UP-FRONT POLITICAL NUGGET!!
The Scandals are Falling Apart (Ezra Klein) from the Washington Post
"There’ll be more hearings, and more bad press for the Obama administration, and more demands for documents. But — and this is a key qualification — absent more revelations, the scandals that could reach high don’t seem to include any real wrongdoing, whereas the ones that include real wrongdoing don’t reach high enough. Let’s go through them...."
IRA, AP, Libya Scandals are a Trifecta with Little Payout (Ruth Marcus) from the Washington Post
"Folks, deep breath time. This is not the end of the Obama presidency. It’s a bad stretch with an unfortunate confluence of unfortunate events. None of which will make the first paragraph — not even the first page — of the account of the Obama administration in the history books. [...] Bad things happen in second-term presidencies, often in clumps. This is no coincidence; first-term chickens come home to roost in a second term. The inevitable arrogance bred by winning reelection never helps. But this bad run demands perspective."
It's Official: Those Bogus Email Leaks Came From Republicans (Kevin Drum) from Mother Jones Magazine
"It's not as if we didn't know this already, but today Major Garrett made it official: last week's leaks that misquoted the Benghazi emails came directly from Republicans. Here's the report on the CBS Evening News: ..."
Wow, This is Pretty Epic (Josh Marshall) from Talking Points Memo
"Generally, once partisan, tendentious sources leak information that turns out to be wrong, nothing’s ever done about it. That’s for many reasons, some good or somewhat understandable, mostly bad. But on CBS Evening News tonight, Major Garrett did something I don’t feel like I’ve seen in a really long time or maybe ever on a network news cast. He basically said straight out: Republicans told us these were the quotes, that wasn’t true."
White House Email Contradicts Benghazi Leaks (Jake Tapper) from CNN
"CNN has obtained an email sent by a top aide of President Barack Obama, in which the aide discusses the Obama administration reaction to the attack on the U.S. posts in Benghazi, Libya. The actual email differs from how sources characterized it to two different media organizations. The actual email from then-Deputy National Security Adviser for Strategic Communications Ben Rhodes appears to show that whomever leaked it did so in a way that made it appear that the White House primarily concerned with the State Department's desire to remove references and warnings about specific terrorist groups so as to not bring criticism to the department."
Understanding the Politics of the IRS Scandal from Talking Points Memo
"We’re just at the front end of investigating the IRS scandal. And all the standard blah blah blah about how we don’t know just what we’ll find. But I think we do know pretty much exactly what the political implications will be. And they’re significant."
Nixon All Over Again? Not Even Close (Scot Lehigh) from the Boston Globe
"Watergate? Nixonian? Impeachment? Please. Someone get the smelling salts. [...] [C]harges of a Benghazi coverup don’t pass the evidence test. Comparisons to Nixon are idiotic. And it’s the height of partisan absurdity to suggest that anything we’ve seen in these so-called scandals could justify impeachment."
Nope, Still No Cover-Up (Andrew Rosenthal) from the New York Times
"First, this White House has no clue how to handle a public relations crisis; it should have released those emails ages ago. Second, the more we learn, the clearer it is that there was no cover-up. Third, the
Republicans in Congress don’t care about the truth of the matter."
A Tough Week, But Obama’s Agenda Isn’t Dead (Eleanor Clift) from the Daily Beast
"It was rough— the IRS, Benghazi, the AP phone calls. But the president’s already moving past the week’s ‘Watergate’ to get back to business, as immigration reform edges forward."
Memo to GOP: Don’t Pretend You Care (Kirsten Powers) from the Daily Beast
"Republicans blasting Obama over the AP snooping scandal seem to have selective-memory disorder. They’ve been trying to nail journalists and leakers for years, writes Kirsten Powers."
Why the GOP Thinks it Could Blow it from Politico
"Top GOP leaders are privately warning members to put a sock in it when it comes to silly calls for impeachment or over-the-top comparisons to Watergate. They want members to focus on months of fact-finding investigations — not rhetorical fury. Why the fuss? Well…"
Hispanic Outreach Director Explains Why He Said ‘Adios’ to the GOP (John Avlon) from the Daily Beast
"The RNC’s guy in charge of reaching out to Florida Hispanics has bolted for the Dems. Pablo Pantoja talks to John Avlon about the racist immigration report that was the final straw."
North Miami Mayoral Candidate Touts Endorsement from Jesus Christ from TV Local 10 [of Miami]
"A mayoral candidate in North Miami claims she has received an endorsement from a higher power. Campaign posters for Anna L. Pierre tout that she was endorsed by Jesus Christ. "It's a spiritual endorsement. Why? Because everything I do I always get God involved," Pierre said."
FBI Seeks Source of Prostitution, Corruption Allegations Against Sen. Robert Menendez from the Washington Post
"... investigators are looking at whether someone set out to smear him while he was running for reelection last year and then ascending to his new post as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, according to four people briefed on the inquiry. The scene of federal agents interviewing two of the world’s wealthiest sugar barons, whose business holdings include Domino Sugar, underscores the unusual twists of the saga..."
Skeptical Science Flattens Deniers: 97% of Peer-reviewed Papers say Humans Causing Climate Change (Meteor Blades) from Daily Kos
"As researchers under the guidance of John Cook at Skeptical Science discovered in a "citizen science" survey of 11,944 peer-reviewed articles, 1.6 percent of the authors expressing an opinion on the subject rejected or were uncertain about the consensus that the earth is undergoing anthropogenic (human-generated) global warming (AGW). And 97.1 percent of the nearly 4,000 articles in which the author(s) took a position endorsed the AGW consensus."
EUROPEAN RELIGION NUGGET!!
Christianity Declining 50pc Faster than Thought – as One in 10 Under-25s is a Muslim from the Daily Telegraph [of the UK]
"Christianity could be facing a catastrophic collapse in Britain according to official figures suggesting it is declining 50 per cent faster than previously thought."
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