Benghazi Again (Joe Klein) from Time Magazine
"The Republicans, apparently with nothing better to do, are still chasing their tails over the tragic events in Benghazi on September 11. ... "I suspect they won't be a viable political party until they begin to focus on substance rather than emptiness.""
Benghazi: Incompetence, But No Cover-up: The Hearings Deepen the Tragedy, but Not the Scandal (Michael Hirsh) from National Journal
"There was tragic incompetence, plainly, in the Obama administration’s handling of the Benghazi attacks, and even possibly some political calculation. It is a record that may well come to haunt Hillary Clinton, the first Secretary of State to lose an ambassador in the field in more than three decades, if she runs for president in 2016. But the obvious Republican effort to turn this inquiry into the Democratic (Obama) version of the Iraq intelligence scandal that has tarred the GOP since the George W. Bush years -- led by that least-credible of champions, the almost-always-wrong Darrell Issa -- is just not going to amount to much."
Boston Suspects’ Parents on the Run (Anna Nemtsova) from the Daily Beast
"First reporters hounded them for interviews. Now the mother and father of the Tsarnaev brothers have been kicked out of Chechnya by its president."
Who Are We Again? Have Republicans Totally Forgotten What the 'National Interest' Means? (Daniel Pletka) from Foreign Policy Magazine
It means getting rid of Obama by any means necessary. From the GOP point-of-view, nothing else matters.
"Those wars have been discussed ad nauseam, but there hasn't been a persuasive self-examination by advocates who remain advocates about what went wrong and how to avoid repeating it. Indeed, we can spare some sympathy for those who cherish harsh thoughts about intervention in Syria ..."
Obama Maintains Approval Advantage, but GOP Runs Even on Key Issues: Two-Thirds Say Obama 'Fights Hard' for His Policies from the Pew Research Center
"President Obama continues to hold a substantial advantage over congressional Republicans in public regard. Obama’s job approval is back in positive territory at 51%, after slipping to 47% in March. By
comparison, just 22% approve of the job Republican leaders in Congress are doing, among the lowest approval rating for congressional leaders from either party in 20 years."
Hospital Prices No Longer Secret As New Data Reveals Bewildering System, Staggering Cost Differences from the Huffington Post
"Americans have long become accustomed to bewilderment and anxiety when confronting health care bills. The new database underscores why, revealing the perplexing assortment of prices for medical care, with the details of bills seemingly untethered to any graspable principle."
Heritage Foundation: We Have Nothing To Do With Racial Immigration Study from Talking Points Memo
"The Heritage Foundation is disavowing past recommendations regarding race, IQ, and immigration from Jason Richwine, the co-author of a recent study by the group claiming undocumented immigrants would add $6.3 trillion to the deficit if granted legal status. “This is not a work product of The Heritage Foundation. Its findings in no way reflect the positions of The Heritage Foundation,"..."
WOW! This study got huge media attention (especially in the right-wing alternative universe). This disavowal leaves me shaking my head: so THIS is what passes for "policy analysis" in right-wing land!? In reality, what one sees here is simply further evidence of a point of argued before and that is that so-called conservative "think tanks" whether they are the Heritage Foundation, the CATO Institute, the Hudson Institute, the Manhattan Institute or what have you, their real purpose is not to generate quality research and/or suggest workable solutions to public policy issues. No, their purpose is simply to pump out conservative talking points to muddy the waters and provide political cover for hard-right lawmakers and some kind of legitimacy for talk jocks trying to pretend that they actually have rational, reality-based reasons for the crazy positions they take.
NRA-Gabrielle Giffords Fight Heats Up from Politico
"Giffords’ gun control group, Americans for Responsible Solutions, hit back – announcing it raised more than $11 million in its first four months of operation – a staggering figure even in the age of super PACs and big outside money groups. The early – and aggressive — posturing on both sides is a clear sign that guns aren’t gone in the run-up to the 2014 midterms."
Census Bureau: Black Turnout Passed White Voters in 2012 from The Hill
"Black voters were the only racial or ethnic group to show an increase in turnout from 2008, when 64.7 percent voted. Voter rates for whites dropped to 64.1 percent from 66.1 percent. Both black and white voters though had higher turnout rates than Hispanics and Asians in 2012, each at 48 percent."
Not surprising on some levels: the GOP tried to so openly mess with African Americans' right to vote in so many states, they really didn't understand what a provocative, hot-button issue that would turn into.
CHEETAH NUGGET!!
Boy, 3, and his Sister Who Have Grown Up with CHEETAHS and Even Take Them Out in their Mini Jeep from the Daily Mail [of the UK]
"At the wheel, a little blond-haired boy... and by his side, a cheetah. It's not your average playtime scene but this is no ordinary family. Three-year-old Malan and his sister Kayla, one, are best friends with the world's fastest land animals - two deadly cheetahs. The siblings have formed an extraordinary bond with the creatures after growing up with them in their home in South Africa."
RE-ENACTMENT NUGGET!!
The Holy Grail of Battle Re-enactments from the New York Times
"The Battle of the Nations, an international full-contact event whose participants are equipped with steel armor, attracts a certain breed of fighter."
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