Iraq update: 1) Having refused to negotiate with Iraq or to ease sanctions, the United States offered to ease sanctions on Iraqi oil sales if Iraq lets U.N. weapons inspectors resume their work. Pundits cried appeasement. Iraq rejected the offer and insisted that the world accept Iraq's conditions for resumption of inspections. 2) Russia said that it has worked out a deal with Iraq, but didn't say what's in the deal. Critics objected that the deal reportedly would include a U.N. pledge to cut short its weapons-inspection program. The charitable view: Russia is playing good cop , while the United States plays bad cop. The uncharitable view: Russia is selling us out. 3) The Wall Street Journal accelerated the backspin against military action with a Wednesday piece criticizing "facile Washington commentary" that exaggerates the ease of deposing or crippling Saddam Hussein through force. ( Slate gives you "The Gist" on Iraq since the Gulf War.) (11/19) A federal regulator banned Teamsters President Ron Carey from seeking re-election, concluding that he was involved in a scam to launder union money into his 1996 campaign. Editorialists bemoaned the fall of an idol (see Slate 's assessment), arguing that his legacy of reforming the Teamsters transcends his personal lapse. Left-wingers complained that right-wingers would use the ruling to tar the whole labor movement. Right-wingers, led by the Wall Street Journal , obliged them. Defenders pointed out that Carey hadn't murdered anybody (unlike past Teamsters bosses), and rationalized his scam as a "desperate" response to the threat posed by his more corrupt opponent, James P. Hoffa. Reformers consoled themselves with the hope that regulators will likewise throw Hoffa off the ballot for campaign violations. (11/19) Terrorists massacred 58 foreign tourists in an Egyptian temple. None was American. The victims were shot, hacked, and mutilated. Egypt's biggest extremist faction, the "Islamic Group," claimed responsibility. Analysts suggested a further escalation of violence. The Los Angeles Times linked the massacre to similar bloodshed in Algeria and blamed it on poor security. The Chicago Tribune blamed Egypt's neglect of social and economic inequality. (11/19) Texas is considering whether to replace school textbooks with laptops . Arguments for the switch: 1) With lower laptop prices plus volume discounts, it will be cheaper than new textbooks. 2) Laptops will make it easier to update the curriculum. 3) Students learn more on computers. 4) It'll give poor kids access to technology. Best argument against it: Kids will lose their laptops. Bottom line: The question is when, not whether, the switch will happen. (11/19) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu came to the United States to plead for Jewish unity. The inside spin: Non-Orthodox Jews in the United States are furious at Netanyahu's collaboration with Orthodox Jews in Israel who are denying state recognition to non-Orthodox institutions. The conflict--in addition to anger over Netanyahu's management of peace talks with the Palestinians--is affecting American Jews' donations to Israel. Netanyahu's message: American Jews are "partners" with Israel in resolving this conflict, and there are no "second-class Jews." The outside spin: Why isn't Clinton meeting with Netanyahu during his visit? "Good for Clinton! Netanyahu has earned this snub," said the Chicago Tribune , noting that the Israeli prime minister's rocky relations with the Palestinians were screwing up the U.S.-Arab coalition against Saddam Hussein. (11/17) Justice Department officials predict that an independent counsel will be named to investigate Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt . This is likely, according to the Washington Post , because the dispute over whether Babbitt traded a decision on an Indian-casino license for Democratic-campaign money involves facts that the department can't resolve in its allotted three months. An independent probe of Babbitt would include examination of top White House and Democratic National Committee officials, particularly Harold Ickes, possibly leading to a wholesale investigation of Clinton's fund raising, as Republicans have hoped. (11/17) Chinese dissident Wei Jingsheng was released from prison and exiled to the United States. The first-day spin: It's a triumph for human rights and a vindication of Clinton's constructive-engagement policy. The second-day backspins: 1) Wei brought his punishment on himself by thumbing his nose at the Chinese government. 2) China's offer to exile him was old news. 3) China has thereby rid itself of an irksome "martyr" and his influence on the country. 4) Other Chinese dissidents are still in jail. 5) Trading nuclear technology and helicopters for him at the recent summit was a lousy deal. (11/17) Former teacher Mary Kay LeTourneau was sentenced to six months in jail and three years of treatment for having sex--and a baby--with a 13-year-old student. She had pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree child rape. She was 35 and married with four kids at the time. Controversy 1: The Los Angeles Times asks whether it was rape or, "as dozens of male respondents to local newspapers and talk radio programs suggest, the answer to every schoolboy's dream." Corollary: Should the fact that LeTourneau and the boy still "love" each other count against her (as psychologists insist) or for her? The boy's mother says: "I don't feel that this is a crime. My son does not feel victimized." Controversy 2: Did she get off lightly because she's a woman, whereas men are jailed longer for similar crimes? The respectable rejoinder: She's a first-time offender. The naughty rejoinder, offered by her lawyer: Critics just want to punish her because "she is attractive." (11/17) Congress killed payments to the United Nations and the International Monetary Fund for the rest of the year. The reason: an abstruse quarrel over abortion funding. The payments to the United Nations were already overdue. Clinton spokesman Mike McCurry called the decision "utterly boneheaded" because 1) the United States needs U.N. support against Iraq and 2) the IMF needs the promise of U.S. financial support to help quell financial panic in Asia. Another end-of-session deal will allow more than a million illegal immigrants to stay in the United States but tighten controls on future illegal entrants. Immigrant spokesmen welcomed the relaxation but said it was unfair to future comers and favored some groups (Nicaraguans and Cubans) over others. (11/14) The mastermind and the driver in the World Trade Center bombing were convicted. They face life sentences. Four lesser conspirators were convicted in 1994; another suspect escaped, probably to Iraq. The remaining mystery is whether some other person, group, or country funded and orchestrated the bombing. The sunny spin: We nailed the terrorists. The ominous spin: The terrorists nailed us first, more are coming, and there are too many to keep track of. Meanwhile, the FBI ended its probe of the TWA Flight 800 plane crash, leaving mechanical failure as the only theory under investigation. Editorialists labored to connect the two contrary outcomes. (Various sites, among them MSNBC, provide CIA video of the reconstruction of the crash of TWA Flight 800.) (11/14) The Washington Post reported more evidence of the alleged Chinese plot to influence U.S. elections. 1) FBI intelligence files indicate that Democratic fund-raiser Maria Hsia has been a Chinese agent. 2) "Reliable" reports say that John Huang gave a classified document to China while in the Commerce Department, but the FBI can't confirm this. 3) "Fragmentary intelligence" suggests that China wanted to channel money to Clinton's campaign. The spin: Why didn't the Justice Department get this information earlier? Attorney General Janet Reno didn't get it and give it to Senate investigation chairman Fred Thompson until his hearings had ended. Analysts called it another blow to Reno's credibility and another reason to appoint an independent counsel. (11/14)