When Community Board 8, which represents Roosevelt Island and the Upper East Side of Manhattan, met last November, Cornell representatives described the campus as an engine of job growth, entrepreneurship and technological innovation for New York City. Despite the marketing, many Roosevelt Island residents had reservations about the proposed campus. Some raised concerns about the…
Category: News & Opinion
Obama, the puppet master
President Barack Obama is a master at limiting, shaping and manipulating media coverage of himself and his White House. Not for the reason that conservatives suspect: namely, that a liberal press willingly and eagerly allows itself to get manipulated. Instead, the mastery mostly flows from a White House that has taken old tricks for shaping…
It’s official: The feds will run most Obamacare exchanges
Friday was a very important day for health policy days. It was the last day for states to tell the federal government whether they wanted any part in running the Affordable Care Act health exchanges come 2014. The federal government did not get many takers. Some of the most closely watched states, including Florida and…
The Cost of the Death Penalty to California
Here is an infographic from the California Innocence Project about the cost of maintaining a death row in the California penal system. Embedded from CA Innocence Project
Thousands at climate rally in Washington call on Obama to reject Keystone pipeline
Thousands of protesters gathered on the Washington’s National Mall on Sunday calling on President Barack Obama to reject the controversial Keystone XL oil pipeline proposal and honor his inaugural pledge to act on climate change. Organizers of the “Forward on Climate” event estimated that 35,000 people from 30 states turned out in cold, blustery conditions…
Guantnamo Hearings Reveal Chaos at Camp Justice
At issue this week were defense lawyers claims that intelligence and security surveillance measures have violated the sacrosanct principle of attorney-client privilege, obstructing their ability to effectively represent the accused. In late January, courtroom audio feed – which runs on a 40-second delay to media and observers seated behind Plexiglass – was abruptly cut off…
Democrats offer bill to curb Big Oil’s tax benefits | Reuters
Senate Democrats on Wednesday introduced a bill to eliminate billions of dollars in tax benefits enjoyed by big oil and gas companies, one day after President Barack Obama renewed his call for plugging tax loopholes in his State of the Union address. Obama and fellow Democrats for years have targeted oil and gas tax breaks,…
Where were Marco Rubio’s new ideas?
After an election, the winning party typically tries to pass the policies it campaigned on while the losers go back to the drawing board to try to work up a more appealing agenda. But last night’s dueling speeches revealed, strangely, the reverse. President Obama’s agenda has become much more ambitious since the election, ranging from…
Congress Is Trying to Kill Internet Privacy Again
House lawmakers have reintroduced a bill that civil liberties groups say would destroy the right to Internet privacy as we know it. An earlier version of the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act, or CISPA pdf, passed the House back in April 2012; it died quickly under threat of presidential veto and widespread protest from…
Reagan-Appointed Judge On Race: ‘Eleanor Roosevelt Said Staffs Of One Color Always Work Better’
A Texas civil rights group filed a complaint against Judge Lynn N. Hughes, a Ronald Reagan-appointee to a federal district court in Texas, criticizing his “outlandish racial comments” in a case brought by a South Asian man alleging employment discrimination: At one point, during a hearing in a racial discrimination case, Hughes reportedly said, “Eleanor…
Navy SEAL lost health insurance after killing Osama bin Laden
“I left SEALs on Friday,” he said the next time I saw him. It was a little more than thirty-six months before the official retirement requirement of twenty years of service. “My health care for me and my family stopped at midnight Friday night. I asked if there was some transition from my Tricare…
In Some States, Opposition To Medicaid Expansion Leading Employers To Brace For Higher Health Care Costs
The Wall Street Journal reports on this trend. Meanwhile, other news outlets report on state-specific developments regarding the debates over expanding the health program for low-income people. The Wall Street Journal: In Medicaid, A New Health-Care Fight Employers in several states are bracing for higher health-care costs as some governors, worried about the impact…
Democrats Racially Diverse; Republicans Mostly White
Non-Hispanic whites accounted for 89% of Republican self-identifiers nationwide in 2012, while accounting for 70% of independents and 60% of Democrats. Over one-fifth of Democrats (22%) were black, while 16% of independents were Hispanic. These results are based on more than 338,000 interviews conducted as part of Gallup Daily tracking in 2012, and…
Big Coals Big Problems
If President Obama is to follow up on his inaugural promise – “We will respond to the threat of climate change, knowing that the failure to do so would betray our children and future generations” – that has to mean addressing those existing plants. Indeed, the Wall Street Journal recently reported that the president will…
Michigan GOP Would Force Women To Undergo Invasive Ultrasounds Before Getting An Abortion
Michigan Republicans introduced a mandatory ultrasound bill this week with a carefully-worded clause that threatens to stir up controversy that first erupted during the height of last year’s “War on Women.” By stipulating that the ultrasounds must use the “most technologically advanced equipment on site,” Michigan lawmakers would require women seeking abortions to undergo…
Scott plans $100M campaign vs. Crist
Rick Scott is preparing to defend his Florida governorship with the most expensive reelection campaign in state history, drawing up plans for a battleship-sized political operation aimed at overcoming the Republican’s deep personal unpopularity. The anticipated price tag, according to sources familiar with Scott’s plans: $100 million. Scott is no stranger to heavy spending; the…
Michigans Rick Snyder Becomes Sixth GOP Governor To Back Health Laws Medicaid Expansion
News outlets examine the political dynamics spurring some former opponents of the law to sign onto one of its most significant provisions. The Associated Press/Washington Post: Republican Gov. Rick Snyder Backs Expanding Medicaid To Michigans Uninsured In US Health PlanRepublican Gov. Rick Snyder on Wednesday backed the extension of Medicaid coverage to 470,000 residents…
Nearly Half of All US Farms Now Have Superweeds
Last year’s drought took a big bite out of the two most prodigious US crops, corn and soy. But it apparently didn’t slow down the spread of weeds that have developed resistance to Monsanto’s herbicide Roundup (glyphosate), used on crops engineered by Monsanto to resist it. More than 70 percent of all the the corn,…
Blacks, Hispanics Waited Almost Twice As Long To Vote As Whites In 2012
During the November 2012 election, Black and Hispanic voters waited nearly twice as long to vote as whites, according to a Massachusetts Institute of Technology analysis. New York Times graphs summarizing the analysis show that white voters waited an average of 12.7 minutes, while Black and Hispanic voters waited an average of 20.2 minutes: Long lines…
As Part Of Lockdown Drill, School Fires Off Blanks In The Halls
Students at a high school in Illinois experienced a uniquely terrifying school shooting drill on Wednesday. Instead of conducting a regular school lockdown, Cary-Grove High School administrators simulated gunfire by shooting off blanks in the hallways while students locked their classroom doors, pulled the curtains, and hid. The drill, understandably, upset some parents in the…