UP-FRONT COLD WAR HISTORY NUGGET!!
How a War Game Brought the World to the Brink of Nuclear Disaster from the Guardian [of the UK]
"Chilling new evidence that Britain and America came close to provoking the Soviet Union into launching a nuclear attack has emerged in former classified documents written at the height of the cold war. Cabinet memos and briefing papers released under the Freedom of Information Act reveal that a major war games exercise, Operation Able Art, conducted in November 1983 by the US and its Nato allies was so realistic it made the Russians believe that a nuclear strike on its territory was a real possibility."
MUST-READ OBAMACARE NUGGET!!
Kentucky's Obamacare Website Works, But Word Of Mouth Is What Sells It from the Huffington Post
Prediction: this article gives some sense of how it will go nationally once the bugs are worked out of the national website.
"“I’ve not had insurance for so long,” Cates says. “I didn’t get my hopes up." After logging out of Kynect, she says she decided that Obamacare was "just too good to be true.” It was not a statement of relief, but an expression of profound skepticism. ... Kentucky has some 640,000 uninsured residents. Many have put aside whatever reservations they may have harbored toward President Barack Obama or Steve Beshear, the state’s Democratic governor, and have enrolled in the state's health exchange or joined the state's Medicaid expansion. More than 1,000 residents have signed up each day since Kynect opened."
More evidence:
Study Suggests Politics of Obamacare Could Shift Against GOP (Greg Sargent) from the Washington Post
“Much of the discussion is now driven by anecdote,” Larry Levitt, a senior vice president at Kaiser, tells me. “There has been a lot of focus on sticker prices. But the fact is that most of the people buying in this market will be eligible for subsidies, and won’t be paying those sticker prices. We’ve lost sight of the people who will benefit from the law. As the website starts to work better, we’ll likely see more anecdotes on the other side.”
Those Depressing Germans (Paul Krugman) from the New York Times
"Treasury was right, and the German reaction was disturbing. For one thing, it was an indicator of the continuing refusal of policy makers in Germany, in Europe more broadly and for that matter around the world to face up to the nature of our economic problems. For another, it demonstrated Germany’s unfortunate tendency to respond to any criticism of its economic policies with cries of victimization."
ENDA Vote: Senate Clears Major Hurdle On Bill Barring LGBT Workplace Discrimination from the Huffington Post
"The Employment Non-Discrimination Act cleared a major Senate hurdle Monday evening, virtually guaranteeing its passage on a final vote later this week."
The Fate of the Humanities from the New York Times
"In the face of tightening budgets and a more competitive job market, some fear that funding for and interest in the humanities may be declining at universities, as students become more focused on future employment. Are these fears justified or exaggerated? Can the study of the humanities thrive at a time of changing needs, or will they be too much of an academic luxury?"
Poll: More Americans Want To Keep Or Expand Obamacare Than Repeal It from Talking Points Memo
"The Kaiser Family Foundation found that 47 percent of Americans want to expand (22 percent) or keep the law (25 percent). Conversely, 37 percent said they wanted to either repeal the law and replace it with some Republican alternative (13 percent) or repeal it without replacing it (24 percent)."
Battleground Poll Says the Dems May Be All Right (Eleanor Clift) from the Daily Beast
"Will the troubled Obamacare rollout hurt Democrats next year? A new poll suggests it won’t—but also suggests the GOP’s demographic winter may still be a ways off."
The GOP’s New Reality (Michael Gerson) from the Washington Post
"Following the recent tea party Tet Offensive — tactically disastrous but symbolically important — the Republican establishment has commenced counterinsurgency operations. ... This vivid turn of phrase — “purity for profit” — captures the main reason Republican leaders are edging away from a strategy of accommodation. The Obama era has unleashed a great deal of genuine populist and libertarian energy. But a good portion of it is being channeled into business and fundraising models that depend on stoking resentment against the GOP itself (at least as currently constituted)."
The Virginia Gubernatorial Race Proves the GOP Is Suicidal (Myra Adams) from the Daily Beast
"Purple Virginia is the closest thing we have to a national test kitchen—and what’s cooking in the governor’s race there smells like another serving of disaster for Republicans."
History’s Progressive Gay Politicians that Paved the Way for Mike Michaud (Brandy Zadrozny) from the Daily Beast
"Maine gubernatorial candidate Mike Michaud confirmed he’s gay earlier this week, and asked, ‘but why should it matter?’ Here are six politicians whose leadership paved the way."
Conservative Parents, Left-Wing Children (Dennis Prager) from Townhall.com via Real Clear Politics
"There is a phenomenon that is rarely commented on but which is as common as it is significant. For at least two generations, countless conservative parents have seen their adult children reject their core values. ... Virtually every institution outside the home has been captured by people with left-wing values: specifically the media (television and movies) and the schools (first the universities and now high schools)."
Hillary Clinton's Plan to Prevent a Left-Wing Challenger from the New Republic
"... she still faces several challenges, from concerns about her health and age, to a sense among some commentators that she is not in step with the Democratic Party's activist base. The challenge for her, at least in the 2016 primary, will be to prevent an opponent from filling the space on her left flank that Barack Obama captured five years ago."
NUGGETSMAN PODCASTE NUGGET!!
I had the pleasure of being a guest on Lynn Cullen's program last week. Here is the audio and vidio.
STOLEN ART NUGGET!!
Report of Nazi-Looted Trove Puts Art World in an Uproar from the New York Times
"There was no hint that the older man who called a couple of years back about selling a picture could be sitting on an unimaginable trove of art confiscated or banned by the Nazis. When the proffered work, “Lion Tamer” by the German artist Max Beckmann, was collected, the seller seemed to be a proper gentleman in Munich dispensing with a lone, dusty art gem at the end of his life."
No comments:
Post a Comment