Good morning!
On October 8, 1956, New York Yankees hurler Don Larsen pitched the only perfect game in World Series history. And on this date in 1967, Che Guevara was captured by 1,800 Bolivian troops. He was executed the following day.
Stat of the day: 55 percent — the share of ads for Senate candidates in late August and early September that researchers at the Wesleyan Media Project scored as negative. The WSJ reports that the data reveal a nastier election than either 2010 or 2012.
“The new voter suppression is all this voter confusion” –> The NYT reports that a patchwork of court decisions on Republican voting restrictions has left many voters with no idea what they need to do to cast their ballots.
“One big gun battle” –> That’s how the BBC describes the eastern half of the besieged Syrian town of Kobane, where Kurdish militias have been struggling to hold off an advance by Islamic State fighters. The latest US airstrikes against IS have been “effective,” according to the report. AND: Jake Hess reports for Foreign Policy that the US has both coordinated with, and undercut Kobane’s defenders — a rocky relationship stemming from the latter’s affinity with the PKK, a designated terror group.
Final stretch –> A group of political scientists say that “the fundamentals” bode well for the GOP in November. They forecast that “the GOP could gain a median of 5 or 6 Senate seats and about 14 in the House.” Republicans need six Senate seats to take control of the chamber. Daniel Strauss reports for TPM.
Not all campaign dollars are equal –> At the NYT, Lynn Vavreck looks at some long-established poli-science research that shows “on average, the more challengers spend, the more they win,” but “the more incumbents spend, the more likely they are to lose.”
Fearmongering is working –> A Pew study this week finds that a third of respondents say they’re “worried” or “very worried” that they or a family member will contract Ebola. Media sensationalism has likely played a role. The good news is that most people are confident in the government’s ability to contain the virus. ALSO: According to the Dallas CBS station, residents of the neighborhood where “Patient Zero” was staying say they’re being denied jobs and turned away from retail stores.
“The nation’s shame” –> Andrea Jones at Rolling Stone writes: “For decades, lawyers, scholars and judges have criticized mandatory drug sentencing as oppressive and ineffective. Yet tens of thousands of nonviolent offenders continue to languish behind bars.”
#Lawsuit –> Twitter is suing the government, claiming that its “ability to speak has been restricted by laws that prohibit and even criminalize a service provider like us from disclosing the exact number of national security letters and Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act court orders received.”
Post-racial –> Some St. Louis Cardinals fans chanted “Africa! Africa!” — among other nasty things — at US citizens from Ferguson, Missouri, who were protesting the shooting death of unarmed teen Michael Brown. Tom Ley has the lowlights at Deadspin. AND: A federal judge ruled on Monday that police in Ferguson had violated the Constitution when they told protesters that they couldn’t stand still and had to continue marching — or face arrest. ALSO: Reuters has an exclusive report on the preparations local law enforcement, working with the FBI, are making for potential riots if Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson is exonerated by a grand jury.
Related –> Two NYPD officers may face criminal charges for beating a suspected small-time marijuana dealer after he put his hands up in an attempt to surrender. One officer allegedly smashed the suspect in the face with his gun. The incident was captured by a surveillance camera, and the footage was obtained by DNAInfo.
School for chimps? –> While scientists have long understood that chimpanzees learn by observing other chimps’ behaviors, the process of inventing a new tool and spreading that knowledge to others in the group had never been directly observed until researchers in Uganda caught it happening on tape. Sindya Bhanoo reports for the NYT.
