memeorandum: Big U.S. banks keeping door open to another financial crisis (Michael Hiltzik/Los Angeles Times)

11:25 AM ET, September 15, 2013

Top Items:

Pamela Falk / CBS News:

Syrian chemical weapons agreement bound for United Nations Security Council — PLAY CBS NEWS VIDEO — The U.S. and Russia shook hands on a groundbreaking framework agreement Saturday to identify Syria's chemical weapons, place them under control of the Chemical Weapons Convention and its compliance body …

Discussion: The Raw Story

John Kerry / US Department of State:

Remarks With Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov After Their Meeting — Remarks — Intercontinental Hotel — SECRETARY KERRY: Well, thank you very much for your patience, not just this morning, but over the last couple of days. We're very appreciative and particularly grateful to Sergey Lavrov …

Discussion: Democracy in America and The Moderate Voice

Michael R. Gordon / New York Times:

U.S. and Russia Reach Deal to Destroy Syria's Chemical Arms — GENEVA — The United States and Russia reached a sweeping agreement on Saturday that called for Syria's arsenal of chemical weapons to be removed or destroyed by the middle of 2014 and indefinitely stalled the prospect of American airstrikes.

US Department of State:
Framework for Elimination of Syrian Chemical Weapons

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, BBC, emptywheel, Belmont Club, NPR, The Hinterland Gazette, Telegraph, Taylor Marsh and Outside the Beltway

Anne Gearan / Washington Post:
U.S., Russia reach agreement on seizure of Syrian chemical weapons arsenal

Discussion: ThinkProgress, NBCNews, Agence France Presse, Politico, Associated Press, Wonkblog, The Raw Story, BBC, Outside the Beltway, Hot Air, The Moderate Voice, The Hill and The Reaction

Bradley Klapper / Associated Press:
Obama's Larger Syria Strategy in Disarray

Discussion: Weasel Zippers, CNN and Politico

CNN:
U.S., Russia agree to framework on Syria chemical weapons

Discussion: Business Insider

Devin Dwyer / ABC News:

Obama Rejects Criticism of Shifting Syria Policy: 'I'm Less Concerned About Style Points' — WASHINGTON — President Obama says a tumultuous month as commander in chief, when his policy toward Syria took a number of unexpected turns, may not have looked “smooth and disciplined and linear,” but it's working.

Discussion: Yahoo! News, ABC News, msnbc.com, Weasel Zippers and Israel Matzav

Ashley Killough / CNN:

Obama on Syria criticism: Washington grades on style, not substance — Washington (CNN) - President Barack Obama has responded to critics who disagree with his handling of the situation in Syria, saying he's more concerned about the end goal - no chemical weapons in Syria - than about “style points.”

Discussion: Politico and The National Interest

Margaret Wente / Globe and Mail:

Barack Obama, the 98-pound weakling — So, let me get this straight. Some red lines cannot be crossed, and gassing Syrian children is one of them. That's what Barack Obama told us Tuesday evening. “The images from this massacre are sickening,” he said.

Discussion: Power Line

Jonathan Chait / New York Magazine:

The Arguments of the Great Recession Are Over. Hooray. — Five years after the financial crisis, the general expert consensus is that the Obama administration did a good but not great response job. The financial rescue measures saved the banking system from wreaking deep, widespread destruction …

Discussion: The Atlantic Online, Paul Krugman, The Reaction and Prairie Weather

Michael Hiltzik / Los Angeles Times:

Big U.S. banks keeping door open to another financial crisis — Big banks have watered down rules aimed at keeping them from fobbing bad loans off on investors and ensured loopholes in transparency rules. ‘Fundamentally not that much has changed,’ an analyst says.

Discussion: Hot Air

Richard Sisk / Military.com:

Securing Syria's Weapons May Require US Troops — The White House and the Pentagon have repeatedly ruled out “boots on the ground” in Syria, but Defense Department officials were less certain Thursday on whether U.S. military personnel might be sent to help secure or destroy Syria's chemical weapons.

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit

Richard Dawkins / New York Times:

By the Book — What's the best book you've read so far this year? — I've been reading autobiographies to get me in the mood for writing my own and show me how it's done: Tolstoy (at one time my own memoir was to have been called, at my wife's suggestion, “Childhood, Boyhood, Truth"); …

Discussion: Steve Sailer and Althouse

New York Times:

Wall St. Exploits Ethanol Credits, and Prices Spike — It was supposed to help clean the air, reduce dependence on foreign oil and bolster agriculture. But a little known market in ethanol credits has also become a hot new game on Wall Street. — The federal government created the market …

Discussion: JustOneMinute and E2-Wire

James J. Heckman / Opinionator:

Lifelines for Poor Children — What's missing in the current debate over economic inequality is enough serious discussion about investing in effective early childhood development from birth to age 5. This is not a big government boondoggle policy that would require a huge redistribution of wealth.

Discussion: Washington Monthly and The Buck Stops Here