The Dog Eat Dog World of Politics

Canines have more to do with presidential elections than one might think; the conditions in which alleged WikiLeaks source Bradley Manning was detained were “excessive,” a military judge found; meanwhile, The Associated Press has started selling sponsored tweets on its Twitter feed. These discoveries and more below.

On a regular basis, Truthdig brings you the news items and odds and ends that have found their way to Larry Gross, director of the USC Annenberg School for Communication. A specialist in media and culture, art and communication, visual communication and media portrayals of minorities, Gross helped found the field of gay and lesbian studies.

The Electoral Significance of Presidential Dog Ownership Between all the fiscal cliff-hanging and the preparations for the inauguration later this month, nobody inside the Beltway is paying much attention to the burgeoning political-science literature on the electoral significance of presidential dog ownership.

Paying for Proof Coursera will offer a fee-based pathway with identity verification for students who want to earn a more meaningful certificate of completion, the company said today in an announcement that also sheds light on an emerging business model for the largest massive open online course (MOOC) provider.

Capitalism and Healthcare By now, we all know that the United States spends much more on healthcare than other rich nations, and achieves much lower outcomes.

This Could Be the Birth of an Independent Kurdish State The great losers in the breakup of the Ottoman empire could be winners in the wake of Syria’s civil war and the Arab spring.

The Progressive Caucus: Enabling Obama’s Rightward Moves? The failure of the Congressional Progressive Caucus to stand up to President Obama on many vital matters of principle is one of the most important — and least mentioned — political dynamics of this era.

Judge: Bradley Manning Detention Conditions Were “Excessive” A military judge found that Bradley Manning, accused of sending classified documents to WikiLeaks, suffered illegal pretrial punishment for nine months when he was held in a brig in Quantico, Va., reports the Associated Press.

A Demoralized James Dobson Admits His Defeat Maggie Gallagher isn’t the only religious conservative to be feeling a loss of optimism in the new year.

How the TV Business Got Rich Off the Thing That Was Going to Kill It: The Internet Surely, you’ve heard the news: The cable business is broken, the end of TV is nigh, and it’s only a matter of time before the Internet does to television what it’s done to music and newspapers — obliterate the old business models and leave something shiny and new in their place.

Will Chuck Hagel’s Appointment Actually Help the Anti-War Left? Chuck Hagel isn’t anyone I’d pick to be in a position of power.

The AP Has Started Selling Its Twitter Feed During the Consumer Electronics Show, the Associated Press’s 1.5 million followers will see tweets about Samsung’s new products.