NicholasKristoff

NicholasKristoff https://www.dailykos.com/news/NicholasKristoff News Community Action Copyright 2005 - Steal what you want Sun, 26 Jan 2020 20:29:49 +0000 Sun, 26 Jan 2020 20:29:49 +0000 Daily Kos rss@dailykos.com (Daily Kos) Daily Kos rss@dailykos.com (Daily Kos) Gov. Jack Markell (D) Punches the Hippies https://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/5/11/1384035/-Gov-Jack-Markell-D-Punches-the-Hippies <div class="dkimg-c"><img src="http://images.dailykos.com/images/142687/large/Markell.Flag_.png?1431368432" alt="" width="415" height="272" /></div> Delaware Governor Jack Markell (D) has written a rather lengthy piece last week in "The Atlantic" entitled "<a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/05/americans-need-jobs-not-populism/391661/">Americans Need Jobs, Not Populism.</a>"  The title alone enrages me because, since when were jobs and populism mutually exclusive? Indeed, this has been the Democratic Party's problem since 1992: they ditched populism either because they cowtowed to Wall Street or because they needed to cowtow to Wall Street to garner campaign dollars in order to remain competitive with the Republicans back in the 1990's. At its root, populism is a belief in the power of regular people, and in their right to have control over their government rather than a small group of political insiders or a wealthy elite.  So the Governor's title to his thesis implies that only a small group of political insiders or a wealthy elite can create jobs, and the little people should shut up and be happy with what he and his friends give us.   But then I saw a highlighted and enlarged excerpt that said: "Too often, the right seems to think the creation of great wealth is more important than whether or not the bounties of that wealth are broadly shared." Is the Governor just trying to bait and switch me? rss@dailykos.com (Delaware Dem) AnthonyBAtkinson Delaware IncomeInequality JackMarkell JosephStiglitz NicholasKristoff Rescued _1384035 Mon, 11 May 2015 18:23:25 +0000 The war supporter's weak case for war https://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/9/5/1236480/-The-war-supporter-s-weak-case-for-war <div class="dkimg-c"><img src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/dk-production/images/47199/large/RTX137GB.jpg?1378331958" alt="A Free Syrian Army fighter points his weapon as he tries to locate forces loyal to Syria's President Bashar al-Assad in Ramouseh area in Aleppo September 4, 2013. REUTERS/Molhem Barakat" width="550" height="367" /></div> It's easy to oppose this Syrian intervention. One simple fact is on our side: No one has made a serious case as to how lobbing a few low-impact cruise missiles will accomplish much—runway craters can be fixed in hours. Anything more valuable has already been dispersed or is inside hardened bunkers. Anti-air systems are deployed in populated areas, inevitably killing the very same people we'd supposed to be "protecting." Regime change has been explicitly ruled out. The use of heavier ordnance would have to be delivered via manned aircraft and that increases dangers dramatically—both of losing a pilot and of collateral damage. War opponents have another simple fact: There is no alternative to Assad. The insurgency is dominated by Islamist radicals. It seems like our best post-Assad scenario looks depressingly similar to post-Soviet Afghanistan. War opponents have public opinion on our side, which is always a nice place to be. War opponents don't have to contend with "allies" like Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld. Having them agree with anything you support is always depressing. And war opponents don't have to deal with arguments like <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/05/opinion/kristof-the-right-questions-on-syria.html?ref=nicholasdkristof&_r=1&">this one</a>, from the New York Times' Nicholas Kristof: <blockquote>So far, we’ve tried peaceful acquiescence, and it hasn’t worked very well. The longer the war drags on in Syria, the more Al Qaeda elements gain strength, the more Lebanon and Jordan are destabilized, and the more people die.</blockquote> The administration has gone to great lengths to stress just how limited air strikes will be, and to great pain to reiterate that regime destabilization is not the goal. So I'm not sure where Kristoff gets the idea that such attacks will have any effect on the growing influence of Islamists in the region. But let's say that by some miracle, the air strikes do weaken the Assad government, it is the "Al Qaeda elements" that stand most to gain, as they are be best placed to pick up the pieces. Lebanon and Jordan both oppose American intervention in Syria. It's adorable for war supporters like Kristof to decide what's best for other countries, but there's no reason to provide anyone else "help" that they don't want. And finally, does anyone really think that killing a few Syrians will mean fewer people will die? Assad has proven that he doesn't give two shits about his people, and will go to great and creative lengths to kill them. He knows that there are only three ways this ends: 1) he wins, 2) he ends up strung up on a Damascus lamppost, or 3) he ends up incarcerated at the Hague. Guess which option he'll do everything to achieve? A few dead government soldiers and maybe a plane or three is a small price to pay for what is, for him, a battle for his survival. More Kristoff below the fold. rss@dailykos.com (kos) NicholasKristoff Syria War _1236480 Thu, 05 Sep 2013 14:55:48 +0000 How to Stop the Mortenson Smear https://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/4/21/962287/-How-to-Stop-the-Mortenson-Smear I am going to donate $5 to the <a href="http://www.ikat.org/make-a-donation/">Central Asia Institute</a> every time I hear something negative about Greg Mortenson's work.   Not because I believe Mortenson is perfect, or that the allegations are totally unfounded.  But because I believe the attempt to discredit a person doing humanitarian work of his scale is wrong-headed. And the only way to fight ugly rhetoric designed merely to draw eyes to advertising is to throw money in the other direction.  The haters need to see that their bad attitude not only doesn't work, it backfires.  Big time. rss@dailykos.com (Nancy Meyer) Afghanistan CAI CentralAsiaInstitute GregMortenson jonkrakauer NicholasKristoff Pakistan Schools ThreeCupsofTea _962287 Thu, 21 Apr 2011 17:20:58 +0000 UPDATE 2- Kristoff: "Pro-Mubarak" Attackers are Government-Sponsored Thugs, Your Tax Dollars at Work https://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/2/2/940711/-UPDATE-2-Kristoff-Pro-Mubarak-Attackers-are-Government-Sponsored-Thugs-Your-Tax-Dollars-at-Work This is the spin planned for the papers tomorrow, crowds with honest disagreement "clash," so pols can call for "calm" and imply Mubarak has significant support. Thank God for Kristoff this needs to be all over the web today ahead of the news cycle to expose the lie. The New York Times' incredibly courageous Nicholas Kristoff is bearing witness to what the Egyptian protesters already know and are telling the world, that the "pro-Mubarak" crowds attacking peaceful protesters are government-sponsored thugs.  I am so goddamned proud to be his mere Facebook friend that my eyes are a bit moist right now. He just posted at <a href="http://www.facebook.com/#!/kristof">his Facebook:</a> <blockquote> I was in Tahrir today, and I must say that "clashes" is the wrong word for what happened. This was a violent government-sponsored crackdown using thugs. </blockquote> Turning to <a href="http://kristof.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/02/02/the-view-from-tahrir/?src=tptw">Nick's blog he reports</a>: <blockquote> Today President Mubarak seems to have decided to crack down on the democracy movement, using not police or army troops but rather mobs of hoodlums and thugs... </blockquote> rss@dailykos.com (Ralph Lopez) Egypt mubarak NicholasKristoff Obama _940711 Wed, 02 Feb 2011 18:27:59 +0000 Abbreviated pundits round-up https://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/12/14/928840/-Abbreviated-pundits-round-up Forgetting, as usual, who started class warfare, former Bush speechwriter and Newscorp executive <a href="http://tinyurl.com/2eybuhg">William McGurn</a> lays on the supply-side schtick thick and deep in his "The GOP needs to address the class-warfare argument in moral terms": <blockquote> The object of Mr. Sanders's ire was the deal between the White House and Republicans that will keep the Bush tax cuts in place. "The billionaires of America are on the warpath," was his explanation. "They want more and more and more." In his nearly nine-hour remarks, excerpts of which are now going viral on the Internet, he framed the lack of a tax hike for the rich as a surrender to greed. In so doing, he inadvertently raised another question: How come Republicans have such a hard time speaking just as forthrightly about the moral underpinnings of their side of this argument? </blockquote> In supporting the DREAM Act, <a href="http://www.denverpost.com/opinion/ci_16820704">Bobby Ray Sanders</a> wonders how many native-born Americans can pass the test that immigrants must take to obtain their naturalization papers. <a href="http://www.sfgate.com/columnists/millner/">Caille Millner</a>: <blockquote> But it's far more interesting to look at the WikiLeaks case by looking at the culture of the Internet, which is changing rapidly from a free-wheeling, anything-goes space into a place that's more reflective of society as a whole - society with all of its rigidities, indignities, inequalities, and yes, securities. The fight over WikiLeaks - a fight with hackers and computers activists on one side and governments, established companies, and everyday computer users on another - is really a culture war. As with all culture wars, there's unlikely to be a clear winner - just a long, exhausting series of skirmishes and retrenchments. I'm guessing that the ultimate outcome will be a draw. </blockquote> <a href="http://www.kansascity.com/2010/12/13/2517956/the-achilles-heel-of-american.html">Mary Sanchez</a>: <blockquote> Inequality is America’s Achilles heel. Class level still matters greatly when it comes to student achievement. No Child Left Behind has made that infinitely clear. I realize this is hardly rocket science. Turning it around will be. … So skip Sputnik. Here is a reference point more likely to resonate with the Twitterbrains of our Facebook nation. Oprah. Oprah is fond of using the imagery of pebbles and rocks. She invokes the idea that when God (substitute your own supernatural power, if necessary) needs to get your attention to a situation, he first throws little pebbles. “Hello, anyone home?” The small stones are annoying, but easily brushed away reminders to change course. The longer a person doesn’t pay attention, the bigger the rocks become. Finally, the genuinely clueless get a brick upside the head. Whap! </blockquote> <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/newsdesk/2010/12/richard-holbrooke.html">Steve Coll</a> remembers Richard Holbrooke. As does <a href="http://kristof.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/12/13/richard-holbrooke-rip/">Nicholas Kristoff</a>. <a href="http://voices.washingtonpost.com/postpartisan/2010/12/holbrooke_an_extraordinary_man.html">Richard Cohen</a>, too. At least somebody is saying "Ho, ho, ho." <a href="http://www.inthesetimes.com/working/entry/6763/workers_christmas_list_ending_wage_theft/">Kari Lydersen</a>: <blockquote> The average mall Santa sees more than 10,000 kids each season, working long hours with few breaks. While some trained, long-time Santas make $5,000 up to $20,000 for a six-week stint, the majority make around minimum wage, according to “Confessions of a Mall Santa." … Santa impersonators are among the thousands of workers hired for temporary positions during the holiday season, when employers including retail stores, warehouses, delivery companies and many other related industries take on seasonal hires to facilitate the rush of gift-shopping that is a mainstay of the country’s entire economy—representing a quarter to half of all retail sales. Though the season is supposed to be about generosity and cheer, workers rights groups warn that it is a high-risk time for wage theft, which is especially prevalent among though by no means limited to temporary jobs of the type that proliferate during the holidays. </blockquote> The entering wedge? The slippery slope? <a href="http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/opinionla/la-ed-ads-20101214,0,6575479.story">The Los Angeles Times</a> reluctantly and foolishly goes for a plan to let corporations sponsor certain athletic and education programs to help rescue the deficit-plagued local school district. Just a few logos plastered here and there. But no worries. Rules will keep it from getting out of hand. Uh-huh. A century and a half ago, before the first state had seceded, Abraham Lincoln intentionally sabotaged a compromise that would have saved the Union, according to <a href="http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/12/13/how-lincoln-undid-the-union/?ref=opinion">Richard Striner</a>. The view that Lincoln was more interested in keeping the country united than in abolishing slavery is mistaken, he writes: <blockquote> Marked “Private & confidential,” the letter instructed Kellogg to “entertain no proposition for a compromise in regard to the extension of slavery. The instant you do, they have us under again; all our labor is lost, and sooner or later must be done over. … Have none of it. The tug has to come & better now than later.” Lincoln was not speaking abstractly. The Capitol was buzzing with talk of a Union-saving deal. Indeed, on Dec. 18, Sen. John J. Crittenden of Kentucky proposed a plan to preserve the Union through a series of actions to protect the institution of slavery. In other words, at the precise moment that a compromise to rescue the country seemed at hand, the incoming president worked aggressively to block it. Lincoln, whom historians often portray as being more interested in saving the Union than opposing slavery, chose to do the opposite.   Crittenden’s plan consisted of a package of constitutional amendments and congressional resolutions, all of which would be “unamendable.” Among their provisions, these amendments would have protected slavery in all of the slave states from future actions by Congress; permitted slavery to spread in all federal territories and future territories below the line of 36 degrees 30 minutes north latitude (which runs roughly along the northern border of North Carolina, Tennesee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, New Mexico and Arizona); forbidden Congress from abolishing slavery on federal property within a slave state; prevented Congress from interfering with the interstate slave trade; and indemnified owners whose runaway slaves could not be recovered under the Fugitive Slave Law. </blockquote> <a href="http://www.weeklystandard.com/articles/gop-s-california-blues_520709.html">Fred Barnes</a> tries to make a silk purse out of the GOP's hog's ear in California. <a href="http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/175331/tomgram%3A__lewis_lapham%2C_sweet_celebrity/#more">Lewis Lapham</a>: <blockquote> The fallen idol sells as many papers as the rising star, but God forbid that the product should lack the ingredients listed on the label. Were Sarah Palin to suffer a change of heart -- maybe read a history book, possibly take instruction from a dictionary or an atlas -- her image would lose its currency, risk being shelved in a supermarket aisle with the soda water and the bathroom fragrance…. On the national cultural circuits, as among the political camp followers feeding on the spectacle of a presidential election campaign, the mere mention of money in sufficient quantity (a $100 million divorce settlement, a $787 billion federal stimulus) excites the same response as a sighting of George Clooney. Eventually the society chokes itself to death on rancid hype. Which probably is why on passing a newsstand these days I think of funeral parlors and Tutankhamen’s tomb. The celebrities pictured on the covers of the magazines line up as if in a row of ceremonial grave goods, exquisitely prepared for burial within the tomb of a democratic republic that died of eating disco balls. </blockquote> <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/libertycentral/2010/dec/13/astroturf-libertarians-internet-democracy">George Monbiot</a> says that, to him, the online sabotaging of intelligent debate seems organized. rss@dailykos.com (Meteor Blades) abbreviatedpunditsround-up BobbyRaySanders CailleMillner fredbarnes GeorgeMonbiot KyriLedersen LewisLapham MarySanchez NicholasKristoff RichardCohen RichardStriner SteveColl WilliamMcGurn _928840 Tue, 14 Dec 2010 10:28:23 +0000 Kristoff Nails HealthCare Perspective https://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/10/8/790980/-Kristoff-Nails-HealthCare-Perspective Early on Kristoff suggests that Congress eliminate insurance for 15% of their members and let that 15% take their children to an emergency room for care.  NOT going to happen, however he will incur apoplectic reaction from the jingoists for "demeaning" the holiness of 9/11.  Forever waving the bloody flag of 9/11, never stopping to consider those responsible for allowing it to happen, the unconscionable attack of Iraq, our unlawful and horrific violations of human decency, the civilian casualties ("We don't do body counts").  The most cowardly concept that "fighting them over there.........." by recruiting our economically disadvantaged citizens and green card immigrants was somehow noble and justified defilement of the Constitution, death and disfigurement to innocents. A most arrogant display to the rest of the world of what we are actually capable of.  For a country that spends $600 Billion on "defense" allowing a 58 minute attack on three different targets was absurdly incompetent.  The absurdity of what we spend is a whole other can of worms. rss@dailykos.com (ranger25) 9-11 HealthCare incompetentdefense jingoiism New York Times NewYorkTimes NicholasKristoff _790980 Thu, 08 Oct 2009 15:52:48 +0000 Nicholas Kristoff's Modest Proposal https://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/10/8/784593/-Nicholas-Kristoff-s-Modest-Proposal If you have not yet read Nicholas Kristoff's Op-Ed piece in today's New York Times, you should put it on your must-read list.  He makes a great yet modest proposal concerning health-care reform.  More below. rss@dailykos.com (Rashaverak) Health-CareReform-Do-NothingCongress New York Times NewYorkTimes NicholasKristoff _784593 Thu, 08 Oct 2009 15:43:29 +0000 NY Times preview: Columnists go thermo-nuclear on McCain! https://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/9/20/605029/-NY-Times-preview-Columnists-go-thermo-nuclear-on-McCain Sunday commentary from "Murderer's Row" at the New York Times (their regular columnists) goes after McCain pretty hard - well at least two out of three. Nicholas Kristof speaks of the push to "otherize" Obama -- how the lie that Obama is (or may be secretly) a Muslim won't go away. Frank Rich points out the McCain campaign's Rovian tactics of painting him as a reformer against those Wall Street types, despite all evidence to the contrary, and focusing on buzz words like "leadership" instead of concrete plans. As for Thomas Friedman, well he is just talking about his lucrative speaking tour on energy issues and whining that no one is listening to him. None of these columns are online yet at <a href="http://www.nytimes.com,">http://www.nytimes.com,</a> but should be later tonight. Here is a quick rundown: rss@dailykos.com (EZ writer) FrankRich New York Times NewYorkTimes NicholasKristoff _605029 Sun, 21 Sep 2008 00:07:57 +0000 The DAILY SHOW/COLBERT REPORT Spoiler thread 03/12/07 https://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/3/12/311136/-The-DAILY-SHOW-COLBERT-REPORT-Spoiler-thread-03-12-07 <table><tr><td><a target="_top" href="http://www.comedycentral.com/index.jhtml"><img alt="Image Hosted by ImageShack.us" src="http://img403.imageshack.us/img403/957/dailycolbert0dr.jpg" border /></a></td><td> Tonight on TDS, Christopher Dodd,   Senator (D-CT), 2008 presidential candidate;  and on TCR, Nicholas Kristoff,   columnist, The New York Times </td></tr></table><table><tr><td>Tonight's sausage-grinder of snark setting: GAAAHHHHHH! </td><td><img alt="sausage grinder of snark" src="http://img250.imageshack.us/img250/265/snowmansausagegrinderez7.jpg" border /></td></tr></table> rss@dailykos.com (TiaRachel) ChrisDodd Community Jon Stewart JonStewart NicholasKristoff StephenColbert The Colbert Report The Daily Show TheColbertReport TheDailyShow _311136 Tue, 13 Mar 2007 03:00:58 +0000 May Democracy Spread from Darfur https://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/6/9/217269/-May-Democracy-Spread-from-Darfur In order for any documentary film to be effective, it must document a movement or struggle. Even though foreign films can be beneficial to a colonized people as far as making international audiences aware of injustices and oppression, picking up their own cameras and documenting their own experiences of daily life gives the people a stronger voice and is more empowering. The colonial history of Sudan is linked to its current conflicts, and therefore the conflicts may appear as natural and unsolvable. However, cultures and histories are changed over time. The people of the region and the world can benefit from documentaries made within the struggle from the viewpoint of those involved. rss@dailykos.com (KDANTEATER) Apartheid Bill Clinton BillClinton Chile Colonialism Conflict Darfur Democracy Dictatorship Documentary Empowerment EthnicCleansing Genocide GeorgeClooney History Movies NicholasKristoff Rwanda Sudan _217269 Fri, 09 Jun 2006 14:30:34 +0000 BREAKING : Cheney Connected to Plame/Wilson Leak? https://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/2/15/187368/-BREAKING-Cheney-Connected-to-Plame-Wilson-Leak A rather off-the-beaten-path web paper has just released a report that claims several former and current Administration Officials have now come forward to state that the outing of Valerie Plame's identity was part of a coordinated effort by Vice President Dick Cheney and National Security Advisor Stephan Hadley to discredit Joseph Wilson and his OP-ed on Niger. Update: <a href="http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/020906J.shtml">Truthout.org</a> also has had the story posted as of Feb 9th, apparently this is the original source. Details over the flip. rss@dailykos.com (Frank Vyan Walton) Dick Cheney DickCheney JosephWilson NicholasKristoff Niger NOC Uranium ValeriePlame _187368 Wed, 15 Feb 2006 17:27:32 +0000