Sequester fail
Going back a few days here, and maybe this is not exactly new, but, this Ezra Klein post nicely captures how the FAA vote in congress marks the Democrats officially failing on the sequester politics.
Going back a few days here, and maybe this is not exactly new, but, this Ezra Klein post nicely captures how the FAA vote in congress marks the Democrats officially failing on the sequester politics.
Turns out an Economist article on climate change not necessarily being all that bad doesn't really hold up.
Oh hey there's Facebook on the front page of the Post again. It appears to be a legitimate story, though. [[Facebook flexes political muscle with provision in immigration bill]]
NYT goes A1 today with quite a critical story on prominent Wesleyan alum Majora Carter ("Hero of the Bronx Is Now Accused of Betraying It.")
Haven't listened to it myself. But the left is pushing back hard on This American Life's piece on disability insurance.
This is a big deal. The NYT front-pager today explains the compromise deal, and recounts some of the history of Christine Quinn blocking the legislation, but eventually suffering under the costs of huge pressure and a tremendous campaign for it, and deciding to bargain.
Glenn Greenwald has written previously about how President Obama has taken extreme civil liberties violations, ones that received widespread criticism by liberals under Bush's presidency, and effectively mainstreamed them. What so much of the public once claimed to abhor the public now largely embraces, and this was largely the work of the Obama Administration. There are nuances, yes, but I think Greenwald is basically right about this.
Peter Hart catches the NYT saying:
In the 1980s, Democrats harshly criticized President Ronald Reagan's attempts to arm Nicaraguan rebels.The key word being "attempts" -- because back in reality, Reagan actually did arm the Contras.
The Boston Phoenix announced today that it is ceasing publication.
I said the other week that I was surprised Gretchen Morgenson seemed so optimistic about Mary Jo White, the SEC nominee. Looking back at it, maybe I was over-reading (misreading, I guess) her column, though.
Kind of a big deal. After getting tons of criticism, the Obama Administration's advocacy group for Whatever The President Is For announces they won't be taking corporate donations.
The Washington Post is ending their ombudsman position. The Washington City Paper says: alright, then we are the new ombudsman.
Bill Keller continues his downhill trend, now claiming that Obama campaigned "on poll-tested tax hikes alone." Republican message, yes. What actually happened, no.
In regards to sequester furloughs, such as at Customs and Border Protection, the White House says: "At the nation’s busiest airports, like Newark, JFK, LAX, and Chicago O’Hare, peak wait times could grow to over 4 hours or more."
USAToday and Pew are out with a poll this morning, and there are two main angles they and others are pushing. First, that on several big issues, the public trusts Obama more than Republicans leaders. Ok, good to know. Second, they asked which of those issues is people's top priority. Well, deficit comes in at #1, beating guns, immigration, and climate change! Thus ABC headlines: "Deficit Tops Public’s Priorities."
There's been a lot of "hey protester people, you shouldn't be trying to stop the keystone pipeline, because it's not actually the single biggest climate change issue, and yadda yadda." David Roberts writes the best big picture response.