Midday open thread: NBC/WSJ poll shows Republicans shift in favor of ground troops against ISIS

Daily KOS

10 years ago

Today’s comic by Matt Bors is No boots about it:
These Daily Kos community posts were the most shared on Facebook October 14:

Highly Respected Conservative Judge Rips “Voter ID” Laws–and the GOP–in Blistering Opinion, by Dartagnan

GOP Male Rep. says female Democratic candidate Ann McLane Kuster is “UGLY As SIN” and can’t win!!!, by Democrats Ramshield

Barricading the Ballot Box, by Puddytat
If we turn out, we win. Chip in $3 to help Get Out The Vote for Daily Kos’ endorsed candidates..
Poll shows more Republicans want ground troops used against ISIS: A new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll found 41 percent of respondents think fighting ISIS should include both combat troops on the ground and airstrikes while 35 percent think the mission should be restricted to airstrikes. Just 15 percent say no military action should be taken. In September, a previous NBC/WSJ poll found that 40 percent wanted only airstrikes and 34 percent wanted both airstrikes and combat troops. The in Americans also wanting U.S. ground troops comes mostly from groups that make up the GOP base. Since the September poll there has been almost no change in the views in this matter by Democrats, young people, and white women.
Democratic group says RNC engaging in illegal coordination: American Democracy Legal Fund, a watchdog group run by veteran Democratic operative Brad Woodhouse, has labeled as illegal coordination a project that enables the Republican National Committee and outside groups to share information from the field. The fund filed a complaint Tuesday with the Federal Election Commission. The RNC said it’s not illegally coordinated and called the accusation politically motivated. The complaint involves Data Trust, which has an exclusive list-exchange agreement with the RNC. Data Trust’s software interface allows the RNC and outside client groups to access and update profiles of individual voters in real time.
Polar bear shooed from house: Ruby Kaleak, part-time polar bear patrolwoman in Kaktovik, Alaska, usually just chases the bears that get too close to the village back into the Beaufort Sea. But this time she had to shoo one out of a house. She responded to a radio call’s two whispered words: “Qanitchaq, nanuq.” In Inupiat, that means “Arctic entryway, polar bear,” referring to the covered porch that helps keep out the cold. The person didn’t say where, but the village comprises only 300 people, and armed with a 12-gauge shotgun that can fire beanbags, firecrackers or lethal slugs, she quickly found the bear eating seal oil from a drum in the entrance of the house of 81-year-old Betty Brower. Kaleak chased the bear away. Nobody, including the bear, was injured.
A bit of background on watermelon toothpaste cartoon:

“It’s my job as an editor to see around corners, to look at all the possible meanings and nuances of words and of images,” writes Boston Herald editorial page editor Rachelle Cohen. “It’s my job and two weeks ago I failed at it miserably” when the above cartoon got into the paper.

The artist who drew it—“a decent and honorable and utterly guileless man who gets an image lodged in his brain”—saw a tube of watermelon toothpaste that his kids left on a bathroom counter before he went to work. Cohen and cartoonist Jerry Holbert didn’t see a problem with the sketch, but why didn’t someone else at the paper raise an eyebrow?
New report says clean energy not as expensive as some claim:

Onshore wind is cheaper than coal, gas or nuclear energy when the costs of ‘external’ factors like air quality, human toxicity and climate change are taken into account, according to an EU analysis.

The report says that for every megawatt hour (MW/h) of electricity generated, onshore wind costs roughly €105 (£83) per MW/h, compared to gas and coal which can cost up to around €164 and €233 per MW/h, respectively.

Nuclear power, offshore wind and solar energy are all comparably inexpensive generators, at roughly €125 per MW/h.
On today’s Kagro in the Morning show: Ebolamania cont’d. RWNJs find Iraq hope. Speaker gets death threat but UT law says guns in the room OK anyway. Joan McCarter: No “Stand Your Ground” for domestic violence. ID marriages resume. Budget cuts hit Ebola response.