The House Budget Committee has released a “report” called The War on Poverty: Fifty Years Later. The report tries to argue that people are poor because of social welfare programs and proposes to “help” them by gutting the programs. Paul Ryan was behind this, of course.

It didn’t take long for scholars whose work was cited in the report to weigh in.

… several economists and social scientists contacted on Monday had reactions ranging from bemusement to anger at Ryan’s report, claiming that he either misunderstood or misrepresented their research.

In short, Ryan consistently edited out data that didn’t support his conclusions and sometimes just plain misstated what the scholars he cited had concluded.

Ryan wants us to believe he’s “helping” the poor by shredding the safety net so that they don’t become dependent or complacent. Paul Krugman reveals what a crock that is.

OK, do you notice the assumption here? It is that reduced incentives to work mean reduced social mobility. Is there any reason to believe this as a general proposition?

Now, as it happens the best available research suggests that the programs Ryan most wants to slash — Medicaid and food stamps — don’t even have large negative effects on work effort. . . .

. . .In fact, the evidence suggests that welfare-state programs enhance social mobility, thanks to little things like children of the poor having adequate nutrition and medical care. And conversely,of course, when such programs are absent or inadequate, the poor find themselves in a trap they often can’t escape, not because they lack the incentive, but because they lack the resources.

I mean, think about it: Do you really believe that making conditions harsh enough that poor women must work while pregnant or while they still have young children actually makes it more likely that those children will succeed in life?

Of course, the point is not to help the poor but to punish them. Obviously, if people are poor, it must be because they deserve it.

Do you remember the “Texas Miracle” that helped (s)elect George W. Bush as president back in 2000? He argued that his education policies as governor had caused a radical turn-around in Texas schools, with higher test scores and lower dropout rates.

And it turned out there was no miracle. The numbers looked good because school districts were falsifying test scores and misreporting dropout rates.

Well, for a while ow the Right has been touting the Texas economic miracle, with Gov. Rick “oops” Perry claiming that job growth in Texas proves his low-tax, low-regulation policies are good for the economy. Turns out that claim falls apart under close scrutiny, also.

The New York Times is reporting that Russia has seized Crimea, and the usual armchair warriors are thumping their chests and declaring that this must not stand. Exactly what the United States is supposed to do about it, short of declaring war on Russia, is not entirely clear.

Mr. Obama is under bipartisan pressure to take action to stop Mr. Putin. A dozen senators from both parties wrote him a letter Friday arguing that “the U.S. should make use of the tools at its disposal,” including targeted sanctions and asset seizure.

“Now is the time for U.S. leadership,” said one of those senators, Marco Rubio, Republican of Florida. “The U.S. and the European Union should take meaningful measures to demonstrate to the Russian government that military action against Ukraine is intolerable and will carry significant consequences for Moscow.”

None of the senators, however, outlined ideas not already on the table in the Situation Room. And besides, Mr. Obama needs Russian support in the midst of critical talks over Syria’s civil war and Iran’s nuclear program.

“What can we do?” asked Fiona Hill, a Brookings Institution scholar who was the government’s top intelligence officer on Russia during the Georgia war when Mr. Putin deflected Western agitation. “We’ll talk about sanctions. We’ll talk about red lines. We’ll basically drive ourselves into a frenzy. And he’ll stand back and just watch it. He just knows that none of the rest of us want a war.”

Yeah, pretty much. But from now until the 2016 elections, and beyond, Republicans will be giving themselves bruises with all the chest thumping. It’s so cheap and easy to strike strong and resolute poses and make declarations about “leadership” when you actually can’t do anything.

Oh, wait, Congress actually does have the power to declare war, doesn’t it? So if they’re so keen to go to war, just tell them to write up a freakin’ war resolution and put it up for a vote. Take a stand, why dontcha?

On the other end of the scale, there are a few whackjobs out there who seriously believe President Obama somehow enticed Russia to attack Ukraine so he can start a thermonuclear war. See also this guy, but be warned there’s an automatic video that will play whether you want it to or not.