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Hiatus
I'm going to take a break from this blog for a while. I'll be back, I'm sure, but I think I need some time away for now.
I promise to keep my name and avatar the same when I return (at least for a while) so you're less likely to go "Wait, who is that? When did I follow this guy?
Well, unless you're already asking that. If that's the case, I can't help.
Have fun out there.
Since 1999, student debt has increased more than 500 percent, yet the average starting salary for graduates has dropped 10 percent, adjusted for inflation. Student debts can’t be cancelled in bankruptcy. A default brings penalties and ruins a credit rating. To make matters worse, the job market for new graduates remains lousy. Which is why record numbers are still living at home.
Robert Reich | Why There’s No Outcry for a Revolution in America (via housewifeswag)
Maybe the Most Orwellian Text Message a Government’s Ever Sent | Vice
“Dear subscriber, you are registered as a participant in a mass disturbance.”
That’s a text message that thousands of Ukrainian protesters spontaneously received on their cell phones today, as a new law prohibiting public demonstrations went into effect. It was the regime’s police force, sending protesters the perfectly dystopian text message to accompany the newly minted, perfectly dystopian legislation. In fact, it’s downright Orwellian (and I hate that adjective, and only use it when absolutely necessary, I swear).
But that’s what this is: it’s technology employed to detect noncompliance, to hone in on dissent. The NY Times reports that the “Ukrainian government used telephone technology to pinpoint the locations of cell phones in use near clashes between riot police officers and protesters early on Tuesday.” Near. Using a cell phone near a clash lands you on the regime’s hit list.
See, Kiev is tearing itself to shreds right now, but since we’re kind of burned out on protests, riots, and revolutions at the moment, it’s being treated below-the-fold news. Somehow, the fact that over a million people are marching, camping out, and battling with Ukraine’s increasingly authoritarian government is barely making a ripple behind such blockbuster news bits as bridge closures and polar vortexes. Yes, even though protesters are literally building catapaults and wearing medieval armor and manning flaming dump trucks.
Hopefully news of the nascent techno-security state will turn some heads—it’s right out of1984, or, more recently, Elysium: technology deployed to “detect” dissent. Again, this tech appears to be highly arbitrary; anyone near the protest is liable to be labeled a “participant,” as if targeting protesters directly and so broadly wasn’t bad enough in the first place.
It’s further reminder that authoritarian regimes are exploiting the very technology once celebrated as a vehicle for liberation; last year, in Turkey, you’ll recall, the state rounded up dissident Twitter users. Now, Ukraine is tracing the phone signal directly. Dictators have already proved plenty adept at pulling the plug on the internet altogether.
All of this puts lie to the lately-popular mythology that technology is inherently a liberating force—with the right hack, it can oppress just as easily.
(Reach this writer at brian.merchant(at)vice.com and on Twitter, at bcmerchant | Photo Credit: Wikimedia)
This is ridiculous.
This is scary as hell is what it is.
Let us take a moment to observe the awesomeness of octopus.
My buddy read an article about octopus intelligence. It was feeding time, and the handler dumped some shrimp into an octopus’ tank. Then he went into another room and sat at his desk.
A while later, a shrimp was tossed onto his desk.
The octopus, upon finding one bad shrimp in the lot, had grabbed it, escaped its tank, crossed the hall, and threw the expired shrimp at its caretaker. Not only does this showcase their problem-solving capabilities, but also that it could have escaped at any time. It just broke out this time to chuck an off shrimp in indignation at its handler. That’s not just intelligence, that’s a human-like reaction. Kinda make you wonder exactly how smart these guys can be…
I, for one, welcome our new cephalopod overlords.
The octopus, upon finding one bad shrimp in the lot, had grabbed it, escaped its tank, crossed the hall, and threw the expired shrimp at its caretaker.
Why does the Monty Python parrot sketch come to mind?
"THIS IS AN EX-PARROT!"
How many months it takes an average worker to earn what the CEO makes in an hour
well this puts things into perspective now doesn’t it.
i’m frankly shocked the best buy one is that low
ah yes mine is the highest
obama is fucking done with all this bullshit in that last gif
The Thurifer, Owler, The Palace Guard, The Archer, & Gwyn | Graphite on Moleskine, 12” x 16 1/2”, 2013.
A collection of various ladyknights and wanderers I’ve drawn.
For-Profit colleges only spend 17% of their revenue on instruction. Source: Senate HELP Committee
Last May 8, a severe rainstorm left the streets of this city flooded once again, causing the mayor, Dawn Zimmer, to recall the inundation from Hurricane Sandy. So she dashed off a letter to Gov. Chris Christie, imploring him to help with Hoboken’s “ongoing flooding emergency,” and attached photos of cars in water up to their hoods. She was due to meet the next day with officials of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, when she hoped to talk about protecting Hoboken from the next catastrophic deluge to come. But according to newly obtained emails sent among the participants, the first topic of discussion on the agenda was “review of concepts for flood control measures at Rockefeller property,” a reference to a billion-dollar office complex proposed at the north end of town. The developer, the Rockefeller Group, which had long been trying to gain approval from officials, sent two executives, two lobbyists and an engineer to the meeting. Mayor Zimmer, through a spokesman, said on Wednesday that she went to the meeting but refused to discuss the project, feeling it was premature to do so. The next day, the mayor has said, she received a call telling her that Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno would visit Hoboken the following Monday. Ms. Zimmer, a Democrat, has alleged that during that visit, while in the parking lot of a Shop-Rite supermarket, Ms. Guadagno, like the governor a Republican, told her that the Rockefeller project was important to Mr. Christie and that the mayor needed to “move forward” with it if she wanted Hoboken to receive the flood protection money being distributed in the wake of the hurricane. The Christie administration has denied ever linking the Rockefeller project to hurricane relief, an accusation that is now under federal investigation. But whatever the outcome of the inquiries, the emails and interviews make clear that the development-wary mayor was coming under increasing and repeated pressure from politically connected lawyers working for Rockefeller Group and from the Christie administration.
The New York Times, "Christie Allies Pushed a Project in New Jersey."
Looks like those charges hurled by Hoboken mayor Dawn Zimmer are gonna be another albatross around Chris Christie’s and now Kim Guadagno’s corrupt necks.
(via inothernews)
I’m a proud supporter of Planned Parenthood.
What are your plans to help citizens, residing in states refusing to or dragging their feet to expanding medicaid, who are too far below the poverty line for federal ACA subsidies access the medical coverage they so much looked forward to throughout all the trials and tribulations of passing the ACA?
We asked Christen Young from our Domestic Policy Council team - here’s what she had to say:
States are refusing to expand Medicaid are leaving 5.4 million of their own citizens in the cold. Republicans governors in states like Ohio, Nevada, and Arizona are expanding Medicaid, and we will continue to team up with local officials on behalf of Americans living in states that are neglecting to provide health coverage to their low-income citizens. The President has made clear that while he knows not everyone supports this law, we can all work together to support helping our citizens who can’t get coverage.
With all due respect, this doesn't really answer the question about what can be done in states where the governors would rather have their constituents die from lack of medical care than support a plan proposed by Obama.
Infographic: Why we need to raise minimum wage
Some people argue raising the minimum wage will only help a few million teenagers, but this is not true. One in four Americans in the private sector makes less than the $10.10 an hour proposed by President Obama. An increased minimum wage would benefit breadwinners, including more than 70% of government contract employees and 17 million total workers by 2016 according to the economic study.
Read more
(images via
The Huffington Post/ Restaurant Opportunities Center United)
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Judge Says Websites Must Face Defamation Lawsuit For Calling Climate Scientist A ‘Fraud’
via smdxn
"If it can be destroyed by the truth, it deserves to be destroyed by the truth."
- Carl Sagan
BREAKING: Anti-choice members of the U.S. House just passed H.R.7, which will ban abortion coverage for millions of women.
So this is what they decided to switch to after giving up on repealing the ACA?
Cathy McMorris Rodgers, Asshole of the Day for January 29, 2014
by TeaPartyCat (Follow @TeaPartyCat)
The GOP had at least 4 responses to the State of the Union last night, and there were odd things in all of them. For example, Sen. Mike Lee, speaking for the Tea Party, claimed that "denying citizens their right to define marriage in their states as traditionally or as broadly as their diverse values dictate". Seriously. He’s claiming that not being able to deny some citizens the rights other enjoy is inequality, rather than inequality being some citizens being denied the rights that others enjoy.
But front and center was Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers giving the official GOP response. Here’s Robert Costa at the Washington Post describing it:
It was all there — easygoing populism, an emphasis on jobs and her family, which includes a son with Down syndrome and a Navy veteran husband. It was as if a Republican pollster had created a politician with the exact profile that Republicans are looking to promote as they head toward this year’s midterm elections. Here was a pro-life, never-offensive woman from a Western state who grew up picking apples on a farm; a youthful, 44-year-old evangelical Christian who is known as one of the savvier social-media users in the House, uploading countless photos to Instagram and videos to Vine.
The essence of the speech was soft outreach and balance. “I’d like to share a more hopeful Republican vision,” McMorris Rodgers said.
She criticized the president without going overboard. She talked about repealing the Affordable Care Act, but didn’t use a rhetorical hammer to make the point. On policy, she touched on economic growth and fiscal reform but never dove into the weeds, frustrating some conservative onlookers. She fulfilled the unspoken part of her duties: sound winsome and engaging, but do not make news.
“Too many people are falling further and further behind because, right now, the president’s policies are making people’s lives harder,” McMorris Rodgers said, citing her days as a McDonald’s drive-through employee as evidence of her empathy. “Republicans have plans to close the gap.”
She also said “Republicans believe healthcare choices should be yours, not the government’s”, which sounds great, doesn’t it?
But with all this hopeful rhetoric, it’s fair to ask what is her voting record since 2005 when she went to Congress, and thus what is she hoping for:
But in public policy terms, the swaggering-woman rhetoric translates into “don’t ask for handouts.” McMorris Rodgers has voted like a standard conservative, for cuts to nearly every social service. She voted against the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act and in favor of cutting funding for birth control. Last year, she supported a version of the Violence Against Women Act that excluded gay, immigrant, and Native American women, calling them a “side issue.” And her constituents once delivered empty milk bottles to her office to protest her support for cuts in the “WIC” nutritional program. The war on women, Matt Yglesias points out, is not about symbols. It’s about public policy. So if you want something like that done, ask another woman.
And on top of that, her “Republicans believe healthcare choices should be yours, not the government’s” statement comes only 5 hours after she voted for an anti-abortion bill to keep women from making choices.
So to recap:
She believes in giving people choices, but not women when it comes to their own bodies, whether for birth control or abortion
She says too many people are falling further and further behind, but she voted against letting women receive equal pay to help them catch up
Voted for cuts to safety net programs that provide food and assistance to families in need
Would rather allow all women be victims of violence than to protect gay women
And that is why she’s the Asshole of the Day.
It is Cathy McMorris Rodgers’ first time being named Asshole of the Day.
Full story: http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/mcmorris-rodgers-comes-through-for-gop-in-response-to-state-of-the-union/2014/01/29/3e8f3dd0-88b1-11e3-833c-33098f9e5267_story.html AND voting record: http://www.slate.com/articles/double_x/doublex/2014/01/cathy_mcmorris_rodgers_values_feminism_is_the_new_model_for_republican_women.html?wpisrc=burger_bar
