News Nuggets 1246

DAYLEE PICTURE: A new species of preying mantis found on 

the Cheringoma Plateau in Mozambique.  From National Geographic.

At the U.S.-China Summit, Friendship Isn’t What Matters (Gordon G. Chang) from the Daily Beast
"China’s diplomats, officials, and rulers do not share general American notions of foreign policy. They are ruthlessly pragmatic. They respect strength and scorn weakness. ... The problem for the White House is that Beijing’s external policies now appear to be more driven by troubling internal trends than reactions to signals from Washington and other capitals."
An interesting and perceptive overview of US-China relations under Obama.

The Combative Consigliere: Will Susan Rice Bring Out a More Muscular Side of Barack Obama? (James Traub) from Foreign Policy Magazine
"More than four years in, Barack Obama has figured out what kind of foreign-policy president he wants to be -- less the visionary of the 2008 campaign than the faithful steward of national interests who closes out the ruinous misadventures of the post-9/11 era and husbands, rather than recklessly spends, America's limited resources."

Hats Off to Tom Donilon (Leslie H. Gelb) from the Daily Beast
"Stop for a moment and thank Tom Donilon for his terrific public service and for being a good American. ... Most important, as national-security adviser, he has prevented terribly costly stupidities and has lived up to the finest tradition of someone in his office: first, do no harm."

Forget the Charm, Keep the Offensive: Obama's Aggressive New Strategy (David Graham) from the Atlantic
"Appointing Susan Rice as a top aide, attacking Darrell Issa, and fighting for judicial nominees show Obama and his allies don't want to make nice."

Obama Unbound (Peter Beinart) from the Daily Beast
"In choosing Susan Rice and Samantha Power, the president made clear that he no longer cares what the GOP thinks about his foreign policy. Peter Beinart on the huge implications of this shift."

The End Of Austerity-Mania On Capitol Hill? from Talking Points Memo 
"The economy has slowly but steadily improved over the past two years — enough that the country re-elected Obama. With that victory under his belt he was able to pocket a decent chunk of the revenue he’d hoped to raise by allowing the Bush tax cuts for top earners to expire. These developments combined to send the deficit into a rapid tumble. But that’s when the real wrangling in Congress over dollars spent and dollars collected stopped dead in its tracks."

The Spite Club (Paul Krugman) from the New York Times
"When you look closer at why some Republican-led states are choosing to opt out of a piece of ObamaCare, it seems the only explanation for it is sheer spite."

GOP Filibuster Gives Democrats The Fight They Want On Student Loans from Talking Points Memo
"Senate Republicans on Thursday filibustered a Democratic bill to avoid a student loan interest rate spike, escalating a fight less than one month before rates are set to double for some 7 million students. But it’s a fight that Democrats are happy — if not eager — to have."

'War on Women' Returns from Politico
"Not every Republican learned Todd Akin’s lesson from 2012 – and Democrats noticed. This week alone: Sen. Saxby Chambliss blamed sexual assaults in the military on hormones, conservative pundit Erick Erickson credited biology for male dominance in society and Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant said working moms are making kids fail in school."

Why Republicans Can't Catch a Break (Alex Roarty) from National Journal  
"For every opportunity, Senate GOP has suffered setbacks in the last week."

GOP to Darrell Issa: Cool it from Politico
"GOP leaders are concerned that the sometimes unpredictable chairman could jeopardize the biggest gift handed to them in months — public outrage over the IRS scandal, combined with questions over Benghazi. They think Issa should stop personalizing the scandals by insulting Obama and his aides and focus on the facts."
Partisan warriors like Issa CAN'T help themselves but to personalize these issues.  Since the time of Gingrich in the 1990s, it is virtually always their first response, and it is now deeply ingrained.

ANCIENT EGYPT NUGGET!!
Sunken City Gives Up its Treasure: Ancient Egyptian Metropolis Lost for 1,200 Years Below Mediterranean Sea Set to Go on Display from the Daily Mail [of the UK]
"Heracleion was submerged by the sea and sands 1,200 years ago.  It was discovered during a survey at the beginning of the last decade. Archaeologists are now preparing to show some of the objects found.

HISTORY OF CRIME NUGGET!!
From Dillinger's Pistol to Ma Barker's Arsenal: Fascinating Pictures Give a Rare Insight into the FBI's 80-year-old Weapons Collection Featuring More than 7,000 Guns from the Daily Mail [of the UK]
"From notorious bank robber John Dillinger's prohibition-era revolver to an arsenal of weapons owned by Ma Barker and her gang, the FBI's cache of firearms holds almost every gun ever made. These fascinating photos give a rare insight into the Bureau's 80-year-old collection which is kept at the FBI laboratory in Virginia."

KITTY CAT SOME-PEOPLE-HAVE-WAY-TOO-MUCH-TIME-ON-THEIR-HANDS PHOTO NUGGET!! 
Cats in Wooly Hats: Artist Creates Colourful Collection that You Just Can’t Help but Smile At from the Daily Mail [of the UK]
"Inspired by knitting hats for children, Meredith decided that there was no reason why her feline friends should not have the same sartorial choices as humans."
Talk about a long-suffering cat!