News Nuggets 1401

DAYLEE PICTURE: A Peacock Spider in Australia.  From the Daily Mail of the UK.

UP-FRONT NEO-CONN NUGGET!!
As Though Iraq Never Happened: The Short Memory of Condoleezza Rice (Ta-Nahisi Coates) from the Atlantic
"War-mongering is self-justifying. If you bungle a war in Iraq, it does not mean you need to sit back and reflect on the bungling. It means you should make more war, lest Iraq become a base for your enemies. ...  If there are no terrorist attacks on American soil, then drones must be right and our security state must be effective. If there are attacks, then our security state must increase its surveillance, and more bombs should be dropped. Violence begets violence. Peace begets violence. The circle continues."

Russia's Crimean Invasion Is the Beginning of War in Ukraine (Maria Snegovaya) from the New Republic
A very nuanced, concise examination of what motivates Putin and his regime and how the US should respond.
"Such escalation is unlikely to be peaceful. Putin lives in another world and fails to realize that Russia is far less welcome on the Ukrainian mainland than in Crimea. ... if Kremlin aggression continues into the mainland, the anti-Russian Ukrainians are likely to counteract. In other words: war. ... The best deterrent would be severe, Iran-style sanctions against Russia’s state-owned corporations, combined with a concerted Western effort to decrease oil prices. Similar economic sanctions imposed on Iran proved very effective, and will likely keep Putin's thuggish, imperialistic ambitions in check."

Google Takes Steps to Evade China Censors (Craig Timberg and Jia Lynn Yang) from the Washington Post
"New encryption means searches will appear scrambled to the censors who maintain the system commonly known as China’s Great Firewall."
THIS is how the US and US tech companies should respond to China and Russia and their regional adventurism: use technology to break down the fragile (but essential) information bubbles these governments have been able to keep in place!

Court Bars Anti-fracking Activist from more than 300 Square Miles of Pa. from State Impact PA
"A judge has signed off on an order which bars an anti-fracking activist from setting foot on more than 300 square miles–or nearly 40 percent–of Susquehanna county. It’s all the land owned or leased by the area’s biggest driller, Cabot Oil and Gas. Although Cabot asked for the court order, a spokesman for the company says it didn’t mean for it to be so broad."
A case study in how to make the first amendment meaningless.  What next?  Yes, you can protest -- in some other state?

Map: East Coast Brains Are Healthiest (Julie Beck) from the Atlantic 
Yes -- and Appalachian/Mississippi River states are the unhealthiest in ALL categories! Check out this interactive map.
"America's Brain Health Index ranks the states on diet, social well-being, and physical and mental health—four factors that contribute to overall brain health."

Five Reasons Same-Sex Marriage Is Sweeping the Nation (Nico Lang) from Rolling Stone Magazine
"Here's why even Texas, Oklahoma and Utah are joining the march toward marriage equality."

New York Homeless Shelters Housing Record-High 53,000 People per Night from the Guardian [of the UK]
"Annual report from Coalition for the Homeless paints bleak picture but expresses hope for new De Blasio administration."

Conservative Bigots Whine About Being Social Pariahs (Markos Moulitsas) from Daily Kos
"... the problem for the whiners really isn't that they can't wave their bigotry in public without repercussions. It's that they're a rapidly shrinking minority, whining themselves into extinction as society passes them by."

How Democrats Can Compete for the White Working Class (Thomas B. Edsall) from the New York Times
"The Republican tilt in the South has made the task seem more impossible than it is."

Labor Gains in Washington Amid Falling Union Membership (Laura Litvan) from Bloomberg
"After snubbing the 2012 Democratic National Convention, labor leaders are this year pledging a flood of cash and volunteers for the party’s U.S. Senate candidates -- and getting plenty in return."

8 Disturbing Trends that Reveal the South’s Battered Psyche (Steven Rosenfeld) from Salon
"Statistics show Southern states have the lowest economic mobility in the country. ... So what is it that perpetuates decades of poverty in the Deep South? What follows are eight bundles of statistics tracking this latest cycle of poverty. ... Look at what the following statistics reveal about red-staters trapped in deep cycles of poverty. What is the thread that connects lousy governance, bad health, evangelical religion and firearms fervor?"

The (Not Very) Quiet Campaign for Hillary Clinton (Mark Halperin) from Time Magazine
"The other boost for Ready for Hillary has come from Obama's political machine. Inside Obama world, the battle scars of the 2008 nomination fight have faded, and there is widespread excitement about a Clinton candidacy; her service in the Administration has made her the clear, if unofficial, legatee."

PUNDIT PROFILE NUGGET [from February]!!
Here, Let Ezra Explain (Benjamin Wallace) from New York Magazine
"What is D.C.’s most famous young policy wonk doing leaving the Washington Post? Trying to start a news organization he thinks could one day eclipse it."

HOPE-FOR-PAWS UPDATE
Eldad and a Great Foster Dad Helped Save this Dog from a One-Way Trip in the Animal Shelter.