Good morning! Here are some of the stories we’re reading on kind of a slow news day…
Hunger strike –> Days after thousands of his countrymen were killed by a superstorm, a Filipino UN climate change negotiator begins a hunger strike until a deal can be made. Agence France-Presse via The Progressive. ALSO: CNN has a gripping, minute-by-minute account of how Typhoon Haiyan just crushed the Philippines. ALSO TOO: The Huffington Post on how you can help the survivors.
Obamacare –> At The New Republic, Jonathan Cohn explains that initial enrollment numbers are going to be low. ALSO: Harrold Pollack writes in The Nation that the ACA may yet force cooperative efforts to improve the program between the administration and Republicans — Republicans at the state level, that is. ALSO TOO: Washington Post fact-checker Glenn Kessler runs the numbers and concludes that the ACA will reduce the deficit more than those disastrous sequester cuts.
Dollarocracy –> Ailsa Chang reports for NPR’s All Things Considered on lobbyists literally writing legislation.
Bizarroworld –> John Kerry forced to defend the concept of diplomacy after first round of Iran talks ends without accord. Mark Landler reports for The New York Times.
Rigged, gerrymandered and suppressed –> Tim Dickinson takes a deep dive for Rolling Stone into how the GOP has managed to maintain power even while its core ideological positions lose favor with the public. ALSO: Los Angeles Times poll of Californians suggests that, absent some real change, the strategy is merely delaying the inevitable.
Great #longread –> TAP’s Harold Meyerson on American workers’ 40-year slump during the “age of anxiety.”
Labor –> The New York Times’ Steven Greenhouse on a key case for labor unions heading toward a Supreme Court that’s bent over backwards for big business. ALSO: Salon’s Josh Eidelson reports that Walmart workers in Washington state are striking and Target workers are threatening to join Black Friday actions across the country.
50th –> Marin Cogan reports in National Journal that alternative theorists won’t be welcomed in Dallas for the 50th anniversary of JFK’s assassination. ALSO: David Greenberg writes about Kennnedy’s unapologetic liberalism and conservative attempts to expropriate his legacy in The New Republic.
He-man woman-haters’ club –> Obama nominates a pro-choice feminist to the federal bench, epic freakout ensues on the right. Dana Liebelson reports for Mother Jones.
Bang-bang –> BBC on American Academy of Pediatrics’ study which found that gun violence has tripled in PG-13 movies since 1985.
Stewart versus CBS –> Jon Stewart skewers 60 Minutes’ lame apology for its discredited BENGHAZZI!!! report.
The weird part of the story –> It isn’t that a man’s dog dragged home a human leg, it’s that he figured he wouldn’t bother to call the cops about it.
