The ninth death at Guantanamo: The name has yet to be released, but he was allegedly a prisoner with "a record of disciplinary infractions." Two of the previous Guantanamo deaths were said to be from natural causes, the rest suicides.
Three of those suicides were supposedly protesting the very idea that the US government could perpetually detain someone without any legal cause or process. (Fuck the "moral hazard" of forgiving student debt that we debated in yesterday's Morning News comments thread—let's talk about the moral hazard of democracies indulging in perpetual detention.) Anyway, we don't know how he died yet. An autopsy is scheduled. We also don't know how many people are detained at Guantanamo, but reporters guess around 167.
Speaking of student debt: "Consumer debt declines, even as student loans grow."
It's 9/11: "Both President Barack Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney plan to take down their negative ads in honor of the 11th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Neither planned to appear at overtly political events, although Election Day is never far from their agendas."
Speaking of 9/11: "It was perhaps the most famous presidential briefing in history... On Aug. 6, 2001, President George W. Bush received a classified review of the threats posed by Osama bin Laden and his terrorist network, Al Qaeda... The CIA prepared an analysis that all but pleaded with the White House to accept that the danger from Bin Laden was real." So... all that talk about how our security apparatus failed to predict the attacks—necessitating the creation of the Patriot Act, the Department of Homeland Security, etc.—wasn't actually true? Huh. Weird.
The Chicago teachers' strike goes national: LA teachers' unions have some of the same issues (whether they should be held responsible for failing schools) and, as the LA Times notes: "The walkout happens at an inconvenient place and time for Obama — his hometown eight weeks before election day. His former chief of staff, Mayor Rahm Emanuel, is leading the standoff with teachers. These factors ensure the president will be under pressure to weigh in, which could put him in the position of having to pick sides between his former top aide and a key Democratic constituency."
Seattle-Chicago train was zero percent on time in July: We really need a better nationwide passenger rail system.
Seattle's city council reaches a tentative arena deal: "The deal, sources say, addresses objections by the Port of Seattle [see Goldy's thoughts about that here] and manufacturing interests, who complained that traffic generated by an arena would choke already clogged Sodo streets, jeopardizing maritime industries and jobs. 'This may be the deal that gets us to where we need to be,' said Dave Gering, head of the Manufacturing Industrial Council, which represents 60 businesses in Sodo, including the Port of Seattle and BNSF Railway."
The "A" word hits Broadway: "THE ANARCHIST, a new play written and directed by David Mamet starring Patti LuPone and Debra Winger, will be presented on Broadway at the newly refurbished Golden Theatre (252 West 45th Street)... One woman has been put away for life, and the other is making sure she stays there in the world premiere of this explosive new play by David Mamet." Mamet (the world's only chest-thumpingly conservative playwright) on an imprisoned American anarchist? I cannot fucking wait to read that script.
Why aren't there more black ballet dancers? A British dance critic thinks about it.
Etymology of the day: "Conspire," and "conspiracy," come from the Latin "to breathe together."
Speaking of breathing together: Here is an oddly beautiful and provocative bit of French radicalism, Et la guerre est à peine commencée... It is technically by "anonymous," but is tied to Tiqqun, a French philosophical journal that was started in 1999 and dissolved just after the 9/11 attacks.
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