DAYEE PICTURE: Icy Lake Baikal in south-east Siberia. From the Huffington Post.
"President Obama has quieted the mob of critics on the interim pact with Iran, so they’re now attacking the next deal—the one that hasn’t happened yet."
Israel's Kill List: Inside the Mossad's Campaign to Off its Most Dangerous Foes, One by One from Foreign Policy Magazine
"Israeli intelligence officials think this may be the most diverse, most intricately woven set of foes the country has encountered."
Why the Dutch Love Black Pete (Arnon Grunberg) from the New York Times
"In the Netherlands, the Black Pete debate underscores how deep lies the fear of losing identity."
Andrew Jackson Lives! America's Foreign-Policy Populism (Robert Golan-Vilella) from the National Interest
"Mead calls it a “large populist school” that “believes that the most important goal of the U.S. government in foreign and domestic policy should be the physical security and the economic well-being of the American people.” Its adherents believe that America should not seek out foreign wars. But should it become involved in them, then “there is no substitute for victory,” in the words of Douglas MacArthur."
This article really captures the schizophrenia of right-wing voters and their relationship with foreign policy: the rest of the world should simply do what America wants ... but don't expect anything from the US!
TWO MUST-READ CONSERVATIVE VIEWS NUGGETS!!
12 Years a Slave and the Obama Era (Jonathan Chait) from New York Magazine
A VERY perceptive examination of how racism manifests itself among conservatives and the right-wing media.
"He is either unaware of the freighted connotation of calling a black man uppity, or he doesn’t care. In the absence of a racial slur or an explicitly bigoted attack, no racial alarm bells sound in his brain. The broad social structure of white supremacy is not a part of the working conservative definition of racism. ... “racism” is encountered primarily as a politically motivated slander against conservatives by liberals."
The Right’s Core Dishonesty: How Obamacare Became its Own Culture War (Brian Beutler) from Salon
"... the hostility has become so deeply rooted that it now stands on its own, detached from the ideological and partisan antipathies that gave rise to it. It has forced conservatives to blind themselves to the law’s positive, unobjectionable qualities, and police those within their ranks who dare to acknowledge them. [...] on the battlefields of partisan warfare, this sort of post-principled contempt, combined with the inception of benefits, has turned the fight over Obamacare from a dispute over first principles, into a culture war, in which signaling matters more than tactical victories."
UP-FRONT OBAMACARE NUGGET!!
Consumer Reports Changes Verdict on Obamacare Website, Tells MSNBC: ‘It’s Time’ (Evan McMurry) from Mediaite
"After advising consumers to steer clear of Healthcare.gov in October, Consumer Reports health care expert Nancy Metcalf told MSNBC’s Chuck Todd Tuesday morning that the federal health care exchange website was improved enough following the Obama administration’s frantic month of repairs that users could confidently use it. ... “Now we’re saying, ‘it’s time,’” Metcalf said, in particular praising the new window-shopping function, in which users can peruse health plans without registering with the site. The requirement to make an account before viewing options was considered one of the main causes for the site’s initial traffic bottleneck. “It’s terrific, I’ve tried it, it was working yesterday through the busiest times,” Metcalf said."
No Third Way for President Obama (Joan McCarter) from Daily Kos
"He also rejected Third Way/Fix the Debt, saying that the "relentlessly growing deficit of opportunity, is a bigger threat to our future than our rapidly shrinking fiscal deficit." Take that, austerity fetishists."
Medicaid Expansion Becomes Weapon Against GOP Governors (Greg Sargent) from the Washington Post
"Democrats are currently using a major pillar of the health law — the Medicaid expansion — as a weapon against Republican Governors in multiple 2014 races. Many of these Governors opted out of the expansion or have advanced their own replacement solutions, and many are facing serious challenges."
Dropped Coverage (Trudy Lieberman) from Politico Magazine
"What the press delivered instead was mostly a conversation among policy wonks and Beltway political elites without letting in the people who would be most affected by the nostrums they were prescribing. The public was the victim of a messaging war, with much of the conversation shaped by spin and talking points. And as in all wars, truth is the first casualty. Americans needed clear, direct explanations, honesty, dot connection and a probe of the carefully crafted words that came to define the debate."
HealthCare.gov Traffic Flowing and Obamacare Enrollments Surging (Joan McCarter) from Daily Kos
"The federal health insurance exchange web site, HealthCare.gov, handled more than 950,000 visits on Tuesday without any major hiccups at all. Sources also tell Politico that 29,000 enrollments were completed on Sunday and Monday—that's more than the whole month of October."
Politico's story is here.
Do Republicans Need a Plan B on ObamaCare? (Jon Terbush) from The Week
"If ObamaCare keeps improving, the GOP's "we told you ObamaCare was a mess" pitch could quickly wear thin. And if it does, Republicans will find themselves in need of a new argument or a legislative alternative. So far, they don't really have either."
Why Are Colleges Getting So Expensive? (Derek Thompson) from the Atlantic
"Students are paying more every year: But different schools have very different reasons for their unstoppably rising costs."
The Obesity Cure Doctors Ignore (Suzanne Koven) from the New Yorker
"Diet drugs work. So why won’t physicians prescribe them?"
Republicans More Likely to Have Constituents Who Use Food Stamps from Time Magazine
"As Congress debates fate of program, several of those seeking cuts have high percentage of constituents who benefit."
Republicans See One Remedy for Obama: Impeachment (Dana Milbank) from the Washington Post
"The Republicans in the House know there is no chance of throwing this president from office. Yet at least 13 of the 22 Republicans on the panel have threatened or hinted at impeachment of Obama, his appointees or his allies in Congress. ... That basically leaves them with the option of making loud but ineffectual noises about high crimes and misdemeanors."
There is No Wave Coming in the 2014 Election (John Sides) from the Washington Post
"As Lynn Vavreck and I wrote two months ago, the metaphor of “cross-currents” seems more appropriate in 2014 than does “a wave.” This is likely to leave the House under a Republican majority not much smaller or larger than it is now."
ANIMAL/PET NUGGET!!
This Fox And Hound Are Here To Ask You Not To Wear Fur from the Huffington Post
"We'd like you to meet Sniffer and Tinni, a pair of best friends that met while they were both strolling thorough a Norwegian forest."
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