DAYLEE PICTURE: The Torres del Paine mountains in Chile. From National Geographic.
UP-FRONT DUMB PIRATE LEADER NUGGET!!
The Rise and Fall of Somalia’s Pirate King from Foreign Policy Magazine
"Expecting to consult on a movie based on his life as a seafaring bandit, Afweyne and his associate were instead arrested by Belgian police and charged with the crimes of piracy and hostage taking. The two men had fallen for a hard-to-believe, reverse-Argo ruse -- a months-long sting operation set in motion to catch the mastermind behind the 2009 hijacking and ransom of the Belgian-owned dredging vessel Pompei."
Too Big to Breathe? (Thomas Friedman) from the New York Times
"What good are all the benefits achieved in rapid economic growth if China becomes too polluted a place to live?"
Neo-Nationalist Violence Targets Central Asians In Russia (Anna Nemtsova) from the Daily Beast
"Thousands of Russian fascists and nationalists marched in the capital for National Unity Day, shouting anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant obscenities and flashing the ‘Heil Hitler’ salute."
The Growing Battle Over Transgender Student Rights in California from Rolling Stone Magazine
"Anti-discrimination bill's supporters remain optimistic despite right-wing efforts to repeal the law."
The South And Gays (Andrew Sullivan) from the Daily Dish
"Marriage equality is fast gaining support in … South Carolina ... So I’m not too surprised by anecdotal evidence of peer-to-peer toleration, even if the public debate at the elite level is still so harsh. But then I think that goes for the whole debate: the political leadership is way behind the popular shift."
The Ghost of George Zimmerman Haunts a Gun Debate in Sanford, Florida (Jacqui Goddard) from the Daily Beast
"The community where Trayvon Martin was shot 20 months ago gathered for a loaded debate on gun rules for Neighborhood Watch volunteers. Yet Zimmerman wasn't mentioned once."
You Will be Shocked at How Ignorant Americans Are (Joan Walsh) from Salon
"What Americans don't know and don't understand is an obstacle to progress. ... Two-thirds of Americans live in an information underclass as journalistically impoverished as the minuscule bazillionaire class is triumphant."
Six Takeaways from Election Night 2013 (Chris Cillizza and Aaron Blake) from the Washington Post
"Terry McAuliffe is the next governor of Virginia. Chris Christie has won a historic reelection victory in New Jersey. Now comes our favorite part of elections — sorting through the data!"
Christie Cements Status as Party Leader with Blowout Reelection from The Hill
"If he runs, Christie is expected to make the case that he'd be the most electable Republican in a crowded GOP primary, an argument his advisers believe will resonate with a party sick of losing key demographic groups like women and minorities."
My response to this headline: no way. Maybe I am deluding myself -- but this headline strikes me as classic "beltway bubble speak", the kind of analysis that says more about reporting and the DC beltway culture than what is REALLY going on. Not six months ago, Christie was not even invited to the first big post-election conservative values voters conference. Will evangelical voters be impressed by his victory in New Jersey? Among evangelical voters, Christie is anathema, another Mayor Guliani-type figure. Does anyone genuinely think Christie can win in Iowa or Nevada or North Carolina, three of the four earliest nominating contests in 2016?! Looking back at 2012, Romney himself and his family at least lived something that echoed evangelical values and he got well enough ahead of the pro-life change of heart that he could have some credibility among these voters. I just don't see it in Christie who, if anything, is in all regards to the left of Romney! In the current brawl that is shaping up in the GOP for next year, the only way Christie wins the nomination in 2016 is if the Tea Party and evangelical wings of the party are completely routed somehow between now and then. Far more likely it is that the moderates will be the ones fleeing for the hills. As Marco Rubio. Or, on the broader issue, look to Jonathan Chait's column from today.
Four Problems With Chris Christie 2016 (Jonathan Chait) from New York Magazine
"Shepherding Christie through a competitive Republican primary will be vastly more difficult than anybody seems to be figuring at the moment. Four basic, interrelated problems stand between Christie and the 2016 nomination:..."
In G.O.P., a Campaign Takes Aim at Tea Party from the New York Times
"Open warfare is breaking out among rival Republican groups, with one, Main Street Advocacy, set to start an ad campaign on Wednesday that blames conservative groups like the Tea Party for the recent series of political losses in critical elections across the United States."
In Shift, GOP Vows to Fight for More Electable Candidates in Senate Primaries (Kasie Hunt) from NBC News
"Amid the ongoing war within the GOP, the Senate Republicans' campaign arm is signaling a more aggressive approach in trying to get its favored candidates through contentious primaries in 2014. ... The approach is a switch from previous cycles, when the NRSC has stayed out of open contested primaries. A number of hard-line conservative candidates won primaries in 2010 and 2012 but went on to lose general elections."
Can American Conservatism Be Saved? (Andrew Sullivan) from the Daily Dish
"... the key to a more productively conservative defense of tradition is, it seems to me, a civility in making the case and an alertness to the occasional, contingent need for genuine reform, as social problems emerge in a changing society. Today’s Republicanism is, in contrast, absolutist, ideological, fundamentalist and angry."
House Leader Accidentally Admits GOP Has No Interest In Governing from the Huffington Post
"As chairman of the powerful House Rules Committee, Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Texas) plays an integral role in determining exactly how productive Congress can be in passing legislation. In an interview with Roll Call published Tuesday, however, the nine-term Republican admitted that the GOP's primary interests aren't even in the chamber it controls. ""Everything we do in this body should be about messaging to win back the Senate,” Sessions said. “That’s it.""
The Legacy of John F. Kennedy (Alan Brinkley) from the Atlantic
"Historians tend to rate JFK as a good president, not a great one. But Americans consistently give him the highest approval rating of any president since Franklin D. Roosevelt. Why?"
POLAR BEAR NUGGET [of a sort]!!
Inside the Polar Bear Prison: Forget Death Row. The Scariest Inmates in the World are Behind Bars (on Starvation Rations) in the Terrified Town Where They Outnumber People from the Daily Mail [of the UK]
World's only prison for polar bears is located in former aircraft storage hangar in the remote northern Canada town of Churchill, Manitoba. Animals flood the town at this time of year because it is located on their winter migration route north up Hudson Bay. In October and November the number of polar bears passing through the area outnumbers Churchill's population of 800 humans.
LOOTED ART NUGGETS!!
German Officials Provide Details on Looted Art from the New York Times
"The first glimpse of the collection brought astonishment but also anger and the initial stirrings of what will likely be a long battle over who owns the works."
In a Rediscovered Trove of Art, a Triumph Over the Nazis' Will from the New York Times
"A horde of art missing since the Nazi era yields lessons about the vagaries of survival."
ITALIAN PHOTO NUGGET!!
Amazing images from Burano, Italy from the Daily Mail [of the UK]
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