Reading List: December 18, 2016

Sunday.

Marcy Wheeler hopes the Democratic Party can address the deficiencies of the ACA. Her piece at emptywheel contrasts reporting from Sarah Kliff with terrible opinion writing from Markos Moulitsas and Kevin Drum in the hopes that the former is what Democrats look to going forward.

Being completely out of power, Democrats have another alternative besides just “wonk harder.” Since Republicans will already in in the difficult position of taking away benefits, Democrats can make that much harder — and play to what we’ve learned from the roll out of ObamaCare — by calling for what they should have called for in the first place: something that moves us towards true universal care, rather than just aspirationally universal insurance coverage.

George Dvorsky at Gizmodo reports that 2 billion year old water has been found in a Canadian mine. It’s part of an underground network.

The researchers describe the water as an “interconnected fluid system” deep in the Canadian Shield that’s billions of years old and capable of supporting life. “We are just slowly beginning to understand that in fact we are looking at a whole new hydrosphere on the planet,” explained Lollar to the National Post. And indeed, several regions on Earth contain ancient isolated water in geological formations below the surface.

Lawrence Colburn, who intervened in the My Lai massacre, has died. The Washington Post describes his heroism in an obituary.

Thompson and his crew identified a group of Vietnamese hiding in a bunker and a unit of U.S. soldiers advancing on them. Thompson again landed the helicopter and confronted the lieutenant, then called on Mr. Colburn and Andreotta for help. Thompson said that he would personally remove the Vietnamese from the bunker to safety, and that if the Americans fired on them, Mr. Colburn and Andreotta should shoot them.

“The first thing I thought of was my mother,” Mr. Colburn told PBS. “ ‘Oh my God, Mom, get me out of here.’ But, trying to think what she would want me to do, and she would want me to do exactly what Mr. Thompson was doing.”

The Cato Institute is fighting to allow an Asian rock band named “The Slants” trademark their name. The band’s attempts have been stopped by the federal government because of the racist nature of the name. The brief is online and worth the read.

This case is about whether an Asian-American rock band called The Slants can trademark and own their own name. The Slants are a group of artists who have formed an identity “to take on these stereotypes that people have about us, like the slanted eyes, and own them.” Resp. Cert. Brief 3. Some agree with The Slants’ approach and some disagree, as is normal in a robust artistic marketplace. What’s not normal is that the government has chosen sides in this debate, punishing The Slants for their choice of name by denying them federal trademark registration.

And Tary Fivek writes for Worker’s World about how the US government may use the controversy around “fake news” to force through a propaganda law.

The median pay of a U.S. journalist is around $39,000 a year. (payscale.com) In a city like New York, this makes journalism a nearly impossible endeavor. With freelance journalists making around $250 an article, this means quantity is key, not quality.

A well-thought-out article may cost the journalist more time and energy than it’s worth. Grants from the U.S. government that are supposed to “support local independent media to refute foreign disinformation and manipulation in their communities” will line more pockets. They will favor those toeing the official line over those engaging in adversarial journalism — exposing and countering the lies of capitalism and imperialism.

Enjoy the rest of the weekend.