What will falling oil prices do to fracking? It depends whom you ask. John Cassidy writes in the New Yorker that the reason Saudis are letting the prices fall is to go after the American fracking industry, which won’t be able to turn a profit if the price of oil goes too low. Of course, while the Saudis may be able to resist pumping more oil, what about Russia and Venezuela? It’s not clear what happens next. Brian Dumaine writes at Time that, in any case, the conventional wisdom is wrong – that the fracking industry is getting more efficient and will be able to withstand the OPEC challenge.
Barack Obama to nominate Ashton Carter as secretary of defense, via the New York Times. Will he get confirmed? The Times describes him thusly: “Mr. Carter has degrees in physics and medieval history from Yale and a doctorate in theoretical physics from Oxford; he was a Rhodes Scholar, was a longtime member of the Harvard faculty and now lectures at Stanford. His senior thesis at Yale was on the use of Latin by monastic writers to describe the world of 12th-century Flanders.”
Kinder, gentler House Republicans? You’re kidding, right? Via Doyle McManus at the Los Angeles Times.
So, here’s the Republican plan so far: Don’t shut down the government, but show that you’re mad enough to do something. Via the Washington Post.
The Rolling Stone story about the fraternity gang rape at the University of Virginia has shaken the Grounds at Thomas Jefferson’s university. But there’s at least one question about the story: Why didn’t the writer talk to the alleged rapists? Via Slate.
Only in Tea Party America could anyone think that Jeb Bush is not conservative. Why does America misremember, asks S.V. Date in Politico.
Ed Rogers writes in the Washington Post that if you have Bill Clinton nostalgia then Jim Webb may be more like Bill Clinton than Hillary is.
Amy Davidson writes in defense of Sasha and Malia. Via the New Yorker.
