News Nuggets 1201

DAYEE PICTURE: Tamblingan Lake in Bali in Indonesia.  From Smithsonian Magazine.

UP-FRONT IRAQ WAR NUGGET!!
The Iraq War: Who Got It Wrong (Jason Sattler) from the National Memo 
"We’ve given credit to some of those who opposed the war when it was unpopular to do so. Though those of us who lived through this sad chapter in American history know many of the names of those who led us into the Iraq War, it’s worth calling them out again."

Constitutional Reforms: Hungary Steps Away from European Democracy (Keno Verseck) from Der Spiegel [of Germany in English]
"As expected, the Hungarian parliament on Monday evening passed a package of constitutional amendments that legal experts say are an affront to democracy. Berlin, Brussels and Washington all voiced their concern in the run up to the vote. Leaders in Budapest, however, were unfazed."

Absolutely Everything You Need to Know About the Papal Elections (Dylan Matthews) from the Washington Post
"Tomorrow at about 5:30 p.m. Central European Time (12:30 p.m. EDT), 115 cardinals will gather in the Sistine Chapel and begin the process of selecting a new pope. But how exactly does that process work? Here are the basics."

GOP Meltdown: Paul Ryan Doubles Down On His Losing Southern Strategy (Lloyd Green) from the Daily Beast
"Paul Ryan’s mistaken plan to cut benefits for older Americans will alienate one of the last groups that’s stayed loyal to his party, writes Lloyd Green."

Outside Washington, Sequestration Begins To Inflict Pain from Talking Points Memo
"...outside of Washington DC, sequestration is already causing real problems for regular people, and Democrats are engaged in a counteroffensive — highlighting the day-in, day-out problems sequestration is causing outside of the capital."

Republicans Feeling Sequester Pain as Democrats Highlight Local Cutbacks (Eleanor Clift) from the Daily Beast
"Democrats, on the defensive over the sequester, are fighting back. Eleanor Clift on how they are spotlighting cuts in GOP districts."

Politics by Intimidation (Joe Nocera) from the New York Times
"In Oregon, extremists fight gun laws with harassment. It’s the post-Newtown world."

Conservative News Site Breitbart.com Duped By Fake Story That Paul Krugman Declared Bankruptcy (Brett LoGiurato) from Business Insider
"A satirical item published last week purporting that economist Paul Krugman had filed for bankruptcy has spread to Boston.com and the conservative website Breitbart this morning. ... Krugman responded to the mix-up this morning, writing on his blog that he knew of the fake news item and was asked about it by a Russian television station. He wrote that he did not address it on his blog because he "wanted to wait and see which right-wing media outlets would fall for the hoax."

New Problem for House GOP Leaders: Rank-and-File May Vote Against Rules from The Hill
"Votes on rules are supposed to be party-line and serve as tests of a caucus’s unity. So it was disconcerting for leaders to see so many Republicans vote against the rule they had crafted."

GOP Needs To Make Up Its Mind On Immigration Reform (Mary Sanchez) from the National Memo
"In recent days, Bush has stressed that he doesn’t want to create incentives that might cause more people to come to this country illegally. But this too reveals a sleight of hand about what he clearly understands about the current immigration system. If the U.S. truly wanted to eliminate the possibility of too many people illegally in the country it would fix the system, making it responsive to the needs of the economy. Allow those workers a legal way in."

Sunday Talk Interviews Show Why Jeb Bush Will Never Be President (Peter Beinart) from the Daily Beast
"The younger Bush may be flirting with a run, but for a Republican to seriously compete in 2016, he must publicly distance himself from George W. Bush—and in five interviews Sunday, Jeb showed he wouldn’t do that if he could."

DISPATCHES FROM THE GOP ALTERNATIVE UNIVERSE!!
Calgary Cruz Sure is Lucky He Wasn't Born in Hawaii (Jed Lewison) from Daily Kos
"Conservative commentator Byron York has written an entire post explaining to his readership that Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) is in fact eligible for the presidency despite being born in Canada because his mother was a U.S. citizen, making him a natural-born citizen."
HA HA!! Poetic justice for the purveyors of anti-Obama BS!!

Nine Retailers with the Worst Customer Service from Wall Street 24/7
"To identify the nine retailers with the worst customer satisfaction, 24/7 Wall St. reviewed the customer satisfaction scores published by the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ASCI) for e-commerce and retail trade companies. ...  These are the nine retailers with the worst customer service.""

MIDDLE EAST PHOTO NUGGET!!
A Trip to Iran from the Atlantic