Vox Sentences: Time to sync your Government Shutdown Countdown Clocks

John Boehner could lose his job over Planned Parenthood; the Pope versus the crusaders on refugees; and the return of Stephen Colbert.

Vox Sentences is written by Dylan Matthews and Dara Lind.

TOP NEWS

Oh, goody.

AFP / Brendan Smalowski

• Congress is back in session today, which means Government Shutdown Watch is back on. Forbes' Stan Collender estimates a 67% chance that the government won't be able to extend funding past September 30th, and will shut down at the end of the month.

  [Forbes / Stan Collender]

• This time, the proximate cause of a House Republican revolt is defunding Planned Parenthood — an effort that's gained a lot of momentum after the release over the summer of videos purporting to show PP engaging in criminal misconduct.

• The first hearing on the Planned Parenthood videos will take place tomorrow. It's ostensibly about Planned Parenthood's treatment of fetal organs — the topic of the videos — but neither Planned Parenthood nor the group that recorded the videos is actually testifying.

  [The Hill / Sarah Ferris]

• That shouldn't be that surprising, since, as Vox's Sarah Kliff has pointed out, the purpose of those videos is to galvanize anti-abortion sentiment.

  [Vox / Sarah Kliff]

• What makes this showdown unlike all other shutdowns: John Boehner's job could be at risk. If he proposes a funding bill that doesn't defund Planned Parenthood — the only type of funding bill that will be signed by Obama — House conservatives might act on a motion to "vacate the chair" that's been hanging over Boehner's head since July.

  [The Atlantic / Russell Berman]

• No one knows if the coup would succeed, but even Boehner's allies think he's tired of fighting with the base all the time.

  [Politico / Jake Sherman and Mike Bresnahan]

"For I was a stranger and you welcomed me..." -Matthew 25:35

Getty / Christophe Stache

• The world is continuing to reel from the crisis posed by Syrian refugees fleeing to Europe. (Remember, of course, that this is only the tip of the iceberg of the global refugee crisis — most of the countries housing refugees are simply keeping them in camps, and are not Western countries, so white people care less.)

  [Mother Jones / Simon Rogers and AJ Vicens]

• Pope Francis, for his part, urged every parish in Europe to take in a refugee family in his sermon Sunday — and promised to house two such families at the Vatican.

  [The Guardian / Stephanie Kirschgaessner]

• But the chief bishop of Hungary — the country that's become the EU's Arizona in terms of anti-immigrant backlash — says the pope is wrong, and this is really an invasion of Muslims threatening traditional Hungarian Christian identity (which is, in fact, not so traditional).

  [Washington Post / Griff Witte]

• Doing her part to stop the "invasion," a Hungarian camerawoman was caught on film tripping one refugee father carrying a child, so that the cops could catch up to the family.

  [BuzzFeed / Tamerra Griffin]

• The camerawoman has been fired.

  [AFP via Dave Clark / Twitter]

• Germany, for its part, is following through on its promise to take in refugees — those who arrived from Hungary by bus over the weekend were greeted warmly by Germans, in some legitimately heartwarming photos.

  [The Guardian / Emma Graham-Harrison, Patrick Kingsley, Rosie Waites and Tracy McVeigh]

• Julia Ioffe — who came to the US as a refugee from the Soviet Union and is now a prominent commentator — makes a predictably eloquent case that the United States needs to follow Germany's lead, even though the refugee crisis is only urgent as a "European problem.

  [Foreign Policy / Julia Ioffe]

• And according to the National Security Council, President Obama is "actively considering" a range of options in response to the crisis — including the possible resettlement of more refugees.

  [USA Today / Gregory Korte]

• Don't hold your breath. The US isn't likely to admit more than 8,000 Syrian refugees next year (and that's a generous estimate). Refugee admissions have been incredibly slow so far, and there's good reason to believe they'll stay that way.

  [National Journal / Lauren Fox]

• But at least the US is not Australia, which is poised to start bombing Islamic State targets in Syria tomorrow, but is currently trying to decide whether it wants to let in some refugees, only Christian refugees, or no refugees.

  [The Age / Mark Kenny and David Wroe]

• Nor is it the Gulf states, which, in case you haven't noticed, have been conspicuously absent from refugee assistance.

  [The Atlantic / Mardo Soghom]

Our long national late-night-mare is over

CBS / Monty Britton

• The first episode of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert will air tonight on CBS, for those of you who are young enough to stay up late but old enough to watch TV on TV.

• Colbert has been promoting the hell out of the show and himself. This much-praised GQ profile is the best read (and best photo shoot) to come out of the promo blitz.

  [GQ / Joel Lovell]

• Most people have been asking what a Colbert show will be like without the blustering conservative persona he put on for his Comedy Central show: in other words, what is Colbert without "Colbert"? One answer: he'll now be free to ask guests about the things he's curious about, without running them through someone else's brain.

  [Washington Post / Alyssa Rosenberg]

• Expectations Management, part 1: So excited about the show you're setting yourself up for disappointment? This preview from the Guardian should curb your enthusiasm.

  [The Guardian / Ruth Spencer]

• Expectations Management, part 2: So worried about the show you might not tune in? This preview from Mashable is very enthusiastic.

  [Mashable / Brian Ries]

• But everyone loves the show's band, led by Jon Batiste.

  [Time / Eliza Berman]

MISCELLANEOUS

What is it like to be a cloistered nun in New Jersey in 2015? [NYT / Penelope Green]

• Divorce selfies seem bizarre, but they're a way for couples to split amicably and non-awkwardly.

  [Washington Post / Caitlin Dewey]

• By day, Erin Cobb is a middle school reading teacher in Louisiana. By night, she's sold her teaching materials to other teachers for over $1 million.

  [NYT / Natasha Singer]

• The vast majority of spending on autism goes to treating and helping children. But what happens with autists grow up?

  [NYT / Eli Gottlieb]

• Rye is a disgusting beverage that is inferior to bourbon in every way (note: this opinion may not reflect a consensus among Vox Sentences staff). But it's having a moment.

  [Washington Post / M. Carrie Allan]

VERBATIM

"The problem with school is that school is a little academic." [Roger Schank, Chief Learning Officer, Trump University via Bloomberg / Max Abelson]

• "Sometimes when Tricia was riding on the school bus she would look out the window and see her mother on the street. She would scream to her, 'Mama!' and her mother would say, 'Hi, Patricia,' and keep on walking."

  [New Yorker / Larissa MacFarquhar]

• "Focusing our friendship efforts outside work isn’t the norm around the world. In surveys across three countries, Americans reported inviting 32 percent of their closest colleagues to their homes, compared with 66 percent in Poland and 71 percent in India."

  [NYT / Adam Grant]

• "For years, Trump has been compared to P. T. Barnum, but the comparison doesn’t capture his range; on the campaign trail, he is less the carnival barker than the full cast—the lion, the fire-eater, the clown with the seltzer—all trussed into a single-breasted Brioni suit."

  [New Yorker / Evan Osnos]

• "People who demean and dismiss educators are, almost by definition, in need of educational help."

  [Slate / Rebecca Schuman]

WATCH THIS

• The shameful US response to the Syrian refugee crisis, by the numbers

  [YouTube / Vox ]

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