Good morning! (Sorry it’s Monday.) Here are some of the pieces we’re reading this AM at Moyers & Company HQ…
Still shut down…
- Last Thursday, the big headline read, “Boehner Pledges to Avoid Default, Republicans Say.” But after Sunday’s Meet the Press, TPM went with, “Boehner: U.S. is on a Path to Default.”
- A must-read from Sunday’s NYT: Sheryl Gay Stolberg and Mike McIntire look at the months of planning by outside conservative groups that went into forcing this budget crisis.
- Meanwhile, Byron York writes in The Examiner that Republican lawmakers feel that they stumbled into this mess and don’t know how to extricate themselves.
- And Ted Cruz continues to push for linking “significant structural changes” in Obamacare to the debt limit, according to Vicki Needham in The Hill.
- NY Mag’s Jonathan Chait argues that we’ve been lucky to have a stable presidential system, but in today’s hyper-polarized environment the debt limit may be its ultimate undoing.
- On Friday, Ted Yoho, who was a veterinarian before becoming a freshman tea party representative, told the WaPo that breaching the debt limit would be great for global financial markets. This morning, Think Progress’ Bryce Covert compares that claim with what people who aren’t veterinarians or tea party freshmen are saying.
Global perma-war –> While we were focused on our domestic dysfunction, US special forces did their thing in Somalia and Libya over the weekend.
Out of sight, out of mind –> At The Guardian, Daniel Medina wonders why we spend so little time discussing the 46 million Americans living in poverty. ALSO: At WaMo, Kathleen Geier considers the sharp rise in extreme poverty among the nation’s elderly.
Things you kind of knew already –> Antonin Scalia gets his news exclusively from conservative media sources — just one fascinating tidbit from his interview with Jennifer Senior in NYMag. ALSO: Adam Liptak has a look at the court’s deep docket for this session in the NYT.
Health insurance is really complex –> At TAP, Paul Waldman says the conventional wisdom that Obamacare wasn’t sold well to the public is wrong because insurance is just one of those things that people don’t understand.
Did they build that? –> At MoJo, Zaineb Mohammed looks at how decades of government subsidies made Silicon Valley rich.
Listening in –> Russia will monitor “all communications” during the Sochi Olympics, reports Shaun Walker for The Guardian.
Voucher scam –> Stephanie Simon reports for Politico that American taxpayers will shell out $1 billion to subsidize private school tuitions next year, despite the fact that there’s “little evidence” the voucher program improves outcomes.
Another loophole –> At AlterNet, Steve Rosenfeld looks at how easy it is to buy guns if you know you’ll fail a background check.
Post-9/11 mindset –> Nine-year-old boy gets through security in Minneapolis and boards a plane to Vegas. Only problem: he didn’t have a ticket.
The Lost World –> Massive underground cave system — so big, it has its own weather system — “discovered” by team of explorers in remote region of China.
What are you reading? Let us know in the comments!
