News Nuggets 1322

DAYLEE PICTURE: Scotch pines in Norway.  From National Geographic.

HEALTH CARE NUGGETS!!
How to Fix the Glitches (Ezekiel Emanuel) from the New York Times
"What went wrong with the Obamacare site, and what to do about it."

Misunderstanding the Problem? from Talking Points Memo
"The Healthcare.gov site itself is probably one of the best Federal websites ever built, both in design and in the appraoches used to code it. It's pretty, usable, relatively fast, and overall really quite good. So then what's the problem? The Healthcare.gov site itself is just like a server in a restaurant."

Why Russia Is Growing More Xenophobic (Ilan Berman) from the Atlantic 
"Recent years have seen a marked increase in xenophobia, racism, and violence against non-Slavs within the Russian Federation. The reason, experts say, is widespread anger over economic stagnation and corruption. It is also a reaction to a surge of migrant workers from Russia’s “near abroad” of the Caucasus and Central Asia. With foreign arrivals now totaling 13 to 14 million, Russia’s migrant labor force ranks second only to the United States. But whereas the United States largely assimilates its immigrants, Russia does not.""
The analysis here is of a piece with many of the European economic stories I have showcased here of late.  This story is integrally linked with what has been happening in many parts of Europe since the Recession and before: the re-emergence of fascism.  The take-away for Europe SHOULD be that, if truly democratic governments cannot ameliorate unprecedented economic suffering (see Greece) they not only invite right-wing radicalism of this type, they undermine democracy itself as a basic method for governing.  Indeed, in the Russian case, where something like democracy took some halting steps forward in the 1990s, the people now have settled for a 'Potemkin village' type of democracy which has thrown up soft-glove authoritarians (like Putin).  You have to ask yourself, who's coming after Putin?  Don't be surprised if it is someone who comes much more directly out of this hyper-nationalist stew.

Docs: Dead Marathon Suspect Tied to 2011 Killings from the Associated Press
"Slain Boston Marathon bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev was named as a participant in an earlier triple homicide by a man who was subsequently shot to death while being questioned by authorities, according to a filing made by federal prosecutors in the case against his brother, surviving bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev."

The United States, Falling Behind by the Editorial Board of the New York Times
Researchers have been warning for more than a decade that the United States was losing ground to its economic competitors abroad and would eventually fall behind them unless it provided more of its citizens with the high-level math, science and literacy skills necessary for the new economy. Naysayers dismissed this as alarmist. But recent data showing American students and adults lagging behind their peers abroad in terms of important skills suggest that the long-predicted peril has arrived."

Poll: Major Damage to GOP After Shutdown, and Broad Dissatisfaction with Government from the Washington Post
The poll "highlights just how badly the GOP hard-liners and the leaders who went along with them misjudged the public mood. In the aftermath, eight in 10 Americans say they disapprove of the shutdown. Two in three Republicans or independents who lean Republican share a negative view of the impasse. And even a majority of those who support the tea party movement disapprove."

CNN Poll: 75% Say Most Republicans in Congress Don't Deserve Re-election (Paul Steinhauser) from CNN
"In a sign of the political hangover congressional Republicans are suffering in the wake of the government shutdown, three-quarters of Americans in a new national poll say that most GOP members of Congress don't deserve to be re-elected. A CNN/ORC International survey released Monday also found a majority saying that the Republicans' policies are too extreme."

Inside The Meeting Where Obama And Reid Vowed Not To Be 'Taken In By These Crazy People' (Stein and Grim) from the Huffington Post
"... at the White House's invitation, the two met in the Oval Office on July 9, with no staff, to talk one on one. It was a cathartic moment, one in which long-buried tensions were fully aired. Aides to the two men tell a similar story: Their boss had been losing confidence in his counterpart and wanted the meeting as a way to buck up the other."

The Shutdown Was Not a Failed Strategy. It Wasn’t a Strategy at All (Jonathan Chait) from the New York Magazine
"It’s not a plan to achieve a defined legislative end. It’s a demonstration of dissent from a political faction that has no chance of winning through regular political channels. The problem they are
attempting to solve in each case is not “how do we achieve this policy objective?” but “how can we express our outrage?”"

Outside the Conservative Bubble, GOP Sustains Epic Damage (Greg Sargent) from the Washington Post
"Beyond what this means for 2014, the apparent inability of many on the right to even acknowledge or care about numbers like these — after all, the only thing that matters is stopping the health law from transforming the country into something no longer recognizably American — makes it less likely Republicans will find a way back to the basic give and take of governing."

RINO Hunting Season Opens in Earnest With End of Shutdown Drama (David Freedlander) from the Daily Beast
"Forget defending their House majority—some Republicans who angered the Tea Party during the shutdown must first beat back primary challenges. Even Boehner isn’t immune, reports David Freedlander."

Democratic Donors Surge Amid GOP Slump from Roll Call
"It’s hard to say which should trouble Republican Party leaders the most right now: the sour mood among GOP donors, or the money suddenly swelling Democratic campaign and super PAC coffers.  Not only have the Democratic campaign committees that back House and Senate candidates outraised their GOP counterparts, but unrestricted super PACs that support Democrats have pulled in close to three times what GOP super PACs have so far, according to the Center for Responsive Politics."

A Republican Senator Doubts His Party Can Govern (Ramesh Ponnuru) from Bloomberg
"The senator I’m meeting, who would fall roughly in the middle of the Senate’s Republicans if they were lined up by ideology, voted with the majority. “I’m being shredded by the Tea Party radio people today,” he says, although he doesn’t seem concerned about it. “That is what it is.” His bigger concern: He doesn’t think that his party is ready to govern the country. ... This senator -- who requested anonymity so he could describe the party’s problems candidly -- is part of that less-high-profile contingent. My impression is that his views are widely shared within it."

The 7 Republican Senators Most Vulnerable to a Primary (Kyle Trygstad) from Roll Call
"Hard-line conservatives are rising out of the ashes of a weekslong government shutdown, emboldened by the possibility of adding to their ranks in the Senate next year — whether by picking up Democrat-held seats or taking out Republican incumbents. Just two Republican senators have lost in primaries in the last two election cycles, but that’s not stopping a growing number of intraparty challengers this cycle."

Mike Lee Faces Big Backlash At Home For Defunding Effort from Talking Points Memo
"The campaign to defund the Affordable Care Act may have endeared him to the tea party, but Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) is facing a disgruntled constituency at home for his leading role in the quixotic effort that led to the government shutdown and brought the United States close to default."