Noted for Your Morning Procrastination for November 10, 2013
- Rose Woodhouse: Thoughts on Double Down: "With a rare exception here and there, I would rather vote for a well-trained macaque than just about any Republican. Let us, however, rewind 10-15 years. I coulda been a Republican. Way back in the early aughts, I was concerned Democrats were scatty and impractical. Convinced by Kenneth Pollack/Thomas Friedman/The New Republic types, I was in favor of the war in Iraq (I know, I know… I’m not saying I was right, just saying where I was). I am also fairly moderate to conservative on some issues (and remain thus). I thought seriously about being a Republican. In the end, I never changed my party registration, not even to 'independent'. And now the very idea that 'I thought seriously about becoming a Republican' seems absolutely incomprehensible, akin to 'I thought seriously about becoming a JFK assassination conspiracy theorist'..."
- Dana Stevens: Ender’s Game, adapted from Orson Scott Card’s novel: "In a column from last spring that falls at the exact midpoint between sci-fi thought experiment and paranoid screed, Card compares President Obama to Hitler and envisions him amassing an army of 'Brown Shirts—thugs who will do his bidding without any reference to law'. Where will this paramilitary force be recruited? Among 'young out-of-work urban men', of course..."
- Ed Kilgore: More on VA and the African-American Vote That Saved Terry McAuliffe by Ed Kilgore: "On Wednesday I did a little exit poll exercise that seemed to indicate that an unexpectedly high turnout among African-Americans was the key to Terry McAuliffe’s victory. A fair number of other folks earlier or later noted that the racial voting patterns seemed to look more like a presidential than an off-year race... the black vote appeared to be the only major departure from the 2009 composition.... The Hispanic/Asian percentage of the vote came in this year at 2009 (5%), not 2012 (8%) levels. And the age composition of the electorate was very much like that of 2009, not 2012.... So what we are looking at is not some sudden change in the overall size or configuration of the off-year vote, but a pretty isolated but very significant surge in African-American turnout. Ruy has no particular explanation for this phenomenon; nor have I. I’ve heard a few random folk cite the pre-election voter purge executed by Virginia... as a provocation..."
- Eclectablog: The economic impacts of climate change aren’t something for the future, they’re here NOW: "We don’t need to rely on scientists’ forecasts about how global climate change will affect our economic climate. Those impacts have already begun. And no amount of head-in-the-sand denialism will change what is right in front of our eyes."
Plus: Long:
David Keohane: Fed wonk special, now with Q&A |
Plus: Short:
