News Nuggets 994

DAYLEE PICTURE:  Moonlight on the Matterhorn at night.  From National Geographic.

Revealed: 64 Drone Bases on American Soil from Wired Magazine
"Public Intelligence, a non-profit that advocates for free access to information, released a map of military UAV activities in the United States on Tuesday. Assembled from military sources — especially this little-known June 2011 Air Force presentation (.pdf) – it is arguably the most comprehensive map so far of the spread of the Pentagon’s unmanned fleet. What exact missions are performed at those locations, however, is not clear."

How Shock Waves Will Hit US if Greece Drops Euro (Matthew Craft) from the Associated Press
"They think the path of a full-blown crisis would start in Greece, quickly move to the rest of Europe and then hit the U.S. Stocks and oil would plunge, the euro would sink against the U.S. dollar, and big banks would uncover losses on complex trades."

Obama Administration To Stop Deporting Younger Undocumented Immigrants And Grant Work Permits from the Huffington Post
"The Obama administration will stop deporting and begin granting work permits to younger undocumented immigrants who came to the U.S. as children and have since led law-abiding lives. The election-year initiative addresses a top priority of an influential Latino electorate that has been vocal in its opposition to administration deportation policies."

The President's Game Changer on Young Illegal Immigrants (Garance Franke-Ruta) from the Atlantic
"His second bold move on behalf of a marginal group will now dominate the conversation."

U.S. Military Will Celebrate Its First Gay Pride Month from the Atlantic 
"Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta thanked gay and lesbian service members in a video address on Friday, as the Pentagon celebrates gay pride month for the first time. Roughly nine months after the "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell" policy was repealed, this recognition will be added to a list of racial and ethnic celebrations at the Department of Defense."

Paying to Play: Interview with a John (Antonia Crane) form the Rumpus 
"He agreed to do the interview if it were 100% anonymous. I thought of the NY broker wearing my dress in my living room, red-faced and trembling with terror at the thought of giving up control. I remembered telling him “Stand up.” I held his damp chin in my gloved hand and said to him, “You’re safe here.” This was one of those moments. Max’s gentle courage was by turns surprising and tender as he flipped from sex worker to client. I was inspired by his vulnerability. I hope you are too."

Email Bombshell: At Penn State, Growing Evidence of a Cover-up from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
"NBC reported Monday that high-ranking Penn State officials had discussed whether to notify police about a 2001 incident involving Jerry Sandusky and a boy in a university locker room shower, researched whether they were required to do so and concluded that it was "humane" to the former defensive coordinator not to tell local authorities. The network said it was former Penn State president Graham Spanier and former senior vice president Gary Schultz who made that decision. Instead of reporting suspicions of child abuse, Penn State took away Mr. Sandusky's locker room keys."

His Re-Election in Trouble, Obama Goes Big and Gets Serious (Michael Scherer) from Time Magazine
"With job growth slowing, Europe teetering and his self-inflicted gaffe, “The private sector is doing fine,” the last two weeks rank among the worst of Obama’s political career. So a speech was in order on Thursday, when Obama traveled a community college in Cleveland, Ohio, the most crucial of swing states. The words he spoke—somber, substantial and filled with policy proposals–may be remembered as more consequential than even his campaign announcement in May."

Frank Rich on the National Circus: Democrats’ Premature Panic (Frank Rich) from New York Magazine
"The question is when and how the Obama campaign will knock this brittle opponent off his anodyne memorized talking points, out of his bubble and into interaction with the real world."

We Don’t Need No Education (Paul Krugman) from the New York Times
"A look at Mitt Romney’s accidental truth-telling reveals a lot about what conservatives really mean when they talk about shrinking government.

The Two Faces of the GOP (Ruth Marcus) from the Washington Post
"Consider the enlightening — and depressing — tale of two governors. One is the face of what the Republican Party could, and should, be. The other is the face of what it is and seems determined to remain. The first governor, not coincidentally, has “former” before his name: former Florida governor Jeb Bush. The second is current and, fresh off his recall victory, continuing Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker."

How Obama Became Black (David Maraniss) from the Washington Post
"He was too dark in Indonesia. A hapa child — half and half — in Hawaii. Multicultural in Los Angeles. An “Invisible Man” in New York. And finally, Barack Obama was black on the South Side of Chicago. This journey of racial self-discovery and reinvention is chronicled in David Maraniss’s biography, “Barack Obama: The Story,” to be published June 19. These excerpts trace the young Obama’s arc toward black identity, through his words and experiences, and through the eyes of those who knew him best."

OBAMA BOOK REVIEW NUGGET!!
The Making of the President: A Review of ‘Barack Obama: The Story,’ by David Maraniss (James Fallows) from the New York Times
"... this is a revelatory book, which anyone interested in modern politics will want to read, and which will certainly shape our understanding of President Obama’s strengths, weaknesses and inscrutabilities. Every few pages Maraniss offers a factual nugget that changes or enlarges the prevailing lore."

FATHERS DAY NUGGET!!
Presidential Historian Douglas Brinkley Lists the Best and Worst First Fathers from the Washington Post
"What kind of dad really makes a kid feel like he could be president of the United States? And who doesn’t? Rice University historian Douglas Brinkley, a biographer of Ronald Reagan, Jimmy Carter, Theodore Roosevelt and, most recently, Walter Cronkite, spoke with The Washington Post’s David Beard about his favorite, and least favorite, first dads."