Good morning — and a happy 60th birthday to Jackie Chan! Today is World Health Day so try to do something healthy — do it for the world.
Supreme oligarchy –> In his latest for The Washington Post, E.J. Dionne nicely captures the damage inflicted by the Supreme Court in Citizens United and McCutcheon.
Unearthed –> Mother Jones’ David Corn dug up a 2009 video of Rand Paul saying that Dick Cheney pushed for the invasion of Iraq so that his former company, Halliburton, could rake in big profits.
Climate change denialism –> The journal Frontiers in Psychology published a peer-reviewed study that concluded that people who think climate change is a hoax are more likely to believe in other conspiracy theories as well. But the study was later retracted under legal threats. Elaine McKewon, one of the study’s reviewers, tells the story at The Conversation.
“Tea Party’s great dunce-off” –> That’s the headline on Digby’s Salon piece about Ted Cruz and Rand Paul vying to lead the tea party wing of the GOP. She says that Cruz is winning the contest handily.
So much for Bush v. Clinton in ’16 –> In an interview that’s unlikely to win over GOP primary voters, Jeb Bush said on Sunday that many unauthorized immigrants come to this country as an “act of love” for their families, and deserve our compassion. Ed O’Keefe reports for The Washington Post.
Stealth fix –> At The Daily Beast, Mike Tomasky writes that it’s significant that House Republicans fixed what they saw as a problem with Obamacare — and it’s telling that they did it in such a way that their members didn’t have to take a vote.
Your own opinion and your own facts –> Vox.com’s Ezra Klein looks at research revealing that objective facts really don’t matter in political debates.
Is Charles Koch un-American? –> At the Blog for Our Future, R.J. Eskow gets Thomas Jefferson’s take on the billionaire’s political activism.
Generational class war –> Dean Baker points out at Beat The Press that a big chunk of the very modest problems in Social Security’s finances result from rising inequality, not greedy geezers.
He really said that? –> Michael Hayden, Bush’s head of the NSA and CIA, said that Senate Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Diannne Feinstein was “too emotional” about the CIA torture report. Annie-Rose Strasser reports for ThinkProgress.
Kinder, gentler? –> Isaac Chotiner has a contentious interview with a typically combative Rahm Emanuel — who insists that he’s matured over the years — over at The New Republic.
A happy update –> A couple of weeks ago, we brought you the story of a homeless woman who was charged with two felonies for leaving her kids in her car while she went for a job interview. John Prager reports that $89,000 in donations have since rolled in to help her pay her legal fees and get her family back on their feet.
Grass-roots movements –> At In These Times, Bhaskar Sunkara argues that while Venezuela’s protest movement is a genuine grassroots uprising, people still need to consider “who is mobilizing and what they’re fighting for.”
“Global Warming: Myth or Hoax?” –> So reads the Chyron as “Neil deGrasse Tyson” tries to educate the crew from Fox and Friends in a Saturday Night Live sketch aired this weekend.
