This CEO Took on the Feds, and Now He’s Paying Dearly
“A self-described ‘serial entrepreneur,’ Mr. [Craig] Zucker looks the part with tussled black hair, a scraggly beard and hipster jeans. Yet his casual-Friday outfit does little to subdue his air of ambition and hustle. Nowadays Mr. Zucker spends most of his waking hours fighting off a vindictive U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission that has set out to punish him for having challenged its regulatory overreach. The outcome of the battle has ramifications far beyond a magnetic toy designed for bored office workers. It implicates bedrock American notions of consumer choice, personal responsibility and limited liability.”
Can This Man Save Obama’s Legacy and Win Democrats Back the House?
“Rep. Steve Israel, a New York congressman, is entrusted with one of the more Sisyphean tasks in national politics: pilot a Democratic takeover of the House of Representatives, even if demographics, mathematics and history are aligned against it. To pull off the task that could save the president’s second-term agenda, the chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) says he’s banking on a revamped get-out-the-vote operation that can replicate the success of the Obama campaign and push Democrats toward the 218 seats needed to control a House majority.”
Behind the Scenes of Obama’s Decision on Syria
“President Barack Obama believes congressional authorization for strikes in Syria will strengthen his hand — and is confident that he will win votes on Capitol Hill, senior administration officials said Saturday afternoon. But he is reserving the right to exercise his legal authority to launch limited reprisals in response to Syrian President Bashar Assad’s reported use of chemical weapons, even if Congress turns him down.”
Abolish Private Schools, Or Why Britain Is Much More Left Wing Than America
“There’s been a neat little example of why my native Britain is a great deal more left wing than the United States is this past week. It comes from the reaction to a speculative piece at Slate which argues that private schools should be abolished. . . ”
Google, Microsoft Press Lawsuits for Right to Release More Surveillance Data
“Perennial competitors in the search realm, Google and Microsoft have set down their swords to press the U.S. government in court for the right to publish statistics on secret surveillance demands against their customers, the companies said today. . . . ‘To followers of technology issues, there are many days when Microsoft and Google stand apart,” [Brad] Smith, [Microsoft’s general counsel] wrote. “But today our two companies stand together. We both remain concerned with the Government’s continued unwillingness to permit us to publish sufficient data relating to Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) orders.”
Aetna Pulls Out of Another Obamacare Health Exchange
“Aetna Inc has decided not to sell insurance on New York’s individual health insurance exchange, which is being created under President Barack Obama’s healthcare reform law, the fifth state where it has reversed course in recent weeks. The third-largest U.S. health insurer has said it is seeking to limit its exposure to the risks of providing health plans to America’s uninsured, but did not give details about its decision to pull out of specific markets.”
Forget about Education Reform, Just Burn the Schools
“There’s something we can all agree on: school sucks. Kids don’t like to go. But parents also think schools suck. Most parents aren’t happy with their kids’ school. Most parents think the state of schools at large is deteriorating. If there’s one thing everyone agrees on, it’s that there are problems in education. And you know what? We’re right.”
UK Took Three Weeks to Act on Data at New York Times, says Guardian
“The British government took over three weeks to act on authoritative information about the whereabouts of a trove of secret British intelligence data leaked by the whistleblower Edward Snowden, despite now claiming the information risks “grave damage” to the security of British intelligence and armed forces, the Guardian said on Friday.”
Democrats See Value in Texas in Candidacy for Governor
“Early this month, Wendy Davis, the unknown Texas state senator who rocketed to fame this summer with her 11-hour filibuster to block an anti-abortion bill, met with strategists of the Democratic Governors Association at their K Street offices in Washington. They were urging her to run for governor next year, even though Texas is not among their realistic targets for flipping a Republican-held executive mansion.”
This $7,000 Master’s Degree Is Scaring Colleges
“The Georgia Institute of Technology rocked the higher education world when it announced plans to offer a fully online master’s degree in computer science for roughly one-seventh the price of its on-campus equivalent – less than $7,000.”
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