Good morning! Here are some of the stories we’re reading on a balmy December morning in NYC…
Court-block –> Charlie Savage and David Sanger report for the NYT that the Obama admin is trying to prevent a California judge from ruling on the constitutionality of NSA surveillance. ALSO: In The Atlantic, Garrett Epps writes that Obama has to rein in the NSA if he cares about his legacy.
They agree it’s a problem –> NYT’s Bill Keller writes that the “left-left” doesn’t understand inequality as well as the “center-left.” AND: Dean Baker argues that just about everything in Keller’s column is wrong.
Beware the next bubble –> Sean McElwee and Lew Daly write at Salon that a “carbon bubble” is forming as energy companies are valued on fossil fuel reserves that they won’t be able to burn.
“Anchoring effect” –> At Slate, Barry Schwartz writes that raising the minimum wage would increase what those higher up the ladder would be paid.
A crisis in charts –> MoJo offers a visual depiction of the worst long-term unemployment crisis since the Great Depression.
Government waste –> Rep. Barbara Lee offers legislation to end federal funding of abstinence-only sex ed.
Covert action –> WaPo’s Dana Priest reports that covert CIA and NSA action in Colombia has decimated the FARC rebel group.
There are leaks and then there are leaks –> Senior government officials leaked details of the raid on Osama bin Laden’s compound to the media. Now the government wants to know who leaked the names of those officials to the media. Marisa Taylor and Jonathan Landay report for McClatchy.
The anti-Koch brothers? –> LAT‘s Evan Halper reports that billionaire Tom Steyer is putting his money to work to combat climate change.
Good question –> The Nation’s Rick Perlstein: “Why is ‘The New Republic’ taking money from an NSA contractor to run defenses of the NSA?”
No wonder there are conspiracy theories –> Bryan Bender reports for the Boston Globe that the government is withholding “troves” of documents related to the JFK assassination.
What are you reading?
