News Nuggets 1214

DAYLEE PICTURE: A Canadian Sphynx Cat.  From the Daily Mail of the UK.

UP-FRONT FOREIGN POLICY NUGGET!!
America the War-Weary and War-Wary (David Ignatius) from the Washington Post
"Talking with members of Congress at a gathering here last week was an education in the public’s wariness of new foreign entanglements — especially in Syria. It was a reminder that the post-Iraq era is only beginning, and that it may limit the United States’ ability to exercise power for the next few years."

Does North Korea Think U.S. Going Soft? (David Rothkopf) from Foreign Policy Magazine
"North Korea is dangerously close to crossing a line. Not the line that leads to a missile attack on the United States, but the one that separates being a rogue state from being a parody of a rogue state. Pyongyang's bluster is as comical as its nuclear threats are implausible."

Taliban Have Second Thoughts About Fighting in Afghanistan (Sami Yousafzai, Ron Moreau) from the Daily Beast
"News of peace talks in Qatar are giving some Taliban fighters doubts about the jihad. Sami Yousafzai and Ron Moreau report on the indecision in the ranks."

Obama Takes Control In The Second Term from BuzzFeed
"No blackberries in meetings, no question who's in charge. “His personal favorite issues have really come out,” says a labor leader."

A Spectacular, Colorful Chart of Who Works (and Who Doesn't Work) in America Today Who are the 37 percent? (Derek Thompson) from the Atlantic 
"The share of American adults who are either working or actively looking for work -- i.e.: the labor force participation rate -- fell to its lowest point since 1979, according to today's jobs report.  If 37 percent of American adults aren't in the labor force, what are they doing?"

Obama's Top-down Grassroots Army from Politico
"It’s what differentiates OFA from other grassroots groups, and even the Democratic National Committee: they’re combining large-dollar donations and unpaid local leaders for a carefully built, lasting structure that they believe will be just as effective in supporting the president as it was in electing him."

A Secret Deal With Pakistan on Drones, Sealed in Blood from the New York Times
"The C.I.A.’s covert drone war in Pakistan began with the 2004 killing of a Pashtun militant, the result of a secret deal that was a turning point in the agency’s fight against terrorism."

Insurance and Freedom (Paul Krugman) from the New York Times
"Since House Republicans will block anything Mr. Obama proposes, his budget is best seen not as policy but as positioning, an attempt to gain praise from “centrist” pundits. No, the real policy action at this point is in the states, where the question is, How many Americans will be denied essential health care in the name of freedom?"

The Republican Party is Officially Broken (Jared Bernstein) from Salon 
"Washington's problem isn't partisanship or a fatally flawed system. It's that one party is massively dysfunctional."

Yes, Sequestration Is Actually Bad (Jon Favreau) from the Daily Beast 
"Pundits said President Obama was crying wolf on sequestration. Turns out the wolf is real, says former Obama speechwriter Jon Favreau in his debut Daily Beast column."

The Young are the Restless (Charles Blow) from the New York Times
"The surge of generational change continues in this country, altering the cultural landscape with a speed and intensity that has rarely — if ever — been seen before."

Texas Turns Battleground as Cowboy Boots Win Hispanics (Michael Tackett) from Bloomberg News Service
"“Our goal is very simple,” Steele said. “It’s to turn Texas back into a battleground state by treating it like a battleground state.” Population trends are on his side, even if the history of the last quarter-century is not. The transformation underway in Texas is one of many that exemplify how changing demographics are shifting the nation’s political makeup as well."

Can We Get Hillary Without the Foolery? (Maureen Dowd) from the New York Times
"The real question is not whether but whither. Does Hillary have learning software? Did she learn, from her debacle with health care, to be more transparent and less my-way-or-the-highway? "

ACADEMIC NUGGET [of a sort]!!
Thesis Hatement (Rebecca Schuman) from Slate
"Getting a literature Ph.D. will turn you into an emotional trainwreck, not a professor. ... I deeply regret going to graduate school, but not, Ron Rosenbaum, because my doctorate ruined books and made me obnoxious.  I now realize graduate school was a terrible idea because the full-time, tenure-track literature professorship is extinct. After four years of trying, I’ve finally gotten it through my thick head that I will not get a job—and if you go to graduate school, neither will you."

1950s CULTURE NUGGET!!
Finding Mr. Right: A 1950s Guide to Dating (Alessandra Ram) from the Atlantic
"After reflecting on Eve’s bad dates, Mary tells her friend that it is actually she who needs to change, not the men. Her behavior is simply too demanding ..."

CONTEMPORARY CULTURE NUGGET!!
Honey, We’re Praying for You (Aaron Hatzler) from Salon
"My parents can't handle the fact that I'm gay, and we'll never agree on religion. But I've found acceptance anyway."