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U.S.
Wisconsin: Judge in Abuse Case Won’t Step Down
The judge refused to recuse himself from a case involving the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Milwaukee after it was suggested he had a conflict of interest because relatives are buried in archdiocesan cemeteries.
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Multimedia
The Moment a Photographer Became a Historian
Bill Eppridge, the photographer who captured the haunting image of Robert F. Kennedy’s assassination, died Thursday. He was 75.
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World
As Germans Push Austerity, Greeks Press Nazi-Era Claims
Resentment over Germany’s power to dictate budget austerity to Greece has some Greeks talking about settling debts from World War II.
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Health
Coca-Cola Plans Kiosks With Water and Internet
At the Clinton Global Initiative meeting, the Coca-Cola Company announced that it will erect kiosks in 20 countries to offer water, electricity and Internet connections.
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Education
Arizona: Court Upholds School Funding Program
The state Court of Appeals on Tuesday upheld a lower court’s ruling affirming the constitutionality of a program that directs public money to pay for private school tuition for some students.
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N.Y. / Region
As Casino Vote Nears, Bishops Warn of Social Risks
Citing the potential for “enslavement” to gambling, New York’s Roman Catholic bishops issued a statement on the casino expansion referendum.
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Sports
Races End Fees to Top Runners, Drawing Outcry
The decision by Competitor Group, which runs more than 80 endurance races for profit, roiled those who believe supporting elite runners benefits the sport as a whole.
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Sports
Australia Primed for First Cup Challenge Since 2000
The bid of Hamilton Island Yacht Club, confirmed as the challenger of record for the next America’s Cup, is headed by Bob Oatley, a seasoned racer, and his son.
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Sports
Olympic Flame Handed Over to Sochi Organizers
The Olympic flame was handed to organizers of the Sochi Winter Olympics in a ceremony at the site of the first modern summer games on Saturday.
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World
Saudi Arabia: New Infections Raise Virus Cases to 136
Saudi Arabia has confirmed six new infections from the potentially fatal MERS virus, the World Health Organization reported Friday.
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U.S.
Wendy Davis Enters Race for Texas Governor With a Shorter Speech
State Senator Wendy Davis opened an underdog campaign to lead a state that last sent a Democrat to the governor’s mansion nearly 23 years ago.
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World
Desperation Fuels Trips of Migrants to Spain
A growing number of migrants from Africa and the Middle East are crossing the ocean for Europe, and many never make it.
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Science
A Wealth of Data in Whale Breath
Researchers are learning how to use the breath, or “blow,” of whales and dolphins to extract and measure hormones, microorganisms, DNA and the byproducts of metabolism.
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World
Impasse With Afghanistan Raises Prospect of Total U.S. Withdrawal in 2014
The United States and Afghanistan are struggling to reach a deal over the role American forces will play beyond next year, officials say, raising the possibility of total withdrawal.
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World
U.S. Raids in Libya and Somalia Strike Terror Targets
American troops assisted by the F.B.I. and C.I.A. seized a militant in Tripoli who was indicted for his role in the 1998 embassy bombings, and Navy SEALs attacked a villa in a Somali town known as a militant hub.
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U.S.
A Federal Budget Crisis Months in the Planning
The stand by conservatives that led to the current crisis was the outgrowth of a long-running effort, waged by a galaxy of well-funded groups, to undo President Obama’s health care law.Op-Ed Columnist
The Boehner Bunglers
By PAUL KRUGMAN
Published: October 6, 2013
"The federal government is shut down, we’re about to hit the debt ceiling
(with disastrous economic consequences), and no resolution is in sight.
How did this happen? The main answer, which only the most pathologically “balanced” reporting
can deny, is the radicalization of the Republican Party. As Thomas Mann
and Norman Ornstein put it last year in their book, “It’s Even Worse Than It Looks,”
the G.O.P. has become “an insurgent outlier — ideologically extreme;
contemptuous of the inherited social and economic policy regime;
scornful of compromise; unpersuaded by conventional understanding of
facts, evidence and science; and dismissive of the legitimacy of its
political opposition.”
But there’s one more important piece of the story. Conservative leaders
are indeed ideologically extreme, but they’re also deeply incompetent.
So much so, in fact, that the Dunning-Kruger effect — the truly incompetent can’t even recognize their own incompetence — reigns supreme.
To see what I’m talking about, consider the report
in Sunday’s Times about the origins of the current crisis. Early this
year, it turns out, some of the usual suspects — the Koch brothers, the
political arm of the Heritage Foundation and others — plotted strategy
in the wake of Republican electoral defeat. Did they talk about
rethinking ideas that voters had soundly rejected? No, they talked
extortion, insisting that the threat of a shutdown would induce
President Obama to abandon health reform.
This was crazy talk. After all, health reform is Mr. Obama’s signature
domestic achievement. You’d have to be completely clueless to believe
that he could be bullied into giving up his entire legacy by a defeated,
unpopular G.O.P. — as opposed to responding, as he has, by making
resistance to blackmail an issue of principle. But the possibility that
their strategy might backfire doesn’t seem to have occurred to the
would-be extortionists.
Even more remarkable, in its way, was the response of House Republican
leaders, who didn’t tell the activists they were being foolish. All they
did was urge that the extortion attempt be made over the debt ceiling
rather than a government shutdown. And as recently as last week Eric
Cantor, the majority leader, was in effect assuring his colleagues
that the president will, in fact, give in to blackmail. As far as
anyone can tell, Republican leaders are just beginning to suspect that
Mr. Obama really means what he has been saying all along.
Many people seem perplexed by the transformation of the G.O.P. into the
political equivalent of the Keystone Kops — the Boehner Bunglers?
Republican elders, many of whom have been in denial about their party’s
radicalization, seem especially startled. But all of this was
predictable.
It has been obvious for years that the modern Republican Party is no
longer capable of thinking seriously about policy. Whether the issue is
climate change or inflation, party members believe what they want to
believe, and any contrary evidence is dismissed as a hoax, the product of vast liberal conspiracies.
For a while the party was able to compartmentalize, to remain savvy and
realistic about politics even as it rejected objectivity everywhere
else. But this wasn’t sustainable. Sooner or later, the party’s attitude
toward policy — we listen only to people who tell us what we want to
hear, and attack the bearers of uncomfortable news — was bound to infect
political strategy, too.
Remember what happened in the 2012 election — not the fact that Mitt
Romney lost, but the fact that all the political experts around him
apparently had no inkling that he was likely to lose. Polls
overwhelmingly pointed to an Obama victory, but Republican analysts
denounced the polls as “skewed”
and attacked the media outlets reporting those polls for their alleged
liberal bias. These days Karl Rove is pleading with House Republicans to
be reasonable and accept the results of the 2012 election. But on election night
he tried to bully Fox News into retracting its correct call of Ohio —
and hence, in effect, the election — for Mr. Obama.
Unfortunately for all of us, even the shock of electoral defeat wasn’t
enough to burst the G.O.P. bubble; it’s still a party dominated by
wishful thinking, and all but impervious to inconvenient facts. And now
that party’s leaders have bungled themselves into a corner.
Everybody not inside the bubble realizes that Mr. Obama can’t and won’t
negotiate under the threat that the House will blow up the economy if he
doesn’t — any concession at all would legitimize extortion as a routine
part of politics. Yet Republican leaders are just beginning to get a
clue, and so far clearly have no idea how to back down. Meanwhile, the
government is shut, and a debt crisis looms. Incompetence can be a
terrible thing."
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U.S.
Boehner Urges G.O.P. Unity in ‘Epic Battle’
Speaker John A. Boehner offered no clue on Friday as to how he expected Congress to get out of the dead end it has found itself in, with the government shut for a fourth day.
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World
U.S. Says Navy SEALs Stage Raid on Somali Militants
A Navy SEAL team seized a senior leader of the Shabab militant group from his seaside villa in the Somali town of Baraawe on Saturday, American officials said.
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Business Day
Mugged by a Mug Shot Online
Web sites are publishing arrest photos of millions of Americans and often charging fees to remove the pictures.
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Opinion
The Social Science Explaining Why More Climate Science Hasn't Led to Greenhouse Action
A discussion of why more climate science hasn’t led to more greenhouse action.
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3
World
Pakistan Army Chief Says He Will Retire Next Month
Despite media speculation to the contrary, Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani confirmed he will step down on Nov. 29, creating an opening for a new army chief.
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N.Y. / Region
Catsimatidis Spent $419 for Each Vote in Primary
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Opinion
The Promise and Peril of Pope Francis
Can the religious center be regained?The Latin Liturgy will not return.
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Opinion
Afghanistan’s Victims
Stefan Schmitt of Physicians for Human Rights says past government crimes must be confronted.
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Opinion
Let Science Set the Facts
The debate is not about a changing climate, but what we should do about it.
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World
Merkel’s Conservative Bloc Sounds Out Possible Partners
Representatives of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservative bloc in Germany began a series of talks aimed at sounding out each side’s willingness to compromise.
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Health
Depression Tied to Parkinson's Risk
A retrospective analysis found that depression may be an independent risk factor for Parkinson’s disease.
10
Business Day
Europe Aims to Regulate the Cloud
Legislators are pushing for privacy protections, even if using cloud technology becomes more complicated as a result.
11
U.S.
A Balancing Act Around Lake Tahoe
A development plan satisfies some environmental groups and political leaders in California and Nevada, but critics say it will open the door to more development than proponents claim.
12
World
Militants Blamed After Dozens Killed at Nigerian College
Gunmen believed to be Islamic militants from the extremist group Boko Haram shot more than 40 students as they slept in northeast Nigeria.
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World
Irish Say No to No Senate in Blow to Prime Minister
A measure to abolish the upper house of Parliament, which Prime Minister Enda Kenny had championed, was widely expected to pass.
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Business Day
‘Sleepy Hollow’ on Fox Is First New Show to Be Renewed
Three episodes in the drama have proved popular, helped further by delayed viewing. “Lucky 7” on ABC was the first new show to be sidelined.Dumb.
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Opinion
Dogs Are People, Too
By looking directly at their brains and bypassing the constraints of behaviorism, M.R.I.’s can tell us about dogs’ internal states.
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World
U.S. Raids in Libya and Somalia Strike Terror Targets
American troops assisted by the F.B.I. and C.I.A. seized a militant in Tripoli who was indicted for his role in the 1998 embassy bombings, and Navy SEALs attacked a villa in a Somali town known as a militant hub.
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