News Nuggets 1376

DAYLEE PICTURE: The Kocatepe Mosque in Turkey.  From National Geographic.

Investors Assail Income Gap as 68% in Poll Say Government Needed from Bloomberg
"International investors say the gap between rich and poor hampers economic growth and that governments should act to reduce income inequality, according to a Bloomberg Global Poll. Fifty-eight percent of global respondents say the disparity hinders the economy and 68 percent say governments should confront the problem, according to the Jan. 16-17 survey of 477 investors, traders and analysts who are Bloomberg subscribers. U.S. respondents are divided over the issue."

Why Do the Smartest Cities Have the Smallest Share of Cars? (Derek Thompson) from the Atlantic
"What the metros with the highest percentage of non-car households tells us about driving and density."

Docs Reveal A Diocese’s Sins (Barbie Latza Nadeau) from the Daily Beast 
"The Chicago diocese of the Catholic Church has released a trove of 6,000 documents that show terrible child abuse by priests—and a coordinated effort to shield the predators from victims’ families and the law."

Substance And Style: How The Reforms Of Pope Francis Are Changing The Catholic Church from the World Post
"The pope’s insistence on simple living, his radical statements about economic injustice, and the arresting photos of him embracing others have effectively transcended religion, at once reflecting and furthering what his champions celebrate as progressive social change. But beneath the Pope's headline-catching rhetoric, he has delivered key administrative decisions over the past year that serious and substantial reforms are already underway within the Catholic church."

Uninsured Rate Drops Amid Obamacare Rollout: Poll from the Huffington Post 
"Based on interviews with more than 9,000 people, the Gallup numbers could be the first evidence that core provisions of Obama's much-debated law have started delivering on the promise of access for nearly all Americans. The overall drop in the uninsured rate would translate to approximately 2 million to 3 million people gaining coverage."

The Real Problem with the American Right: Aging, White Radicals (Brian Buetler) from Salon
"Everyone knows the GOP has been unable to moderate its image or agenda. But less understood is the true reason why."

Everything You Need to Know About the Chris Christie Investigations from the Washington Post
"With the New Jersey scandal count already at two for 2014, and with the number of investigations poking at said scandals increasing by the day, it's hard to keep track of all the variables -- and what each of the many key players stand to gain and lose based on the outcome. Here's an explainer on the many moving parts of Chris Christie's very sad scandals."

Poll: Christie Favorability Rating Drops after George Washington Bridge Controversy (Melissa Hayes) from the Record-Herald News [of northern New Jersey]
"The George Washington Bridge controversy has taken a toll on Governor Christie’s favorability ratings, with Democrats driving the falling numbers, according to a new poll. Christie’s favorability rating is now at 46 percent, down 22 points from a survey taken just before his landslide re-election victory last year,  a Rutgers-Eagleton Poll released today found."

Schumer to Poison Tea Party (Alexander Bolton) from The Hill
""The fundamental weakness in the Tea Party machine is the stark difference between what the leaders of the Tea Party elite, plutocrats like the Koch Brothers want and what the average grassroots Tea Party follower wants," he will say. Schumer will argue Democrats must defend popular government programs, such as extended unemployment benefits and student loan subsidies, to persuade Tea Party voters they could benefit from federal programs."

Rand Paul Is the 2016 Republican Frontrunner (Peter Beinart) from the Atlantic
"Don't laugh. He has built-in advantages in Iowa and New Hampshire, a party moving in his direction, and formidable fundraising potential."

I Have Seen the Future of the Republican Party, and It Is George W. Bush (Jonathan Chait) from New York Magazine
"Some pundits hopefully posited that the twin shocks of the economic crisis and the 2008 election might prod the GOP back to reality. It seemed, at the very least, that the party’s economic policy apparatus could not possibly get any worse. It got worse. Much worse."

Glenn Beck: “I Think I Played A Role, Unfortunately, In Helping Tear The Country Apart” from BuzzFeed
"The Blaze mogul told Megyn Kelly he regrets that his language wasn’t more “uniting” during his days at Fox News."

TORTURE CHAMBER NUGGET!!
The 2,300-year-old Torture Chamber: Ancient Dungeon Containing a 'Bloody Well and Death Rooms' Unearthed in Turkey from the Daily Mail [of the UK]
"Archaeologists discovered 2,300-year-old dungeons in Bursa, Turkey from the Daily Mail [of the UK]
"The dungeons were found to contain a bloody well and torture chambers.  Deaf and mute hangmen would have thrown prisoner’s heads into the well.  The bodies would then have been passed to the prisoner’s relatives. Chambers found during excavations set to become an open-air museum."