Pages

Monday, January 20, 2014

News Nuggets 1374

DAYLEE PICTURE: Somalis gathering on the beaches in Djibouti near the horn of Africa trying to get phone signals so they can call Somalia.  From National Geographic.

Senate Intelligence Report Takes GOP Tirades About Benghazi Head-on (David Ignatius) from the Washington Post
"The Senate intelligence committee made headlines this week by reporting that the 2012 attack in Benghazi was preventable. But frankly, we knew that. The deeper message of the bipartisan report was that Republicans in Congress wasted a year arguing about what turned out to be mostly phony issues."

The Whistleblowers: Understanding the Real Motivations of Edward Snowden, Glenn Greenwald, and Julian Assange from the New Republic
"In our upcoming cover story (available online Sunday evening), Sean Wilentz takes a deep dive into the histories of the world's most famous "whistle-blowers": Edward Snowden, Glenn Greenwald, and Julian Assange. What he uncovers—a "crazy-quilt assortment of views, some of them
blatantly contradictory"—should make their liberal supporters doubt their calls for clemency."

Hate Obama, Love Obamacare from Time Magazine
'How a skeptical Ohio family found plenty to like in health care reform. ... That Obamacare crashed on Stephanie and Sean Recchi, of all people, amid a torrent of misinformation about what the law could or could not do for them, epitomizes the calamity of the failed launch. But what has happened to the Recchis and their health care options more recently might be emblematic of the law's potential. .. They had seen all those stories on television, and because of their views about Obama, they believed what they wanted to believe--until they saw these policies and these numbers.""

Initial Thoughts on Today’s Ruling Striking Down Pa’s Voter ID Law on State Grounds (Rick Hasen) from the Election Law Blog
"This is a clear victory for opponents of voter id laws, with a finding that the implementation of the voter id law violated the law’s own promise of liberal access to voter id, that the implementation exceeded the agency’s authority to administer the program, that the voter education efforts were woefully inadequate, and that as a whole the Pa. voter id program violated the Pa. constitutional’s fundamental right to vote. In this regard, it is important to note that the court rejected Pa’s argument that the law was aimed at preventing voter fraud.:

Company Blamed For W.Va. Chemical Spill Files For Bankruptcy from Talking Points Memo
"The company blamed for a chemical spill that left 300,000 West Virginians without safe drinking water filed for bankruptcy Friday. Freedom Industries Inc., facing multiple lawsuits and state and federal investigations after the Jan. 9 spill, filed a Chapter 11 petition with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in the Southern District of West Virginia."
Boy, they couldn't get to the court house quick enough!

As Presently Constructed, GOP Cannot Win White House (Martin Longman) from the Washington Monthly
"Of course, Kerry did lose, but it appears that the 2004 election could be a real ceiling for any Republican candidate up against a competent Democrat. Roll the clock forward twelve years, and demographic changes make even a repeat of 2004 a very challenging task."

Romneyworld Buzzes over Chris Christie Troubles from Politico
"Rom-denfreude (noun) — The pleasure Mitt Romney loyalists are taking in the struggles of Chris Christie. The condition is prevalent, stemming from a range of perceived Christie slights towards Romney during the 2012 campaign, which several Romney loyalists ticked off quickly — and with still-evident bitterness."
You have to give credit where credit is due: in their VP vetting, (unlike the McCain people) Romney's team got the basic job done!

Yes, Chris Christie, the Feds Are Out to Get You. Take it from Me: I Ended Up in the Clink (Jeff Smith) from Politico Magazine
"Nothing is ever quite the same after you wake up to the feds pounding on your door. Trust me: I learned the hard way. ... other than New York’s Jonathan Chait, who recognized the cumulative weight of multiple investigations at multiple levels of government, most commentators are focusing on the wrong thing: the politics of recent revelations."

Maybe the Tea Party Really is Finished (Peter Weber) from The Week   
"The House easily passed the giant omnibus spending package, despite strong opposition from outside conservative groups."

The Real Reason the Tea Party Hates Chris Christie (Elias Isquith) from Salon
"It's not because of his supposed embrace of Obama; it's because he acknowledges a role for the New Deal state."

GOP Fundraiser Says Christie 'As A Person, Is Horrific' from Talking Points Memo
""The guy, as a person, is horrific," Brian Ballard, a lobbyist and former finance chairman for Mitt Romney said, according to the Miami Herald."
Now -- this article is more about the culture of GOP fundraising and hard-core GOPers in general than about Christie.  Why is Christie so "horrific"?  Here's the answer: "Ballard, a major Republican fundraiser in Florida, "resents" the New Jersey governor for effusively thanking President Barack Obama for coming to his state's aid in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, according to the Herald." These folks live in a world where partisanship trumps everything.

G.O.P. Advice for Christie: Pick a Better Team from the New York Times 
"Republicans around the country are offering pointed advice, sobering in its candor, for Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey, after his top aides were linked to the Fort Lee scandal."
Yes, a better team of people.  Very soon Christie will be desperate to have people with no tongues to wag and no mouths to open once their hosts get immunity.  Said another way -- it is too f#$@%$g late for this advice.

Christie Camp held Sandy Relief Money Hostage, Mayor Alleges (Steve Kornacki from MSNBC
"Two senior members of Gov. Chris Christie’s administration warned a New Jersey mayor earlier this year that her town would be starved of hurricane relief money unless she approved a lucrative redevelopment plan favored by the governor, according to the mayor and emails and personal notes she shared with msnbc."

The Forgotten Virtues of Tammany Hall (Terry Golway) from the New York Times
"Political machines served the people when the government didn’t."

DOCUMENTARY NUGGET!!
Romney, on the Trail and Behind the Scenes (Ashley Parker) from the New York Times
“Mitt,” a new documentary about the former presidential candidate and his family, offers a look at the man who could never quite connect with the voters he so desperately needed to persuade."

OPPOSITION TO THE NAZIS NUGGET!!
Nazis Slaughtered my Brother and Sister with a Guillotine: German Woman, 93, tells how her Siblings Defied Hitler and were Put to Death for Treason in 1943 from the Daily Mail [of the UK]
"Hans and Sophie Scholl were arrested by Gestapo for writing pamphlets. Their works decried Nazi war crimes and revealed Stalingrad defeat.  Seven decades on, their surviving sister Elisabeth tells her story.  It comes after the guillotine that killed them was discovered in a museum."

WORLD WAR II NUGGET!!
Inside Monopoly's Secret War Against the Third Reich from Eurogamer 
"This is where my grandfather sat out the war, in the company of a few friends, some jars of peanut butter an American charity had sent them in error - the Brits had never seen this exotic paste before, and assumed that it was shoe polish - and something altogether more thrilling. A Monopoly set!"

EAST GERMANY NUGGET!!
‘I’m One of the Others Now’: What Life Was Like for a Family in East Germany from Pushkin Press
"... we’re excited to share the first chapters from the forthcoming book Red Love: The Story of an East German Family by Maxim Leo. Growing up with bohemian parents in the GDR, Leo recreates their lives as rebellious artists in an increasingly restrictive world. Our thanks to Pushkin Press for sharing the book with the Longreads community."

No comments: