News Nuggets 1245

DAYLEE PICTURE:  A Jaguar in a rain forest in Ecuador.  From National Geographic.

The Nuggetsman will be in transit Wednesday and Thursday -- so expect nuggets to resume on Friday.

China’s Elite Molded in Part by Turmoil of Tiananmen Square from the New York Times
"The role of today’s leaders of China in the political experimenting that preceded the crackdown in 1989 raises the question of whether they will be open to new ideas and discussion."

Obama’s Economic Triumph (Michael Tomasky) from the Daily Beast
"It’s increasingly clear that the president has steered the country back from the brink—and, in the process, exposed (yet again) the central lie of conservative economics."

Obama Nominates Three to Key Appeals Court. Get Ready for GOP Howls (Joan McCarter) from Daily Kos
"Obama said "What I'm doing today is my job. I need the Senate to do its job." He pointed out that his nominees "have taken three times longer to receive confirmation votes than my Republican predecessor" and said that these delays are "not about principled objections, but about obstruction" for political purposes."

Democrats' 2014 Strategy: Own Obamacare from Politico
"Scarred by years of Republican attacks over Obamacare, with more in store next year, Democrats have settled on an unlikely strategy for the 2014 midterms: Bring it on. Party strategists believe that embracing the polarizing law — especially its more popular elements — is smarter politics than fleeing from it in the House elections."
It's ABOUT TIME!!

GOP Governors’ Endorsements of Medicaid Expansion Deepen Rifts Within Party from the Washington Post
"Republican fissures over the expansion of Medicaid, a critical piece of the 2010 health-care law designed to provide coverage to millions of uninsured Americans, continue to deepen, with battles in Arizona and elsewhere showing just how bitter the divisions have become."

Is GOP Hyping of Scandals Prompting a Media Backlash? (Greg Sargent) from the Washington Post
"The Washington Post has done great work detailing, contextualizing, and demythologizing what those emails concerning the Benghazi talking points really told us. The New York Times has done deeply reported, nuanced work on what really drove the IRS targeting of conservatives. Meanwhile, some D.C. journos are now openly reacting badly to GOP scandal hyping."

House Republicans Broken into Fighting Factions from the Washington Post 
"Democrats helped Boehner pass the measure over the opposition of more than 60 percent of GOP lawmakers. That vote, to avert the “fiscal cliff,” marked a breaking point for House Republicans, who had disintegrated into squabbling factions, no longer able to agree on — much less execute — some of the most basic government functions."
Make no mistake: doing exactly this to the House GOP was one of Obama's TOP priorities.  Can he now exploit these divisions?  Stay tuned.

No, Trayvon Martin Didn't Film His Friends Beating Up a Homeless Man (Josh Voorhees) from Slate
"Sunday's admission will provide the latest fuel to the ongoing public debate that has been raging for months about Zimmerman's innocence or guilt, and is yet another example of how both sides have been trying their case in the court of public opinion."

Why Young People Don’t Vote Republican (Andrew Rosenthal) from the New York Times
"... the report is far more candid than other post-mortems. It could also be far more helpful if it pushes the G.O.P. to examine the actual policies, rather than the slogans, that turn off young voters."

To Win Millennials, the GOP Needs to Embrace Its Inner Libertarian (Nick Gillespie) from the Daily Beast
"The under-30 crowd doesn’t think much of most Democrats, but it’s got an easily lower opinion of Republicans. Nick Gillespie on how the GOP can revive its brand."

The Farce that is Darrell Issa (Joan Walsh) from Salon
"He's a buffoon who even some in his own party attack. But make no mistake: He is a symbol of today's GOP."

Erick Erickson Shows Everything That’s Wrong With The GOP (Josh Barro) from the Business Insider
"... for two decades, the Republican party’s strategy to overcome its disadvantage on economic issues has been a cultural appeal to people like Erickson: non-urban whites who feel threatened by social change. That is, the kind of people who think it’s an alarming trend that women are financially independent, or who think the most salient fact about a writer they dislike might be his sexual orientation. This is a strategic problem for Republicans for several reasons."

HOLOCAUST LITERATURE NUGGET!!
The Importance of Being Hannah Arendt from the Daily Beast
A brilliant new film presents Hannah Arendt in the midst of the Eichmann trial and the controversy around her reporting. Daphne Merkin on that unlikeliest of films, one about thinking—and revisiting the “banality of evil.”

EXOTIC INDOOR PET NUGGET!!
'It Would be Like Losing a Child': Michigan Couple Fight to Keep the Pet Deer They Saved from Near Death from the Daily Mail [of the UK]
"Five years ago, a female deer was hit outside of a Michigan couple's home in Genesee County.  The deer suddenly went into labor and gave birth to twins.  One of the twins died, but the other survived. Not knowing what to do with the near-dead baby, the couple, who would like to remain anonymous, asked the responding police officer if they could try and nurse it back to health."