Kind of a slow news day, but since I feel like I owe y’all a post or two, here goes:
- John Allen retires and declines Nato appointment (The Guardian) — This is the Marine general who got caught up in the Petraeus scandal, for those of you who keep track of your newsmakers that way. I thought it would be interesting to use a British version of this American story. After all, NATO affects them, too.
- Tunisia PM Hamadi Jebali resigns (BBC) — I haven’t been following this one, but it sounded important. The Beeb led with it.
- Obama Turns Up the Pressure for a Deal on Budget Cuts (NYT) — While Congress is away, the president doesn’t play, but talks about money stuff…
- AG Wilson to return contributions tied to Harrell (thestate.com) — This was the newsiest thing I could find locally. If you’ll recall, the AG has agreed to investigate the Speaker.
- Pistorius says he thought girlfriend was an intruder (AP) — This is his first public account of what happened.
- As 3-D Printing Becomes More Accessible, Copyright Questions Arise (NPR) — I just think “3D printing” sounds like a cool thing, even if I remain a little confused as to what a 3D print is. What, for instant, is it made of, chemically? Does it have insides, or is it just a shell? I don’t know… OK, the story sort of answers those questions. What it doesn’t answer is what it’s good for. Get back to me when there’s a 3D device that scans a gold bar and makes another gold bar. Made of, you know, gold…
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I’d say that Oscar Pistorius’ defense…. doesn’t have a leg to stand on!
So Wilson has to return the contributions because he’s investigating Harrell? Like a money-back guarantee?
What part of the agreement reached in January does Obama not understand? Extend the cuts and raise taxes with the promise of budget cuts in February. February is here and he doesn’t want to issue any budget cuts and is now blaming the Republicans. Dumbest president ever… and that includes Jimmy Carter.
Thinking about Harrell’s influence peddling – straight up corruption – lead me back to Jim DeMint. It is striking that the man who terminated the system of earmarking (vs rightly decrying the resulting inevitable excesses), which has therefor lead to the dogmatic refusal to compromise and negotiate that is our Congressional Sequestration debacle, is the same man who is most interested in projecting his power through campaign donations to other candidates and officeholders.
It’s like these guys don’t want just murkiness, they want the black box. That says everything about their character and intent that I need to know.
Re #1, I recommend this piece in a recent NY Review of Books issue, about Petraeus and related topics. It’s a pretty interesting read.