The latest on Amazon and Hachette

Two somewhat competing accounts of Amazon's [ab]use of power in the book market.

Paul Krugman, Amazon’s Monopsony Is Not O.K.

 

Does Amazon really have robber-baron-type market power? When it comes to books, definitely. Amazon overwhelmingly dominates online book sales, with a market share comparable to Standard Oil’s share of the refined oil market when it was broken up in 1911. Even if you look at total book sales, Amazon is by far the largest player.

Joshua Gans, Amazon: it’s not the power, it’s the lost focus

 

Paul Krugman sees Amazon’s actions against Hachette — not allowing pre-orders, slipping delivery times and the like — as evidence it cannot be trusted with its power. But his anger is missplaced. The issue is that Amazon has taken these actions in a way that actually harms consumers right now.

 

 

Today's Very Good News on Ebola - That You Probably Haven't Heard →

 

Today is October 19th, the last day of the quarantine for the family members who were living with Duncan just before he was hospitalized.

...according to news reports as recently as yesterday, none of the family members have shown any symptoms of the disease. So we can now say close to definitively that none of them contracted Ebola even though they were living with him in close quarters as he entered the infectious period.

 

Factbox: Egypt's Student Protests →

Banned from campuses by judicial order since 2010, the question of police presence on university campuses once again emerged during the previous academic year. In October 2013, police presence was approved on Al-Azhar’s campus. In April 2014, Cairo University followed suit.

In October of this year, private security firm, the Falcon Group, was hired to provide on-campus security services at fifteen state universities, as well as at Al-Azhar University. Measures put in place by Falcon included steel gates installed in front of electronic gates at campus entrances, and female security guards stationed at entrances. The firm, however, would not be equipped with live ammunition.

Students have been protesting for awhile now. This will be important to watch.

The Secret Casualties of Iraq’s Abandoned Chemical Weapons →

One of the more viral pieces of news from yesterday:

From 2004 to 2011, American and American-trained Iraqi troops repeatedly encountered, and on at least six occasions were wounded by, chemical weapons remaining from years earlier in Saddam Hussein’s rule.

In all, American troops secretly reported finding roughly 5,000 chemical warheads, shells or aviation bombs, according to interviews with dozens of participants, Iraqi and American officials, and heavily redacted intelligence documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act.

180,000 People Flee Western Iraq as ISIS Inches Ever Closer to Baghdad →

Iraqi security forces evacuated another military base in restive Anbar province on Monday in the face of an offensive by the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS).

The base is the latest in a string of military installations to fall into ISIS hands, according to CNN. Its abandonment comes less than two weeks after ISIS fighters captured nearby Heet on Oct. 2, which lies just 85 miles west of Baghdad.

...

On Monday, the U.N. said that an estimated 180,000 Iraqis have fled Heet since it fell earlier this month to the radical Islamist group, which continues to cleave away large swaths of the country’s Sunni heartland from central government control.

Supreme Court Allows Texas Abortion Clinics to Stay Open →

 

The Supreme Court on Tuesday allowed more than a dozen Texas abortion clinics to reopen, blocking a state law that had imposed strict requirements on abortion providers. Had the law been allowed to stand, it would have caused all but eight of the state’s abortion clinics to close and would have required many women to travel more than 150 miles to the nearest abortion provider.

The Supreme Court’s order — five sentences long and with no explanation of the justices’ reasoning — represents an interim step in a legal fight that is far from over.

 

Former NSA Chief Hayden Questions Prosecution of New York Times Reporter →

Hayden's comments about Risen's case make him one of the most senior intelligence officials to question the wisdom of prosecuting the Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter. "I am, like America, conflicted," Hayden said in the CBS interview. "You're talking about ruining lives over things about which people are acting on principle."

It's unlikely Hayden's statements will have any practical impact on the case, but they may provide some political cover for the Obama administration if it wishes to jettison the case against Risen. Hayden told CBS that he believes Risen's reporting harmed American interests but questioned the wisdom of redressing that offense in a way that "harms the broad freedom of the press."