By Ryan Lizza, The New Yorker, June 18, 2012 issue
[....] Many White House officials were reluctant to discuss a second term; they are focussed more on the campaign than on what comes after. But the ostensible purpose of a political campaign is to articulate for the public what a candidate will do if he prevails. “It’s a tension,” David Axelrod, Obama’s longtime political adviser, said. “On the one hand, you don’t want to be presumptuous in assuming a second term. But campaigns are about the future, and there is an imperative to spell out where we’re going.”
By David V. Mason, New York Times Op-Ed, June 12/13, 2012
[....] I’m perfectly happy not being a Christian. My Mormon fellows, most of whom will argue earnestly for their Christian legitimacy, will scream bloody murder that I don’t represent them. I don’t. They don’t represent me, either.
She realised that part of her brain was not functioning properly so she devised a series of cognitive exercises to develop it. The results changed her life – and now she has helped thousands of children with learning disabilities. [....]
Standing a few feet away from Jerry Sandusky, as he laughed and reminisced with friends in the front row of the courtroom, made me want to take a shower.
BAGHDAD — In the deadliest day in Iraq since the withdrawal of the United States military in December, a series of explosions that mostly targeted Shiite Muslims amounted to an emphatic demonstration of the still potent capabilities of the Sunni insurgency and a reminder of the instability left behind by American forces.
BISMARCK, N.D. — Since Californians shrank their property taxes more than three decades ago by passing Proposition 13, people around the nation have echoed their dismay over such levies, putting forth plans to even them, simplify them, cap them, slash them. In an election here on Tuesday, residents of North Dakota will consider a measure that reaches far beyond any of that — one that abolishes the property tax entirely.
Russian police have raided the homes of prominent critics of President Vladimir Putin on the eve of an opposition rally expected to draw tens of thousands of people.
Monday's early morning raids, carried out by police armed with assault rifles, appeared to signal a shift in tone in dealing with protests as Putin starts his new six-year term.
A genius with the answers to the financial crisis? Or the Borat of philosophy? The cultural theorist talks about love, sex and why nothing is ever what it appears to be
By Ed Pilkington in New York, The Guardian, June 11, 2012
The Obama administration has failed to deliver on its promise to lift the threat of deportation for law-abiding undocumented immigrants, according to an alliance of Hispanic and civil rights leaders who warn that disappointment among Latino voters could damage the president's chances of being re-elected.
David Cameron has admitted accidentally leaving his daughter in the pub after a sunday lunch. Telegraph readers contacted us to offer sympathy to the Prime Minister and to assure him he is not alone [....]
[....] News of cartel machinations are common in cities near the border, such as Phoenix, and the far-flung drug hubs of New York, Chicago or Atlanta, but smaller towns bring business, too. In unsuspecting suburbs and rural areas, police are increasingly finding drugs, guns and money they can trace back to Mexican drug organizations.
By Paul Solman, "The Rundown" @ PBS News Hour, June 8, 2012
Interview with Jose Antonio Martinez Soler, asked to "update us on the reign of pain." Excerpts:
What is happening in Spain (I told you so) is much worse than what I thought a few years ago after the double crises: the financial one of the subprime mortgages, Lehman Brothers, etc. (which attacked almost all countries) and the implosion of the real estate bubble (which attacked Spain above all) [....]
WASHINGTON — After weeks of talks, drug industry lobbyists were growing nervous. To cut a deal with the White House on overhauling health care, they needed to be sure that President Obama would stop a proposal intended to bring down medicine prices.
By Catherine Saillant and Tony Perry, Los Angeles Times, June 7, 2012
The advocates expect similar initiatives cutting pension costs to take off across California. Some analysts say Gov. Jerry Brown's plan to rein in state pension obligations may seem like a better deal than tough voter-approved measures.
