I can’t believe this has become a real GOP© talking point.
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Ryan wins. Fantasy points!
From here.
“Current Arctic sea ice (bluish white) compared with the 1979-2010 average sea ice minimum (outlined in orange).” From here.
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Will the Tea Party challenge voters’ eligibility at the polls? From the NYTimes:
True the Vote, now active in 30 states, hopes to train hundreds of thousands of poll watchers to make the experience of voting like “driving and seeing the police following you,” as one of the group’s leaders put it.
What could be the fallout of this kind of mobilization?
Demos put together a great report. And a couple other links–here and here.
Image here.
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A thought-provoking essay on drone oversight options by Princeton PhD Candidate Omar S. Bashir:
How much transparency is enough? How can citizens know that the state is not overselling the sensitivity of details that it chooses to withhold?
…At least one other country faced with a similar dilemma, though, has arrived at a different solution. The United Kingdom struggled with terrorism well before 9/11. Over the years, its government has had to develop a way to demonstrate to citizens that it is not abusing counterterrorism powers. The answer is simply an appointed individual who has both legal expertise and a reputation for principled behavior and political impartiality. The independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, or “wise old man,” as Benjamin Wittes and Paul Rosenzweig at Lawfare have dubbed the figure, is paid at a daily rate and is not financially dependent on the state. In preparing reports for Parliament and the public about his opinions — sometimes critical — the reviewer is allowed access to any classified information he desires. But he is expected to keep the information secret. If the government impedes the reviewer’s access to information, he can raise a red flag. And if the government appoints a shill to the position, the credibility of the whole system evaporates. At election time, citizens can reward or punish their political leaders based on the reviewer’s pattern of assessments.
The independent reviewer model is palatable to governments because it enables accountability without necessarily increasing transparency (although greater transparency seems to have been a positive side effect in Britain). And the model has been successful enough that Australia has implemented it as well.
Image here.
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The head of the Alabama Republican Party this week threw his support behind one of the most far-fetched theories of the already bizarre birther movement.
Speaking to a group of GOP diehards on Wednesday in Fairhope, Ala., party Chair Bill Armistead raved about a film called “Dreams From My Real Father.” The movie claims President Obama’s grandfather was a CIA agent who convinced Barack Obama Sr. to marry his teenage daughter to hide the fact that she’d been secretly impregnated by a communist.
“That is absolutely frightening. I’ve seen it. I verified that it is factual, all of it.”
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God, I hope someone reputable fact-checks that mess.
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I’m compiling a list of reactions to David Corn’s compilation of videos showing Romney killing his own campaign.
James Kwak (from a while back)
James Kwak (from now)
Ta-Nehisi Coates again
Wonkette, for good measure
Sorry, David Brooks. No link for you.
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The words coming out of his mouth
“[M]y job is is not to worry about those people. I’ll never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives.”
Damage control
“As the governor has made clear all year, he is concerned about the growing number of people who are dependent on the federal government, including the record number of people who are on food stamps, nearly one in six Americans in poverty, and the 23 million Americans who are struggling to find work.”
Oh, who to believe? The candidate? Damage control? WHO TO BELIEVE?!
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