Friday, September 13, 2013   Published Weekday Mornings   To see the full version of today's cartoon, click on the preview graphic of the cartoon (below the Commentary) to be taken to the full version in your favorite web browser. The Syrian Situation Syria Talks Yield Plan to Discuss Peace Conference Geneva talks mark big test for U.S. and Russia Listing Demands, Assad Uses Crisis to His Advantage Dylan Matthews: Why Obama shouldn't care about backing down on Syria Steve Benen: Obama adapted to changing circumstances, exactly what a responsible leader must do in a crisis The Nation: Pres. Obama's Choices On Syria A Win for Diplomacy Greg Sargent: The Critic's Dodge On Syria Blake & Sullivan: Team America no longer wants to be World's Police Putin & The People The Story Behind the Putin Op-Ed Article in The Times Carney says White House 'not surprised' by Putin op-ed Julia Ioffe: Here's What Went Unmentioned in Putin's New York Times Op-Ed Vladimir Putin's New York Times op-ed, annotated and fact-checked Dana Milbank: The American people's reply to Vladimir Putin America's New Gilded Age Steve Benen: Welcome to the new Gilded Age Study: Top 1% take biggest income slice on record 1 in 5 Americans now struggling to put food on the table Poll: Wall Street remains highly unpopular five years after crisis The One Percent recovery: 95 percent of gains since 2009 have gone to the top one percent. Neil Irwin: A complete list of Wall Street CEOs prosecuted for their role in the financial crisis In post-Lehman clean-up, top banker prosecutions stumble Neil Irwin: Five years after the financial crisis, 13 charts that show what's fixed and what isn't. Ed Kilgore: Recoveries Are Not For Poor People Paul Krugman: The Rich Man's Recovery GOP Civil War Jonathan Chait: House Republican Anarchy Update The House GOP Is About to Crack Up: Three Theories Why Immigration: Reform Coming? Immigration protest outside Capitol leads to over 100 arrests Greg Sargent: Syria won't make GOP's immigration problem go "poof" and disappear Energy, Climate & Environment Three dead, thousands evacuated in Colorado flooding Brad Plumer: How long before the Great Plains runs out of water? Wildcatter Hunch Unlocks $1.5 Trillion Oil Offshore U.S. Ralph Cavanagh: How America Learned Not to Guzzle Energy Nations In Turmoil Pakistan, India spar in Kashmir in worst border violence in years Two roadside bombs outside mosque kill 30 in Iraq Turkey: New round of anti-government protests enter third day The War Over There Taliban target U.S. consulate in Afghan assault Al Qaeda leader al-Zawahri calls for attacks inside United States Zawahri also condemns crackdown on Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood $7B in gear U.S. sent to war in Afghanistan will not return Anna Therese Day: A Journalist Dines with Al Qaeda International News Four men who raped & killed woman sentenced to death in India New Iran envoy says he hopes disputes with IAEA can be resolved U.S. and Iran are edging toward direct talks Dozens killed in Russia hospital blaze Philippine hostage crisis lingers Money in Politics Revealed: Secret Koch Group Gave Conservatives $236 Million In 2012 How a Koch Brothers 'Business League' Spent $236 Million to Frame the 2012 Debate Midwest Roundup Nebraska corn crop forecast up from last month; sorghum down sharply Taiwan signs $400M trade deal with Nebraska Iowa's health-insurance exchange confirmed to offer lower prices than many other states Iowa GOP Gov. Branstad's Admin. not ready to embrace state college tuition freeze plan Wishing For Safe Journeys As we sit on the cusp of our fall travel and conference schedule, we're faced with a difficult decision today, about what topics to cover. We'll admit this should have been a momentous last seven days. Five years ago this week, the titans of Wall Street, at the end of the G.W. Bush era, nearly destroyed the entire world's economy with their selfishness and hubris. Five years later, most of those crooks have yet to see a courtroom, let alone a prison cell. And while the rich have effectively recovered from an economic apocalypse of their own creation, virtually everyone else is still hurting. On Capitol Hill, things haven't changed much either. Members of Congress did finally return from five weeks of shirking their duties to nominally "work" on legislation. However, between the GOP's civil war and the Democrats finding new ways to act like cowards on the budget, nothing much really ended up getting done in our national legislative branch. The White House didn't fare much better this week. President Obama and Secretary of State Kerry - along with their counterparts from Russia - stopped the nation's rush to military action in Syria. That didn't seem to matter to critics, pundits, and members of Congress who couldn't seem to complain enough about where the President was taking our country. Still, with multiple journeys ahead of our staff members over the next few weeks, what caught our attention most today was a story we noticed late on Thursday, about a journey of an entirely different and wonderful nature... To continue reading... click here. And now, for your Daily Felltoon preview for September 13, 2013 (Click the preview cartoon above to see the full version of the cartoon) Reason for Hope Voyager 1 becomes first human- made object to leave solar system's heliosphere Exiting the Solar System and Fulfilling a Dream | NASA scientists at JPL, elsewhere reflect on Voyager's thirty-six journey NASA: Where are the Voyager satellites now? Jobs & The Economy Retail Sales in U.S. Increase, But Less Than Forecast U.S. retail sales, wholesale inflation data point to continued slow growth Wall Street Watch Twitter files for initial public offering of stock Fed Message Muddled as Taper Meets Slowing Growth Fight For The Fed At Federal Reserve, battle for nomination to the top job heats up | Key GOP Senator Joins Key Dems to Oppose Summers Nod For Fed Chief Budget Battles Greg Sargent: How Democrats view this fall's fiscal fights Jonathan Bernstein: The odd Democratic budget priorities Boehner Finally Seeking Democrats' Help on Fiscal Talks Ed Kilgore:Democrats Should Throw Speaker Boehner an Anvil, Not A Life Preserver | Sahil Kapur: Obamacare Furor Styming The GOP's Spending Goals Tanden & Linden: The Dirty Truth About Boehner's 'Clean' CR Cohn: How The Crazy, Divided Republicans Might Get Their Way Ezra Klein: A government shutdown just became a bit more likely. That might be a good thing. Health Care Checkup Report: Pennsylvania Will Expand Medicaid Under Obamacare White House determined not to give ground on Obamacare | Josh Barro: Sympathy For The Obamacare Defunders Greg Sargent: Lies about Obama care come back to haunt GOP leaders Communications Breakdown Romanesko: MSN.com says its freelance budget 'has gone away entirely' Salt Lake Tribune Changes Owner, Reduces Staff by Nearly 20 Percent Future of The Daily Beast in Doubt, Decision in October Media Matters Media shield act moves on to the full Senate Fox News' Sheppard Smith Promoted to Managing Editor, Out at 7 P.M. Rick Stengel to leave 'Time' for position at U.S. State Department Here It Is! Your Paul Fell PREDICTION preview for September 13, 2013 (Click the preview cartoon above to see the full version of the cartoon) White House Update Kevin Drum: No, Obama Didn't Plan on Syrian Inspections. He Did Something Better. Andrew Rudalevige: The Media Keeps Pounding the President - But That Doesn't Really Matter | Vice President Biden Reflects On Violence Against Women Act, Gay Marriage Support Biden slams 'Neanderthal crowd' in House GOP for blocking VAWA renewal News From Capitol Hill House votes 235-191 in another pointless attempt to stop ObamaCare's insurance subsidies | Democrats reject Republican efforts to delay funding for Obamacare On The Left Sen. Maj. Leader Reid To Host Fundraiser For McConnell's Chief Democratic Opponent On The Right Steve Benen: John Boehner, Speaker In Name Only States Of Confusion Fire rages at iconic NJ boardwalk DC's Mayor Gray vetoes 'living wage' bill aimed at Wal-Mart, setting up decisive council vote | Massive Boardwalk Fire Erases Months of Rebuilding at Jersey Shore Top California Lawmakers Back Raising Minimum Wage We hope you enjoy "The Daily Felltoon" every business day. Thanks for continuing to be a member! 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