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The Syria Solution: Obama Got Played by Putin and Assad — This, apparently, is how diplomacy happens these days: Someone makes an off-hand remark at a press conference and triggers an international chain reaction that turns an already chaotic and complex situation completely on its head …
Discussion:
thenation.com/blogs/163255, New York Times, The Hinterland Gazette, Business Insider, BBC, Politico, Borowitz Report, JustOneMinute, Hot Air, ABC News, neo-neocon, Questions and Observations, CBS News, The Week, CNN, National Review, The Mahablog, BuzzFeed, The Volokh Conspiracy, americanthinker.com, ABC News, Instapundit, Telegraph, Washington Post and Hullabaloo
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The White House may really be about to win on Syria — The AP tweets: — Assuming that sticks, it's game. The White House just achieved its goal. — Remember: The White House's aim here wasn't to topple Assad, or even hurt him. It was to affirm and reinforce the international norm against chemical weapons.
Discussion:
WorldViews, Washington Monthly, The Week and The Spectacle Blog


Putin: Syria chem arms handover will work only if US calls off strike — Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Syria's chemical arms handover will only work if the US and its allies renounce the use of force against Damascus. — “Certainly, this is all reasonable …
Discussion:
ThinkProgress, Hot Air, The PJ Tatler, msnbc.com, The Hill, NBCNews, Business Insider, Guardian, Weasel Zippers, The Back Channel, CBS News, USA Today, Politico, BizzyBlog and ABC News


Syria, chemical weapons, and the worst day in Western diplomatic history — Monday 9 September, 2013, was the worst day for US and wider Western diplomacy since records began. — At the Foreign Office here in London we had the bizarre spectacle of US Secretary of State John Kerry giving …
Discussion:
Bloomberg, Commentary Magazine, The PJ Tatler, Telegraph, Ed Driscoll, National Review and Agence France Presse


Administration Changes Russian Proposal's Origin Story — Back-dating a policy. — From left: U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff U.S. Army General Martin Dempsey testify at the House Armed Services Committee in Washington, Sept. 10, 2013.
Discussion:
Guardian, CNN, Daily Mail, Business Insider, Hot Air, Weasel Zippers and Ricochet Conversations Feed

Making Sense of Syria — This is what I think we're seeing: — The president has backed away from a military strike in Syria. But he can't acknowledge this or act as if it is true. He is acting and talking as if he's coolly, analytically, even warily contemplating the Russian proposal and the Syrian response.
Discussion:
The Gateway Pundit


Obama wants Congress to delay Syria vote
Discussion:
The Last Refuge, Weasel Zippers, Outside the Beltway, ABC News, CNN, ABC News, Hot Air, National Review, The Huffington Post and ThinkProgress

Putin Didn't Save Obama, He Beat Him
Discussion:
Business Insider, Right Turn, The Daily Caller, The Gateway Pundit and Roll Call

Senators working on new Syria plan
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Capital New York, The World's Greatest …, ABC News, Yahoo! News, ThinkProgress, Daily Kos, Associated Press and White House Dossier

Obama backs UN effort on Syria as new resolution prepared
Discussion:
Politico, CNN, Yahoo! News, Michelle Malkin and iOwnTheWorld.com

Vladimir Putin: No U.S. strikes for Syria deal
Discussion:
msnbc.com and Outside the Beltway

QUESTION OF ENFORCEMENT CASTS CLOUD ON SYRIA PLAN
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New York Times, CNN, RT, The Verge, Crooks and Liars, The Week, Business Insider and NBCNews

15 Questions About the Increasingly Crazy Syria Debate
Discussion:
USA Today, Politico, Wonkblog, Real Clear Politics and Mediaite

Syria accepts Russian proposal on weapons; France to bring resolution to Security Council
Discussion:
BBC, Politico, WorldViews, USA Today, New York Times, The Fix, Mediaite, The Hill, emptywheel, Post Politics, Pirate's Cove, Trust.org, Atlas Shrugs, Washington Free Beacon, Yahoo! News, National Review, Voice of America, Business Insider, FP Passport, The Moderate Voice and The Reaction

Russian Proposal Could Offer Obama Escape From Bind
Discussion:
CNN, Hot Air, The Plum Line, The Fix, The Daily Banter and The PJ Tatler


‘A Grand Betrayal’: Conservatives Slam GOP's Gambit On Defunding Obamacare — The initial reviews from conservatives Tuesday are in and they're staunchly negative. The proposed House Republican plan to force the Senate to vote on defunding Obamacare — while removing the threat …
Discussion:
msnbc.com, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, National Review and Booman Tribune
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Fight Delayed — Majority Leader Eric Cantor spent 90 percent of a presentation to House Republicans in the Capitol basement this morning explaining and defending his convoluted plan to force the Senate to vote on defunding Obamacare before eventually allowing the upper chamber to send a “clean” CR to President Obama.
Discussion:
The Plum Line, msnbc.com, Hot Air, Washington Free Beacon, ThinkProgress, The Hill, Politico, Capitol Report, Business Insider and Paul Krugman


The right's new dirty trick to hold government hostage — What GOP really wants is billions more in spending cuts — Without Congressional action, the government will shutdown in 20 days — or two working weeks on Capitol Hill — and yet Republicans in the House are lurching right …
Discussion:
First Read, Center for American Progress, Daily Kos, The Hill and ThinkProgress


House GOP Pushes New Gambit To Defund Obamacare — House Republican leaders are proposing a plan in a conference meeting Tuesday to force a symbolic Senate vote on defunding Obamacare but will stop short of shutting down the federal government if the Senate vote fails, as expected.
Discussion:
RedState, Outside the Beltway and Washington Monthly

DNI Clapper Declassifies Intelligence Community Documents Regarding Collection Under Section 501 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) — In June of this year, President Obama directed me to declassify and make public as much information as possible about certain sensitive …
Discussion:
Hillicon Valley, Guardian, Engadget, The Verge, Online NewsHour and emptywheel, more at Mediagazer »
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NSA Violated Privacy Protections, Officials Say
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo, Gawker and NPR


Cenk Uygur to Dana Perino: 'You're wrong, I'm right. Get the f*ck out of the country' — On Monday's edition of “The Young Turks,” host Cenk Uygur sent a special message to former White House spokesperson Dana Perino, who last week said she is “tired” of atheists demanding that Christian ideology be separated from public policy.
Discussion:
Mediaite and Joe. My. God.
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Bride: I pushed my husband off cliff — (CNN) — A woman in Montana is accused of pushing her husband off a cliff after an argument. The pair had been married for just more than a week. — Jordan Linn Graham made an initial appearance in court Monday to face a charge of second-degree murder.
Discussion:
KDVR.com, The Week, The Raw Story, Scared Monkeys and Althouse


Business Insider CTO Forced to Resign Following Twitter Firestorm [Updated] — Pax Dickinson has been forced to resign as chief technology officer at Business Insider following an online firestorm over his long history of controversial tweets, according to a source who has been in contact with him.
Discussion:
driftglass and Forbes, more at Mediagazer »
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Kerry's claim that he opposed Bush's invasion of Iraq — “You know, Senator Chuck Hagel, when he was senator, Senator Chuck Hagel, now secretary of defense, and when I was a senator, we opposed the president's decision to go into Iraq, but we know full well how that evidence was used to persuade …
Discussion:
Liberal Values, Hot Air, Sister Toldjah, TheBlaze.com, Patterico's Pontifications and Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion


A Climate Alarm, Too Muted for Some — This month, the world will get a new report from a United Nations panel about the science of climate change. Scientists will soon meet in Stockholm to put the finishing touches on the document, and behind the scenes, two big fights are brewing.
Discussion:
ThinkProgress, JunkScience.com, Via Meadia, Lawyers, Guns & Money and Guardian

Yoo to Conservatives: Reverse Course — The latest issue of the National Review has an article by Berkeley law prof John Yoo that invites serious thought and discussion—very serious thought. Here's the gist: — In the Reagan era, conservatives stood for a “unitary executive” …
Discussion:
Washington Examiner and ProfessorBainbridge.com


Bus rider's face smashed in during ‘hate attack’ — An attacker pummeled a bus passenger so hard he smashed the bones in his face after calling the victim a “cracker” in Manhattan - marking the second time in two days that people appeared to be randomly targeted in racial tirades against white people, authorities said.
Discussion:
The Gateway Pundit, Weasel Zippers, neo-neocon and Moonbattery


Firearms ordinance finally approved — NEWTOWN — More than a year after the first debate, the Legislative Council voted unanimously to approve a new firearms ordinance that was called a compromise by those on both sides of the issue. — The ordinance voted on last week will be in effect by the beginning of next month.
Discussion:
ThinkProgress, Guardian and Online NewsHour


The United States of weakness — Red lines that may or may not be real, retaliatory strikes that may or may not be hours from launch, congressional debates that may or may not be necessary for the president to do what he wants—whatever that happens to be this hour.
Discussion:
ABC News, A plain blog about politics, Hit & Run and TheBlaze.com


Dem Senator to MSNBC: 'We Aren't Trusting Assad, We're Trusting the Russians' — Appearing on MSNBC with Andrea Mitchell, Sens. Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND) and Joe Manchin (D-WV) explained their opposition to President Barack Obama's push for intervention in the Syrian civil war.
Discussion:
Hot Air, Washington Times and Weasel Zippers