Good morning! Here’s some of the stuff we’re reading over our coffee as we rev up for a fine Tuesday…
News flash: people don’t like being blown up –> Two news studies contradict the Obama administration’s claims that its drone program causes little “collateral damage,” and suggest we’re making more enemies than we’re killing. Human Rights Watch’s Letta Taylor writes about one of them in Foreign Policy. The other one is here.
Where are the moderates? –> At The New Republic, conservative writer Tod Lindberg says that Democrats’ charge that the GOP is divided is true, but also helps obscure the fact that the divide is over tactics rather than beliefs.
It’s Healthcare.gov freakout day! –> Everyone’s writing about the website’s problems. At Salon, Brian Buetler says conservatives’ exaggerated criticism of the new exchanges is pretty silly, but liberals shouldn’t downplay the very real problems.
Hey big spender –> Americans are spending — and saving — less of their incomes than they did in 1973, reports Walter Hamilton in the Los Angeles Times.
Good start –> William Grieder writes in The Nation that the $13 billion settlement with JPMorgan is just that — but someone still needs to go to jail.
Cutting SNAP –> Michael Hiltzik writes in the Los Angeles Times that another round of food stamp cuts will hit right before the holidays.
Scandaleux! –> NSA is spying on the French. According to Le Monde, the French don’t seem to care that much.
Dark money for dark energy –> Mother Jones’ Andy Kroll finds that a power company has been stealthily bankrolling an anti-solar energy campaign in Arizona.
Taking a stand –> Ohio’s Republican governor expanding Medicaid over the heated objection of his Republican-led legislature, according to The Columbus Dispatch.
Liberal plant? –> Pope Francis says “ideological Christians” represent a “serious illness” in the church. Eric Dolan reports for The Raw Story.
If a standardized test falls in the woods… –> Washington Heights, New York, school cancels a standardized test for tots after 80 percent of their parents opt out. Via New York Daily News.
Fed up with the troglodytes –> Talking Points Memo: Texas judge quits GOP because he “cannot tolerate a political party that demeans Texans based on their sexual orientation, the color of their skin or their economic status.”
Do we really need two? –> Daily Mail with the story of a 33-year-old Justin Bieber fan who dropped $100,000 on plastic surgery to look like his idol. Ladies: he’s single! (We just assume that’s the case.)
What else? Let us know in the comments!
