Here's the cover of the latest edition of Bloomberg's Businessweek:
Nothing says fear like a bunch of black people with money and owning a house!
Bloomberg gets the "racist garbage" of the week award, hands down!
(h/t Yglesias)
A growing problem in the tech age has been sexting, the sending of racy photos of one to another via text message. It's an epidemic that is really evident in our schools.
Here in Ohio we are no strangers to sexting. We have seen one local student commit suicide over a sexting scandal and now have another school involved in a huge scandal.
Police and officials at a Cincinnati-area high school say hundreds of students may have been involved in recent cases of "sexting."
There have two been recent investigations into cases at Madeira High School of students circulating photos of nude or sexually involved students on their cell phones.
In January, officers confiscated up to eight cell phones belonging to high school students that had videos on them made by a male student who the Madeira police chief says has since been expelled.
In a second investigation, an official estimated that "hundreds" of Madeira students and possibly others outside the school had received or circulated pictures of naked female students. That case has been dropped according to Chief Frank Maupin since the parents did not wish to press charges.
In the January case, the student has been charged with a four felony counts of pandering obscenities involving a minor. His attorney says he is not guilty.
In Ohio sexting is a felony, on par with distributing child pornography. I have never heard of the parents having a say in rather a child is prosecuted for a felony like this or not. The reasons the chief gives are also laughable:
Maupin says while the students involved may have been tech savvy, were lacking in legal know-how.
"I think the majority of them, they don't understand or realize the consequences criminally, let alone if that were to get out on the Internet," he said.
David Zurawik , the media critic for the Baltimore Sun, has published a post at Daily Download, in which he declares that MSNBC is now worse than Fox News in ideology. The reason? Well he says it in the first paragraph:
MSNBC has long been as bad as Fox News when it comes to ideological bias. But with the hiring of longtime Team Obama loyalists David Axelrod and Robert Gibbs, it’s official: MSNBC is worse.
Apparently Mr. Zurawik is media dumb. Allow me to try and inform him of Fox's past hires.
Then we have one that went in reverse, where the White House decided to pull it's talent from Fox News.
Then we have some other notables:
But apparently David Zurawik has no idea who these people are, since he fails to mention any of them in his post. That, or maybe he is just another partisan hack, ignoring facts to promote his own agenda. Which ever it is, the article has gone uncorrected for over 12 hours, so we do know that he is incompetent. That's pretty bad for someone who makes a living criticizing others.
How dare you talk about David Vitter's private life! That's what the right kept saying when Vitter's name came up in the D.C. Madam scandal.
But now we have a new sex scandal. This time it involves a Democrat and apparently the right wants to talk about it none stop!
Amid a handful of allegations that threaten to mar his reputation in the Senate, Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., continues to maintain his innocence, decrying the accusations as right-wing attempts to "destroy" his career and invoking the words of Martin Luther King Jr. in asserting his faith that justice will win out.
Menendez, who was re-elected to his seat in November, has since been hit with allegations that he solicited prostitutes in the Dominican Republic, where prostitution is legal. The FBI is looking into the claims. The allegations were originally reported by a conservative website citing an anonymous source.
So, as far as prostitution is concerned, Menendez did nothing wrong, if he did pay for a little booty. After all, he was in a place where it is legal. Didn't we even hear the same thing about Rush?
That means this is boiling down to an issue of morals, and the right is having a field day with this. Here's the Memeorandum thread talking about this issue.
So much has been said about Chuck Hagel since being nominated for Secretary of Defense that it's hard to keep track of it all. But Dan Friedman, a reporter for the New York Daily News, has admitted to stirring one rumor:
The revelation could have doomed President Obama’s nomination of Chuck Hagel to be secretary of defense: He gave a paid speech to a group called “Friends of Hamas.”
Fortunately for Hagel, this claim, which galloped across the Internet, was bogus. I know, because I was the unwitting source.
In the process, I became part of an inadvertent demonstration of how quickly partisan agendas and the Internet can transform an obvious joke into a Washington talking point used by senators and presidential wannabes.
Here’s what happened: When rumors swirled that Hagel received speaking fees from controversial organizations, I attempted to check them out.
On Feb. 6, I called a Republican aide on Capitol Hill with a question: Did Hagel’s Senate critics know of controversial groups that he had addressed?
Hagel was in hot water for alleged hostility to Israel. So, I asked my source, had Hagel given a speech to, say, the “Junior League of Hezbollah, in France”? And: What about “Friends of Hamas”?
The names were so over-the-top, so linked to terrorism in the Middle East, that it was clear I was talking hypothetically and hyperbolically. No one could take seriously the idea that organizations with those names existed — let alone that a former senator would speak to them.
Friedman ends with this:
I am, it seems, the creator of the Friends of Hamas myth. Doing my job, I erred in counting on confidentiality and the understanding that my example was farcical — and by assuming no one would print an unchecked rumor.
Today's wingnutopia outrage of "why to hate Hagel" is brought to you buy that bow-tie wearing dweeb, Tucker Carlson's, conspiracy tabloid, The Daily Caller:
A pro-Hezbollah, pro-Hamas candidate for the Iranian presidency, a man linked to Iranian-controlled front groups, brought former Republican Nebraska Senator Chuck Hagel to speak at Rutgers University in 2007, according to another professor on campus.
Hooshang Amirahmadi, who led Rutgers’ Center for Middle Eastern Studies when Hagel came to campus, is the founder and president of the American-Iranian Council. He arranged for Hagel’s speech on March 2, 2007, the faculty source told The Daily Caller.
Why that must mean that Hagel supports terrorism! Why can't we have good ole' Republicans anymore, like Dick Cheney, who would never do anything to help Iran!
Halliburton is the company that Vice President Dick Cheney used to run. He was CEO from 1995 to 2000, during which time Halliburton Products and Services set up shop in Iran. Today, it sells about $40 million a year worth of oil field services to the Iranian government.
But Cheney was just protecting capitalism by setting up offshore companies in the Cayman's so that they could circumvent sanctions against Iran in the 90's and sell them highly profitable nuclear parts.
Apparently selling parts to develop weapons of mass destruction to terrorist regimes is a sign that you are strong against terrorism. Well, at least to the pea brains of the Republican Party.
And let's not forget another Secretary of Defense and how much he opposed our former enemies:
I wasn't going to post more on Wayne LaPierre's scary op-ed today, but I just couldn't let this one go:
Nobody knows if or when the fiscal collapse will come, but if the country is broke, there likely won’t be enough money to pay for police protection. And the American people know it.
You know who else thought like this? Adam Lanza's mother. The guns used to kill 20 kids at Sandy Hook elementary were owned by a woman that thought exactly the same way LaPierre does. Those guns were taken by her son and used in senseless murders. That's also what brought this debate to the next level.
It takes a real low life to exploit the murder of those children like LaPierre has, but this isn't shocking. Not once has the NRA condemned what happened to a small school in December. Instead they have hid behind their guns and used the incident to call for more guns. That is how disgusting the NRA really is!
Wayne LaPierre, the execute vice-president of the NRA that thinks movies and video games are where blame should lie for mass shootings, has written an op-ed in The Daily Caller. Let's take a look at some of it:
It has always been sensible for good citizens to own and carry firearms for lawful protection against violent criminals who prey on decent people.
During the second Obama term, however, additional threats are growing. Latin American drug gangs have invaded every city of significant size in the United States.
Ok, I hate to stop a quote mid-paragraph, but I must here. All this has happened in Obama's second term? So in only 3 weeks, with no gun law changes or anything, drug gangs have invaded every significant city?? Wow Obama is working fast to "ghettoize" our country! But let's continue with that paragraph, because it gets even better:
Phoenix is already one of the kidnapping capitals of the world, and though the states on the U.S./Mexico border may be the first places in the nation to suffer from cartel violence, by no means are they the last.
Now I thought more guns were the answer? Arizona is already one of the easiest states in the union to get a gun, so why so much violence there? If you ask me it sounds like old Wayne is contradicting the NRA's argument right here.
Then Wayne goes even more off the wagon:
When the next terrorist attack comes, the Obama administration won’t accept responsibility. Instead, it will do what it does every time: blame a scapegoat and count on Obama’s “mainstream” media enablers to go along.
When the last terrorist attack came, Obama wasn't even in the Senate. Instead George Bush and his enablers started blaming the Clinton administration.
A cornerstone of the Tea Party philosophy has always been "personal responsibility". That always sounds good, but when it comes time to "practice what you preach", Tea Party darlings always fall short:
Former U.S. Rep. Joe Walsh (R-IL) has filed papers in court asking to have his child support payments readjusted. According to the Chicago Sun-Times, the one-term congressman is currently unable to make payments to his ex-wife and children because he is unemployed.
Walsh says he is trying to wrangle a deal for his own radio show and organizing a super PAC, but the outspoken critic of the Obama administration is currently unemployed and has no salary, and has therefore asked to be exempted from his monthly $2,134 child support payment. Walsh requested that his divorce settlement be rewritten so as to reset his child support payments at 20 percent of his income.
So Walsh has had happen to him the same thing that happened to millions of Americans. They lose their job and suddenly can't afford their bills. Yet those millions of Americans are lazy, deadbeats according to people like Walsh and the Tea Party. So why isn't Walsh also a lazy, deadbeat? I mean the guy is trying to get a radio program and start a PAC, but until then I'm sure the local McDonald's or Walmart is hiring. Plus he still has something the rest of us never get - lifetime benefits for being in Congress.
Sounds like Mr. Walsh needs to take a big lesson in the world of "personal responsibility" if you ask me. Of course that will never happen. Even when he was earning his 6 figure congressional salary, this piece of shit still didn't want to be responsible and pay child support.
On Thursday of this past week a large number of websites had a very unpleasant experience. As a user went to popular sites like NBC, CNN, Huffington Post and others, they were instantly redirected to a Facebook error page.
If you click the Okay button, you were then taken to a blank page. In short the error resembled some sort of page hijacking hack.
The problem was quickly isolated to Facebook Connect, their popular Single Sign-On platform and Facebook jumped into action, fixing the problem. But now, as it turns out, Facebook might face a more serious problem.
I first realized this problem on Thursday night with a client's site. This was before any articles were written or tweets had even gone out. Even if the articles were out, it wouldn't have been much help. Why? Well this client doesn't use Facebook Connect. The only Facebook code loading on the pages is the Facebook Like button. As soon as I removed that code everything went back to normal.
So now you maybe saying that the problem was related to Connect and not Like, so why did this site have an issue? Well apparently Facebook uses Connect in their like button. An article in Salon makes that exact same connection:
Not so fast! We should stop and think about what really happened. By demonstrating a direct connection between our Facebook logins and the Facebook Like buttons on non-Facebook pages, Facebook inadvertently advertised exactly how much it potentially knows about all our Web browsing habits.
Here's Bill Stevens testifying before Congress. This video went viral in the pro-gun blogosphere, saying that he "owned" Congress. This same video has also been viewed 2.4 million times on YouTube since being added 4 days ago.
Well as it turns out, Bill Stevens' daughter, Victoria, actually doesn't go to Sandy Hook. Instead she goes to Reed Intermediate School, about a mile away.
Such erroneous reporting! Who would tell everyone that Victoria went to Sandy Hook? Well according to Stevens:
Thank you for the nice article about my testimony in Hartford. Unlike the Liberal media who don't let facts get in the way, I just wanted to let you know that my daughter does not attend Sandy Hook Elementary, but was in "lock down" nonetheless on December 14, 2012 at Reed Intermediate School (5th & 6th grade) about a mile away with her classmates, one of whom lost his little sister that day.
Oh that evil Liberal media!!! I wonder who this guy voted for in November? I think we can pretty much figure that out, so let's look at who his "Liberal media" is:
While Republicans around the country are trying relentlessly to kill democracy and instill new ways that could have actually lead to a Romney/Ryan victory last fall, despite Obama getting 5 million more votes, one man who would have been winner isn't so keen on the idea:
Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) has come out against altering the way his state allocates its Electoral College votes, even though the proposed change could have meant that he and GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney would have won the 2012 election.
Currently, nearly every state awards its Electoral College votes to the presidential candidate who captures a majority of the popular vote across the entire state. Only Maine and Nebraska allocate an electoral vote to the winner of each congressional district, with the final two votes going to the person who wins the popular vote statewide.
But Republicans in some swing states now want to be more like Maine and Nebraska.
The electoral college system is old and out-dated. In a democracy the people vote. Each vote should count the same, and not be weighted by living in a red or blue area. Moving to a strict popular vote is the best way to do this. It would also level the playing field, giving other states a bigger advantage in presidential elections.
It would be nice to just get rid of the electoral college, but instead Republicans want to make the unfair system more powerful. Kudos to Paul Ryan for standing up against such failed thinking.
We all know that our prison population is growing out of control, yet nothing is being done. Well leave it to a Republican to come up with a most awesome alternative to incarceration - spankings:
A Montana Republican state lawmaker wants to give criminals the option of choosing “corporal punishment in lieu of incarceration.” According to Think Progress, the legislation is being proposed by Rep. Jerry O’Neil and would apply not just to misdemeanor crimes, but to some felonies as well.
The law states that “(f)or purposes of this section, ‘corporal punishment’ means the infliction of physical pain on a defendant to carry out the sentence negotiated between the judge and the defendant.” The law states that the exact nature of that pain shall be “commensurate with the severity, nature, and degree of the harm caused by the offender.”
The proposed law stipulates that the punishment shall be carried out by local sheriffs if the defendant is avoiding jail time or corrections personnel if the defendant is choosing the option to stay out of state prison.
What could possible go wrong here? Well, save the deviants who actually enjoy pain and will break the law just to get their tushys whipped.
It has been 48 days since Adam Lanza went to Sandy Hook Elementary and engaged in a shooting spree that left 20 children shot dead. Since then a lot has been discussed about gun control and legislation is slowly starting to form.
But there has been one question that has been plaguing me since that gruesome December morning - how many guns deaths have happened in the United States since then? Well Slate has started a crowd sourcing project to answer that question and right now the tally stands at 1,444.
1,444??? That's over 30 gun deaths per day in our nation. That is also about 1/2 of a 9/11 in under two months.
How can anyone in their right mind hear that and not think "my God, we have a serious problem"? Sadly they do though. If you listened to the Senate testimony of NRA talking head, Wayne LaPierre yesterday, you know that the nation's biggest gun organization thinks this is all perfectly normal.
Hopefully during this debate common sense can prevail and the powerful money of the gun lobby will be defeated. Our nation has a serious epidemic when it comes to guns and we desperately need a cure.
That's something you hear pro-gun nuts constantly say when trying to argue against tougher gun control. While it's true that Chicago has some of the toughest gun laws in the country, it's also true that guns are easy to get by traveling to near by cities without such laws.
But there's another angle to this argument. The pro-gun response to an increase in violence has been for more guns. Basically they want to take us back to the days of Billy the Kid, Jesse James and the wild, wild west. Well we already have an example of that going on. This example lies in the very same city, Chicago.
Chicago is home to a lot of gangs and gangs have guns.For the non-gang types, they opt to protect themselves, sometimes with guns. This means that countless people in Chicago are now gun owners, and they are using them. That's why Chicago has so many gun deaths, because everyone has guns.
So don't let the gun zealots get away with using Chicago as a reason for not having stricter laws. Instead, use Chicago as a reason why we need to reduce the number of guns and access to them in this country.
