Daylee News Nuggets: News Nuggets 1310

Friday, October 4, 2013

News Nuggets 1310

DAYLEE PICTURE: Northern lights seen from Buncrana in Inishowen in Ireland.

From the Daily Mail of the UK.

Reform Turns Real (Paul Krugman) from the New York Times
"Republican efforts to stop Obamacare from going into effect. It’s long been clear that the great fear of the Republican Party was not that health reform would fail, but that it would succeed. And developments since Tuesday, when the exchanges on which individuals will buy health insurance opened for business, strongly suggest that their worst fears will indeed be realized: This thing is going to work."

The Republican Hardliners Aren't Conservatives, They're Radicals (Norman Ornstein) from the Atlantic
"The legislators driving the direction of the GOP aren't interested in smart, limited government. They're aiming to eviscerate even the parts that work well."

Wrong Side of History (Timothy Egan) from the New York Times
"They flunked hostage-taking. About 30 or so Republicans in the House, bunkered in gerrymandered districts while breathing the oxygen of delusion, are now part of a cast of miscreants who have stood firmly on the wrong side of history. The headline, today and 50 years from now, will be the same: Republicans closed the government to keep millions of their fellow Americans from getting affordable health care."

How the White House Sees the Shutdown (and Debt Ceiling!) Fight (Ezra Klein) from the Washington Post
"To the White House, the shutdown/debt ceiling fight is quite simple, and quite radical: Republicans are trying to create a new, deeply undemocratic pathway through which a minority party that lost the last election can enact an agenda that would never pass the normal legislative process. ... And the White House isn't going to let it happen. ... the White House says that their position is simple, and it will not change: They will not negotiate over substantive policy issues until Republicans end the shutdown and raise the debt ceiling."

Yes, the White House Is ‘Winning’ (Jonathan Chait) from New York Magazine
"Republicans are looking to make a budget deal now because they want to escape the political nightmare they’ve created for themselves. They blustered into a shutdown that corrodes their party brand and cracks the door to flip the House, which ought to be otherwise impregnable in a low-turnout midterm election. They can’t figure out how to back down without winning concessions the Democrats have no incentive to give them."

G.O.P. Elders See Liabilities in Shutdown from the New York Times
"From statehouses to Capitol Hill, frustration is building and spilling out during closed-door meetings as Republicans press leaders of the effort to block funding for the health care law to explain where their strategy is ultimately leading."

Republicans Finally Confronting Reality: They’re Trapped! (Brian Beutler) from Salon
"Obama's ironclad resolve not to negotiate over the debt limit appears to finally be sinking in among GOP leaders."

Dumbest Extortion Attempt Ever: Republican Scheme’s Perverse Logic (Brian Beutler) from Salon
"GOP's demands are putting the economy and American presidency on the line -- and now they can't back away from them."

Republicans, Over the Cliff (Rod Dreher) from the American Conservative
"There are other battles to fight. These guys are taking the government and the economy to the brink of crisis, and for what? For the sake of rebel yells and the Lost Cause?"

House Republicans Divided on Debt Limit (Jed Lewison) from Daily Kos
"The good news is that just as there are enough votes in Congress to reopen the government with a clean funding bill, there are enough votes in the House to raise the debt limit with no strings attached."

How the GOP Painted Itself Into a Corner on the Shutdown (Jon Terbush) from The Week
"Tea Partiers were reportedly beaming as they voted on a continuing resolution that would defund ObamaCare, despite the fact that the vote all but assured a shutdown and a high-stakes confrontation with the president. Yet there was one crucial component missing from the plan: A way out if Democrats called their bluff. ... Indeed, the situation has gotten so awkward for the GOP, that Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) is reportedly asking Democrats for a "face-saving victory for Republicans looking for a graceful way to back down," ... (That face-saving measure is reportedly a repeal of a tax on medical devices.) That's right: Republicans are now turning to the party it has demonized over ObamaCare to save the GOP from itself."

Fighting for the Sake of Fighting (Daniel Larison) from the American Conservative
"Of all the bad reasons to persist in a failed effort, this has to be one of the worst. Continuing in a fight simply to avoid the embarrassment of admitting that the fight was always pointless is absurd. There are no good ways “out” for House Republicans at this point ..."

Report: Closed-Door GOP Meeting With Cruz Turned Into 'Lynch Mob' from Talking Points Memo
"More details are emerging about Wednesday's closed-door meeting where Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) evidently received an earful from his Republican colleagues, with one senator describing what transpired as a "lynch mob.""

The Question Facing Ruth Bader Ginsburg: Stay or Go? from the Washington Post
"If the court’s membership does not change before the 2016 election, the new president would see a Supreme Court with four of its nine members older than 77, including half of the liberal bloc."

Hillary Clinton Tops in 2016 Race, Would Topple Top Republicans (Roger Runningen) from Bloomberg
"Hillary Clinton has the most support of any potential Democratic candidate for the 2016 presidential sweepstakes and would defeat any of three Republican candidates tested in a poll released today. The former secretary of state, 65, has the support of 61 percent of Democrats, according to the Quinnipiac University national poll."

LONG-GONE LONDON NUGGET!!
Crystal Palace Reborn: Boris Unveils Chinese Billionaire's Plans to Rebuild Victorian Glass Structure - 80 Years After it Burned to the Ground from the Daily Mail [of the UK]
"Original Crystal Palace burned down in 1936 and has never been replaced despite a number of proposals. Billionaire Ni Zhaoxing is bankrolling the £500million project and building could begin in winter 2015."

GRAFFITI NUGGET!!
The Wildest Building in the World: Graffiti Artists Given Free Rein in 10-Storey Parisian Building from the Daily Mail [of the UK]
"The world's best street artists were invited to create whatever they wished on every surface this enormous building. The result is a dizzying array of colourful pieces, some puzzling, others beautiful, and even some optical illusions."