News digest / Catching up on news (12.06.2014)

I've been way too busy and there's way too much catching up to do, so here's a selection of important stories from the past month. If you read them then you'll know some of what I do:

"Ebola control: the Cuban approach." By Shah Ebrahim, et al, December 6, 2014, The Lancet. URL: http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(14)62329-1/fulltext

"Judge Allows Glenn Beck Boston Marathon Defamation Lawsuit To Move Forward." By Kyle Mantyla, December 2, 2014, Right Wing Watch. URL:  http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/judge-allows-glenn-beck-boston-marathon-defamation-lawsuit-move-forward#sthash.Gu8a2LEd.dpuf

"Driessen: Corporate Tax Fate May Hinge on Modeling Omission." By Paul Caron, December 2, 2014, TaxProfBlog. URL: http://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2014/12/driessen.html

"Russia Warns Of Recession In 2015 Amid Sanctions And Low Oil Prices." By Nataliya Vasilyeva, December 2, 2014, AP. URL:http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/12/02/russia-recession_n_6255810.html?utm_hp_ref=tw

"Study: Campaign Cash Brings Tax Benefits On Capitol Hill." By Peter Oberby, December 2, 2014, NPR. URL: http://www.npr.org/blogs/itsallpolitics/2014/12/02/368010428/study-campaign-cash-brings-tax-benefits-on-capitol-hill?sc=tw

"Whites greatly overestimate the share of crimes committed by black people." By Ana Swanson, December 1, 2014, Washington Post. URL:http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2014/12/01/whites-greatly-overestimate-the-share-of-crimes-committed-by-black-people/?Post+generic=%3Ftid%3Dsm_twitter_washingtonpost

"Capital controls feared as Russian rouble collapses." By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, December 1, 2014, The Telegraph. URL:http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economics/11266746/Capital-controls-feared-as-Russian-rouble-collapses.html

"Real world contradicts right-wing tax theories." By David Cay Johnston, December 1, 2014, Al Jazeera. URL: http://america.aljazeera.com/opinions/2014/12/laffer-curve-taxcutshikeseconomics.html 

"Which past is prologue for Putin’s Russia?" By Hannah Thoburn, November 30, 2014, Reuters. URL: http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/11/30/idUS318808040420141130

"Let's talk about 'black on black' crime." By Leonard Pitts Jr., November 30, 2014, Miami Herald. URL: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2014/11/30/248504/leonard-pitts-jr-lets-talk-about.html 

"In America, black children don’t get to be children." By Stacey Patton, November 26, 2014, Washington Post. URL: http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/in-america-black-children-dont-get-to-be-children/2014/11/26/a9e24756-74ee-11e4-a755-e32227229e7b_story.html

"Keynes Is Slowly Winning." By Paul Krugman, November 26, 2014, New York Times. URL: http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/11/26/keynes-is-slowly-winning/?smid=tw-NytimesKrugman&seid=auto

"Why Interstellar Should Be Taken Seriously -- Very Seriously." By Paul Stefanski, November 26, 2014, Huffington Post. URL:http://www.huffingtonpost.com/paul-stefanski/why-interstellar-should-b_b_6213002.html?utm_hp_ref=tw

"An Open Letter of Apology to the United States of America [about Benghazi]." By Brian Joyce, November 25, 2014, Huffington Post. URL:http://www.huffingtonpost.com/brian-joyce/an-open-letter-of-apology_b_6219340.html?utm_hp_ref=tw

"Should Putin fear the man who ‘pulled the trigger of war’ in Ukraine?" By Lucian Kim, November 25, 2014, Reuters. URL: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUS368525725520141125

"Why America may be set for success." By Fareed Zakaria, November 24, 2014, CNN. URL: http://globalpublicsquare.blogs.cnn.com/2014/11/24/why-america-may-be-set-for-success/

"Falling apart: America's neglected infrastructure." By Stefe Kroft, November 23, 2014, CBS News. URL: http://www.cbsnews.com/videos/falling-apart-americas-neglected-infrastructure/

"Ukraine gave up its nuclear weapons potential for reassurances it would be defended." By Bennett Ramberg, November 22, 2014, Guelph Mercury. URL: http://www.guelphmercury.com/opinion-story/5151036-ukraine-gave-up-its-nuclear-weapons-potential-for-reassurances-it-would-be-defended/

"Special Report: Crimean savers ask: Where's our money?" By Steve Stecklow, Elizabeth Piper and Oleksandr Akymenko, November 20, 2014, Reuters. URL: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSKCN0J40FJ20141120

"Enough Is Enough: The President's Latest Wall Street Nominee." By Sen. Elizabeth Warren, November 20, 2014, Huffington Post. URL:http://huff.to/1uKQUYB

"Top Obama official: Ky. not ready on new bridge." By Deirdre Shesgreen, November 19, 2014, Cincinnati. URL: http://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/politics/2014/11/19/top-obama-official-ky-ready-new-bridge/19286625/

"Clarke and Dawe - Growth first. Then these other things can be dealt with, whatever they are." ClarkeAndDawe, November 19, 2014, YouTube. URL: http://youtu.be/OTfSZ0D39AI

"Sen. Bernie Sanders On How Democrats Lost White Voters." By Steve Inskeep, November 19, 2014, NPR. URL: http://n.pr/1wUqrVb

"Legal Panel At [Conservative] Federalist Society Begrudgingly Accepts Obama's Immigration Powers." By Sam Stein, November 19, 2014, Huffington Post. URL: http://huff.to/1qVW6DJ

"Stop calling me 'the Ebola nurse'." By Kaci Hickox, November 17, 2014, Guardian. URL: http://gu.com/p/43bqe

"US voter turnout is an international embarrassment. Here's how to fix it." By Bernie Sanders, November 10, 2014, Guardian. URL:http://gu.com/p/436mm

"Про що мовчать розумні українці." By Stanislav Bilchenko, November 9, 2014, Ukraininska Pravda. URL: http://www.pravda.com.ua/columns/2014/07/9/7031378/?attempt=1

"Beyond The Unemployment Rate: Look At These 5 Labor Indicators." By Sonari Glinton, November 7, 2014, NPR. URL: http://n.pr/1vVVOyf

"Capitalism Is Making China Richer, But Not Democratic." By Frank Langfitt, November 7, 2014, NPR. URL: http://n.pr/1qtMeAD

"Fewer Babies Are Born Prematurely, But Many Still Suffer." By Nancy Shute, Novebmer 6, 2014, NPR. URL: http://n.pr/1tgMCT4

"Interstellar Travel? Nah! (Part 2)." By Dr. Sten Odenwald, November 5, 2014, Huffington Post. URL: http://huff.to/1qq537W

Oops! Russian gov't. admits Crimea vote turnout inflated

This is the first U.S. media outlet I've seen that picked up on this story that was broken by TSN.ua in Ukraine [emphasis mine]:

Yesterday, however, according to a major Ukrainian news site, TSN.ua, the website of the President of Russia’s Council on Civil Society and Human Rights (shortened to President’s Human Rights Council) posted a report that was quickly taken down as if it were toxic radioactive waste. According to this purported report about the March referendum to annex Crimea, the turnout of Crimean voters was only 30 percent. And of these, only half voted for the referendum–meaning only 15 percent of Crimean citizens voted for annexation.

The TSN report does not link to a copy of the cited report. However, there is a report of the Human Rights Council, entitled “Problems of Crimean Residents,” still up on the president-sovet.ru website, which discusses the Council’s estimates of the results of the March 16 referendum. Quoting from that report: “In Crimea, according to various indicators, 50-60% voted for unification with Russia with a voter turnout (yavka) of 30-50%.” This leads to a range of between 15 percent (50% x 30%) and 30 percent (60% x 50%) voting for annexation. The turnout in the Crimean district of Sevastopol, according to the Council, was higher: 50-80%.

Does the truth about Crimea's sham referendum matter at this point?  Probably not, only the "facts on the ground."  It's a shame.


Putin's 'Human Rights Council' Accidentally Posts Real Crimean Election Results
By Paul Roderick Gregory
May 5, 2014 | Forbes

URL: http://www.forbes.com/sites/paulroderickgregory/2014/05/05/putins-human-rights-council-accidentally-posts-real-crimean-election-results-only-15-voted-for-annexation/

Romney's hopes rest in 'contempt for the electorate'

Romney really has been hoping that nobody would care to dig into any of his statements or arguments, like his plan to cut taxes by $5 trillion and increase military spending by $2 trillion and yet (somehow) cut the deficit:

The important thing to remember here is that the GOP argument for a Romney victory rests explicitly on the hope that those who turned out to vote for Obama last time won’t be quite as engaged this time around. Republicans are hoping the electorate is not as diverse as it was in 2008, and they are arguing that the GOP base’s enthusiasm is much higher than that of core Dem constituencies. The Romney camp seems to think it will help whip GOP base voters into a frenzy — and perhaps boost turnout — if Romney casts the way Obama is urging Democratic base voters to get more involved in the process as something sinister and threatening. This is beyond idiotic; it is insulting to people’s intelligence.

The Post editorial board, in a widely cited piece, has claimed that the one constant about the Romney campaign has been that it is driven by “contempt for the electorate.” To make this case, the editorial cites Romney’s nonstop flip flops, his evasions about his own proposals, his refusal to share basic information about his finances and bundlers, and his monumental Jeep falsehood and all his other big lies. It’s fitting that Romney’s closing argument rests heavily on one last sustained expression of that contempt for the electorate — one focused squarely on a call for more engagement in the political process, i.e., on something that is fundamental to democracy itself.

Call me a conspiracy nut, but I think many smart Republicans realize Romney's plans are pie-in-the-sky.  It's just that they hate Obama so deeply, so viscerally, that they will vote for anyone running against him.  And those Republicans are mostly white people, mostly white men, mostly white older men.  It's really as simple as that.  This isn't a campaign about ideas for them.

Mitt Romney insults the American electorate one last time

By Greg Sargent

November 4, 2012 | Washington Post

URL: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/post/mitt-romney-insults-the-american-electorate-one-last-time/2012/11/04/84e2f5be-268e-11e2-b2a0-ae18d6159439_blog.html