Open Thread for Tuesday, December 1, 2015

A cartoon from my oldest friend in the newspaper game, Richard Crowson.

A cartoon from my oldest friend in the newspaper game, Richard Crowson.

A few things y’all might want to discuss:

  1. SecDef Carter: U.S. sending combat troops into Syria — This time, there’s no tiptoeing around and talking about a noncombat role; these special forces guys are going in to fight — specifically, to conduct raids on ISIL targets. I’m not sure why none of the major news outlets are leading with this; perhaps they will later in the day. Meanwhile, Obama defends his strategy in Paris. (I guess his strategy is to sneak into a ground combat role gradually, like the proverbial frog in the boiling water, and hope his base doesn’t notice.)
  2. Obama On Climate Change: ‘I Actually Think We’re Going To Solve This Thing’ — What he said in Paris about a subject he’d rather talk about, as opposed to ISIL.
  3. Why the U.S. Pays More Than Other Countries for Drugs — Hope y’all can get past the WSJ paywall and read this. If not, the short version is, because the drug companies make most of their profits off of us. Which is kinda what you thought, right?
  4. Chicago Police Superintendent Fired; Force Faces a Review — Rahm Emanuel just announced this. This is leading major sites now; I guess they haven’t focused on Syria.
  5. To feel the true force of ‘Star Wars,’ George Lucas had to learn to let go — You know what helped? They paid him enough to build his own Death Star. And then build another one when that one blows up. And then still be outrageously rich. I mean, I love Star Wars and all, but in that position I’d have been all Han Solo: Show me the money.

 

14 thoughts on “Open Thread for Tuesday, December 1, 2015”

  1. Bryan Caskey

    If you didn’t already know this bit of Google-fu, the WSJ doesn’t apply the paywall when you google the title of a WSJ article and click on it from the Google results.

    No, it’s not like stealing newspapers out of a box. The WSJ has specifically set it up that way so people can read their articles.

  2. Brad Warthen Post author

    I said above, under his cartoon, that Richard Crowson was “my oldest friend in the newspaper game,” and it occurs to me that I knew Burl before I did Richard (from senior year of high school), and he’s a newspaper guy.

    But Burl and I never actually worked together. I worked with Richard for many years in Jackson, TN, then I was instrumental in persuading him to come out to Kansas when I was there, and Richard stayed there. And we’ve known each other since we both worked at the library together in college.

    Actually, Richard WORKED at the library. I would take an armload of outdated periodicals down to the basement to store them, and end up spending the rest of my shift reading back issues of arcane journals. I couldn’t help myself. No one should send me on such an errand, unless they want to get rid of me…

    Also… one of Richard’s first-ever editorial cartoons was drawn to illustrate a column I wrote about student government for The Statesman, the journalism lab paper at Memphis State…

  3. bud

    As the theocrats migrate toward Ted Cruz Ben Carson appears to be doomed. The plutocrats can’t seem to fully embrace Rubio which keeps the door open for Bush, if only just barely. Bully lovers everywhere are giving Christie a bit of a boost. Mary Ann and the Professor seem to be fading into oblivion.

    Odds:

    Cruz – 45%
    Rubio – 40%
    Trump – 5%
    Bush -5%
    Christie -3%
    Carson – 1%
    Rest -1%

    1. Bryan Caskey

      If only a large segment of the population had brought this possibility up before the law was passed.

      1. Kathryn Fenner

        If only that large segment hadn’t ruined any credibility it had by insisting that Barack Obama is a Kenyan Muslim…

      2. Doug Ross

        They could have done it right, piece by piece, but instead went for propping up Obama’s legacy with a massive bill that demonstrated the core (in)competencies of government: poor planning, poor execution, propaganda, and blame shifting.

        The two things the government SHOULD have done: preventing denial of coverage and providing access to existing government healthcare plans for all citizens to purchase would have been a far better solution.

        1. Brad Warthen Post author

          Hey, I would have been VERY happy (personally, as someone on COBRA at the time) with the proposal that was floated to simply lower the age of eligibility for Medicare.

          But my man Joe Lieberman blocked that, if I recall correctly. Hey, you can’t be right all the time…

  6. bud

    Obamacare has been counted out before. It will survive in some form for years to come until we can finally get Medicare for all.

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