McClatchy DC has the article Malala Yousafzai tells Obama drones are ‘fueling terrorism’.

In a statement released after the meeting, Malala said she was honored to meet with Obama, but that she told him she’s worried about the effect of U.S. drone strikes. (The White House statement didn’t mention that part.)

“I thanked President Obama for the United States’ work in supporting education in Pakistan and Afghanistan and for Syrian refugees,” she said in the statement. “I also expressed my concerns that drone attacks are fueling terrorism. Innocent victims are killed in these acts, and they lead to resentment among the Pakistani people. If we refocus efforts on education it will make a big impact.”

I wonder if Obama said, “You are right, but it feels so good to claim we got some terrorists. It is so hard to put aside the instant gratification, and worry about the long term consequences.  Right now, I have to live with the long term consequences of what some fool predecessor of mine did.  I have a right to leave some foul long term consequences to my successors.”

The Atlantic has the article 3 Reasons ‘Saving Face’ Is Overrated by Eric Liu.  He expresses exactly what it is that drives me crazy about thoughts of saving face in the current political situation.

And what about President Obama? He isn’t blameless in the metastasis of this crisis. But the pattern of his dealings with congressional Republicans actually underscores the danger of caring too much about face when the other side cares too little. He tried in recent years to negotiate rationally and earnestly on taxes and spending, to give the other side something they could call a win, all the while finding that he was yielding more than he was gaining. (Remember, the funding “victory” he seeks right now would maintain Paul Ryan’s sequestration spending levels). Obama’s reward for this earnestness was a shutdown. This explains why he’s taking a hard line this time, and why his former strategist David Plouffe now concedes that by accommodating too much in the past Obama only encouraged GOP intransigence. If there’s a face-related risk for the president now, it lies only in caving.

The Republicans ought to be talking about how much punishment they are willing to take rather than getting a fig leaf to cover over their utter surrender.

For a party that always puts a priority on punishing bad behavior, this is a time for them to take what is coming to them.

Truth Out has the editorial The American Public’s Shocking Lack of Policy Knowledge is a Threat to Progress and Democracy .

The reality of a massively uninformed public, though, is simply incongruous with this vision of a progressive future. So long as colossal swaths of the population are in the dark about the major policy issues of our time, the political scene will be ripe for ultra-right-wing demagogues and faux-populists to thwart progress at every turn. Progressives have to confront the fact that, technically, Republicans are right when they say that the ACA is “unpopular” or that “the American people” want a balanced budget amendment. This has to change. The vibrancy and legitimacy of our democratic culture depend on it.

This could have been labelled “A Progressive Faces Reality”.

I doubt that the level of misinformation is much more than it has been historically.  Yellow journalism is nothing new.  If progressives want the public to be better informed, they cannot depend on someone else to do the job.