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Week in the News: Navy Yard Shooting, Congressional Infighting, Syria

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The Navy Yard massacre.  Brazil and NSA spying. Chemical weapons negotiation and Syria. Our weekly news roundtable goes behind the headlines.

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, center right, and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey, center left, lead a delegation at the Navy Memorial in Washington to remember the victims of Monday's deadly shooting at the Washington Navy Yard, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2013. (AP)
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, center right, and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey, center left, lead a delegation at the Navy Memorial in Washington to remember the victims of Monday's deadly shooting at the Washington Navy Yard, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2013. (AP)

Life to news of gunfire again this week.  At the Washington Navy Yard.  An angry, disturbed man hunting humans.  Killing twelve.  An American story.  Down the street, on Capitol Hill, the GOP throws down hard on Obamacare.  Defund it, comes the threat from House Republicans, or we will shut the US government down.  The President calls that extortion.  We've got conciliatory words from Iran.  A Syria deal. A Brazilian cancellation over US spying. A still-open Fed spigot.  And a new kind of Pope.  Up next On Point:  our weekly news round table goes behind the headlines.
-- Tom Ashbrook

Guests

John McCormack, staff writer at The Weekly Standard. (@McCormackJohn)

Katrina vanden Heuvel, editor and publisher of the Nation Magazine, author of "The Change I Believe In: Fighting for Progress in the Age of Obama." (@KatrinaNation)

Jack Beatty, On Point news analyst.

From Tom's Reading List

The Weekly Standard: Never Surrender -- "Republicans shouldn’t give up the fight. With the weight of Obamacare set to crash down on the country in the coming year, now is a perfect time for members of Congress to try again to protect the American people from all or some the law’s harmful effects. Republicans may lack control of the Senate and the White House, but they should continue to fight for whatever they might be able to achieve, such as attaching anti-fraud measures to Obamacare or delaying the individual mandate so long as the business mandate is delayed."

National Journal: A September to Surrender: Syria and Summers Spell Second-Term Slump — "There are no 'obstructionist' Republican fingerprints on the conspicuous and power-depleting defeats for Obama. He never sought a vote on Syria and therefore was not humiliated. The same is true for Summers. But Obama lost ground on both fronts and ultimately surrendered to political realities that, for the first time in his presidency, were determined by his own obdurate party."

Washington Post: GOP Madness On Display — "This is simple madness. President Obama once again laid out out a common sense, modest agenda on the budget. Make investments in education and infrastructure vital to our competitiveness. Don’t let immediate cuts sabotage our faltering recovery. Get our books in order with a balanced plan that combines asking corporations and the rich to pay their fair share with cutting wasteful programs and bloat."

This program aired on September 20, 2013.

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