Good morning — and happy Friday! On this date in 1931, Al Capone was convicted of tax evasion, and in 1973 the OPEC oil embargo began, setting off a fuel shortage crisis and long lines at gas stations in several Western countries, including the US.
Is the tide turning? –>According to the BBC, “the Islamic State (IS) militant group has been driven out of most of the northern Syrian town of Kobane.” AND: Reuters reports that former Iraqi air force pilots who have joined the Islamic State are training fellow militants to fly three captured Syrian jet fighters.
Six out of seven –> MoJo’s Andy Kroll and Katie Rose Quandt report that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell may be the lawmaker whose relationships with DC lobbyists are the coziest, noting that six of his seven former chiefs of staff have gone on to make fortunes in the influence peddling biz.
Panic –> The media’s sensational Ebola reporting is causing people to panic needlessly. At TNR, Claire Groden looks at a few of the more “absurd overreactions.” AND: At The New Yorker, Amy Davidson writes that it’s wrong to blame the nurses who contracted the virus at a Dallas hospital.
“Whiplash” –> Karen Weise at Bloomberg Businessweek writes that a deluge of late-in-the-game judicial rulings over various states’ voting restrictions is sowing confusion just as early voting begins.
Insiders blame Rove –> Earlier this week, the NYT had a blockbuster report that from 2004-2011, the government covered up the fact that US soldiers in Iraq were being wounded by old, discarded chemical weapons. At The Daily Beast, Eli Lake follows up and reports that former White House insiders say Bush political advisor Karl Rove was instrumental in the effort to “let these sleeping dogs lie.”
Work ahead –> At Grist, John Light looks at the White House’s developing strategy to get a global climate deal in place before the end of Obama’s final term.
A record number of eligible voters –> Pew’s Hispanic Trends Project takes an in-depth look at the growing Latino vote.
“Bad news for the news” –> Robert Kaiser sees gloomy days ahead for the news media in a Brookings Institution #longread.
“Western drought to intensify” –> At EcoWatch, Anastasia Pantsios looks at NOAA’s winter forecast, which anticipates no relief for bone-dry Western states. The good news is that another icy “polar vortex” is unlikely.
Not the way it happens in the movies –> In the movies, a young man racing to the hospital with his wife in labor gets an impromptu police escort. In real-world Iowa, they get their tires blown out and are forced to the ground at gunpoint. The NY Daily News has the story.
Insert Wall Street joke here –> Austrian artist Michael Marcovici says that the rats he trained with food pellets to predict foreign currency futures have outperformed their human counterparts. Joe Pinsker has more at The Atlantic.
Good luck with that –> Jon Stewart tries to explain white privilege to Bill O’Reilly — hilarity ensues?
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