Morning Reads: Highest Number of Police Killings in Two Decades

Good morning — and a Happy 80th Birthday to journalist Peter Arnett. Here are some of the stories we’re reading this am at Moyers & Company HQ…

Stat of the day: $27,300 — the average amount of debt carried by the 60 percent of college graduates who took out loans to help cover their education last year, according to a new report.

Not as they planned –> Elise Labott reports for CNN that the White House has concluded that “ISIS may not be defeated without a political transition in Syria and the removal of President Bashar al-Assad,” and is reviewing its strategy.

The games begin –> Jonathan Weisman reports for the NYT that now that Republicans control both chambers of Congress, they “will try again to transform Medicare and Medicaid, repeal the Affordable Care Act, shrink domestic spending and substantially cut the highest tax rates through the budget process.”

Partisanship and planet Earth –> The LAT reports that Republicans are vowing to scuttle the historic climate deal Obama struck with China this week. AND: At NYMag, Jonathan Chait explains that the pact undercuts the right’s best argument against taking action to curb emissions.

“College athletes of the world, unite!” –> That’s the headline on basketball legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s piece in Jacobin bemoaning the exploitation of student athletes.

Lethal force –> USA Today reports that the 461 felony suspects killed by police officers last year were the most in 20 years, but the FBI data are incomplete and the real (and unknown) number is higher than that.

Forget the soul-searching –> NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio writes at HuffPo that after their recent shellacking, the Democratic Party should stiffen its backbone instead.

Green jobs –> A new study of the European labor market concludes that, “in the short run, moving to renewables and ramping up energy conservation would create more jobs than the fossil fuel sector.” According to Anastasia Pantsios at EcoWatch, the researchers say “the long-term picture [is] murkier because of factors in the economy and government policy that are hard to predict.”

The center has collapsed –> So writes Peter Beinart in Ha’aretz of the American Jewish community, noting that institutions like AIPAC are now being assaulted by the right as well as the left.

What could possibly go wrong? –> At the NYT, John Markoff reports that several countries, including the US, are testing autonomous drones capable of selecting their own targets without human guidance.

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