September 2011
I've Finally Figured Out the GOP Charles Mudede →
HuffPo: WASHINGTON — Setting a collision course with Democrats that could drag out for months, House Republicans on Thursday unveiled plans to cut federal money for job training, heating subsidies and grants to better-performing schools.
The draft measure for labor, health and education programs also seeks to block implementation of President Barack Obama’s signature health care law, cut...
Is the Manufactured Crisis at the Post Office a... →
From Democracy Now — Shock Doctrine at U.S. Postal Service: Is a Manufactured Crisis Behind Push Toward Privatization?:
Today, postal workers and their supporters are holding events across…
WatchNeed some inspiration? Watch Craig DeMartino climb. Via @dirtbagdiaries (via VHX)
Jonah Goldberg is certain about the death penalty... →
Jonah Goldberg doesn’t think that the potential execution of innocent people is any reason to halt the death penalty, because, well, stuff happens:
If anything, I’m even more opposed to police accidentally shooting bystanders or shop clerks mistaken for robbers. Well we know that happens. And yet, I’m still in favor of cops carrying guns. I’m against — absolutely against — all sorts of...
Is the Manufactured Crisis at the Post Office a... →
From Democracy Now — Shock Doctrine at U.S. Postal Service: Is a Manufactured Crisis Behind Push Toward Privatization?:
Today, postal workers and their supporters are holding events across the country to press their demand for repealing the benefit-funding mandate and push back against calls for their workplace to be privatized. For months, Americans have heard dire warnings about the...
Ford's New Door Protector System (author unknown) →
Several times I’ve driven Mini Coopers through ZipCar, and one feature that takes getting used to is the “whoosh-click” noise that happens a millisecond after you close the door. That rather unique noise belongs to a BMW engineering feature whereby once the door is completely closed, the window shoots up a fraction of an inch and into the rubber seal, firmly sealing the cabin...
Peaceful female protesters separated from crowd,... →
Peaceful female protesters separated from crowd, held in a pen by police and maced. I’ve got no words.
Don Draper Pitches The Facebook Timeline Alexia... →
“This makes me happy on a lot of levels,” tweets Facebook Product manager Sam Lessin, about this Mad Men homage to Facebook’s recently unveiled profile Timeline. Aside from founding (and selling) Drop.io to Facebook, Lessin was primarily responsible for the look and feel of Facebook Timeline, and has a right to be happy, after all, it could have ended up looking like this.
Says the video’s...
Peaceful female protesters separated from crowd,... →
Peaceful female protesters separated from crowd, held in a pen by police and maced. I’ve got no words.
The Way We Live Now - 11-11-01 - Lost and Found -... →
The Way We Live Now: 11-11-01; Lost and Found
By Colson Whitehead
Published: November 11, 2001
...
The Auroras Seen From The International Space... →
The Auroras (Northern/Southern Lights) as seen from The International Space Station orbiting the Earth.
See Previously: Time-Lapse Video Orbiting Earth From The International Space Station
via NASA, reddit & Geekosystem
Slow Breaking News, Top News Stories Painstakingly... →
“Slow Breaking News” by designer Emily Roose is a series of breaking news stories from 2009 to 2010 rendered in time-consuming cross stitch…
Slow Breaking News, Top News Stories Painstakingly... →
“Slow Breaking News” by designer Emily Roose is a series of breaking news stories from 2009 to 2010 rendered in time-consuming cross stitch embroidery (each panel took around 25 hours to complete). Roose created the series for her masters thesis at the New England School of Art and Design. Images of the cross stitched panels are available in Roose’s book documenting the studio phase of...
Georgia Parole Board's Decisions on Troy Davis vs.... →
Reuters in 2008:
The parole board in the state of Georgia spared a convicted killer from execution hours before he was due to die by lethal injection on Thursday and commuted his sentence…
Georgia Parole Board's Decisions on Troy Davis vs.... →
Reuters in 2008:
The parole board in the state of Georgia spared a convicted killer from execution hours before he was due to die by lethal injection on Thursday and commuted his sentence to life in prison.
The Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles made its decision less than three hours before Samuel David Crowe, 47, was to be executed, according to a spokeswoman for the state’s prisons.
...
Will The Davis Case Change The Death Penalty?... →
Steve Kornacki is hopeful but not optimistic:
It’s tempting to wonder if the Troy Davis story — which has received considerable press attention …. — might serve as a public opinion tipping point. But that potential is balanced against another reality: For all of the systemic flaws that have been revealed in the past decade or so — for all of the innocent...
Why does the South execute more people? →
In the wake of the high-profile but ultimately unsuccessful effort to save Georgia’s Troy Davis from execution, media outlets are buzzing that the Davis case has sparked a new debate…
Troy Davis case shows need for eyewitness... →
The long struggle to save the life of Georgia death-row inmate Troy Davis ended last night at 11:08 p.m., when Davis — who maintained his innocence to the very end — was pronounced dead inside the state’s execution chamber following a lethal injection. Davis was sentenced to death in 1991 for the murder of off-duty Savannah Police Officer Mark MacPhail in a case that was based...
Why does the South execute more people? Chris... →
In the wake of the high-profile but ultimately unsuccessful effort to save Georgia’s Troy Davis from execution, media outlets are buzzing that the Davis case has sparked a new debate about capital punishment. As many of these stories point out, though a sizable majority in the U.S. — 62 percent according to one poll — still support the death penalty, the question is whether...
Death Penalty Activism Ta-Nehisi Coates →
Barring some miracle, it appears that the state will kill Troy Davis. My feelings on the death penalty are quite clear, and remain the same in this case also. You can get more on the legal questions behind denying Davis a retrial from Andrew Cohen. But I thought it important to share another story that was brought to my attention which dove-tails with our conversation last week about personal...
Chart Of The Day →
Where the photographs are:
Every 2 minutes today we snap as many photos as the whole of humanity took in the 1800s. In fact, ten percent of all the photos we have were taken in the…
Is Georgia About To Execute An Innocent Man?... →
Troy Davis was just denied clemency by the Georgia state parole board. Scott Lemieux explains why this is such a travesty:
There is no physical evidence against Davis. The case relies entirely on eyewitness testimony, a highly unreliable form of evidence that is far more likely than any other source of evidence to lead to wrongful convictions. Moreover, 7 of the 9 eyewitnesses against him...
Will Georgia Kill a Possibly Innocent Man? BooMan... →
I’m going to be honest. I only began reading articles about Troy Davis in the last few days. I’m no expert on this case. But from what I have read I have come to the conclusion that the preponderance of the evidence is that he is innocent, and there is absolutely no question that there is a reasonable doubt about his guilt. Yesterday, the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles...
Are You Allowed To Record Cops? Andrew Sullivan →
Yes and no:
In 48 of the 50 states, you can’t be convicted under and sentenced to jail for recording on-duty police officers, at least under wiretapping laws. And even in the two states where that’s still plausible, it’s unlikely. But until police officers start facing real consequences for disregarding the law, you can still be harassed, arrested, have your files or camera destroyed, and even...
Chart Of The Day Andrew Sullivan →
Where the photographs are:
Every 2 minutes today we snap as many photos as the whole of humanity took in the 1800s. In fact, ten percent of all the photos we have were taken in the past 12 months.
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McSweeney’s Internet Tendency: Do You Like Me?... →
Do You Like Me? Click Yes or No. BY Jason Harrington
- - - -
To: Alice
First day of school. Sucks, huh? This class is so boring. I hate long division. Anyway, I like you. I set up a…
McSweeney’s Internet Tendency: Do You Like Me?... →
Do You Like Me? Click Yes or No.
BY Jason Harrington
- - - -
To: Alice
First day of school. Sucks, huh? This class is so boring. I hate long division. Anyway, I like you. I set up a Tumblr for you while we were supposed to be doing #5. Just a poll with your name as the site’s title:
ALICE
Do you like me?
Click yes or no.
Yes: 0 votes
No: 0 votes.
- - -
To: Bobby
Yes: 1 vote
No: 0...
Pat Robertson Urges Man to Divorce, Abandon Sick... →
Right Wing Watch:
On the same “700 Club” program today in which Pat Robertson said that Jews must convert to Christianity in order to enter Heaven, he also took on a question from a woman who was friends with a man whose wife is suffering from Alzheimer’s Disease and has begun to date another woman and wanted to know what to do. Robertson’s advice was to encourage the...
Solyndra is the next ‘Climategate’ →
by David Roberts.
As you have no doubt heard by now, Solyndra, a solar power company that got more than half a billion dollars in loan guarantees from a Department of Energy Recovery Act program,…
Solyndra is the next ‘Climategate’ (author... →
by David Roberts.
As you have no doubt heard by now, Solyndra, a solar power company that got more than half a billion dollars in loan guarantees from a Department of Energy Recovery Act program, has gone bankrupt.
The truth behind the episode isn’t entirely clear yet. Apparently the Obama administration really did push way too hard to speed up the application. Then again the Bush...
FBI teaching agents that “Mainstream” Muslims are... →
Spencer Ackerman at Wired.com’s Danger Room defense blog has a big story breaking tonight. It’s a very upsetting read. If you had any doubt that racism against Muslim-Americans was institutionalized at the highest levels of our government, this should take care of that misunderstanding.
The FBI is teaching its counterterrorism agents that “main stream”
[sic] American Muslims are...
'Paradise Lost' three films a 'masterwork,'... →
Variety, as usual, is one of the first with a review of “Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory,” the latest documentary on the West Memphis Three from filmmakers Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky. It’s a glowing review, though as it notes, the film that just debuted at Toronto isn’t the finished project. That’ll come Oct. 10 in New York.
What won’t change is what the...
The GOP's Genius Plan to Beat Obama in 2012 Nick... →
Republican state legislators in Pennsylvania are pushing a scheme that, if GOPers in other states follow their lead, could cause President Barack Obama to lose the 2012 election—not because of the vote count, but because of new rules. That’s not all: there’s no legal way for Democrats to stop them.
The problem for Obama, and the opportunity for Republicans, is the electoral college....
