News Nuggets 1264

DAYLEE PICTURE: Bamboo trees in a jungle in Japan.  From National Geographic.

UP-FRONT PUNDIT NUGGET!!
A Redder And Bluer World (Andrew Sullivan) from The Dish
"... our division is not really about politics or even ideology. Ideology is an often ill-fitting misnomer for something much more powerful – deep cultural alienation between the two parts of America. That alienation, in my view, is at its core the same alienation we are seeing in countries as diverse as Turkey and Egypt and Iran and Israel. It’s about the response to modernity – a choice between fear/rejection and relish/adoption."

Trapped: An Air Escape from Moscow Unlikely for NSA Leaker Snowden from the McClatchy News Service
"Aviation experts say that even if Snowden accepts the tentative offers of Venezuela, Nicaragua or Bolivia to give him shelter, it’s virtually impossible to chart a flight plan to those nations that doesn’t include traveling over or refueling in a U.S.-friendly country that could demand inspection of the plane – and detain him."

Edward Snowden’s Parasites: Evo Morales, Julian Assange & More (Michael Moynihan) from the Daily Beast
"The NSA drama has reeled in a host of global grandstanders desperate for relevancy. Michael Moynihan on the Bolivian farce, the WikiLeaks sideshow, and other yanqui ‘victims.’"

U.S. Navy Just Landed Fighter Jet-Sized Drone On Aircraft Carrier from Talking Points Memo
"The Navy successfully landed a drone the size of a fighter jet aboard an aircraft carrier for the first time Wednesday, showcasing the military’s capability to have a computer program perform one of the most difficult tasks a pilot is asked to do."

Effects of Ruling on Same-Sex Marriage Start Rippling Out Through Government (Jeremy Peters) from the New York Times
"... in a sign that the political momentum from that ruling is being felt elsewhere, a Senate committee is expected to approve a bill on Wednesday that would grant protection from discrimination to people on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. It would be the first measure of its kind to advance to the floor in either house of Congress."

How Food Stamp Resentment Feeds Crabby Conservatism from the Huffington Post
"... many Americans do not want to let people on food stamps eat cake. This sentiment is particularly prevalent among conservatives in Congress. Cash register resentment of the sort directed at Riley feeds Republican animus toward the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program."

House Republicans Have A New Problem With Immigration Reform: Obama from the Huffington Post
"Much of the opposition that tea party members voiced in Wednesday's meeting goes deeper than a policy difference about a pathway to citizenship, and comes down to an issue of trust. Many Republicans continue to reject the basic legitimacy of the Obama presidency, and they don't trust the president to faithfully carry out laws designed to secure the border ..."

Pass the Bill! (David Brooks) from the New York Times
"This could be a tragedy for the country and political suicide for Republicans, especially because the conservative arguments against the comprehensive approach are not compelling. [...] Whether this bill passes or not, this country is heading toward a multiethnic future. Republicans can either shape that future in a conservative direction or, as I’ve tried to argue, they can become the receding roar of a white America that is never coming back."

Boehner, Cantor Wax Orwellian on Health Care (Matt Miller) from the Washington Post
"Miller’s first law of political rhetoric holds that when one party in a Washington debate resorts to certifiably Orwellian language, they’re desperate, doomed or both. Yet there’s no other way to view the latest Republican assault on Obamacare."

Whites and the Safety Net (Paul Krugman) from the New York TImes
"As a practical matter, the current GOP agenda isn’t so much about hard money or even lower top marginal rates as it is about slashing safety-net programs. There has been a highly successful attack on unemployment benefits, and the party has worked itself into a lather about food stamps too. So, news flash: these programs don’t just benefit Those People; they’re also very important to downscale whites, the very people that will supposedly rescue the GOP."

Why Whites Will Abandon the GOP (Michael Tomasky) from the Daily Beast
"All these conversations about Republicans and the white vote, argues Michael Tomasky, assume that the white working class will always be as conservative as it is today. Problem: it won’t."

Conservatives Hate All Legislation Now (Jonathan Chait) from New York Magazine
"... tea-party logic simply regards the existence of compromise as disqualifying. The moral purity of opposition has become untethered from any political or policy objective, and appears to have sprouted into an actual freestanding principle."

In the House, a Refusal to Govern from the Editorial Board of the New York TImes
"It was the first time since 1973 that food stamps haven’t been part of a farm bill, and it reflected the contempt of the far right for anyone desperate enough to rely on the government for help to buy groceries. These actions show how far the House has retreated from the national mainstream into a cave of indifference and ignorance."

Sabotage Governing (Greg Sargent) from the Washington Post
"It’s now become accepted as normal that Republicans will threaten explicitly to allow harm to the country to get what they want, and will allow untold numbers of Americans to be hurt rather than even enter into negotiations over the sort of compromises that lie at the heart of basic governing."

Rivals No More, Obama Veterans to Lead Clinton Group from ABC News 
"The daily operations of a campaign-in-waiting for Clinton, ABC News has learned, will be overseen by Jeremy Bird, the national field director for the Obama campaign who was pivotal in building an army of grassroots supporters. Joining him is Mitch Stewart, who was one of Obama’s earliest campaign aides and led his effort in battleground states during the 2012 re-election campaign. It is the latest sign that Ready for Hillary, the super PAC seeking to pave the way for a possible candidacy, is serious."

Report: PA Attorney General Won’t Defend Gay Marriage Ban from Talking Points Memo
"... Lawyers involved in a lawsuit challenging Pennsylvania's ban on same-sex marriage said that state Attorney General Kathleen Kane will not defend the state in the case,.."

PRESIDENTIAL ASSESSMENT NUGGET!!
The 15 Smartest and Dumbest Presidents of the United States from
Brainz.org
"Apart from the obvious answer (that it is one’s ability to ask a string of rhetorical questions) “smartness” is a concept that is open to a range of interpretations, so it is conceded that the assessments made in this article are open to debate"

QUICK THINKING ESCAPE NUGGET!!
Cheetah-ing death: Impala escapes hungry predators by jumping into a car full of tourists who let it out once the coast is clear! from the Daily Mail [of the UK]
Impala made an unusual escape at Kruger National Park. The animal jumped into a tourists' car to avoid becoming lunch.  The two chasing cheetahs were left bewildered and hungry."

ASIAN ARCHEOLOGY NUGGEY!!
Bride and tomb: The 1,500-year-old murals discovered buried with Chinese warlord and his wife that have been impeccably preserved from the Daily Mail [of the UK]
The domed tomb's murals were discovered in Shuozhou City, about 200 miles (330 kilometres) southwest of Beijing.  Archaeologists believe the couple buried at the site consisted of a military commander and his wife.  Researchers estimate that the murals cover an area of about 860 square feet (80 square metre).

ANTHROPOLOGY NUGGET!!
As if it died yesterday: Amazingly preserved woolly mammoth found frozen in Siberia after 39,000 YEARS goes on display in Tokyo (and it's still woolly!) from the Daily Mail [of the UK]
Female woolly mammoth was found frozen in a Siberian ice tomb in May The creature will be on display in Tokyo until September.  Scientists think she got stuck in a swamp and died over 39,000 years ago  Blood sample found at the scene could be used to clone the beast."