictions. In a powerful and convincing opinion by Justice Antonin Scalia, the court’s majority ruled that ... the agency ... has the power to interpret ambiguities in the law. Scalia was joined by Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Elena Kagan, Sonia Sotomayor and Clarence Thomas."  Cass Sunstein at Bloomberg.

The States

What we can take away from the newest polarization study.  "A new study shows that polarization—the ideological gulf between the average Republican and average Democrat—is growing in state legislatures. ... State legislatures aren’t quite as polarized as Congress, but they’re moving in the same direction. What’s even more interesting, though, is what polarization actually means—and who benefits from it. ... 1. Most State Legislatures Are More Polarized than Congress ... 2. Polarization Doesn’t Always Mean What You Think ... 3. Polarization Helps Explain the Uptick in Conservative Legislation."  Abby Rapoport at the American Prospect.

War on Drugs

Our drug policy is worse than a mess.  It's a cruel joke.  "An enormous law enforcement effort seeks to raise prices at every point in the supply chain from farmers to end-users: Eradicating coca crops in source countries, hindering access to chemicals required for drug production, interdicting smuggling routes internationally and within our borders, street-level police actions against local dealers.  That’s why this may be the most embarrassing graph in the history of drug control policy. ... Street drug prices ... fell by roughly a factor of five between 1980 and 2008. Meanwhile the number of drug offenders locked up in our jails and prisons went from fewer than 42,000 in 1980 to a peak of 562,000 in 2007."  Harold Pollack at Wonkblog.

The new politics of marijuana legalization.  "Public opinion has shifted dramatically toward support for the legalization of marijuana. ... The proportion of Americans who view marijuana use as immoral has fallen ... to 32 percent in just seven years. A recent national survey showed a ... majority in favor of legalization, and its supporters translated this sentiment into ballot initiative victories in Colorado and Washington ... Momentum is on the side of those favoring legalization. Support for legalization is especially strong among the young ... Unless the younger generation substantially alters its views ... generational change alone is likely to keep support well above the levels of the relatively recent past."  William Galston and E.J. Dionne at Brookings.

And Colorado is making progress on implementing the amendment approved in 2012. "A set of laws to govern how recreational marijuana should be grown, sold and taxed was signed into law ... Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper called the measures the state's best attempt to navigate the uncharted territory of legalized recreational pot.  The laws cover how the drug should be raised and packaged, with purchasing limits for out-of-state visitors and a new marijuana driving limit as an analogy to blood alcohol levels. Hickenlooper ... praised the regulatory package as a good first crack at safely overseeing the drug."  The Associated Press.

International

Global

The OECD says the global economy is rebounding.  "The global economy is slowly regaining its strength, driven largely by the rebound of the United States and Japan, but record-high unemployment in Europe continues to drag on efforts to recover in that region, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said."  Melissa Eddy in the New York Times.

Electricity still isn't universal.  "Here’s the catch: The rate of growth in electrification has still been slower than population growth. (Access to electricity grew at about 1.2 percent per year between 1990 and 2010, while the global population grew at 1.3 percent per year.) Despite huge gains in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, lack of access is still a huge issue on both continents.  As a result, the IEA and World Bank don’t think the United Nations will be able to meet its goal by 2030 ... “Business as usual would leave 12 percent and 31 percent of the world’s population in 2030 without electricity and modern cooking solutions, respectively.'"  Brad Plumer at Wonkblog.

The next super virus?  "The Director-General of the World Health Organization ... called a new respiratory virus that has cropped up around the globe a 'threat to the entire world,' ... Comparisons have been made between MERS-CoV and the SARS virus that threatened to become a pandemic in the early 2003. Both are members of the coronavirus family, a group of pathogens that ranges from the common cold to the life-threatening symptoms displayed during the SARS outbreak. ... So far, MERS-CoV has killed 22 of the 44 known patients to contract the virus."  Hayes Brown at Think Progress.

Africa

Libyan parliamentary chief resigns, amid adoption of regime ban.  "Libya's parliament chief, who served under Moammar Gadhafi before becoming an opposition leader in exile, resigned on Tuesday, just weeks after lawmakers passed a bill banning former regime officials from senior government posts. The law, which may effectively bar the speaker, Mohammed al-Megarif, and several other experienced Libyan leaders from high-level posts for the next 10 years, was adopted on May 5 amid much turmoil and pressure from militias."  Aya Batrawy at the Associated Press.

The AU vs the ICC.  "The African leaders have to come to a consensus that the process the ICC is conducting in Africa ... has degenerated into some kind of race hunting."  The ICC has indeed opened cases in eight countries, and every single one is in Africa. ... But that's not the end of the story. In every case, African states ... have played a key role in ushering in the ICC process. ... The ICC was set up as a court of last resort, the place to which victims can turn when ... their judiciaries fail, when their governments fail.  It is little surprise then, that the ICC targets states with weak institutions and long histories of impunity enjoyed by leaders who are so often above domestic laws."  Tristan McConnell at RealClearWorld.

Europe

Anti-semitism is back in style.  These countries should be ashamed.  "The Greek organization is Golden Dawn, now the third most popular party in the birthplace of democracy. The Hungarian party is Jobbik, which is rising in influence. Nearly 70 years after the defeat of Hitler, Mussolini, and European fascism in the Second World War, hateful, right-wing ideology has returned in nearly every European country. While none of these parties is strong enough to win power, they are often violent and aggressive. And they are intolerant of immigrants, Jews, and other minority groups that don’t fit their twisted definition of what Greeks, Hungarians, and other Europeans should look like."  Nicholas Burns at the Atlantic Council.

On the other hand, this news from Switzerland sounds good.  "The Swiss government said ... it would allow its banks to disclose information on American clients with hidden accounts, a watershed move intended to help resolve a long-running dispute with the United States over tax evasion.  The decision, which comes amid widening scrutiny in Europe of tax havens, is a turning point in what has been an escalating conflict between Switzerland and the United States."  Lynnley Browning and Julia Werdiger at Dealbook. 

U.N. court convicts 6 Bosnian Croats of atrocities.  "A U.N. court convicted six Bosnian Croat political and military leaders Wednesday of persecuting, expelling and murdering Muslims during Bosnia's war and said leaders in neighboring Croatia helped hatch and execute their plan to carve out a Croat state in Bosnia."  The Associated Press.

Middle East

Russia is pressing ahead with its plan to send air defense missiles to Syria.  "Russia will proceed with plans to provide Syria with an advanced air defense system, in part to prevent foreign 'hot heads' from getting involved in the country’s conflict ... Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Rybakov confirmed plans to deliver the S-300 system ... The S-300, one of the world’s most advanced air defense systems, could make it harder for foreign forces to carry out airstrikes inside Syria ... or to impose a no-fly zone ... The move is Russia’s biggest and most public step so far to bolster the government of Syria’s beleaguered President Bashar al-Assad, its longtime ally."   Kirit Radia at ABC.

Meanwhile, there's new evidence of further chemical weapons attacks orchestrated by the Syrian regime.  This can't be allowed to continue.  "Britain said it has sent a letter to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon with new information on three further incidents of alleged chemical weapons use by the Syrian government. .. Those allegations relate to incidents which reportedly took place in March and April of this year and which have been reported in the media, the Foreign Office added."  Edith Lederer and Cassandra Vinograd at the Associated Press. 

I'm not sure what punishment is appropriate for attacking the ICRC, but I hope it's a rather severe one.  "A Red Cross office has been attacked by Taliban insurgents in eastern Afghanistan, local officials say. ... Police said a grenade was tossed into the compound, and a gun battle with the security forces followed after the attackers forced their way in.  Seven foreign Red Cross workers were rescued and are safe. The head of the office was injured in the attack.  The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) confirmed details of the incident on its Twitter feed."  BBC.

South America

Oh Venezuela...  "The Catholic Church in Venezuela has said it is running out of wine to celebrate Mass because of nationwide shortages of basic supplies.  It said the scarcity of some products had forced the country’s 'only wine maker' to stop selling to the Church.  Critics blame the shortages on tight state control of the economy and inadequate domestic production.  The government’s response is almost comical in its clichéd nature and predictability: But the government insists that an opposition-led conspiracy and price speculations are the problem."  Doug Mataconis at Outside the Beltway.

Talk about horrendous court rulings.  "El Salvador's Supreme Court ruled Wednesday against allowing a young woman to have an abortion, which her doctors and lawyers argue is necessary to save her life. ... The mother of one ... risks losing her life and that of her unborn baby, because of El Salvador's strict anti-abortion laws.  The 22-year-old woman suffers from severe and complicated illnesses. ... She is prevented by law from having an abortion. ... El Salvador ... still has the strictest anti-abortion law in Latin America, and forbids abortion at any time for any reason."  CBS.

Economics

In markets, morals go away.  "In the individual treatment, 45.9 percent of the subjects were willing to let the mouse die for 10 euros. In the bilateral market, 72.2 percent were willing to kill the mouse for prices at or below 10 euros. In the multilateral market, it was 75.9 percent.  The authors argue that this shows how market interactions lower people's normal moral standards."  Joshua Keating at War of Ideas.

Military

Hybrid tanks.  "Next year, the U.S. Army is expected to choose a larger tank—a ground combat vehicle (GCV), to be specific—to replace its Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicle, which has been in service since 1981. If the army accepts one contractor’s proposal, its armored brigades could be relying heavily on a tank with a hybrid engine for several decades. ... The new tank will ideally seat nine passengers instead of the seven who can fit in a Bradley, and it will probably weigh around 70 tons. ... BAE’s proposed vehicle, which it would build with help from Northrop Grumman, would be among the largest land vehicles ever constructed with an electric battery in a hybrid engine."  Max Ehrenfreund in the Washington Post.

Science

The new oldest bird.  "Scientists say they found an even older feathered dinosaur – one that reestablishes Archaeopteryx as part of the bird lineage even as it may simultaneously dethrone Archaeopteryx as the earliest known 'bird.' The study, published online in the journal Nature, provides a key link in the evolutionary chain of events that led from dinosaurs to birds. ... The new find, christened Aurornis xui, was discovered in northeastern China in the Liaoning Province. The 20-inch, chicken-sized fossil is estimated to be about 160 million years old, about 10 million years older than Archaeopteryx."  Amina Khan in the LA Times.

Mystery solved.  "In 1942 a British forest guard in Roopkund, India, made an alarming discovery. More than three miles above sea level, he stumbled across a frozen lake surrounded by hundreds of human skeletons. ... For six decades, no one was able to shed light on the mystery of "Skeleton Lake." In 2004 a scientific expedition offered the first plausible explanation of the mysterious deaths. The answer was stranger than anyone had guessed. ... Analysis of skulls showed that, no matter their stature or position, all of the people died in a similar way: from blows to the head. ... The scientists reached an unexpected conclusion: The hundreds of travelers all died from a sudden and severe freak hailstorm."  Atlas Obscura at Slate.

Animals that you didn't know existed.  Link.

Miscellaneous 

X-Wing marks the spot.  Best LEGO model ever.  Maddowblog.

Chipotle's next Chipotle.  "Chipotle has been the great fast-food success story of the past 10 years, and the team behind it is ready to unleash its next concept upon the world. The restaurant is called "ShopHouse," ... The concept has pivoted to a focus on rice and noodle bowls ... The rice and noodles are fine, though, and the meat and vegetable toppings that are the core of the experience are excellent. But the real point is that they're finally ready to expand beyond the one test location."  Matthew Yglesias at Slate.

The true size of Africa.  Chart.

18 obsolete words that should have never gone out of style.  I'm a fan of 'groak,' myself.  Carmel Lobello at Death and Taxes.

Drowsy driver.  "Here’s a video of a baby driving a toy car in circles while sleeping."  Video.