Vox Sentences: Our interview with Obama

1. We talked to Obama

(Zackary Canepari / Vox)

• Vox's Ezra Klein and Matthew Yglesias interviewed President Obama a couple weeks ago. You can see the videos here.

  [Vox / Ezra Klein and Matthew Yglesias]

• In it, Obama called for an end to the "routine use" of the filibuster, a marked contrast to his position as a US senator.

  [Vox / Ezra Klein]

• Obama also reiterated his call for a Constitutional amendment enabling stricter regulation of campaign spending and fundraising.

  [Vox / Andrew Prokop]

• He came very close to endorsing "all-payer rate-setting," a sweeping health care reform that is "nearly identical" to single-payer.

  [Vox / Sarah Kliff]

• He claimed that his first two years — with the passage of the stimulus, Obamacare, and Dodd-Frank — were the most productive policymaking period since LBJ.

  [The Guardian / Tom McCarthy]

• His take on the politics of race, post-Ferguson: "over the long term, I'm pretty optimistic, and the reason is because this country just becomes more and more of a hodgepodge of folks."

  [Vox / Ezra Klein]

• One of his more striking lines on foreign policy, in response to accusations he doesn't understand the world's threats: "I get a thick book full of death, destruction, strife, and chaos. That's what I take with my morning tea."

  [Vox / Matthew Yglesias]

• Generally, his comments on foreign affairs were defined more by what he wanted to avoid (war, endless occupation, economic disruption) than what he wants to achieve. And that may not be a bad thing.

  [Vox / Matthew Yglesias]

• He also emphasized that the media tends to hype terrorism into a bigger threat than it actually is.

  [The Hill / Justin Sink]

2. Not-so-massive resistance

Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore testifies in front of Congress in 2004. (Matthew Cavanaugh / Getty Images News)

• Same-sex marriage is now legal in Alabama.

  [NYT / Alan Blinder and Richard Pérez-Peña]

• But up to 50 of its 67 counties are refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

  [Human Rights Campaign / Maureen McCarty]

• That said, marriage licenses are being issued in the counties where Birmingham and Montgomery, the state's two biggest cities, are located.

  [BuzzFeed / Chris Geidner and Tasneem Nashrulla]

• The issue is that Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore has ordered probate judges to ignore a federal court ruling enacting marriage equality.

  [BuzzFeed / Chris Geidner]

• But Moore has no authority to do that; this is a federal matter, and neither the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals nor the Supreme Court have opted to intervene.

  [Vox / German Lopez]

• You may remember Moore from his previous stint as Chief Justice, which ended in 2003 when he refused to obey a court order to remove a Ten Commandments monument from the state Supreme Court building and was removed from office.

  [CNN]

• Moore's tactics are earning comparisons to former Alabama Gov. George Wallace's attempts to defy federal court rulings on desegregating schools in the 1960s.

  [Vox / German Lopez]

3. Bonkers anti-vaccine theory confirmed to be bonkers

Smiling during your HPV shot is optional. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

• A big new study suggests that the HPV vaccine doesn't spur teenage girls to have more sex (or at least unsafe sex).

  [USA Today / Kim Painter]

• More specifically: "HPV vaccination was not associated with increases in STIs in a large cohort of females, suggesting that vaccination is unlikely to promote unsafe sexual activity."

  [Journal of the American Medical Association / Anupam Jena, Dana Goldman, Seth Seabury]

• Upon its introduction nearly a decade ago, the vaccine was widely attacked for allegedly encouraging promiscuity.

  [Slate / Meghan O'Rourke]

• The vaccine was a point of contention in the 2012 Republican presidential primary, with Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) attacking Gov. Rick Perry (R-TX) for requiring it of Texas' sixth-grade girls; she claimed the vaccine could cause mental retardation.

  [NYT / Trip Gabriel and Denise Grady]

• There's absolutely no evidence that's true and never has been; the vaccine has an excellent safety record and the American Academy of Pediatrics and the CDC recommend all girls receive it.

  [PolitiFact / Angie Drobnic Holan and Louis Jacobson]

• Perry's mandate was overturned by the state legislature; currently only Virginia and DC require HPV vaccination for girls entering sixth grade.

  [Kaiser Family Foundation]

• Only 33.4 percent of girls and 13.9 percent of boys ages 13 to 17 had received the recommended three doses in 2013.

  [CDC ]

• Contrary to popular belief that it's meant for girls, the CDC recommends 11-to-12-year-old boys get the vaccine, too.

  [CDC ]

4. Misc.

• Here's an intriguing argument that the huge growth in the US prison population wasn't due to the drug war, but instead due to overzealous prosecutors in all areas of crime.

  [Slate / Leon Neyfakh]

• Jack White's rider includes remarkably specific instructions for how to make his guacamole (he's a leave-the-pit-in kind of guy).

  [Vocativ / Shane Dixon Kavanaugh]

• There's a town in Brazil called Americana that was settled by ex-Confederates after the US Civil War; slavery was still legal in Brazil.

  [Vice / Mimi Dwyer]

• Here's some psychological research suggesting that rational argumentation is futile, the Enlightment was a lie, we are merely apes desperately grasping after something that could be even possibly called "truth," etc.

  [BBC / Tom Stafford]

• King v. Burwell could wipe out health coverage for millions — which one of its plaintiffs says she didn't realize, and doesn't want to happen.

  [Mother Jones / Stephanie Mencimer]

5. Verbatim

• "We keep creating saviors whom we expect to single-handedly restore lost values. Then we lash out at them when they inevitably fall short."

  [New Republic / Eve Fairbanks]

• "All that is solid in physical attraction often melts into an air of complacency, to paraphrase Karl Marx."

  [The Kernel / Miles Klee]

• "I can say that most people who say 'I'm ready to die' really mean I'm ready to kill."

  [Abram de Swaan to New York / Claire McCartney]

• "I am always skeptical of arguments that claim that the solution is to do what we would enjoy more anyway."

  [Fredrik deBoer]

• "Insofar as there’s no such thing as innate aptitude, just hard work and grit — then by not being gritty enough, I’m a monster who’s complicit in the death of a population greater than that of Canada."

  [Slate Star Codex / Scott Alexander]

Contributions are a key part of the future of Vox

Readers rely on Vox for clear, nuanced coverage that not only illuminates the issues, but poses solutions, too. And we rely on help from our readers: Advertising and grants cover the majority of our costs, but we count on contributions to help us close the gaps in our budget. In fact, we’re looking to reach 95,000 individual contributions before the end of the year. Will you make the next contribution right now? Our average gift is just $20 — and it goes a long way in helping us keep our work free. Vox is here to help everyone understand what’s shaping the world — not just the people who can afford to pay for a subscription. We believe that’s an important part of building a more equal society. Join that mission by making a contribution today.

One-Time Monthly Annual

$5/month

$10/month

$25/month

$50/month

Other

$

Yes, I'll give $5/month

Yes, I'll give $5/month

We accept credit card, Apple Pay, and Google Pay. You can also contribute via