News Nuggets 1337

DAYLEE PICTURE: A sunset over flowing lava in Kalapana, Hawaii.  From the Smithsonian.

UP-FRONT CONGRESS NUGGET!!
Democrats Go ‘Nuclear,’ Eliminate Filibusters on Most Nominees (Update) (Niels Lesniewski) from Roll Call
"Senate Democrats succeeded Thursday in deploying the “nuclear option” to make the most fundamental change to floor operations in almost four decades, ending the minority’s ability to kill most presidential nominations by filibuster. The Senate voted, 52-48, to effectively change the rules by rejecting the opinion of the presiding officer that a supermajority is required to limit debate, or invoke cloture, on executive branch nominees and those for seats on federal courts short of the Supreme Court."
Here is Daily Kos's take on what has just occurred here and here.

The Senate has Gone Nuclear. Here’s What’s Next (Jonathan Bernstein) from the Washington Post
"This is a major, major, event. It changes how the nation is governed in a significant way. ... This change was basically forced by Republicans; the interesting question, I think, is why the group of Republicans who weren’t willing to push the Democrats over the brink in the summer decided to do so now."

Norm Ornstein: Republicans Forced Reid's Hand On The Nuclear Option from Talking Points Memo
""For whatever reason, the Republicans decided to go nuclear first, with this utterly unnecessary violation of their own agreement and open decision to block the president from filling vacancies for his entire term, no matter how well qualified the nominees," Ornstein told TPM in an email. "It was a set of actions begging for a return nuclear response.""

U.S. Optimistic about a Nuclear Deal with Iran (David Ignatius) from the Washington Post
"U.S. officials are cautiously optimistic that they are close to a deal with Iran to freeze its nuclear program as a first step toward a comprehensive agreement that would allow a limited Iranian civilian nuclear program, including some enrichment of uranium for civilian uses."

Gen. John Allen Praises the Terms of New U.S.-Afghanistan Agreement (Daniel Klaidman) from the Daily Beast
"The former commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan is encouraged by the terms of a security-pact agreement governing the withdrawal of U.S. troops. "

Mental Health Coverage Expands, but are there Enough Providers? from the Miami News-Record [of Oklahoma]
"Under the Affordable Care Act of 2010, widely known as Obamacare, all individual and small group insurance policies sold in Oklahoma and other states must provide a number of essential health benefits, starting Jan. 1. The essential benefits include mental health and substance abuse services such as individual counseling and psychotherapy."

3 Signs That Obamacare Is Slowing Health Care Spending from Talking Points Memo
"...the second goal of Obamacare, beyond expanding health coverage to the uninsured, was getting health care costs under control. Health care spending had grown by an average annual rate of 3.9 percent between 2000 and 2007, before dipping to 1.8 percent between 2007 and 2010. According to the new report, the average annual rate of growth from 2011 to 2013 dropped still further, to 1.3 percent."

The Ridiculous Obamacare Press Frenzy (Jonathan Bernstein) from the Washington Monthly
"There’s just a lot of nonsense right now. Which is pretty much what happens when these press frenzies get started, but it’s very frustrating. ...  yes, there is a substantive story on health care reform here, but what the press are up to is mostly just fantasy."

Dems Try Going on Offense: It’s Obamacare versus ‘Cruz Care’ (Greg Sargent) from the Washington Post
"While the punditry has focused on Dems supposedly “running away” from the law, what is really happening is they are adopting variations of the “keep and fix” message that will be central to the Dem approach next year. Dems like Kay Hagan, Mary Landrieu, and Mark Pryor are embracing various “fixes,” but they will be attacking GOP opponents for supporting repeal. Dems remain committed to sticking with the law..."

What the Cheney Civil War Says About America (W. James Antle III) from the National Interest
"A testament to how rapidly popular views on gay marriage have shifted."

RNC Needs Binders (Cheri Jacobus) from The Hill
"The establishment GOP, which claims to “get it” after two consecutive drubbings in presidential elections with their hand at the till, is made up almost exclusively of men. Despite polls showing the nation is right-of-center and slightly more female than male, we lose with women and therefore we lose the race."

Republican Governors Try To Seize Party's Mantle from the Huffington Post 
"Tired of being cast as members of the "party of no," Republican governors facing re-election next year are emphasizing their work to steer their states through tough economic times and trying to avoid the stigma of Washington gridlock. To that end, the 2014 elections could serve as a test case for the public's appetite for tax cuts championed by GOP governors, the curbing of benefits for public-sector unions and restrictions on women's access to health care."

JFK NUGGET!!
Kennedy's Legacy of Inspiration (Robert Dallek) from the New York Times 
"Compared with other recent presidents whose stumbles and failures have assaulted the national self-esteem, memories of Kennedy continue to give the country faith that its better days are ahead."

News Nuggets 1336

DAYLEE PICTURE: High tide along the Chioggia in Venice.  From National Geographic.

See me today on the Lynn Cullen Live program at 10am ... or you can stream it later!!

HEALTH CARE "REALITY CHECK" NUGGETS!!
Obamacare Hyperventilation to Continue Forever! (Jonathan Chait) from New York Magazine
This one is a must-read!
"National Journal will publish a story by conservative writer Josh Kraushaar arguing that Democrats in Congress are fleeing the law, and edging toward support for repeal. In fact, the opposite is occurring. ... The website is kind of working already. Lost in the Keep Your Plan imbroglio, it appears that healthcare.gov has already reached a point of functionality."

Healthcare Plan Enrollment Surges in Some States After Rocky Rollout from the Los Angeles Times
"Despite the disastrous rollout of the federal government's healthcare website, enrollment is surging in many states as tens of thousands of consumers sign up for insurance plans made available by President Obama's health law. A number of states that use their own systems, including California, are on track to hit enrollment targets for 2014 because of a sharp increase in November, according to state officials."

The Best Of The Dish Today (Andrew Sullivan) from the Daily Dish
"Why is socialism so damn more efficient than capitalism when it comes to healthcare? I think the answer is a relatively simple one, and it was elegantly made by a commenter on Yuval’s piece at NRO. Money quote: ..."

Sorry, Republicans: No Big Drop in Obamacare Support (Joan McCarter) from Daily Kos
"Despite the bad website roll-out, despite the controversy over the small percentage of the population getting a huge proportion of media attention for losing their current policies, despite the hyperactive media equating all this to Katrina, the American people are not abandoning support for Obamacare in any significant numbers."

In States Where the Website Works, Obamacare Works Too (Kevin Drum) from Mother Jones Magazine
"It really is all about the website. In places where it's working, people are signing up and are pretty happy with what they're getting. Rate shock is an issue for a few of them, but not for a lot. The bottom line is the Republican Party's worst nightmare: Once Obamacare has been up and running for a while, it's going to be pretty popular."

Fix The Website, And The Political Problem Solves Itself (Gene Lyons) from the National Memo
"While much of their intended audience dozes, headline-hungry, ratings-driven, click-soliciting news organizations act increasingly like a litter of kittens in a room full of balloons—excitedly chasing the next big political scandal or a glimpse of Miley Cyrus’s nipple. Whichever comes first. That’s life at CLNN, “Where the Sky Is Always Falling.”"

Poll: Most Americans Oppose Obamacare Repeal Despite Rollout Troubles from the National Journal
"United Technologies/National Journal Congressional Connection poll finds public opinion on the health law holding steady with a narrow split emerging on its ultimate impact."

The Right’s in a Box: Here’s How GOP Loses Obamacare Fight (Brian Beutler) from Salon
"The amazing politics of Obamacare's success stories -- especially in Kentucky -- could cost the GOP their leader."

Why It’s Time To Start Talking About Reforming, Not Repealing, Obamacare (David Frum) from the Daily Beast
"If a "repeal ACA" president takes office in 2017, he or she will face a reality in which repeal means stripping millions of people—potentially up to 10 million—of a government benefit they will by then have enjoyed for more than three years. Such a move would be the most radical reduction in social coverage ever seen in a democratic country."

Republicans Will Keep Heading Right!: What the Media Doesn’t Comprehend (Paul Rosenberg) from Salon
"Chattering classes are convinced Chris Christie will move GOP to the center. This totally misunderstands history."

Finally, Some Good News for Democrats About ObamaCare (no, really) (Jon Terbush) from The Week 
"ObamaCare's debut was a disaster — but its second act may not be."

Voter Suppression Backfires in North Carolina, Spreads in Texas (Ari Berman) from Moyers and Company
"Shortly after passing the country’s worst voter suppression law, North Carolina Republicans targeted student voting. ...  these moves backfired badly on the North Carolina GOP in the 2013 local elections. ... The news on voting rights was much worse in Texas, where voters experienced many problems with the new voter ID law."

The Dance of Bubba and Obama—and How It Helps Hillary (Eleanor Clift) from the Daily Beast
"The fates of the two presidents standing side by side at JFK’s gravesite today are intertwined—Clinton is now Obama’s life raft, and if Obama can recover, Hillary is the beneficiary."

News Nuggets 1335

DAYLEE PICTURE: Train lights in Tokyo, Japan.  From National Geographic.

UP-FRONT EUROPEAN ECONOMY NUGGET!!
Young and Educated in Europe, but Desperate for Jobs from the New York Times
"Five years after the economic crisis struck the Continent, youth unemployment has climbed to staggering levels in many countries: in September, 56 percent in Spain for those 24 and younger, 57 percent in Greece, 40 percent in Italy, 37 percent in Portugal and 28 percent in Ireland. For people 25 to 30, the rates are half to two-thirds as high and rising. Those are Great Depression-like rates of unemployment, and there is no sign that European economies, still barely emerging from recession, are about to generate the jobs necessary to bring those Europeans into the work force soon, perhaps in their lifetimes."

A Changing World Order? (Robert Kagan) from the Washington Post
"Overall, the much-heralded return of a multipolar world of roughly equal great powers, akin to that which existed before World War II, has been delayed for at least a few more decades. Absent some unexpected dramatic change, the international system will continue to be that of one
superpower and several great powers, or as the late Samuel P. Huntington called it, “uni-multipolarity.”"

The Stakes of an Iranian Deal (David Ignatius) from the Washington Post 
"The Saudis now are blocking formation of any government in Lebanon, for example, to obstruct Iran’s ally, Hezbollah. In Syria, the Saudis seem ready to fight the Sunni-Shiite battle down to the last Syrian.  Better to seek a turn in relations with Iran through diplomacy that can limit its nuclear program, Obama reasons. He’s right."

Stay the Dogs of War on Iran (Leslie H. Gelb) from the Daily Beast 
"We don't know whether relations with Iran will go toward peace or war, but the interim freeze again under negotiations this week holds little risk and much promise. Don't let the hawks on both sides kill it, writes Leslie H. Gelb."

A Permanent Slump? (Paul Krugman) from the New York Times
"... what if the world we’ve been living in for the past five years is the new normal? What if depression-like conditions are on track to persist, not for another year or two, but for decades?"

How Falling Gas Prices Could Accelerate Economic Growth from The Week  
"Incredibly, the U.S. is now on track to become the world’s biggest oil producer in just two years."

Economists Discover the Poor Behave Differently From the Rich (Brendan Greeley) from Businessweek
"It turned out that actual people didn’t behave like the imaginary proxy. Economists are learning that the poor and the wealthy respond differently to austerity and stimulus. This could present challenges to politicians. If people behave differently, then policy might have to treat them differently."

SHOCKER: Obamacare Is Working Best In States That Aren’t Trying To Sabotage It (Jason Sattler) from the National Memo
"Of the 106,185 people who have completed an application for health insurance, nearly 75 percent came from 14 states and the District of Columbia that both set up their own exchanges and expanded Medicaid. Unsurprisingly, California and New York combined for the bulk of the enrollments, 51,769. But the most promising news from the Golden State wasn’t even included in this report."

President Calls GOP and Insurance Companies' Bluff (Egberto Willies) from Daily Kos
"The fix the president has instituted is rather ingenious. More importantly it immediately ensured that Congress, the insurance companies, and the American citizens absorb responsibility for the solution."

Conservatives Confident America Rejecting Obamacare, Ready for Every-Man-for-Himself Care (Jonathan Chait) from New York Magazine 
"The Republican plan is to move as many people as possible from the kind of insurance they like to the kind of insurance they hate. Obama's plan is to make unpopular individual health insurance more like the popular employer-based health insurance, with lots of cross-subsidies from healthy to sick. The conservative plans propose to make popular employer insurance more like the unpopular individual market."

The GOP's Unhealthy Bias Against Obamacare (Norm Ornstein) from National Journal
"The Republican frenzy to trash the law has nothing to do with its fundamental purpose: providing health care to those who need it most. ... For every unfortunate story now of an individual losing his or her existing plan—each of whom will get replacement coverage, albeit some with higher costs—there are stories of those who discovered after it was too late that the coverage was not there when they needed it, or was canceled because of a real or imagined preexisting condition."

Tea Party Group Will Primary 87 Republican “Traitors” from Buzzfeed 
"The Tea Party Leadership Fund is hoping to find “credible challengers” to any Republican who voted for the shutdown deal in October. At the top of the list: House Speaker John Boehner."

SLEEP NUGGET!!
7 Surprising Reasons You Wake Up Tired (Melanie Haiken) from Caring.com 
"When you can't sleep, you know it. But what about when you can, yet you wake up feeling tired and achy or you're groggy again a few hours later? What's that about?"

PRESIDENTIAL BOOK REVIEW NUGGET!!
Heroes and Crusaders: Doris Kearns Goodwin’s ‘Bully Pulpit’ from the New York Times
"If you find the grubby spectacle of today’s Washington cause for shame and despair — and, really, how could you not? — then I suggest you turn off the TV and board Doris Kearns Goodwin’s latest time machine. Let her transport you back to the turn of the 20th century, to a time when this country had politicians of stature and conscience, when the public believed that government could right great wrongs, when, before truncated attention spans, a 50,000-word exposé of corruption could sell out magazines and galvanize a reluctant Congress."

MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL NUGGET!!
Braves Leave Atlanta — And Fans — Behind (Jonathan Mahler) from the National Memo
"The real surprise isn’t that a sports team that doesn’t need a new stadium is getting one, or even that a county that can’t afford to pay teachers is planning to spend $300 million subsidizing a $629 million professional baseball franchise. It’s that a Major League team wants to move to the suburbs, which goes against pretty much everything we have learned since Camden Yards opened in downtown Baltimore in 1992, leading baseball back into the heart of America’s cities."

ODD CHINESE CULTURE NUGGET!!
Benedict Cumberbatch Is a Gay Erotic God in China from Foreign Policy Magazine
"Why is the Chinese Internet obsessed with writing gay Sherlock Holmes fanfiction?"

News Nuggets 1334

DAYLEE PICTURE:  A Black Bear Cub in the Wyoming Rocky Mountains.  

From the Daily Mail of the UK.

Medicaid is Health Overhaul's Early Success Story from the Associated Press
"The ugly duckling of government health care programs has turned into a rare early success story for President Barack Obama's technologically challenged health overhaul. Often criticized for byzantine rules and skimpy payments, Medicaid has signed up 444,000 people in 10 states in the six weeks since open enrollment began, according to Avalere Health, a market analysis firm."
Daily Kos does some good analysis of this issue HERE.

Longer School Days in Store for Children in Five States... and Why They Might Actually LIKE it from the Associated Press
"Extra hours will be used to study world cultures, healthy living, foreign languages, fitness.  The average school day in the U.S. is 6.7 hours.  Around 300 extra hours per year will be added in the 2014-15 schedule."

What Typhoon Haiyan Tells Us About Obamacare (Matt Miller) from the Washington Post
"If you feel it’s urgent to help the victims of Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines, then deep in your heart you also support Obamacare. It’s possible you haven’t made this connection yet, so let me explain."

What the Obamacare Enrollment Numbers Really Tell Us (Greg Sargent) from the Washington Post
"That confirms two things we’ve long known to be true: the website is a disaster, and short term enrollment figures are a serious political problem for the White House and Democrats. But to Larry Levitt, a vice president at the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation, another very telling number is this one: over 975,000 have been determined eligible for a marketplace but haven’t yet chosen a plan."

Obamacare is in Much More Trouble than it was One Week Ago (Ezra Klein) from the Washington Post
Klein lays out clearly the danger in "quick fixes" that are currently floating around Congress right now.  Can Obama et al., stave off these efforts and yet keep the public engaged?  
"The bill Landrieu is offering could really harm the law. It would mean millions of people who would've left the individual insurance market and gone to the exchanges will stay right where they are. Assuming those people skew younger, healthier, and richer -- and they do -- Obamacare's premiums will rise."

The New Politics of Evasion (William A. Galston & Elaine C. Kamarck) from Democracy Journal
"New thinking and favorable demography have largely addressed the Democrats’ old problems. Now it’s the Republicans who can’t face reality."

Four Years Later, the Tea Party has Learned Nothing (Jonathan Bernstein) from Salon
"After a few election cycles, they’re no longer a new entity. Yet, they haven’t grown at all – and that’s by design."

Tea Party Shocker: Even Right-wingers Become Liberals when They Turn Off Fox News (Paul Rosenberg) from Salon
"America's center is to the left, and even Tea Partyers are liberals when they turn off Rush and learn real facts."

How to Rain on the Chris Christie 2016 Parade (Ana Marie Cox) from the Guardian [of the UK]
"The New Jersey governor's re-election win has exacerbated hype about a GOP presidential nod. Let me burst the bubble."

The Jeb Bush Boomlet (Ben White) from Politico
"But there is growing chatter in elite New York financial circles that former Florida Governor Jeb Bush is giving more serious consideration to getting in the race, especially if it appears at any point that Christie is not drawing big national appeal beyond the northeast. Several plugged in GOP sources said Bush has moved from almost certainly staying out to a 30 percent chance of getting in. The “70/30” odds pop up in so many conversations they almost seem like circulated talking points."
"New York financial circles" -- where else?  If the Bush people are floating this trial balloon now, the odds are probably more like 50/50 that he's going to run.  As regular readers know, I have long viewed Jeb as the most serious threat to Hillary in 2016.  He has none of the northeastern taint of people like Romney and Christie and has been exceptionally disciplined in not giving offense to the Tea Party & evangelical wings of the GOP.  At the same time, he and Christie will be competing for many of the same more "moderate" primary voters in 2016 and could easily divide that vote, creating an opening for folks like Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio.  Either way, Jeb will need a lot more love from folks outside the "financial circles" to really make a go of it in three years.

HOLLYWOOD NUGGET!!
Netflix and Marvel’s ‘Luke Cage’ and a Brief History of Black Superheroes (Chancellor Agard) from the Daily Beast
"Was Shaquille O’Neal’s turn in the ’90s dud ‘Steel’ really one of the only superhero movies with a lead black character? Get ready for Netflix and Marvel’s ‘Luke Cage’ TV show."

WOLRD WAR II LETTERS NUGGET!!
Daughter pieces together the dramatic untold story of her parents' young love during WWII in 1,000 letters her father wrote from the warfront from the Daily Mail [of the UK]
"Arizona retiree Jane Bartow was shocked to find the reams of emotional letters her father sent her mother while the war kept them apart between 1941 and 1945.  She believes her deeply private father Darrow Beaton, who was in the Merchant Marines, accidentally included the letters in a box of photos he sent her before his death in 2008.  'He remembered kissing her in the snow that first night they met': Bartow has turned the amazing story of her parents' tragic separation and triumphant reunion into an historical novel about love during wartime."

PREHISTORIC CREATURES NUGGET!!
The Secrets of the Woolly Mammoth Brain to be Revealed after 39,000 Years from the Daily Mail [of the UK]
"The remains of 10-year-old Yuka were discovered in Siberia in 2009 and offers one the most complete example of a woolly mammoth brain ever found Researchers are now carrying out a full-scale mapping exercise in bid to significantly boost our knowledge about the mysterious species."

News Nuggets 1333

DAYLEE PICTURE: A Giant Orange Grasshopper in Naples, Florida.  From Smithsonian Magazine.

A Doable Iran Deal (Roger Cohen) from the New York Times
"There will not be a better opportunity to put Iranian nuclear capacity in a box and begin to repair relations."

How France Scuttled The Iran Deal at the Last Minute (Colum Lynch, Yochi Dreazen) from Foreign Policy Magazine
"The socialist government of French President François Hollande has adopted a muscular foreign policy that has put it to the right of the Obama administration on Libya, Mali, Syria and now Iran. Along the way, it has also become Israel's primary European ally and -- after the U.S. -- arguably its closest friend in the world."

U.S. Marines Bringing Typhoon Aid to Philippine Shores from Time Magazine
"The Filipino government ordered the U.S. Navy out of Subic Bay in 1991, nearly a century after the U.S. captured the islands from Spain (the eruption of Mount Pinatubo forced the closure of Clark earlier that same year). Last year, Manila said the U.S. military could return to Subic and Clark. Regardless of that history, the U.S. military was the most visible sign of international aid following Mother Nature’s carnage."

The Country is Doing Better than You Think (Eugene Robinson) from the Washington Post
"The economy is growing much more quickly than expected. Inflation is basically nonexistent. The federal budget deficit has been slashed dramatically. The stock market is reaching all-time highs. One of our long-running wars is over, and the other is winding down. The status of the United States as the world’s preeminent economic and military power is unchallenged. So why is everyone so depressed?"

Which of the 11 American Nations Do You Live In? from the Washington Post 
"Red states and blue states? Flyover country and the coasts? How simplistic. Colin Woodard, a reporter at the Portland Press Herald and author of several books, says North America can be broken neatly into 11 separate nation-states, where dominant cultures explain our voting behaviors and attitudes toward everything from social issues to the role of government."

Washington: A World Apart from the Washington Post
"This map highlights in yellow the nation's Super Zips — those ranking highest on income and college education. The largest collection of Super Zips is around Washington, D.C. Learn more about this metric."

Don’t Believe the Chris Christie Hype—Look at His Economic Record (Dean Obeidallah) from the Daily Beast
"In 2016, the New Jersey governor won’t be running against an unknown, underfunded opponent—but a GOP primary field keen to pounce on his economic failings, from unemployment to taxes."

How the Tea Party’s Apocalyptic Politics Are Destroying the Republican Party (Joe McLean) from the Daily Beast
"Leaders of the Tea Party are willing to wreck the Republican Party, the government, and the economy to prove that Obama is evil and God is on their side."

Elections Embolden Both GOP Establishment and the Tea Party (Chris Cillizza) from the Washington Post
"The end result is that both sides of the GOP argument live to fight another day, each emboldened by the election in its own way. That “next day” will be in a series of Republican Senate primaries over the first seven months of 2014. The first — and most telling — will be in Kentucky, ..."

GOP Flailing Against the Tide (Juan Williams) from The Hill
"McAuliffe’s campaign hit Cucinelli early and hard on his opposition to abortion even in cases of rape and incest. “He’s focused on his agenda, not us,” was the phrase repeated in advertising painting the Republican as a threat to abortion rights in Virginia. The result was that McAuliffe won 67 percent of the votes of single women."

Virginia, New Jersey, and 2016: is the Tea Party Breaking? (Dante Atkins) from Daily Kos
"... an overwhelming victory in a Northern blue state by someone who had literally embraced the president; a defeat in a Southern purple state by a hardcore conservative to an uninspiring Democrat in an off-year election; and a primary victory in a solid-red district by an establishment
Republican against an insurgent conservative birther. Seems like the tea party crowd would be chastened, right? Wrong..."

Christie’s Tea-Party Problem (Richard Cohen) from the Washington Post 
"Cruz the younger is not merely tea party to the nth degree, he is a Christian conservative as well — and for 22 percent of Iowa’s “likely 2016 caucusgoers,” polled by the Des Moines Register, that’s who they think stands the best chance of winning the presidency."

There's Absolutely No Chance Elizabeth Warren Beats Hillary Clinton (Jamelle Bouie) from the Daily Beast
"The Massachusetts senator is popular, but she's not nearly popular enough to topple one of the most beloved and formidable figures in the Democratic Party."
This story is based on a column by Noam Scheiber at the New Republic:(Hillary's Nightmare? A Democratic Party That Realizes Its Soul Lies With Elizabeth Warren) which has received a surprising amount of play inside the beltway.  I am of at least two minds on this subject: first, that if Hillary wants to run, Elizabeth Warren would not only be foolish to run against her but that the Clinton machine would snuff Warren's campaign out like a wet cigarette.  The Clintons are FAR more in tune with the "soul" of the Democratic Party (and its donors and big players) than Hillary was in 2008.  In '08, Hillary was out of sync with so much of the Democratic base that it created a clear opening for someone like Obama.  I see no such opening at least as of now.  Millions of voters and Democratic activists (myself included) have a surplus of good will to Hillary for being a pro back in '08 and for joining Obama's cabinet and working her pantsuits off as Secretary of State and for NOT being a sidelines sour grape -- which she EASILY could have been!  Warren, in contrast, has the love of the most progressive wing of the Democratic Party -- and that's it.  I don't believe Warren would seriously undercut Hillary's support among women, and the African American wing of the party hardly knows Warren at all.  Hillary's worst nightmare is NOT Warren running against her in 2016.  No -- and this brings me to the "other mind" that I have on this subject: Hillary's worst nightmare is if she runs as bad a campaign in 2016 as she did in '08.  Not only was her message out of tune with the party then, her early "coronation" approach to the primaries was dumb and even offensive. It is encouraging that '08 campaign boneheads like Mark Penn, Terry McAuliff and Harold Ickes no longer seem part of the Clinton "brain trust" as it is currently constituted.  At the core of her problem though then (as it has been for the Clintons since 1992) has been an extraordinary propensity for self-inflicted wounds.  Let's be blunt.  Bill and Hillary's worst enemies are ... Bill and Hillary.  They shoot themselves in the foot SO MANY TIMES their campaign symbol should be the centipede, a creature with feet to spare. For a full rundown of this political gunplay back in the day, see my rant on this subject from March of this year.  Will Hillary be able to run a campaign in 2016 that is relatively "clean" of scandal?  Hillary did this when she ran for the Senate in 2000.  Will she be able to run a competent campaign that is relatively scandal-free in 2016?  More than any other factors, it is these questions that will determine whether there is an opening for Warren or anyone else.

BOATING NUGGET!!
A Bond Villain Lair? No, this Strange Boat is a Floating Lab that Will Help Marine Biologists Unlock the Secrets of the World's Oceans from the Daily Mail [of the UK]
"Construction on the marine research facility called SeaOrbiter is due to start by May 2014.  Two-thirds of the 170-ft tall vessel will sit underwater to give it buoyancy and offer a direct line of sight to the ocean.  Between 18 and 22 marine biologists will be able to study ecosystems and fish levels on board at any one time.  The French-designed craft weighs 1,000 tonnes and will be powered by wind, wave and solar energy."

News Nuggets 1332

DAYLEE PICTURE:  Myrtle Falls at Mount Ranier in 

Washington state.  From the Smithsonian.

UP-FRONT OBAMACARE NUGGET!!
New Obama Admin Rule: Mental Illness, Addictions Must Be Covered Same As Physical Disease from Talking Points Memo
"It's final: Health insurance companies must cover mental illness and substance abuse just as they cover physical diseases. The Obama administration issued new regulations Friday that spell out how a 5-year-old mental health parity law will be administered."
Now -- it's interesting.  Maybe I missed something but neither the NY Times nor the Washington Post, CBS, ABC etc., had this as a major story.  AND YET, this is far and away the biggest news of the week (if not longer) on Obamacare.  Long after the program's website issues are resolved, tens of millions of people will be impacted by this decision!!  

Right Wing's Surge in Europe Has the Establishment Rattled from the New York Times
"All over Europe, established political forces are losing ground to grass-roots insurgents fired by resentment against a governing class many see as out of touch."

Former '60 Minutes' Producer: Discredited Benghazi Story Was Done To Appeal To Conservatives from Talking Points Memo
""My concern is that the story was done very pointedly to appeal to a more conservative audience's beliefs about what happened at Benghazi," Mary Mapes told Media Matters. "They appear to have done that story to appeal specifically to a politically conservative audience that is obsessed with Benghazi and believes that Benghazi was much more than a tragedy.""
It is for reasons such as this that I stopped looking to network news for news.  The reporting isn't just terrible, producers and editors are so concerned about ratings and being accused of "liberal bias," they do their own version of "unskewing" the news.

Obama’s Crucial Six Months (Andrew Sullivan) from the Daily Dish
"... the odds of the core of this law surviving – particularly the principle of universal coverage and the end of denials of insurance for pre-existing conditions – are solid. It may well need further reform, but it has created a framework for both Republican reform (if they can get out of their ideological mania) and even, perhaps, a single-payer system, if the Democrats want to move left. It’s messy, its future could go in several directions, but it’s now entrenched."

Why I (Still) Support Obamacare (Thomas L. Friedman) from the New York Times
"In a world where middle-class work is in transition, we need a strong health care safety net."

In Shift, GOP Wants ObamaCare Fix from The Hill
"The GOP wants to rebuild its political capital and public credibility by solving ObamaCare’s implementation problems. This pivot comes after Republicans took major hits in polls following the government shutdown."
This is actually quite encouraging!  If they can get GOP governors to get with the program and for lawmakers to actually generate legislative fixes where they are required, this could be significant.  We'll see.

The GOP Still Hasn't Figured Out How to Get On With the Tea Party (Charlie Cook) form the National Journal
"Tuesday's election results ensure that the battle over the faction's role in Republican politics will rage on. ...  the fact that Cuccinelli could win the independent vote by 9 percentage points yet lose the election by 3 points is a reminder that the gap between self-identified Democrats and self-identified Republicans is getting so wide that, in many races, winning the independent vote isn't enough for a Republican candidate to bridge the gap."

The Grand Old Tea Party: Why Today's Wacko Birds are Just Like Yesterday's Wingnuts (Rick Perlstein) from the Nation
"At first the Republican establishment, thrilled to have the Democrats on the run, puts its wariness about the fire-breathers aside. Within a few years, though, the new guys throw out all the old rules of consensus and compromise, and the establishment shows signs of buyer’s remorse. One of the new conservatives, a bulky, take-no-prisoners senator who sees socialist quislings everywhere, takes control of the agenda and threatens to drive the GOP into the ground.  But this is not 2008 or 2013. It’s the late 1940s and early 1950s, and the senator is not Ted Cruz but Joseph McCarthy."

GOP Super PACs Gear up to Fight Tea Party from Politico
"“The prime targets for this sort of a strategy are incumbents that expect a primary election challenge,” said Charlie Spies, the co-founder of Restore Our Future, which spent more than $140 million to support Mitt Romney."

After Mental Illness, an Up and Down Life (Lee Gutkind) from the New York Times
"Twenty years ago, I wrote a book about two troubled children. What happened to them?"

The Sex Toys in the Attic (Joyce Wadler) from the New York Times
"For the sake of your executors, throw them out. Now."

DEMOGRAPHY-HISTORY NUGGET!!
Which of the 11 American Nations Do You Live In? The Map that Shows how the U.S. was Divided into Separate Cultures as Settlers Spread West from the Daily Mail [of the UK]
Journalist Colin Woodard says the United States is actually made up of 11 culturally distinct nation-states.  Each state evolved according to the colonial force that established it.  Rather than merge, these 11 nations are becoming even more discrete, with like-minded communities reinforcing prevailing political, religious and cultural attitudes."

News Nuggets 1331

DAYLEE PICTURE:  A snowy landscape in Japan.  From National Geographic.

America Shifts Left (E.J. Dionne) from Real Clear Politics
"The center of gravity in American politics moved left in Tuesday's off-year elections. Republicans took a big step back from the tea party. An ebullient progressive was elected mayor of New York City. And a Democrat was elected governor of Virginia after campaigning unapologetically as a supporter of gun control and a liberal on social issues."

Why There's Doubt About a College Education from the National Journal 
"Those contrasting responses from Parkinson, who is white, and Stathas, who is Hispanic, point to one of the most intriguing findings in a new College Board/National Journal Next America Poll. While minorities worry more than whites about affording the cost of higher education, they are more likely to see a payoff from the investment for themselves and for the country overall."

For Uninsured, Clearing a Way to Enrollment from the New York Times 
"She had a painful lump on the back of her hand and other health problems that worried her deeply, she said, but had been unable to afford insurance as a home health care worker who earns $9 an hour. Within a minute, the system checked her information and flashed its conclusion on Ms. Cauley’s laptop: eligible for Medicaid. The woman began to weep with relief. Without insurance, she said as she left, “it’s cheaper to die.”"

GOP 2016 Hopefuls Swipe Chris Christie After Blowout Victory from Talking Points Memo
"Republican presidential hopefuls are worried about Chris Christie. The governor barely had time to take a victory lap before potential 2016 contenders rushed to downplay his crushing re-election victory Tuesday night, taking veiled -- but unmistakable -- swipes at the pugnacious New Jerseyan while "congratulating" him. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) managed to insert three backhanded punches in three short sentences."

How the GOP Establishment Tea-Partied the Tea Party (Molly Ball) from the Atlantic
"After years of trying to accommodate conservatives, mainstream Republicans finally went to war on Tuesday—and won."

Chris Christie Is No George W. Bush, and 2016 Is Definitely Not 2000 (Peter Beinart) from the Daily Beast
"After his landslide win, the N.J. governor’s being called the next Dubya. But Christie lacks Bush’s connection with the base—and the demographics have shifted dramatically since 2000."

The Pundits Are Wrong. The Virginia Election Was a Big Win for Obamacare (Alex MacGillis) from the New Republic
"Last night, the prospects for Robin L. and the estimated 400,000
Virginians who would be eligible under a Medicaid expansion brightened considerably. The gubernatorial election was won by Terry McAuliffe, who made the Medicaid expansion such a central part of his campaign that for a time he was even threatening to shut down the state government unless legislators included it in their budget."

Close Result in Va. Governor’s Race Hardens GOP Divisions from the Washington Post
"Gov.-elect Terry McAuliffe’s unexpectedly slim victory in Virginia set off an explosion of recriminations among Republicans on Wednesday, and rather than settling the battle between the GOP’s tea party and business factions, the election appears to have deepened the internal divide."

Virginia Triggers GOP Circular Firing Squad from Politico
"These opposite scenarios, both eminently plausible, have left virtually every Republican mad at some other Republican about what happened Tuesday in the Old Dominion."

Why Obamacare Numbers Don't Really Matter (Sam Baker) from the National Journal
"... simply knowing the number of people who have signed up—even though that’s the number everyone has been clamoring for—isn’t very instructive, health care experts say. “It just doesn’t tell you the real story,” said Austin Frakt, a health care economist at Boston University. For starters, the number is sure to be small."

GOP’s Latest, Desperate Obamacare Strategy: Try to Confuse Americans! (Brian Beutler) from Salon
"Rather than field inquiries or provide constituents with information, Republicans want them mixed up by Obamacare."

Poll Finds Anger At Congress Hasn't Died Away Since Shutdown Ended from the Huffington Post
"Americans who identified their representative as a Republican said that lawmaker did not deserve reelection by a 56 percent to 29 percent margin. Those who identified their representative as a Democrat agreed by a 49 percent to 29 percent margin."

G.O.P. Weighs Limiting Clout of Right Wing from the New York Times 
"Leaders of the Republican establishment are pushing their party to rethink how it chooses nominees and advocating changes they say would result in less extreme contenders."
There is a certain unreality to this and similar analyses.  The Right Wing IS the core of the Republican Party ... and the idea that these folks will be sidelined anytime soon is (in my view) unrealistic.  Even IF they are successful in nominating "moderates" in next year's primaries, will the core really show up in November (both as voters and campaign volunteers)?  We shall see.

Republicans Debate: Conventions or Primaries? (Alex Rogers) from Time Magazine
"Several top national GOP figures tell TIME they believe that primaries should be used in intra-party contests, rather than caucuses, because primaries generally require less time and attract higher turnout,
broadening the base and downplaying the influence of party extremists."

Jason Carter, Jimmy Carter's Grandson, To Run For Georgia Governor from the Huffington Post
"Carter's decision shakes up the 2014 race. Republican Gov. Nathan Deal already faces two primary opponents and now will deal with the prospect of a Carter campaign that will likely be well-financed."

URBAN DECAY PHOTO NUGGET!!
An Urban Explorer's Holiday Album: Traveller Who Spends his Free Time Visiting Abandoned Buildings Around the World from the Daily Mail [of the UK]  
"Photographer Dan Marbaix has travelled around the world to capture some of the most beautiful abandoned buildings.  The urban explorer has been arrested 20 times and even held at gunpoint when found trespassing."

News Nuggets 1330

DAYLEE PICTURE: The Torres del Paine mountains in Chile.  From National Geographic.

UP-FRONT DUMB PIRATE LEADER NUGGET!!
The Rise and Fall of Somalia’s Pirate King from Foreign Policy Magazine 
"Expecting to consult on a movie based on his life as a seafaring bandit, Afweyne and his associate were instead arrested by Belgian police and charged with the crimes of piracy and hostage taking. The two men had fallen for a hard-to-believe, reverse-Argo ruse -- a months-long sting operation set in motion to catch the mastermind behind the 2009 hijacking and ransom of the Belgian-owned dredging vessel Pompei."

Too Big to Breathe? (Thomas Friedman) from the New York Times
"What good are all the benefits achieved in rapid economic growth if China becomes too polluted a place to live?"

Neo-Nationalist Violence Targets Central Asians In Russia (Anna Nemtsova) from the Daily Beast
"Thousands of Russian fascists and nationalists marched in the capital for National Unity Day, shouting anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant obscenities and flashing the ‘Heil Hitler’ salute."

The Growing Battle Over Transgender Student Rights in California from Rolling Stone Magazine
"Anti-discrimination bill's supporters remain optimistic despite right-wing efforts to repeal the law."

The South And Gays (Andrew Sullivan) from the Daily Dish
"Marriage equality is fast gaining support in … South Carolina ...  So I’m not too surprised by anecdotal evidence of peer-to-peer toleration, even if the public debate at the elite level is still so harsh. But then I think that goes for the whole debate: the political leadership is way behind the popular shift."

The Ghost of George Zimmerman Haunts a Gun Debate in Sanford, Florida (Jacqui Goddard) from the Daily Beast
"The community where Trayvon Martin was shot 20 months ago gathered for a loaded debate on gun rules for Neighborhood Watch volunteers. Yet Zimmerman wasn't mentioned once."

You Will be Shocked at How Ignorant Americans Are (Joan Walsh) from Salon
"What Americans don't know and don't understand is an obstacle to progress. ... Two-thirds of Americans live in an information underclass as journalistically impoverished as the minuscule bazillionaire class is triumphant."

Six Takeaways from Election Night 2013 (Chris Cillizza and Aaron Blake) from the Washington Post
"Terry McAuliffe is the next governor of Virginia. Chris Christie has won a historic reelection victory in New Jersey.  Now comes our favorite part of elections — sorting through the data!"

Christie Cements Status as Party Leader with Blowout Reelection from The Hill
"If he runs, Christie is expected to make the case that he'd be the most electable Republican in a crowded GOP primary, an argument his advisers believe will resonate with a party sick of losing key demographic groups like women and minorities."
My response to this headline: no way.  Maybe I am deluding myself -- but this headline strikes me as classic "beltway bubble speak", the kind of analysis that says more about reporting and the DC beltway culture than what is REALLY going on.  Not six months ago, Christie was not even invited to the first big post-election conservative values voters conference.  Will evangelical voters be impressed by his victory in New Jersey?  Among evangelical voters, Christie is anathema, another Mayor Guliani-type figure.  Does anyone genuinely think Christie can win in Iowa or Nevada or North Carolina, three of the four earliest nominating contests in 2016?!  Looking back at 2012, Romney himself and his family at least lived something that echoed evangelical values and he got well enough ahead of the pro-life change of heart that he could have some credibility among these voters.  I just don't see it in Christie who, if anything, is in all regards to the left of Romney!  In the current brawl that is shaping up in the GOP for next year, the only way Christie wins the nomination in 2016 is if the Tea Party and evangelical wings of the party are completely routed somehow between now and then.  Far more likely it is that the moderates will be the ones fleeing for the hills.  As Marco Rubio.  Or, on the broader issue, look to Jonathan Chait's column from today.

Four Problems With Chris Christie 2016 (Jonathan Chait) from New York Magazine
"Shepherding Christie through a competitive Republican primary will be vastly more difficult than anybody seems to be figuring at the moment. Four basic, interrelated problems stand between Christie and the 2016 nomination:..."

In G.O.P., a Campaign Takes Aim at Tea Party from the New York Times 
"Open warfare is breaking out among rival Republican groups, with one, Main Street Advocacy, set to start an ad campaign on Wednesday that blames conservative groups like the Tea Party for the recent series of political losses in critical elections across the United States."

In Shift, GOP Vows to Fight for More Electable Candidates in Senate Primaries (Kasie Hunt) from NBC News
"Amid the ongoing war within the GOP, the Senate Republicans' campaign arm is signaling a more aggressive approach in trying to get its favored candidates through contentious primaries in 2014. ... The approach is a switch from previous cycles, when the NRSC has stayed out of open contested primaries. A number of hard-line conservative candidates won primaries in 2010 and 2012 but went on to lose general elections."

Can American Conservatism Be Saved? (Andrew Sullivan) from the Daily Dish 
"... the key to a more productively conservative defense of tradition is, it seems to me, a civility in making the case and an alertness to the occasional, contingent need for genuine reform, as social problems emerge in a changing society. Today’s Republicanism is, in contrast, absolutist, ideological, fundamentalist and angry."

House Leader Accidentally Admits GOP Has No Interest In Governing from the Huffington Post
"As chairman of the powerful House Rules Committee, Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Texas) plays an integral role in determining exactly how productive Congress can be in passing legislation. In an interview with Roll Call published Tuesday, however, the nine-term Republican admitted that the GOP's primary interests aren't even in the chamber it controls. ""Everything we do in this body should be about messaging to win back the Senate,” Sessions said. “That’s it.""

The Legacy of John F. Kennedy (Alan Brinkley) from the Atlantic
"Historians tend to rate JFK as a good president, not a great one. But Americans consistently give him the highest approval rating of any president since Franklin D. Roosevelt. Why?"

POLAR BEAR NUGGET [of a sort]!!
Inside the Polar Bear Prison: Forget Death Row. The Scariest Inmates in the World are Behind Bars (on Starvation Rations) in the Terrified Town Where They Outnumber People from the Daily Mail [of the UK]
World's only prison for polar bears is located in former aircraft storage hangar in the remote northern Canada town of Churchill, Manitoba.  Animals flood the town at this time of year because it is located on their winter migration route north up Hudson Bay.  In October and November the number of polar bears passing through the area outnumbers Churchill's population of 800 humans.

LOOTED ART NUGGETS!!
German Officials Provide Details on Looted Art from the New York Times 
"The first glimpse of the collection brought astonishment but also anger and the initial stirrings of what will likely be a long battle over who owns the works."

In a Rediscovered Trove of Art, a Triumph Over the Nazis' Will from the New York Times
"A horde of art missing since the Nazi era yields lessons about the vagaries of survival."

ITALIAN PHOTO NUGGET!!
Amazing images from Burano, Italy from the Daily Mail [of the UK]

News Nuggets 1329

DAYLEE PICTURE: Greenhouses on the Almira Peninsula in Spain.  From the Daily Mail of the UK.

UP-FRONT COLD WAR HISTORY NUGGET!!
How a War Game Brought the World to the Brink of Nuclear Disaster from the Guardian [of the UK]
"Chilling new evidence that Britain and America came close to provoking the Soviet Union into launching a nuclear attack has emerged in former classified documents written at the height of the cold war. Cabinet memos and briefing papers released under the Freedom of Information Act reveal that a major war games exercise, Operation Able Art, conducted in November 1983 by the US and its Nato allies was so realistic it made the Russians believe that a nuclear strike on its territory was a real possibility."

MUST-READ OBAMACARE NUGGET!!
Kentucky's Obamacare Website Works, But Word Of Mouth Is What Sells It from the Huffington Post
Prediction: this article gives some sense of how it will go nationally once the bugs are worked out of the national website.
"“I’ve not had insurance for so long,” Cates says. “I didn’t get my hopes up." After logging out of Kynect, she says she decided that Obamacare was "just too good to be true.” It was not a statement of relief, but an expression of profound skepticism. ... Kentucky has some 640,000 uninsured residents. Many have put aside whatever reservations they may have harbored toward President Barack Obama or Steve Beshear, the state’s Democratic governor, and have enrolled in the state's health exchange or joined the state's Medicaid expansion. More than 1,000 residents have signed up each day since Kynect opened."

More evidence:
Study Suggests Politics of Obamacare Could Shift Against GOP (Greg Sargent) from the Washington Post
“Much of the discussion is now driven by anecdote,” Larry Levitt, a senior vice president at Kaiser, tells me. “There has been a lot of focus on sticker prices. But the fact is that most of the people buying in this market will be eligible for subsidies, and won’t be paying those sticker prices. We’ve lost sight of the people who will benefit from the law. As the website starts to work better, we’ll likely see more anecdotes on the other side.”

Those Depressing Germans (Paul Krugman) from the New York Times
"Treasury was right, and the German reaction was disturbing. For one thing, it was an indicator of the continuing refusal of policy makers in Germany, in Europe more broadly and for that matter around the world to face up to the nature of our economic problems. For another, it demonstrated Germany’s unfortunate tendency to respond to any criticism of its economic policies with cries of victimization."

ENDA Vote: Senate Clears Major Hurdle On Bill Barring LGBT Workplace Discrimination from the Huffington Post
"The Employment Non-Discrimination Act cleared a major Senate hurdle Monday evening, virtually guaranteeing its passage on a final vote later this week."

The Fate of the Humanities from the New York Times
"In the face of tightening budgets and a more competitive job market, some fear that funding for and interest in the humanities may be declining at universities, as students become more focused on future employment. Are these fears justified or exaggerated? Can the study of the humanities thrive at a time of changing needs, or will they be too much of an academic luxury?"

Poll: More Americans Want To Keep Or Expand Obamacare Than Repeal It from Talking Points Memo
"The Kaiser Family Foundation found that 47 percent of Americans want to expand (22 percent) or keep the law (25 percent). Conversely, 37 percent said they wanted to either repeal the law and replace it with some Republican alternative (13 percent) or repeal it without replacing it (24 percent)."

Battleground Poll Says the Dems May Be All Right (Eleanor Clift) from the Daily Beast
"Will the troubled Obamacare rollout hurt Democrats next year? A new poll suggests it won’t—but also suggests the GOP’s demographic winter may still be a ways off."

The GOP’s New Reality (Michael Gerson) from the Washington Post
"Following the recent tea party Tet Offensive — tactically disastrous but symbolically important — the Republican establishment has commenced counterinsurgency operations. ... This vivid turn of phrase — “purity for profit” — captures the main reason Republican leaders are edging away from a strategy of accommodation. The Obama era has unleashed a great deal of genuine populist and libertarian energy. But a good portion of it is being channeled into business and fundraising models that depend on stoking resentment against the GOP itself (at least as currently constituted)."

The Virginia Gubernatorial Race Proves the GOP Is Suicidal (Myra Adams) from the Daily Beast
"Purple Virginia is the closest thing we have to a national test kitchen—and what’s cooking in the governor’s race there smells like another serving of disaster for Republicans."

History’s Progressive Gay Politicians that Paved the Way for Mike Michaud (Brandy Zadrozny) from the Daily Beast
"Maine gubernatorial candidate Mike Michaud confirmed he’s gay earlier this week, and asked, ‘but why should it matter?’ Here are six politicians whose leadership paved the way."

Conservative Parents, Left-Wing Children (Dennis Prager) from Townhall.com via Real Clear Politics
"There is a phenomenon that is rarely commented on but which is as common as it is significant.  For at least two generations, countless conservative parents have seen their adult children reject their core values. ... Virtually every institution outside the home has been captured by people with left-wing values: specifically the media (television and movies) and the schools (first the universities and now high schools)."

Hillary Clinton's Plan to Prevent a Left-Wing Challenger from the New Republic
"... she still faces several challenges, from concerns about her health and age, to a sense among some commentators that she is not in step with the Democratic Party's activist base. The challenge for her, at least in the 2016 primary, will be to prevent an opponent from filling the space on her left flank that Barack Obama captured five years ago."

NUGGETSMAN PODCASTE NUGGET!!
I had the pleasure of being a guest on Lynn Cullen's program last week.  Here is the audio and vidio.

STOLEN ART NUGGET!!
Report of Nazi-Looted Trove Puts Art World in an Uproar from the New York Times
"There was no hint that the older man who called a couple of years back about selling a picture could be sitting on an unimaginable trove of art confiscated or banned by the Nazis. When the proffered work, “Lion Tamer” by the German artist Max Beckmann, was collected, the seller seemed to be a proper gentleman in Munich dispensing with a lone, dusty art gem at the end of his life."

News Nuggets 1328

DAYLEE PICTURE: A koala joey at Taranga Zoo in Sydney, Australia.  From Zooborns.

Getting It Right on Obamacare (David Frum) from the Daily Beast
"I hate to say ‘I told you so,’ but extremist Republicans still don’t understand that their obstruction on health-care reform isn’t helping. Here’s what I have to say to the critics."

Ignore Republican Nihilism. Obamacare is Already Working (Michael Cohen) from the Guardian [of the UK]
"... for all its hiccups, Obamacare is well on its way to transforming how Americans receive healthcare – and almost certainly for the better. For most Americans, Obamacare will mean little evident change. If, like the vast majority of Americans, you receive your insurance through your employer today … you will continue to receive it from them tomorrow. And you will do so with greater security and more flexibility if you leave your job. The real change, however, is on the individual market, which before Obamacare was a godawful mess."

The Obamacare Sabotage Campaign from Politico
"To the undisputed reasons for Obamacare’s rocky rollout — a balky website, muddied White House messaging and sudden sticker shock for individuals forced to buy more expensive health insurance — add a less acknowledged cause: calculated sabotage by Republicans at every step.  That may sound like a left-wing conspiracy theory — and the Obama administration itself is so busy defending the indefensible early failings of its signature program that it has barely tried to make this case. But there is a strong factual basis for such a charge."

The Uproar Over Insurance ‘Cancellation’ Letters (David Firestone) from the New York Times
"Republicans were apparently furious that government would dare intrude on an insurance company’s freedom to offer a terrible product to desperate people. ... Luckily, a comprehensive and affordable insurance policy is no longer a Ferrari; it is now a basic right. In the face of absurd comments and analogies like this one, Ms. Sebelius never lost her cool in three-and-a-half hours of testimony, perhaps because she knows that once the computer problems and the bellowing die down, the country will be far better off."

The GOP Push for Obamacare Repeal is Dead (Jonathan Bernstein) from the Washington Post
"The swirl of daily news now about the Affordable Care Act has increased so much now that the most important development has been overlooked: the Republican position of the last three and a half years, “repeal,” is now 100 percent dead. ... Just in practical terms, implementation of the health law (along with changes that happen over time no matter what the government does) mean that the system-that-was just is no more."

A War on the Poor (Paul Krugman) from the New York Times
"What happened to the Republican Party? It's almost as if the party is solely focused on its hostility to the less fortunate."

Poll: Growing Number of Republicans Dislike GOP from the Wall Street Journal
"October was clearly a cruel month for both President Barack Obama and the Republicans, both of whom saw their images slump to new lows in Wall Street Journal/NBC News polling.  But hidden within the data is a more disturbing reality for the Republican Party. Put simply, Democrats are largely content with their own party, while distaste among Republicans for the GOP has grown exponentially this year."

Republican Campaign Committee Pushes Back Against Conservative Group from the New York Times
"In a warning shot to outside conservative groups, the National Republican Senatorial Committee this week informed a prominent Republican advertising firm that it would not receive any contracts with the campaign committee because of its work with a group that targets incumbent Senate
Republicans."

For Dems, 2014 Isn't Looking Bad (Chris Matthews) from MSNBC
"Democrats are still a long shot to take back the House in 2014 but their path to victory is now more realistic than it was prior to the political showdowns we saw this month, thanks to the GOP’s plummeting poll numbers and the dislike for standard bearer Ted Cruz. Chris Matthews has more with Bill Hughes Jr. and Vincent Powers."

House Dems Pull Pages From the Rahm Playbook from Roll Call
"DCCC Chairman Steve Israel has sought to emulate former Chairman Rahm Emanuel with relentless recruitment, an incessant focus on messaging and Emanuel’s aggressive style — minus a few four-letter expletives."

Hillary Clinton Plans To Launch New Project To Empower Women from the Huffington Post
"Hillary Rodham Clinton announced a new initiative Friday called "No Ceilings" to empower women and children around the globe. The project could serve as the basis of a recurring campaign theme if she decides to run for president again."

The Cheneys Will Stop at Nothing to Get Liz Elected to the Senate (Molly Ball) from the Atlantic
"The Wyoming GOP primary campaign is already shaping up to be a scorched-earth affair, demonstrating the kind of senator Liz Cheney would likely be."
In my view, this story isn't so much about the ruthlessness of the Cheneys (although there is no denying that they are ruthless) as it is about the take-no-prisoners mentality of many of GOP primary challengers that are lining up for next year's primary season.

BRITISH MONARCHY BOOK NUGGET!!
The Forgotten Reign of England’s Lesbian Queen (Michael Korda) from the Daily Beast
"The last of the Stuart monarchs ruled England with brilliance and intrigue, likely had an affair with a Churchill ancestor, and made sure her country stayed Protestant. Finally she gets the biography her
remarkable life deserves."

BILL CLINTON NUGGET!!
Bill Clinton On Obama: 'He's Luckier Than A Dog With Two Dicks' from the Huffington Post
"During the 2012 campaign, former President Bill Clinton was amazed that President Barack Obama seemed to be catching break after break, while GOP nominee Mitt Romney seemed to stumble constantly. "He's luckier than a dog with two dicks," Clinton would often tell his pals, according to the new book "Double Down" by journalists Mark Halperin and John Heilemann.  Meanwhile, Clinton thought Romney was a good guy who had fallen into the wrong line of work."