Today's edition of quick hits:
* Malala Yousafzai, the 14-year-old Pakistani girl shot and nearly killed by the Taliban for advocating civil rights, remains in critical condition.
* It's worth noting that the assassination attempt on Yousafzai's life has been strongly denounced by many Pakistani political leaders and international figures, though "religious parties and mosque leaders were largely silent, highlighting the grip that right-wing clerics hold on this increasingly conservative, majority-Muslim country."
* An escalation: "Turkey sharply escalated its confrontation with Syria on Wednesday, forcing a Syrian passenger plane to land in Ankara on suspicion of carrying military cargo, ordering Turkish civilian airplanes to stay out of Syrian airspace and warning of increasingly forceful responses if Syrian artillery gunners keep lobbing shells across the border."
* As Gen. John Allen transitions to his role as the next supreme allied commander in Europe, President Obama has nominated Gen. Joseph Dunford to lead U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan.
* The Supreme Court "seemed deeply divided" on the future of affirmative action during oral arguments this morning. Aren't the justices deeply divided on just about everything?
* Good call: "South Carolina's law requiring voters to show photo identification at the polls was blocked by federal judges in Washington for the Nov. 6 election, the fourth time this year a court has rejected similar legislation."
* Voter intimidation: "New Mexico Attorney General Gary King has launched an investigation into a video that allegedly shows Republican officials giving volunteer poll watchers false information about state election law, his office announced Tuesday."
* In an odd twist, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) is attacking Democrats over foreign aid, and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) is coming to their defense.
* There's apparently some kind of trumped up controversy over foreign donations making the rounds.
* And did Florida Gov. Rick Scott (R) accidentally give out a phone-sex hotline when he meant to share the number for a meningitis hotline? Yes, but he's not the first to make this mistake.
Anything to add? Consider this an open thread.
Leave a Comment:
"Aren't the justices deeply divided on just about everything?"
Actually, no - it only seems that way due to selection bias in the media. While it may be true that they are deeply divided on everything that matters as a political issue, according to SCOTUSblog 55% of all Supreme Court decisions in the last term were either 9-0 or 8-1.
I thought that they were pretty unified about corporation being people, wiretaps, Guantanamo, torture, status of women suing Walmart...
Why do you not address the Benghazi cover up by the White House? I think it would be hard to be hard to have a liberal show and yet Walter Cronkite was a reporter, he gave us news without the spin.
Wyo2..its out there look it up it is in the internet
Isn't Fox covering it?
"religious parties and mosque leaders were largely silent, highlighting the grip that right-wing clerics hold on this increasingly conservative, majority-Muslim country."
It's not a majority Muslim country. It's an exclusively Muslim country about 97%. Also the clerics there are not right wing, because there is no left wing. That's the way they believe and the backward way that most of the nation lives outside of a tiny minority of Western oriented people.
Trying to use American politcal terminology to describe other nations, is a very typically American foolish thing to do
* The Supreme Court "seemed deeply divided" on the future of affirmative action during oral arguments this morning. Aren't the justices deeply divided on just about everything?"
As well they should be. If we wanted a rubber stamp in either direction, one judge alone would do. There's supposed to be a tension in the law.
On Front line last evening on PBS their covered both Pres.Obama and Gov. Romney's life's history. the moderator stated when Gov. Romney was a leader in the Moron church he counseled young unwed mothers to give their baby's up for adoption because the church did not sanction unwed mothers. I wonder why this has not been discussed on the News?
It has. People don"t care. They will blindly support a candidate that shape shifts right before their eyes....Help us if this man is elected, he is a bad egg.
Bye bye holier than thou Lance Armstrong. You lied you cheated, and in large measure, you got away with it.
And his nuts rotted off....
Calling all you policy wonks! According to the latest study on the rise of the super rich 1 percent from 1949 to 2008, the authors conclude that the five most significant factors are, in this order: 1) rightward shifts in Congress; 2) decline of unions; 3) lower taxes on high incomes; 4) increased trade openness; 5) asset bubbles in stock and real estate markets.
Source: Thomas W. Volscho and Nathan J. Kelly. "The Rise of the Super Rich: Power Resources, Taxes, Financial Markets, and the Dynamics of the Top 1, 1949 to 2008". American Sociological Review, Vol. 77, No. 5, October 2012. Here is a link:
http://www.asanet.org/journals/ASR/Oct12ASRFeature.pdf
Methinks this study adds a bit more urgency to the congressional races. Agree? Do tell.
Odd? Israeli's paying hundreds of millions to win this election for the Israeli's is Odd?
No its pretty much the norm. They just legislate it and you pay for it !!!
I wonder if the Taliban hit list includes any names they found in Wikileaks that we'll probably never hear about because the victims are not widely known personalities?