News Nuggets 1381

DAYLEE PICTURE: The Skogafoss Falls in Iceland.  From National Geographic.

Is Inequality Approaching a Tipping Point? (Mark Buchanan) from Bloomberg 
"What if we could shed all our political prejudices and take a more scientific approach, setting up an experimental world where we could test our thinking about what drives inequality? Crazy as the idea might sound, it has actually been done. The results are worth pondering."

Pope Under Pressure After UN's Scathing Report On Child Abuse from the Associated Press via Talking Points Memo
"In a scathing report that thrilled victims and stunned the Vatican, the United Nations committee said the Holy See maintained a "code of silence" that enabled priests to sexually abuse tens of thousands of children worldwide over decades with impunity."

How John Podesta is Changing Obama's White House from Politico
"In the month since he returned as a senior counselor, Podesta has quickly picked up the kind of long-term, big-picture strategic thinking that this White House has always talked about priding itself on but struggled to do in its 2013 year of hell. Still frantically trying to turn things around, Podesta brings what it needed: fresh but experienced perspective, and the clout that comes from having the confidence of the president ..."

Anatomy of a Media Disaster: Why the Press is Botching the Latest Obamacare Story (Brian Buetler) from Salon
"Mix of innumeracy, vulnerability to spin and thirst for controversy explains lame coverage of CBO Obamacare report."

CBO Director: Obamacare Will Reduce Unemployment (Greg Sargent) from the Washington Post
"Under questioning today before the House Budget Committee from Dem Rep. Chris Van Hollen, CBO director Douglas Elmendorf confirmed that in reality, his report suggests Obamacare will reduce unemployment:"

Catch of the Day: Voters Don't Care About CBO (Jonathan Bernstein) from Bloomberg
"The entire ability of electioneering and campaigns, everything from TV ads to candidate image to get-out-the-vote, only matters a few percentage points in fully contested elections, so it’s just not remotely plausible that a talking point produced (fairly or not) out of a Congressional Budget Office report in February is going to change the way people vote in November."

From Obamacare to the IRS Scandal, Republicans are Ignoring the Facts (Dana Milbank) from the Washington Post
"Rubio’s fact-free approach to Obamacare is puzzling because plenty of damning things can be said about the health-care law that are perfectly accurate: It does little to curb entitlements, it disrupts insurance plans for millions, it leaves 31 million Americans without coverage and, as the CBO forecast, it would take the equivalent of 2.3 million full-time workers out of the workforce. Yet the law’s opponents seem to have an uncontrollable urge to make stuff up. Issa, a frequent offender, began Wednesday’s hearings by claiming, falsely, that the CBO had said 2.5 million jobs would be lost."

GOP O-Care Delusions (Brent Budowski) from The Hill 
"If the CBO projection is correct, once these workers choose to leave their jobs, new workers currently looking for jobs will be hired to replace them! Who wins in this deal? The workers who leave win because they want to leave. The workers who are hired win because they want jobs. The national economy wins because more of those who want jobs find them. This is good news for America."

http://thehill.com/opinion/james-carville/197452-james-carville-days-ahead-for-democrats-not-so-dark

Days Ahead for Dems Not So Dark (James Carville) from The Hill
I suspect Carville is, as usual, off base here.  I think the Dems in the Senate have plenty to worry about.
"I don’t care who you are, your party is in serious trouble if just one in five voters tells NBC’s pollsters they want to be identified with you. The differential between those who want to be Republicans and those who want to be Democrats persistently and consistently is at or near all-time highs."

GOP Strategy on Debt Ceiling Stalls (Robert Costa) from the Washington Post
"House Republicans on Wednesday acknowledged that their two leading options for dealing the  federal debt-limit do not have sufficient support inside the GOP caucus, strengthening the hand of the people who argue for a clean debt limit bill."

The GOP's Unforced Errors (W. James Antle III) from the National Interest 
"So facing opponents with such a dismal record and weak arguments, what do you do? Well, if you are a leader of the Republican Party, you promote policies that will anger your base while winning over no one else."

Christie and the 7 Dwarves (Michael Tomasky) from the Daily Beast
"So much for his fairytale campaign. In the wake of Bridgegate, the New Jersey Governor stands to lose much more than his dignity, and there are quite a few candidates willing to prove it."

EARLY MIDDLE AGES NUGGET!!
Charlemagne's bones identified: 1,200-year-old remains in a German cathedral belong to 'Europe's father', claim scientists from the Daily Mail [of the UK]
"After 26 years of research, German scientists are satisfied that bones held for centuries at Aachen Cathedral, are those of the king of the Franks. A total of 94 bones and fragments were analysed.  Researchers studied the thigh, shin and arm bones to get an idea of the skeleton's height and build – which match descriptions of the emperor."