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Psyche's Links: 2012 : 12,937 Links


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India Gang Rape Case Sets Off Debate Over Women's Rights (what rights?)
Victim's brother wants Indian gang rapists hanged - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
Ed Broadbent on rising inequality and the threat to the Canadian dream - thestar.com

Obama signs renewal of foreign surveillance law - seattlepi.com President Barack Obama has signed into law a five-year extension of the U.S. government's authority to monitor the overseas activity of suspected foreign spies and terrorists.

Hillary Clinton treated for blood clot in her head - CNN.com The clot was located in the vein between the brain and and the skull behind Clinton's right ear and did not result in any stroke or neurological damage, her doctors said in a statement.

Barney Frank 'Strongly Opposes' Chuck Hagel As Defense Secretary

Connect The Dots For Democracy, Connect The Dots USA
Awful People - Lawyers, Guns & Money : Lawyers, Guns & Money It’s like 1990s-vintage Clinton derangement. Generating a conspiracy theory from the Benghazi faux-scandal, a passel of wingers argued that Hillary Clinton was faking an illness. (Glenn Reynolds, needless to say, was in the lead.)
Senate Benghazi Report Faults State Department, Intelligence
Al Qaeda In Yemen Offers Bounty For U.S. Ambassador Gerald Feierstein Or American Soldier

'Journal News' Advertisers Could Get Boycott Over Gun Map
Piers Morgan: I Would 'Seriously Consider Deporting Myself' Over Gun Control Piers Morgan made yet another call for gun control on Sunday — and threatened to deport himself if America's gun laws do not change.
Balloon Juice » Blog Archive » Gun nuts: please stop protecting us. Really. We mean it. On Wednesday evening, Gary Quackenbush, 61, turned up at the theater seeking his missing gun, “like it would be in the lost and found with lost eyeglasses and other things,” said Long.

SCOTUS in 2012: It Coulda Been Worse The Court handed progressives a major victory in upholding the Affordable Care Act, but next year there might be a lot less to celebrate.
Let’s Give Up on the Constitution - NYTimes.com

Debt Reckoning: The Fiscal Deadline in Washington - NYTimes.com (cliff ticker)
Conceder In Chief? - NYTimes.com So Obama has set himself and the nation up for a much uglier confrontation than we would have had if he had set a negotiating position and held to it ... whenever the president says that there’s an issue on which he absolutely, positively won’t give ground, you can count on him, you know, giving way — and soon, too.
Democrats' Cliff Compromise Is Bad; But The Strategic Consequences Are Disastrous | The New Republic
Obama’s Deal Is Possibly Not a Terrible Deal -- Daily Intelligencer
The Cliff Deal in the Offing | Jared Bernstein | On the Economy Those fears will be realized unless the President really and truly refuses to negotiate on the debt ceiling and is willing to blow past those who would stage a strategic default. If he is not, and if this cliff deal passes, then I fear the WH may have squandered its hard won leverage.
Fiscal cliff: Major progress toward deal - John Bresnahan and Manu Raju and Jake Sherman - politico.com closing in on an agreement that would hike tax rates for families who earn more than $450,000 (Obama caves)
Why Is Obama Caving on Taxes? -- Daily Intelligencer (he always has)
Dems’ Mystifying New Fiscal Cliff Strategy | TPM Editors Blog (give in to terrorist Republicans)
Fiscal Cliff Deal Growing More Likely, Would Raise $715 Billion In Revenue
Kill This Deal | The New Republic Dear House and Senate Democrats, Your president has sold you out. (you don't undertstand; he was always a Republican in it for himself)
Tom Harkin On Fiscal Cliff Talks: 'This Looks Like A Very Bad Deal' Harkin said the $250,000 level already seems like a compromise. He called that cutoff a "tough pill to swallow," as that income level is already far above the income of middle-class Americans.
Unemployment Benefits Lapse 'An Absolute Travesty,' Democrats Say
Fiscal Crisis Impasse Long in the Making - NYTimes.com “Something has gone terribly wrong,” said Senator Joe Manchin III, Democrat of West Virginia, “when the biggest threat to our American economy is the American Congress. Republicans”
An Afternoon On The Cliff - Esquire Harkin got up on the Senate floor today and rained on the whole parade. Ever since light dawned over the Potomac, and dawn broke over the set of Morning Joe, faint trumpets of glory were said to be sounding
Earth to Fiscal-Cliff Pundits: $250K Does Make You Rich - Politics - The Atlantic Wire
People who make 400K A Year: Very Affluent - Lawyers, Guns & Money : Lawyers, Guns & Money A central problem with the idea that 300 or 400 grand a year doesn’t go as far if you live in a desirable urban location is that living in a desirable location is something you’re getting with your money.
Mauve Gloves & Madmen, 2010 Version - James Fallows - The Atlantic
Rep. Raul Labrador: 'Democrats Are Like Bank Robbers' for Wanting to Raise Taxes | Video Cafe

New Left Project | Articles | Work, Learning and Freedom - In this often personal interview, renowned linguist and political commentator Noam Chomsky outlines a libertarian perspective on work and education, arguing that freedom is the root of creativity and fulfilment.

Markets aren’t sweating the fiscal cliff
Glenn Hubbard, Leading Academic and Mitt Romney Advisor, Took 1200 an Hour to Be Countrywide's Expert Witness | Matt Taibbi | Rolling Stone (terrible people dept.)
Trump Tower Woes Signal Top of Toronto Condo Market - Bloomberg “It turns out that the hotel had nothing to do with him and that it isn’t a good investment after all.”
Public Funding for Stadiums Jumps the Shark in Miami - Arts & Lifestyle - The Atlantic Cities The end result: a total public bill of $2.4 billion over 40 years. And you thought $600 million sounded expensive. (rich sports owners stick it to the taxpayers, who are stupid)

Gerrymanders, Part 1: Busting the both-sides-do-it myth (Rethugs have always been better at cheating)
U.S. on Pace for Slowest Decade of Population Growth Since 1930s - Bloomberg (wimminz failing their patriotic duty to pop more babiez when they have no moneyz)

Political commentator Sean Hannity was one of the big losers in the 2012 election - NY Daily News The right-wing Fox News host lost half his audience in the weeks after Obama's win (Inhannity tuned out)

MTA continues to stand clear of the closing doors as security system flounders - NY Daily News Proponent of safety doors claims agency botched the most recent attempt to secure a system that killed nearly 60 people this year - Safety doors on subway platforms are a feature on transit systems all over the world, as in Hong Kong, above. But in New York, decades of effort to install them have come to naught.

Sperm donor for lesbian couple’s baby ordered by court to pay child support, vows to fight ruling  - NY Daily News A Kansas judge has decided that a contract between William Marotta, Angela Bauer and Jennifer Schreiner is void because the insemination wasn’t performed by a licensed physician.

‘Training Day’ director defends Quentin Tarantino’s ‘Django Unchained,’ calls Spike Lee to task   - NY Daily News Antoine Fuqua defends controversial slavery-era western. ‘I don’t think Quentin Tarantino has a racist bone in his body

How a Simple Smartphone Can Turn Your Car, Home, or Medical Device into a Deadly Weapon | Vanity Fair
Archaeologists Think Hidden Imperial Tomb May Be Too Deadly to Explore
SEE IT: South African leopard cub has moves that would make Psy envious - NY Daily News

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Israel lobby should not have veto over US president's cabinet - Opinion - Al Jazeera English Hagel's presence in the Obama cabinet could easily, in some circumstances, make the difference between war and peace
Australia condemns Japan for whale hunt - Asia-Pacific - Al Jazeera English Environment minister threatens Japan with diplomatic action unless it stops 'scientific' whaling programme.

Rape in India - NYTimes.com India, a rising economic power and the world’s largest democracy, can never reach its full potential if half its population lives in fear of unspeakable violence. (pot, kettle ...)

Drone War Spurs Pakistan Militants to Deadly Reprisals - NYTimes.com (who could have predicted?)

Obama Pledges To Push For Gun Control Measures If 'American People Decide It's Important' | ThinkProgress (otherwise, fuck it)
MapStory : School Shootings in the US
On Living Armed - Ta-Nehisi Coates - The Atlantic
The Surprisingly Tangled Politics of 'Gun Safety,' Starring Wikipedia - James Fallows - The Atlantic (Fallows discovers his "gun safety" reframe already applies to classes for 5-yr olds to use guns safely)
Political Animal - 500 murders in Chicago in 2012; 435 of them gun-related

Daily Kos: Hillary Clinton in hospital with blood clot

New York Times Pushes Obama On Climate: 'He Needs To Do A Great Deal More Than...Foster A Conversation' | ThinkProgress (he's always "fostering conversations" that go nowhere)

Daily Kos: The national debt? Republicans built that (never reported fact)

Worry Less About When A "fiscal Cliff" Deal Comes And More About What It Entails. | The New Republic (Obama can't wait to give in)
GOP Senators Want To Take Debt Ceiling Hostage In Order To Raise Retirement Age | ThinkProgress Sens. Bob Corker (R-TN) and Lamar Alexander (R-TN) introduced a plan today that would raise the federal debt limit by $1 trillion in exchange for $1 trillion in cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security (of course)
Sorry, Folks, We Don't Just Have 'A Spending Problem' - Business Insider
Tax talks hit serious setback as GOP seeks Social Security cut - latimes.com
A Vicious Assault on Retirees | MyFDL There is no other way to describe the machinations in DC today. The median Social Security benefit is $1229. The median net worth of retirees is about $160K, including home equity according to the 2010 Survey of Consumer Finances.
Bob Cesca's post on Politics | Latest updates on Sulia why do the Republicans want to screw old people out of their benefits? The irony is that old people *love* the Republicans. In fact, a supermajority of seniors voted against President Obama in the election, so in a way, seniors voted for the party that's hell-bent on cutting Social Security. Fortunately, the congressional Democrats aren't going to vote for the CPI chaining. You're welcome, seniors. (dementia)

Luitjohan Contractors, Illinois Business, Can Defy Obamacare, Not Cover Workers' Contraception: Court Couple says contraceptives provision violates their faith * Court found "substantial burden" on religious exercise (it really burdens their religion to let their employees believe something else)

Study Says Carbon Nanotubes as Dangerous as Asbestos: Scientific American (not surprising)
German Archaeologists Discover World’s Oldest Wooden Wells | Archaeology | Sci-News.com 7,000-year-old water wells unearthed in eastern Germany suggest that prehistoric farmers in Europe were skilled carpenters long before metal was discovered or used for tools, made water wells out of oak timbers

xish077 comments on What are the must have medical/first-aid products? (bug out, emergency, or recreational camping preparedness)

The Lives They Lived - NYTimes.com< - Paradise Park, N.J./a>
Charles Durning, Character Actor in ‘Tootsie,’ Dies at 89 - NYTimes.com
The Lives They Lived - NYTimes.com - Ethel Person
women on women in love - bookforum.com / syllabi
2011 Reading Resolutions: “The Price of Salt” | Malinda Lo

Hey, 2005? Your Meme Is Calling | Writing | SPLICETODAY.com
Jörg Friedrich | Why Facebook Doesn't Have A Dislike Button - The Approval Bias | The European Magazine - The Debate Magazine Facebook's lack of a dislike button is no surprise: our public sphere is structured to favor approval and consent over disapproval and dissent.
Mark Cuban: Facebook Is Driving Away Brands - Starting With Mine
Why Are Dead People Liking Stuff On Facebook?

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Syrian refugee influx could break Lebanon and Jordan, UN envoy warns | World news | guardian.co.uk Lakhdar Brahimi calls for political solution to prevent the 'hell' of further violence destabilising neighbouring countries

India gang rape: six men charged with murder | World news | guardian.co.uk Death of student gang-raped by six men and thrown from a moving bus in Delhi two weeks ago prompts mass protests
India Gang Rape Case: Attackers To Face Murder Charge The tragedy has forced India to confront the reality that sexually assaulted women are often blamed for the crime, forcing them to keep quiet and discouraging them from reporting it to authorities for fear of exposing their families to ridicule. Police often refuse to accept complaints from those who are courageous enough to report the rapes, and the rare prosecutions that reach courts drag on for years. (rape culture everywhere, not just Muslims and America)
Political Animal - How Many Rapes Go Unreported in India? So India, with about four times the population of the U.S., has fewer than a third as many rapes reported. (underreported in US also)
The Main Point: "Getting Home"... a Missive from India by Anuradha Roy

David Cameron 'risks leading Britain out of EU by accident' | World news | The Guardian Veteran of Maastricht treaty negotiations says PM has misread EU leaders' willingness to concede to his demands
France's constitutional council rejects 75% tax rate | World news | guardian.co.uk Government proposal to tax those earning more than €1m at 75% has divided public opinion and led some to leave France (they were all going to the UK)

Paying Dividends: The U.S.-India Nuclear Deal Four Years On - The Diplomat Four years after a historic nuclear deal was signed, many in American policy circles deride the agreement as a failure. They're wrong.
Congo Siasa: The delusional peace: How has the UN failed in the Congo?

George Entwistle's Severance Package, Other BBC Payouts To Be Investigated after a group of British lawmakers accused the BBC of being cavalier with taxpayers' money by paying 450,000 pounds ($730,000) in severance to George Entwistle – double the amount he was entitled to

Yours, Mine, but Not Ours | Jacobin: Why the politics of national security means that we’re all living in failed Hobbesian states: Corey Robin
Lawyers, Guns & Money - Corey Robin’s essay in the new Jacobin is quite brilliant.
National Security and Civil Liberties meet Securitization and State Formation » Duck of Minerva

The 8 Craziest Job Openings in the Military-Industrial Complex | Danger Room | Wired.com

Activists voice dismay as Senate renews government surveillance measure | World news | guardian.co.uk Two amendments that would have provided basic oversight for US government's warrantless surveillance program (Di-Fi atwork)
GOP and Feinstein join to fulfill Obama's demand for renewed warrantless eavesdropping | Glenn Greenwald | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk The California Democrat's disgusting rhetoric recalls the worst of Dick Cheney while advancing Obama's agenda
Senate to Intel Agencies: We Don't Need to Know How Often You Spy on Americans | Mother Jones - "There is a view by some that this country no longer needs to fear an attack," Feinstein said. (at least she didn't say "aid and comfort to the enemy")

The Deadly Fantasy of Assault Weapons - NYTimes.com Gun owners once talked about the need for personal protection and sport hunting, but out-of-control ad campaigns like Bushmaster’s have replaced revolvers and shotguns with highly lethal paramilitary fantasies.
Alan Colmes: Right-Wing Freaking Out About Dianne Feinstein's Gun Control Suggestions
THE GUN.

Potemkin Filibuster Reform - Lawyers, Guns & Money : For your convenience, I’ll highlight what makes the proposed McCain/Levin filibuster “reform” (sic) worse than useless: Point two is particularly priceless — “filibusters will proceed only in circumstances where the minority party wants them.” Yeah, that will solve everything!
Weak Filibuster Reform Offer Rejected By Progressive, Labor Coalition A broad coalition of nearly 50 progressive and labor organizations that have been actively lobbying for filibuster reform rejected a new bipartisan proposal out of hand, calling it a "recipe for continued Senate gridlock."

Obama’s Final Ultimatum To GOP On Taxes | TPMDC
Everything You Know About The Deficit Is Wrong: Fixing It Is Painless - Business Insider (jobs, but Obama hates them)
US port shutdown averted as talks with longshoremen continue | World news | guardian.co.uk Longshoremen group had been preparing for strike Sunday that could have deprived US economy of billions of dollars
GOP Governors Deny The Poor Health Care In Opposing Obamacare's Medicaid Expansion (they aren't "job creators" so screw them)
Presenting the second annual Wonky awards Wonk of the year: Grover Norquist
Political Animal - The No-Government Lobby Need more evidence that today’s conservatives have drifted from a relativistic “let’s rein in government excess” to an absolutist “let’s gut government” posture? Check out this quote from right-wing war horse Michael Medved (the rich have their own "government")
Eschaton: So It's Basically Blackmail Then. "I can't stay here (FreedomWorks), I can't work with people like this, and I can't afford to leave with empty pockets," Armey said. (with a gun)

Bats Left/Throws Right: Thursday Olio: Can't We Deport Piers Morgan And Convict David Gregory For Their Actual Crimes? Edition • Do you see what I see? Okay, so I understand that Bad Timing happens; I suppose there's no way that the Times' former Style editor and go-to guy on all things Dressage Bertram "Trip" Gabriel III could have known that the WaPos were about to tell the tale of Dick "Dick" Armey, his wife, and his heat boy stomping into Freedom Works' offices to extort $8 mil. (Mssrs Riley and Pierce are really good at intros like that +WaPo had the story, Times had the puff piece)
Supreme Court Is Cool With Jesus Scrapbooking Ladies Slutting It Up | TBogg

Daily Kos: Poor in Georgia? Don't expect anything but humiliation from the state
Daily Kos: Michigan Republicans brag about their hard work trampling democracy and cutting corporate taxes (how Republicans run their states)

Costa Rica: Where the Locusts Are | Thomas Friedman Op/Ed Generator (generates random Tom Friedman columns)

Mississippi's low levels could halt river traffic | The Des Moines Register | desmoinesregister.com A shutdown of commercial use could come by next week, a group says (but "economic needs bar action on climate change" -- Obama)

Florida's Long Lines On Election Day Discouraged 49,000 People From Voting: Report

Brad DeLong : Liveblogging World War II: December 29, 1942
1812now (1812now) on Twitter (200 yr anniversary of Constitution vs Java)
PM's Question Time: Structure Induced Equilibria in Everything, Peloponnesian War Edition

Fossil Evidence Shows That Sabertooth Cats Did Not Die Out Due to Starvation | Cleveland Leader

The NYU Hookup Board by Daniel Luzer | Washington Monthly NYU Hook Ups just exists to arrange sexual encounters. Those questions to ask answer are really basic, along the lines of gender, sexual orientation, “dorm on campus or live off campus” and then, apparently, you’re off. Kaufman described the service as “fast, convenient, kind of icky.” (girls will really go for this)

Belgium To Prosecute Scientology As Criminal Organization; Church Faces Charges Of Extortion, Fraud The church of Scientology -- which is not recognized as a faith in Belgium -- and several of its top-ranking members face charges including extortion, fraud, illegal practice of medicine and violation of privacy laws, according to Flanders News.
The Madness Of A Lost Society 3 - YouTube

Quick Thoughts on Django Unchained — Jamelle Bouie
Django Unchained Trilogy and More: Tarantino Talks to Gates
Now I Know – Mickey Attempts Suicide Walt and his brother Roy struck riches when their animated movie, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, grossed $8 million (well over $100 million in today’s dollars) in its first release. The brothers bought a new house for their parents, but their mother, Flora, complained about the furnace not working. Walt had it fixed, but the repairs were inadequate, and on November 6, 1938, Flora Call Disney died of asphyxiation from the furnace’s fumes.

Woody Guthrie's wonderful list of New Year's resolutions for 1942 | MNN - Mother Nature Network
Hot-Housing the Orchid - YouTube

Steve Jobs' yacht impounded over pay dispute - CNN.com
Bruce Sterling on Why It Stopped Making Sense to Talk About 'The Internet' in 2012 - Alexis C. Madrigal - The Atlantic Five simple reasons: Apple, Google, Amazon, Facebook, and Microsoft.

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Pakistan Seeks Help To Rescue 23 Missing Police Also Friday, missiles fired from unmanned U.S. aircraft killed four suspected militants at a training center elsewhere in the remote frontier area, the main sanctuary for al-Qaida and Taliban fighters in the country, Pakistani intelligence officials said.
Mridul Bhattacharyya, Assam Tea Estate Owner, Killed In Fire By Workers In India Hundreds of tea estate workers surrounded the plantation owner's home in India's northeastern state of Assam and set it on fire over a labor dispute, killing him and his wife, police said Thursday.
India Gang Rape Victim's Condition Deteriorating: Hospital
India Teen Commits Suicide After Police Pressure Her To Drop Gang Rape Case, Marry Attacker
VA finds sexual assaults more common in war zones
Nicaragua's San Cristobal Volcano Activity Prompts Evacuation
What China Learned from the Soviet Union's Fall - The Diplomat Why the process of assessing blame for the collapse of the USSR is still a hot topic in Beijing

Counterfeit medicine from Asia threatens lives in Africa | World news | The Guardian Malaria is one of the diseases affected by unscrupulous traders in fake and substandard drugs
China says it isn’t producing fake anti-malaria drugs for Africa | The Raw Story China has denied allegations that it has been exporting huge amounts of counterfeit medication to Africa, threatening public health in east Africa, five days after The Guardian published a front page exposé on the phenomenon. (un-huh)

Matt Taibbi: Libor Scandal Is 'The Biggest Financial Corruption Case In History' (video)
Finance Stocks Dominate The Market In 2012 Despite Continuous Fines, Scandals And Fraud (chart) (Obama takes care of his own)

Senate votes to extend warrantless wiretapping powers | The Raw Story
Shorter Dianne Feinstein: Oversight Is Fine, As Long As It’s Toothless - Lawyers, Guns & Money : Lawyers, Guns & Money With Lieberman about to retire, would that officially make Feinstein the most useless deep-blue-state senator who caucuses with Democrats? Hard to think of another candidate with her credentials.
Senator calls for oversight of agencies that might be monitoring Americans - The Hill's Floor Action Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) on Thursday said Congress should require intelligence agencies to provide estimates of how often the emails and phone calls of Americans are collected during the surveillance of terrorist suspects overseas.

Daily Kos: Another day in the (gun crazy) U.S.A.
Daily Kos: NRA backed law allows civilians to kill police officers Indiana is the first U.S. state to specifically allow force against officers (NRA lobbied for law to kill cops)

Narrower Tax Deal Floated as Lawmakers to Sit With Obama - NYTimes.com
112th Congress Set To Become Most Unproductive Since 1940s (Republicans sabotaging America, which they hate)
GOP Governors Deny The Poor Health Care In Opposing Obamacare's Medicaid Expansion

Is Growth Over? - NYTimes.com But our current travails will eventually end. What do we know about the prospects for long-run prosperity? The answer is: less than we think. (income inequality and our dystopian future)
Simon Johnson: The S.E.C. at a Turning Point - NYTimes.com The Obama administration should press for the appointment of Neil Barofsky, former special inspector general for the Troubled Asset Relief Program, to this position. Unfortunately, the administration has given no indication it will do so, leaving the impression that it is likely to be business as usual for the next four years, with regulators who are less than tough on the industry. (it's always business as usual for the strangely out-of-touch Obama)
Longshoremen Strike Would Cost $1 Billion Per Day: Economists (another fiscal cliff)
It's Do or Die for Sears, Best Buy, J.C. Penney and RadioShack - WSJ.com

How polarisation in Washington affects a growing feeling of partisanship | Harry J Enten | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk Legislators may no longer feel they have reason to play to the middle making Washington seem more divided than ever (no swing districts left)
The top five polling lessons from the 2012 election | Harry J Enten | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk Cellphones, internet tactics and other vital things we should take with us as we close the books on last month's election

Daily Kos: Hobby Lobby to defy courts over contraceptive ruling and impose religious views on workers
Daily Dot | Campaign to label Westboro Baptist Church a hate group shatters records A recently posted petition to legally classify the Westboro Baptist Church as a hate group has quickly become the most-signed petition in the 15-month history of the We the People program

Markey declares candidacy in Senate special election - Boston.com
Massachusetts Senate Race - The Return of Scott Brown - Esquire (thanks, Barry)
Political Animal - Worst Year-End Column? - Margaret Carlson (delusional beltway thinking)

When Community College Enrollment Declines by Daniel Luzer | Washington Monthly More job growth means fewer people want (or need) to attend community colleges.
For-Profit Colleges Manage Student Loan Default Rates, Senators Call For Investigation

Higgs boson theorist criticizes Richard Dawkins over anti-religious ‘fundamentalism’ | The Raw Story
Why Can’t We Say What Color Our Skin Is? — Crooked Timber
Hoaxes of Dreams | berfrois
Chris Mooney | Conservatives versus Science: A New Scientific Validation of the Republican War on Science (and Republican Brain) Thesis
Cocktail Party Physics: dinosaurs, mars, and kareem abdul jabbar: science books for the kids on your shopping list

the untold story of the concorde disaster

The White Race Cannot Survive Without Dairy Products - Lawyers, Guns & Money : Lawyers, Guns & Money a quote from Herbert Hoover
Dairy cliff and the plot against the white race.

Italian priest’s Christmas flyer: Women incite domestic violence with cold dinners | The Raw Story

Facebook shares fall as Instagram loses millions of users | The Raw Story over the past week the number of daily Instagram users fell by 3.5 million to an average of 12.4 million users per day.
Operating system market share
Chinese '.catholic' will be the first top-level domain considered in ICANN expansion | The Verge
Qualys BrowserCheck
Tablet PC Reviews - Best Tablet PCs

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Markey - Lawyers, Guns & Money - One of Obama’s many weaknesses is his belief that leading elected politicians are the primary proving ground for leading administration jobs. He’s gone to this well time and time again, effectively destroying the political careers of top Democrats in red states for no real reason.

U.S. Fiscal Cliff: House To Return December 30, John Boehner Says

Timeline Photos | Facebook - Democrats on the Fence of Filibuster reform

Ruth Marcus Is Outraged by Overly Generous Social Security Checks | Beat the Press (Villagers at work starving granny; Marcus says her mother can just turn down the heat)
The Austerity Dance - Esquire (Ruth Marcus and the courtier press)
'Fallout from Budget and cyber abuse' troubled late Minister - National News - Independent.ie This respite care thing, they are destroying me,' McEntee told friends days before taking his life
Retail Sales & Excuses - Business Insider - The Media Excuses Are Missing What's Really Behind Weak Retail Sales (no money, you idiots)
2013 Is the Year to Go to Work, Not Go on Disability - Bloomberg (souless economist speak: you have the "work option" and then you have the "starve option")
You Can't Spend What You Ain't Got - Esquire

Changing History | TPM Editors Blog Some fascinating findings from Pew’s on-going number crunching of the 2012 election. African-Americans, for the first time ever, may have voted at higher rates than American whites. (game-changer)
The Growing Electoral Clout of Blacks Is Driven by Turnout, Not Demographics | Pew Social & Demographic Trends

Balloon Juice » Blog Archive » Justice Sotomayor Rejects Hobby Lobby’s Emergency Birth Control Benefit Appeal
James Knight, Dentist Who Fired 'Irresistible' Worker, Gets Slammed On Yelp (the internets has its revenge; now if only Yelp would review the Iowa Supreme Court)
Philadelphia High Schools Are Getting Free Condom Dispensers The condoms will be available to all students unless their parents signed an "opt out" form, although, in a move that will surely piss off your Fox News types, the "opt out" apparently won't be enforced by the school or its nurses.

A Plague Upon One House - Esquire Now, after carefully nurturing for 40 years the notion that government is bad, the Republican party has developed within it a legislative core that believes that, if government is bad, then governing is worse, that holds as an article of faith that the only legitimate function of government is to do nothing -- loudly, if possible. (Dept. of Logical Conclusions)

Kentucky Man With Obama Eating Watermelon Statue: It Seemed Like It Might Get Hungry (not racist at all, Danny Hafley claims)

Boy Scout files on suspected abuse published by The Times - latimes.com Viewable online: about 1,200 previously unpublished files kept by the Boy Scouts of America on volunteers and employees expelled for suspected sexual abuse. (a dent in block and obstruct)

Tagg Romney Quote Mitt Romney - Tagg, You're It - Esquire (Mitt didn't "want" to be President, he deserved it)

This strange neo-Victorian desire to save prostitutes and porn actresses

Spanish flu mystery: Why don’t scientists understand the 1918 flu even after digging up its victims? - Slate Magazine Spanish influenza killed about 50 million people (estimates vary), including 675,000 in the United States, and up to 40 percent of the world’s population was stricken with the flu

One In Four Americans Owns A Tablet, Overtaking E-Readers, As Printed Book Consumption Continues To Decline: Pew | TechCrunch
Amazon Sees Its Biggest Holiday Season Ever, Tops Online Shopping Survey While Apple, Dell & JCP Decline | TechCrunch
Re: hmm...: PC Talk Forum: Digital Photography Review (Win 8 improvements)
Windows 8 vs. Windows 7 Performance - TechSpot
Under the hood of Windows 8, or why desktop users should upgrade from Windows 7 | ExtremeTech

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Syria military police chief defects to rebels | World news | The Guardian Major General Abdelaziz Jassim al-Shalal says army has 'committed massacres against an unarmed population'
Mohamed Morsi signs Egypt's new constitution into law | World news | The Guardian Egypt's president make divisive new charter legally binding shortly after referendum result showing more than 60% support (of the 33 percent that voted)
Georgia’s war against the poor: The southern state is emptying its welfare rolls at the same time that poverty is soaring. - Slate Magazine Fewer than 4,000 adults in the southern state receive welfare, even as poverty is soaring. How Georgia declared war on its poorest citizens—leaving them to fight for themselves.

Charting the state of the U.S. economy: EPI’s top charts of 2012 | Economic Policy Institute
US markets take hit from poor Christmas spending figures | Business | guardian.co.uk Major retailers among the market fallers as traders fail to take seasonal cheer despite encouraging US housing data

The Interview: Stephen M. Walt - The Diplomat Stephen M. Walt discusses American alliances in Asia, U.S. - China relations, Iran and more.

Six die in US storms as states brace for further woe and travel chaos | World news | guardian.co.uk High winds, tornadoes and icy conditions ground more than 300 flights and leave tens of thousands of families without power
2012 Tornadoes: Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi And Alabama Report Christmas Twisters (the Deity is pissed at something)
Dr. Jeff Masters' WunderBlog : Top Ten U.S. Weather Events of 2012 | Weather Underground

Obama's gift to al-Qaida, support for tyranny, and FBI monitoring of dissent | Glenn Greenwald | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk Numerous individual events from this week alone signify important trends in US government policy (learned nothing from 9/11 except to make more of them)
Daily Kos: If we policed the U.S. the way we do Afghanistan

Newtown Police Officers, Traumatized And Not Working, At Risk Of Losing Pay Some of the police officers who responded to the school shooting in Newtown are so traumatized they haven't been working, but they have to use sick time and could soon be at risk of going without a paycheck, a union official said Wednesday.
Jay Nixon: Arming Teachers 'Would Put Our Children At Risk' (moar gunz!)
Michael Nutter: NRA Armed Guard Proposal A 'Completely Dumbass Idea'
Frank Luntz, GOP Pollster: The NRA Isn't Listening With Proposal For Armed Guards At Schools
A history of the Second Amendment in two paintings (the KKK took over defending us from Redcoats ) Blacks)
Ronald Reagan: Gun Control Advocate - Lawyers, Guns & Money : Lawyers, Guns & Money It’s also very much worth noting that the NRA traditionally supported gun control as well. The organization’s current extremism only dates to the 1970s, a period where not coincidentally, conservative whites were increasingly nervous about the direction of the country, what with t
Daily Kos: Meet the Press broke gun laws; America debates whether to care
Gun homicides and gun ownership listed by country | News | guardian.co.uk With less than 5% of the world's population, the United States is home to roughly 35–50 per cent of the world's civilian-owned gun

Ross Douthat Explains It All To You - Esquire Apparently, when I was off dancing at the Fezziwigs' annual Christmas Ball, young Cardinal Douthat unlimbered himself on the topic of guns, and what we do with them. First, though, the Connecticut-born, prep-school-nurtured, Harvard-educated, New York Times ideological affirmative action hire had to give voice to his inner peckerwood. Hilarity ensued. (national treasure, Charles Pierce)

U.S. Mental Healthcare System Failing Patients, Advocates Say “The place is something out of the 1920s,” Missouri State Rep. Jeanne Kirkton said of Fulton State Hospital, the state's first. “Have you ever seen ‘One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest’? It’s that, but worse.”
A Cleared Bill of Health This year saw conservative attacks on reproductive rights, and the Affordable Care Act make it past the final hurdles to full implementation.

Political Animal - Chuck Hagel, the Multi-Faceted Symbol
Political Animal - Cabinet Rope-a-Dope? (let the Rethugs go nuts on your leak; propose someone else)
Thousands Of Vets And Military Families Sign Petition Rejecting 'Neocon Smears' Against Hagel | ThinkProgress (not everyone thinks AIPAC/failed Neocons/Netanyahu should run American foreign policy)

Obama stump speech strategy of conciliation considered harmful | Corrente (2007 prescient)
Hullabaloo: Holiday Fundraiser Greatest Hits: Bipartisan Zombies (2007 it was clear back then)

Brad DeLong : Yes, It Looks Very Much as Though the Austerity Bomb Is Going to Go Off...
For Republicans, it’s not about deficit reduction (it's about destroying government)
A gallon of milk could cost $8 in 2013. Here’s why. (Republicans)
Balloon Juice » Abject Surrender is the Best Negotiating Strategy Kent Conrad was on Fox News Sunday and offered to “split the difference” on the fiscal cliff negotiations: (last bark of the Blue-Dogs that Rahm loved so much)

If Boehner goes, look outside Washington for a new speaker - The Washington Post ? Go to Article I, Section 2: The Constitution does not say that the speaker of the House has to be a member of the House. In fact, the House can choose anybody a majority wants to fill the post. (Karl Rove! Dick Armey! Jeb Bush!)

Top Dem moments of 2012: Mitt Romney, the gift that kept on giving — MSNBC
Daily Kos: Editorial says it's 'unfair' to judge Sen. Mike Crapo for being drunk-driving liar You might think now is a great time to point out that holier-than-thou Crapo is just a typical, hypocritical, law-breaking Republican. And in most circles you'd be right. But according to an editorial in the Idaho Statesman, that wouldn't be fair:

Organized labor: a bad year (with a few bright spots) — MSNBC

Tea Party, Its Clout Diminished, Turns to Narrower Issues - NYTimes.com
Dick Army FreedomWorks: Getting paid millions for a failed coup. Armey took a dispute in which there was some chance of him ending up with nothing, and ended up with a sack of money far larger than anything most people will ever see. He did pretty well. (Teafucks at work)
FreedomWorks tea party group nearly falls apart in fight between old and new guard - The Washington Post (armed insurrection! tons of money!)
Political Animal - Loudest Teapot Tempest Yet (both sides, of course, are nuts)
Dick Armey FreedomWorks - Dick Armey's DC Shakedown - Esquire Dick Armey walks into the Wingnut Welfare equivalent of NORAD, and he brings along an "aide" who's packing, and he walks out with eight million bucks? You do that at a Gas 'n Sip and walk out with $50 in quarters and you do 10 years. The rich are different from you and me. Many of them are morons.

Bonus Quote of the Day "I couldn't believe the kind of people who had come and taken power. Many of them had never had any government experience. They had no respect as it were for government per se. I mean, I don't know why you run for government office with the intent to close up government." -- Rep. Bob Filner (D-CA), quoted by Southern California Public Radio, on leaving Congress to become Mayor of San Diego.

There are four ways to get fired from Caesars: (1) theft, (2) sexual harassment, (3) running an experiment without a control group, and (4) keeping a gambling addict away from the casino « Statistical Modeling, Causal Inference, and Social Science
Afghan Light Air Support saga continues: Chuck Wald flies the Tucano - The DEW Line

Brad DeLong : Does Thomas Nagel Reject All of Quantum Mechanics as Well as Evolution and Cognitive Science?
Mind and Cosmos, by Thomas Nagel
Mind and Cosmos: Why the Materialist Neo-Darwinian Conception of Nature is Almost Certainly False // Reviews // Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews // University of Notre Dame
Thomas Nagel: a philosopher who confesses to finding things bewildering
Boston Review — Elliott Sober: Remarkable Facts (Thomas Nagel, Mind and Cosmos)
Do You Only Have a Brain? On Thomas Nagel | The Nation
A Philosopher Defends Religion by Thomas Nagel | The New York Review of Books

Best Space Photos of the Year 2012 | Wired Science | Wired.com
Engraved Stone Dating Back 30,000 Years Found in China | Archaeology | Sci-News.com Chinese archaeologists have discovered a stunning 30,000-year-old engraved stone artifact in a collection of stone tools unearthed at the Paleolithic site of Shuidonggou in 1980

Media Tip: How to Eliminate Your "Uhhhs" and "Ummms" Caroline Kennedy said "you know" 168 times during a single 30-minute interview. After being roundly mocked by the local press, Ms. Kennedy removed herself from consideration.
J. Geils Band - Centerfold - YouTube

Mark Zuckerberg's Sister Complains Of Facebook Privacy Breach (live by the lack-of-privacy, die ...)

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Syria opposition activists expect rocky transition after Assad’s fall - The Washington Post (not going to be pretty)
Egypt's new constitution approved in referendum | World news | guardian.co.uk President Mohamed Morsi wins support for measure amid growing fears for Egyptian economy
Israel approves another 1,200 settlement units around Jerusalem | World news | guardian.co.uk Plan brings total approvals to 5,500 in just over a week as right urges Binyamin Netanyahu to drop two-state solution pledge
Israel to Review Curbs on Women’s Prayer at Western Wall - NYTimes.com ("review")
In India, police shoot dead journalist covering protest - Committee to Protect Journalists

Gunman in Firefighter Ambush Left Chilling Note - NYTimes.com
William Spengler's Note Before Killing Webster Firefighters: 'Do What I Like Doing Best, Killing People'
William Spengler, Killer Of 2 New York Firemen, Had Bushmaster Semiautomatic Rifle
New York Journal News Publishes Gun Owners' Names In Westchester, Rockland Counties
Mixed Reaction to Call for Armed Guards in Schools - NYTimes.com (not "stupid" and "reckless" and "delusional")
Guns Kill Young Children Daily In The U.S. Between 2006 and 2010, 561 children age 12 and under were killed by firearms (the price of freedom!)
U.N. To Reconsider Arms Trade Treaty Blocked By NRA Conspiracy Theories | ThinkProgress
Petition To Deport CNN Host For Gun Control Support Reaches 60,000 Signatures | ThinkProgress
Police probe NBC's David Gregory on gun clip - Katie Glueck - politico.com When pressed on what the police department was investigating, Alali added, “The ‘Meet the Press’, David Gregory incident.” (think about this for a few seconds)

Salon's David Sirota To Don Lemon: If Majority Of Mass Shooters Wasn't White, 'Conversation Would Be Much Uglier' (video) Sirota said, "I think we should ask the question why is America 30 percent white guys, and 70 percent of the shootings in the last many decades have been at the hands of white guys
Time to profile white men? - Salon.com My interview with MSNBC ignites a conservative media firestorm -- and exposes America's dangerous double standard
Grover Norquist Claims 20 Percent of Americans Say They Belong to the NRA | Video Cafe This is the importance, the NRA is built on myths at this point in many ways. The NRA has 4 million members. It is essentially a lobby for gun manufacturers, not for its members (4 million = 20% of 300,000,000 ... Norquist would like to overstate their influence since he's one of their board members: nexus of evil)

MSNBC Panel Goes After Democrats for Putting Social Security Cuts on the Table | Video Cafe They go along with cutting benefits and we can look forward to ads from Republicans saying that Democrats hate seniors and went after your Social Security, just like they did with their Medicare ads during the last two elections. Never mind that they're the ones who actually want to destroy the programs. (as usual, Obama only thinking of himself)

Brad DeLong : In Which Greg Mankiw Pretends to Be Puzzled... Mankiw did his best to join in the process of taking the work that we in the Clinton administration had done in the 1990s to restore America's fiscal balance--work that was very well done, very important, and work that we were and are very proud of--and casually smashing it on the floor.
Eschaton: But They Will Always Smash It On The Floor Liberals should spend their time in office figuring out how to implement a sticky liberal agenda, one which is hard to dislodge, not figuring out how to create a pot of money for Republicans to steal when it is their turn.
Paul Krugman: Deficit Hawks Are 'Remarkably Foolish'
Dean Baker: The Myth of the Wealthy Elderly ... This is the group that the Very Serious People in Washington want to target for their deficit reduction. While the Very Serious People debate whether people who earn $250,000 a year are actually rich when it comes to restoring the tax rates of the 1990s, they somehow think that seniors with incomes under $30,000 a year must sacrifice to balance the budget. There is a logic here, but it ain't pretty. (Obama, granny starving because he is oddly un-curious about real economics)

The National Memo » watch: Norquist Upset That Obama Has ‘Not Been Negotiating’ (Mr "No Negotions, ever" is upset at Obama negotiating all over the place)
Tea Party, Its Clout Diminished, Turns to Fringe Issues - NYTimes.com Tea Party activists in the middle of the country are skirting the fiscal showdown in Congress and turning to fringe issues, raising questions about whether the movement still represents a citizen groundswell to which attention must be paid.

Oklahoma Planned Parenthood Deals Can Be Terminated: Judge A federal judge on Monday denied a request by Planned Parenthood to temporarily block Oklahoma from terminating a contract with the agency to provide nutritional services to low-income mothers.

Inflammation can trigger depression | Videnskab.dk Inflammation in the body gives two to three times increased risk of depression. It shows a large Danish study involving 73,000 Danes.
Elevated Levels of C-Reactive Protein Appear Associated with Psychological Distress, Depression - For the Media - JAMA & Archives
Metal Chunk Ditched for Silicon Sphere to Measure Kilogram | Wired Science | Wired.com

Netflix Crippled On Christmas Eve By AWS Outages | TechCrunch
Everything you need to know about Windows 8 upgrades (FAQ part 2) | ZDNet
The ultimate Windows 8 upgrade FAQ | ZDNet
Two must-have downloads that make Windows 8 more bearable | ZDNet

Jimmy Fallon, Mariah Carey & The Roots: "All I Want For Christmas Is You" (w/ Classroom Instruments) - YouTube

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Senior Syrian official in US and co-operating with intelligence agencies | World news | guardian.co.uk Guardian understands that US intelligence officials helped Jihad Makdissi to flee, though details of journey are unknown
India gang rape protests: Manmohan Singh appeals for calm | World news | guardian.co.uk A day after police quell rising anger with teargas and water cannons, PM calls for calm and promises justice for victim
UP rape victim raped by cops probing case - The Times of India A gang-rape victim from Uttar Pradesh's Ambedkar Nagar, who was again violated by the investigating officer (IO) probing her case, has now alleged that she was also raped by the inspector in charge of the police station where she had lodged her complaint.


Political Animal - The Atlantic declares death “a good thing” (Jeffrey Goldberg wanks! moar gunz! +John Lott!)
The answer is not more guns - Salon.com - A trendy argument suggests we'll be safer if more people carry guns. It's dangerous, wrong and terrible policy - the “Slate pitch” genre of contrarian counternarratives
American Public Health Association - Investigating the Link Between Gun Possession and Gun Assault
Miscellaneous - Firearms Research - Harvard Injury Control Research Center - Harvard School of Public Health 1. An armed society is not a trusting society
The Declining Culture of Guns and Violence in the United States — The Monkey Cage (NRA, lobbyists for violence and death)
Newtown and the Madness of Guns : The New Yorker Whatever satisfaction gun owners take from their guns—we know for certain that there is no prudential value in them—is more important than children’s lives. Give them credit: life is making moral choices, and that’s a moral choice, clearly made.
Why America Can't Pass Gun Control - Steven Hill and Robert Richie - The Atlantic Looking ahead to 2014, control of the House once again will come down to the outcome of 35 or so close races. To earn a House majority, Democrats will need to sweep nearly all of them, largely in districts where a pro-gun control position doesn't play well.
Political Animal - Bullet Vote By their estimation, we have terrible gun laws because of a series of small factors that add up to a big conclusion: “bullet” voters (pun intended) opposing gun control or anything like it who happen to exercise disproportionate power in districts with disproportionate influence over the U.S. House.
NRA press conference: The lesson of Newtown—when gun nuts write gun laws, nuts have guns. - Slate Magazine We are living in the world the NRA has made.
Shorter NRA: We Demand the Freedom to Live In a Permanent Police State - Lawyers, Guns & Money
Balloon Juice » Games Gun Nuts Play - Our Zombie targets are life-sized; three-dimensional tactical mannequins that “bleed” when you shoot them, using Zombie Industries’ Patent Pending proprietary technology. One of the female “zombies” is named “The Ex”.
Daily Kos: The Second Amendment: Or, taking up arms against U.S. troops (any weapon you can lift is "bearable")
Twitter / Jane_Roh: The look @CoryBooker gave Peggy ... The look @CoryBooker gave Peggy Noonan as she blamed #gunviolence on video games was priceless
Balloon Juice » Your Sunday Show Sideeye Cory Booker versus Nooners on gun violence and Newtown:
Bats Left/Throws Right: For The Sake Of The Country, Would It Be Possible For You To Just Be Fucking Insane Somewhere Else For A Week Or Two? Which brings us to Douthat, now humping along toward a monochrome middle age with the same teenage facial hair and the same teenage hand-me-down politics. Is there a single example of organic development in what we'll call, for lack of a thesaurus, Douthat's thought?
Political Animal - Don’t Let Scientists Get Near Your Guns! Restrictions on research were later extended from the CDC to all parts of the Department of Health and Human Services. And similar efforts have affected other federal and state agencies.
Police: Webster gunman set 'trap' for firefighters - World & Nation - The Buffalo News
The Horror Continues - Lawyers, Guns & Money : Clearly, the problem is that not every American firefighter is armed, preferably with another armed guard for when they’re actually firefighting. We can pay through all of this with minor reductions in the foreign aid outlays that constitute 95% of federal expenditures.
Gun owners vs. the NRA: What the polling shows

Obama: I Would Be Considered Moderate Republican In 1980s - ABC News - More Moderate Republican Than Socialist

It Actually Matters | TPM Editors Blog Hagel would likely lean toward putting some pressure on Israel on the peace-making front (a good thing) and would likely resist a move to war with Iran (also a good thing). Washington neoconservatives don’t want either; ditto for AIPAC and the Israel lobby. And now it seems they’re going to win this one. Which is really unfortunate. (Israel is your boss)
Grow A Pair, Mr President - The Dish | By Andrew Sullivan - The Daily Beast
Hey Obama: Defend Chuck Hagel! - The Daily Beast

When Prophecy Fails - NYTimes.com The key thing we need to understand, however, is that the prophets of fiscal disaster, no matter how respectable they may seem, are at this point effectively members of a doomsday cult. They are emotionally and professionally committed to the belief that fiscal crisis lurks just around the corner, and they will hold to their belief no matter how many corners we turn without encountering that crisis.
Fareed Zakaria is Unhappy That "The American Left" Chooses Arithmetic Over Peter Peterson | Beat the Press (as delusional as Obama)
Bankster Justice Very Much Delayed | Consortiumnews •The Obama administration has made it official policy not to prosecute fraud. Indeed, the “watchdogs” in D.C. are so corrupt that they are as easily bribed as a policeman in a third world banana republic.

Fiscal Cliff Deal Seen As Elusive By Lawmakers
Search for Way Through Fiscal Impasse Turns to the Senate - NYTimes.com
FreedomWorks Feud: War Inside Tea Party Group Gets Nastier | Mother Jones (couldn't happen to a nicer bunch of goons)
Fiscal Cliff Leaves John Boehner A Wounded Speaker
All I Want for Christmas Is a New GOP - The Daily Beast You call that governing? Amid dismal fiscal-cliff talks and an even worse reaction to the shooting in Newtown, Mark McKinnon throws cold water on his wayward party - Nothing on taxes. Nothing on gun control. Nothing on climate change. Nothing on gay marriage. Nothing on immigration reform (or an incremental, piece-by-piece approach, which will result in nothing). It’s a very odd situation when the losing party is the party refusing to negotiate. It may be how you disrupt, but it is not how you govern, or how you ever hope to regain a majority.
The National Memo » This Is Why Speaker Boehner Has Lost Control No Taxex: This is like an obese man saying “I have an eating problem, not an exercising problem. Thus I will NEVER exercise.” Rep. Tim Huelskamp (R-KS, Vandal, poster-child for idiocy) (no taxes because ... freedom!)
A Dispatch From the 'National Review's Post-Election Cruise -- New York Magazine Steaming past Guantánamo, en route to the Cayman Islands, a boatload of Republicans ponder the plight of a party at sea. (Romney victory cruise)

Daily Kos: Romney campaign caught off guard by fact that Obama staffers worked
Daily Kos: How did Mitt Romney decide when to concede defeat? By watching Fox. And listening to Karl Rove.
Some Lies Are So Transparent They Remain Lies Even If You Believe Them - Lawyers, Guns & Money : Lawyers, Guns & Money Shorter verbatim son of Mittens: “[Willard Romney] wanted to be president less than anyone I’ve met in my life.” Yes, clearly this always unambitious man was in it for the principle, and because the Republican base was begging him to run. At any rate, the title principle remains very important when considering pretty much anything about the Romney/Ryan ticket. (I'll never wanted you anyway, nah-nah)

Idaho Sen. Crapo, charged with DUI, faces Jan. 4 court date; says he’s ‘deeply sorry’ - The Washington Post (drunk Mormon)
Daily Kos: Pope gives special holiday hate speech against gays because it's Christmas

Political Animal - News flash: “good men” do not commit rape a controversy that has developed between feminist bloggers and a site called the Good Men Project.

Should Harvard start admitting kids at random? « Statistical Modeling, Causal Inference, and Social Science Tyler Cowen links to an article where Ron Unz provides evidence that Jews are way overrepresented at Ivy League colleges, with Asians-Americans and non-Jewish whites correspondingly underrepresented.
A Modest Victory in the Struggle Against Academic Fecklessness » Duck of Minerva The URI administration has issued a new statement (David M Dooley walks it back)

Hydrogen Sonata Forum wrap-up » Duck of Minerva

Why Do We Blink So Frequently? | Surprising Science . The average person blinks some 15-20 times per minute—so frequently that our eyes are closed for roughly 10% of our waking hours overall (micro-nap to refocus)
Stanford creates flexible, high-efficiency peel-and-stick solar cells | ExtremeTech

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Egypt Constitution Likely Approved: Muslim Brotherhood

Why the US media ignored Murdoch's brazen bid to hijack the presidency | Carl Bernstein | Comment is free | The Guardian Did the Washington Post and others underplay the story through fear of the News Corp chairman, or simply tin-eared judgment? (WaPo put it in the "Style" section, ha-ha)

New York's top court highlights the meaninglessness and menace of the term 'terrorism' | Glenn Greenwald | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk A fascinating new ruling unwittingly illustrates the separate system of 'justice' invented for Muslims in the US after 9/11
The Israel Lobby's smear campaign against Hagel and Zero Dark Thirty | Glenn Greenwald | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk Discussing the potential new Defense Secretary and the highly-celebrated pro-torture film, on MSNBC's "Up with Chris Hayes"
FBI Investigated 'Occupy' As Possible 'Terrorism' Threat, Internal Documents Show
Newtown kids v Yemenis and Pakistanis: what explains the disparate reactions? | Glenn Greenwald | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk Numerous commentators have rightly lamented the difference in how these childrens' deaths are perceived. What explains it?

JAMA Network | JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association | Silencing the Science on Gun ResearchSilencing the Science on Gun Research The nation might be in a better position to act if medical and public health researchers had continued to study these issues as diligently as some of us did between 1985 and 1997. But in 1996, pro-gun members of Congress mounted an all-out effort to eliminate the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) (the best way to deal with gun violence is the make sure you don't know about it)
NRA Blames Media During National Press Conference: Journalists React On Twitter (see, if they didn't tell you about it, it wouldn't be a problem)
NRA’s Wayne LaPierre: ‘Call Me Crazy’ | TPMDC
The N.R.A. Crawls From Its Hidey Hole - NYTimes.com - The organization’s very existence is predicated on the nation being torn in half over guns. Still, we were stunned by Mr. LaPierre’s mendacious, delusional, almost deranged rant.
The Scourge of Concealed Weapons - NYTimes.com
Semi-automatic firearms are weapons of mass destruction - The Washington Post
Pitts: Confronting America’s unholy gun love - Leonard Pitts Jr. - MiamiHerald.com And our choice could be not be more clear. We can continue with acts of moral masturbation. We can harrumph and pontificate about how the problem is video games or the problem is a lack of prayer or the problem is too few guns. Or we can finally agree that the problem is obvious: too many people who should not have guns, do.
New York Post, New York Daily News Slam NRA's Wayne LaPierre
From Apocalypse to Dystopia - NYTimes.com Wayne LaPierre and his fellow N.R.A. officials have hunkered down to wait for the “emotional period” or “hysteria,” as they call it, to pass. They rule in the back rooms on Capitol Hill and rein in panicked senators and congressmen who fret that they should support some measly legislation to pretend they are not pawns of the gun lobby.
Bloomberg, LaPierre and the Void - NYTimes.com ("both side are crazy" un-huh)
Brad DeLong : Can We Please Keep Ross Douthat from Writing Again? What kind of a sociopathic nut writes such a lead?
Wayne LaPierre's Claim That 'Most' Of Media Is Protected By Armed Guards Rejected By Media
Piers Morgan Deportation Petition Posted To White House After His Gun Control Rants (occasionally, they have a good idea)
If You Want to Regulate Guns, Talk About Guns. Period. | Mother Jones (not how nuts Wayne is)
How Much Would It Cost to Put Guards with Guns in Every Public School? - Matthew O'Brien - The Atlantic - Most people think it's the best approach ("most people" are stupid; $4 billion or so when you factor in benefits as well; free after you cut teachers salaries some more, or use "volunteers")
Private Gun Sale Loophole Creates Invisible Firearms Market, Prompts Calls For Reform
Brownells, World's Largest Firearms Supplier, Sells 3.5 Years Worth Of AR-15 Magazines In 3 Days - Brownells' 30- and 20-round magazines are selling quickly (you need those to survive an attack of a herd of deers)

Brad DeLong : Department of "Oh Dear!": Basic Macro Briefing Weblogging f it is indeed the case that Obama does not understand the basics of the economic situation he is trying to manage, how likely is it that he can make good decisions? If, as Bob Woodward claims, Tim Geithner really is in there analogizing the U.S. to Greece, things are not good at all… (not that smart, not that curious, either)
Maya and the Vigilantes - NYTimes.com (Maya MacGuiness is the queen of the deficit scolds (only the Teabaggers prevented Obama from agreeing to a plan to right of Simpson-Bowles, for chrissakes) br />
How Party of Budget Restraint Shifted to ‘No New Taxes,’ Ever - NYTimes.com The conservative revolt against that 1990 legislation — and against President George Bush, who violated his own “Read my lips” vow not to increase taxes — was a seminal moment for Republicans. The party of balanced budgets became the party that opposed tax increases.

Still Bitter About Election, Republican Opposition Unwilling to Compromise with President - NYTimes.com
Political Animal - Cliff-hanger: what will happen once we fall off the fiscal cliff? Not much, apparently Could the fiscal cliff be the 2013 version of Y2K?
Fiscal Cliff Blowup Caused By GOP Policies: Analysis
Fiscal Fail: Government Agencies Plan Few Significant Changes For January, Despite Cliff Hype
Daily Kos: The bottomless pit of arbitrary accounting

Don't Count Boehner Out Just Yet The House Speaker suffered a humiliating defeat with the failure of "Plan B," but he has survived far bigger messes over the course of his long career.
Send in the Clowns - NYTimes.com Republican politicians today have a choice: either change your base by educating and leading G.O.P. voters back to the center-right from the far right, or start a new party that is more inclusive, focused on smaller but smarter government and market-based, fact-based solutions to our biggest problems.
Dana Milbank: In the House, a beaten Boehner accepts defeat - The Washington Post In Boehner’s House, the animals are rampaging. (House=Jurassic Park)
John Boehner Favorability Hits Record Low In New Poll (how low can he go?)
2012 Polling Accuracy: Right Winner, But Different Trends
Eschaton: It Never Occurred To Me That They'd Pay People To Actually Do Stuff Don't they know it was all just a big grift? , it's clear the grifters on the Romney campaign were in it for the grift. They had enough money to do whatever they wanted, and they chose to... pay themselves.
Daily Kos: Mitt Romney's transition team spent $8.9 million in government money, $740,000 on furniture $1,480 in furniture, $60 in office supplies, and $11,200 in computers, cell phones, and IT services for each member of Romney's transition team.
The story behind Mitt Romney’s loss in the presidential campaign to President Obama - News - Boston.com

Acknowledgements | FDL News Desk (David Dayen - dday - quits blogging)
News Corp. Says Publishing Arm Lost Money
Newsweek's Last Print Issue Cover Released (Tina Brown's latest failure)
The 11 Worst TV News Fails Of The Year (video)

West Antarctica Warming Twice As Fast As Previously Believed: Study
Cadaver stem cells offer new hope of life after death - health - 21 December 2012 - New Scientist (side-stepping the "all cells are babies" problem)

Daily Kos: Texas legislator prepares bill to allow Nativity scenes in schools Rep. Bohac apparently came up with the idea because he was miffed that his child's classroom was putting up a "holiday tree," (but no "Muslim Trees)

Grapefruit and Drugs Often Don't Mix - NYTimes.com (full list as PDF)



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Billionaires Dumping Stocks, Economist Knows Why - It’s very likely that these professional investors are aware of specific research that points toward a massive market correction, as much as 90%.
5 Signs Stocks Will Collapse in 2013

CIA Disputes 'Zero Dark Thirty' Accuracy: Acting CIA Director Issues Public Statement The film creates the strong impression that the enhanced interrogation techniques that were part of our former detention and interrogation program were the key to finding Bin Ladin. That impression is false," (torture didn't really help that much)

U.S. Shooting Deaths Since Sandy Hook Top 100
Connecticut School Gunman's Downward Spiral - WSJ.com
Lawrence O'Donnell: NRA Chief Wayne LaPierre A 'Desperate, Cornered Rat,' 'Lobbyist For Mass Murderers' (video)
New York Post, Daily News Blast NRA Speech (PHOTOS) | TPM LiveWire (they've lost the Post and the News)
National Shooting Sports Foundation, Newtown Gun Lobby, Keeps Military-Style Guns Legal
Asa Hutchinson: The Man Leading The NRA’s Push For Guns In Schools | TPMMuckraker (Wayne La Pierre's brilliant plan to sell more guns)
Rhode Island Prof Learns Only Wingnuts Allowed To Use Violent Metaphors (when metaphors are outlawed, only wingnuts will have metaphors)
Bats Left/Throws Right: At Least We Now Know What It Takes To Get Some Of The Nation's Top Conservative Intellectuals To Mention Gun Restrictions
Please To Put Armed Guards Outside All Pennsylvania Churches Too, Also (guard everything!)
Stock Up Now On Your End Times Accessories For Dorks And Paranoids

Political Animal - Yet another terrible idea from the NRA (your therapist will report you to the national nut database which will be shared with the NSA, TSA, FBI, CIA and your local police dept)
A Misguided Focus on Mental Illness in Gun Control Debate - NYTimes.com Only about 4 percent of violence in the United States can be attributed to people with mental illness.
Shakesville: An Observation About Mental Illness
The Problem's Guns—Not the Mentally Ill Tracking everyone who could hypothetically go on a shooting spree would only discourage the mentally ill from seeking treatment.

Christmas comes slowly to austerity-hit Europe - Yahoo! News
The incredible shrinking stimulus President Obama’s concessions to Republicans on taxes and Social Security have grabbed the headlines, but there’s another big area where the White House has shifted considerably in the GOP’s direction: direct stimulus to revive the short-term economy.
Guess Who Still Believes in Invisible Vigilantes - NYTimes.com Oh, dear — does the president still believe that failure to reach a Grand Bargain will cause an attack by the invisible bond vigilantes, and that this is the reason we should fear the fiscal cliff? How many times do we have to show that this notion is wrong both in theory and empirically (he never was that smart, or curious)
Wall Street Journal Claims President Obama is Delusional About Economy | Beat the Press - If President Obama really thinks interest rates will spike because of a big tax increase coupled with the cuts in the sequester then he badly needs some new economic advisers. (but he does have his delusions)
Hullabaloo What we have to look forward to - For a White House which everyone says has all the leverage, they sure are willing to compromise their allegedly most cherished priorities

How the Fiscal Cliff Talks Stalled At one point, Boehner told the president, "I put $800 billion [in tax revenue] on the table. What do I get for that?" Replied Obama: "You get nothing. I get that for free."
John Boehner’s failure and Wayne LaPierre’s defiance are two signs of just how far the Republican Party has fallen. - Slate Magazine Why today was a very bad day to be Republican.
Obama Waking Up From Dream of Grand Bargain -- Daily Intelligencer (he's going to lose his chance to starve granny and is very sad)
Enough! - The Dish | By Andrew Sullivan - The Daily Beast the Republican slide into total epistemic closure and political marginalization has now become a free-fall. This party, not to mince words, is unfit for government.There is no conservative party in the West - except for minor anti-immigrant neo-fascist ones in Europe - anywhere close to this level of far right extremism.
Tax fight sends GOP into chaos - The Washington Post
The National Memo » What Americans Should Learn From The ‘Republican Apocalypse’

Hullabaloo Why they turned on Hagel (because he believes in foreign policy +the anti-semitic smear)
Political Animal - How about a simple rule for Democratic cabinets: no bigots need apply (Obama loves his rightwing always-wrong bigots)

Dave Pruett: Science and Faith: Reconciling After the Divorce

Political Animal - Discrimination against Asian American students in Ivy League admissions
Lawyers, Guns & Money - The idea that firing a woman, after sexually harassing her, because you want to have sex with her isn’t gender discrimination is the same kind of sterile illogic that holds that discriminating against pregnant women isn’t gender discrimination, because the law in its majestic equality allows employers to fire men and women alike for being pregnant.
Iowa Supreme Court Decides It’s OK To Fire ‘Irresistible’ Workers If You Really Really Want To Bone Them

The Very Best GIFs of 2012

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Syria conflict: Assad fires more Scuds - Friday 21 December 2012 | World news | guardian.co.uk US and Nato say Syria has resumed firing Scuds at rebels • UN's anti-genocide envoy warns of reprisal attacks
Dozens killed in raid on village in Kenya | World news | guardian.co.uk Farmers armed with spears and AK-47 rifles attack village of herders as cycle of tit-for-tat killings continues

High court rejects challenge over UK link to drone strikes in Pakistan | World news | guardian.co.uk Drone strike victim's son to appeal against court's refusal to bar British officials from sharing targeting intelligence with US
The coming drone attack on America | Naomi Wolf | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk Drones on domestic surveillance duties are already deployed by police and corporations. In time, they will likely be weaponised

NOAA: 2012 to rank as second costliest US year since 1980 | Environment | guardian.co.uk The 11 billion-dollar extreme weather events across the US include hurricane Sandy, which alone will cost about $100bn (Republicans will de-fund the climate)

NDAA Indefinite Detention Bill Passes Senate After Rand Paul Calls It An 'Abomination'

NRA Newtown Shooting Press Conference - Today's NRA Press Conference - Esquire - The National Rifle Association today held a press conference today at which it was determined that there would be no questions asked or answered, but the organization made it quite clear that they would be open to media questions next week, between Christmas and New Year's. Then they trotted out Wayne LaPierre, who had bats flying out of both ears.

NRA's LaPierre slips into performance art - The Maddow Blog To call this a press conference is to mislabel what transpired. The NRA's Wayne LaPierre decided to give a speech, and the group refused at the outset to consider questions from the reporters that had been invited to the event.
News from The Associated Press NRA calls for armed police officer in every school
The NRA's instantly inflammatory post-Connecticut press event - The Week "The only thing that can stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun," claims the NRA's Wayne LaPierre
House Democrats Slam NRA Press Conference: 'It Just Doesn't Make Sense'
NRA School Proposal Is 'Irresponsible And Dangerous,' 'Delusional,' Teachers Unions Say
Richard Blumenthal: NRA 'Irrelevant' In Gun Debate After Sandy Hook
NRA Full Prepared Statement Of Post-Shooting Press Conference | TPM LiveWire
Daily Kos: Today's fringy NRA, out-of-step with America and gun owners
Marine veteran outside Hughson school lied about his service record - Local - MercedSun-Star.com
Eschaton: What Could Go Wrong 100,000 unpaid people with guns "working" full time at your schools.
Daily Kos: No Child Left Unarmed: Red Dawn Schools
Joe Scarborough Destroys Rep. Tim Huelskamp: 'We Can't Even Talk About [Gun Control] Without You ... Insulting Me Personally? (video)

Party Identity in a Gun Cabinet - NYTimes.com If they identify as Democratic voters, the chances are only about one in four, or 25 percent, that they have a gun in their home. But the chances are more than twice that, almost 60 percent, if they are Republicans.
Ray Kelly Interview Rampage Shooters - Why We Can’t Stop Rampage Shooters - Esquire (big data)
Police Dept. to Use Internet to Try to Stop Shootings - NYTimes.com

Sandy Hook Shooting Thrusts ‘Preppers’ Into Spotlight | TPMDC Broadly speaking, “prepper” is a catch-all term used to describe people who are preparing for the worst in every way they can. Adherents advocate maintaining large caches of food, water, and emergency supplies, as well as a personal arsenal, all with the goal of surviving a cataclysmic event. (when SHTF; Nancy prepped for "The Road" which will happen after Obama destroys the country)
Beyonce and Jamie Foxx release video for Bloomberg's anti-gun campaign | World news | guardian.co.uk More than 40 celebrities appear in spot for Mayors Against Illegal Guns to urge Obama and Congress to end gun violence


Republicans have a message problem, not a messenger problem A majority of Americans (53 percent) say the Republicans’ problem is that they are overly conservative and unconcerned “with the welfare of the people, particularly those in the lower and middle income levels.” By contrast, 38 percent say the bigger issue is that Republicans “need a better leader to explain and win support” for their policies.

Daily Kos: White House said to be considering smaller fiscal cliff package
Daily Kos: House Democratic leadership: Obama's 'more than halfway' offer is the new starting point What happened to not negotiating with terrorists?
Pelosi Puts The Squeeze On Boehner In Fiscal Cliff Debate | TPMDC
In Stunning Rebuke, GOP Won't Deliver Votes for Boehner's 'Plan B' : Roll Call News
Boehner's Plan B: "For Backing Out" | Mother Jones CAP reports that Boehner's plan would raise taxes on millions of middle class and poor families, "seriously damage" the economy and do precious little to address the long-term deficit. "Other than that, it's a great idea," snark authors Michael Linden, director for tax and budget policy and Michael Ettlinger, vice president for economic policy.
Plan B: Job Losses, Middle-Class Tax Increases, and Trivial Deficit Reduction | Center for American Progress
Harry Reid: 'Gee Whiz' Is John Boehner Taking A Battering spurred to incredulity by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who blamed Democrats for killing the House speaker's 'Plan B."
How Boehner’s Plan B for the ‘fiscal cliff’ began and fell apart - The Washington Post
John Boehner Plan B Mess Leaves Few Fiscal Cliff Options
Boehner Plan B: House Republicans humiliate their leader This sort of display suggests Republicans are not capable of governing. What was an argument by Democrats (They are unreasonable! They only care for the rich!) is now a political reality (Jennifer Fucking Rubin)
Boehner Budget Failure Followed Pressure From Conservative Groups
Quote of the Day "It weakens the entire Republican Party, the Republican majority. It's the continuing dumbing-down of the Republican Party and we are going to be seen more and more as a bunch of extremists that can't even get a majority of our own people to support policies that we're putting forward." -- Rep. Steven LaTourette (R-OH) (dumb and dumber)

John Boehner Over The Fiscal Cliff - Wherein Democracy Mocks Itself - Esquire - There is no possible definition by which the Republicans can be considered an actual political party any more. They can be defined as a loose universe of inchoate hatreds, or a sprawling confederation of collected resentments, or an unwieldy conglomeration of self-negating orthodoxies, or an atonal choir of rabid complaint, or a cargo cult of quasi-religious politics and quasi-political religion, or simply the deafening abandoned YAWP of our bitter national Id. But they are not a political party because they have rendered themselves incapable of politics.

Playing Taxes Hold ’Em - NYTimes.com Nonetheless, the concessions he offered were breathtaking: He was willing to accept huge spending cuts, not to mention a rise in the Medicare eligibility age, in return for a vague promise of higher revenue without any increase in tax rates ... would have been a huge victory for Republicans ... their intransigence saved Mr. Obama from himself.

History’s Greatest Martyr: The Sociological Significance of it All - Lawyers, Guns & Money : Lawyers, Guns & Money This collection of quotes from Robert Bork, the towering intellect whose defeated Supreme Court nomination was the greatest injustice in known human history, is another sad manifestation in the politics of personal destruction. If there’s a dirtier form of politics that quoting Bork’s own words, I don’t know what it is.
Robert Bork: In Memoriam - Waggish

John Kerry Secretary of State Nomination - Kerry's Nomination And The Return Of The Swift Boats - Esquire But the key is the Swift Boats. If some senator brings it up — or, worse, if some of the old poolroom liars are trotted in front of the Senate committee sitting on Kerry's nomination — and if the courtier press doesn't emphasize at every moment that everything that was said about John Kerry and Vietnam in the 2004 presidential campaign was a lie and an embarrassment to American politics and the American media, then we have on our hands yet another case of journalistic malpractice, and we have had enough of those, thank you.

Hillary Clinton’s Career of Comebacks | Pew Research Center for the People and the Press
Judge Rules Against Texas In Dispute Over Planned Parenthood (they wanted to eat their cake and have their federal funding too)
For Scott Brown, a Third Round in the Battle Against Partisan Gravity - NYTimes.com

Right-wing author: Jon Stewart part of the culture that led to shootings - Salon.com Rosenberg cites the ongoing so-called War on Christmas, and how “We are, in many respects, in a moral and spiritual freefall in our country, and we are paying a terrible price.” Rosenberg, who has previously linked Hurricane Sandy to abortion rights, is an evangelical who writes about End Times, and wrote in his latest book, “The Tehran Initiative,” that “[m]illions of Muslims around the world are convinced their messiah—known as ‘the Twelfth Imam’—has just arrived on earth.”
Fox n Friends Santa Loves the Ladies - Interview Mashup - DoucheChillz.com esterday Fox & Friends found out that Santa loves Christmas but DoucheChillz did some research and discovered that their Santa also likes to get his fuck on.

Teen Marijuana Use May Show No Effect On Brain Tissue, Unlike Alcohol, Study Finds - ome studies have suggested one component, cannabidiol, may actually have neuroprotective effects,"
DEA warns: No free pass for medical pot | Boston Herald (Obama keeps his war going)

Black Hole Firewalls Confound Theoretical Physicists: Scientific American

NRA Full Prepared Statement Of Post-Shooting Press Conference | TPM LiveWire

Onion Invading Real Life | TPM Editors Blog The Iowa Supreme Court has ruled that a dentist was within his rights firing an assistant who he found attractive simply because he and his wife thought she was a threat to their marriage ... KM notes that ‘you’re so hot my spouse is threatened’ is something the federal courts have generally been okay with as a cause for termination, which is bizarre, but there you go …

122012
Park Geun-hye becomes South Korea's first female president | World news | The Guardian Daughter of dictator Park Chung-hee narrowly beats liberal Moon Jae-in election that has fired national imagination
Putin 'not that preoccupied' with fate of Syria's Assad | World news | The Guardian Comment by Russian president seems to indicate that Moscow now accepts that Syrian leader's days are numbered
Thailand to extradite pizzeria drug money banker | World news | guardian.co.uk Vito Roberto Palazzolo to be sent back to Italy for laundering mafia drug money through New York pizzerias in 70s and 80s
Jimmy Savile scandal: BBC branded 'incapable and chaotic' | Media | The Guardian Senior executive resigns and three others moved after damning report on shelved Newsnight exposé of TV star's sexual abuse of children (you know, the coverup Mark Thompson knew nothing about)
Eighth man arrested in Savile sex abuse inquiry | UK news | guardian.co.uk Operation Yewtree detectives arrest former Radio 1 producer Ted Beston on suspicion of sexual offences
Israel Looks at Tougher Gun Control Laws - Forbes (too many ultra-orthodox with assault weapons)

Defense Bill Nixes Ban on Indefinite Detention for US Citizens | Mother Jones In a closed-door negotiation, top Republican and Democratic lawmakers have killed a ban on detaining American citizens without trial. (top lawmakers onboard with Obama's plan to put you in jail forever and not tell anybody)
FISA Warrantless Wiretapping Bill Poised For Renewal Despite Unanswered Questions
True Believer: Petraeus and the Mythology of Afghanistan ("managing perceptions" with "lies")
Pentagon, CIA likely approved “Zero Dark Thirty” torture scenes - Salon.com Senators are up in arms over "Zero Dark Thirty." The real outrage is how the government helped make the film

Julian Assange: expect more from WikiLeaks | Media | guardian.co.uk Founder of whistleblowing website marks six months' confinement in Ecuadorean embassy with bullish speech (a million new dirty secrets)

U.S. Economy Grew 3.1% Last Quarter, More Than Forecast - Businessweek (depite Republican efforts to make America a third-world country)
New York Stock Exchange sold to derivatives company in $8bn takeover | Business | guardian.co.uk Sale of nearly 200-year-old institution to Intercontinental Exchange comes amid historic shift to electronic trading

Kerry defends diplomacy over military at Senate hearing on Benghazi report | World news | guardian.co.uk Senator Barbara Boxer, a Democrat, noted that while $200m was cut from the State Department security budget, the Pentagon spent $388m on military bands. (of course)
Daily Kos: Chuck Hagel's friends mount counteroffensive as he seeks top Defense spot He's not well liked among Republicans, and Democrats are baffled at the continuing bizarre fixation, in Democratic administrations, with putting a Republican in the position. On, and he was a strong supporter of the ban against gay members of the military, and even against gay Americans holding positions as U.S. Ambassadors because being openly gay wouldn't properly "represent America." No, really.

NRA’s allegiances reach deep into Congress - Sunlight Foundation Blog Just over half (51 percent) of the members of the new Congress that convenes next month have received funding from the National Rifle Association’
Newtown gunman Adam Lanza: what we know so far | World news | guardian.co.uk In the wake of the Connecticut shooting, many apparent facts have turned out to be false. So what do we know for sure? Adam Lanza, pictured, had never been a student at Sandy Hook elementary, as initially reported, nor had his mother Nancy had anything to do with the school ... There are 36 gun shops and shooting ranges within a 10-mile radius of the Lanza's home, where his mother became the first of his victims, shot with one of her own weapons.
Obama puts gun control centre stage as Biden appointed to lead task force | World news | The Guardian President pledges to force action on gun control as politicians implored to summon 'courage' in wake of Newtown massacre (talking to himself, again)
Senator Dianne Feinstein Gets To The Ugly Truth About Assault Weapons | MoveOn.Org
Ed Rendell: Bob McDonnell 'coward,' 'wuss' - Kevin Cirilli - politico.com
Adam Lanza's Barber Says Newtown Shooter Never Spoke During Haircuts "He would just be looking down at the tiles ... the whole time," Skuba said.
U.S. Judge Larry Burns Makes Conservative Plea For Gun Control | TPMMuckraker
Bushmaster Rifle: History Of The Sandy Hook Killer’s Gun | TPMMuckraker
Balloon Juice » Blog Archive » Joe Biden Being Awesome
Not Safe For Work Corporation | From "Operation Wetback" To Newtown: Tracing The Hick Fascism Of The NRA

Study Finds Voters Can't Accurately Assess Politicians A new study in the American Political Science Review suggests the average voter doesn't have the ability "to make an accurate judgement of the performance of their politicians, showing that voter biases appear to be deep-seated and broad."

Daily Kos: Boehner loses. Massively. This isn't just a massive, incredible, insanely embarrassing loss for Boehner. It's all of those things. It wasn't just losing a vote by a hair. It was totally having to abandon his strategy. And in the process, being completely neutered. The House is in utter shambles.
Daily Kos: Cantor's walk of shame House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, after the vote on the fiscal cliff/curb "Plan B" alternative was called off. Enjoy.
Nancy Pelosi Says Social Security Cut Proposed By Obama Would 'Strengthen' Program (Dems agree with Republicans to unnecessarily to starve granny)

Republican Party Too Extreme, Majority Of Americans Say: Poll
Eschaton: Apparently Liberal Policies Are Awesome I went here and clicked on all the most liberal shit, and we get to budget surplus in 2016 and close to 4% growth in 2013, over 4% in 2014, and 5% in 2015. (stuff Obummer/Rethugs would never support would save us all)
Yet More Bork - Lawyers, Guns & Money : “It says something about Bork’s constitutional vision that accurately restating his public views has become synonymous with the dirtiest of dirty tricks.” Along similar lines, Jeffrey Toobin gets right to the point: “Robert Bork, who died Wednesday, was an unrepentant reactionary who was on the wrong side of every major legal controversy of the twentieth century.”
Political Animal - Allen West Takes Whackjob Benghazi Theory to New Height of Ugliness Yesterday, on Fox News, the Islamophobic bigot and soon to be former legislator suggested that Hillary Clinton’s recent concussion was part of the grand Benghazi cover up that is being played out in the minds of paranoid wingnuts:
George Will Voter Suppression - George Will Joins The Voter Suppression Debate - Esquire In his heart, George Effing Will now is one of those cats who dresses up in camo, runs around upper Michigan with their Bushmaster .223s, pops off a few dozen rounds at an unfortunate oak tree, and then goes home and broadcasts on their shortwaves about how they will be the last redoubt against the tyranny of the UN when it descends on the U.P. to shut down all the deer camps.
Brown Would Be Heavy Favorite in Special Election A new WBUR poll in Massachusetts finds defeated Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA) is in a strong position should there be a special election to fill Sen. John Kerry's (D-MA) seat next year with a favorability rate of 58% to 28%.

The 50 Worst Columns of 2012 - Politics - The Atlantic Wire

Hack List No. 1: Politico - Salon.com Home of the campaign's loudest, least essential journalism
Hack List No. 2: The Washington Post - Salon.com The capital's daily paper is the one with the worst opinion section in the country
Hack List No. 3: Newsweek - Salon.com Tina Brown's magazine trolled itself to death
Hack List No. 4: The Sunday Shows - Salon.com Where the same few hacks and camera-seeking lawmakers have the same discussions every. single. week (70% old Republican white guys)
Hack List No. 5: The Drudge Report - Salon.com Inaccurate as always, but thankfully more irrelevant than ever
Eschaton: Hack'd At least for liberals, doing this kind of media criticism is essentially creating a list of "publications and outlets that will never hire Alex Pareene ever."

George Will: You Know Who Else Had High Voter Turnout? | Blog | Media Matters for America George Will argues in his Washington Post column today that what he terms the Justice Department's "drive to federalize voter registration" is an unnecessarily complex answer to "the non-problem of people choosing not to vote," and that high voter turnout isn't all it's cracked up to be, citing the German elections of the early 1930s that resulted in Nazi dictatorship (Dems are "Nazis" for wanting a functioning democracy; George Will has been an idiot for 50 yrs)
Misinformer Of The Year: Rush Limbaugh | Blog | Media Matters for America

Political Animal - Charlie Rose Settles Intern Class Action for $250,000 When one thinks of labor exploitation, PBS doesn’t typically come to mind. (also, Harper's Bazaar)

New Orleans Schools Ban Creationism, 'Revisionist' History Course Promoted By Texas The Texas State Board of Education in 2010 adopted a statewide social studies and history curriculum that amended or watered down the teaching of the civil rights movement, religious freedoms, America's relationship with the United Nations and hundreds of other topics.

Lonely Street (A Metaphorical Lonely Street. Not an Actual Street With No One On It. Or a Street With Just Me Walking Alone) - Lawyers, Guns & Money (wayne (Pimp for Assault Weapons) Lapierre's "head on a stick" and Michelle Malkin's flying monkey and David M Dooley's complicity +Crooked Timber stands up for metaphors)

Climate Change And Fish - Fish Are Fleeing Our Waters - Esquire (climate change)


Key Apple patent used against Samsung under fire | Apple - CNET News A key Apple patent used against Samsung in court is under close scrutiny by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office after a re-examination. (pinch-to-zoom thrown out; key in case against Samsung +"rounded corners")

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State Benghazi Report Is Harshly Critical Of Department, Busts Many Right-Wing Myths (and doesn't mention Republicans gutting State Dept. security budget)

Political Animal - FHFA Report: Fannie & Freddie Should Consider Suing for $3 Billion LIBOR Loss

Civilian analysts gained Petraeus’s ear while he was commander in Afghanistan - The Washington Post Frederick and Kimberly Kagan, a husband-and-wife team of hawkish military analysts
David Petraeus And Kagans - The Man Behind The Curtain - Esquire We have the wandering Little Petraeus to thank for many things. The fact that this guy clearly had national ambitions, and that only the wandering Little Petraeus may have saved us from a national security apparatus helmed by the half-bright chickenhawk denizens of Neocon Dogpatch, is definitely one of them.
All in the Neocon Family | Alternet Contrary to appearances, the neoconservatives do not represent a political movement, but a small, exclusive club with incestuous familial and personal connections.
Political Animal - Answers About Benghazi Emerge - But Are We Asking the Right Questions?

Some Came Running: "Zero Dark Thirty:" Perception, reality, perception again, and "the art defense"
Jessica Chastain in ‘Zero Dark Thirty’ - NYTimes.com Jessica Chastain in ‘Zero Dark Thirty’
While I’m Waiting For Zero Dark Thirty… - Lawyers, Guns & Money

Obama Announces Gun Violence Task Force, Presses For Policy Changes After Shooting
Demand A Plan Campaign: Support Swells Following Newtown Shooting
Gun Deaths Cost U.S. Billions Each Year While Firearms Makers Thrive
Adam Lanza's Motive: Did Fear Of Being Committed Lead To Sandy Hook Elementary Shooting?
Adam Lanza's Smashed Hard Drive Doesn't Erase His Digital Footprint, Experts Say
Joe Manchin and Joe Scarborough On Newtown Shooting - On Our New Friends Named Joe - Esquire
Bats Left/Throws Right: Okay, So What Have We Refused To Learn So Far? ... Nancy Lanza was 52. That means she was forty years old when the Columbine massacre screamed across the headlines. Yet she had an emotionally disturbed child, semi-automatic weapons, and she taught him to shoot.
Rick Snyder vetoes bill that would allow guns in schools
The First Victory Over the Gun Nuts - Lawyers, Guns & Money
Fancy Coastal Elite Conservative Writers Explain Guns to Real America - Politics - The Atlantic Wire
What is “violent rhetoric”? Redux - Lawyers, Guns & Money
Academic Administrative Fecklessness » Duck of Minerva - (Dr. David M. Dooley, President, URI, asshole)
Statement on Erik Loomis — Crooked Timber
Jane Smiley: A Few Remedies for the Right to Bear Arms
A Sensible Proposal For Combatting Gun Violence - Esquire
The Arms Race of Stupid | TPM Editors Blog
We’re stuck with guns. But… - Salon.com That doesn't mean we can't ban some, make them a lot harder to get -- and maybe even tax the hell out of them
Balloon Juice » Blog Archive » Utah Sixth Grader Brings a Gun to School and Other Gun-Related Shenanigans Yesterday, a Utah sixth grader brought a gun to school to protect himself from a Newtown-esque mass shooting, or so he claimed. He brandished the weapon in front of some friends at recess, as gun-toting 11-year-olds are wont do, and, pointed it at a girl’s head and threatened to kill her
Balloon Juice » National Review Author Blames Shooting on Sandy Hook Elementary School Being Too Girly
Down With Big Gun (fuckheaded asshole Ron Cohen, pres of Sig-Sauer)
Bats Left/Throws Right: Principles, Not Principals This was the Conservative answer fifty years ago, when George Eff was a Goldwater supporter, and it's still the answer today, thirty years since the Republican party started tailoring the laws to its own vision of social defects. It sounds like principle; in practice it acts like anything but. (George Will was a Goldwater guy)
false dichotomy by charles davis: I like this tweet
From Newtown to Kabul, the sounds of freedom « BTC News

Daily Kos: It wasn't Obama's negotiating style that won him reelection. It almost cost him (terrible leader, no vision, always giving in to appease his lost, drunken, rejecting father)

Fiscal Cliff 'Plan B' Gets Veto Threat From Obama The White House says President Barack Obama would veto House Speaker John Boehner's `Plan B' proposal for extending tax cuts for people making up to $1 million. (he already caved on $250,000)
Is John Boehner Throwing In The Towel? | TPMDC That sounds like he’s giving Obama a choice between Plan B or the fiscal cliff. No more negotiations over a broader deficit reduction plan.
Boehner Plan Addresses Taxes but Delays Fight Over Spending Cuts - NYTimes.com
Chained CPI is a middle-class tax hike.
Grand Bargain Sellout - The Grand Sellout Emerges - Esquire So here's where we sit. The Democrats, led by the president, who never is going to need to depend on Social Security, are prepared to concede on an issue that has absolutely nothing to do with the deficit. They are going to make life harder for millions of seniors. Social Security is now squarely "on the table" in any future budget negotiation. (Hey, who unplugged the third rail?)
Rumors of a Deal - NYTimes.com
Political Animal - “Fix the Debt” - Defense Contractor Ties Exposed According to The Public Accountability Initiative, the group Fix The Debt - which advocates for Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security cuts while pushing corporate tax reform - has 38 leaders with “ties to 43 companies with defense contracts totaling $42.3 billion in 2012.”
The Washington Monthly Earlier this week, President Obama floated a Social Security-cutting proposal for fiscal cliff evasive action that shocked the Democratic Party. And by “the Democratic Party,” I mean Dems who didn’t watch the first Presidential debate. (it's one of his favorite things)

Hack List No. 6: CNN - Salon.com The flailing cable news pioneer could be less dumb if it wanted to be -- but it doesn't want to be
Hack List No. 7: The Huffington Post - Salon.com The great liberal community's infuriating founder embraces both the center and the fringe
Hack List No. 8: MSNBC - Salon.com Believe it or not, the liberal answer to Fox actually makes for worse TV
Hack List No. 9: The Atlantic - Salon.com The eternally unsurprising magazine may just be an excuse for the obscene "Ideas" events
Hack List No. 10: New York Times - Salon.com We're kicking off our annual list with the best paper in the country -- which could do a lot better than these two (Friedman and Kristoff)

Robert Bork - Lawyers, Guns & Money : Lawyers, Guns & Money The Bork nomination, of course, marked a watershed moment in American politics — American conservatives whining that there’s no dirtier pool than accurately describing their ideas and their consequences
Paula Broadwell: Officially Not a Stalker! | Vanity Fair the U.S. Attorney’s office in Tampa has not yet announced a decision on whether knowingly describing someone as “Tampa socialite” qualifies as libel, though that court case, preemptively titled Haha Sucks vs. Oh my God, Gross, is expected to be kicked up to the Supreme Court.
Limbaugh On Obama's Desire For Power: "Think Sauron In Lord Of The Rings. That's What We're Dealing With Here" | Video | Media Matters for America
Sam Donaldson Arrested for DUI in Delaware: Cops | NBC 10 Philadelphia Police say the 78-year-old ABC reporter and political correspondent was pulled over on December 1 in Lewes, Delaware. (rich guys driving drunk)

Let’s make Obama regret his war on weed - Salon.com The president's Justice Department won't let Washington and Colorado smoke up in peace. Can we change his mind?

Balloon Juice » Blog Archive » Stay Classy, FRC The former director of women’s and reproductive health at the Family Research Council, a prominent Christian conservative advocacy group, is suing the organization, claiming it retaliated against her and fired her after she filed a sexual harassment complaint against her boss. (dept. of unsurprising)


Netflix Applauds House Vote On VPPA, Paving Way For Facebook Streaming | TPM Idea Lab The new amendment would explicitly allow companies like Netflix to share customers’ viewing history, per a customer’s informed consent.
FCC Boss Julius Genachowski Has Been a Timid Failure - Engaged in Pro Consumer Theater, Folded When it Counted | DSLReports.com, ISP Information (another Obama wimp)
'Nice Guys of OK Cupid' Are Not Really

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Syrian army tanks close in on Damascus Palestinian camp | World news | guardian.co.uk Residents fear Assad loyalists will enter in search of rebel groups after refugees become drawn into conflict in Syria
Afghan bomb blast kills 10 girls | World news | guardian.co.uk Ten girls aged nine to 13 killed and one seriously injured as they gathered firewood outside their village in eastern Afghanistan

Berlusconi Marrying Girlfriend, 27 - Francesca Pascale once founded a Silvio support group

Pressing Issues: 2nd Thoughts
Newtown Before Obama's Visit Essay - The Night Before The President Came To Newtown - Esquire
Gun Control Legislation From Frank Lautenberg Would Ban High-Capacity Magazines Post-Sandy Hook
Harry Reid Open To Gun Control Debate After Sandy Hook Shooting (McConnell offers prayers, more guns)
The Newtown massacre: Fake tears | The Economist The killings in Newtown, of course, appear just as "senseless", if one insists on ruling out the idea that such episodes might be forestalled by limiting people's access to firearms.
Most Back Ban on High-Capacity Clips; Many See Societal Issues in Connecticut Shootings - ABC News 54 percent of Americans favor stricter gun control laws in general, numerically a five-year high, albeit not significantly different than in recent years. Fifty-nine percent support a ban specifically on high-capacity ammunition clips
Nancy Lanza to Sitter: Don't Turn Your Back - Those who knew her recall a generous, fiercely private woman . "Looking back at it now, I guess there was something else going on.
The Washington Monthly - Ten Miles Square - Why The Second Amendment Rulings May Make a Ban on Assault Weapons More Likely
In Newtown, Conn., a Stiff Resistance to Gun Restrictions - NYTimes.com (their children paid the price for their "freedom")
In Search of the Guns & Freedom Unicorn | TPM Editors Blog (because, freedom!) Analysis: Fewer U.S. gun owners own more guns - CNN.com A decreasing number of American gun owners own two-thirds of the nation's guns and as many as one-third of the guns on the planet -- even though they account for less than 1% of the world's population
Dylan Myers Politico Newtown Shooting - Some Crazy Talk About Guns From Politico - Esquire Dylan Myers, the ace media reporter for Tiger Beat On The Potomac, fresh off back-to-back TKO losses at the hands of Nate Silver and reality, calls "stunningly candid" the argument from the bright children at National Review that allowing Adam Lanza to arm himself like Judge Dredd and shoot a bunch of toddlers to ribbons is just part of the price we pay for living in the exceptional freedom provided here in exceptional America.
Newtown Conspiracy Hoax Spreads Fast Across Fringe | TPMDC
The Freedom of an Armed Society - NYTimes.com
McArdle Wins Worst Newtown Reaction Award -- Daily Intelligencer - Unless I am missing a very subtle parody of libertarianism, McArdle’s plan to teach children to launch banzai charges against mass murderers is the single worst solution to any problem I have ever seen offered in a major publication.
The Most Farcical Conservertarian Reaction To Newton: The Competition Ends Prematurely - Lawyers, Guns & Money (McArdle clears the field)
Whistling Past the Gun Lobby - NYTimes.com the pro-gun fanatics are basically the kind of people who think that Obama is a Kenyan socialist atheistic Islamist, and the urban hordes are coming for their property any day now. People, in other words, who already vote 100 percent Republican — and lose elections. (Krugs reads Digby)
Hullabaloo Sacrificing thousands of kids on the altar of racist rightwing fantasies
I Am Adam Lanza's Mother "They told me I could wear these," he insisted. "You're a stupid bitch. I can wear whatever pants I want to. This is America. I have rights!"
Why is the shooter always male? - Salon.com Stats don't lie. Instead of asking why America is so violent, perhaps we need to focus on one particular sex
Adam Lanza, Newtown Gunman, Had Hundreds Of Rounds Of Ammunition (actually, it was his mother's bullets)
There’s a Reason We No Longer Live in the Fucking Medieval Age. - Lawyers, Guns & Money : It took less than 24 hours, but the NRA-sponsored argument to “arm the teachers!” is being field-tested,
“As Charles Manson Once Argued, Personality Cults Are Completely Harmless.” - Lawyers, Guns & Money : Ah, yes, William Burroughs (Instafuck)
Idiot of the Day - Lawyers, Guns & Money : Eugene Volokh, for arguing that we should arm public school teachers.

Why does Obama keep raiding the Senate for his cabinet? - The Week Not since FDR has a president transformed this many senators into secretaries (it's all he knows)

In Budget Talks, Dems Warm To GOP-Backed Social Security Benefit Cut | TPMDC (yeah, it's a "concession" back "on the table")
Assimilated by the Peterson Borg - NYTimes.com (the cut-the-deficit crowd doesn't give a shit about deficits)
Senate Filibuster Reform Closing In On Majority
Kristol's lame attack on Chuck Hagel | Stephen M. Walt - The art of the smear (failed neocon: because, Israel!)

Political Animal - Who Will Succeed John Kerry in the Senate? Former Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis, the 1988 Democratic presidential nominee, may be headed back to the political spotlight as he’s considered a likely interim replacement for Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.).

Political Animal - “Right to Work” States Employment Rates Deserve Scrutiny, Receive Some Here real wages in open shop states are 4% lower, rendering workers there with less money to spend, and the state with weaker aggregate demand.


How GERM is infecting schools around the world - The Answer Sheet - The Washington Post (teach to the kid, not the test)

Revved-Up Protein Fights Aging - ScienceNOW genetically engineered mice that make extra BubR1 are less prone to cancer.

Scientologist banned from treating grandson The grandfather had subjected the mother to an "intrusive and abusive" upbringing, the court heard, including two years of "emotional release therapy" to supposedly help her through bullying at school. One treatment involved "reliving her birth".

ISP Walks Out of Piracy Talks: “We’re Not The Internet Police” | TorrentFreak A leading Australian Internet service provider has pulled out of negotiations to create a warning notice scheme aimed at reducing online piracy.

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Freedom Of The Press Foundation Launches To Support WikiLeaks, Increase Transparency

Three lessons from the near-final popular vote - latimes.com Obama’s margin has grown steadily. From just over 2 percentage points, it now stands at nearly 4. Rather than worry about the Bush-Kerry precedent, White House aides now brag that Obama seems all but certain to achieve a mark hit by only five others in U.S. history – winning the presidency twice with 51% or more of the popular vote. (and the 47% voted for Romney)
Political Animal - Sen. Kerry Likely Secretary of State Nominee - Expect WikiLeaks Flip-Flop to be Brought Up

Immediately address the issue of gun control through the introduction of legislation in Congress. | We the People: Your Voice in Our Government
Dianne Feinstein To Introduce Assault Weapons Ban On First Day Of Congress
Justice Dept. Shelved Ideas to Improve Gun Background Checks - NYTimes.com
'Gun Safety,' Not 'Gun Control' - James Fallows - The Atlantic
Our Moloch by Garry Wills | NYRblog | The New York Review of Books Few crimes are more harshly forbidden in the Old Testament than sacrifice to the god Moloch (for which see Leviticus 18.21, 20.1-5). The sacrifice referred to was of living children consumed in the fires of offering to Moloch. (Moloch=Guns/NRA)
China Watches Newtown: Guns and American Credibility : The New Yorker - this special brand of American madness lies not in the banal fact that deranged men attack children, but in the shame that the rest of us, all of us, allow our laws to enable it. “
National Shooting Sports Foundation Is Just Three Miles From Newtown Connecticut School Shooting | The New Republic (it's a real gun-nut town)
Balloon Juice - What we do not do–ever–is talk about all the political organizations on the Right–like the NRA–that fuel paranoid delusion and the manufactured outrage 24/7 as their core reason for existence.
Political Animal - Not the Video Game Blame Game, Again!
As Video Game Sales Climb Year Over Year, Violent Crime Continues To Fall - Forbes
87 Gun Deaths a Day: Why the Colorado Shooting is Tragically Unsurprising - The Daily Beast view an interactive map of the U.S. shooting epidemic.
Political Animal - GOP History of Opposing Post-gun Massacre Safeguards (serving Moloch)
Political Animal - Everyday Heroism - A Silver Lining in Newtown (see teacher pay)
David Gregory: No Pro-Gun Rights Senators Would Go On 'Meet The Press' - "We reached out to all 31 pro-gun rights senators
AP: Chief: Ind. man wasn't serious about school threat (just kidding, ha-ha)
Fashion Island shooting suspect reportedly 'unhappy with life' - latimes.com Details began to emerge about the gunman who allegedly fired more than 50 shots in the parking lot of the Fashion Island shopping center in Newport Beach on Saturday.

Not Safe For Work Corporation | You Hate "Right To Work" Laws More Than You Know. Here's Why (the counter-revolution succeeded)



Two Higgs Bosons? CERN Scientists Revisit Large Hadron Collider Particle Data Instead of one clean peak in the data, they have found two.

What Would You Be Willing to Sacrifice? | On Being
Learning to Speak American by Tim Parks | NYRblog | The New York Review of Books


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Tensions rise as Egyptians vote on new constitution | World news | The Observer Troops out in force amid opponents' claims that document favours Muslim Brotherhood
Egypt Votes On Constitution

Quote of the Day "The truth of the matter is that my policies are so mainstream that if I had set the same policies that I had back in the 1980s, I would be considered a moderate Republican." -- President Obama, in an interview with Univision. (duh, and you still are, dude)

Hillary Clinton Faints, Now Recovering After Concussion Clinton was dehydrated from a stomach bug.

Names Of Elementary School Shooting Victims Released | TPM LiveWire (all children 6-7 yrs old)
Political Animal - Newtown: Forcing America to Stare Into the Abyss
Obsidian Wings: Watering the Tree of Liberty - Have some predictions (6 of 6 so far)

Bats Left/Throws Right: A Note On Usage "Well regulated". It means, first of all, regulated. And well. If you want to argue that "not at all" constitutes the wellest form of regulation, okay. But that's not the same thing as unfettered.
Thoughts on the Newtown Elementary School Tragedy | FDL News Desk One side says that “today is not the day” to talk about gun laws. And that’s the side that includes the President! ... …we also have a complete failure in this country to deal with mental health issues. While recognizing that violent crime has actually dropped, the continuing occurrence of these spectacular mass shootings suggests something is wrong with that area of our health care system.
Hullabaloo Obama's army of dead voters and welfare queens ... You want to know what taking something off the able looks like? It looks like a congresswoman being shot in the head by a lunatic and her political party celebrating when she recovers enough to lead the pledge of allegiance at their convention --- but never even mentioning gun control. That's what taking an issue off the table looks like.
Funny how that works - Lawyers, Guns & Money : The phrase “you don’t think something like that would happen here” is always uttered by white reporters about mass shootings in white neighborhoods, and the implication is that “you” would “think” something like that would happen black or brown people in the inner city. Only it never happens to black or brown people in the inner city. It’s always a white person in a white neighborhood.
Re-Defining the Gun Argument | Balloon Juice
How to prevent more mass killings - The Week - One is easy access to firearms capable of killing lots of people quickly. The second is the perpetrator's having a history with mental illness. (the third is white people)
Obama Brings Gun Debate to Fore Politico notes that "this time, the immediate, impassioned calls for new gun-control measures far outstripped the reaction to a series of other recent shooting sprees across the country, including at a Colorado movie theater, a Sikh temple in Wisconsin and a shopping mall in Oregon."

Huckabee Blames Shooting on Removing God from Schools (Huckafuck)
Where Mike Huckabee Needs To Go | Balloon Juice n other words: Twenty-eight deaths, including the murder of twenty kids, was the fault not of the shooter, nor of a gun lobby that portrays military weapons as household tools. Rather, said Huckabee, it was your fault and mine for having failed to appease his angry god by public worship in school.

Connecticut Shooting And We The People - The Horror Goes On - Esquire And the winner for most bloodthirsty schmuck of the year is... Christianist lunatic Bryan Fischer, who was first out of his restraints with this commentary on the horrors in Connecticut today.
Eschaton: Oh Jeebus A drunk William Burroughs killed his wife while playing a game of "William Tell." (instapundit selective quoting)
Michael Bloomberg: Gun Control Needs 'Immediate Action' From Obama In Wake Of School Shooting
Peter S. Goodman: Gun Control Reform Is Long Overdue (assault weapon lobby at work)
On Gun Control, Jerry Nadler Explains What Congress Could Do Right Now "We lose 9,000 people a year, roughly, to gun violence in this country," Nadler said. "We're at war, and we haven't recognized that. We have to go to war against the people who enable the gun violence, the people who stop us from keeping guns out of the hands of mentally unstable people, of felons, and that means the NRA leadership."
Piers Morgan: 'How Many More Kids Have To Die' Before New Gun Control Laws ... (video)

The Least That We Can Do Is The Most That We Will Do | TBogg his is what “we already have plenty of gun laws” looks like: Connecticut allows possession of assault rifles, except those with certain features, such as a fixed bayonet type lug ... Because, Pistol Packin’ Jesus forbid, someone should be able to affix a bayonet to their semi-automatic assault rifle. I mean, that would make it all sharp and pointy and pretty darn dangerous. Well played, legislators, well played….

Adam Lanza School Shooter Suspect Had Personality Disorder, Report Says The brother, Ryan Lanza, 24, told authorities that Adam Lanza, 20, is autistic or has a "personality disorder," ... had a "checkered past" and was a "troubled youth, (so his mother thought it would be a good idea go have a bunch of guns around the house)
Sandy Hook School Shooting: Adam Lanza Kills 26 And Himself At Connecticut School
Connecticut School Shooting 2012 Facts ... Lanza's mother had four weapons legally registered, and his father had two
Connecticut Shooter Adam Lanza's Guns Were Registered To Mother Nancy Lanza: Official (she kept a real arsenal in her house)
Adam Lanza, Newtown School Shooter, Was 'Nerd,' Honors Student He was an honors student who lived in a prosperous neighborhood with his mother, a well-liked woman who enjoyed hosting dice games and decorating the house for the holidays.
Dawn Hochsprung, Sandy Hook Principal, Had Implemented New Security Measures
Alabama Hospital Shooting: St. Vincent's Gunman Wounds 3 Before Being Killed By Police

Obama’s Pot Comments Leave Door Open For Crackdown | TPMDC (iwll not use drones against individual pot-smokers; leaves option "on the table" to target dispensaries)

Fiscal Cliff Talks Stalled
Is Obama Punishing the GOP Because He’s Mean? -- Daily Intelligencer - The psychology on display here is familiar to anybody who has seen a petulant teenager, who assumes that any restriction that causes them to feel anger must have been intended to produce that emotion. Republicans are feeling humiliated and divided, so Obama’s goal must have been to humiliate and divide them.
Is the conservative dream in its death throes? - The Week Liberal critics gleefully gloat that the Right's 30-year project to end the welfare state may be in shambles
Republicans Say There's No Budget, And Use That To Stall Senate After complaining much of the year that Senate Democrats have not passed a federal budget, Republicans are now using the budget they say doesn't exist to block legislation.
Obamacare: Florida GOP Gov. Rick Scott Won't Implement Health Care Reform
Amid fiscal cliff debate, Bachmann keeps low profile | Minnesota Public Radio News Bachmann's slim victory last month might have shown her that being loud can be counterproductive,
Kvetch And Release | TBogg What if sanctimonious homunculus Joe Lieberman gave a farewell address and nobody came?
Conservatives Crush Dumb Liberals With Popular Political Hashtag, Not So Much With Ideas, Candidates, Campaigns, Message
Alabama Suit Cites FBI Tapes As Proof Of Lawmaker Racism | TPMMuckraker
Are Voter ID Laws Here to Stay? | TPMMuckraker
xs
Very Few Doubt Global Warming - 78% of Americans now think temperatures are rising and 80% say global warming will be a serious problem for the United States if nothing is done about it.

America’s Disappearing Restaurant Chains - 24/7 Wall St.
Nike Expansion Tax Deal Approved By Oregon Lawmakers A deal proposed by Nike Inc. to create hundreds of jobs in Oregon in exchange for a guarantee that the state won't change a favorable corporate tax structure has prompted state lawmakers to approve emergency legislation.

Bats Left/Throws Right: Friday Olio: Excrement Retains Its Buoyancy Edition Typical example: the gleaming new Lucas Oil Stadium, where the Colts perform, was funded by $615 million from Indiana taxpayers and $100 million from the NFL, yet all profits generated in the stadium are converted to the private luxury of the Irsay family, the Colts' owners. (Greg Easterbrook is still getting paid to write bullshit, apparently)
Bats Left/Throws Right: Let Me Count The Ways .. And then, for whatever Mysterious reason, He could create a chain of evidence designed to fool every thinking person since the invention of the telescope. (more Easterbrook, but mainly about religion)
Lake of Fire - Nirvana (Unplugged)(HD) - YouTube

Man Robs Bank Wearing Romney Mask A man wearing a Mitt Romney mask robbed a Virginia bank yesterday -- the same bank hit by a robber in a Hillary Clinton mask two years ago

Sara Reedy, the rape victim accused of lying and jailed by US police, wins $1.5m payout | World news | The Observer Pittsburgh woman raped at gunpoint and charged with fabricating her story has won a settlement after a marathon legal battle, changing federal law along the way (cop still has his job, of course)


Microsoft Battles Google by Hiring Political Brawler Mark Penn - NYTimes.com (always failing upwards)
First Windows 8, Now This | Balloon Juice
Why Microsoft redesigned Windows | Microsoft - CNET News New Windows chief Julie Larson-Green explains why the company felt the need to rethink the basic interface of its popular operating system (wonder if she ever used a computer for anything other than web/email?)
Windows 8 Survival Guide: PC Talk Forum: Digital Photography Review
Where Is Windows 8.1? | John C. Dvorak | PCMag.com Microsoft did away with the "point step" upgrade years ago, but it should reinstate the convention immediately. We want Windows 8.1!
Goldman Highlights Microsoft's Shrinking Market Share | News & Opinion | PCMag.com (includes phones/tabs)
Which Windows is right for you? - Microsoft Windows
Buy Windows - Microsoft Windows (until Jan 31)
Stop Your Data Hoarding! | News & Opinion | PCMag.com

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Avigdor Lieberman, Israeli Foreign Minister, Resigns - NYTimes.com Facing indictment for breach of trust and fraud, Israel’s foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman, resigned his post Friday afternoon amid mounting political pressure, upending the campaign landscape five weeks before national elections.
Israeli Soldiers Assault Two Reuters Cameramen
Boozy Britain – why do we drink so much? | Hannah Betts | Comment is free | The Guardian Most things I know are bad for me, I don't do. So why is drinking alcohol the big exception? The "new normal" drinking – the half a bottle of vino most nights sort – would translate as a woman's consuming eight days' worth of calories a week, or 52 surplus days a year. (why Britain is getting fat)

Eurozone Recession Likely Worsened This Quarter, According To Closely-Watched Index (more austerity fail, so more austerity)

'Covering Torture' Study Looks At How Media Refers To Torture
Michael Calderone: Torture and the Times The New York Times, which tied itself in linguistic knots during the Bush years to avoid describing waterboarding as torture, splashed this headline on Thursday's front page: "Portrayal of C.I.A. Torture in Bin Laden Film Reopens a Debate."
Robert Scheer: The Shameful Exploitation of Bradley Manning
Torture and Bad Faith - Lawyers, Guns & Money (Freddie deBoer)

CIA History With Iran And Iraq - The CIA's Ironic History With Iran And Iraq - Esquire
Susan Rice Not Running For Secretary Of State Nomination - The Defenestration Of Susan Rice - Esquire

Children and adults gunned down in Connecticut school massacre – This Just In - CNN.com Blogs
Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting: Newtown, Connecticut Administrators, Students Among Victims, Reports Say - Police reported 27 deaths, including 20 children, six adults and the shooter, according to the Associated Press ... the gunman died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound and that one of the victims was the man's mother, a teacher. (how many more times will we do this?)
Police Identify Gunman In Deadly Connecticut Elementary School Shooting (UPDATE)
Connecticut School Shooting: 3rd-Grade Witness Saw Children Screaming At Sandy Hook Elementary (video)
Newtown Teacher Saved Boy From 'Bullets Going By Him' In Elementary School Shooting
White House On Newtown School Shooting: Today Not The Day For Gun Control Debate (or tomorrow, either)
Connecticut school shooting: President Obama, today is the day to talk about gun control. - Slate Magazine We don’t need you to cry at the podium. We need you to do something.
Every Day is the Day to Talk About Gun Control - The Daily Beast
Lisa Belkin: Gun Control Is A Parenting Issue White House spokesman Jay Carney says today is not the day to talk about gun control. I disagree. That's all we should talk about today.
Connecticut Shooting Media Coverage Follows Tragically Familiar Script
Andrea Mitchell On Connecticut Elementary School Shooting: Gun Violence Is 'Epidemic' (video)
Sweeping changes in Michigan's concealed handgun law go beyond allowing weapons in 'gun free zones' | MLive.com (Rethugs at work)
Reporters Interviewing Children In Connecticut School Shooting Adds Little News Value, Experts Say
Mike Huckabee: Newtown Shooting No Surprise, We've 'Systematically Removed God' From Schools
Peter S. Goodman: Gun Control Reform Is Long Overdue
Responsibility - Lawyers, Guns & Money : Lawyers, Guns & Money At what point do we start holding the National Rifle Association morally responsible for all these shootings?

American Exceptionalism: The Shootings Will Go On - James Fallows - The Atlantic Twenty-two children injured. Versus, at current count, 18 little children and nine other people shot dead. That's the difference between a knife and a gun.
Twelve facts about guns and mass shootings in the United States 2. Eleven of the 20 worst mass shootings in the last 50 years took place in the United States ... Only with gun violence do we respond to repeated tragedies by saying that mourning is acceptable but discussing how to prevent more tragedies is not. “
The Tragedy is Already Politicized - Lawyers, Guns & Money (comments)
Connecticut Shooting And We The People - The Horror Goes On - Esquire

The revealingly substance-free fight over Susan Rice | Glenn Greenwald | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk Her record of war advocacy and close ties to tyrants is notably missing from the debate over whether she should be Secretary of State (Brookings ... outspoken and aggressive advocate of the attack on Iraq)
Why to Say No to Susan Rice | Consortiumnews Dec. 20, 2002, Rice joined the bellicose chorus, declaring: “It’s clear that Iraq poses a major threat. It’s clear that its weapons of mass destruction need to be dealt with forcefully, and that’s the path we’re on. Blinded by the limelight, Rice seems to have blundered into the controversy, giving little thought to the possibility that she was being put out front by then-CIA Director David Petraeus and Obama’s counter-terrorism adviser John Brennan. (Neocon war monger recruited by Obama to max his tough-on-Muslims cred)
Susan Rice and Africa’s Despots - NYTimes.com
Secretary of State Candidate Has a Major Financial Stake in Canadian Tar Sands | OnEarth Magazine - about a third of Rice’s personal net worth is tied up in oil producers, pipeline operators, and related energy industries north of the 49th parallel
Andrea Mitchell On Susan Rice: 'This Is Not Going To Help Republicans ... A Woman Of Color Has Been Forced Out' (video)
'Fox & Friends' Bash Andrea Mitchell On Susan Rice: Race And Gender 'Have Nothing To Do With It' (video)

The G.O.P.’s Existential Crisis - NYTimes.com - We are not having a debt crisis. No, what we’re having is a political crisis, born of the fact that one of our two great political parties has reached the end of a 30-year road. (more of an insanity crisis)

Standing and Delivering - NYTimes.com Is it heretical of me, or merely quirky, to find myself nearly as fascinated by the procedural game the Supreme Court is playing in the same-sex marriage cases as I am by the underlying merits of the two appeals the court has agreed to decide?

Line for line, US income taxes are more complex than ever - Quartz

Rabbi Nuchem Rosenberg Doused, Maybe With Bleach, in Williamsburg - NYTimes.com
Brooklyn Man Charged in Bleach Attack on Rabbi - NYTimes.com
Nechemya Weberman Found Guilty of Sexually Abusing Girl He Counseled - NYTimes.com
Ultra-Orthodox Jews Shun Their Own for Reporting Child Sexual Abuse - NYTimes.com (Jewish Taliban)

Anti-left? - Lawyers, Guns & Money : What does it mean to be a leftist? 1. Make recognition of the state of Israel dependent on moving the boundaries back to the 1967 lines and destroying the settlements. 2. Repeal the 2nd Amendment
Four Futures | Jacobin
A cultural thought experiment - Charlie's Diary

Boy Scout Child Sex Abuse Files Must Be Surrendered, Court Says

Obama: Pot Users In Washington And Colorado Not A 'Top Priority'
Where Pot Is Legal, Dealers Brace For Corporate Takeover

Judge Derek Johnson's Rape Comment: If Sex Isn't Wanted, Body 'Will Not Permit That To Happen' "I'm not a gynecologist, but I can tell you something: If someone doesn't want to have sexual intercourse, the body shuts down. The body will not permit that to happen unless a lot of damage is inflicted, and we heard nothing about that in this case," Johnson said.
Fired Wingnut Komen Lady Karen Handel Challenges Planned Parenthood To Bitch-Slap Contest ... First of all, “Planned Bullyhood.” This woman is obviously a literary genius ... Also, she thinks Planned Parenthood stole the color pink.

The best (and worst) media errors and corrections of 2012 | Poynter.
New York Times column about oversharing had dodgy sourcing | Poynter. Roger Cohen’s Dec. 6 column about “oversharing” now includes a gruesome editor’s note:
Kansas City Star Tells Two Reporters To Decide Which One Gets Laid Off
Report Reveals Major Gender Gap In 'Notable Deaths' Coverage Mother Jones' Dana Liebelson examined lists from various newspapers—including the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, Boston Globe, Chicago Tribune and Denver Post—and found that men considerably outweigh women as publications report on the most notable deaths of 2012.
Advertising FAILS 2012: The 9 Worst Ads For Women This Year
News Outlets Battle Romney Campaign Over Expenses $812 for one meal? Media organizations are telling their credit card companies not to pay until they see a price breakdown. (grifters on every level)


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Syria Regime On The Brink Of Collapse, NATO Chief Rasmussen Says
Russia admits Assad may be ousted by Syrian opposition | World news | guardian.co.uk Kremlin acknowledges Assad is losing control of the country but laments 'bloody price' that must be paid for president to go
Egypt Referendum Violence Warned Ahead Of Constitution Vote
Afghanistan Women Prison Eyed Amid Rising Violence (video) (photos)
Ukrainian Politicians Fight In Violent Brawl On Parliament Floor (video) The Wall Street Journal’s Tom Gara tweeted that it was “maybe the most vigorous punch to the groin ever caught on camera.”
Shining a Light on North Korea’s Human Rights Crisis North Korea has committed genocide as defined by the UN Genocide Convention, stating that there is "ample proof that genocide has been committed and mass killing is still underway in North Korea."

Eurozone crisis live: EU clinches breakthrough deal on banking union | Business | guardian.co.uk Finance ministers have agreed to hand the ECB powers to police eurozone banks in a new phase of closer integration to underpin the euro

News Corporation spends £100m on management and standards committee | Media | guardian.co.uk Team set up to probe alleged illegal activity after phone-hacking scandal is costing more than £1m a week
Rebekah Brooks took £10.8m compensation from News Corp | UK news | guardian.co.uk Accounts at Rupert Murdoch's firm reveal payoff to former chief executive of News International

CIA 'tortured and sodomised' terror suspect, European court rules | Law | guardian.co.uk Landmark European court of human rights brands CIA treatment of wrongly detained Khaled el-Masri as torture - CIA agents tortured a German citizen, sodomising, shackling, and beating him, as Macedonian state police looked on
Government pays Libyan dissident's family £2.2m over MI6-aided rendition | UK news | guardian.co.uk Sami al-Saadi, wife and four children were secretly flown from Hong Kong to Tripoli where he was tortured by Gaddafi police
Greg Mitchell | The Nation
A Big Victory For Torture - Esquire - the military judge presiding over the trial of accused 911 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed has granted a government request to treat as classified any testimony or discussion about the alleged torture of Mr. Mohammed and others
Daphne Eviatar: Military Commission Judge Rules Against Transparency in 9/11 Case quietly issued a ruling ensuring the public won't learn any information about the men's torture at the hands of the U.S. government. The ruling itself was filed under seal.
Drone Strikes Draw Congress' Ire Over Lack Of White House Transparency even as lawmakers rejected a measure that would require the administration to share more data about drone strikes with Congress.

Bradley Manning's long quest for justice | Amy Goodman | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk History will judge harshly the US military's mistreatment of the alleged WikiLeaks whistleblower, who turns 25 this week

Susan Rice Withdraws Name From Secretary Of State Consideration (O wimps out; he could have stood up for the truth)
On Rice | TPM Editors Blog But a totally cooked up smear campaign against Rice seems to have worked. My sense was that the President was personally deeply offended by the attacks on Rice. And yet it worked. I’m curious to find out what really happened.
Chuck Hagel Secretary Of Defense Nomination Looks Likely: Report (we need more Republicans in positions of power!)

Political Animal - Supremes’ Inadvertent Gift To Medicaid

U.S. Census Bureau Projections Show a Slower Growing, Older, More Diverse Nation a Half Century from Now - Population - Newsroom - U.S. Census Bureau
Political Animal - Party of Angry Old White Folks Won’t Go Away - Overall, non-Hispanic whites will lose their majority status in 2043. But the transformation is not so fast among old folks (dead-end honkies)

Lost Decade Watch - NYTimes.com This means that the Fed is projecting elevated unemployment nine full years after the Great Recession started. And, of course, the Fed has been consistently over-optimistic ... Faced with an economic crisis where textbook macroeconomics told us exactly how to respond, people of influence chose instead to obsess over budget deficits and generally punt on employment; and the result has been a huge economic and human disaster. (thanks, VSPs)

Hullabaloo Fiscal "cliff" FYI - Raising the Medicare eligibility age from 65 to 67 is "something that's been floated," Obama said, not dismissing the idea outright. (grand bargainer still doing his Republican thing)
Reasons for optimism about the Medicare age? Durbin: White House won’t increase Medicare eligibility age
The Great Political Mystery of Social Security Reform | Mother Jones

Politico flunks economics - Salon.com A new piece examining how to spark the economy reveals how stale conventional wisdom in D.C. really is
The Onion's Plan For Solving The Fiscal Cliff Crisis | The Onion - America's Finest News Source STEP ONE: Eliminate school breakfast and lunch programs, Medicaid, the Consumer Product Safety Commission, the Environmental Protection Agency, Medicare, PBS, New Mexico, elk, the Coast Guard, and all dams.
Why Republicans Can’t Propose Spending Cuts -- Daily Intelligencer - Republicans demand that President Obama produce an offer of higher spending cuts, and Obama replies that Republicans should say what spending cuts they want, and Republicans insist that Obama should try to guess what kind of spending cuts they would like. Republicans think government spending is huge, but they can’t really identify ways they want to solve that problem, because government spending is not really huge ... The Republican understanding of government spending is based on hazy, abstract notions that don’t match reality and can’t be translated into a workable program.
The Strange Republican Shift on Taxes Why is the GOP retreating on tax rates, when you'd expect them to take just the opposite position? General Electric, not only paid no taxes on its $14.2 billion in profits in 2010 but got a refund from the Treasury of $3.2 billion.
High-End Tax Hikes Would Have 'Negligible' Impact On Growth, Revised CRS Report Says (but, the jobs creators!)
Grover Norquist: GOP Will Keep Obama On 'Short Leash,' Leave Him To 'Blow Up Small Countries' - “He's not going to have any fun at all; he may just have to go blow up small countries he can’t pronounce because it won't be any fun to be here, because he won't be able to spend the kind of cash he was hoping to.” ("can't pronounce")

Eschaton: The Greatest Deliberative Body In The World I obviously don't have any sympathy for Joe Lieberman, but the reports that he gave his farewell speech to basically no one makes me think: god senators are selfish assholes. Comity!
Tomgram: Jeremiah Goulka, Rearranging the Deck Chairs on the Republican Titanic | TomDispatch
The Republicans are in a bad place - The Insiders - The Washington Post A recent Wall Street Journal-NBC poll found that when people were asked to use a word or phrase to describe today's Republican Party, 65 percent of responses were negative and just 17 percent positive. Democrats were split at 35 percent positive, 37 percent negative ... The Republicans are in a bad place: stuck between the rock of a dying brand and the hard place of a band of fanatics.
Throwing the Bums In Despite record low approval rates for Congress, Bloomberg finds that 90% of House members and 91% of U.S. Senators who sought re-election in 2012 were successful.
Daily Kos: Michele Bachmann is back and is, if possible, even crazier than ever (Muslims are the offically-sanctioned group to hate)

Nate Silver: 'Punditry Is Fundamentally Useless' (or worse)
Daily Kos: Best presidential predictions of 2012, updated (I still win)

Best and Worst Of the 2012 Campaigns: Part I : Roll Call Politics
The Ten Worst Video Media Disasters Of 2012 | Mr. Media Training Honorable Mention: Kathie Lee Gifford: How’s Your Dead Wife?

Progress for Women Continues Flatlining at the Top Ranks of the Private Sector | The Nation
Karen Handel, Former Komen Executive, Issues Warning To Cecile Richards ... Handel, who is rumored to be considering a run for U.S. Senate in Georgia
Kentucky Miscellany - Public Policy Polling If Hillary Clinton was the Democratic candidate for President in 2016, she could win Kentucky

Balloon Juice » Open Thread – Elections have consequences

Scientists May Have Finally Unlocked Puzzle of Why People Are Gay - US News and World Report Lesbians get it from fathers, gay men from mothers? homosexuality seems to have an epigenetic, not a genetic link. ("it" is the gay disease +orientation!=gender)
Kayan Loris, New Species of Primate with Toxic Bite | Biology | Sci-News.com U.S. biologists have discovered a new species of slow loris in the jungles of Borneo.

It's Time to Fix the Pitifully Slow, Expensive Internet Access in the U.S. | Wired Opinion | Wired.com

Drama Button
Google Porn Just Got More Difficult To Search For

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US invites Syrian opposition leader for talks after backing new coalition | World news | guardian.co.uk Invitation to Moaz al-Khatib comes at meeting of world leaders in Marrakech but formal US recognition criticised as insufficient
North Korean rocket launch condemned internationally | World news | guardian.co.uk Move by communist regime expected to boost rightwing candidates in forthcoming elections in Japan and South Korea
Egyptian protesters claim they were tortured by Muslim Brotherhood | World news | guardian.co.uk
Rwanda's genocide and the bloody legacy of Anglo-American guilt | Chris McGreal | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk Failure to intervene in 1994's horror means the US and UK have refused to rein in President Paul Kagame's excesses in Congo - Eighteen years ago, President Bill Clinton watched passively as the Hutu extremist regime in Rwanda oversaw the murder of hundreds of thousands of Tutsis. His administration refused even to utter the word genocide for fear it would oblige the US to intervene.

Jimmy Savile accused of 31 rapes as police warn of more child abuse arrests | UK news | The Guardian BBC presenter is the suspect in 199 crimes in 17 areas of the country, while NSPCC says allegations have 'left a deep scar'

Political Animal - Obama’s Mandate Redux President Barack Obama won the public argument over taxes so decisively that almost half of Republicans now say he has an election mandate to raise rates on the rich.

Don't Cut Social Security—Double It - Steven Hill - The Atlantic Fiscal cliff chatter about slashing the venerable program ignores its fundamental potential and underlying strength.
Minnesota Health Care Voucher Failure - Further Proof Voucher Systems Don't Work - Esquire You may have thought that zombie-eyed granny starving took a break after America decided that zombie-eyed granny-starver Paul Ryan should not be vice-president of anything like America, and sent him back to Janesville, where he is also cordially despised at the ballot box.

Why has Pete Peterson’s expensive campaign against the deficit failed after more than 20 years? - Slate Magazine It was a little bit sad, and a bit more revealing. For 20 years, a coalition of wealthy people—Pete Peterson chief among them—has spent hundreds of millions of dollars to build public support for austerity ... “The Clinton plan doesn’t come close to balancing the budget, even in the near term,” wrote Peterson. “Inevitably, Clinton’s deficit path will mean a much larger public debt.” Five years later, Clinton was presiding over a balanced budget and a smaller public debt. (always wrong, with no consequences)
Hullabaloo Hoyer says cutting debt will be the "single largest stimulus package that we could get for the economy" (up is down)
Attack of the Giant Killer Debt Limit Tomatoes III « The Reality-Based Community do it by zipcode. The constituents of Congressmen on board for fixing the limit get paid in full. Constituents of holdouts – from Medicare providers to defence contractors – get paid in IOUs,

Rick Snyder Didn't Want to Sign Right-to-Work Legislation Until He Signed It
Harold Meyerson: Unions still matter, in Michigan just as in China - The Washington Post Of course, if China permitted the establishment of unions, wages would rise. But for fundamentally political reasons — independent unions would undermine the Communist Party’s authority — unions are out of the question (Chinese Communist Republicans)
Michigan enters women's health fray with move to limit abortion access | World news | guardian.co.uk Protesters turn out alongside right-to-work demonstrators against bill activists say ignores message sent by election result
The Republican Bait-and-Switch Voters, apparently, can't handle the truth.
Twinkie CEO Admits Company Took Employees Pensions and Put It Toward Executive Pay | Alternet Hostess’ CEO, Gregory Rayburn, essentially admitted that his company stole employee pension money and put it toward CEO and senior executive pay (aka “operations”). While this isn't technically illegal (stealing your employees' pensions and putting the money in your pocket is "technically" ok)

Obamacare: Pennsylvania Governor Rejects Health Insurance Exchange (more Rethugs screwing their citizens)
Sandoval supports Medicaid expansion - News - ReviewJournal.com
Brian Sandoval Nevada Healthcare Act - Brian Sandoval's Smart Health Care Decision - Esquire announced that Nevada would conform to the Affordable Care Act and that he would accept the increase in Medicaid coverage that comes with it ... I predict that, within a couple of years, and even by the Republican standards for looking like idiots, which are considerable, the Republican governors who refuse the Medicaid money because of, you know, FREEEDOMMMM!, and who also engage in what we used to call "massive resistance" to the ACA are going to look like the biggest idiots in two shoes
Idaho Guv Opts To Build Obamacare Insurance Exchange | TPM LiveWire

Justice Antonin Scalia In Hot Water Again Over Homosexual Comments - The Daily Beast Of course Scalia is biased against gays—but that’s not the real problem with his tactless homophobic screeds

The Washington Monthly - Ten Miles Square - Navigating Debates about Redistricting

Politico Accidentally Exposes Beltway Elite -- Daily Intelligencer - “VandeHei and Allen…understand their role here not as exposing the insider nexus but as uncritically transmitting its point of view….. It should be preserved for generations as the early-21st-century cri de coeur of an incestuous, self-satisfied economic and political elite.” (Tiger Beat on the Potomac)
GOP Pollster: Republicans Have ‘Run Out Of’ White Voters | TPMDC Republicans need to dramatically improve their standing with Latino voters or risk becoming a “regional party” of disaffected whites, according to a study released Wednesday by a GOP pollster.

Political Animal - Schools Without Accountability Aren’t “Public” (Jindal's "public" private Christian charter schools)

Huge news out of the Federal Reserve
Fed To Keep Rates Near Zero Until Unemployment Drops Below 6.5 Percent
Rein In The Rich: How Higher Taxes Could Lift The Economy | The New Republic
cab drollery: Too Big To Jail (corps are special kinds of people who can never go to jail)
HSBC Drug Money Transfering - HSBC Let Off Easy For Transfering Drug Money - Esquire
Walmart CEO Mike Duke: 'We Do Pay Competitive Wages' (you just can't live on them)

PolitiFact Awards 'Lie Of The Year' To Romney Jeep Ad
Drudge Uses Tarantino Film Review To Blast Out A Series Of N-Bombs | Blog | Media Matters for America

Brad DeLong : Hoisted from Comments: Cass Sunstein Smackdown Watch by Bloix - What he’s writing about is civility. No matter how evil, corrupt, thieving, or stupid people are, it’s not really proper to say so.
Cass Sunstein Strange Column - The Strangest Newspaper Column Ever - Esquire former Obama administration regulatory panjandrum Cass Sunstein,

Chasing Ice movie reveals largest iceberg break-up ever filmed - video | Environment | guardian.co.uk

Gun-selling website Armslist.com faces lawsuit in woman's shooting death | World news | guardian.co.uk Lawsuit has potential to become test case that could have widespread ramifications for burgeoning internet trade in guns
Political Animal - Can the Era of Mass Incarceration Finally End? And even the “experts” who backed mandatory sentencing policies back in the 1980s and 1990s are calling for their reversal. (soft on crime)

Catholic University: No Gays by Daniel Luzer | Washington Monthly The Catholic University of America has again rejected a petition from its students to form a gay-straight alliance student group

John McAfee deported to US after week spent in Guatemalan detention | World news | guardian.co.uk Software pioneer fled to Guatemala from Belize after being named as a person of interest in the murder of his neighbour
2012 On The Web: Google, Facebook, Twitter Release Year-End Round Ups | TPM Idea Lab

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Syrian rebels to take step towards legitimacy with aid plan | World news | The Guardian Millions of dollars worth of humanitarian aid to be moved rapidly into the most deprived areas, says Syrian National Coalition
Iran’s ‘Cyber-Jihad’ Claims Another Victim | The New Republic The gruesome murder last month of Sattar Beheshti in a secret prison in Tehran is a stark reminder that the use of the word jihad—holy war—was not a metaphor, but a warning to the opposition. If they ever attempted to use social media in service of democracy, their blood would be shed in the name of God.
Obama accused of failed policy over Rwanda's support of rebel group | World news | guardian.co.uk Letter signed by 15 organisations calls on US to impose sanctions on Rwanda over human rights abuses in DR Congo

Monti resignation announcement causes fears of renewed euro turbulence | World news | The Guardian News sees Italy's borrowing costs rise and share prices fall, and EU leaders worry about possible spillover into Spain

US military 'kept Bradley Manning on suicide watch against medical advice' | World news | guardian.co.uk Manning lawyer says in closing arguments that military's refusal to listen to experts amounted to unlawful pre-trial treatment

Lying About Torture, Hollywood Style | Mother Jones
Two Cheers for Zero Dark Thirty's Torture Scenes | Danger Room | Wired.com - Bigelow is being presented as a torture apologist, and it’s a bum rap.
On Bin Laden Killing, Ex-CIA Torture Chief Contradicted by…CIA | Mother Jones (Bushies will always lie)
alicublog . I hate to get on Glenn Greenwald's bad side but his claim that he isn't really reviewing-without-having-seen Zero Dark Thirty, when his hostile non-review contains phrases like this --
Simple Answers to Questions Posed To Imaginary Liberals - Lawyers, Guns & Money : Lawyers, Guns & Money I noticed this expansion of the old vastleft strawman while reading deBoer’s argument about how all liberals are secret torture apologists: (ticking time-bombs!)

Ex-NASA Scientist’s Effort to Protect Privacy Is Frustrated by Courts and Thieves - NYTimes.com The very thing he and advocates warned about had occurred. A laptop used by an employee at NASA’s headquarters in Washington had been stolen from a car parked on the street on Halloween, the space agency said.

The Washington Monthly - Ten Miles Square - Raising the Medicare Eligibility Age Isn’t Harmless just can’t believe we’re still talking about raising the eligibility age for Medicare from 65 to 67.
Raising The Medicare Eligibility Age Is Not The Solution To The "Fiscal Cliff" | The New Republic
Yank The Chain: Washington's Terrible New Social Security Fix | The New Republic

Political Animal - Obama Refuses To Help Wreck Obamacare

No, Obama’s campaign wasn’t all that negative
RNC to Investigate What Went Wrong However, BuzzFeed reports that two of the people leading the effort -- former Bush spokesman Ari Fleischer and Republican committeeman Henry Barbour -- pushed the narrative that the polls were skewed, and Mitt Romney would ultimately prevail.

Poll: Most suspect Santa Claus is a Democrat - The Hill's Blog Briefing Room 44 percent of people in the United States believe that Santa Claus is a Democrat, versus just 28 who say St. Nick would cast his ballot for the GOP. An identical 28 percent say they're not sure of Santa's political affiliation.

Antonin Scalia Defends Legal Writings Some View As Offensive, Anti-Gay
Antonin Scalia: Not Neutral on LBGT Rights - Lawyers, Guns & Money : Lawyers, Guns & Money Just a tip: people who talk about the “homosexual agenda” are not actually neutral on the question of gay and lesbian rights; they oppose them.

Political Punishment as Policy The implications of what being a right-to-work state means for Michigan

Republicans And Presidential Election Loss - The Republicans Still Can't Grasp Why They Lost - Esquire This is my opinion — your party, in a perfect expression of everything that it has stood for over the past three decades, threw up a collection of nutballs, thereby making it inevitable that the guy with all the money whom nobody liked got to be the nominee. There. Can I have 150 large now?
Worst Politico Piece On Corporate Tax Rates - Things In Politico That Make Me Want To Guzzle Antifreeze - Esquire In short, Messrs. VandeHei and Allen have decided that the way to a "rocket-propelled" economy is to cut corporate tax rates to almost nothing, close a bunch of loopholes that will reopen under new rubric in approximately 11 seconds, and essentially do away with the American middle class,
CNN Anchor Denounces GOP Senator For Balancing Budget On Backs Of 'Nation's Poor Children' | ThinkProgress - Jeff Sessions, R.Asshole (which is true, and seldom said on teevee)
Fox's Hume: If You Have "An Ounce Of Compassion This Christmas Season, Save It For John Boehner And House Republicans" | Video | Media Matters for America (Hume weeps for the tan man)
Jim DeMint: The Fireman Ed of Politics | | Rolling Stone - ("He's the biggest douchebag in Washington," is how one congressional aide explained it to me, "and this is the douchebag capital of the world.")

Why Hillary Clinton Would Be Strong in 2016 (It's Not Her Favorability Ratings) - NYTimes.com

Gold coin boom: Worried Republicans stocking up. (and guns and ammo)

Kristof Won’t Even Acknowledge that the Poor Can Feel Love | The Raw Story this quote really summed it up for me: "Antipoverty programs also discourage marriage: In a means-tested program like S.S.I., a woman raising a child may receive a bigger check if she refrains from marrying that hard-working guy she likes" (what planet does this asshole live on? +they have microwave ovens!) .
Nicholas Kristoff Social Security Fraud - The Voices Missing From The Safety Net Debate - Esquire Comes now Nick Kristof in The New York Times with the latest true story of waste, fraud, and abuse in the SSI system, this one from West Virginia. (+depriving the military of cannon-fodder for the wars of the rich)
Texas: Likely Increase in Births Has Some Lawmakers Revisiting Cuts - NYTimes.com When state lawmakers passed a two-year budget in 2011 that moved $73 million from family planning services to other programs, the goal was largely political: halt the flow of taxpayer dollars to Planned Parenthood clinics ... poor women will deliver an estimated 23,760 more babies than they would have (white male Republican lawmakers at work)

The Supply and Demand for Dental Hygienists by Daniel Luzer | Washington Monthly (PHd now required)

Healthiest State Rankings Of 2012 (Vermont, of course)

Bill de Blasio proud of his marriage with former lesbian - NY Daily News The mayoral hopeful and his wife, Chirlane McCray, spoke out in a series of TV interviews in the wake of revelations that McCray identified as a lesbian in the 1970s.

Florida reform school abuse scandal widens with discovery of more graves | World news | guardian.co.uk New investigation puts deaths at nearly 100 since 1900 – many young, black males sent to the institution for minor infractions
US prosecutors launch civil rights investigation into fatal Little Rock shooting | World news | guardian.co.uk Department of Justice to look into claims that Arkansas police used excessive force in death of unarmed Eugene Ellison, 67

philebrity.com » Blog Archive » Inquirer And Daily News Will Split From Philly.com, Set Up Paywall (will work out really well)
I wrote a response to Jack Stuef's BuzzFeed article about me - The Oatmeal (pwn'd)

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Why Obama Will Ignore Israel - Newsweek and The Daily Beast The administration’s new Mideast strategy: benign neglect.
Israel suspected over Iran nuclear programme inquiry leaks | World news | The Guardian Western officials believe Israel may have leaked information from IAEA investigation in bid to raise global pressure on Tehran - diplomats believe the leaks may have backfired, compromising a UN-sanctioned investigation into Iran's past nuclear activities and current aspirations (anything to get Netanyahu re-elected)
Egypt army given arrest powers before referendum | World news | guardian.co.uk President Morsi decree sets 'dangerous precedent' warns Amnesty amid fears civilians could be subjected to military trials

Dominique Strauss-Kahn settles sexual assault case with hotel maid | World news | guardian.co.uk Hotel maid who alleged sexual assault by the former IMF chief settles civil action case, bringing end to lengthy court battle (rutting chimp finally settles for maybe $6M which he borrows from his wife)

Balloon Juice » Blog Archive » Pride Fucking With You Margaret Sullivan, the Times public editor, took that paper to task yesterday for not having a reporter at the trial of Bradley Manning - " Private Manning was one of its most important sources of the past decade."

Zero Dark Thirty: new torture-glorifying film wins raves | Glenn Greenwald | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk Can a movie that relies on fabrications to generate support for war crimes still be considered great?
The Senate Report on CIA Interrogations You May Never See | Occupy America But the Obama administration has argued in courts that details about the CIA program are still classified. (As we have reported, this has led the administration to claim in some cases that Guantanamo detainees' own accounts of their imprisonment are classified.)

INFOGRAPHIC: We Could End Homelessness With The Money Americans Spend On Christmas Decorations | ThinkProgress (Jesus wept)

Lawyers, Guns & Money - On the other hand, it’s obvious that opposition to the treaty is drenched in a particularly noxious brew of stupidity and mendacity. (they play to their own insanity)

Battleground Poll: Hike taxes on rich - James Hohmann - politico.com

Daily Kos: Right-Wing Extremism and Obama’s Reelection: Will There Be Blood? You may have seen the Public Policy Polling survey showing that 49% of all Republicans polled believe ACORN, an organization that hasn’t existed since 2010, stole the 2012 election for Barack Obama. 16% of all American voters – one in six – refuse to acknowledge that Barack Obama is the lawfully elected president of the United States. (Billmon)(some call it treason)
Doonesbury Comic Strip, December 10, 2012 on GoComics.com (Texas)
Capture.PNG (post-election racist tweets by location)

Why Not Push the Pentagon off the Fiscal Cliff? - Robert Wright - The Atlantic (couldn't happen to a nicer bunch of thieves)
The Nonsense About a Demographic Crisis | CEPR Blog In short, under any plausible scenario the potential gains to living standards from increased productivity swamp any potential negative impact from a declining ratio of workers to retirees (yeah, another fake "crisis" so they can steal your retirement)

Obama: Right-To-Work Laws Mean 'Right To Work For Less Money' | TPM LiveWire
Michigan prepares for mass protests against right-to-work legislation | World news | guardian.co.uk Supporters and protesters of the law, which curbs unions ability to collect fees, will gather at the state Senate on Tuesday
Political Animal - Why Michigan Republicans Had To Race To the Bottom
The Long Tail of 2010: Why Michigan Republicans Can Get Away With Their Last-Minute Anti-Labor Push
Michigan Democrats Warn Of Chaos If Snyder Signs Labor Law | TPMDC

Raising Medicare’s age: Saves feds $5.7 billion, costs you $11.4 billion (and kills people; will Obama go for the grand sell-out?)
Eschaton: Jeebus It's Not High School No it's not personalities and grudges and Jon Chait gave me a wedgie once so now I'm gonna be mean to the poor defenseless guy. It's that people have hard fucking lives and raising the Medicare eligibility age will cost money, not save money, and also kill people. (more Chait blow-back)
Sell-Out of the Century? « The Reality-Based Community If this is true — and right now it is a very big if — then it represents the greatest sell-out of a winning political coalition since LBJ ran on “not sending American boys to Vietnam.”
Hullabaloo Jonathan Chait and the Goldilocks principle
Heighten-the-Contradictions: From the Center, It’s No More Convincing - Lawyers, Guns & Money : Lawyers, Guns & Money I still have a some things to say about Jon Chait’s call for a pre-emptive surrender on raising the Medicare eligibility age.
Jon Chait’s Miserable Endorsement of Raising the Medicare Eligibility Age | FDL News Desk
Political Animal - Keeping Calm About Fiscal Talk Strategy But color me appalled by David Dayan’s piece at FDL early this morning barbecuing Chait as a sell-out peddling “idiocy,” among other choice epithets. Atrios piled on by naming Chait his “Wanker of the Day (Ed misses the boat here)
Medicare eligibility age: Compromise only makes sense if it strengthens Obamacare.
Brad DeLong : Raising the Medicare Eligibility Age Is Not Good Politics
Medicare Age Increase and Alzheimer's - The Actual Cost Of Washington's Clever Debt Deal - Esquire Make this deal, and what do all these people and their families do? Shop for private insurance for another two years? Does that sound remotely practical to anyone who are not: a) members of Congress enjoying the benefits of a government-run, single-payer health care system?, or b) well-remunerated pundits who can afford a Cadillac plan of their own. (yes will get demented, spend all their families money, and then die)
Political Animal - The “Entitlement Reform” Nobody Really Wants
GA Rep. Price: Opening Health Insurance To People With Pre-Existing Conditions Is A 'Terrible Idea' | ThinkProgress (ACA flashback)

Brad DeLong : Why Oh Why Can't We Have a Better Press Corps? Nick Kristof of the New York Times Edition Erik Loomis sounds the intellectual garbage alarm - A simple change to the New York Times's op-ed columnist policy: have an editor ask each of them "do you know what you are talking about?" before publishing... (Kristoff is not an "expert" on anything except low-info wanking)
Wanker of the Day - Lawyers, Guns & Money Evidently Kristof is only interested in poverty if he can personally fly in and rescue women from sex slavery. Otherwise, he’s happy to channel the arguments of Gilded Age social Darwinists.
Nicholas Kristoff Social Security Fraud - The Voices Missing From The Safety Net Debate - Esquire Something there is about the Supplemental Security Income Program of the Social Security Administration that seems to drive putative liberals to embrace their inner DeMint.

Five Republican Brush Fires - NationalJournal.com
Sunday Talk Shows On Tax Loopholes - What Are The Gobshites Saying These Days? - Esquire Willard Romney stopped by and, prior to the fight, visited Pacquiao in the fighter's dressing room, dragging the thick mist of failure and abject loserdom along with him. And, of course, the inevitable occurred. And it drew a reaction from our hero at ringside that we everlastingly will refer to as The Ohio Face.

Robots and Robber Barons - NYTimes.com (rch looking forward to worker-free economy)
Political Animal - Return of the Oligarchs Paul Krugman had a much-discussed column today that discussed record corporate profits and weighed the effects of technology and sheer corporate power in keeping those profits from benefitting workers via more jobs and higher pay.
Tarullo Telegraphs Fed’s Plans to Cap Bank Size - Bloomberg
Daily Kos: Hostess took workers' pension money to fund itself . In August, 2011, the company just stopped contributing to its workers' pensions, and is now acknowledging that it instead used the money for operational expenses. The money that didn't go into pension funds was money that the workers had bargained for and chosen to take as pension instead of wages. (they just stole the money, and of course, no one will go to jail)

At Least Seven NFL Players Turn In Guns Following Murder-Suicide Tragedy | ThinkProgress Studies show that having a gun in the home increases the chances of homicide two to three times, and gun death rates are seven times higher in states with high household gun ownership rates. The presence of a firearm in the home also increases the risk of homicide for women by five times and two-thirds of women killed with guns each year die in domestic disputes. (the right to shoot your wife)
Balloon Juice » Blog Archive » Anti-Choice Message on Wire Hangers? Dude, naw. a dry-cleaner outfit in Cincinnati, Ohio is splashing its Forced Birther message on wire hangers, either blissfully unaware or blissfully not giving a fuck about the optics of putting a Forced Birth message on a goddamn wire hanger:

Ban helium balloons this Christmas, academic warns - Telegraph Helium balloons should be banned at Christmas as the party favourites are wasting a scarce resource that it vital for modern medical equipment, according to a leading academic.
Keeps Ticks Off to Prevent Lyme Disease - weather.com
Lysergic acid diethylamide - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Some studies in the 1950s that used LSD to treat alcoholism professed a 50% success rate,[31][32] five times higher than estimates near 10% for Alcoholics Anonymous.[33] A 1998 review was inconclusive.[34] However, a 2012 meta-analysis of 6 randomized controlled trials found evidence that a single dose of LSD was associated with a decrease in alcohol abuse, lasting for several months.[35]
Breakthrough: compound generated by low carb/low-calorie diet blocks effects of aging | KurzweilAI (says Mr Ketogenic)
marogaeth comments on If someone did manage to build Jurassic Park, would the dinosaurs be almost immediately killed by bacteria or viruses that had tens of millions of years of evolutionary advantage on them?

#IkeaMonkey: what we know about Canada's most famous shopper | World news | guardian.co.uk A press conference in Toronto revealed new details about the Canadian monkey with a taste for Swedish minimalism

The Antivirus Era Is Over | MIT Technology Review
Wasting Hackers' Time to Keep Websites Safe | MIT Technology Review
A Computer Infection that Can Never Be Cured | MIT Technology Review “If someone puts a single rogue firmware on your machine, he basically owns you forever,” Brossard told an audience of fellow hackers and computer security professionals at Black Hat.

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Egypt: Mohamed Morsi cancels decree that gave him sweeping powers | World news | The Observer Annulment of measure that sparked days of protests comes after military says constitution crisis could drag Egypt into 'dark tunnel'
Karachi, Pakistan's Largest City, Rocked By Wave Of Violence
US military facing fresh questions over targeting of children in Afghanistan | World news | guardian.co.uk Outrage grows after senior officer claimed troops in Afghanistan were on the lookout for 'children with potential hostile intent' (well, their skin was brown)
Afghanistan Teenagers Detained By U.S. Military The U.S. military has detained more than 200 Afghan teenagers who were captured in the war for about a year at a time at a military prison next to Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan, the United States has told the United Nations. (worst of the worst)
Sheik Khalid Bin Abdel Rehman Al-Hussainan Dead: Al Qaeda Leader Killed By U.S. Drone In Pakistan's Tribal Regions (137th Al Qaeda leader killed)
The world's deadliest road | Global development | The Observer Seven years ago, the World Bank paid for a road in Bangladesh to be upgraded, but without demanding basic safety features. Now people are dying by the score.
Pirate Bay Founder Released From Solitary Confinement | TorrentFreak After three months in solitary confinement Pirate Bay co-founder Gottfrid Svartholm will be released from custody.

It's Official: Austerity Economics Doesn't Work : The New Yorker (so, more austerity!)

Doha climate change deal clears way for 'damage aid' to poor nations | Environment | The Observer EU, Australia and Norway also sign up to new carbon-cutting targets as fortnight-long conference in Qatar closes

Ken Auletta: The Heiress : The New Yorker The rise of Elisabeth Murdoch. ("You've fucked the company, James")

Drug War: Fail - TalkLeft: The Politics Of Crime - Branson: Here we are, four decades after Richard Nixon declared the war on drugs in 1971 and $1 trillion spent since then. What do we have to show for it? The U.S. has the largest prison population in the world, with about 2.3 million behind bars. More than half a million of those people are incarcerated for a drug law violation. What a waste of young lives. (but Obummer loves his wars)

'Since Democrats took control of the Senate in 2006, Republicans Have Mounted 380 Filibusters'
Bob Corker: Debt Ceiling Is Republicans' Leverage In Fiscal Talks (R. Asshole)
Tom Cole: Middle Income Tax Cuts Would Pass The House | TPMDC

Jim DeMint and the Heritage Foundation : The New Yorker Yesterday, Heritage decided to double down on bad, with stained-glass windows.
Balloon Juice » Blog Archive » Retreating, Not Surrendering: Soon-to-Be-Ex-Senator Jim DeMint Moral Majority was based on the concept, or fantasy, that the bulk of real Americans were white Judeo-Christian paternalist-authoritarian Republicans who needed only proper direction to take over (“reclaim”) their rightful control of every important political office - " I’ve said it often and I believe it—the bigger government gets, the smaller God gets."
DeMint: Farewell, Filibusteringest Senator | The New Republic
The Evolution of Jim DeMint : The New Yorker

Billionaires Warn Higher Taxes Could Prevent Them From Buying Politicians : The New Yorker - While the American family has seen increases in the cost of food, health care and education, Mr. Adelson says, “those costs don’t compare with the cost of buying a politician, which has gone through the roof.”
How to Save the Democratic Party | The Nation American progressives and principled liberals need to face an essential truth: the Democratic Party, as now constituted, is no longer an agency for realizing their ideals ... party of “bipartisan compromise” with an increasingly right-wing Republicanism
NOM Boycott Damages Starbucks So Much They’re Opening 1500 New US Stores | The New Civil Rights Movement ... NOM's secret donors, widely believed to be the Mormon Church and the Vaticans

Ten Most Harmful Books of the 19th and 20th Centuries | Conservative News, Views & Books (#4: Kinsey Report; #7: The Feminine Mystique! #10: Keynes!)
Sundays With The Christianists: A ‘World History’ Textbook To Ward Off Dangerous Modern Thinking
Russia’s Anti-Mormon Campaign - The Daily Beast An influential young pro-Kremlin politician is trying to get the Latter-day Saints banned from the country.
Of Cancer and Crony Capitalism in Texas | Firedoglake Republican Gov. Rick Perry and his cronies in and out of public office have diverted funds intended for cutting-edge cancer research into the campaign pockets of Perry and Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst.

Country Club Sopranos - Page 1 - News - New York - Village Voice American banks are on a massive crime spree. Obama and Romney hope you won't notice. (Obama has been looking the other way for four years)
Heritage, Chicago, and the Fiscal Cliff - NYTimes.com (if their policies really worked we wouldn't be in this mess)
Should Dems be thoughtfully considering broaching means testing for Social Security eligibility? - Democratic Underground (millionaires running to their SS offices to collect $2200/month)
Brad DeLong : Aaron Carroll: Raising the Medicare Eligibility Age Is Really, Really, Really, Really Bad Policy

Financiers Bet on Rental Housing - NYTimes.com The Blackstone Group, the New York private-equity firm run by Stephen A. Schwarzman, has spent more than $1 billion to buy 6,500 single-family homes so far this year. The Colony Capital Group, headed by the Los Angeles billionaire Thomas J. Barrack Jr., has bought 4,000.

Volcanoes, Not Meteorite, Killed Dinosaurs, New Study Suggests Volcanic activity in modern-day India, not an asteroid, may have killed the dinosaurs, according to a new study. Tens of thousands of years of lava flow from the Deccan Traps (the size of Europe)

NRA: Despite Living In House Full Of Guns, More Guns Could Have Saved Kasandra Perkins

The Ring House – Karuizawa Japan | The Versatile Gent

FCC urges FAA: Let passengers run gadgets during takeoff | PCWorld
Verizon DVR Will Know What Your'e Doing And Saying - Business Insider (it will watch you make out on the couch and give you contraceptive commercials; what could go wrong?)

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President Mohamed Morsi of Egypt Said to Prepare Martial Law Decree - NYTimes.com
As Egypt’s Crisis Deepens, Morsi Turns to Muslim Brotherhood - NYTimes.com
Egypt Terror Leader Possibly Linked to Benghazi Attack Arrested - Yahoo! News
William Hague confirms 'evidence' of Syrian chemical weapons | World news | guardian.co.uk Foreign secretary says he has seen some proof that Assad's forces are preparing to launch chemical attack against rebels
Afghan Spy Chief’s Attacker Hid Bomb by His Groin - NYTimes.com
Russia - Prosecutors Investigate After Exhibition Draws Complaints - NYTimes.com “numerous citizens” had complained that the exhibition “offends the feelings of Orthodox believers and contains actions directed at degrading the dignity of citizens who profess Christianity.” (religious liberty to be offended)

The PSY scandal: singing about killing people v. constantly doing it | Glenn Greenwald | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk "The US military is facing fresh questions over its targeting policy in Afghanistan after a senior army officer suggested that troops were on the lookout for 'children with potential hostile intent'".

In Private Manning Case, Jailers Become the Accused - NYTimes.com

Bubba, Bare Feet And Ringing Bells | TPM Media

Air Force Orders Inspections of Facilities for Pornographic Material - NYTimes.com (your Christian Air Force has porno and sexaul harrassment everywhere)
Twenty and Counting - NYTimes.com up to now there have only been 39 women senators in all of American history

Dinosaurs and Denial - NYTimes.com Finally, Senator Marco Rubio of Florida — a Tea Party darling and possible 2016 presidential candidate — admits that dinosaurs and humans didn’t co-exist ... most Republicans (58 percent) believed that God created humans in their present form within the last 10,000 years. Most Democrats and independents did not agree ... only 6 percent of scientists identified as Republican (because they are "discriminated against" in academia)

NY mostly ignored reports warning of superstorm - Yahoo! News (reports, but no plans and no money)

How Corruption Is Strangling U.S. Innovation - James Allworth - Harvard Business Review
Insider Trading Persists, and Gets Stealthier - NYTimes.com

Hullabaloo Raising the Medicare eligibility age and Saddam Hussein (Chait was crazy on Iraq, too)
Political Animal - Medicare Eligibility Age on the Table? But the added cost is not the trigger for the invective; that comes from this: Raise the eligibility age and PEOPLE WILL DIE. (a point often overlooked by Very Serious People)

PLOS ONE: Anatomical Brain Images Alone Can Accurately Diagnose Chronic Neuropsychiatric Illnesses In MRI datasets from persons with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, Schizophrenia, Tourette Syndrome, Bipolar Disorder, or persons at high or low familial risk for Major Depressive Disorder, our method discriminated with high specificity and nearly perfect sensitivity the brains of persons who had one specific neuropsychiatric disorder

It’s Hard to Be a Hero - NYTimes.com On Monday, the 49th Street subway platform was full of people, each possibly thinking that someone else was closer, someone else was stronger, someone else should be responsible for the heroic act. As a result, no one acted.

Online Education Invites New Ways to Cheat by Jamaal Abdul-alim | Washington Monthly - A common form of online cheating is referred to as contract cheating or cyber-pseudepigraphy (neologism alert)

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Philippines typhoon death toll passes 500 | World news | guardian.co.uk More than 400 missing and 310,000 homeless after typhoon Bopha strikes southern island of Mindanao
Egypt opposition rejects Morsi's call for talks amid thousands-strong protests | World news | guardian.co.uk National Salvation Front says president has lost legitimacy as opponents and supporters take to the streets again
US military facing fresh questions over targeting of children in Afghanistan | World news | guardian.co.uk Outrage grows after senior officer claimed troops in Afghanistan were on the lookout for 'children with potential hostile intent'

Libya Attack Report Imminent, John Kerry Says (and McCain's gaze of doom)

Blood & Treasure: and then they can be ordered to shoot

Classifying Of Government Secrets 'Fraught With Problems', Study Says The federal government is classifying information at a rapidly increasing pace, and every time the CIA, FBI or National Security Agency stamps a document "Top Secret," it's risking the public's right to know, says a report released Thursday by the Public Interest Declassification Board.

Supreme Court On Gay Marriage: Prop 8, DOMA To Receive Hearings
Marijuana Initiatives in 2 States Set Federal Officials Scrambling - NYTimes.com (Obama's endless wars on everything)
Let It Go - Lawyers, Guns & Money : Lawyers, Guns & Money The Obama Administration needs to let Colorado and Washington have their legal marijuana. Just let it go.
Political Animal - Old Democratic Position on Drugs Going Up In Smoke
Mr President, Don't Even Think About It - The Dish | By Andrew Sullivan - The Daily Beast Charlie Savage reports on the Obama administration's response to the legalization of marijuana in Colorado and Washington. Balko is discouraged:

Photo Of The Day | TPM Editors Blog Obama taking Romney’s concession call on election night.

Bob Cesca: The Crazy Base Won't Let the Republican Party Change The problem this creates, of course, is that the Republican Party has been consumed by misinformed idiots with no substantial connection to the real world, and the first post-election PPP poll only serves to amplify this conclusion ... Half of all Republicans told PPP that ACORN stole it for him. 49 percent of Republicans believe ACORN, the evil nonprofit organization, rigged the election for the president somehow. (the non-existent organization they killed with their lies 4 years ago. this is serioiusly insane)
Dan Froomkin: How the Mainstream Press Bungled the Single Biggest Story of the 2012 Campaign campaign coverage in 2012 was a particularly calamitous failure, almost entirely missing the single biggest story of the race: Namely, the radical right-wing, off-the-rails lurch of the Republican Party, both in terms of its agenda and its relationship to the truth ... Mann said. It was clear then that the Republicans would "do or say anything" to hurt Obama, even if it was overtly bad for the country and false to core Republican values. (the new normal is insane)

EmployRecNov2012.jpg (scariest chart in the world, updated)
November Jobs Report: U.S. Economy Adds 146,000 Jobs As Unemployment Rate Drops
Jared Bernstein: November Jobs Report: First Impressions
Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis: Percentage Growth in Government Jobs vs. Private Jobs vs. Population Growth; Facts and Consequences
Jobs Report Sets Stage For Congressional Debate On Unemployment Benefits The declining jobless rate could give ammunition to Republicans wary of the $30 billion it would cost to keep the benefits through next year. But Democrats have said repeatedly that Congress has never dropped federal benefits when the unemployment rate is above 7.2 percent.

Why People Are Confused About the Fiscal Cliff - NYTimes.com So what’s going on with the subhed? The answer is that the Very Serious People — and there’s nothing as VSP as the WaPo — have spent years crying Deficits! Debt! Danger!, and staff at the Post can’t wrap their minds around the fact that suddenly it’s a too-rapid fall in the deficit that has those very same People terrified.
The Forgotten Millions - NYTimes.com Let’s get one thing straight: America is not facing a fiscal crisis. It is, however, still very much experiencing a job crisis.
Simon Johnson: The Real Fiscal Risks in the United States - NYTimes.com First, the main risk is that in the near future the government will do too little by way of fiscal adjustment

GOP Resurrects Plan to Rig Electoral College | Mother Jones After Romney got walloped on November 6, Republicans want to change how electoral votes are awarded.

Balloon Juice » Blog Archive » Early Morning Open Thread: I Love A Woman Who Knows What’s What Now that Senator Elizabeth Warren (I still loving saying that) looks to be joining the Senate Banking Committee, here’s a look back to an interview she did with Charlie Pierce for Esquire before the election: This was not a natural disaster. The crash of 2008 was manmade.
Defense Contractors Seek Fiscal Cliff Relief, Budget-Busting Tax Breaks At Same Time
Another Goldman Creature Given Vital Government Post | | Rolling Stone
Matt Taibbi: Banks Needs 'Boring' People, Not 'Coked-Up Wannabe Big Shots'


Fox News adjusts to new reality as it faces four more years of Obama | Media | guardian.co.uk Fox News chief Roger Ailes. Producers must ask permission from senior management if they wish to put Karl Rove or Dick Morris on air. Photograph
The Hill Reporters Speak Out On "Laughingstock" Columnist Dick Morris | Blog | Media Matters for America
Dick Morris, Con Artist And I mean that literally
Minority Senators Say Independent Democratic Conference Robs Them - NYTimes.com Yet all of its statewide elected officials are white politicians. And in Albany, Republicans and a group of dissident Democrats have taken control of the State Senate by forming a coalition that would consist almost entirely of white lawmakers. (white power and Cuomo is facilitating)

Inside The Koch Empire: How The Brothers Plan To Reshape America - Forbes

Limbaugh Blames Feminism For "Ruining Women" | Video | Media Matters for America
Shorter Eric Cantor: “The Rights of White Men to Sexually Assault Women of Color Shall Not Be Abridged!” - Lawyers, Guns & Money : Lawyers, Guns & Money For all intents and purposes, Eric Cantor is coming out as the defender of (mostly) whites raping non-white women. I’d say this is especially reprehensible. But it’s Cantor so it’s par for the course.

Balloon Juice » Sorry, Charlie Charles Murray has a sad about Asians (and lives on another planet)

Ken Gonzales-Day's "Erased Lynching" - NYTimes.com - Lynchings in the West, Erased From History and Photos

What Men Want: Male Gaze Can Tell You The Answer, Study Says Men's gaze reflects their underlying sexual motivation, the researchers found. A woman's gaze, on the other hand, does not seem to match her sexual thoughts as clearly.

2012: The Year in Photos, Part 1 of 3 - In Focus - The Atlantic

News Corp.'s The Daily Just the Latest General Online News Failure Why Buy a Cow when Milk Is Cheap?
Tablet PC Reviews - Best Tablet PCs
The first flexible, fiber-optic solar cell that can be woven into clothes | ExtremeTech

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Mohamed Morsi calls for dialogue in attempt to quell Egypt's anger | World news | guardian.co.uk Violent street battles stop – for now – but country remains locked in confrontation
U.S.-Approved Weapons Transfer Ended Up With Libyan Jihadis - NYTimes.com The Obama administration secretly gave its blessing to arms shipments to Libyan rebels from Qatar last year, but American officials later grew alarmed as evidence grew that Qatar was turning some of the weapons over to Islamic militants, according to United States officials and foreign diplomats.
Nato forces 'attack Afghan health clinic' | World news | guardian.co.uk Aid group Swedish Committee for Afghanistan says Nato and Afghan troops damaged its building and used it as jail
Mexican Court Rules in Favor of Same-Sex Marriage - ABC News Mexico's Supreme Court has ruled that a law in southern Oaxaca state that bans same-sex marriages is unconstitutional, paving the way for same-sex couples to marry in that state and possibly in the rest of Mexico.

Austerity Pushes Europe Into Its Second Recession In Four Years | ThinkProgress (nothing succeeds like total failure if you the elites)

Richard O'Dwyer's two-year extradition ordeal ends in New York | UK news | The Guardian TVShack founder avoids prosecution under copyright laws and says: 'It is a pity the UK government didn't try and resolve this'

Jon Stewart: Have Republicans Hit 'Rock Bottom' With Failed United Nations Disability Treaty? - "It's official. Republicans hate the United Nations more than they like helping people in wheelchairs." (there is no "rock bottom" for them)

Obama to Request $50 Billion for Sandy Relief | FDL News Desk
Austerity - First Draft - Sandy: "Unless an austerity-minded Congress adds to the president’s plan, state leaders would have to figure out other ways to finance tens of billions of dollars of storm-related expenses or do without them." - Can we start using the word cheapskate instead of meaningless village-phrases like "austerity-minded?"
Staten Island's Hurricane Sandy Damage Sheds Light On Complicated Political Battle
Stuart Stevens: 'I Never Had A Good Feeling' About Romney Win After Hurricane (blame it on Sandy)

Obama Approval Rating Reaches Three-Year High In Poll A month after the election, President Barack Obama's approval ratings are at a level he hasn't seen for years, with contentious negotiations over the upcoming "fiscal cliff" so far not dampening his support.
Debt Ceiling Bluff Called By Harry Reid, Leaving Mitch McConnell To Filibuster Himself (mu-haha)
John Boehner Fiscal Cliff Proposal Opposed By Powerful Conservative Groups Americans for Prosperity and FreedomWorks stated their disappointment and opposition to the proposal put forward by Boehner

Jim DeMint To Heritage Foundation: Senator To Leave Position To Run Think Tank s president of the Heritage Foundation (more wingnut welfare)
5 Republicans Who Could Replace Jim DeMint In The Senate | ThinkProgress
Salaries of Top Think Tank Leaders - Think Tanked
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie Vetoes Bill To Create Obamacare Health Insurance Exchange (but wants Fed money to bailout his storm victims)


Villaraigosa urges 'fiscal cliff' solution, defends Fix the Debt - latimes.com "I am a Democrat and a progressive, but you know what? The country is evenly divided. They won too," Villaraigosa said. "We've got to work together." He later added: "The problem is that Democrats just talk to Democrats and Republicans with Republicans.... That's what's broken with politics right now. Too many people polarized and too many people addicted to their ideologies and orthodoxies."
Eschaton: Wanker of the Day Antonio Villaraigosa - Joe Lieberman called. He wants his schtick back.

Scott Walker On Eliminating Same-Day Voter Registration: 'This Is A Ridiculous Issue' "This is a ridiculous issue. My priority is about jobs, creating jobs," he told reporters on Wednesday (even though he's failed to create any and spends all his time suppressing the vote and talking to the Koch bros)

Perino's Advice To Women Who Are "Victims Of Violence": "Make Better Decisions" | Video | Media Matters for America (fuck you, Dana)
Go to Your Womb, Ross Douthat | The Nation (Baby Pope gets slapped around some more)
What Would Phoebe Do: Sigh, natalism
America Isn't as Decadent as Social Conservatives Think It Is - Conor Friedersdorf - The Atlantic Many cultural factors are more important contributors to the declining birth rate than moral degeneracy and decline.
Hedonist, Disciple or Bourgeois? | The American Conservative

Calendar of Mine Disaster Anniversaries (you won't believe it)
Los Angeles L.A.'s Bloody Hit-and-Run Epidemic - LA Weekly - About 20,000 hit-and-run crashes, from fender benders to multiple fatalities, are recorded by the Los Angeles Police Department each year. (even worse than NYC)

Marriage propsals: Why men still think it's their job to ask and women still agree.
Sexism and the Marriage Proposal - Lawyers, Guns & Money

Bret Easton Ellis on Kathryn Bigelow: She's hot and overrated. (Bret Who?)
Charles Bukowski, Arthur C. Clarke, Annie Dillard, John Cage, and Others on the Meaning of Life | Brain Pickings

Live, Work And Play In New Development For You And All Your Idaho Militia Friends!

How to Live Without Irony - NYTimes.com
Sincerity, Not Irony, Is Our Age's Ethos - Jonathan D. Fitzgerald - The Atlantic A recent hipster-hating New York Times column got this pop-cultural moment exactly backwards.
A Manifesto for The New Sincerity | Maximum Fun
Irony Is Wonderful, Terrific, Fantastic! | The Awl
Contingency, Irony, and Solidarity by Richard M. Rorty - Reviews, Discussion, Bookclubs, Lists
Denis Dutton on Richard Rorty - Contingency, Irony, and Solidarity
No ironic spin is possible for SoulCycle coming to Williamsburg | Emma Brockes | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk

John McAfee Reportedly Suffers Heart Attacks In Guatemala


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Arctic lost record snow and ice last year as data shows changing climate | Environment | guardian.co.uk Findings from US science agency Noaa suggest widespread and irreversible changes because of a warming climate

Syria Chemical Weapons Readied For Use: Sarin Loaded Into Aerial Bombs Despite International Warnings
Egypt erupts as Muslim Brotherhood supporters clash with protesters | World news | The Guardian President Morsi accused of 'vicious and deliberate' attack as activists killed in Cairo and more than 300 injured
A short quiz on the US, Israel, and 'rogue nation' status | Glenn Greenwald | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk A series of events just from this week makes clear who is actually violating the consensus of the international community - So essentially, it's the entire planet on one side, versus the US, its new right-wing poodle to the north, Israel, and three tiny, bribed islands on the other side.
China’s “Carrier Killer”: The DF-21D - That lets PLA gunners strike throughout the China seas, well into the Western Pacific, throughout the Bay of Bengal, and into the Arabian Sea—all without deploying launchers outside China’s frontiers. w

Osborne Says Britain Needs Additional Year of Austerity Measures - NYTimes.com Although Mr. Osborne maintained that the debt reduction plan was still on track, his presentation drew heckling and laughter from some opposition lawmakers, particularly after he argued that new tax measures would show that “we’re all in this together.” (having completely failed, except to produce more austerity on the heads of the non-rich)

Feinstein amendment doubles down on NDAA's assault on constitutional rights | Naomi Wolf | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk
Laptop seizures by US government highlight 9/11-era climate of fear | Glenn Greenwald | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk The treatment of dissidents is the true measure of how free a society is: consider today's examples from the US

Obama to Request $50 Billion for Sandy Relief | FDL News Desk
Cuomo in Washington Pressing for Disaster Aid - NYTimes.com Still, any disaster aid package may well need to satisfy the concerns of conservative lawmakers, who have indicated an unwillingness to approve additional disaster spending without cuts that would offset the costs — and avoid adding to the deficit ... The governor was accompanied by two New York Republican congressmen who helped make the state’s case, Peter T. King of Long Island and Michael G. Grimm of Staten Island. (now they want big government)
Disaster Economics : The New Yorker - a 2005 independent study of disaster-mitigation grants made by FEMA found that every dollar in grants ended up saving taxpayers $3.65 in avoided costs.

Say This For Ben Nelson: He Voted For Harry Reid As Majority Leader - Lawyers, Guns & Money (speaking of next-Pres-not Andrew Cuomo)

Senate Republicans Shoot Down Treaty For Disabled Rights | TPMDC - U.N. Treaty On Rights For The Disabled, Citing Impact On Home-Schoolers (who need to disable their kids)
Mike Lee UN Disability Treaty - The Problem With Mike Lee - Esquire If the people of Utah want to be represented by Senator Mike Lee, they're welcome to him. But that shouldn't be our problem as well.
Balloon Juice » Alienating The Electorate, Nineteen Million Americans At A Time your modern GOP has once again managed to be both vicious and stupidly self-destructive. This time, it’s their wisdom in the decision to piss on some 19% of the American people—from a considerable height—in the process of blocking ratification of the UN treaty on the rights of the disabled.

John Sununu: Democrats Won Thanks To Voters Dependent On Government The former New Hampshire governor and Mitt Romney campaign surrogate said Tuesday that Democrats and President Barack Obama won reelection by turning out the moochers.
Sununu: Obama Won Because He Turned Out Voters ‘Dependent’ On Government | TPMDC
Isn't it time for John Sununu, Mitt Romney's racist surrogate, to step aside? - National White House Press | Examiner.com (isn't it time for the Boston Globe to fire him?)
John Sununu's History Of Racial Remarks About Obama | ThinkProgress
John Sununu (racist or racism) - Google Search (hey Globies, ever tried this search?)

The election wasn’t just about taxes and the deficit. It was also about jobs.(about which we hear ... nothing)

The Fiscal Cliff: Absolutely everything you could possibly need to know, in one FAQ
Today in ‘Fiscal Cliff’: If the GOP folds on taxes, what would Dems give up in return?
Obama Tells G.O.P. Not to Tie Debt Ceiling to Fiscal Debate - NYTimes.com

17 bills that likely would have passed the Senate if it didn’t have the filibuster (Republicans destroying America)
Psychodrama Queens, Revisited - NYTimes.com Public Policy Polling found that 39 percent of voters have a view, pro or con, about Simpson-Bowles. Not bad, you might think. But a quarter of voters also had views on Panetta-Burns, a plan that as it happens doesn’t exist ... Meanwhile, another poll – internet-based, but by a firm with a good record — finds that, by a margin of almost four to one, people think that going over the fiscal cliff will cause the deficit to increase. (because media can't be bothered to tell the truth)
Simpson-Bowles is magic - Salon.com It's every pundit's favorite budget plan, but no one seems to know -- or care -- what it actually contains

Pelosi: Dems must say No to raising Medicare eligibility age The Congressional Budget Office recently estimated that it would save $125 billion over 10 years. (peanuts and raise over-all health costs)
How The Voter ID Crusade Backfired On Republicans | TPMDC

Exclusive: Dick Armey Quits Tea Party Group in Split Over Direction (updated) | Mother Jones - Armey will make $8 million in consulting fees in exchange for leaving the organization. (payoff)
Inside the Dick Armey, FreedomWorks split - Kenneth P. Vogel - politico.com (grifters got grifted)
Roger Ailes: Extremist Makeover: House Edition You'll recall that Sarah Palin-with-a-heart was so dedicated to the poor that he even offered to re-wash their dishes in the presence of the media.

Obamacare architect leaves White House for pharmaceutical industry job | Glenn Greenwald | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk Few people embody the corporatist revolving door greasing Washington as purely as Elizabeth Fowler
Vote: Worst Political Prediction of 2012 | PunditTracker Blog
Bill O’Reilly Wants Affirmative Action for Conservative Academics by Daniel Luzer | Washington Monthly (shortage of delusional stupid people in academia)

No More Mister Nice Blog: Yes, Republican Voters Think Acorn Still Exists -- Because Fox Keeps Saying So (Acorn +New Black Panthers stole the election for Obama)

Extinction: Not a pressing concern for humanity at this time - Lawyers, Guns & Money : Lawyers, Guns & Money Ross Douthat is doubling down on the notion that intentionally choosing to have less children constitutes “decadence” (because the human race is on the edge of extinction because it's not having enough children! he really loves the attention his stupidity and moral emptiness bring him)
Ross Douthat Clarifies Column - Ross Douthat Explains Himself - Esquire Oh, dear me. There is a third camp. That would be the camp that feels compelled to point out that, if the first evidence in support of your contention comes from the legendarily innumerate — and heretofore notably childless — Megan McArdle, your argument is already sucking pond water by the gallon ... ... We know that there's a certain reluctance in other homes to have little McArdlings scuttling through the pink Himalayan salt, but what's going on at the Douthat manse?

CNN Gives Climate Change Denial A Platform | Blog | Media Matters for America
Graph of the day: Americans buying more fuel- efficient cars, polluting less

Dave Brubeck Quartet - Take Five (Belgium 1964) - YouTube

Nine Beers Americans No Longer Drink - 24/7 Wall St.

John McAfee surfaces in Guatemala City | World news | guardian.co.uk Fugitive software pioneer seeks asylum from Belize 'persecution' after hideaway is revealed by data in online photograph ... The prime minister of Belize, Dean Barrow, has expressed doubts about McAfee's mental state, saying: "I don't want to be unkind to the gentleman but I believe he is extremely paranoid, even bonkers."
Six awesome built-in Windows utilities no one knows about | PCWorld
Official Windows 7 SP1 ISO from Digital River « My Digital Life
SSD Alignment - Windows 7 Forums

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Egypt Protests: Thousands March To Presidential Palace
Egyptian security forces clash with anti-Mohamed Morsi protesters | World news | guardian.co.uk President seen leaving Cairo palace in convoy as opponents gather to condemn assumption of new powers

David Cameron tells editors: implement Leveson to avoid press law | Media | The Guardian Prime minister gives newspaper editors until Thursday to show progress in agreeing on reformed regulatory structure

Fox News chief’s failed attempt to enlist Petraeus as presidential candidate - The Washington Post Rupert Murdoch, the head of News Corp., which owns Fox News, would “bankroll” the campaign. (that would have eliminated a few of the clowns)
Five takeaways from the Fox News-David Petraeus conspiracy Lesson 1-5: Fox News is corrupt + nasty.

Vint Cerf opposes ITU Internet regulations, urges action | BGR
quickmeme: i dont always create the internet but when i do i dont let the UN fuck it up

Bradley Manning lawyer: soldier's treatment a blemish on nation's history | World news | guardian.co.uk David Coombs criticises the WikiLeaks suspect's detention at Quantico military prison in rare speech outside courtroom

Obama urged by environmental groups to take on climate change in next term | Environment | guardian.co.uk Activists step up pressure on president to turn vague promises made since re-election into concrete policies for the future

It's Health Care Costs, Stupid - NYTimes.com So pay no attention when they talk about how much they hate deficits. If they were serious about deficits, they’d be willing to consider policies that might actually work; instead, they cling to free-market fantasies that have failed repeatedly in practice. (GOP: the Bullshit Party)
Republican “Doomsday Plan” Allows Tax Increase, Uses Debt Limit For Future Leverage | FDL News Desk (perpetual state of Republican-induced crisis"
Hullabaloo "Cliff" notes 12/3 - Republicans learned that the debt limit gives them real leverage as long as the President doesn’t resort to the Constitutional option, using the 14th Amendment to essentially render the debt limit moot. (the $1 trillion platinum coin solution)
Sen. Patty Murray: Poor Getting 'Lost In Shuffle' During Fiscal Cliff Talks
Obama calls Republicans' fiscal cliff offer 'out of balance' as deadline nears | World news | guardian.co.uk In first interview since re-election, president sticks to requirement of higher taxes on the wealthiest 2% as a non-negotiable point

John Boehner Faces Conservative Fury For Booting Members From Key Committees
House Budget Committee Drops Tea Party Reps Who Voted Against Paul Ryan Budget
Venice For Change: Villariagosa Partners With Wall Street To Throw Californians Off The "Fiscal Cliff"

Rachel Maddow's Hilarious Rick Santorum Update and Tour Around World Net Daily (video)
Michael Grunwald: Republican Party's 'Trip To Crazy Town' Makes Them Hard To Cover (video)

Hillary Clinton For Mayor Of NYC? Bloomberg Encourages Secretary Of State To Consider Candidacy (because no one wants him for a bigger job)

Warren tapped for Senate Banking panel - The Hill's On The Money Sen.-elect Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), one of the banking sector's harshest critics, is being tapped to serve on the Senate Banking Committee.

Getting Away with Wage Theft The Supreme Court looks at a new case that could make or break class-action suits.

Fracking industry refusing to report which chemicals they're using In the latest example of the Big Energy choosing which laws they want to follow, a new study shows that the fracking industry fails to disclose the chemicals or quantities of chemicals used during the fracking process up to 30% of the time, depending on the state. Attempts by states to rely on industry self-reporting are not showing great success. (sounds like those BP "disperants" which were 10x toxic as the oil)

FoxNews.com Columnist Attacks Bob Costas For Correctly Drawing Connection Between Guns And Murder | Blog | Media Matters for America (no connection between guns and using guns to easily kill people)

Ladies, Uncle Sam needs your uterus! - Salon.com The New York Times' conservative columnist blames "late-modern exhaustion" for fertility decline. He's wrong
Mexican Chunky Reese Witherspoon Is Killing America | TBogg
Ross Douthat would like you to have more babies Unless you are a single woman, of course. Oh and also if you don’t have babies, you’re being “decadent” and you don’t care about the future or the very fabric of society:
Refighting the 1950s Women aren't harming civilization by choosing their goals over childbirth. (back in your place, baby-machines!)
Bats Left/Throws Right: Infantilism Ross Douthat, "More Babies, Please". December 1 - Reader, is there any question that the whole right-wing "birthrate" thing is the Anti-Fluoridationalism of the 21st century? The most hopelessly bent, the most recursively insane, the signature folly of a parade of fools?
Drop in Birth Rates, Rise of Single Voters Set Rightbloggers to Raving - New York - News - Runnin' Scared

California ruling limits scope of law banning 'gay conversion' therapists | World news | guardian.co.uk Gay rights activists lament judge's decision to issue a temporary ban on the law, but only for three healthcare providers

A father's appeal to those who drink and drive. : videos

Wall Street Exec Searches Craigslist For Woman To Run His Online Dating Life

Hey Reddit, can you think of any irrefutable, absolute truth that cannot possibly be contradicted? : AskReddit

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Syria Chemical Weapons Moved, U.S. Official Says
d UN to withdraw non-essential staff from Syria | World news | The Guardian Missions to conflict zone cancelled and remaining employees on standby to move, in final step before full-scale evacuation
Jihad Makdissi, Syria's Foreign Ministry Spokesman, Reportedly Defects
Egypt's judicial council to oversee referendum despite calls for boycott | World news | guardian.co.uk Judicial council on collision course with Judges Club over plans to oversee Egyptian referendum on draft constitution
5 Nations Summon Israeli Envoys to Protest Settlement Plans - NYTimes.com Britain, France, Spain, Sweden and Denmark summoned the Israeli ambassadors to their countries on Monday to protest Israel’s plans for increased settlement construction, an unusually sharp diplomatic step that reflected the growing frustration abroad with Israel’s policies on the Palestinian issue. (they could give a shit)
Israel defiant on settlements expansion after European condemnation | World news | The Guardian Official says Israel will 'stand by our vital national interests', after ambassadors summoned in five EU countries (+"fuck you")
Turkish TV channel fined for airing 'insulting' episode of The Simpsons | World news | guardian.co.uk a 52,951-lira (£18,600) fine over the episode of the hit US animated TV series, whose scenes include the devil asking God to make him a coffee.
125-Mile Traffic Jam In Russia Keeps Drivers Stuck For Three Days (video) Three feet of snow caused the massive 125-mile traffic jam on Highway M-10, which began on Friday and lasted through Sunday

Doyle McManus: The danger of drone strikes - latimes.com Is the U.S. in effect recruiting as many terrorists as it kills? (the unthinkable thought)

Rupert Murdoch's new News Corp, as scripted by Cervantes | Michael Wolff | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk A newspaper empire is reinvented, but will Robert Thomson find himself playing Sancho Panza to his boss's Don Quixote?
News Corp to close iPad newspaper The Daily | Media | guardian.co.uk Rupert Murdoch's online subscription venture was losing $30m a year and failed to win enough subscribers (another Murdoch iFailure)
The Daily Fails Like Many Expected It Would | TPM Idea Lab “Rupert Murdoch is not very good at the internet.”

Mandate with Destiny : The New Yorker In 2004, the editorial board of the Wall Street Journal, conservatism’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, congratulated President Bush for “what by any measure is a decisive mandate for a second term” and exulted, “Mr. Bush has been given the kind of mandate that few politicians are ever fortunate enough to receive.” This year, examining similar numbers with different labels, the Journal came up with a sterner interpretation. “President Obama won one of the narrower re-elections in modern times,” ... For one party to win a majority of House seats with a minority of votes is a relatively rare occurrence. It has now happened five times in the past hundred years.

GOP Senators Assert Veto Power Over Legislation In Waning Days In a move likely to spur more calls for filibuster reform, a group of conservative Republican senators is demanding that other members of the upper chamber clear all legislation through them in the final two weeks of the year.

What Defines A Serious Deficit Proposal? - NYTimes.com I guess we have to understand the definition of serious: a proposal is only serious if it punishes the poor and the middle class.
In ‘Fiscal Cliff’ Talks, First Step Is the Hardest - NYTimes.com
The Big Budget Mumble - NYTimes.com In the ongoing battle of the budget, President Obama has done something very cruel. Declaring that this time he won’t negotiate with himself, he has refused to lay out a proposal reflecting what he thinks Republicans want. Instead, he has demanded that Republicans themselves say, explicitly, what they want. And guess what: They can’t or won’t do it ... So while the fiscal cliff — still a bad name for the looming austerity bomb, but I guess we’re stuck with it — is a bad thing from an economic point of view, it has had at least one salutary political effect. For it has finally laid bare the con that has always been at the core of the G.O.P.’s political strategy.
Operation Rolling Tantrum - NYTimes.com And one thing to think about: if the next two years are, as they seem likely to be, one long Republican tantrum, the 2014 election is not going to be a normal midterm. It will instead be a referendum on GOP obstructionism, which may attract a lot more attention — and much higher turnout — than normal.
Do Filibusters Stall the Senate or Give It Purpose? - Room for Debate - NYTimes.com

Political Animal - No Reverse Coattails Obama did not lose any of the battleground states in which Democrats fell flat in gubernatorial races two years ago. In fact, almost all of the closest races in the country saw a presidential nominee carry a state with a governor in office from the opposite party - including all seven key GOP gubernatorial pickups in 2010. (+ReThug voter-suppression failed)

Mandel and supporters spent nearly $23 per vote to lose Ohio senate race (grifters got grifted)
Sheldon Adelson Spent Far More On Campaign Than Previously Known Adelson ultimately upped the ante, spending closer to a previously unreported $150 million, the fundraisers said ... Adelson's international casino empire faces a rough road, with two federal criminal investigations into his business.
Grover Norquist's Budget Is Largely Financed by Just Two Billionaire-Backed Nonprofits | The Nation

Daily Kos: Corporations get billions from cities and states but they often don't keep their end of the bargain (corps are lying, stealing grifters too)
United States of Subsidies: Texas Business Incentives Highest in Nation - NYTimes.com Along with the huge job growth, the state has the third-highest proportion of hourly jobs paying at or below minimum wage. And despite its low level of unemployment, Texas has the 11th-highest poverty rate among states.
It's the New Economy, Stupid | The Nation

Gov. Brewer's whereabouts a mystery | azfamily.com Phoenix Gov. Jan Brewer has taken a nearly week-long out-of-state work trip that was shrouded in secrecy Monday as she skipped an event to certify election ballots and her spokesman refused to disclose her location. (the last time this happened ...)

Sunday Shows December 2 2012 - What Are The Gobshites Saying These Days? - Esquire Elsewhere, His Eminence, Cardinal Douthat, issued yet another sermon from the bunny slope — this one, spectacularly, about how American women aren't making enough American babies for America to keep being America.
Two observations on today’s Douthat column - Lawyers, Guns & Money
A Cry for Help or the Right Move: Matthew Boyle’s ‘Magic Vagina’ Ride Into Breitbartlandia - FishbowlDC

Carbon Dioxide Emissions Hit Record in 2011, Researchers Say - NYTimes.com
Fracking good for the climate? What a load of hot air  - NY Daily News Natural gas cheerleaders must wake up to the inconvenient environmental truth
Eugene Robinson: Climate-change talks need U.S. support - The Washington Post You might not have noticed that another round of U.N. climate talks is under way, this time in Doha, Qatar. You also might not have noticed that we’re barreling toward a “world .?.?. of unprecedented heat waves, severe drought, and major floods in many regions.” Here in Washington, we’re too busy to pay attention to such trifles.

A Health Insurance Detective Story - NYTimes.com
DSM-5: Psychiatrists OK Vast Changes To Diagnosis Manual A new diagnosis for severe recurrent temper tantrums – disruptive mood dysregulation disorder.
Can a Jellyfish Unlock the Secret of Immortality? - NYTimes.com

David Kirby and Family, 1990 | LIFE Behind the Picture: The Photo That Changed the Face of AIDS | LIFE.com

Gluten-Free Dishes Become a Lot More Tempting - NYTimes.com
SunRay Kelley’s Ungated Community - NYTimes.com The lord of this manor is a 60-year-old barefoot maverick named SunRay Kelley.

New York Times Offers Buyouts To 30 Newsroom Employees, Says Layoffs May Come (bonuses! $15million to Janet Robinson! etc!)


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Turkey requests Nato missile defences amid Syria chemical weapons fears | World news | guardian.co.uk Turkish officials say they have evidence Assad regime could resort to ballistic missiles if air campaign against rebels fails
Egypt's top court suspends work after Morsi supporters surround building | World news | The Guardian Judges were unable to enter premises to deliver ruling on validity of panel that drew up draft constitution
Israel seizes $120m in Palestinian tax revenue over UN vote | World news | guardian.co.uk Palestinian official accuses Israel of desperation after second punitive response to UN vote recognising state of Palestine (terrorist state at work)
Taliban attack Nato airbase in Afghanistan | World news | guardian.co.uk Five Afghans killed and foreign soldiers wounded after suicide bombers and gunmen target compound in Jalalabad
Kuwait election turnout shrinks after opposition boycott | World news | guardian.co.uk Opposition says new parliament does not represent majority of people, after turnout was officially 43% – and reportedly 28%
Japan tunnel collapse: bodies found as rescue effort continues | World news | guardian.co.uk Mudslide caused Sasago road tunnel near Tokyo to cave in and trap vehicles, with people fleeing on foot as fire broke out

Pentagon reportedly planning to double size of its worldwide spy network | World news | guardian.co.uk More than 1,600 new Defense Department agents will collect intelligence and report findings to CIA, said to be overstretched

The Full McConnell - NYTimes.com This is pathetic – and these people are definitely not serious.
Geithner: Republicans Will Agree To Tax Hikes On Super Rich "The only thing standing in the way of [a deal] would be a refusal by Republicans to accept that rates are going to have to go up on the wealthiest Americans. And I don't really see them doing that,"
As Companies Seek Tax Deals, Governments Pay High Price - NYTimes.com Ypsilanti, Mich., is suing over the automaker’s departure. “You can’t just make these promises and throw them around like they’re spare change in the drawer,” (tax breaks for liars!)
Political Animal - When corporations act like protection rackets … and taxpayers are left holding the bag
Obamacare Medicaid Expansion For Poor On The Brink Obama's health care law expands Medicaid, the federal-state health program for low-income people, but cost-wary states must decide whether to take the deal. Turn it down, and governors risk coming off as callous toward their neediest residents. Not to mention the likely second-guessing for walking away from a pot of federal dollars estimated at nearly $1 trillion nationally over a decade.

Thomas Jefferson: American Fascist? — Crooked Timber (by "all men are created equal" he meant all white men)
The Arab trader argument « Abagond | How to tell if a commenter is white « Abagond

Atheist victory in California as surf city loses its nativity display | World news | The Observer Santa Monica's council has finally bowed to a militant campaign against traditional religious symbols in public places - Becker accused "liberal Irish Democrats" and other leftwing factions in the city council of buckling following similar campaigns in other states against crucifixes and prayer in public places. "We're going down the slippery slope," he said.

Wyoming professor fatally wounded by arrow helped students escape | World news | guardian.co.uk As he died, James Krumm fought with his attacker and gave others in the classroom time to escape to safety, police say
Belize police dismiss report that John McAfee has been captured near Mexico | World news | guardian.co.uk has been on the run since November 11, when the body of fellow American businessman Gregory Viant Faull was discovered at a neighbouring property.

Asperger's syndrome dropped from psychiatrists' handbook the DSM | Society | guardian.co.uk DSM-5, latest revision of Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, merges Asperger's with autism and widens dyslexia category - nstead its symptoms will come under the newly added "autism spectrum disorder"

Cannabis For Infant's Brain Tumor, Doctor Calls Child "A Miracle Baby"

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Syria internet access restored after two-day blackout | World news | guardian.co.uk Damascus and Homs residents say communication lines are back up, amid signs that Assad's forces will launch new offensive
Egypt: Mohamed Morsi calls December referendum on constitution | World news | The Observer President puts faith in popular vote to silence critics of government's sweeping powers as about 50,000 rally in Cairo
Clinton and Hague attack Israel decision to build new settlements | World news | The Observer US and UK react to Binyamin Netanyahu's approval of plans for 3,000 new homes on occupied territory in the West Bank (always in your face)
Israel Moves to Expand Settlements in East Jerusalem - NYTimes.com - Housing Move in Israel Seen as Setback for a Two-State Plan (as planned)
Fear and Suspicion Of Turtle Bay - The Daily Beast
To Save Congo, Let It Fall Apart - NYTimes.com
BBC News - Teaching evolution key to free school funding deal Failing to teach evolution by natural selection in science lessons could lead to new free schools losing their funding under government changes. (UK's version of Christian Charter Schools)
Good news: India records 57% drop in new HIV cases | Firstpost The report, released by Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, also says nearly 1.5 lakh lives have been saved due to free ART medicines provided to HIV/AIDS patients.
Japan’s Space Agency Says Rocket Information Was Stolen by Computer Virus - NYTimes.com Japan’s space agency said on Friday that information on one of its newest rockets was stolen from a desktop computer by someone using a computer virus.

German man locked up over HVB bank allegations may have been telling truth | World news | guardian.co.uk Gustl Mollath was put in a psychiatric unit for claiming his wife was involved in money-laundering at the Bavarian bank. But seven years on evidence has emerged that could set him free (German justice)

The War on Drugs Other Countries’ Ruthless Vicious Capitalists | emptywheel

Why John Kerry shouldn’t be nominated - Opinion - The Boston Globe Pressuring the White House into naming Kerry would accomplish two GOP goals. First, it would humiliate Obama by denying him his first choice, Susan Rice. Second, it would open up a currently safe Massachusetts Senate seat.
Scary Black Lady Susan Rice Once Said That White Children Should Be Forced To Learn Of Blacks’ Existence

Obama says it’s ‘unacceptable’ for Republicans to hold middle-class tax cuts ‘hostage’ - The Washington Post
A New, Tougher Obama? If the president continues to stand his ground against Republicans, he'll win the battle over the "fiscal cliff." (you can see everyone expects him to negotiate with himself and lose)
Political Animal - Odds Improving on Filibuster Reform John Kerry, who has additional reasons to be a team player right now, is “leaning heavily” towards support. (Kerry helped fuck it up last time)
Grover Norquist’s Illusory Power | The New Republic
Rush Limbaugh: 'Democrat Orgasm' Happens If We Go Over Fiscal Cliff (now there's a good reason for Rethugs to negotiate)
Jon Huntsman And Republican Party - Jon Huntsman Has A Job To Do - Esquire Asking him what the Republicans should do so the country would start looking at them less as the vehicle for ungovernable white rage is like asking a dead deer by the side of the highway for a traffic report
Hullabaloo - Fast food uprising (+corporate wages vs. profits are obscene)

Brewer discusses global warming before Governor's meeting | azfamily.com Phoenix “Everybody has an opinion on it and I probably don’t believe that it’s man made,” said Brewer. “I believe, you know, that weather elements are controlled by other things.” ("weather elements")
tallahassee: Report on GOP shindig to remain sealed - Florida - MiamiHerald.com Other witnesses questioned in the Greer investigation say the former GOP chairman often had parties for men only and refused to allow women unless they were “paid.”
Dream Act Gives Young Immigrants a Political Voice - NYTimes.com
House Republicans Finally Appoint One Female Committee Chair | Video Cafe (what part of "token woman" don't you understand?)
alicublog Having been interested in conservatives who appear to have been driven mad by the election, I haven't spent enough time on conservatives who were quite mad beforehand. So I went and looked at The Anchoress.
Don't get fooled again - Opinion - Al Jazeera English It's in this atmosphere that we're now forced to confront a band of enormously wealthy people who've benefitted from - or bestowed upon others - large financial bailouts and ill-considered taxcuts who like lecturing Americans living on earned benefits about "shared sacrifice". As in, you give up a meal each day, and I'll give up a pair of yacht shoes! Deal?

Florida Rejects Christian Slater's Ballot | ThinkProgress
Severely Conservative Appeals Court Blocks Access To Birth Control | ThinkProgress In other words, yesterday’s order suggests that two judges on the Eighth Circuit want to go far beyond the Supreme Court’s infamous holding that corporations are people, and hold that a for-profit corporation can be Catholic.

A detached Romney tends wounds in seclusion after failed White House bid - The Washington Post
When Internal Polls Mislead, a Whole Campaign May Be To Blame - NYTimes.com the release of internal polls to the news media as a form of “propaganda”:
Internal numbers from Romney campaign reveal only symptoms | The Zingularity (GOP grifters preying on other GOP grifters)

Jindal voucher overhaul unconstitutionally diverts public funds to private schools, judge rules | NOLA.com

Walmart's New Health Care Policy Shifts Burden To Medicaid, Obamacare Walmart, the nation’s largest private employer, plans to begin denying health insurance to newly hired employees who work fewer than 30 hours a week

FDL Book Salon Welcomes Mathew Barrett Gross, The Last Myth: What the Rise of Apocalyptic Thinking Tells Us About America | Book Salon

The Real Thomas Jefferson - NYTimes.com - The Monster of Monticello (racist fuck)

Gulf of Mexico clean-up makes 2010 spill 52-times more toxic If the 4.9 million barrels of oil that spilled into the Gulf of Mexico during the 2010 Deep Water Horizon spill was a ecological disaster, the two million gallons of dispersant used to clean it up apparently made it even worse – 52-times more toxic.
Futurity.org – At both poles, ice melt is speeding up Ice sheet melting has increased over time and, altogether, Greenland and Antarctica are now losing more than three times as much ice as they were in the 1990s.
Post em if you got em | The Zingularity (O'Reilly fan sees Changing Ice, comes to Jesus)
DOE wants 5X battery power boost in 5 years - Computerworld Establishes center for battery research at Argonne National Laboratory
SLEEP - Pain Sensitivity and Recovery From Mild Chronic Sleep Loss These are the first data to show that an extended bedtime in mildly sleepy healthy adults, which resulted in increased sleep time and reduced sleepiness, reduces pain sensitivity.
Supreme Court Takes Up Question of Gene Research - NYTimes.com The Supreme Court announced on Friday that it would decide whether human genes may be patented. The justices considered but took no action on requests that the court hear one or more cases concerning same-sex marriage.
Do Standardized Tests Make Us Less Prepared for College? by Daniel Luzer | Washington Monthly (who could have predicted "teaching to the test" would leave "any child left unscrewed")

How Two Presidents Helped Me Deal With Love, Guilt, and Fatherhood - NationalJournal.com Guidance from Bill Clinton and George W. Bush taught the author how to accept and understand his son’s Asperger’s syndrome.

Shotgun Report Central in Florida Shooting Case - NYTimes.com But so far, Jacksonville law enforcement officers have not found a shotgun ... “All these concealed weapons permits,” he added. “They give them out like Skittles. Anybody and everybody can have a handgun.” (stand your ground against your own hallucinations)

16 Year Old Wingnut Pwns Liberal Media Weenie Eric Boehlert On Twitter; 2012 Election Nullified
Harry Nilsson - Think About Your Troubles (from The Point) - YouTube

Dole Kemp '96 (website still up; feel the momentum)

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Syrian fighting rages as rebels push for Damascus breakthough | World news | The Guardian Assad's battle-weary forces stretched by increasingly confident opponents
Palestine wins historic upgrade at UN - JPost
Countries That Voted Against Palestine At UN Include United States, Israel And Canada ... joined by the Czech Republic, Panama and several Pacific island nations: Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru and Palau. (US/Israli position very popular)
Israel to build new Jewish settlement homes after UN Palestine vote | World news | The Guardian Binyamin Netanyahu's plan for mass building on occupied terrorities seen as retaliation for recognition of Palestinian state (more in your face)
Dutch To Scrap Holland's Blasphemy Law On Insulting God (only Muslim nation in Europe)
Mexico drug war continues to rage in region where president fired first salvo | World news | The Guardian Calderón's crackdown was supposed to wipe out the cartels, but six years on one gang pervades everyday life in Tierra Caliente (but Obama is tough on some drugs that some people take)
Unicorn lair 'discovered' in North Korea | World news | guardian.co.uk in what appears to be a genuine world exclusive, the inimitable Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) has now broken the incredible news that archaeologists in Pyongyang have discovered a unicorn's lair.
US heading for point when 'military pursuit of al-Qaida should end' | World news | The Guardian Fight against terrorist group on course for Obama to stop using legal authority given by Congress to wage war, says lawyer

India set for lowest growth in 10 years | Business | guardian.co.uk ndian third-quarter GDP growth at lower-than-forecast 5.3% keeps country on track for its first sub-6.5% year since 2002-03
DSK Lawsuit: Strauss-Kahn In Preliminary Civil Case Deal With Maid Nafissatou Diallo Strauss-Kahn planned to take out a bank loan for $3 million and would be lent the other $3 million by his wife Anne Sinclair, despite the fact the couple separated in the summer and now live on different sides of Paris. (rutting chimpanzee pays $6mil)
Dominique Strauss-Kahn's lawyers deny reports of settlement with hotel maid | World news | guardian.co.uk Reports that former IMF chief agreed to pay $6m to settle civil case with New York hotel maid are denied by attorneys (or maybe not)

Murdochs kept in dark on phone-hacking suspicions, Leveson finds | Media | The Guardian News of the World and the 'bombs under the newsroom floor' (James lied, but oh well)
We've been betrayed by David Cameron | Steve Coogan | Comment is free | The Guardian I was one of the victims of phone hacking, and am disgusted that the PM has sided with the Fleet Street bullies

The Lethal Presidency: Obama's Age of Enlightenment - Esquire (drone-boy will continue with his illegal assassinations)
WikiLeaks suspect Bradley Manning made nooses in jail, says prosecution | World news | guardian.co.uk US government attempts to justify treatment of soldier after his arrest on suspicion of leaking thousands of documents (we tortured him so he wouldn't kill himself)

Susan Rice Role In Lead-Up To Africa Embassy Bombings Recalled As Minimal (they are still trying)

Wyoming community college shooting leaves three dead | World news | guardian.co.uk Authorities say one person has been taken into custody related to an early morning shooting at Casper College (when cross-bows are outlawed ...)
Casper College Attack: 3 Dead In Wyoming After Apparent 'Bow And Arrow' Attack
Vegas gun ranges target thrill-seeking tourists with ever bigger weapons | World news | guardian.co.uk

Class Wars of 2012 - NYTimes.com On Election Day, The Boston Globe reported, Logan International Airport in Boston was running short of parking spaces. Not for cars — for private jets. Big donors were flooding into the city to attend Mitt Romney’s victory party ... This was very much an election pitting the interests of the very rich against those of the middle class and the poor.
Steve King: Democrats Will Win Over Hispanics By Giving Them 'A Great Big Check' | ThinkProgress
Things In Politico That Make Me Want To Guzzle Antifreeze, Part The Infinity - Esquire "Mitt Would Have Won If Nobody But White Folks Voted"
A Liberal Moment - NYTimes.com And yet only one in four voters identified themselves as “liberal” in national exit polls. Conservatives were 35 percent, and moderates the plurality, at 41 percent. ("Librul" a curse word)
Transformation vs. Restoration: Which Political Position Will Prevail? - NationalJournal.com ("Restoration" = restoring the past)

Nancy Pelosi Threatens Discharge Petition To Break Fiscal Cliff Stalemate
Obama to GOP: I’m done negotiating with myself (cause you guys were pricks and it didn't work)
Obama Fiscal Cliff Offer Reflects Lesson From 2009 "I suppose what I could have done is started off with no tax cuts, knowing that I was going to want some, and then let them take credit for all of them (still naive)
Fiscal Cliff Fictions: Let’s All Agree to Pretend the GOP Isn’t Full of It | TIME.com ... The press can’t figure out how to weave those facts into the current narrative without sounding like it’s taking sides, so it simply pretends that yesterday never happened.
White House Makes Aggressive Opening Bid in Fiscal Slope Negotiations | FDL News Desk
Eschaton: Bargaining Bargaining Yeah Fun Fun Fun Fun It also made it hard to establish a Team R brand, letting them get away with wanting to destroy the government AND be the Last Great And True Defenders Of Medicare.
Inside Ed Rendell's Fix the Debt Campaign | The Philly Post What you need to know about his "Fix the Debt" cabal.
Most Americans Face Lower Tax Burden Than in the 80s - NYTimes.com

Ruth Marcus: Susan Rice and double standards - The Washington Post Does gender — or the supercharged combination of gender and race — play a role in the preemptive strikes on not-yet-secretary of state nominee Susan Rice? (when Ruth Marcus is 10x smarter than Maureen Dowd, you know something is wrong +"brusque" an old-boy meme)
Dingbat Oversight | TPM Editors Blog
John Boehner Names Candice Miller To Chair House Committee Asked again about the lack of women in committee chair posts, she repeated that the party has three women in leadership and pulled a door closed behind her as she walked into a room, shouting back, "Not a problem!"
Why Did Florida Fire Allen West? - Businessweek “If you could personify the Tea Party movement, it would be Allen West,” says Billie Tucker, a prominent Florida Tea Party organizer. When it came time to run for reelection, West raised $17 million—more than any House candidate except House Speaker John Boehner—most of it from outside the state. (but conservative district in FL thought he was an idiot)
Nate Silver bashes Politico | TPMDC - Politico Covers Politics Like Sports But ‘Not In An Intelligent Way At All’
Political Animal - Guess Who Else Doesn’t Understand Marginal Tax Rates? You’d think someone with a column in the Wall Street Journal, of all places, could grasp how this works. But I suppose everything Peggy Noonan needs to know she learned in that Golden Era that ended in 1989.
Revenge of the Reality-Based Community | The American Conservative - Bruce Bartlett (dissed by Murdoch)

Young Voters Supported Obama Less, But May Have Mattered More | Pew Research Center (Romney won the white vote, including under-30)
Romney exit polls: He won independents, white women, and “middle income” voters. So what? - Slate Magazine (still spinning reality)
Multi-American : Report: People of color made up 42 percent of 2012 voters ages 18-29 | 89.3 KPCC

The National Memo » GOP Furious That Obama Is Acting Like He Won The Election
Fox Claims "Nation Of Dependents" Could Prolong The Recession | Blog | Media Matters for America In fact, The Washington Post reported on a study from the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) that found extending unemployment insurance now would stimulate the economy and add 300,000 jobs. From the article (fact-free Fox)
Uh-oh: The economy might be hitting a rough patch The bottom is falling out of economic forecasters’ expectations for U.S. economic growth in the final months of 2012. And if some of the more bearish estimates prove accurate, it will be the weakest rate of growth since the start of 2011.
Graph of the day: Medicaid, Medicare patients most satisfied with health costs The vast majority (64%) of Americans with private insurance now say their health premiums costs are shared. This is up from 54% in 2001. While the 22% saying they personally pay the entire cost has not changed appreciably, the 10% saying their employer pays the entire cost is down by more than half from 2001.
Warehouse Workers Move To Name Walmart In Wage-Theft Lawsuit

Ignoring Reality Doesn't Make News Nonpartisan But we're not supposed to be stenographers. As long as the media let an entire political party invent a new reality every day, it will keep on doing it. Every day."
1 | The Most Beautiful Election Infographic You'll Ever See | Co.Design: business + innovation + design

Bats Left/Throws Right: Witless Protection Program Tell ya whut, Dave: when some rightist intellectual figures out how to tell Republicans why they've been so wrong about so much for so long, and show no signs of ceasing, I'll take notice. (Dave Weigel likes Charles fucking Murray; thinks "liberals" were wrong to dismiss the racist asshole; good reason never to read him)

George W. Bush Gradually Becoming a Non-Person -- Daily Intel

Canadian scientists create a functioning, virtual brain
Water On Mercury: NASA Announces Discovery Of Ice At Planet's Poles

Harvard To Approve BDSM Sex Club Called Harvard College Munch
Too many lawyers? Says who? - Salon.com A New York Times Op-Ed claims law school is worth every penny. Time to pull apart some of that thinking

How Syria Turned Off the Internet - CloudFlare blog
Syria shuts down the Internet | BGPmon
Facebook unfriending hits Zynga shares | Technology | The Guardian Zynga, the creator of FarmVille and Mafia Wars, has severed their ties with the social networking site

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General Assembly Grants Palestine Upgraded Status in U.N. - NYTimes.com (US/Israel against the world)

Big four banks could need £35bn of new capital, warns Bank of England - Telegraph Banks could be forced to begin raising new capital soon, following a dire warning from the Bank of England about the need for lenders to bolster their loss buffers.

Political Animal - Scarlet D In other words, Rice bears the Scarlet D of being a member of the political party that won the last two presidential elections, as becomes evident from this comment about the most likely alternative to her nomination to run State:
Susan Rice James Inhofe - Your Daily Susan Rice Update - Esquire and you were contemplating poor Susan Collins there on the teevee, meeping about her "concerns" while hoping against hope that some crazoid woodchuck state rep from Skowhegan in a flannel shirt doesn't decide to make lunch meat out of her in a primary

Geithner Offers New Fiscal Proposal to Boehner - NYTimes.com
Inside the ‘fiscal cliff’ haggling over Medicare - The Plum Line - The Washington Post But as best as I can determine after talking to Dem aides, this isn’t on the table. It’s something Republicans want to be part of the talks but not one Dems are seriously entertaining,
Why We Should Stop Talking About The Deficit -The Pirates Behind The Campaign To Fix The Debt - Esquire The 71 Fix the Debt CEOs who lead publicly held companies have amassed an average of $9 million in their company retirement funds. A dozen have more than $20 million in their accounts. If each of them converted their assets to an annuity when they turned 65, they would receive a monthly check for at least $110,000 for life.

Democrats, Republicans Diverge on Capitalism, Federal Gov't Democrats react significantly more positively to the term "federal government" than they do to the term "capitalism," while the opposite is true for Republicans. But both Democrats and Republicans are highly positive about the terms "small business," "free enterprise," and "entrepreneurs."
Political Animal - Do Corporations Pray? “General business corporations do not, separate and apart from the actions or belief systems of their individual owners or employees, exercise religion. They do not pray, worship, observe sacraments or take other religiously motivated actions separate and apart from the intention and direction of their individual actors,” he wrote. Hobby Lobby has appealed the injunction decision.

Harold Meyerson: Wal-Mart’s strategy of deniability for workers’ safety - The Washington Post
‘Romney is Wall Street’s worst bet since the bet on subprime’ Now, it also happens to be an incredibly convenient way of thinking. If you’ve developed an ideology that what’s good for you personally also happens to be good for everyone else, that’s quite wonderful because there’s no moral tension. (+" There’s a great joke on Wall Street which is that the bet on Romney is Wall Street’s worst bet since the bet on subprime.")

The Climate series: a reference post - AMERICAblog

Sex survey: Florida's Department of Health seeks details of young women's sex lives - South Florida Sun-Sentinel.com Like a probing friend, the survey asks women ages 18 to 24 things like: • How did you feel emotionally when you had unprotected sex — were you trying to get pregnant, were you in the "heat of the moment and just went with the flow," or did you find the man attractive and "thought it would be nice to have a baby with him?" Did you feel "powerless"? Or was it that you "felt emotionally connected with your partner during sex"? (Lex Luthor at work)

Cambridge power outage -- thousands hit by blackout - Boston.com

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Egyptian opposition masses in Tahrir Square - Tuesday 27 November | World news | guardian.co.uk
The Pace of Leaving Afghanistan - NYTimes.com We strongly supported the war in Afghanistan following the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, but after more than a decade of fighting and a cost upward of $500 billion it is time for a safe and orderly departure. (NYT: "U.S. out of Afgan Now!)

WikiLeaks suspect Manning expected to testify for the first time - The Washington Post
Defense argues for Manning’s release at hearing - Army News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Army Times
Richard O'Dwyer strikes US deal to avoid extradition | UK news | guardian.co.uk Sheffield student who created TVShack website will have to travel to US and pay a small sum of compensation, court told

Susan Rice XL Pipeline - An Actual Reason To Worry About Susan Rice - Esquire he current U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Rice owns stock valued between $300,000 and $600,000 in TransCanada, the company seeking a federal permit to transport tar sands crude 1,700 miles to refineries on the Texas Gulf Coast, crossing fragile Midwest ecosystems and the largest freshwater aquifer in North America - The Keystone XL pipeline
Tom Ricks: Fox News Statement About My Apology Is 'Horseshit' (VIDEO)

Eschaton: Scammers They're usually not quite as transparently fraudulent as Fix The Debt, but all debt/deficit hawkery is just a front for cutting taxes on rich people. No this doesn't make any sense, but it sounds great to the likes of Dancing Dave so they get away with it. Rich people want to steal the Social Security money. It's really that simple.
The National Memo » How Did ‘Fix the Debt’ Become ‘Protect the Bush Tax Cuts’? (and "Screw the Poor")

John Boehner Signals No Softening On Taxes In Fiscal Cliff Standoff [UPDATE]
Erskine Bowles Predicts 'We're Going Over The Cliff' (best thing the asshole ever said)
Paul Krugman: Fiscal Cliff Is 'No Way To Run A Country'
CBO: Extending unemployment benefits could save 300,000 jobs next year

The Least Influential People of 2012 - GQ December: Celebrities: GQ: 1. Mitt Romney

Obama On Filibuster Reform: White House Embraces Harry Reid's Rule Changes
Filibuster Reform Gets Powerfuls Outside Advocacy Push | TPMDC - the country cannot afford another two years of inaction fostered by outmoded and broken legislative institutions
CBO: Extending unemployment benefits could save 300,000 jobs next year
Romney Adviser Stuart Stevens Brags About Losing Poor Voters | TPMDC The implied argument that poorer votes are inferior seems to undercut the campaign’s central message over the last two years: that Romney’s top concern was providing jobs for the jobless.

Buffett Rule Poll - Obvious Findings In The Latest Polls - Esquire There's a new ABC News/Washington Post poll out today. In it, we discover that most members of our Beltway elites might as well be living on the moon.
Scott Brown Special Election - Scott Brown's Not Returning Anytime Soon - Esquire the theory that John McCain has been making such a public jackass out of himself over the nomination of Susan Rice as part of an elaborate plot by which Rice's name would be withdrawn, leading the president to appoint John Kerry to be Secretary Of State in her stead.
Of Course D.C. Should Be A State - Lawyers, Guns & Money
Scott Walker Investigation Turning Point - The Turning Point in Scott Walker's Little Legal Snag - Esquire (could be sweet)

The Washington Monthly - Ten Miles Square - Use the States as Laboratories for Marijuana Policy

Right-Wing Media Launch Attacks After Sandra Fluke Nominated For Time "Person Of The Year" | Research | Media Matters for America (you have to think it's a sexual perversion)

Global Sea Level Rising 60 Percent Faster Than Predicted, Study Finds | TPM Idea Lab (NYC underwater in 50 years)
Research: Sea-levels rising faster than IPCC projections
Texas Astronomers Measure Most Massive, Most Unusual Black Hole Using Hobby-Eberly Telescope | News - “This is a really oddball galaxy,” said UT astronomer Karl Gebhardt, one of the team of U.S. and German astronomers who measured the black hole. “It’s almost all black hole. This could be the first object in a new class of galaxy-black hole systems.”
In Hawaii, a coral reef infection has biologists alarmed - latimes.com A mysterious growth has been spreading under the waters of Hanalei Bay and elsewhere on Kauai's north shore. It's killing all the coral it strikes, and scientists can't stop it. (coral fungus)

Nick Crews' Email To Adult Children Explains How Very, Very Disappointed He Is In Them


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Egypt: protesters descend on Tahrir Square | World news | The Guardian More than 100,000 gather to protest against a decree issued by Mohamed Morsi granting sweeping constitutional powers
News from The Associated Press China's party paper falls for Onion joke about Kim
Breivik's Oslo bomb: CCTV footage - video | World news | guardian.co.uk

European debt crisis a bigger global threat than US fiscal cliff, says OECD | Business | guardian.co.uk Report says 'intensified euro area crisis' could destroy growth in Europe and also wipe out US recovery, causing recession (don't need no steenking Republicans to destroy the economy)

Susan Rice faces renewed criticism from Republican senators – live updates | World news | guardian.co.uk Senators unconvinced by Rice's Benghazi explanation • McCain: still 'significantly troubled' after meeting ambassador • Graham: concerns are 'greater than before' (assholes will be assholes)
Tom Ricks Says He Didn't Apologize To Fox News For Testy Interview "I think the emphasis on Benghazi has been extremely political, partly because Fox is operating as the wing of the Republican Party."
Jon Huntsman: Benghazi, Susan Rice Criticism Overblown

The U.S. Does Not Have a Spending Problem, We Have a Distribution Problem - James Kwak - The Atlantic Forty years from now, America will be twice as rich on average as we are today. But most of that wealth will go to the very richest households. We only have a budget crisis if they refuse to pay higher taxes
Communists At The Atlantic Blame America First “Some people” *cough* job creators *cough* don’t want to pay higher taxes probably because it is their God-given right to pay something around 1% in taxes. If they feel like it ... Currently, Black male life expectancy is finally at 70, and what a SHOCK that Romney/Ryan would have raised the age of Medicare eligibility to 70.

A Victory Over Suppression? by Elizabeth Drew | NYRblog | The New York Review of Books Despite their considerable efforts the Republicans were not able to buy or steal the election after all. Their defeat was of almost Biblical nature.
Balloon Juice » Voters and others (pushback)

Dick Durbin: Social Security Should Be Off The Fiscal Cliff Table [UPDATE]
Obama To Appeal To Public On Fiscal Cliff as he pressures Republicans to allow tax increases on the wealthy while extending tax cuts for families earning $250,000 or less.
Obama Administration Not Sticking Up For Payroll Tax Cut
Fix the debt: About debt or about tax rates? But it does include among its "core principles" that we need to reduce entitlement spending and enact "comprehensive and pro-growth tax reform" that, among other things, "lowers rates." ("Fix the Debt" = "Screw the Moochers"
Eschaton: Regular Reminder Nobody actually cares about the deficit, least of all the people that claim to. Even though it makes no sense at all, deficit fetishism is primarily a way to push tax cuts (this only works because of the Bluto Blutarsky level of intelligence of people like Dancing Dave) and secondarily a way to cut the small bits of money we spend to help desperately poor people.

David Axelrod Surprised by Romney Campaign’s Missed Opportunities - The Daily Beast Obama’s top election strategist tells a Chicago audience he was surprised Mitt Romney’s team did not attack Obama more, stuck so narrowly with their base—and chose Paul Ryan for VP.
Paying People to Lie to You Has Consequences - The Daily Beast
Balloon Juice » Two in the Bush Ask yourself this: how would one of Nixon’s brothers or kids have done in the 1984 or 1988 election?
The Millennial Generation: Our Liberal Future -- Daily Intel By a 59 percent to 37 percent margin, voters under 30 say the government should do more to solve problems. More remarkably, 33 percent of voters under 30 identified themselves as liberal, as against 26 percent who called themselves conservative.
Political Animal - Liberal Horizons If nothing else, there should be a larger constituency for unapologetic liberalism moving forward, and additionally, the false equivalence the MSM so often attributes to the vehemence and political power of Left and Right could eventually come true.
Will Millennials Usher in a New Era of Liberalism? The Republicans' long-term dilemma has generally been framed in racial terms, but it's mainly a generational one. The youngest generation of voters contains a much smaller proportion of white voters than previous generations, and those whites in that generation vote Republican by a much smaller margin than their elders.

How Obama’s plan for infrastructure bank would work - The Washington Post (Obama loves the word "bank")

Peter King’s Greatest Hits As Homeland Security Chairman | TPMMuckraker (celebrate teh crazy)
RINO Hunters Fire Warning Shots At Republican Senate Candidates | TPM2012 After two disappointing election cycles, Republican leaders demanded that conservative groups end their war on electable primary candidates or risk handing the Senate to the Democrats in 2014. This week, the groups delivered their reply: “Nuts!”
Political Animal - Another Attack on the Sovereignty of America, God and Family! And so, Santorum brought his famous daughter Bella, who suffers from a severe birth defect, to the hearing where he fought against acknowledgement of the rights of people like her. This is where the pretzel logic of the Right can lead.

Hiltzik: Poor management, not union intransigence, killed Hostess - latimes.com The company had done almost nothing in the last 10 years to modernize or expand its offerings ... Just before declaring bankruptcy for the second time in eight years Jan. 11, Hostess trebled the compensation of then-Chief Executive Brian Driscoll and raised other executives' pay up to twofold. At the same time, the company was demanding lower wages from workers and stiffing employee pension funds of $8 million a month in payment obligations.
How Costco Became the Anti-Wal-Mart - New York Times Costco's average pay, for example, is $17 an hour, 42 percent higher than its fiercest rival, Sam's Club. And Costco's health plan makes those at many other retailers look Scroogish. One analyst, Bill Dreher of Deutsche Bank, complained last year that at Costco "it's better to be an employee or a customer than a shareholder."
Bank Of America Is Really Good At Losing Documents, Really Bad At Believing My Mother Is Dead – The Consumerist

Sandra Fluke Is The Rosa Parks Of Vaginas | TBogg - Hoo boy, Young Master Ex-Virgin Ben Shapiro is pitching a hate-tent in his pants because Time magazine is considering Sandra Fluke as a possible Person of the Year, even though she is a woman, so not really a “person” per se:
Obsidian Wings: Scary Monsters Open Thread
Whiskey Fire: True Stories of the Right Wing Truth Some dogs can learn English, apparently. But they'll still eat their own shit.

New York City Enclaves, Long Gated, Seek to Let In Storm Aid - NYTimes.com “Now, with this unexpected act of God, those same communities, quite ready to point a finger at government shortcomings, are placed in the difficult position of having to reach out to government for a substantial helping hand,” - 113-year-old private, gated community, where the razor-wire-topped fences and armed security checkpoints that keep outsiders from its streets, beaches and parks (but all of a sudden interested in big government money)
Colonial-era Jewish cemetery in Curacao fades from sun, salt and perhaps refinery smoke - The Washington Post

Who Will Be The Gun Movement’s Rosa Parks? - Lawyers, Guns & Money : Lawyers, Guns & Money The University of Colorado caved to the gun lobby and created gun-friendly dorms. At the present, there are floors that are gun-friendly. A dorm for the armed is opening in 2014. But the school is disturbed that not a single person has actually expressed any interest in living in the gun zone. Is it because even students who own guns think it might not be an awesome idea to be around drunken armed college students? Nope. It’s liberal segregation:
Asian-American voters show growing clout, leftward turn - San Jose Mercury News
How Not to Appeal to Asian Americans Next time, a little less racism - conservative scholar Charles "I am not a racist" Murray (Bell Curve fails again and again)

Beauty of the Beast – News Watch Video of Sprinting Cheetahs a First in Wildlife Photography

Unexpected data from the Large Hadron Collider suggest the collisions may be producing a new type of matte known as color-glass condensater


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Bangladesh textile factory fire leaves more than 100 dead | World news | The Guardian Blaze occured at Tazreen Fashions in Dhaka, which makes clothes for foreign clients including C&A
Mohamed Morsi indicates judicial decree will be limited | World news | The Guardian Egypt's president tries to defuse 'immunity' decree crisis by indicating acceptance of judiciary-proposed compromise
Morsi Power Grab: Egyptian President Reportedly Agrees To Limit Decree's Scope
Uganda will pass anti-homosexuality bill this year, says Speaker | World news | guardian.co.uk Death penalty clause dropped from latest draft but bill encourages violence against gay men and lesbians, say activists
Ehud Barak to retire from Israeli party politics | World news | guardian.co.uk Defence minister says he will not stand in January elections as he wants to spend more time with his family
Poison 'found' in exhumed body of former Turkish president Turgut Ozal | World news | guardian.co.uk Newspaper says evidence of toxic substances has shown up in autopsy investigating allegations of foul play ... there have long been rumours that Ozal, who died of heart failure in 1993, aged 65, was murdered by militants of the "deep state"
EU and IMF agree tentative deal to cut Greek debt | Business | The Guardian Agreement should see release of up to €44bn in bailout funds needed to rescue Athens from insolvency

Leveson Report: What Will It Say, And How Will David Cameron Respond?

Pentagon Prayer Breakfast To Feature Discredited Pastor Ray Giunta ... But Giunta wasn't a doctor; he purchased a Ph.D. for a few hundred dollars online, and he occasionally wore a lab coat and stethoscope, the Sun reported.
Obama healthcare law to be challenged by Christian school in federal court | Law | guardian.co.uk Supreme court orders federal appeals court to consider university's claim that Obamacare violates religious freedoms ... court has revived a Christian college's challenge ... Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia

Thomas Ricks Accuses Fox News Of 'Operating As A Wing Of The Republican Party' (VIDEO) He described the attack in Benghazi as a "small fire-fight" and added, "I think the emphasis on Benghazi has been extremely political, partly because Fox is operating as the wing of the Republican Party." At that point, Scott thanked Ricks for his time and ended the interview after about 90 seconds ... a Fox News staffer told Ricks he was rude following the interview
Guest on Fox News to Discuss Benghazi Attack Is Given a Quick Exit - NYTimes.com

What's Happening With the Bradley Manning WikiLeaks Trial? | Mother Jones About to testify for the first time, the accused Army private may admit to leaking a deluge of government documents.

Court Rejects Plea to Block Taping of Police - ABC News The Supreme Court has rejected an Illinois prosecutor's plea to allow enforcement of a law aimed at stopping people from recording police officers on the job. ("eavesdropping" - why was this even a case?)

Daily Kos: Mitt Romney '47 percent watch': 47.47! California alone has just shy of 1 million votes remaining to be counted, including another 196,621 from Los Angeles County. New York is sitting on another million or so.

Poll: Public would blame GOP more than Obama if fiscal talks fail - The Hill's Blog Briefing Room Twenty-eight percent say they expect Washington to behave like “responsible adults,” with 67 percent saying leaders will behave like “spoiled children.”

Carney: Social Security Not On The Table In Fiscal Cliff Deal | TPM LiveWire (not this week, anyway)
Fighting Fiscal Phantoms - NYTimes.com These are difficult times for the deficit scolds who have dominated policy discussion for almost three years. One could almost feel sorry for them, if it weren’t for their role in diverting attention from the ongoing problem of inadequate recovery, and thereby helping to perpetuate catastrophically high unemployment
The Myth of the Obama Cave-In | Mother Jones With the "fiscal cliff" looming, the conventional wisdom is that the president capitulated during the last tax cut fight. Here's what really happened.
The Republican Tap Dance on Entitlement Reform | Mother Jones (Drum still wants to "tinker" with Social Security)

New Senate’s First Task Will Likely Be Trying to Fix Itself - NYTimes.com
GOP warns of shutdown over filibuster - Manu Raju - politico.com
Filibuster Reform Opposed By Mitch McConnell, Senate Minority Leader (Turtle-Face says no way)
Political Animal - Bring on the Filibuster Fight This raises the rather obvious question of exactly what Republicans could do to make the Senate less functional than it already is under the de facto 60-vote requirement for all legislation that they have so recently introduced?
Political Animal - The Spare-Us-the-Pain Coalition But there’s one major group with a proposal that is refreshingly honest in its sheer offensive greed: that of the CEO Fiscal Leadership Council, an adjunct to Pete Peterson’s lavishly funded Campaign to Fix the Debt, which had a lot to do with making the “fiscal cliff” such a huge and immediate post-election priority ... Nor, it seems, do the execs consider the enormous contracts they receive from the federal government—particularly from the Pentagon budget—“low-priority spending.”

19 Percent of Congress Is Female. Why Not Half? | Mother Jones We still lag far behind the nations with the most parity—like Rwanda (whose legislature is 56.3 percent female), Andorra (53.6 percent female), and Sweden (45 percent female).

Why "Good Jobs" Are Good for Retailers - Harvard Business Review a one-standard-deviation increase in labor levels at a store increased profit margins by 10% over the course of a year. Research by Marshall Fisher, Serguei Netessine, and Jayanth Krishnan supports my findings: Their analysis of 17 months of data from a large retailer shows that for every $1 increase in payroll, a store could see a $4 to $28 increase in monthly sales.
The Washington Monthly Those retailers are Costco and Trader Joe’s; QuikTrip, an American convenience store chain; and Mercadona, a Spanish supermarket. Here

Brad DeLong: Hard to Believe that There Are Still Economists Who I Thought of Note Five Years Ago Who Still Claim That Fiscal Expansion in a Depressed Economy in a Liquidity Trap Will Not Boost Production
Mary Schapiro Resigning: SEC Head To Step Down

Daily Kos: Ousted Florida Republicans, including ex-Gov. Crist, say voter suppression was state GOP's goal
Jim Greer, Ex-Florida GOP Chair, Claims Republican Voting Laws Focused On Suppression, Racism

Betting Site Intrade Shutting Down For U.S. Customers | TPM LiveWire The announcement comes following a lawsuit filed earlier today by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, which regulates the trading of futures contracts. (no "free market" for you)

Medicaid Expansion Covers Millions At 'Modest' Cost To States: Report - Expanding Medicaid health benefits to everyone eligible under President Barack Obama's health care reform law would increase state spending on the program by just 3 percent while extending health coverage to more than 20 million people (Red States: fuck our moochers)

Auto Industry Statistics - Nate Silver on Car Culture - Esquire It's not just erratic gas prices and a bad economy that's hurting automakers. It may be that Americans are changing. By Nate Silver (oh look, Nate is writing for Esquire)

Political Animal - A terrible story Apparently there was photographic evidence of the abuse, and a child died. Coakley almost certainly would have been put behind bars for his crimes, had he not been a man of the cloth ... one of the many quiet and unacknowledged triumphs of feminism is that childhood sexual abuse was, at long last, treated with the seriousness it deserves

Lake life survives in total isolation for 3000 years - life - 26 November 2012 - New Scientist It is seven times as salty as the sea, pitch dark and 13 degrees below freezing. Lake Vida in East Antarctica has been buried for 2800 years under 20 metres of ice, but teems with life.

snopes.com: Facebook Privacy Notice
Piracy Funds Movies? Megaupload Shutdown May Have Hurt Box Office Revenues | The Playlist (by decreasing word-of-mouth, but piracy!)
Low Commerce And Web Usage On Android - Business Insider
Where Are You Android Users? | TPM Editors Blog (rich people buy iPhones)
Black Friday Online Sales From Twitter Referrals... - Business Insider Commerce site traffic from Twitter accounted for exactly 0.00% of Black Friday traffic. That was down from 0.02% last year.

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Mohamed Morsi's Decree 'Temporary,' Presidency Says (uh-huh)
Morsi tries to defuse Egyptian decree crisis by emphasising dialogue | World news | The Guardian Egyptian president claims decree granting him greater powers is only temporary and says he is committed to democratic dialogue - Cairo's stock exchange plunged 10% as a result of the crisis over the decree.
Bangladesh textile factory fire leaves more than 100 dead | World news | The Guardian Blaze occured at Tazreen Fashions in Dhaka, which makes clothes for foreign clients including high-street chain C&A
Abby the Hasbara Slayer | MyFDL
Hezbollah: Tel Aviv A Target In Future Wars
Kuwait emir's change to election rules stirs signs of Arab spring | World news | The Guardian Protests and divisions in small, peaceful oil-rich country include calls to boycott ballot which may have repercussions in region
Information Dissemination: First flight of J-15 off Liaoning (LGM: The “China has an aircraft carrier with no aircraft” talking point is now obsolete)

White House Presses for Drone Rule Book - NYTimes.com (drone-boy got a little worried, wanted to rein in Romney)
Obama 'drone-warfare rulebook' condemned by human rights groups | World news | guardian.co.uk New York Times reports administration attempting to set out circumstances in which targeted assassination is justified

Spain dances with chaos - Salon.com Residents of Madrid took to the streets to protest their country's austerity measures -- with terrifying results ... El País will sack 139 journalists from a workforce of 450 ... Cebrián, who takes home 13m euros a year, told his striking journalists “we can’t keep living so well.”

call me maybe Afghanistan Royal Engineers - YouTube
MIT Gangnam Style (MIT ?????) - YouTube

U.N. Report: Already Too Late To Avert Worst Of Global Warming | Crooks and Liars (everyone without a helicopter is screwed)

Dawn of a New Day for Marriage Equality (TV Version) - YouTube
The G.O.P. and Violence Against Women - NYTimes.com (they're for it)

John McCain and Republicans soften attacks on Susan Rice over Benghazi | World news | guardian.co.uk Lindsey Graham and Peter King indicate step back from outright opposition to possible state department appointment (after looking like assholes)
Susan Rice Battles Critics Over Benghazi Attacks (she's too "blunt")
Daily Kos: Susan Rice, Condi Rice and Republican hypocrisy

California Cove Blessed With Nature’s Beauty Reels From Its Stench - NYTimes.com (even the seagulls are pooping on Romney)

Ten Numbers the Rich Would Like Fudged | Alternet The numbers reveal the deadening effects of inequality in our country, and confirm that tax avoidance, rather than a lack of middle-class initiative, is the cause.
CEO Council Demands Cuts To Poor, Elderly While Reaping Billions In Government Contracts, Tax Breaks
Republicans face unexpected challenges in coastal South amid shrinking white vote - The Washington Post “Mississippi still has a lot of work to do in race relations,” said Kimbrely Dandridge, an African American Obama supporter and president of the student body. (we'll see what the SC says about that)
That Shortage of Skilled Manufacturing Workers is Really a Shortage of Employers Willing to Pay the Market Wage | Beat the Press
Skills Don’t Pay the Bills - NYTimes.com Part of Isbister’s pickiness, he says, comes from an avoidance of workers with experience in a “union-type job.”
The Fake Skills Shortage - NYTimes.com Whenever you see some business person quoted complaining about how he or she can’t find workers with the necessary skills, ask what wage they’re offering. Almost always, it turns out that what said business person really wants is highly (and expensively) educated workers at a manual-labor wage. No wonder they come up short.
Political Animal - Fascinating new study on immigration reveals the policy preferences of voters and elites differ sharply — but not the way you think
It's Hard to Make It in America | Foreign Affairs Between the mid-1800s and the 1970s, differences in opportunity based on family circumstances declined steadily

Balloon Juice » Snap back to reality n 2004, Bush beat Kerry 50.7% to 48.3%. In this year’s election, Obama beat Romney 50.8% to 47.5% (these numbers may change to numbers that are slightly more favorable to Obama as more votes are counted). Yet Bush had a mandate and Obama does not.
Chris Wallace Confronts John McCain On Tax Flip-Flop (VIDEO) McCain voted against the Bush tax cuts because they didn't benefit the middle class. He has since changed his position, garnering a "Full Flop" award from PolitiFact.
On Cliff, Ryan Faces Choice of Two Paths - NationalJournal.com Will the House Budget Committee chairman opt for ideological purity or bipartisan pragmatism? (take a guess)
Joe Lieberman: Fiscal Cliff Deal Is 'Not A Certainty' Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) warned Sunday that while congressional hopes remain high to reach an agreement on the so-called fiscal cliff, a deal is "not a certainty."
Patty Murray likely to be a key voice in Senate on budget deal - The Washington Post Murray reasons that might make it easier to get Republicans to agree to reinstate the cuts only for the middle class and let the nation’s wealthiest 2 percent pay more toward the reducing the debt, as Democrats desire. (if you don't count Obama as a "Democrat")

Tea Party Path to Victory: Go After Moderate Republicans in 2014 | Crooks and Liars - and hope to weed out Republicans they consider insufficiently conservative.
Political Animal - The Tea Party … comin’ back at ya! True to form, they believe they’ve learned a lesson: Republicans still aren’t conservative enough!
Political Animal - When conservatives talk about ideas, they euphemistically rely on abstractions — because it covers up the creepy reality . American conservatives are more likely to have a strict ideal of what they think the world should be, and which they believe everyone should conform to. They tend to believe society and human happiness would be best served if everyone were straight, Christian, married, living in a patriarchal nuclear family, preferably living in a nonurban area, etc. (+the "rape guys" probably would have won if they had had better media training)
The National Memo » 5 Tea Party Republicans We Won’t See In Congress In 2013
Daily Kos: Comparing state-by-state presidential performance: 2012 vs. 2008

Hullabaloo: Chump change exchange update - And the President has already basically agreed to it by emphasizing his "balanced approach" and saying that he's willing to betray his own "special interests" (which translates to old and sick people) in order to get a deal as long as the rich "pay a little bit more." His promise of 2-1 spending to revenue locks in the idea that the wealthy will be contributing chump change while average people will feel that pain.It's only a matter of the details at this point.

California as a model of good voting practices - latimes.com If we want to 'fix' voting in America, the Golden State could be the model.

David Brooks Still Peddling Lie That Bush Administration Invaded Iraq on Faulty Intelligence | Video Cafe Brooks almost nonchalantly brushed off the fact that the Bush administration did lie about the WMDs in Iraq and that it was not a failure by the intelligence agencies, but the Bush administration misrepresenting that intelligence. (abetted by Mark "I'm an idiot" Shields and PBS Fox-Lite)

Top Republican rebels against Norquist tax pledge — MSNBC “Grover Norquist has no plan to pay this debt down,” Chambliss said to a local news station in his home state. “His plan says you continue to add to the debt. I just have a fundamental disagreement with him about that.”
Lindsey Graham: 'I Will Violate The Pledge' To Not Increase Taxes (but only if Dems abandon Social Security/Medicaid/etc)
Rove’s plan won’t work: Don’t count on Latino social conservatism - Salon.com
Corey Robin - Libertarians in Alabama Derrick Belcher, a libertarian in Alabama, is so furious that the government shut down his topless car wash business that he’s organized a petition for Alabama to secede from the union. There’s just one catch: the government that shut him down is the state of Alabama. (libertards)

LIPA Customers Left Without Power For Weeks Sent Normal Electric Bills Despite Blackouts

Mars Dust Storm May Affect NASA Rovers Opportunity, Curiosity
Japan Building Magnetic Levitation Train - Business Insider

'Human error' to blame for Massachusetts strip club gas blast | World news | guardian.co.uk Utilities worker thought to be responsible for puncturing pipe before explosion that flattened a Springfield strip club, injuring 18 (oopsie)

King Croesus's golden brooch to be returned to Turkey | World news | The Guardian After an investigation the director of the museum, Kazim Akbiyikoglu, who had been instrumental in recovering the artefacts from the US, was arrested with 10 others. Akbiyikoglu admitted selling museum treasures to pay off gambling debts and was jailed for 13 years. He blamed his misfortune on an ancient curse said to afflict those who handle the treasure.
Jesus wept … oh, it's bad plumbing. Indian rationalist targets 'miracles' | World news | guardian.co.uk Sanal Edamaruku faces jail for revealing 'tears' trickling down a Mumbai church statue came from clogged drainage pipe ... The renowned rationalist was accused of blasphemy, charged with offences that carry a three-year prison sentence and eventually, after receiving death threats, had to seek exile in Finland. (Ireland has the same law)

Police investigating death of Caylee Anthony missed vital Google search | World news | guardian.co.uk TV station says search for "fool-proof suffication" was made from within home of mother Casey Anthony on 16 June 2008 - a forensic computer expert missed the 16 June 2008 Google enquiry. ("expert" forgot to look in "history")

GoatPostman comments on ELI5: How do people film things from different angles without showing the other cameras?
Camera Movement Children of Men - YouTube
Charlie Brooker's Screenwipe - Reality TV Editing - YouTube

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Egypt's top judges condemn Mohamed Morsi power grab | World news | guardian.co.uk Supreme judicial council suspends all court offices and says president made 'unprecedented assault' on its independence
Mohamed Morsi, Egyptian President, Faces Judicial Revolt Over Decree
Egyptian Left/Liberals Confront Pres. Morsi with Rallies, Demos in 8 Provinces | Informed Comment
Gaza's cycle of aggression shapes new generations more militant than the last | World news | The Guardian The humanising experiences of middle-aged Palestinians and Israelis who had contact in everyday situations have faded away, replaced by confrontation, trauma and hatred (as ye sow)
Palestinian Death Shows Confusion Over Gaza Truce - NYTimes.com
Remote control: How Obama orchestrated ceasefire - Israel News, Ynetnews
Pakistan Cuts Back on Cellphone Coverage - NYTimes.com Pakistan is suspending phone coverage in many cities this weekend, an important one in the Shiite Muslim calendar, after a series of bomb attacks on Shiites set off by cellphones

New Fatal SARS-Related Cases Reported in Middle East - NYTimes.com Four new cases of a new SARS-related coronavirus in the Middle East were reported by the World Health Organization on Friday.

The GOP’s bizarre attack on Susan Rice - The Washington Post Could it be, as members of the Congressional Black Caucus are charging, that the signatories of the letter are targeting Ms. Rice because she is an African American woman? The signatories deny that, and we can’t know their hearts. What we do know is that more than 80 of the signatories are white males, and nearly half are from states of the former Confederacy. You’d think that before launching their broadside, members of Congress would have taken care not to propagate any falsehoods of their own. (nah, couldn't have anything to do with race +it's always good news for John McCain)
Why Susan Rice Will Be Confirmed As Secretary of State -- New York Magazine The Republicans have thrown down the gauntlet over the possibility that Susan Rice will replace Hillary Clinton. But the winner is already clear - 4. Because McCain is being a jackass—and Obama is sick of it. Arguably more than any other national figure, the senior senator from Arizona is driven in every aspect of his public behavior by personal pique.

President Barack Obama schmoozes with Thai PM Yingluck Shinawatra on first stop of historic Asia visit | Mail Online - gets flirty

After Hurricane Sandy, The Costs Of Doing Nothing To Protect New York Come Into Focus

Supreme Court nears gay marriage decision over Doma-related cases | World news | guardian.co.uk Justices will decide next week whether to consider the constitutionality of same-sex marriage (should be interesting)

Miami Dolphins Cheerleaders "Call Me Maybe" By Carly Rae Jepson Military Tribute - YouTube (dKos: "Now a military unit in Afghanistan has released this technicolor nightmare that will run in an endless loop in poor Tony Perkins' mind forever")
U.S. troops take on Miami Dolphins Cheerleaders in a cover battle of "Call Me Maybe" - The Feed Blog - CBS News

Harold Meyerson: What Mitt Romney’s ‘takers’ really want from government - The Washington Post By all but destroying unions in the private sector, however, the same business executives who applauded Romney’s condemnation of “takers” greatly enlarged the pool of Americans who must “take” to survive. If these self-designated makers feel beleaguered by takers, they have only themselves to blame.
RealClearMarkets - A Cure For Blue State Fiscal Blues Meanwhile, all of those folks in Red states looking to secede from the union would get a taste of true small government.
With Stickers, a Petition and Even a Middle Name, Secession Fever Hits Texas - NYTimes.com

How To Stop Sexual Assault in the Ranks | TIME.com
This DEA Agent Was Told Not To Enforce Drug Laws In White Areas. Yes, Really.

ThinkProgress “Their answer was that they had no intention of granting pension survivor benefits to legally married same-sex couples because they didn’t have to,” (DOMA)
U.S. officials tell state to use same standards to grade charter schools - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Federal education officials have denied Pennsylvania's request to evaluate charter school achievement using more lenient criteria, saying they must be assessed by the same standard as traditional schools.

UNEP Greenhouse Gas Emissions Report Finds Climate Change Goals Growing More Elusive
U.N. Climate Talks: Will U.S. Take More Central Role After Bout Of Extreme Weather?

Neuroscience - Under Attack - NYTimes.com Additionally, publications from The Guardian to the New Statesman have published pieces blasting popular neuroscience-dependent writers like Jonah Lehrer and Malcolm Gladwell
Neuroskeptic: The New "Mood Disorder" That Isn't One The storied history of "Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder (DMDD)", a controversial new child psychiatric disorder proposed for inclusion in the new DSM-5 manual, continues. (the new bi-polar Dx for kids)

“The Man Who Saved the Union: Ulysses Grant in War and Peace” by H. W. Brands - The Washington Post

Slim Suits Help Lead Gains in Men’s Wear - NYTimes.com “Men are the new women,”

Scientists See Advances in Deep Learning, a Part of Artificial Intelligence - NYTimes.com Using an artificial intelligence technique inspired by theories about how the brain recognizes patterns, technology companies are reporting startling gains in fields as diverse as computer vision, speech recognition and the identification of promising new molecules for designing drugs.


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Sorry Folks: Israel’s Iron Dome Won’t Work in Asia (only works on putzy Palestian missiles)

Leahy scuttles his warrantless e-mail surveillance bill | Politics and Law - CNET News After public criticism of proposal that lets government agencies warrantlessly access Americans' e-mail, Sen. Patrick Leahy says he will "not support" such an idea at next week's vote (not letting the gov read everyone's email would have "an adverse effect on criminal investigations)

Grand Old Planet - NYTimes.com Reading Mr. Rubio’s interview is like driving through a deeply eroded canyon; all at once, you can clearly see what lies below the superficial landscape. Like striated rock beds that speak of deep time, his inability to acknowledge scientific evidence speaks of the anti-rational mind-set that has taken over his political party ...If evidence seems to contradict faith, suppress the evidence. (don't need no steenking science)

How Obamacare Came To The Fiscal Cliff - Esquire
24 States To Be Dominated By Republicans In 2013 | ThinkProgress Power will be divided evenly in just 12 capitals — the fewest since 1952.
Daily Kos: New Obamacare challenge: Informing millions that they will benefit
Daily Kos: Surprise! Report says income inequality still getting worse in most states The five states with the largest such gaps are New Mexico, California, Georgia, Mississippi, and Arizona.
Daily Kos: 'Likely voter' polling screens were skewed toward Romney The problem with these results were overly restrictive likely voter screens.
Political Animal - More 2012 Fun From the Numbers Crunchers - 22 percent of 18-29 year olds consider themselves Evangelical Christians, compared to 31 percent who are non-Christian. - Live by the sword, die by the sword.
Balloon Juice » Ceasefire? this year’s installment of The War on Christmas, but is that even a thing anymore? I don’t have my finger on the pulse of the right wing, but my sense is that losing a few battles in the War on Gays might have the warriors in retreat on all fronts
Daily Kos: $40 million pissed away attacking Sherrod Brown

Brad DeLong: Barney Frank: Obama Rejected Bush Administration Concession to Write Down Mortgages The choices were to create some sort of legal entity to write down mortgage debt or to allow the write-down of mortgage debt through a massive wave of foreclosures over the next four to six years. He choice the latter. That choice was part of what led to roughly $7 trillion of middle class wealth gone, with financial assets for the elites re-inflated ... the growth of income inequality under Obama is worse than that under Bush (Obama's $7TRILLION fuckyou to the middle class)

Rise Above, CNBC's move into advocacy : CJR Corporate America’s house organ starts an anti-political political campaign
C Is For Class Warfare - NYTimes.com - CNBC’s decision to drop even the pretense of journalistic objectivity and throw its weight behind the deficit scolds. Basically, the network has gone all in on behalf of the 0.01 percent ... a tribal identity thing; the consumers of business news want to see themselves as part of the economic elite, although they mostly aren’t xs
Political Animal - The Lickspittle Business Channel

A Failed Experiment - NYTimes.com the World Economic Forum ranks American infrastructure 25th in the world, down from 8th in 2003-4, yet infrastructure is barely mentioned by politicians ... In cities with high economic inequality, such as New York and Los Angeles, more than 1 percent of all employees work as private security guards
Climate Change Challenges Transportation System In The U.S.

Walmart Strikers Arrested in SoCal Civil Disobedience | The Nation
Political Animal - The Small Business Store-Front small businesses have long been the store-front behind which Republicans have protected their intense commitment to lower tax rates for the very wealthiest Americans.

NBC News Blocked Chelsea Clinton Marriage Equality Ad: Report Though she has filed very few reports for the network, NBC has reportedly prevented her from making a series of political moves during the past year. In October, the New York Post claimed that Clinton had been virtually absent from the 2012 campaign trail because of her NBC job.

The Humbling Tragedy of Jesse Jackson Jr. - The Daily Beast Once considered a potential presidential candidate, the congressman and son of the famous civil-rights leader resigned his House seat as he negotiates with federal prosecutors.

Sam Harris - Death and the Present Moment - YouTube
Autism-God Study Suggests Disorder Makes Belief In Deity Less Likely
Sherwin Nuland: How electroshock therapy changed me | Video on TED.com
1.3 Million Women Received Unnecessary And Invasive Cancer Treatment, Study Finds | ThinkProgress Routine mammograms have caused more than a million U.S. women to receive “unnecessary and invasive cancer treatments over the last 30 years,” a new study finds, detecting tumors that are harmless.
Nearly half of cancer survivors died from conditions other than cancer

Big History theories pose latest challenge to traditional curriculum | Education | The Observer ¦ The human body has changed more in the past 100 years than in the previous 50,000. Adults are 50% heavier and four inches taller. (+Euros killed a third of the world's population when they invaded America)
The Omega Point by *kevinleedrum on deviantART Behind every man now alive stand thirty ghosts, for that is the ratio by which the dead outnumber the living. Since the dawn of time, roughly a hundred billion human beings have walked the planet Earth.

NASA - New 2013 Phases of the Moon Animation Released

Cube Laser Virtual Keyboard - wordlessTech
Windows 8 — Disappointing Usability for Both Novice & Power Users (Jakob Nielsen's Alertbox)
Analysts turn negative on Windows 8 prospects | Microsoft - CNET News Windows 8 gets little love from analysts. They cite a mix of factors including a confusing interface and confused positioning of Windows 8 and Windows RT

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Israel and Hamas Maintain Cease-Fire, After Push by the U.S. and Egypt - NYTimes.com
Egypt Leader and Obama Forge Link in Gaza Deal - NYTimes.com
Israel-Gaza Conflict: Ceasefire Holds As Gazans Clean Up
Iron Dome Gaza Rocket Shootdowns Cost Israel $25-$30 Million (all paid for by US taxpayers, so who cares?)
Saudi Arabia implements electronic tracking system for women | The Raw Story

Will UK Criminal Charges Bring U.S. News Corp Prosecution? | Crooks and Liars
Crisis in Church of England After Rejection of Female Bishops - NYTimes.com its spiritual leader said Wednesday that the church had “undoubtedly lost a measure of credibility” and had a “lot of explaining to do” to people who found its deliberations opaque ... a huge setback to a campaign for change that has been debated intensely and often bitterly for the past decade ... the synod’s voting procedures require a two-thirds majority in each of its three “houses”: bishops, clergy and laity. (like the Senate, but tripled)

Susan Rice Defends Benghazi Remarks: U.S. Ambassador Dismisses McCain Accusations She said she respects Republican Sen. John McCain, who has been critical of her, but says "some of the statements he's made about me have been unfounded, but I look forward to having the opportunity at the appropriate time to discuss all of this with him."
Benghazi and the Fox News Effect | Mother Jones The only segment of the country that really cares about the sham Benghazi scandal is Republicans, and the reason Republicans are riled up about it is because of Fox News. (yes, Rupert is behind it all)
Maddow Takes Down McCain For All the Times He Said Something Wrong on a Sunday Show | Video Cafe

Ruth Marcus: Is Paula Broadwell’s wardrobe fair game? - The Washington Post The halter was not a one-off, it was a theme. In Afghanistan, The Post reported, Broadwell’s “form-fitting clothes made a lasting impression on longtime Afghan hands, and Petraeus once admonished her, through a staffer, to ‘dress down.’?”
Jill Kelley Recommended for Award by Petraeus The award, the country's second-highest honor for a civilian, was given to acknowledge Kelley's "selfless contributions" and "willingness to host engagements" for top pols and military brass. (party-girl award)

GOP’s big Social Security lie - Salon.com Right-wing sharks are using America's increased life expectancy as an excuse to gut one of its best-loved programs

White House To Boehner: Obamacare Not Part Of Fiscal Cliff Deal (also, Obama refuses to resign)
Daily Kos: Mitt Romney '47 percent' watch: 47.5 If Romney drops to 47.49 percent of the vote, his totals will round to 47 percent, which would be deliciously ironic.
Romney's Greatest Gift Of All For Democrats Was Clarifying For Voters Which Party Was On Whose Side. That Wasn't So Obvious Two Years Ago. | The New Republic Not just for being a clumsy candidate in a year when a more agile one might have knocked off Barack Obama—but for the broader benefit he served the Democratic Party as a powerful clarifying force. (clarifying the evil and stupid)
Podhoretz Has Awkward Postelection Epiphany -- Daily Intel - The astonishing turnabout in the evaluation of Obama’s campaign, from delusional nincompoops to the most terrifyingly efficient campaign apparatus in history, helps Podhoretz reach his desired conclusion, that Obama’s victory owed nothing at all to his policy platform. (therefore, Republican don't have to change)
Chambliss Says He Won't Be Bound by Tax Pledge "But I don't worry about that because I care too much about my country. I care a lot more about it than I do Grover Norquist."
Tax Credits for Fetuses GOP lawmakers in Michigan have proposed a tax credit for unborn fetuses, less than a year after they eliminated a tax credit for children.
Daily Kos: Having fun at the teabaggers' expense (they are really both very stupid and insane)
Alaskan town home to airport with no planes and harbor with no road | The Sideshow - Yahoo! News Well, another town in "Seward's Icebox" has upped the ante after building an unused $75.5 million airport and a $29 million harbor with no roads connecting to the town.
Hullabaloo It would appear that Rush Limbaugh's vile form of commentary is starting to have a negative impact on radio profits as a whole: (Rush=Radio; live by the lie, die by the lie)
Daily Kos: Limbaugh advertiser backlash DIRECTLY responsible for radio industry downturn: –radio network exec Yes, it seems that Rush Limbaugh is irrevocably losing "his" country.

Massachusetts financial firms must build relations with Warren, a sharp critic of Wall Street - Metro - The Boston Globe Campaign views are set aside
Hostess and the Limits of the Private Welfare State | Jacobin
The Twinkie Defense, or What Does “Uncompetitive” Mean? | Jacobin - This is a well-known phenomenon in economics: it’s called downward nominal wage rigidity. (employees aren't quite slaves)

Changes Needed After Hurricane Sandy Include Politics - NYTimes.com New York clearly ought to have taken certain steps a while back, no-brainers after the fact. ("a while back" = Irene; what did Bloomberg know and when did he choose to ignore it?) )
Daily Kos: An Apology To Katrina Victims

Ecstasy Treatment for Post-Traumatic Stress Shows Promise - NYTimes.com The soldiers have no interest in traditional talking cures or prescription drugs that have given them little relief. They are lining up to try an alternative: MDMA, better known as Ecstasy
The Evidence on E.M.D.R. - NYTimes.com

Trump Steakhouse Hit With 51 Violations After Officials Find Month-Old Caviar, Expired Yogurt (long past his exp. date)
More Women Are Literally Chopping Off Their Pinky Toes to Fit Into High Heels eighty-seven percent of women have had foot problems from wearing uncomfortable or ill-fitting shoes.
Sex won't bring on labor: study | Yahoo! Health


Police Raid 9-Year-Old Pirate Bay Girl, Confiscate Winnie The Pooh Laptop | TorrentFreak
In Search Engine Results, a Peek at What We Wonder - NYTimes.com now sites like Google and Bing are showing the precise questions that are most frequently asked, giving everyone a chance to peer virtually over one another’s shoulders at private curiosities. And they are revealing interesting patterns.

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How the 'imminent' Gaza ceasefire unravelled | World news | guardian.co.uk A truce was said to be in the bag on Tuesday night, but hit stumbling blocks in a sign of the problems that lie ahead
Israel-Hamas Ceasefire: Egypt Announces Peace Deal To Take Effect At 9 P.M.
Israel-Gaza Conflict Reaches Cease-Fire After Egyptians, U.S. Broker Deal
Israel-Gaza Truce Deal Agreed To, Israel Will Not Lift Gaza Blockade
GOP Senators Attack Obama, Praise Egyptian President In Statement On Gaza Ceasefire | ThinkProgress
Gilad Sharon, Son Of Former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, Writes Op-Ed: 'We Need To Flatten Entire Neighborhoods In Gaza'
Anderson Cooper Fires Back on Twitter While Avoiding Rockets in Gaza - Hollywood Reporter - Embedded in Gaza City, Cooper has provided both military updates and snark, telling one woman to "spend less time tweeting about coconut flan and more time actually following the news."

Filipino ex-employees say Grand Isle Shipyard pressed them into 'involuntary servitude' | NOLA.com

Church of England governing body blocks move to approve female bishops - The Washington Post backers failed to gain the necessary majority by six votes. (victory for the patriarchy)

All Train Service at Penn Station Suspended Due to Switching Problem - NYTimes.com Just in time for the Thanksgiving-eve getaway, all service into and out of Pennsylvania Station – including Amtrak, New Jersey Transit and Long Island Rail Road trains — was shut down at 5:20 p.m. because of a switching problem, railroad officials said.

Why rich guys want to raise the retirement age - If you’re wealthy, you do have many more years to enjoy Social Security. But if you’re not, you don’t. And so making it so people who aren’t wealthy have to wait longer to use Social Security is a particularly cruel and regressive way to cut the program
Hullabaloo Tell Uncle Charlie he's not going to live forever after all (the "life-expectancy" zombie lie)

Daily Kos: Like white on Rice: Republican critics say there's nothing racist in their digs
NY Times' Maureen Dowd Defies Her Paper's Reporting To Attack Susan Rice Over Benghazi | Blog | Media Matters for America (facts have never gotten in her way)

Fiscal Cliff Compromise - The Grand Cynicism Of The Grand Bargain - Esquire unless the Democrats demonstrate their good faith by beginning the process of abandoning the party's historic commitment to even our current threadbare social safety net. In return, the Republicans promise to (maybe) close some tax loopholes and ask the richest people in the country to toss some boutonniere money into the pot.

Could Filibuster Reform in the Senate Help Obama's Judicial Nominees? : The New Yorker
Political Animal - What Obama Can Do Without Congress
Eight Ways Obama Can Jam Through His Agenda Without Congress: The Unilateralist Manifesto. | The New Republic

Millions will qualify for new options under the health care law. Most have no idea. (most are idiots)
Political Animal - The Dangerous Cycle Of Ignorance About Obamacare ... And that’s the most annoying part of the whole anti-Obamacare campaign: it’s the public officials in the states most in need who have so deliberately and egregiously failed to perform their responsibilities. Wherever possible, some payback in 2014 would be most appropriate.

Big Banks vs. Elizabeth Warren: It's On (Again!) | Mother Jones The fight between the financial industry and Senator-elect Elizabeth Warren heats up again over her possible nomination to the Senate banking committee.
Banks Work Hard to Keep Warren from Banking Committee

White House To Boehner: Obamacare Not Part Of Fiscal Cliff Deal (neither is resigning)
Dan Senor, Mitt Romney Adviser, Blasts Republicans For Deserting Candidate After Loss
The New Republicans - NYTimes.com So what should we call these new Republicans? I have a suggestion: why not call them “Democrats”? ... today’s Republican party is an alliance between the plutocrats and the preachers, plus some opportunists along for the ride
From the Maker of Unskewed Polling Comes: The Obama Voter Fraud Map (teh crazee never stops)
You Can’t Stop the Hackery, You Can Only Hope to Contain It - Lawyers, Guns & Money : Lawyers, Guns & Money Glenn Reynolds wants you to know that when it comes to secession, bothsidesdoit: (hack, hack)
Balloon Juice » » Berated for Competence - on Christie: A real Republican would have let his state drown while berating Obama. -
Obama Campaign Polls: How The Internal Data Got It Right
Florida GOP More Likely to Play by Rules in 2016 | RealClearPolitics
How The Conservative Media Lost The Election The plan was to unmask Obama. It didn't work. Now the loose coalition of scrappy bloggers, advocacy journalists, and unrepentant trolls who spent four years writing about Jeremiah Wright and Saul Alinsky are coming to terms with reality: The polls weren't skewed, and their narrative didn't stick.
More Sore Losers Than Normal? Joe Klein: "Has there ever been a less gracious presidential loser than Mitt Romney? (John McCain?)

Josh Eidelson: The True Power of Walmart Workers | The Nation
Paul Krugman: CNBC Is 'Bad For Your Financial And Intellectual Health' Don’t spend much time watching CNBC," the Nobel Prize-winning economist and New York Times columnist wrote in a blog post Wednesday. "It’s bad for your financial and intellectual health." Krugman wrote that "the network has gone all in on behalf of the 0.01 percent."


Bill McBride Of Calculated Risk - Business Insider The economics blogosphere was invented in early 2005 by a retired technology executive in Southern California named Bill McBride (Calculated Risk).

Barack Obama In 2008: Bible's Account Of God Creating Earth 'Essentially True' (you know who else isn't a scientist?)
Political Animal - No Such Thing as A La Carte Science
Why Marco Rubio Needs To Know That The Earth Is Billions Of Years Old - Forbes (his fucking nukes might melt-down any minute)
Raw Meat: Y files: On The Age Of The Planet Earth
A Year in Jail for Not Believing in God? How Kentucky is Persecuting Atheists | Alternet In Kentucky, a homeland security law requires the state’s citizens to acknowledge the security provided by the Almighty God--or risk 12 months in prison.

Jesse Jackson Jr. Resignation: Illinois Congressman Is Leaving Congress
Karen Handel, Former Susan G. Komen Executive, Reportedly Considering Senate Bid - Handel lashed out at Planned Parenthood for her downfall, calling members of the organization "a bunch of schoolyard thugs."
WVII Bangor Newsanchors Cindy Michaels, Tony Consiglio Quit On-Air (VIDEO) Michaels, WVII's news director, cited "constant disrespecting and belittling of staff" and editorial intervention by higher-ups. "It’s a little complicated, but we were expected to do somewhat unbalanced news, politically, in general,” she added.
It’s All About The Benjamins | Southern Beale Failed Connecticut Republican candidate for U.S. Senate Linda McMahon has some very angry ex-staffers. Seems McMahon. the pro wrestling magnate, has not paid her campaign workers. Let’s just say hilarity did not ensue when one affected staff member took his plight to the local media ... “Basically he handed me a check with a condom in it, told me I was screwed,” His check bounced as well.
Homeland Security Has Spent $430 Million on Radios Its Employees Don’t Know How to Use | TPMMuckraker

Bats Left/Throws Right: And This Time We Mean It ONCE More with Feeling: it is, without question, the election of Ronald Wilson "Gipper" Reagan which marks the beginning of the decline of the American Empire, though it had been busy shooting off its toes for the previous three-and-one-half decades.

Eschaton: Fools! Stop Listening To Me!!!!!! Remember that Joey Scar called the gay wizard a "joke."
Balloon Juice » Blog Archive » Morning Joe Sort of Apologizes to Nate Silver But Not Really It’s the sort of apology issued by people who can never admit that they were wrong about anything. In other words: Republicans. And of course it attempts to revise history, because that’s what Republicans do. (lying little weasel)
Joe Scarborough Nate Silver Apology - Nate Silver Continues To Bother Joe Scarborough - Esquire We had a fine lesson today in How Not To Apologize To Someone. Joe Scarborough, former pursuer of the Clinton penis, onetime congresscritter who left to spend more time with his family and then promptly got married to someone else ...
Scarborough: "The Conservative Entertainment Complex" "Severely Hurt" The GOP With Its Pro-Romney, Anti-Obama Drumbeat | Video | Media Matters for America (o rly)
The Grenade of Understanding: Winners of the Write-Like-Friedman Challenge | Matt Taibbi | Rolling Stone

Is Nate Silver a Wizard or simply Above Average? | PunditTracker Blog

Children Exposed to Nicotine in Utero Have Lower Reading Scores | SciTech Daily
Video: Animal Odd Couples | Watch Nature Online | PBS Video

Facebook To Nix Public Voting On Privacy Changes?

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Israel Gaza Attacks Intensify Despite Truce Talks
Turkish Prime Minister: ‘Israel Is A Terrorist State’ « CBS DC
The Cost Of Iron Dome - The Daily Beast

Former Murdoch Aides to Be Charged With Bribery - NYTimes.com Rebekah Brooks, 44, and Andy Coulson, 44, both of whom have had close personal or professional ties to Prime Minister David Cameron.

Climate: Amid budget scrutiny, CIA shutters climate center -- 11/19/2012 -- www.eenews.net
David Petraeus’ Response to Climate Change: MOAR DRONZ! | emptywheel the CIA closed its climate change center because David Petraeus thought it more important to hunt terrorists with drones

McCain: 'Surprised' By Report That DNI Removed Terrorism References In Rice's Benghazi Talking Points | TPM LiveWire
John McCain's Long War Against Susan Rice
The War On Rice - Lawyers, Guns & Money (+MoDo an awful person)
House Republicans Oppose Susan Rice in Letter to Obama - NYTimes.com

Electronic Communications Privacy Act: Patrick Leahy Hits Back At Report That Legislation Would Decrease Americans' Privacy

New report describes Broadwell emails to Kelley as ‘death threats’ | The Ticket - Yahoo! News

The New York Times Reporters Do Not Understand How Marginal Tax Rates Work

Romney Likely to End Up at 47% Cook Political Report says new votes in from Maryland put Romney at 47.56 percent. He predicts with certainty that with all of New York and California counted, Romney will end up below 47.5 percent of the vote. Rounded, of course, that would put the final tally at 51% to 47%." (perfect)

Could This Be End of the Filibuster? - Bloomberg

Denialists, Whiners, and Wackjobs - Newsweek and The Daily Beast
The worst candidate of 2012 We are giving The Fixy for worst candidate of 2012 to Texas Gov. Rick Perry for his remarkably poor presidential campaign.
Political Animal - The Phony War Intensifies For the cynical-minded, today’s front-line reporting from the Struggle for the Soul of the Republican Party can induce bitter laughter: in response to “establishment” talk that Republicans need a clearer and more systematic conservative message that is marketed un-stupidly
Political Animal - Another Non-Struggle For the Soul Even as much of the MSM buys into the largely phony meme of bitter internecine controversy among Republicans, who are actually united in a more-conservatism-with-tweaks strategy going forward, there’s growing talk of Democratic divisions
Republicans Say Election Losses Just Mean They Need Better Candidates (double down on the crazy)
The New Republicans - NYTimes.com So what should we call these new Republicans? I have a suggestion: why not call them “Democrats”?
Limbaugh Suggests Obama Purposely "Wreck[ed] The Economy" So He Could Play "Santa Claus" With Government Benefits | Video | Media Matters for America

Stanley Kutler: Mitch McConnell and the Art of Dysfunction McConnell wanted the president not to propose his own agenda and policies, but to offer "solutions" that would satisfy Republicans -- and undoubtedly on their own terms.
Political Animal - Polarization and Federalism All but three states — Iowa, Kentucky and New Hampshire — have one-party control of their legislatures, the highest mark since 1928.

Tom Udall On Citizens United And The Bold Solution to Overturn It - Esquire - Esquire Udall is the driving force to repeal Citizens United through a constitutional amendment.
In Which Ron Paul Teaches Us About Secession - Ron Paul State Secession - Esquire Secondly, secession hasn't been a "deeply held American principle" since Pickett's division came staggering back from Cemetery Ridge.
The Long Climb Up Bushwa Mountain - Fix The Debt Climbs Mount Kilimanjaro - Esquire Fix The Debt, of course, is merely the latest scam by people in the financial services industry through which they are ginning up a fake crisis in order to get their teeth into what gristle is left for the rest of us on the bones of our economy.
Scott Walker's Not-So-Little Legal Snag - Scott Walker Campaign Investigation - Esquire Gov. Scott Walker and his top campaign and Milwaukee County aides were named Monday as part of a team that routinely commingled political and official county business.
Following Obama's Victory, Wisconsin Governor Proposes New Limits On Voter Registration | ThinkProgress
Cuomo Will Not (And Must Not) Be the 2016 Democratic Nominee - Lawyers, Guns & Money

Pulaski County Library: Conservative Group Tries To Disband District Over Tax Hike The group aims to shutter the Pulaski County library's special taxing district after the district increased taxes by $1 over the last year (books are socialistic)

The Washington Monthly - Ten Miles Square - Taxing Things that Are Bad for Us (hurts the poor the most)

Tina Brown on the End of 'Newsweek' in Print and Future of Newsweeklies -- New York Magazine

'Mount Doom' Likely to Blow Soon - Yahoo! News Mount Ruapehu, a New Zealand volcano that stood in for Mount Doom in the "Lord of the Rings" movies, seems to be heading for an eruption.

How to Make Rick Simpson's Medicinal Hemp Oil Safely - YouTube
The TRUTH about Rick Simpson's Hemp Oil (Part 2) - YouTube
Make The Medicine « Phoenix Tears
Dosage Information « Phoenix Tears

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Timeline: Who Started the Israel-Gaza Conflict? - Robert Wright - The Atlantic Thursday, November 8 In an exchange of fire on the border of Gaza with militants from the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC), Israeli forces killed a 12 year old (or 13 year old ) Palestinian boy." (and so Netanyahu's phoney war began)
Dalu Family In Gaza Mourns Dead After Israel Bombs House (WARNING: Graphic Photos) Nine members of the Dalu family, a mother and her four children, a grandmother, great grandmother and two aunts died in the Gaza strike. Two other neighbours were also killed as the building collapsed. (living while Palestinian)
Israel’s Shortsighted Assassination - NYTimes.com (not really, Netanyahu wanted to make sure there was no one left to negotiate with)
Israel Airstrike Hits Al Aqsa, Hamas TV Station, In High-Rise In Downtown Gaza City
AP: Strike On Media Center Killed Top Leader Of Islamic Jihad | TPM LiveWire
Israel faces millions of hacking attempts - CSMonitor.com Since the conflict with Gaza began, the Israeli government has blocked more than 44 million hacking attempts on government web sites. (oh sure)

David Petraeus Scandal - CIA Drone Attacks - Esquire - The Real Petraeus Scandal: His CIA Killing Machine
Christopher Stevens and the Problem of American Diplomacy - NYTimes.com
Political Animal - Behind the Benghazi Frenzy
A Growing Void Where Facts Were Once Checked - NYTimes.com It should be the moment of truth for the mainstream media. Literally. But it seems to have all the makings of a perfect storm, from London to Gaza to Jerusalem.
Report: 70 Percent Of Retired Generals Took Jobs With Defense Contractors Or Consultants

Daily Politics Blog - Charles P. Pierce - Political Blogging - Esquire As The Real Housewives Of Centcom continues to unspool, leave it to Tiger Beat on the Potomac to go spelunking as deeply as it can into the Gorge Of Eternal Drudgewhoring.
Susan Rice and The Sunday Shows - Esquire - Esquire In the course of Watergate, members of the Executive Branch lied to the FBI, lied to federal prosecutors, and lied to various congressional committees for the purpose of covering up crimes in which they were intimately involved. Susan Rice may have said something later found to be inaccurate to David Gregory. John McCain finds the latter just as serious as the former. I think the man needs a cookie. And some thorazine. I think the country needs a new power elite. Stat.

SEC Rocked By Lurid Sex-and-Corruption Lawsuit | Matt Taibbi | Rolling Stone - In a salacious 77-page complaint that reads like Penthouse Forum meets The Insider meets the Keystone Kops, one David Weber, the former chief investigator for the SEC Inspector General's office, accuses the SEC of retaliating against Weber for coming forward as a whistleblower.

The GOP’s Favorite New Punching Bag: Mitt Romney | TPMDC If Mitt Romney has any friends left in the Republican Party, they’re in hiding.
Political Animal - The Man Who Couldn’t Whistle Much of the weekend political “news” involved serial Republican efforts to bury Mitt Romney far below the surface of future visibility, mainly on grounds that he has created the outrageous impression that conservatives look down on certain elements of the population ... . But it’s richly ironic that he’s being attacked by hard-core conservatives for a heresy that is central to their own world-view.
Tom Price: Balanced Approach Means No Revenue Through Tax Hikes | TPM LiveWire (die, Social Security, die!)
Booman Tribune ~ A Progressive Community If the Republican Party is the bug, the question is, are they in the toilet or are they in the sink? (new rising "superstars" in the GOP will save them)
Republicans Say GOP Needs Revamp After Romney Defeat Graham, who has taken part in a bipartisan effort to fashion immigration reform legislation, said the Republican Party is "in a death spiral with Hispanic voters." (angry white guy thing not working out for them)
Andrew Cuomo, fake Democrat - Salon.com - New York's governor might lead his party in 2016. So why won't he fight for a state Senate majority they earned? (hopelessly compromised)
Chris Christie Pushes Camden Police Force To Disband, Despite Questions Over New Plan's Finances
Marco Rubio: Actual Age Of Earth Is 'One Of The Great Mysteries' "I'm not a scientist, man." (no, you're an idiot ... and member of the Senate "Science" Committee)
Political Animal - Rubio’s Best Friend (Other Than His Wife) But anyone who thinks of Rubio as a potential GOP vehicle for “modernizing” the party should think again given his proud kinship to the antediluvian DeMint, the heaviest right-wing heavy of them all. You don’t need to be a “scientist, man” to spot a brontosaurus when you see one.
Florida's West to fight defeat in U.S. House race | Reuters "This election is far from over," West's campaign manager, Tim Edson, said in a statement that called the results "highly suspect."
Roger Ailes: Music Makes The People Come Together (read comments on DuJan's idiot pre-election article; did all these people kill themselves out of embarrassment?
Texas Won't Turn Democratic Until At Least 2028 | The New Republic

Is Rush Limbaugh's Country Gone? - NYTimes.com (America becoming socialistic)
Clear Channel quietly pruning scores of staff - Toledo Blade Clear Channel, the largest radio station operator in the country, is partially owned by Bain Capital, which is the company founded and previously run by former Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney. Debt-ridden Clear Channel, headquartered in San Antonio, has been quietly pruning its corporate structure since late 2011. (Bained, couldn't happen to a nicer corp)
Daily Kos: Clear Channel promotes death threats against Democratic candidate Wingnut radio host Brian Wilson of Clear Channel's WSPD conservative talk radio station in Toledo, OH, gave the home phone number of Democratic mayoral candidate Ben Konop out over the air during a rant against him. Konop subsequently received numerous death threats and was confronted by a WSPD listener with a hunting knife. (free market worked on this asshole)

The Twinkie Manifesto - NYTimes.com America in the 1950s made the rich pay their fair share; it gave workers the power to bargain for decent wages and benefits; yet contrary to right-wing propaganda then and now, it prospered. And we can do that again.
Twinkies May Survive Thanks To Pabst Brewing Co. Owner: Report “We have analyzed this opportunity very carefully for a few years now. Shedding the complications of the unions and old plants makes it even more attractive.” (yes, having "employees" makes it very complicated)
Hostess, Union Agree To Mediate, Likely Helping Twinkie-Maker Avoid Shutdown
America’s Least Valuable CEOs - 24/7 Wall St. (worst of the worst)

World Bank Climate Change Report Says 'Turn Down The Heat' On Warming Planet

Stateline - Assessing States’ Innovation (CA wins!)
Dan Lungren, Drug Warrior, Loses Bid For Reelection Over the course of his career, you'd be hard-pressed to find a more dedicated drug warrior or a politician more committed to alleged tough-on-crime policies than Lungren. (assholes sometimes lose)

Members of Congress Implore Feds To Back Down On Marijuana Prosecution | ThinkProgress (Obama loves his wars)

Political Animal - Groundbreaking new study: what happens to women who can’t get abortions
ANSIRH: Research and other work—The Turnaway Study The Turnaway Study is ANSIRH’s longitudinal prospective study of women who receive an abortion and women who are denied an abortion because they present for care after the clinic’s gestational limit. (up to -28 days; the price patriarchy extracts for its rule over women)
Ohio Is The Latest Battlefield in the War on Contraception | RH Reality Check Invariably, these attacks on contraception are rationalized by the politicians mounting them with claims that this is all about abortion, even though the groups in question do not use government funding to provide abortion
They Are Coming for Your Birth Control: Condoms are "Murder" and Contraception is "Rape" | RH Reality Check For those having sexual relations within natural marriage and want to regulate births, there is natural family planning.
Being Raped by Your Father, A Loving Long-Term Relationship Outside of Marriage–Pretty Much the Same Thing - Lawyers, Guns & Money : On the one hand, I like the idea of Republicans embracing insane people who want to declare war on birth control. From a short-term political perspective, it’s a win. On the other hand, it’s incredibly depressing to have these debates. In other words, a lot of Americans need to grow the fuck up. How Gay Marriage Prevailed at the Polls "Among the key changes: A shift away from talk of 'rights' to a focus on committed relationships; a decision to address 'values' directly as being learned at home; and an attempt to give voters 'permission' to change their minds."


Clown vs. Cop: The Fight Video From Wisconsin That Will Win The Internet

The 10 Craziest Citizen Petitions To The White House - Forbes
SGI Twitter Heat Map: Supercomputer Shows Where Angriest Tweeters Live

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Netanyahu: Israel Ready To Widen Offensive - Israel Dep PM Yishai: “We must blow Gaza back to the Middle Ages destroying all the infrastructure including roads & water” ... This latest attack would bring the death toll among Palestinians to 61. (many of them civilians and children)
Israeli Air Strike Kills 10 Palestinian Civilians: Medics
Obama: U.S. 'Fully Supportive Of Israel's Right To Defend Itself' (and Netanyahu's right to start a tragic war to get himself re-elected)
Obama on Gaza: next 48 hours will show what progress can be made | World news | guardian.co.uk President says he has been 'actively working with all parties in the region' to end violence that has killed dozens since last week
Israeli air strikes hit media centres in Gaza City | World news | guardian.co.uk Six injured as strikes target buildings housing media organisations including Sky News, al-Arabiya and al-Quds TV
Stop pretending the US is an uninvolved, helpless party in the Israeli assault on Gaza | Glenn Greenwald | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk The Obama administration's unstinting financial, military and diplomatic support for Israel is a key enabling force in the conflict
Balloon Juice » “We” He might have meant diplomatic progress, but it’s pretty clear that Israel can do whatever the fuck they want and it’s “our” war.

Syrian rebels capture military airport | World news | guardian.co.uk Hamdan airbase seizure prompts regime air strike
Egypt bus crash kills dozens of children | World news | guardian.co.uk Up to 50 children, aged four to six, killed after bus carrying them to kindergarten collides with speeding train

A Phony Hero for a Phony War - NYTimes.com (the cult of Petraeus)
The Petraeus affair: The man and his myth | The Economist
44 days to cliff; 64 days to inauguration -- PETRAEUS HIRES ROBERT BARNETT -- Obama says next 36 to 48 hours critical in Gaza crisis -- Rory Cooper baby -- Latoff-Holmes wedding - Politico.com
David Ignatius: The Petraeus affair’s resulting witch hunt - The Washington Post

Susan Rice: Benghazi-gate gets even more ludicrous | The Economist
Saxby Chambliss: Susan Rice Should Testify On Benghazi “She’s going to have to come in and testify at some point, whether it’s in a closed hearing or an open hearing,” Sen. Saxby Chambliss, (R-Ga.) said on “Fox News Sunday.” (fake scandal)
Joe Lieberman: Select Committee On Benghazi Unnecessary ("not quite 9/11/01")
Balloon Juice » Shorter Dana Milbank Susan Rice is another mad bitch, and should not be Secretary of State. I’m noticing a trend.

Running from Romney: the GOP’s Phony New Compassion - The Daily Beast Don’t trust the Republicans suddenly rushing to embrace the 47 percent, says Michael Tomasky—they’re just as scornful of government’s helping hand as they’ve always been.
What Will Change? Nothing, Really. - Lawyers, Guns & Money : …wait, all the GOP’s problems have been solved. Sarah Palin — tanned, rested, and ready!
Debunking 5 post-election political myths - The Week Myth 4: The auto bailout saved Obama in the Midwest by keeping up his percentage among white voters. Obama did worse among white voters in counties you'd expect to be influenced by the auto bailout. (white people still racist)
Daily Kos: Unskewed and undistinguished: The 5 most gloriously awful polls of 2012
Daily Kos: The Descent of Republicans The GOP has changed–changed from a party that held a few extreme positions, into one that holds nothing but.
GOP flame-throwers estranged from reality after election - Leonard Pitts Jr. - MiamiHerald.com You are a moocher, a zombie, soulless, mouth-breathing, ignorant, greedy, self-indulgent, envious, shallow and lazy. The foregoing is a summation of “analysis” from conservative pundits and media figures — Cal Thomas, Ted Nugent, Bill O’Reilly and etcetera — seeking to explain Mitt Romney’s emphatic defeat.

Nancy Pelosi: No Fiscal Cliff Deal Without Tax Hikes For Rich (video)
Fellow Mark Thoma Looks Ahead at President Obama's Second Term — The Century Foundation There has never been a female secretary of the Treasury.
Most Independent Candidates Elected Since 1942 25 minor party and independent candidates were elected to state legislatures this month.

Who Killed the Twinkie? : The New Yorker Perhaps the most striking response to the Hostess news, in that sense, was the tweet from conservative John Nolte, who wrote “Hostess strikers had pension. PENSIONS! What is this 1962?” It was once taken for granted that an industrial worker who worked for a big company for many years would get a solid middle-class lifestyle, and would be taken care of in retirement. Today, that concept seems to many like a relic. (Bained)
Retail Workers Fight 'Just in Time' Scheduling | Womens eNews On-call shift scheduling is rough on a largely part-time and female work force trying to keep up with families, school and second jobs. Some workers are asking for better terms. First of three stories.

Who Thwarted the Ambitions of Jesse Jackson Jr.? -- New York Magazine

Got news? Obama as Antichrist prequel draws silence

Lawsuit Filed to Contest California Sex Offender Law - NYTimes.com “Americans have a right under the First Amendment to speak anonymously, and this eviscerated that right. People, for example, would have to turn over the screen names they use to comment on the New York Times Web site.”

Arsenic in Your Food | Consumer Reports Investigation

Why is Apple denying Americans information about their governnment’s drone attacks? (your iCensor)

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Massive Israeli Strike-back on Gaza Strip (Disturbing Video) - YouTube - Cenk Uygur - 'How long is the US going to stand behind this monumental injustice? As a US citizen, it makes me sick' (call Abe Foxman)
IDF prepares for ground invasion as Gaza offensive enters fourth day - Israel News | Haaretz Daily Newspaper Arab League delegation set to arrive in Gaza on Sunday; IDF chief instructs air force to intensify aerial attacks; Barak to Panetta: Israel is determined to achieve operation's goals; 'Anonymous' hackers launch an attack on Israeli websites.
The Hamasization of Israel's Public Relations Campaign - Jeffrey Goldberg - The Atlantic (trying to manage their invasion PR better than last time)
Unbelievable! The IDF Has Gamified Its War Blog
Israel Widens Airstrike Assault In Gaza (Netanyahu's re-election campaign ramps up)
Balloon Juice » Like Clockwork The only question was whether or not Israel would find a reason to attack before or after the election. Just like the last time.
Anonymous takes down over 650 Israeli sites, wipes databases, leaks email addresses and passwords - The Next Web
Israel Considers Any Palestinian Infrastructure That Can Be Connected to Hamas to Be ‘Terrorist’ | The Dissenter (won't be covered in US media)
The real reason Obama snubbed Netanyahu | Fox News Furthermore, the Axelrod operation believes that Netanyahu is somehow in cahoots with a major Republican effort to influence Jewish voters to abandon Obama and vote for Romney (pre-election background from Fox; he didn't get his war, he didn't get his Romney, so smash Palestinians!)

General: We're Staying in Afghanistan, No Matter What Obama Said | Danger Room | Wired.com (forever war is forever)
As Obama Prepares to Not Withdraw from Afghanistan, Treasury Declares the War on Drugs There | emptywheel For the first time ever, Treasury has designated a key Taliban member–Mullah Naim Barich–not a terrorist, but a drug kingpin. (Global War on Drugz!)
What Does Dunford’s Confirmation Hearing Tell Us About the Path Forward in Afghanistan? | emptywheel

Political Animal - Twilight of the Elites, UK edition: The Daily Show on the BBC child abuse scandal (knighted by the Popester, who was unable to detect that he was a pedophile)
BBC Failures Show Limits of Guidelines - NYTimes.com Vowing change, the corporation established elaborate bureaucratic procedures that placed more formal responsibility for delicate decisions in the hands not of individual managers, but of rigid hierarchies. (because they reported Blair "sexed up the dossier" by lying about WMDs; that worked well for everyone)
Hundreds of Irish women sought abortions in Britain in past three years | The Raw Story (refugees from the Pope's iron rule)

Obama’s Second Term Foreign Policy Plan

A Scandalous Lack of Privacy What the Petraeus scandal tells us about our own privacy vulnerabilities in the digital age
Collateral Damage of our Surveillance State | Julian Sanchez | Cato Institute: Commentary
The Police State and the Private: Electronic Communications Edition - Lawyers, Guns & Money
Paula Broadwell, FBI Agent? - The Daily Beast Six years ago, the woman who’s now at the center of the investigation of David Petraeus nearly joined the bureau herself. If only
The Tampa Woman Who May Take Down The Obama Administration | WatchDogWire - Florida
Jill Kelley's world: White House visits, meals with generals, and name-dropping emails to Tampa mayor - Tampa Bay Times "This is a situation of her own making," Buckhorn said Friday. "We're all just bystanders." In October 2010, Kelley jumped out of an airplane with a bunch of commandos.
Bats Left/Throws Right: Wednesday Olio: Hey,The 1990s Called Edition In 1997, Lt. Kelly Flynn, the first female B-52 pilot, was discharged from the Air Force for adultery.

Anonymous Claims It Stopped Karl Rove From Hacking The Election By Hacking ORCA, We Think

The millions of reasons Nancy Pelosi decided to stay “For some people in the public,” she said, “the thought of four men at the table was not an appealing sight.” With entitlements presumably on that same table, she wants to be there to watch over them.
Political Animal - Elizabeth Warren fights the good fight against the filibuster, but it’s probably a losing battle (nothings going to change, as usual)
Political Animal - Democratic women defend Susan Rice, call out her critics’ sexism, racism, and mediocrity
Daily Kos: This week in the War on Women: We're gonna need a bigger bathroom
Beating Big Money | Crooks and Liars Elizabeth Warren outraised Scott Brown $39.2 million to $26.2 million. This is a truly remarkable achievement given that Warren didn't decide to run until September of last year, and that Wall Street invested invested very heavily in Brown: the financial industry gave him almost $3.3 million, by far the most of any industry.

Harry Reid Shuts Down McCain On Libya: 'End The Politicization Of National Security' | ThinkProgress One of you, Senator McCain, has gone so far ast o make the outrageous claim that this event was “worse than Watergate” — despite the fact that there is no evidence that any crime was committed, no evidence of any cover-up, and no evidence that the administration has characterized the incident in any way that has not been consistent with the Intelligence Community’s contemporaneous assessments. (ka-pow!)

Mitt Romney: GOP Primary Debates Were 'Nuts,' Networks 'Liberals Beating The Heck Out Of Us' (yeah, that librul media with their reality bias)
Michele Bachmann: Obama Administration Adopting 'False Narrative' On Benghazi (joins Volcano John in the loony bin)
GoLocalWorcester | Politics | By Blocking Susan Rice, is the GOP Paving the Way for Scott Brown? Clearing the Way for Kerry?

Why Republicans Want Mitt Romney To Go Away Romney will carry the party's baggage off stage. “Toxic assets” into the bad bank of Mitt.
Maddow: Republicans beginning to purge ‘the crazy’ | The Raw Story
Doyle McManus: The death of the moderate Republican - latimes.com They were an endangered species in Congress even before this year's election. Now they're even closer to extinction
The GOP’s Libertarian Problem -- Daily Intel (a winning strategy)
Poll: Tea Party Voters Oppose Cuts To Medicare, Social Security | ThinkProgress Even supposedly anti-government Tea Party supporters opposed the cuts by a 76-22 margin. The poll also found consensus behind increasing taxes on higher-earning Americans: 67 percent of respondents agreed with that suggestion, including 53 percent of Republicans. (that's consistency for you)
The Problem Was Messaging, Not the Message, Say Catholic Bishops | Firedoglake (we just need to hone our mysoginistic, patriachal message a little)
Daily Kos: Catholic Church denies confirmation to teen over heretical Facebook photo (there's your message: microcensorship!)
Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters: 'Religious right lashes out at black voters for pro-Obama, pro-marriage equality votes' and other Friday midday news briefs ("Christian" = "anti-gay")
Both Of These Things Are Just Like The Other | TBogg Lil Luke Russert, still smarting from getting his little pee-pee smacked by Nancy Pelosi after face-planting while attempting to stick his Villager “Some People Say….” landing, gets a failing grade from NYU journalism professor Jay Rosen and responds thusly:
Scenes From A Maul 2012 | TBogg (white peple in mourning)

Daily Kos: 'Hostess Brands is a microcosm of what’s wrong with America' But the end game is that private equity firms came in to do what they do: squeeze profits for their own multimillionaire investors at whatever cost to workers and to the company itself. Who cares if tens of thousands of workers are left unemployed and without the means to retire? (America run on the Bain model)
This I Believe - Lawyers, Guns & Money (Hostess hedge-fund "restructuring" guys looted the company)
Daily Kos: Private equity-owned Hostess blames striking workers as it liquidates

Yet Another Story of Florida Election Incompetence as Allen West Recount Gets New Life | Election Law Blog Just imagine if the presidential race hinged on Florida. How many more stories of missing and miscounted ballots would have emerged (beyond the ones we’ve already heard about) if the fate of the presidency hinged on the outcome?
AZ Election 2012: Ron Barber Defeats Martha McSally In 2nd District Race
Kevin MacDonald, Cal State Professor, Under Fire For Alleged White Supremacist Beliefs (VIDEO) California State Univeristy, Long Beach psychology professor Kevin MacDonald, a man the Southern Poverty Law Center calls the "neo-Nazi movement's favorite academic," continues to rile community members with language that some say espouses white supremacist and neo-Nazi beliefs.

BBC News - 'Breakthrough' meningitis B vaccine set to receive UK licence
Most distant galaxy ever seen possibly observed using Hubble Space Telescope.

Geoffrey McGann, Man With Strange Watch, Arrested At Oakland Airport

Is photography dead? Infographic explores the question: Connect
Apple Bans 'Erotic' Book Cover From iTunes (walled garden at work)

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Enforce the tax code, and strip violating Religious institutions of their tax exempt 501(c) status. | We the People: Your Voice in Our Government

Israel-Gaza Conflict: Death Toll Rises
Israeli Peace Activist: Ahmed Jabari, Assassinated Hamas Leader, Received Draft Of Gaza Truce Agreement Shortly Before Death An Israeli peace activist has come forward with a blockbuster claim about the assassination of Hamas leader Ahmed Jabari that, if true, would represent a major twist in the recent escalation of conflicts between Israeli and Palestinian forces.
Living By The Sword - The Daily Beast (starting a war in Gaza was always the fall-back plan to getting Obama de-elected)
Bodies for Ballots - The Daily Beast The Israeli spin machines are out in full force in the hopes of convincing Israelis and the rest of the world that the attacks on Gaza are in self-defense. But anyone following the situation closely and over time will tell you that cannot be the case. (ploy to win re-election and who cares how many people get killed?)
Twin Protests - The Daily Beast
For Israel—With Love And Squalor - The Daily Beast (the problem of a deeply racist state)

Taliban Email Fail: Spokesman Accidentally Reveals All The People The Groups Email

BBC Pays Lord McAlpine 185,000 Pounds Over False Child Abuse Claim
Mark Thompson Claims Ignorance Of Letter About Jimmy Savile Scandal Sent On His Behalf (yeah, sure)
Jon Stewart Rips BBC: 'At Least Someone Got Accused Of Pedophilia' (video)

Jill and Scott Kelley cultivated politicians as well as generals - Tampa Bay Times
Paula Broadwell’s big mistake - Salon.com She thought she was covering her tracks. But in the age of frictionless surveillance, Big Brother can't be stopped (they used Al-Qaeda tactics but they didn't work, should have used TOR)
Collateral damage of our surveillance state | The Great Debate (don't need no steenking warrent to spy on you)
Jill Kelley, Tampa Woman At Center Of David Petraeus Scandal, Visited White House Three Times
Rachel Maddow Warns Lawmakers, Viewers To Lay Off Petraeus Affair Details (video)

A Beachfront Retreat - NYTimes.com
For the New Occupy, Size Is Everything -- Daily Intel

John McCain's Benghazi Committee Plan Would Give Senator New Relevance (as a crazy old lying asshole)
John McCain's temper tantrums: A video history - The Week (Volcano John erupting; a little PTSD showing?)
FLORENCE - SC political briefs - SC Politics - TheState.com A conservative group said Thursday that U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-Seneca, is at the top of its target list for 2014.
GOP Rep Admits CIA Approved U.N. Ambassador's Talking Points On Libya | ThinkProgress (reality caught up to the asshole and squashed his pointless conspiracy)
Susan Rice Libya Remarks Defended By Democrats Deploring Efforts To 'Pillory' UN Ambassador - "What Susan Rice did was use talking points put out originally by the CIA, signed off by the intelligence community," said Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), the committee chairwoman. "Those talking points, as I understand it, were requested by the House [Intelligence] Committee."

Friday: Judge Issues Injunction Over Contraception Mandate | ThinkProgress A federal judge Friday night sided with a Christian publishing company in a lawsuit against the requirement included in Obamacare to provide co-pay free contraception to employees (because religious freedom to impose your religion on other people)

ThinkProgress and increased other executives’ compensation by as much as 80 percent.
Walmart's Internal Compensation Documents Reveal Systematic Limit On Advancement

Life, Death and Deficits - NYTimes.com America’s political landscape is infested with many zombie ideas — beliefs about policy that have been repeatedly refuted with evidence and analysis but refuse to die. The most prominent zombie is the insistence that low taxes on rich people are the key to prosperity. But there are others (raising retiremenet age and eligibility for Medicare)
Reading the fiscal-cliff negotiations - The Plum Line - The Washington Post
Hullabaloo Now this is a useful tax hike ... raising the cap on social security taxes.

Congressional representation: Now that’s what I call voter suppression | The Economist The Democrats won 50.6% of the votes for president, to 47.8% for the Republicans; 53.6% of the votes for the Senate, to 42.9% for the Republicans; and…49% of the votes for the House, to 48.2% for the Republicans (some ballots are still being counted). That’s not a vote for divided government. It’s a clean sweep.
Obama's Favorability Jumps After Election Win A new Gallup poll finds President Obama's favorable rating at 58%, his best in over three years.

Boehner Pushes Obama To Relocate Fiscal Cliff Farther Down The Road
John Boehner Lengthens The Wick On The Austerity Bomb | TPMDC
Harkin: Leave Medicare, Medicaid out of fiscal-cliff talks - The Hill's Healthwatch
Today on the Fiscal Slopes | FDL News Desk unions are so far following through on protecting social insurance against potential attacks from both parties:
Union leaders meet with Obama, back austerity drive against workers
Most Republican States Won’t Build Exchanges and That Is a Good Thing | FDL Action

Political Animal - Peeling the Onion of Conservative Delusion (the future of Republicans doesn't look good because they are insane)
Political Animal - The Red-State Equivalent of Nuke-Free Zones the ever-increasing self-isolation of white southerners into a right-wing ghetto where non-ideological information rarely penetrates does tend to become self-proliferating. But it’s still weird.
Fox's Brian Kilmeade Claims Iraq WMD Intelligence Was "Correct" To Continue Susan Rice Smear Campaign | Blog | Media Matters for America (Fox found the WMDs)

House elections winding down .?.?. and starting up - The Plum Line - The Washington Post That's a gain of eight seats for the Democrats, to go along with their two-seat gain in the Senate and, of course, Barack Obama's reelection.
Feminists for the Win | The Nation
The New, Progressive Congress - Molly Ball - The Atlantic Beyond Democrats' incremental gains in numbers, a new crop of sympathetic faces in the House and Senate has given liberals reason to cheer. (progressives up, Blue-Dog fuckers down, 54-14) )
It's Elizabeth Warren's Senate, Not Bob Kerrey's (Bowles-Simpson-endorsed Kerry lost bigtime, maybe we're finally rid of the asshole

Graham Says Romney Lost Because Christians Didn't Vote "But Graham's assertion -- and implication that had white Christian evangelicals just showed up in bigger numbers, President Obama would have lost -- is off base. In fact, white evangelicals/born-again Christians made up the same percentage of the electorate as they did in 2008 - 26%. They voted for Mitt Romney, a devout Mormon, by a wider margin than they did for Sen. John McCain four years ago." (as delusional as ever)

Study: NM income inequality continues to grow - seattlepi.com the difference between their incomes is now the largest in the nation, according to a study released Wednesday
Poll: Opinion Split On Pot Legalization, Big Support Among Those Under 30 | TPM LiveWire
Finding Diversity in America | Trulia Trends - by zipcode (midwest least diverse)

Arizona Vote Count Updates: 163,482 Ballots Left Statewide, 120,000 in Maricopa County - Phoenix - News - Feathered Bastard (voter-suppression still at work; AZ lamest state)
Drug Test Rick Perry, Says Texas Democrat On Tuesday, Perry proposed drug testing for Texans who seek unemployment insurance or benefits from the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, better known as welfare. Perry didn't say that unemployed and poor Texans were spending their benefits on drugs; he just said the state should make sure it doesn't happen.
Dial Global: Rush Limbaugh's Sandra Fluke Rants Hurt Our Radio Business
Balloon Juice » Blog Archive » John Metz & the Whinging 1%: Do Not Fuck with Us But this John Metz character is arguably the biggest asshole of all because he’s leveling his fire at the most powerless employees in his personal fiefdom (John Metz, famous on the internets for all eternity for being a collosal asshole)

“Did you not know you were being set up after the second hit?” - Lawyers, Guns & Money : Lawyers, Guns & Money Obviously, Jeffrey Loria is one of the biggest assholes in the known universe (a population in which professional sports owners are disproportionately represented.
Miami taxpayers spent $500m on a Marlins stadium, and all they got were some lousy Jose Reyes t-shirts | Field of Schemes (Miami taxpayers scammed for $.5Bn)

Free Range Kids » A Principal Calls CPS After Mom Lets Daughter, 10, Ride City Bus to School

Photo Album - Imgur (Skyfall attention to detail)

Facebook’s Election 2012 Roundup: Big Bird, Binders Full Of Women Won Big | TPM Idea Lab
Windows RT and 8 sales: Signs point to a major flop | Microsoft windows - InfoWorld Microsoft may be using creative accounting to paper over poor sales, but don't believe the hype that it'll lead to Ballmer's ouster

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Next Afghanistan commander supports troops there past 2014 | The Cable (military still saying fuck you to Obama)
Tension over the Allen issue in Asia | Foreign Policy Dunford to testify, Panetta to visit shrine, Services would get cut under a new blueprint for defense spending, McChrystal’s book out in January, and more.

Irish abortion: external investigator to head inquiry into woman's death | World news | guardian.co.uk Ireland's health service to appoint independent investigator into death of Savita Halappanavar after she was refused abortion

Israel and Gaza militants in deadly exchanges – live updates | World news | guardian.co.uk
Gaza strikes: Israel targeting raft of militant groups | World news | guardian.co.uk Ahmed al-Jaabari was head of the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigade, one of the many groups Israel wants to debilitate
Tel Aviv Suburb Hit By Rocket
Tel Aviv Target Of Gaza Rocket Attack

Double dip: Eurozone falls back into recession - latimes.com (well, that worked well)
ekathimerini.com | PPC disconnecting 30,000 customers every month The Public Power Corporation is cutting the electricity supply to 30,000 homes and businesses each month due to unpaid bills, the firm’s managing director, Arthouros Zervos, has admitted. (that'll work too)
Eurozone crisis as it happened: Draghi urges action after eurozone falls into recession | Business | guardian.co.uk
BP Oil Spill: Employees Reportedly To Face Manslaughter Charges

Four-Star Egos - By Mark Perry | Foreign Policy The cult of the general from Douglas MacArthur to David Petraeus.
Panetta: Appears Petraeus scandal won't widen - CBS News
Lackland Air Force Base Sex Scandal Report Cites 'Abuse Of Power' Amid Petraeus, Allen Probe
Sex and the Modern Soldier - By Rosa Brooks | Foreign Policy Just how bad is the military's woman problem?
Paula Broadwell switched her PhD bid from Harvard to British college - News - Boston.com Draws - scrutiny at second college

Political Animal - The Coming “Struggle For the Soul of the Democratic Party” Obama won 92% of self-identified Democrats, up three points from his performance in his near-landslide victory of 2008, and up eight points from Bill Clinton’s performance in the last Democratic presidential re-election in 1996 ... , the fractious Blue Dog Coalition, despite several upset wins, will see its membership, decimated in 2010, decline further from 18 to 15.
Philadelphia voter fraud: Is it possible that Barack Obama won 100 percent of so many precincts? - Slate Magazine Why conservatives still think urban voter fraud rigged the election.

Hullabaloo Benghazi smell test
Benghazi: A Conspiracy Theory With No Conceivable Motive | Mother Jones
What Benghazi Is about: Scandal Envy I can sum it up in two words: scandal envy. Republicans are indescribably frustrated by the fact that Barack Obama, whom they regard as both illegitimate and corrupt, went through an entire term without a major scandal.
Questioned About Missed Briefing On Benghazi, McCain Snaps At Reporter | TPM LiveWire (Volcano John erupts again)
Balloon Juice » “Nobody died in Iran-Contra” We all know that McCain is a bitter, angry old man and perhaps the sorest loser in the history of American politics, but that does not obscure the fact that at his center he is an ignorant, lying asshole.
Fight Over Rice Exposes Tensions Between Obama and McCain - NYTimes.com If there was still any thought that President Obama and Senator John McCain might eventually move past their once-bitter White House rivalry toward a cooperative governing agenda, it was all but dashed on Wednesday.
Soledad O'Brien Grills Rep. Joe Heck On Susan Rice (incoherent)

Republicans Can Stop Obama From Soaking The Rich…By Caving | TPMDC

Republicans After ‘Gifts’ Comment: Get Off The Stage, Mitt | TPM2012 - Frum: "We lost both because voters did not believe in the job-creating magic of upper-income tax cuts - and because voters were unpersuaded that the GOP even cared that much about job creation, as opposed to wealth preservation.”
Bobby Jindal Again Explodes Over ‘Insulting’ Romney Comments | TPM2012 (LA gets lots of "free stuff" so fuck you)

Has the Emerging Democratic Majority Emerged? -- Daily Intel
The Draft Romney Movement Starts Here -- Daily Intel
Tax Haters Figure Out They’re Screwed -- Daily Intel

Republicans Say Obama Won By Promising "free Stuff." But Who Was The Real Panderer In This Election? | The New Republic - Stuff White People Like
Land of the "Free Stuff," Home of the Brave Conservatives finally found a fall guy for their big loss last Tuesday—the American people. - "97 percent of Republicans and 98 percent of Democrats report that they have used at least one government social policy" (we are all moochers, but the rich are the best at it)
Michael Tomasky on How the Right Is Still Racist - The Daily Beast Bravo to the GOP for entertaining an amnesty program for undocumented immigrants. But it won’t make a difference at the ballot box until the party stops its race baiting.

Yes, Banks Are Paying “Penalties” in Foreclosure Fraud Settlement With Other People’s Money | FDL News Desk
Hedge Fund Blackstone Buying $100 Million in Foreclosed Homes Every Week | FDL News Desk

GOP Still Playing Hardball On Violence Against Women Act | TPMDC If Republicans have been chastened by losing the women’s vote last week by the widest margin in modern history, they have a funny way of showing it. (not. Republicans want to be violent against women)

Charlie Webster, Maine GOP Chair, Alleges That Black Voters Came To Rural Towns To Vote "In some parts of rural Maine, there were dozens, dozens of black people who came in and voted on Election Day. Everybody has a right to vote, but nobody in town knows anyone who’s black. How did that happen? I don’t know. We’re going to find out…."
Maine GOP’s Charlie Webster: ‘Unusual’ To See Black People Voting | TPMMuckraker - Webster said he wasn’t racist and that he had several black friends.

Built to win: Deep inside Obama’s campaign tech | Ars Technica - The Narwhal
Inside Team Romney’s whale of an IT meltdown | Ars Technica
Orca was no fail whale, says Romney’s digital director | Ars Technica Campaign says Orca basically worked; conservative bloggers suggest sabotage.

"This is part of what's so insidious about press savviness: it tries to hog realism to itself." - Jay Rosen: Public Notebook

Bonus Quote of the Day : "For the first time, there was a traffic jam in the Senate women's bathroom. There were five of us in there, and there are only two stalls." -- Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), quoted by the Washington Post, noting that the next Senate will have a record 20 women
Daily Show Looks At Why Married Women Voted Romney: They Care About America’s Future | TPM2012 Married women are “seemingly the sole demographic” that moved in Romney’s direction. And if you watch Fox News, that’s because married women care about America’s future, whereas single women care about free birth control and abortions ... But single women vote with their vaginas, Jon. And they only care about one issue: the sucking and the fucking.”
Don't Fear the Backlash The ultimate lesson of same-sex-marriage litigation is that politics is about conflict and that while it's important to be mindful of backlash, it's also a mistake to let it discourage any potentially successful strategy.
Contraception: A Human Right - Lawyers, Guns & Money : Lawyers, Guns & Money Once again, large swaths of the Republican Party oppose international definitions of basic human rights:

Christopher Castillo Arrested After Threatening To Kill Obama On Facebook
The Kissinger Transcripts - By Tom Blanton | Foreign Policy Why the former secretary of state thought the CIA was blackmailing him.

Coffee beans in danger of extinction - Technology & Science - CBC News Climate change could kill off prized Arabica plants by 2080 (wake up and smell the climate change)
Microbial fauna in your belly button is like a 'tropical forest'

The Washington Monthly - The Magazine - Last Call Industry giants are threatening to swallow up America's carefully regulated alcohol industry, and remake America in the image of booze-soaked Britain (beer for breakfast!)

Inside Google’s ‘100,000 Stars’ Chrome Experiment | TPM Idea Lab
Solar Eclipse From Space: Satellite Captures Partial Eclipse (video)

Google invests $75M in a 50MW wind farm, has contributed almost $1B to the renewable energy sector - The Next Web

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Israel Defense Forces Use Twitter, YouTube To Publicize Killing Of Hamas Military Chief Ahmad Jabari (Video)
Hamas says 'gates of hell opened' as Israel kills military leader in Gaza | World news | The Guardian Ahmed al-Jabari's assassination in missile strike marks 'start of broader operation' that may involve ground troops, says Israel (if he can't bomb Iran ...)
Mexico passes radical labour reforms | World news | guardian.co.uk Senate approves controversial labour laws in biggest shakeup of job market in more than four decades

'This is a Catholic country': Woman dies of septicaemia after being refused an abortion in Irish hospital - Europe - World - The Independent Mr Halappanavar, 34, also claims that after several requests by his late wife for a termination, they were told: “This is a Catholic country.” (murder in the name of the Pope)
Ireland abortion policy under scrutiny after woman's death | World news | The Guardian Death of Savita Halappanavar from blood poisoning intensifies pressure on government to create guidelines on abortion
We Are All Savita Halappanavar: Catholic Hospital in Ireland Denies Woman Life-Saving Abortion | RH Reality Check
Where the War on Women Leads - Lawyers, Guns & Money
Savita Halappanavar and the Long Shadow of the X-Case — Crooked Timber

Europe Austerity Protests: Strikes Sweep Southern Europe In Response To Cuts
UK risks triple-dip recession, Mervyn King warns | Business | guardian.co.uk Persistently low growth will last until the next election, Bank of England governor warns as he cuts 2013 growth forecast to 1% (conservative austerity fails big time, so more austerity!)

FBI's abuse of the surveillance state is the real scandal needing investigation | Glenn Greenwald | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk That the stars of America's national security establishment are being devoured by out-of-control surveillance is a form of sweet justice
Petraeus to Testify About Libya, Any Other Recent Petraeus-Related News Event That Might Come Up | Vanity Fair
Paula Broadwell Computer Had 'Substantial' Classified Data: Reports
Paula Broadwell Security Clearance Suspended: US Official
Paula Broadwell's Wikipedia Page May Have Contained Clue To Petraeus Affair -- Way Back In January
Separated at Birth: Florida Socialite Jill Kelley - FishbowlDC

Political Animal - Obama’s Presser: Misplaced Anger? The president bought the Republican/MSM “fiscal cliff” framing entirely, suggesting (incorrectly) that allowing current law on taxes and spending to prevail beyond January 1 for a single day would be a recession-threatening calamity
Obama Reminds Everyone: I Won | TPM2012
Obama Defends Susan Rice Against 'Outrageous' McCain, Graham Attack | TPM LiveWire
McCain: 'I Had A Sense' Romney's Polls Were Wrong | TPM LiveWire
Romney Blames Loss on Obama's 'Gifts' to Minorities and Young Voters - NYTimes.com (the moochers defeated me)
Graphic: Highly Detailed Election Results Map | TPM LiveWire

Michael Tomasky on How Mitt Romney Finally Killed Reaganomics - The Daily Beast Here’s something that happened in this election that has been largely overlooked but I think is a very big deal indeed. Trickle-down economics died last Tuesday. (Laffer curve goes flat)
What going over the 'fiscal cliff' would mean . . . - The Washington Post

Obama Breaks It Gently To GOP: Tax Rates Probably Going Up No Matter What | TPMDC Tax Rates Will Rise Unless You Can Make Your Impossible Math Work
Gov. O’Malley to GOP: Remove Tea Party ‘Stench’ - Washington Wire - WSJ - “Tea Party obstructionist stench.” (stinkers)
White House rejects Boehner’s tax deal The White House is saying, clearly, that they won’t permit the top tax rates to remains where they are. They’re taking House Speaker John A. Boehner’s proposed deal and rejecting it. (Boehner: "stink you")
The 6 Most Bizarre Freakouts Over Obama’s Win | TPM2012
Neal Backs Out | Blog | Media Matters for America Boortz's challenge came after Media Matters shone a spotlight on his claim that President Obama's reelection represented a bigger threat to the United States of America than Al Qaeda and Adolf Hitler. (rightwing fuckers are cowards)
Daily Kos: Nancy Pelosi swats down Luke Russert's 'offensive' question with a lesson on earning your job (Baby "Nepotism" Russert)
Pelosi Stays, and Democratic Women Boo When Luke Russert Asks Why
WSVN-TV - Almost 1K ballots found in Broward elections warehouse
Top Georgia GOP Lawmakers Host Briefing on Secret Obama Mind-Control Plot | Mother Jones
Hullabaloo More reasons why bipartisanship is largely dead, as appropriate

Nate Silver Goes to Hollywood? (don't need no NYT)

Poll: Opinion Split On Pot Legalization, Big Support Among Those Under 30 | TPM LiveWire
Ohio Committee Votes To Defund Planned Parenthood All 11 Republicans on the committee voted in favor of the bill, and all nine Democrats opposed. (they never give up; see Ireland)

Below the line: Poverty in America - CSMonitor.com Official figures say 46 million Americans live in poverty. Beyond that, there's little about poverty that Americans can agree on.

FFRF sues IRS to enforce church electioneering ban - Freedom From Religion Foundation - As many as 1,500 clergy reportedly violated the electioneering restrictions on Sunday, Oct. 7, 2012, notes FFRF’s legal complaint. The complaint also references “blatantly political” full-page ads running in the three Sundays leading up to the presidential elections by the Billy Graham Evangelical Association. (revoke the fuckers)

After Sandy, Poll Shows GOP Faces Growing Environmental Divide with Voters - Forbes he dramatic impact 2012's extreme weather has had across party lines, with half of Republicans, 73 percent of independents and 82 percent of Democrats saying they’re worried about the growing cost and risks of extreme weather disasters fueled by climate change.
Obama Addresses Climate Change In First Press Conference Since Reelection "The climate silence is broken, and now the president can show us he's serious with a decision already on his desk: rejecting the Keystone XL pipeline. The pipeline would unlock so much carbon that climate scientists say, if it were built, it would be ‘game over’ for the climate." (it's an "important" issue, but not that important)

Massachusetts’ Smart Plan to Promote Housing That Works for Young People | Streetsblog Capitol Hill , Patrick announced a program called Compact Neighborhoods, which will provide incentives for the development of multi-family housing near transit centers.

Stephanie Bongiovi's Heroin Arrest: Jon Bon Jovi's Daughter Arrested After Alleged Overdose an apparent heroin overdose in her Hamilton College dorm room.
New York Times’ scathing review of new Guy Fieri restaurant goes viral | The Lookout - Yahoo! News

Folksam reklamfilm: Evas katt - YouTube

John McAfee hiding from police after businessman's murder in Belize | World news | The Guardian Computer security pioneer says he's modified his appearance since becoming a 'person of interest' in death of Gregory Faull

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Afghan Warlord Ismail Khan’s Call to Arms Rattles Kabul - NYTimes.com (nothing gained)

BREAKING | TPM Editors Blog Rogue federal agency upends leadership at CIA and Army.
FBI Agent in Petraeus Case Under Scrutiny - WSJ.com
Petraeus Apparently Most Mentally Balanced Individual in His Own Scandal | TPM Editors Blog
John Allen-Jill Kelley Emails Were 'Flirtatious': Senior Defense Official
Dramatis Personae | TPM Editors Blog
Balloon Juice » » Petraeus Scandal: It wasn’t 30,000 emails, you guys. Get a grip.
David Petraeus, General John Allen, and a Shirtless F.B.I. Agent : The New Yorker
Scandal probe ensnares commander of U.S., NATO troops in Afghanistan - The Washington Post
Gen. John Allen, Top Afghanistan Commander, Investigated For Email Link To Petraeus Scandal
Jill Kelley's Sister, Natalie Khawam, Got David Petraeus And John Allen Letters Of Support In Custody Battle ... Jill Kelley's sister, whom a judge described as dishonest and lacking integrity.
F.B.I. Inquiry Into E-Mails Raises Questions on Motives - NYTimes.com - Later, the agent became convinced — incorrectly, the official said — that the case had stalled. Because of his “worldview,” as the official put it, he suspected a politically motivated cover-up to protect President Obama. (and you know what "worldview" that was)
Petraeus affair: Jon Stewart on Paula Broadwell interview | TPMDC
Jill Kelley, Woman Who Sparked Petraeus Scandal, Ran Questionable Charity
Jill Kelley is an 'honorary consul' of South Korea | The Cable - invoked her honorary diplomatic status in a Nov. 11 911 call when she was complaining about trespassers on her private property. ("inviolability")
The Other Petraeus Scandal: The Sex Police - Lawyers, Guns & Money : Lawyers, Guns & Money Ah, the FBI. Ask them to prove any case involving a triviality like torture or financial fraud, you’re out of luck. But if someone might be involved in the sexytime in their email — especially if it might sort of vaguely affect a Democratic administration — they’ll be right on it
Eschaton: Kind Of Obvious: But I haven't seen it said yet. Looks like a corrupt abuse of the surveillance state took down the CIA chief. HILARIOUS
Echidne Of The Snakes: The Petraeus Puzzle
ABC Denver calls name of Petraeus biography: "All up in my snatch"
Vernon Loeb, Washington Post Editor Who Was Ghost Writer of Paula Broadwell's biography of Former General David Petraeus, Says He Never Suspected The Pair's Affair | wusa9.com
Bob Woodward Says Romney Allies Brought Benghazi Source To His Home "Some people close to Romney, a couple of weeks ago, just showed up at my house and said that they had somebody in a very sensitive position in the U.S. government who was willing to meet with me and give me information about Benghazi," Woodward told Hannity.
Obama picks Predator Drone to replace Petraeus at CIA | FluffingtonPost
William Ward, Four Star General, Demoted For Lavish Spending, Ordered To Repay $82,000

Exclusive: Lee Atwater’s Infamous 1981 Interview on the Southern Strategy | The Nation Now, the same indefatigable researcher who brought us Mitt Romney’s “47 percent” remarks, James Carter IV, has dug up the entire forty-two-minute interview from which that quote derives. (JCIV doing some serious work)

Obama Tells Progressives He Won't Budge On Bush Tax Cuts (you know, "Progressives," the 70% of the country that wants to raise taxes on the rich; talk about low expectations)
GOP Grapples With Embarrassing Polling Failures - NationalJournal.com It hurts to lose. It hurts even more when you don't see it coming ... Democrats "must be looking at us like we're the biggest f----- morons in the world," one frustrated Republican said. "That's what I'd be doing."
Bats Left/Throws Right: Buck Up. You're The Party Of Tradition. So Wait Two Months And Then Act Like Nothing Happened, The Way You Always Do.
Paul Ryan: I Didn't Lose Because Of The Issues, I Lost Because Of The 'Urban' Vote | ThinkProgress (you know, "those kind of people" who aren't "real" Americans and shouldn't be voting anyway)
Ryan: It 'Looked Like We Stood A Pretty Good Chance Of Winning' On Election Day | TPM LiveWire (ol' Zombie Eyes needs your brains)
Balloon Juice » Nothing to See Here, and It’s Easily Fixed t’s a week after the election and Arizona still has 300,000+ votes to count, some of which are provisional ballots (i.e., cast by possible Mexicans because they are brown) that might expire tomorrow. In other words, everything went according to Republican plan.

King Will Make Caucus Decision Soon Sen.-elect Angus King (I-ME) said that he could announce a decision on which caucus to join in time for tomorrow's party leadership elections, Roll Call reports. While King is widely expected to caucus with the Democratic majority, he still has not ruled out joining the Republicans.
America's roaring twentysomethings: how young voters won the culture wars | Harry J Enten | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk 2012 saw historic support for pro-choice positions, gay marriage and marijuana legalization – thanks to liberal-leaning youth
What They Could Have Bought: Better Uses for Campaign Spending - The Daily Beast Early estimates show more than $4.2 billion was blown on this election. From a walk-on for ‘Annie’ to an island for Linda McMahon, a few better uses for all of that money.
Wisconsin Republican Alberta Darling: Voter ID Would Have Let Romney Win | TPMMuckraker (Republicans: voter suppression works!)
McSally Supporter Sues To Block Ballots In Latino Precinct | TPMMuckraker
The Rise Of The Anti-Secession Petitions | TPM2012 A petition to “Deport Everyone That Signed A Petition To Withdraw Their State From The United States Of America” has already gained over 7,500 signatures.
Billy Graham Group, Catholic Bishops Come Under Scrutiny For Blurring Election Lines
Mitt Romney Economic Adviser Calls For Raising Taxes On The Rich, Contradicting Entire GOP Campaign Mitt Romney's former economic adviser Glenn Hubbard published an op-ed in the Financial Times Tuesday calling for higher tax rates on the wealthy

Federal Flood Insurance Program Faces New Stress - NYTimes.com

Deluding Ourselves Over the Fiscal Cliff - NYTimes.com Raising tax rates for those with the highest incomes challenges the supply-side proposition that even moderately higher rates would hurt growth. President Bill Clinton’s 1993 deficit reduction plan increased income tax rates for roughly the top 1.2 percent of incomes. Opponents said this would lead to recession. Instead, we had enormous job creation and the longest economic expansion in our history.
Eschaton: To Cut The Deficit, We'll Begin By Cutting Taxes Just the regular reminder that no one cares about the deficit. The people who claim to most care about it least. They have an agenda - giving more of your money to rich people - and the deficit is the excuse.

Wisconsin Lawmakers Back Bill To Arrest Federal Officials Who Implement Obamacare
Scott Walker Wisconsin Unions Law Faces Lawsuit A law enforcement union filed a lawsuit Tuesday challenging the constitutionality of a Wisconsin law effectively ending collective bargaining for most public workers.


Advocates of Gay Marriage Extend Their Campaign - NYTimes.com
'We the People' Petitions Filed in Nineteen States Seeking Permission to Secede from the Union (the moochers want to leave)

The Washington Monthly - The Magazine - The Conservative War on Prisons Right-wing operatives have decided that prisons are a lot like schools: hugely expensive, inefficient, and in need of root-and-branch reform. Is this how progress will happen in a hyper-polarized world? (the solution: Christian Charter Prisons!)
Charts: How Big Pork Screws Small Towns | Mother Jones (you know, those "small" farms)
Detroitism by John Patrick Leary - Guernica / A Magazine of Art & Politics What does “ruin porn” tell us about the motor city, ourselves, other American cities?

It's OK to tell police officers to 'f*ck off' | News.com.au

Google’s Latest Transparency Report Sees ‘Spike’ In Government Removal Requests | TPM Idea Lab Government censorship and surveillance of online activity around the globe increased markedly over the course of the first six months of 2012, Google reported Tuesday.
Lebanon news - NOW Lebanon -Facebook silencing a women’s uprising? (FB using Sharia Law)

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Australia to hold wide-ranging judicial inquiry into child sex abuse | World news | guardian.co.uk Royal commission to investigate churches, state care facilities, schools, charities, child services agencies and police - Deputy Police Commissioner Graham Ashton told the inquiry that the church had also hindered justice by failing to report a single case of child sex abuse in more than 50 years.
Venice 'high water' floods 70% of city | World news | The Guardian Venetians direct anger at forecasters after 'exceptional and unpredictable' rise in sea waters floods homes and businesses
São Paulo murder spree leaves at least 140 dead in a fortnight | World news | guardian.co.uk Fear grips Brazil's biggest city as undeclared war between First Capital Command gang and police leads to wave of violence

Spain Evictions Create an Austerity Homeless Crisis - NYTimes.com (more austerity ! )

The Sins Of General David Petraeus - Petraeus seduced America. We should never have trusted him. (by Michael Hastings, who blew McChrystal's cover) (BJ: "the Afghanistan surge was probably the biggest mistake of Obama’s Presidency, so far, and Petraeus is the guy who sold it.")
A Petraeus Puzzle: Were Politics Involved? : The New Yorker - Jane Mayer
Balloon Juice » FBI Agent Investigating Petraeus Scandal Under Investigation Himself Well, it turns out that the federal agent who launched the Petraeus investigation is now under investigation himself for sending shirtless photos to the woman who received harassing emails from Petraeus’s side-boo, Paula Broadwell (the story that keeps on giving)
Balloon Juice » Not a Private Affair It is true that Petraeus did not get us into Iraq or Afghanistan. But it is also undeniably true that Petraeus was a key reason why instead of pulling out from Iraq in 2004 or 2006, we waited until 2011. He is also THE key player in the 2009 surge in Afghanistan, which gave us an additional half-decade of costly conflict in that country to accomplish precisely nothing. (counterinsurgency! surge!)
Lawmakers question timing of Petraeus resignation - U.S. News - "I was contacted by an FBI employee concerned that sensitive, classified information may have been compromised and made certain (FBI Director Robert) Mueller was aware of these serious allegations and the potential risk to our national security,” Cantor said in a statement.
Petraeus Replacement Search Is Under Way - NYTimes.com
Petraeus scandal is reported with compelled veneration of all things military | Glenn Greenwald | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk The reverence for the former CIA Director is part of a wider religious-like worship of the national security state.
The Real Petraeus Scandal - Lawyers, Guns & Money
That Is Some World-Class Slut Shaming - Lawyers, Guns & Money
25 Tons of Bombs Wipe Afghan Town Off Map [Updated] | Danger Room | Wired.com Paula Broadwell, a West Point graduate and Petraeus biographer, described the destruction of Tarok Kolache in a guest post for Tom Ricks’ Foreign Policy blog.
Paula Broadwell Emails Sent To State Department Military Liaison: AP Source According to the Washington Post, the woman was "frightened" for her safety and contacted the FBI for protection. The Post describes the emails as "threatening."
Paula Broadwell Access To Classified Information Raises Questions )
Former aides wonder: Did Petraeus stumble in unfamiliar terrain? - The Washington Post - Prominent members of conservative, Washington-based defense think tanks were given permanent office space at his headquarters and access to military aircraft to tour the battlefield. They provided advice to field commanders that sometimes conflicted with orders the commanders were getting from their immediate bosses. (Republican thinktanks were running the army)
How College Students Respond to Being Propositioned for Sex | Psychology Today Men and women react very differently to offers of sex.

Obama considers John Kerry for job of defense secretary - The Washington Post Although Kerry is thought to covet the job of secretary of state, senior administration officials familiar with the transition planning said that nomination will almost certainly go to Susan E. Rice, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. (Kerry to SecDef, Zombie Scott Brown rises to eat the brains of Massachusetts)

Cuomo to Seek $30 Billion in Aid for Storm Relief - NYTimes.com (Republicans: "Drop Dead")
Hurricane Sandy Damage Amplified By Breakneck Development Of Coast

Fiscal Cliff Talks Will Likely Target Medicare, Social Security, Programs For The Poor After bailing out a global financial crisis, enacting a series of major tax cuts for the wealthy and waging two unpaid-for wars, the U.S. government is some $16 trillion in debt. Now, in exchange for paying off a bit of that debt by returning some of the tax rates to their previous levels, Democrats have offered, in a series of high-profile negotiations, to slash trillions in spending, much of it hitting the elderly, the poor and the middle class. This process of transferring wealth up the economic ladder is known in Washington as a "grand bargain."
What's Going on With the Fiscal Cliff? | Mother Jones Why we're not really going to fall off a cliff on January 1 and everything else you need to know about the upcoming budget talks.

Who got it right in 2012
Is Obamacare too much work for the Obama administration?

Sunday Shows Ignore The Most Important Economic Issue: Jobs | Blog | Media Matters for America

Southern States to the Supreme Court: We've Changed Critics of the Voting Rights Act say its time has passed, but as the recent spate of voter-ID laws shows, that's hardly the case.
Supreme Court Appears Ready to Nuke the Voting Rights Act | Mother Jones

The GOP's media cocoon - Jonathan Martin - politico.com
Joe Scarborough: GOP Donors 'Lied To By 'Conservative Media' (like him)
Cheer up, Republicans: Things aren’t so bad - The Plum Line - The Washington Post
The Perils of Democrats’ Euphoria, or Why the 2012 Election Is Not a Realignment — The Monkey Cage
Daily Kos: Mythbusting the 2012 Elections: Why So Much Obama-Romney CW Was Absurdly Wrong
Daily Kos: From debates to Sandy: Things "everyone knows" aren't always true
Daily Kos: billmon: Mourning in America The sagging chins and pot bellies, the crew cuts and blue hair, the bad make up and worse fashion sense

Kyrsten Sinema Election Results: Arizona Democrat Beats Vernon Parker In Congressional Race becomes the first openly bisexual member of Congress, winning a race that featured millions of dollars in attack ads.

A brief (and oversimplified) cultural history of pornography and profanity on American television - Lawyers, Guns & Money : Lawyers, Guns & Money In 1993, the American Family Association convinced 57 ABC affiliates not to air the series premier of NYPD Blue because it contained the word “asshole.”
How ESPN Ditched Journalism And Followed Skip Bayless To The Bottom: A Tim Tebow Story (the Fox of sports)

Google Plus Gets More Business-Like | TPM Idea Lab Google on Monday announced that it was merging features of Google Plus with Google Shopping, the search giant’s online product aggregator.

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Jimmy Savile Myth In Ruins One Year After Lavish Funeral At Jimmy Savile's funeral, a year ago Friday, the priest delivering the homily was emphatic: the DJ and television host "can face eternal life with confidence." (there is so much wrong with that sentence)
BBC in chaos as abuse victim says Lord McAlpine was not my attacker - Telegraph The BBC is mired in a fresh crisis after the key witness in a Newsnight report alleging that senior Tory Lord McAlpine was a paedophile admitted that he identified the wrong man (some OTHER upper-class pedo)

FBI probe of Petraeus triggered by e-mail threats from biographer, officials say - The Washington Post The collapse of the impressive career of CIA Director David H. Petraeus was triggered when a woman with whom he was having an affair sent threatening e-mails to another woman close to him, according to three senior law enforcement officials with know­ledge of the episode ... he law enforcement officials said the e-mails indicated that Broadwell perceived the other woman as a threat to her relationship with Petraeus.
Paula Broadwell Emails Sent To State Department Military Liaison: AP Source (the other, other woman? +no wonder the FBI got involved +threatened to "cook her rabbit")
Paula Broadwell, David Petraeus' Alleged Mistress, Embedded With Him For 1 Year in Afghanistan - ABC News
Petraeus' biographer Paula Broadwell under FBI investigation over access to his email, law enforcement officials say - U.S. News (she has one more book left in her)
Political Animal - The Legacy of Petraeus - Petraeus was worshiped in Washington like perhaps no one else in the country ... Petraeus’ recent record: the surge in Iraq, which failed in most of its stated goals; the surge in Afghanistan, which also looks to have failed; and turning the CIA into a paramilitary organization which has assassinated American citizens (even a child) with no due process.
How I Was Drawn Into the Cult of David Petraeus | Danger Room | Wired.com Some of Petraeus’ old crew found it similarly strange. “I never told General Petraeus this, but I thought it was fairly strange that he would give so much access to someone who had never written a book before,” Mansoor recalls.

Squirming Hawks - NYTimes.com The fiscal cliff poses an interesting problem for self-styled deficit hawks. They’ve been going on and on about how the deficit is a terrible thing; now they’re confronted with the possibility of a large reduction in the deficit, and have to find a way to say that this is a bad thing ... Low-priority spending? I think that means spending on poor people and the middle class. And isn’t it amazing how people who claim to be horrified, horrified about deficits can’t stop talking about cutting tax rates?
Political Animal - The Deficit Scolds Are a Bunch of Frauds (including Andrew Sullivan, Tory)
Fiscal Cliff Talks Will Likely Target Medicare, Social Security, Programs For The Poor (the plan all along)
CEOs’ self-serving deficit manifesto | Felix Salmon This is ridiculous. There are lots of serious threats out there to the economic well-being and security of the United States, and the national debt is simply not one of them ... the one group which would see most of the benefits while bearing very little of the costs would be the top 1%: the very CEOs who signed this letter (of course)
Daily Kos: Grand or otherwise, there's no bargaining with these Republicans
America didn’t vote for a “grand bargain” - Salon.com Listen up, Democrats: Obama didn't win by promising a compromise on entitlement reform. He won despite it ... In fact, the increase in the deficit was caused directly by the financial crisis and the housing bubble, and had nothing to do with the middle-class entitlement programs a grand bargain would cut. What’s more, the deficit is perfectly sustainable in any event. (all the myths Obama is negotiating with)

Hurricane Sandy: beware of America's disaster capitalists | Naomi Klein | Comment is free | The Guardian The aftermath of the storm offers a chance to rebuild a fairer society. How can we seize it? - Yes, that's right: this catastrophe, very likely created by climate change – a crisis born of the colossal regulatory failure to prevent corporations from treating the atmosphere as their open sewer – is just one more opportunity for further deregulation. (screw the poor)

Which Polls Fared Best (and Worst) in the 2012 Presidential Race - NYTimes.com Perhaps it won’t be long before Google, not Gallup, is the most trusted name in polling. (online polls did very well)
The GOP polling debacle - Alexander Burns - politico.com For Republicans, one of the worst parts of the GOP’s 2012 trouncing was that they didn’t see it coming (they only polled "real" Americans)

A More Impressive Win Than in 2008, and a More Important One - James Fallows - The Atlantic
Karl Rove under fire - Kenneth P. Vogel - politico.com (hacks and grifters will hack and grift)
Boehner Tells House G.O.P. to Fall in Line - NYTimes.com (eat shit, teaheads)
Bill Kristol: 'It Won't Kill The Country If We Raise Taxes' On Millionaires (movement is cracking) )
Senate Immigration Talks: Lindsey Graham, Chuck Schumer Restart Discussions (more cracks)
Romney Is President - NYTimes.com Team Romney has every reason to be shellshocked. Its candidate, after all, resoundingly won the election of the country he was wooing. Mitt Romney is the president of white male America.
Hullabaloo "The beating heart of modern conservatism..."
Hullabaloo Now here's a real problem (number of hours at minimum wage needed to afford rent)
Daily Kos: The colossal failure of National Organization for Marriage (another big loser)

Jerry Brown: Marijuana Laws Should Be Decided By States (video) "It's time for the Justice Department to recognize the sovereignty of the states," he said on CNN's "State of the Union." (unlikely)

Bonus Quote of the Day "I would like to see whether I can get untired." -- Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, in an interview with Gail Collins, on what she'll do next year.

Alaska's Methane Hydrate Resource Spark Debate Over Energy And Climate Change
Doctors fear West Nile virus has mutated into more damaging form | Health | Dallas-Fort Worth... The West Nile virus epidemic of 2012, the worst in a decade, may be notorious for yet another reason: The virus, in some cases, is attacking the brain more aggressively than in the past, raising the specter that it may have mutated into a nastier form,


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Director General of BBC Resigns in Growing Scandal - NYTimes.com (in the job less an eight weeks; you know who else should resign ...)

Petraeus Affair and Paula Broadwell: The CIA Director resigns over his affair with his biographer .
Paula Broadwell, David Petraeus Biographer, Reportedly Woman Involved In CIA Director's Affair: Slate
Did Paula Broadwell's Husband Write A Letter To New York Times About Petraeus Affair? (UPDATED) New York Times Magazine editor Hugo Lindgren dismissed speculation that Broadwell's husband wrote the letter in a tweet on Saturday, writing: (just a coincidence and the "Ethicists" advice still sucks - protect the powerful)
In Digital Era, Affairs Like Petraeus’s Are Harder to Cover Up - NYTimes.com
F.B.I. Said to Have Stumbled Into News of Petraeus Affair - NYTimes.com (she/they did the internets wrong)
Paula Broadwell - The Daily Show with Jon Stewart - 01/25/12 - Video Clip | Comedy Central Paula Broadwell discusses her time spent with General David Petraeus in war-torn Afghanistan while researching her book "All In." (the clues were there +"All In" all right)
"My Wife's Lover" ("Cloak and Shag Her" +"Broadwell" as a name for a femme fatale is right out of a James Bond novel.)
Twitter / LilianaSegura: I just hope whoever replaces ... Petraeus restores the CIA's reputation as a beacon of moral rectitude. (laughter ensues)
Truly All In | TPM Editors Blog - anonymous harassing emails (you are using that term incorrectly unless he/she went through TOR)
General David Petraeus’s Rules for Living - Newsweek and The Daily Beast (#13: don't be an idiot)

Queens Nursing Home Is Faulted Over Care After Storm - NYTimes.com (more generators on the first floor, brilliant +didn't bother stocking food +failed last year also)

Political Animal - Climate Change Will Blow Up the Deficit (deselected fact)
Global Warming Poll: Climate Change A 'Serious Problem' To 68% Of Americans

Florida to Address Delays as It Confirms Obama Victory - NYTimes.com The state is consumed by finger-pointing and finger-wagging as election officials, lawmakers and voters try to make sense of what went wrong on Election Day and during early voting. (it's so hard to figure out)
Florida Screws Up Voting Again "Let's declare Florida an election disaster area and bring in the feds."

What Romney Lost by Garry Wills | NYRblog | The New York Review of Books What can be worse than to sell your soul and find it not valuable enough to get anything for it? ... But the greater loss, the real loss, is the loss of honor. (Romney is a deeply dishonest, dishonorable man)
Daily Kos: Rethinking "shellshocked" Romney - It's better for the overall Republican brand for Romney to briefly make himself look ridiculous one last time, than to admit to the billionaire donor class that they just threw hundreds of millions of dollars down a rathole while being kept in the dark about their actual odds, and that it's just as likely to happen to them again in 2016.

Frank Rich on the GOP’s Denial -- New York Magazine - The Republican faithful at strata both low and high, from Rush’s dittoheads to the think-tank-affiliated intellectuals, have long since stopped acknowledging any empirical evidence that disputes their insular worldview, no matter how grounded that evidence might be in (God forbid) science or any other verifiable reality, like, say, census reports or elementary mathematics.
Karl Rove under fire - Kenneth P. Vogel - politico.com (Mr. Denial)
Romney: Not white enough? - Salon.com The Weekly Standard's Jay Cost calls on the GOP to nominate someone its base will really love -- like Richard Nixon - “Barack Obama and the Triumph of Identity Politics.” “Identity politics” is a conservative term for “attracting the votes of women and minorities.” (Mitt Romney’s explicit plan to turn out as many white people as possible is usually not considered “identity politics” for reasons you can probably figure out on your own.)
Fox discovers constant lying isn’t consistently effective electoral strategy - Salon.com
How Conservative Media Lost to the MSM and Failed the Rank and File - Conor Friedersdorf - The Atlantic - On the biggest political story of the year, the conservative media just got its ass handed to it by the mainstream media. And movement conservatives, who believe the MSM is more biased and less rigorous than their alternatives, have no way to explain how their trusted outlets got it wrong, while The New York Times got it right. Hint: The Times hired the most rigorous forecaster it could find.
Is Our Conservatives Learning? - Lawyers, Guns & Money
Christian Conservatives Failed to Sway Voters - NYTimes.com Christian conservatives, for more than two decades a pivotal force in American politics, are grappling with Election Day results that repudiated their influence and suggested that the cultural tide — especially on gay issues — has shifted against them. (more losers)
Mittenfreude | TBogg - Romney was the quintessentially dishonest, fake candidate
Too Failed To Bail | TBogg A business model where a failing business is loaded up with debt which is in turn doled out in fees to senior staff before the whole thing comes crashing down around their ears? This is unheard of.
Forget Nate Silver: Meet The Guy Who Called 2012 In 2002 | TPM2012 - Ruy Teixeira
David, You’ve Got Your History Wrong | TPM Editors Blog (simple-minded Brooks is always wrong)
Daily Kos: The delicious irony about the big money GOP donors ... So in order not to have to pay more taxes, in order to prevent anyone from making them contribute to a more just and fair society, they give hundreds of millions of dollars to failed right wing political hacks such as Karl Rove, who piss those hundreds of millions away, with nothing to show for it. They might as well be doing lots and lots of really really expensive drugs.
Mitt Romney 2012 Campaign Highlights (video) | TPM2012 (Christ, what an asshole)
Romney Quickly Losing Facebook Friends more than 55,025 Facebook users have "unliked" Romney, at a rate of about 847 an hour
‘Reality is harsh to the feet of shadows’

Political Animal - The Bottomless Money Pit May have Hurt Republicans (they couldn't resist doing what they always do, spending it on themselves)
Eschaton: Zac Moffatt Internet people on Team D spent the election season making fun of Romney's digital guy, his capacity for self-promotion, and the credulous media that broadcasted his nonsense. Looks like they knew what they were talking about.
Campaign Sources: The Romney Campaign was a Consultant Con Job | RedState So what caused the breakdown and why didn’t it get fixed in time? Well according to sources who worked closely with the program, the blame is at the feet of consultants ... "Zac just went off the rails a lot and made the Romney campaign a marketing vehicle for himself.” Adding, “at least the other consultants kept their mouths shut.”
Why the white evangelical religious right can no longer presume to claim moral superiority The religious right lost because they are no longer perceived as having the moral high ground. (their God deserted them)
Peter Morrison, Texas GOP Official, Calls For 'Amicable Divorce' From 'Maggots' Who Voted For Obama (one can hope)
California GOP Showing Worries Party Strategists The nation's most populous state – home to 1 in 8 Americans – has entered a period of Democratic political control so far-reaching that the dwindling number of Republicans in the Legislature are in danger of becoming mere spectators at the statehouse.
Mary Bono Mack Loses Seat To Raul Ruiz Mary Bono Mack, a longtime GOP congresswoman from California, lost her bid for reelection on Friday (bozo down)
All Ballots Counted, Allen West Solidly Defeated By Patrick Murphy

Political Animal - President Obama Must Pardon this Man (who he put in jail for legal activity)

Medicaid Expansion To Poorest Southerners Denied By Republicans (the South: "fuck our citizens")

Democrats Fear Kerry Would be Replaced by Brown (Scottie's revenge!)

If Todd Akin Had Watched This Movie, He’d Be A Senator Today | TBogg (the Story of Menstruation by Disney/Kotex)

Cloud Atlas’s Theory of Everything by Emily Eakin | NYRblog | The New York Review of Books the directors should hire their friend the philosopher Ken Wilber to provide expert commentary and spare us from having to hit “pause” and “reverse.”
A Thief in the Night: Rise of the Antichrist Movie (standard Evangelical propaganda in the '70's and '80's)

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Syrian refugee crisis hits new high as 11,000 flee in single day | World news | guardian.co.uk Turkey and Jordan say they are close to being overwhelmed by numbers fleeing conflict, as UN and charities plead for help
China's economy to overtake US in next four years, says OECD | Business | guardian.co.uk China's economy will be biggest in world by end of 2016, says leading international thinktank
US military warned to prepare for consequences of climate change | World news | guardian.co.uk National Academy of Sciences recommends crash course for analysts on preparing for rise in sea level and food shortages

CIA Director David Petraeus resigns, cites extramarital affair - U.S. News
Balloon Juice » Petraeus Out MSNBC is reporting that David Petraeus is resigning because of an extramarital affair, which basically confirms what we all knew anyway. He really is a Republican, aka the Family Values party.
a Petraeus' biographer Paula Broadwell under FBI investigation over access to his email, law enforcement officials say - U.S. News (pieces of the puzzle?)

Gas Rationing Begins In New York City With Odd-Even System While Power Outages From Hurricane Sandy Persist

Rep. Alan Grayson calls the Grand Bargain ‘an artificial crisis to steal from the middle class’ | Video Cafe

Let’s Not Make a Deal - NYTimes.com So stand your ground, Mr. President, and don’t give in to threats. No deal is better than a bad deal.
Fiscal Cliff Democrats - How the Democrats Can Make the Republicans Pay - Esquire Besides associating myself with this morning's remarks from Professor Krugman, I'd also like to say that behaving as though you are operating out of a panic ginned-up by financiers, pundits, and people who still want your head on a stick is no way to celebrate stomping a mudhole in Willard Romney's privileged ass.

Come, Drink In Delusional Mitt Romney’s Election-Night Sadness With Us
A Victory for Obama and Obama's America : The New Yorker
Romney Concession - Willard Romney's Strange Little Oblivious World - Esquire - Willard Romney was a dumber politician than Dan Quayle and Sarah Palin combined.

Rachel Maddow - Time for the right to leave the bubble - YouTube
Karl Rove Tries To Convince Donors He’s Not The GOP’s Solyndra | TPM2012 “Is this just math that you do as a Republican to make yourself feel better?” Fox host Megyn Kelly asked at one point, “Or is this real?”
GOP Mega-Donor: These Super PACs Are So Secretive! | TPMMuckraker “You have no idea of the financial structuring of a lot of these outside groups in terms of how much went to the actual delivery of a message,” Friess said, “versus how many dollars were taken off as fees to the people running them.” (rich guys wake up to how the system works)
Balloon Juice » Blog Archive » Two Parts of the Con
Republicans ‘Test’ For Voting Fraud, Wind Up In Custody | TPMMuckraker Two Republicans in separate states were taken into police custody during the past week for allegedly attempting to test how easy it would be to commit voter fraud.
Matt Taibbi: Mitt Romney Would Have Won If Republicans 'Were Self-Aware At All'
Hey, Rush Limbaugh: 'Starting an Abortion Industry' Won't Win You Female Voters | Matt Taibbi | Rolling Stone
Conservative Media Turn On Governor Christie Following Romney Defeat | Research | Media Matters for America
No state-run health insurance exchanges in Missouri or Kansas | Midwest Democracy (how to screw your own citizens)
the daily howler: Slowest Children Of The Press Corps: George Will!
Bats Left/Throws Right: Goodbye To All That. For About Two Months. [Now Updated With Math!] George Eff Will, "And the winner is: The status quo"
Eric Dondero on Boycotting Democrats -- Daily Intel (bitter tears of impotent rage)
In The Loop | Flagpole Magazine | Athens, GA News, Music, Arts, Restaurants Almost 4,000 Athens voters wrote in Charles Darwin (or some variation thereof) against U.S Rep. Paul Broun, giving the father of evolution 16 percent of the vote, according to a list of write-in votes the Athens-Clarke Board of Elections released this morning.
Anti-Obama Teen Kristen Neel's Tweet About Moving To Australia Triggers Heated Twitter Backlash (famous on the internets for all eternity, Kristen Neel)
Tammy Baldwin To Ron Johnson: 'I'm Quite Confident' I Understand The Federal Budget
After Years Of Decrying "Amnesty," Sean Hannity Endorses A "Pathway To Citizenship" | Video | Media Matters for America (self-deportation to Mexico)
John Koster, GOP House Candidate Who Spoke Of 'The Rape Thing', Conceding House Race (that was a winning issue; all three down, blames everyone but himself)
Balloon Juice » Blog Archive » Open Thread: Blame the Single Ladies! a clear front-runner in the Blame Game has emerged: single women, who gave 68 percent of their vote to Obama, compared to 53 percent of married women who voted for Romney. (Obama got the slut vote, big time)
Gallup: 2012 election had the largest gender gap in recorded history - The Hill's Blog Briefing Room President Obama won women by 12 percentage points, while Mitt Romney won men by 8. That’s a 20-point gender gap, edging out the 1984 election when Ronald Reagan defeated Democrat Walter Mondale in a landslide ... 2012 was the fifth straight election to feature a double-digit gender gap. (and growing as men get stupider)
Balloon Juice » Blog Archive » More Geekenfreude the GOP’s Project ORCA —you know, the GOTV system that failed more or less completely ... "It was a giant [mess] because a political operative sold a broken product with no support or backup plan…" (they conned themselves)
Romney’s Get Out the Vote Fiasco « Commentary Magazine

As Nation and Parties Change, Republicans Are at an Electoral College Disadvantage - NYTimes.com (need +3 popular vote to make up +South has solidified and captured KY,IN)
The Washington Monthly - Rage Machine Vs. Turnout Machine By Rich Yeselson - The three rings of this circus—the paranoid billionaires, the activist and media crackpots, and the resentful elderly and white men (and, frequently, their spouses)—are tied so tightly that it would destroy the party if the links were broken. (old white guys are very, very angry)
Study: Obama’s reelection drives racist tweet increase from south | The Raw Story (no shit)
Political Animal - Turnout Disparities and the Democratic Dilemma for 2014 midterms always, always produce an electorate that is older and whiter than presidential cycles.
Political Animal - How’d That “War on Religion” Wedge Issue Work Out? (Cult of the Red Beanie FAIL)

There’s A Culture War, And Democrats Are Winning - Lawyers, Guns & Money

Who's The Best Pollster Of 2012? Not So Fast

Florida’s Messy Democracy - The Daily Beast Republican legislation and a long ballot led to shamefully long lines in the Sunshine State. But Latino voters represented anyway,
Rick Scott On Decision Not To Extend Early Voting: 'The Right Thing Happened'
Presidential Election 2012: Florida as embarrassing afterthought - West Palm Beach liberal | Examiner.com - The simple truth is that over the past two years, the RPOF's legislative "super-majority" elected in 2010 spent a disgraceful amount of taxpayer time focused on forcing through various voter suppression initiatives - two of which combined to create this mess.
Husted’s latest idea would have handed Ohio to Romney
Balloon Juice » Blog Archive » BREAKING: Teabagger War Criminal Allen West Denied Recount

David Petraeus Resigns - Out on the Week - Esquire (CP explains how he escaped the Symplagades, and note, he won't be around for a week)
Extra chromosome 21 removed from Down syndrome cell line | UW Today

The ethics of outing your rapist | Jill Filipovic | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk In naming her father on YouTube as her rapist, a woman is taking possession of the right to tell her story

Photographer puts a GoPro in bride’s bouquet for a unique wedding video: Connect

Viagra patent tossed out by Supreme Court | Sympatico.ca Finance

Apple accused of dragging feet over Samsung court order | Technology | guardian.co.uk Judges furious over 'lackadaisical' compliance with order to publicise acknowledgements that South Korean firm did not infringe designs

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China’s Hu Jintao warns corruption could prove fatal to Communist Party | McClatchy
Phillip Schofield confronts Prime Minister David Cameron with list of 'Tory paedophiles' live on This Morning - Crime - UK - The Independent ("Tory" is Brit for "Phillip Schofield confronts Prime Minister David Cameron with list of 'Tory paedophiles' live on This Morning - Crime - UK - The Independent (list is very long of upplerclass conservatives)
How to View Defense Spending in Asia

Romney Campaign Concedes Florida The final Electoral College tally is Obama at 332 and Romney at 206.
Mitt Romney Campaign: We Lost Florida To Obama In Presidential Election

Secret Service Leaves Romney He had ridden in a 15-car motorcade to the Intercontinental Hotel in Boston for his concession speech. He rode in a single-car motorcade back across the Charles River to Belmont. His son, Tagg, did the driving." (SS dropped him like a hot potato)

In 2nd term, Obama’s first foreign policy challenge will be replacing Hillary Clinton | McClatchy
Did Obama Move American Government to the Right? Is the Pope Jewish? - Lawyers, Guns & Money
Big Bet Six Months Ago Paved Way for President - WSJ.com
Power-Mad Conservatives - NYTimes.com
Political Animal - Bush Was On the Ballot

Voting Limits Caused Less Chaos This Year Than Epic Lines | TPMMuckraker
The Billion-Dollar Buy: The billion-dollar bust? - politico.com
Taegan Goddard's Political Wire "I'd be asking for a refund." -- David Axelrod, quoted by Greg Sargent, joking what he would do if he were one of the billionaires who had handed big checks to Karl Rove.
Romney Shellshocked at Loss Said the adviser: "We went into the evening confident we had a good path to victory. I don't think there was one person who saw this coming."
Jon Stewart on Fox News’ election night meltdown | TPM2012
Rick Perry's Campaign May Have Been A Joke, But It Also May Have Helped Decide The 2012 Election | The New Republic
Republicans Help Democrats Pad Their Senate Majority Ahead Of Brutal 2014 Election | TPMDC Two years from now, the Senate Democrats who rode the 2008 wave into office will face re-election. In theory, this provides the GOP with large pick-up opportunities.
I Accept Your Terms, Sir! - Lawyers, Guns & Money : Lotta great stuff out there for those who enjoy despair-of-the-broken-and-defeated posts. Assrocket and RS McCain are the best I’ve seen; feel free to link to others in comments.
Balloon Juice » But what’s the use of looking if you don’t know what they mean?
Karl Rove, American Crossroads Spin GOP Election Losses
Romney Staff Credit Cards - Willard Romney, Cutting of The Help for Good - Esquire Aides taking cabs home late that night got rude awakenings when they found the credit cards linked to the campaign no longer worked. Classic. They're all lucky they're not working in China now.
Daily Kos: The kids will destroy the GOP President Barack Obama won the 18-29-year-old vote 60-37. He lost the 65 and older vote 56-44. Guess who will be around longer?

Holiday Gift Guide: Romney/Ryan 2012 Campaign Edition - Politics - The Atlantic Wire (get 'em while you can, cheap!)
White People Mourning Romney (delicious)

Daily Kos: Allen West refuses to concede, ready to sue . Remember, West raised more money than anyone in the House besides John Boehner.

publish.nyc.indymedia.org | FBI Forensic Computer Crime Experts Asked To Investigate Romney-Owned Machines The Green Party is asking the FBI to send in forensic computer crime experts to investigate the software Romney-owned Solamere has put into Cincinnati, Ohio and other swing state voting machines

The Washington Monthly - Ten Miles Square - Warren Has the Skills for the Senate
Hawaii sends nation's first Asian American woman to Senate - San Jose Mercury News "I bring quadruple diversity to the Senate," Hirono said at a rally earlier in the campaign. "I'm a woman. I'll be the first Asian woman ever to be elected to the U.S. Senate. I am an immigrant. I am a Buddhist. When I said this at one of my gatherings, they said, 'Yes, but are you gay?' and I said, 'Nobody's perfect.'"

Harry Reid Occupy - What Occupy Did to 2012, What It Will Do to 2013 - Esquire
The Real Problem with the Demented Republican Party - Esquire
Catholic Vote 2012 - Catholic Vote? What Catholic Vote? - Esquire (Clan of the Red Beanie loses big)

Crosstabs: The 2012 Obama Coalition | TPM TV
Inside Gallup’s Epic Fail | TPM Editors Blog In 2004, the white vote was 77% of the electorate, in 2008, 74% of the electorate and in 2010, 78% of the electorate. So Gallup posited that that the racial make up of the electorate would be the same as two years ago and that 2008 was an outlier.
Collision | TPM Editors Blog Generalized and even principled hostility to science and expert opinion makes it much easier to sustain. But losing an election has the clarity of hitting a brick wall at 100 miles an hour. Call it the ultimate disconfirming experience.
Among the top election quants, Nate Silver reigns supreme | Politics and Law - CNET News Not only did FiveThirtyEight's Silver pick all 50 state winners in the presidential race, he also beat out his polling aggregator rivals for sheer margin of accuracy.
Election 2012 results: Florida presidential votes Hispanic Cuban Jewish battleground Mitt Romney came far closer with Cuban American voters, picking up 47% of their vote, while President Obama grabbed 49% ... Jewish voters did not go as far as the republican presidential candidate had hoped. Romney picked up only 30% of the statewide vote, while President Obama won 66% of that critical voting population.
GOP legislative 'losers' and DFL 'winners' take decidedly different tacks | MinnPost The losers couldn’t have been more petty; the winners couldn’t have been more gracious.
Balloon Juice » I’m Still Loving The Smell Of Schadenfreude In The Morning: Geek Edition
Balloon Juice » What to do when the people you dismiss, kick your ass… ("voting is the best revenge")
Balloon Juice » Better than 80/20 Latino Vote the Latino vote provided Obama with 5.4 percent of his margin over Romney, well more than his overall lead in the popular vote. Had Romney managed even 35 percent of the Latino vote, he said, the results may have flipped nationally.
Balloon Juice » » No Money From Nobody, Again . O’Neill was the “no money from nobody” candidate for the Ohio Supreme Court. He doesn’t accept campaign donations. O’Neill is a Democrat, although he was not the Party choice this year partly because he won’t accept campaign contributions.

Calculated Risk: Thursday: Initial Unemployment Claims, Trade Deficit

Don’t bust pot states, Obama - Salon.com Voters in Washington and Colorado have OK'd marijuana legalization. The president should respect their will
Religious Vote Data Show Shifts In Obama's Faith-Based Support "The basic religious contours of the 2012 electorate resemble recent elections -- traditionally Republican groups such as white evangelicals and weekly churchgoers strongly backed Romney, while traditionally Democratic groups such as black Protestants, Hispanic Catholics, Jews and the religiously unaffiliated backed Obama by large margins,"

Alan Grayson Takes On Koch Brothers: 'People Are Wising Up' To 'Outright Lies,' 'Trickery,' 'Propaganda' (VIdeo)
Ace of Spades HQ The bitter irony of this entire endeavor was that a supposedly small government candidate gutted the local structure of GOTV efforts in favor of a centralized, faceless organization in a far off place (in this case, their Boston headquarters). Wrap your head around that (wingnut gets screwed by Big Campaign, ho-ho).

BBC News - 'Super-Earth' exoplanet spotted 42 light-years away Astronomers have spotted another candidate for a potentially habitable planet - and it is not too far away.

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Syria conflict: Obama urged to be tougher with Assad - Wednesday 7 November 2012 | World news | guardian.co.uk
Athens ablaze as protesters try to storm parliament | World news | The Guardian Petrol bombs thrown and teargas and water cannons used as 80,000 protest against proposed austerity measures
Guatemala Earthquake 2012: USGS Reports Strong Quake
French government approves introduction of same-sex marriage | Society | The Guardian Draft law on gay marriage and adoption to go before parliament amid protests and concerns plans do not go far enough
Poll: Israel viewed negatively around th... JPost - National News BBC survey measures public opinion on 22 countries, places Israel in company of North Korea, ahead of only Iran, Pakistan.


Barack Obama Victory Speech: 'The Best Is Yet To Come'
Mitt Romney Concession Speech: Presidential Candidate Concedes Election To Obama

Bonus Quote of the Day He didn't get enough votes." -- New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R), quoted by CNN, explaining why Mitt Romney lost the presidential race.

Senate Election Results (Dems: +3)
Dems keep Senate, leaders urge working toward solutions - CNN.com
The Real Real America - NYTimes.com Tomorrow — or I guess today — comes the cleanup; when thousands, perhaps millions, of right-wing heads explode, it makes quite a mess. Also, notice that the polls were right. I wonder if I can get invited when Nate Silver is sworn in as president?
OBAMA'S BIG NIGHT - Molly Ball - The Atlantic From landmark victories for marijuana and same-sex marriage to picking up seats in the Senate, the left gained much more than the presidency Tuesday.
Liberal Schadenfreude Hits Impossible Heights As Results Pour In | TPM2012
Balloon Juice » Ass Missile has a Sad. (Tears of Impotent Rage: Drink all You Want: There's plenty more.)
Howard Fineman: Why Obama Won Is So Clear, The Day After "Obama ran a flawless campaign except for the first debate, and they pivoted correctly every time. Very impressive," he wrote. "Romney ran a ridiculous campaign and the primaries killed him and he was never able to fix that. He wound up being one of two things: either a liar with no center or a right wing nut case."
Republicans Grapple for Answers After Loss - NYTimes.com It was the morning of the Republican hangover.

US Election 2012 analysis: Hindsight will view Mitt Romney as a poor candidate, says Toby Harnden | Mail Online - but his biggest failing was that even after running for the White House for the best part of six years it was hard to fathom exactly who he was or what he really believed – as opposed to what he thought voters wanted him to believe.
Michele Bachmann clings on to her seat but key conservatives beaten by Democrat challengers | Mail Online
PM Netanyahu meets US Ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro - YouTube (Netanyahu eats shit and looks very uncomfortable doing it)

Harry Reid: Filibuster Reform Will Be Pursued In The Next Congress
Joe Biden: Election A Mandate On Tax Policy
Obama back at the wheel as US economy heads for a fiscal cliff | Business | The Guardian Barack Obama has less than two months to broker a deal with the Republicans to prevent crippling budget cuts

Obama Speech Election Night 2012 - Tom Junod on Obama's Election 2012 Victory Speech - Esquire< The Greatness of Barack Obama Is Our Great Project, by Charles P. Pierce - Esquire
/a>
Mitt Romney New Hampshire Rally - Alone at Mitt's Movable Feast on Election Day Eve - Esquire
Ohio Election Night 2012 - The Ohio Governor and the Worst Victory Party in America - Esquire

Women In Senate: 2012 Election Ushers In Historic Number Of Female Senators The 113th Congress will have 20 female senators, the most ever in U.S. history.
Gender Gap In 2012 Election Aided Obama Win In total, the gender gap on Tuesday added up to 18 percent -- a significantly wider margin than the 12-point gender gap in the 2008 election.
GOP Women And Abortion Dismissal Was A 'Strategic Error,' Conservatives Scold
alicublog - The Ladyparts Election
Record number of women headed to the Senate: War on women won?
Latino Voters In Election 2012 Help Sweep Obama To Reelection Obama had won 75 percent of Latino voters nationwide, while exit polls found him with around 70 percent Latino support, with figures likely to change throughout the night as tallies come in from the West Coast.
Poll: Latino Vote Devastated GOP Even Worse Than Exits Showed | TPM2012 by an eye-popping 75-23 margin
Sherrod Brown: 'Karl Rove Had A Bad Night'
Obama Won A Mandate On Election Day To Take America Further Forward | The New Republic
Republicans Bet Everything, and Obama Won It All -- Daily Intel
Balloon Juice » More than Enough Bush “won” in 2000 with 271 electoral votes. In 2004 he upped that to a massive 286.
Balloon Juice » The Master ere’s Karl Rove confabulating some Ohio math split screened with Fox’s Ohio call. Not all the counties are in! I await his WSJ column explaining how Mitt Romney would have won if only he had understood that blue-collar males, the soccer moms of this election, wanted to hear more about legitimate rape.
'Now I'm Going to Offer You a Hamburger' - Jeffrey Goldberg - The Atlantic I understand that Obamacare death panels will soon be meeting at Springsteen concerts, as his fan base ages.
Alan Grayson Election Results: Former Congressman Reelected In Florida House Race No other candidate had lost by 18 points in one year, only to turn around and win the next cycle by 25 -- a 43-point swing.
Allen West Election Results: Democratic Newcomer Patrick Murphy Prevails
Joe Walsh Election Results: Illinois Congressman Defeated By Tammy Duckworth
Hippies Wander Into the Lions' Den, Maul Lions - Ta-Nehisi Coates - The Atlantic - The beast-handlers know this. I think it's broadcast in Bill O'Reilly's open racism, in Karl Rove's flight into lunacy. It is slowly dawning on them: This isn't 1968. The hippies are punching back.

Sitting on Top of the Senate Against all odds, Democrats keep their hold on the Senate—with liberals leading the way.
Obama's win matched by advances for progressive Democrats | Michael Cohen | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk The longer-term significance of the 2012 election is the growing strength and confidence of the Democratic party's liberal wing
The 2012 Elections: Heralded by Sergio Romo's Shirt | The Nation
Victory - Lawyers, Guns & Money
Balloon Juice » So You Say You Want a Revolution - The National Review openly calling for a civil war. ("But we’ve won civil wars and preserved the Union before." yes, they are that stupid)
Balloon Juice » I loves you PORGI (against post-religious, globalist intellectuals!)
Drudge: How the Drudge Report reported Obama's victory, or didn't.
Obama the moderate Republican: What the 2012 election should teach the GOP. - Slate Magazine Cheer Up, Republicans You’re going to have a moderate Republican president for the next four years: Barack Obama.
Hullabaloo - digby - They picked the wrong guy --- and what comes next (teaparty feels vindicated by Romney losss: he wasn't conservative enough)
A big night for Democrats and liberals - The Plum Line - The Washington Post
Hullabaloo Buh Bye Mitt by digby - We hardly knew ye ... thank goodness (great pic)

Pundit Scorecard: Checking pundits’ predictions against the actual results of the presidential election. - Slate Magazine
Daily Kos: Punditz: 34 blown election predictions

The Obama Realignment - NYTimes.com (Douthat cries)
A Theory Behind the GOP Losses No serious political party in America -- no legitimate party in any viable democracy -- can win an election by suppressing votes

US Senate - 2012 Massachusetts Election Results - Brown vs. Warren - Boston.com (Warren: +8)
Elizabeth Warren On Her Senate Victory: 'We Stuck To Our Values'
Elizabeth Warren Wins Massachusetts Senate Race - Senator Elizabeth Warren, Hell-Raiser Already - Esquire

Nate Silver-Led Statistics Men Crush Pundits in Election - Businessweek
Nate Silver Takes A Victory Lap After Obama Re-election
AMA Request: Nate Silver - fivethirtyeight.com : IAmA
Daily Kos: Eggs on their faces: Pollsters Mason Dixon and Suffolk incredibly wrong
Scott Rasmussen Explains Why His Polls Didn't Foresee an Obama Win

The Most Accurate Polls (24. Rasmussen; 25. Gallup; 26. NPR, third from the bottom)
The Accuracy of the Final National Polls — The Monkey Cage
2012 Poll Accuracy: After Obama, Models And Survey Science Won The Day
Simon Jackman: Pollster Predictive Performance, 51 out of 51
How the pollsters won the 2012 US election, mostly | Harry J Enten | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk It was a good night for most polling organisations; aggregators got it close to perfect. For the 'unskewed' crowd, not so much
The Washington Monthly - Ten Miles Square - Fundamentals and the Triumph of Avoiding Disaster
Balloon Juice » Another Dispatch From Inside the Bubble The bigger question is why on earth he ever thought just changing numbers in a poll until you liked the outcome was going to actually reflect the reality on the ground. That’s the power of the bubble working.
Rest of Election Day Open Thread | protein wisdom (winger tears are precious)

Balloon Juice » Our Big Fat Gay Election - I thought witnessing the Great PUMA Tantrum of Aught-Eight in real time was fun, but it turns out that was just the bagged crudité tray before the grand schadenfreude banquet that is the Colossal Wingnut Bed-Shitting of 2012. Good times! (+great pic)
Gay Marriage Victory In Maine, Maryland; Minnesota Votes Down 'Traditional' Amendment
Political Animal - Gay Rights and Our New Libertarian Normal
Colorado, Washington Pot Legalization Deals Drug War Major Blow
Amendment 64 Opponents Speak Out On Legal Weed: Hickenlooper Says 'Don't Break Out The Cheetos' Yet; AG Suthers Calls Out The DOJ The votes marked a significant shift from decades of tough-on-crime policies that burned through $1 trillion in tax dollars over 40 years, led to the arrest of 850,000 Americans for marijuana law violations in 2010 alone, and fueled the rise of deadly drug cartels abroad.

Heidi Heitkamp Election Results: Democrat Defeats Rick Berg In North Dakota Senate Race
Paul Ryan's War On Poverty Ryan has authored budgets to slash the social safety net for poor people, which would necessarily excaberate poverty. Ryan told the audience that he would limit the federal government's role.

Meet The Nation's Five Worst Election Officials | ThinkProgress (good thing they are as incompetent at voter supression as everything else)

Voters retain Justice David Wiggins | The Des Moines Register | desmoinesregister.com Voters retained Justice David Wiggins on the Iowa Supreme Court, following a heated campaign to remove him from the bench. (teaparty tries to get rid of sane judge; fails)
Roger Rivard Loses Reelection To Wisconsin Assembly After Saying 'Some Girls Rape Easy'
Victoria Jackson On Obama's Win: 'I Can't Stop Crying, America Died'
Diane Sawyer Drunk Rumor Explodes On Twitter

Oklahoma executes Garry Thomas Allen despite claims of insanity | World news | guardian.co.uk Execution carried out for 1986 murder despite 56-year-old appearing confused and rambling about presidential election

Graham Spanier arraigned over Penn State Jerry Sandusky case | World news | guardian.co.uk Former Penn State president faces charges including perjury, obstruction, endangering the welfare of children and conspiracy
Eric Barker: Which Professions Have The Most Psychopaths? (politicians? Republicans?)

Anti-Aging Substance Is Made of Human Sperm -- New York Magazine Spermine, a powerful anti-oxidant originally discovered in, yes, human sperm, is said to diminish wrinkles and smooth the skin. The substance is now being synthesized in laboratories and sold by a Norwegian company called (seriously) Bioforskning.

Chinese Condom Ad
Morgan Stanley Tries To Halt Facebook IPO Lawsuit
When A Mouse Requires An Internet Connection, You're Doing 'Cloud' Wrong | Techdirt

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Obama Elected 2012: President Clinches Electoral Vote Win
Barack Obama Reelection Signals Rise Of New America
Tammy Baldwin Defeats Tommy Thompson In Wisconsin | TPMDC America’s the first openly gay senator
Chris Murphy Defeats Linda McMahon | TPMDC
Democrat Brown Re-elected To Senate Seat In Ohio | TPMDC
Angus King Wins Maine Senate Seat | TPM2012
Tim Kaine Defeats George Allen In Virginia | TPMDC
Democrat Nelson Re-elected To Senate In Florida | TPMDC
Richard Mourdock Election Results: Joe Donnelly Defeats GOP Rival In Indiana Senate Race (rape boys go down)
Todd Akin Election Results: Claire McCaskill Defeats GOP Challenger
Elizabeth Warren Election Results: Consumer Advocate Unseats Scott Brown (cosmo-boy gets 47%)
Amendment 64 Passes: Colorado Legalizes Marijuana For Recreational Use
Maine Passes Gay Marriage In Historic 'Question 1' Vote

Captain: Army general in sex case threatened to kill me - U.S. News The woman said she was honored at first by the attention from Brig. Gen. Jeffrey Sinclair, who she said was highly regarded. They first had sex in 2008 at a forward operating base in Iraq, she said.
Neil Heywood Murder: Brit Killed In China Was MI6 Informant, Newspaper Investigation Claims

Nov. 5: Late Poll Gains for Obama Leave Romney With Longer Odds - NYTimes.com Mr. Romney’s chances of winning the Electoral College have slipped, and are now only about 8 percent according to the forecast model — down from about 30 percent 10 days ago. (O at 92%)
Princeton Election Consortium — A first draft of electoral history - Electoral Prediction (mode): Barack Obama 303 EV, Mitt Romney 235 EV - Two-Candidate Popular Vote Share: Obama 51.1%, Romney 48.9%.
Nate Silver on political pundits | TPM2012 “I’m not very pro-pundit, I have to say,” Silver said. “If pundits were on the ballot against, like, I don’t know, Ebola, I might vote Ebola, or third party.”
2012 Senate Polls: Democrats Favored To Retain Majority

Romney Supporters Ready To Blame Government Moochers If Obama Wins | TPM2012
Why There Are Long Lines In Miami: City Financed Lavish Baseball Stadium Instead Of Voting Equipment | ThinkProgress In Miami, for instance, the city force-fed a new baseball stadium for the Miami Marlins to residents. To finance the stadium, Miami-Dade County sold $377 million in public bonds, and the city of Miami sold an additional $102 million. If other cities are any indication, financing the debt on those bonds will eventually force the city to cut back on other services it provides to its residents (rich moochers will always mooch) )
True the Vote in Ohio - Election Day in Ohio: True the Vote's Suppression Machine - Esquire
Pennsylvania Voter ID Election Day - Election PM in Pennsylvania: Voter ID and Deanery - Esquire County officials received a complaint shortly before 10 a.m. Tuesday that Republicans outside a polling location on Maple Street in Homestead were stopping people outside the polls and asking for identification.
Milwaukee Voting Machine Problems - Election PM in Wisconsin: Machine Politics, Literally - Esquire Just put your ballot in this bin here and don't worry, we'll cast it for you later.
Political Animal - Your Voter Suppression Round-Up
America's voting system is a disgrace - CNN.com
Voting Machine Turns Obama Votes into Romney Votes A Pennsylvania electronic voting machine has been taken out of service after being captured on video changing a vote for President Obama into one for Mitt Romney, NBC News has confirmed. (just an "accident")
Sinclair Broadcast Group Station Airs Anti-Obama ‘Special’ In Ohio | TPMMuckraker A call to Sinclair’s corporate headquarters was not returned.
Political Animal - Whoever Wins, We Must Destroy the Electoral College
Election Day: The Worst Day For Headlines In All Of American Journalism | The New Republic
I’m a libertarian. Which is why I’m voting for Mitt Romney. « Corey Robin
Classic George Will. Seriously. - Lawyers, Guns & Money : Lawyers, Guns & Money This vintage 1976 clipping of a George Will column, warning us sternly about the dangers of allowing voter registration by . . . mail. Because it would mean a “substantial increase in bureaucracy, and a substantial increase in the opportunity for fraudulent voting.” (he's been a an asshole, and wrong, his whole pathetic life)
Political Animal - Rather’s “Gut” Perfect End To MSM Campaign Punditry Longtime television journalist Dan Rather said on Tuesday that reporters shouldn’t predict elections based on their gut — but added that his tells him Mitt Romney will have a good day. (all you need to know about it)
(3) @RepublicanTears/feed on Twitter
An Exhaustive Collection of Pundit Predictions -- Daily Intel
Chrysler gives workers day off to vote - politico.com (revenge!)

US Senate - 2012 Massachusetts Election Results - Brown vs. Warren - Boston.com
Political Animal - Early Good News for Liz Warren , it should be noted that the state chooses its governors in off-election years. There’s no telling if William Weld (1990, 1994), Paul Cellucci (1998) and Mitt Romney (2002) would have been elected if presidential elections had been occuring (big Beantown turnout; McDreamy to have bad night)
Massachusetts Senate Election Day - Scott Brown: A Day Late and a Few Poll Numbers Short - Esquire If Brown loses, as the polls seem to indicate that he will, he will have to blame whomever it was that advised him to run most of this campaign as though he were auditioning for a weekend slot on WRKO in Boston

Michigan Special Masters Law - A Referendum We Can All Agree Upon - Esquire Michigan's emergency managers law appears headed for defeat, with only 36% of voters supporting to 45% who are opposed.
The Villages' Democrats Find Second-Rate Citizenry In A Billionaire's Republican Kingdom

Brie Lybrand, New Orleans Beauty Guru, Posts Video Claiming She Was Raped By Her Father "My father, Steven Bressler, molested, tortured and raped me from the time I was four until I was 13 years old," she says. this comes days after Google implemented a first/last name requirement for screen names on YouTube.

Human trials for HIV/AIDS vaccine making steady progress The first and only preventative HIV vaccine based on a genetically modified killed whole-virus has been making steady progress in Phase I Clinical Trials in the United States

Skype hands 16-year-old's personal information to IT company | nu.nl/internet | Het laatste nieuws het eerst op nu.nl - Skype illegally distributed a user's personal information to a private company during a police investigation into Anonymous-sanctioned cyberattacks on PayPal.
Why Google Went Offline Today and a Bit about How the Internet Works - CloudFlare blog
iPad Market Share Drops: Apple Tablets Slip To 50 Percent Of Devices Shipped In Q3 2012

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Outcry after rape of Indian girl aged 16 triggers calls for reduction in age of consent - Asia - World - The Independent

New Jersey Email Voting 2012 -Sandy's Secondary Disaster: The Institution of Voting - Esquire We've all seen the footage from Staten Island and Breezy Point in the Rockaways. Would you be thinking about voting if that was now your life?

Sandy Versus Katrina - NYTimes.com The fact is that if Mr. Romney had been president these past four years the federal response to disasters of all kinds would have been far weaker than it was. There would have been no auto bailout, because Mr. Romney opposed the federal financing that was crucial to the rescue. And FEMA would have remained mired in Bush-era incompetence.
Protecting New York City, Before Next Time - NYTimes.com (oysters and titdal marshes in lower Mahattan, un-huh)
Giuliani Claims Obama Response To Hurricane Sandy 'Worse Than Katrina' | ThinkProgress

Romney's Closing Pitch: Elect Me Or Face Another Recession | TPM LiveWire
Thoughts on the Left at the End of an Election Cycle - Lawyers, Guns & Money : Lawyers, Guns & Money
The ground war: Knock, knock | The Economist Some old truths are being rediscovered
Mitt Romney's Bain Capital Dodged $102 Million In Taxes By Using Dutch Tax Loophole, Newspaper Writes

The 10 Greatest Moments Of The 2012 Campaign | ThinkProgress (clown-parade)
From the Party of Lincoln to the Party of Calhoun, Virginia Edition - Lawyers, Guns & Money
Today In Delicious Attempts By Republicans To Rationalize Losses - Lawyers, Guns & Money
Rightbloggers Anticipate Romney Landslide, Denounce Nate Silver, Katy Perry - New York - News - Runnin' Scared
Political Animal - GOP’s Racial Gamble Backfiring this year’s Republican campaign has been based on a big strategic gamble that a deliberate alienation of black and brown voters would ultimately matter less than a full mobilization of Republican strength among older white voters
Political Animal - The Right’s Dream Fades
Election 2012 Demographics - Politico on Obama Mandate - Esquire In case you have misplaced you magic pundit decoder ring, the latest one-word euphemism for "Where The White Folk At?" is "demographics."
Americans For Responsible Leadership’s Donors Unmasked | TPMMuckraker The FPPC also said that in disclosing the donors, the Arizona group Americans for Responsible Leadership admitted to “campaign money laundering.”
Colorado Dark Money Group’s Donors Revealed | TPMMuckraker
Political Animal - This year’s most intriguing ballot referendum: Montana’s corporate personhood initiative

Ohio's Provisional Ballot Order: The Biggest Legal Story of the Weekend - Andrew Cohen - The Atlantic A late voting directive from Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted begets an "emergency motion" about how to count provisional ballots.
A voting debacle in Doral causes chaos and confusion - Florida - MiamiHerald.com Mayor Carlos Gimenez said part of the reason the county elections headquarters temporarily shut down Sunday with a crowd waiting outside to vote was because he had not authorized the additional hours. (and then he towed everyones cars)
Doral Miami-Dade Early Voting - Florida Voting Problems 2012 - Esquire "Frankly," said a guy working with the election commission on a special project, "I don't know why these people aren't calling for the governor's head on a plate. We needed twice as much time and twice as many polling places."
Why The Lines Are So Long In Florida And Ohio | ThinkProgress
Political Animal - GOTNV It should be a surprise to no one, but it still feels wrong that going into Election Day, one of our two major parties seems to be putting so much emphasis on keeping people from voting—on getting out the non-vote.
The New Jim Crow - The Daily Beast - Whatever the result tomorrow, voter suppression is one of the big stories of this campaign and its enduring scandal
Steve Schmidt: Voter Fraud Part Of GOP ‘Mythology’ | TPMMuckraker
Alabama Elections 2012 - Alabama and the Rolling Tide of a Down Ballot - Esquire it seems a near-certainty that the end result of Tuesday's voting will be that, for the first time since the late nineteenth century, no Democrat will hold a statewide elected office in Alabama.
Why Romney is losing Latinos by a historic margin - The Plum Line - The Washington Post If this holds, Obama will have won a larger percentage of the Latino vote than any Democratic president since Bill Clinton, who won 72 percent in his 1996 landslide reelection. The difference, of course, is that Latinos were only 5 percent of the electorate in 1996; this year, they’re projected to be 10 percent of voters (immigration +healthcare)
Dems Ask FBI To Investigate Jeff Flake Robocalls | TPMMuckraker Democratic officials in Arizona asked federal and state authorities late Sunday to investigate robocalls from Republican Jeff Flake’s Senate campaign that told registered Democrats to vote at the wrong polling locations.(just and "accident")
Romney staff refusing to let frostbitten voters leave PA rally
No More Mister Nice Blog - Peggy Noonan: Mitt Romney Is Sexy Jesus (WaPo can't go bankrupt fast enough)
Paul Ryan Religious Freedom - Paul Ryan, Culture Warrior, Launches a New Crusade - Esquire Republican vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan told a group of Evangelical Christians Sunday that President Obama's plans threaten "Judeo-Christian values"


Paul Ryan To Social Conservatives: 'Religious Freedom' At Risk If Obama Is Reelected (the "freedom" to force you to obey their religion)
Religion And Politics: IRS Not Enforcing Rules On Separation Of Church And State For the past three years, the Internal Revenue Service hasn't been investigating complaints of partisan political activity by churches, leaving religious groups who make direct or thinly veiled endorsements of political candidates unchallenged.
Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church Election 2012 - Charles P. Pierce on Church Sunday Before Election 2012 - Esquire They also were the places in which most of the purely theological doubts about the advisability of handing the presidency over to a Mormon burned most brightly. Until this year, of course, when minor theological quibbles over whether or not the risen Christ paid a visit to the Algonquins were set aside for the high mission of extracting the current president from the White House and, as they say, getting our country back.

Limbaugh: "Moochelle Obama" Is Campaigning With "NBA Players And Others" To Rally "The Base, The Black Vote Base" | Video | Media Matters for America (these are very evil, ugly people)

Full List | Best Inventions of the Year 2012 | TIME.com

Anonymous Claims To Have Hacked 28,000 PayPal Passwords For Guy Fawkes Day Security firm Symantec was also reportedly hacked

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British have invaded nine out of ten countries - so look out Luxembourg - Telegraph Britain has invaded all but 22 countries in the world in its long and colourful history, new research has found.
The Dumb Politics Of Benghazi Tea Party protests. Agency deception. White House confusion. Partisan smoke, and few straight answers, on the campaign trail
Intelligence Community Points Out Fox Was Kinda Lying About Benghazi This Whole Time


Obama Approval Rises After Superstorm Sandy | TPM2012 - Since Oct. 28, a national tracking poll by Democratic-leaning Public Policy Polling has shown Obama’s job approval making a net gain of 6 percentage points. (RMoney down 7)
Political Animal - Sandy, climate change, and Michael Bloomberg’s failure America is failing itself, and why our leaders desperately need to stop asking, how can I best cater to the narrow, short-sighted economic interests of my plutocrat cronies and supporters, and to start asking, how can I best protect the broad public interest of all the people I serve?
'SNL' Takes On Lydia Callis, Bloomberg's Sign Language Interpreter, And Chris Christie (video)

A definitive guide to the eight swing states that will decide the 2012 election | Harry J Enten | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk When the polls close on election day, the contest between Obama and Romney comes down to these crucial battlegrounds
The swing states: a round-up: The road to 270 | The Economist Over the past two months, we have looked at the most important battlefield states where the presidential race will be decided. Put it all together, and what do you get?
Are Indies Coming Back to Obama?
Nov. 2: For Romney to Win, State Polls Must Be Statistically Biased - NYTimes.com (the Rove line)

Prospects brighten for filibuster reform - The Plum Line - The Washington Post would force the filibustering party to play a much more public role in obstructing the majority — perhaps making it politically less appetizing. The Senate has already adopted one proposed reform, the elimination of the secret hold.

Ohio Early Voting: Long Lines Reported Outside Polling Places
ElectoralVote black voters, who favor Obama about 95% to 5%, used early voting at a rate 26 times that of white voters. This effect is due to the fact that many blacks have inflexible job schedules and can't take off time on Tuesdays to vote.
Florida Early Voting Fiasco: Voters Wait For Hours, Locked Out At Polls As Rick Scott Refuses To Budge
As election looms, many voters fear the process is compromised | McClatchy

Obama Gains Edge in Campaign’s Final Days | Pew Research Center for the People and the Press Obama 50% - Romney 47%
The Washington Monthly while quite a few leading lights of the G.O.P. continue desperatelyspinning the fantastic delusion of a Romney landslide, the smell of their flopsweat is unmistakable, and getting stronger by the minute. According to Nate Silver, the probability of Obama winning has risen to 85%.
GOP Claims Voting Machines Are Stealing Elections For Obama | ThinkProgress (all the voting machines were bought by ACORN)
White Man Date - Lawyers, Guns & Money : Lawyers, Guns & Money So Obama’s coalition is broader, but it doesn’t extend to a majority of Real Americans, who are white, so it doesn’t count. Right. Shorter Politico: Democratic states should get 3/5ths representation in the Electoral College.
Mitt Romney, white vote: Parsing the narrow, tribal appeal of the Republican nominee. - Slate Magazine Parsing the narrow, tribal appeal of the Republican nominee. (they are collosally stupid? +minorities and women are "races")
Working class voters: why America's poor are willing to vote Republican | World news | guardian.co.uk those most reliant on benefits live in Republican states and often Republican counties ... The question of why poor people vote Republican is not simply an issue of income but primarily race and partly region and gender (United States of Racisim)
mojo-obama-conspiracy.png (ultimate wingnut Obama conspiracy-theory guide)
Watch Ohioans Explain That Obama Is An Atheist Muslim (And That Buddhists Are Invading The Country) (these idiots will be famous on the internets for all eternity)
Romney Political Director Blames 'Let Detroit Go Bankrupt' on New York Times | Video Cafe
Fox News Redefines Unbalanced By Giving Romney 80 Percent More Airtime | Blog | Media Matters for America

Quote of the Day "Folks I want to remind you, this is the end of daylight savings time tonight. It's Mitt Romney's favorite time of the year because he gets to turn the clock back." -- Joe Biden, quoted by the New York Times, at a rally in Colorado.

Elizabeth for MA | Grateful - YouTube

Political Animal - Are the Washington Post’s editorial and business divisions on a collision course? This Washington Post story about the financial condition of the Washington Post Co. is illuminating. Unsurprisingly, but worryingly, its newspaper and online divisions are big money losers. Somewhat surprising is that its education division, Kaplan, is also a financial drain. (they could fire Jennifer Rubin a save a dimes)
Political Animal - The worst idea I’ve heard before breakfast … A campaign is underway to put up a bust of the notorious misogynist, Iraq War blowhard, and, as George Galloway so memorably described him, “drink-sodden ex-Trotskyist popinjay” Christopher Hitchens in London’s Red Lion Square.

Sundays With The Christianists: This ‘World History’ Textbook Is The Opiate Of The Homeschooled Masses
The Washington Monthly - Ten Miles Square - The Myth About Strangers Poisoning Kids’ Halloween Candy Of note, children do face some real health risks on Halloween, but the risks come from cars, not candy (suburban myth)

Mars Science Laboratory: Images High-Resolution Self-Portrait by Curiosity Rover Arm Camera
Scientists Identify Gene Required for Nerve Regeneration | Genetics | Sci-News.com

Dotcom's broadband plan - National - NZ Herald News Free internet to providers if cable to US can be resurrected

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Pakistan suicide blast kills anti-Taliban politician | World news | guardian.co.uk Taliban claims responsibility for attack in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in which three guards and two passers-by also died

Data Show Weakening in Euro Zone Economy - NYTimes.com (too many soup-kitchens in America!)

Guest Post: What’s Wrong with the Human Security Report and the “Global Decline Claim” » Duck of Minerva

New York's lights come back on but gas and transit woes continue for region | World news | guardian.co.uk Power returns to much of Manhattan after Sandy as officials warn residents there is still a 'long, hard road to recovery'
Superstorm Sandy: Electricity Returns To Some New Yorkers, Patience Wears Thin For Others
New York Gas Shortage: Public Told First Responders Are Priority For Fuel
Before/After Hurricane Sandy Photos Show How Storm Devastated East Coast (INTERACTIVE PICTURES)
New York City Marathon Cancellation: Why The Race Was Called Off ("I'm alway right" Bloomberg folded)
Hurricane Sandy Delivers 'Another Catastrophe' To Verizon's Home, Complicating Network Repairs (let's put a lot of vital infrastructure in a flood-zone!)
Brown University Student On Sandy: 'Government Wants Us To Think' There's A Hurricane

Last-Minute Ohio Directive Could Trash Legal Votes
Dark Money Spending: 81% Has Gone To Republicans | TPMMuckraker
Did Mitt Romney get away with keeping his tax returns secret? - The Week The campaign is almost over and the public still knows next to nothing about the GOP candidate's immense fortune (post-accountability America +media saw it as "too partisan" to ask wtf?)

The craziest, most nail-biting elections in U.S. history - The Week - You may be surprised to learn that Bush-Gore doesn't even crack the top 3

Presidential Polls 2012: Obama's Battleground Advantage Holds
Romney, Business Allies Finish With Strong Argument: Vote With Us, Or You're Fired (the Trump approach)
The Blackmail Caucus - NYTimes.com “Nice country you got here. Shame if something were to happen to it” becomes a winning political argument? arguing for Mr. Romney on the grounds that he could get things done veers dangerously close to accepting protection-racket politics, which have no place in American life.
Romney: Elect Me Or House GOP Will Wreck The Economy | TPM2012
2012 House of Representatives Outlook
“O-H?” “I-O!!” | The Page by Mark Halperin | TIME.com Don’t kill me for the obvious, but the near absence of racial diversity in the Romney crowds is teased out further by the contrast with the rainbow the President draws. It is more striking than I have ever experienced it in any presidential campaign I have covered. (racist 50% of America)
Balloon Juice » Blog Archive » Friday Evening Open Thread: Spin Faster! (FEMAmart)
Romney Seeks Vengeance For Obama’s ‘Revenge’ Remark | TPM2012 “No, no, no — don’t boo, vote,” Obama said. “Vote. Voting is the best revenge.”
Daily Kos: Chris Christie: Mitt hasn't called me since Sandy hit
Christie 'Still Very Satisfied' With Obama’s Sandy Response | TPM LiveWire
Linda McMahon Plays Up Chris Murphy's Communist Endorsement McMahon is currently trailing Murphy by roughly seven points in the polls, according to HuffPost Pollster
2012 Senate Race Polls: Richard Mourdock's Plunge Dampens GOP's Majority Hopes (it's the God raped you thing)
Todd Akin Arrested At Least Eight Times At Abortion Clinic Protests
Wombs and Periods: the real threat to national security » Duck of Minerva

Soup Kitchens Caused the Great Depression - NYTimes.com Some readers have been asking me to reply to Casey Mulligan’s latest attack on my recent book (Casey Mulligan, another fauxconomist)
Food stamps cause global depression ? — Crooked Timber I’d expect a professor at the University of Chicago to be aware that the USA is not the only country in the world. That’s not true, apparently, of Casey Mulligan (oh, "Chicago School" of liars)
Did Republicans Pressure CRS to Withdraw Taxes Report? - NYTimes.com In a brazen example of putting ideology ahead of reality, Senate Republicans seem to have pressured the Congressional Research Service to withdraw a report debunking conservative economic orthodoxy.
alicublog - Bullshitting The Bullshiters

A Convenient Excuse - News Features On October 2, I led a climate protest inside the offices of the Boston Globe ... Canellos, the paper's former Washington bureau chief, was more interested in the short-term politics of the Keystone pipeline debate ... (bad paper gets worse)
Mayor Bloomberg’s Barrier - NYTimes.com In the case of Sandy, the damage to New York City is estimated to be as much as $17 billion. Cities like London, Amsterdam — and, yes, Providence — have built systems to minimize the damage even Category 3 storms can cause. But not New York.
Nature Votes Last - NYTimes.com Republicans have spent the last year trying to win an argument about the role of government as a helping hand. By now, most people know that Mitt Romney, in his base-pandering mode during the primaries, made the federal disaster agency FEMA sound like a costly nuisance, better off orphaned to the states or the private sector.
In Sandy's Wake, Insurance Industry Must Better Account For Climate Change, Critics Say
'Romney vs. Sandy' Video Stresses 'Climate Change Isn't A Joke' In Wake Of Hurricane

Steven Shapin reviews ‘The Pseudoscience Wars’ by Michael Gordin · LRB 8 November 2012 Catastrophism (Velikovsky is the root of fringe-nuttery and Einstein said Harvard was evil)
Mars Curiosity Rover Detects No Methane On Red Planet, Takes Stunning Self-Portrait | TPM Idea Lab

Apple's Samsung statement reprimanded by court of appeal | Technology | guardian.co.uk Judges say article on iPad ruling is 'non-compliant' and order tech giant to put up an amended version within 48 hours (meaning, Apple said fuck you and put a link in tiny type and it would take them "weeks" to change it)
Microsoft’s security team is killing it: Not one product on Kaspersky’s top 10 vulnerabilities list - The Next Web (mostly Adobe, Oracle and Apple)

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China prepares for power handover but reverberations will be felt worldwide | World news | The Guardian The world's second-biggest economy will see power shift to Xi Jinping, but its population has no real role in choosing a leader
Uganda vows to withdraw peacekeepers over UN's Congo claims | World news | guardian.co.uk Security minister says troops will pull out of regional hotspots, after UN accused Uganda of supporting Congolese rebels

Freddie Starr released on police bail after arrest in Savile abuse inquiry | UK news | guardian.co.uk The 69-year-old comic was arrested at 5.45pm on Thursday at his home in Warwickshire "on suspicion of sexual offences" (what did Mark Thompson know and when did he know it?)
“Do we really want to take on…Saint Jimmy?” - Lawyers, Guns & Money
Andrew O’Hagan · Light Entertainment: Our Paedophile Culture · LRB 8 November 2012 Andrew O’Hagan writes about child abuse and the British public
Jimmy Savile: DJ claims he was a 'necrophiliac' who had sex with 'under-age subnormals' - Crime - News - London Evening Standard
'Senior political figure' set to be outed as paedophile on Newsnight - Crime - News - London Evening Standard

News Outlets Held Back Detail Of Benghazi Attack At CIA's Request
Lisa Murkowski 'Outraged' Over Latest Reports On Libya Attack she had heard enough to accuse President Barack Obama and his administration of neglecting their duties to protect American personnel abroad.
17 years for man tried over Pentagon terror plot | World news | guardian.co.uk 27-year-old planned to fly remote-controlled model aircraft carrying explosives into the Pentagon and Capitol

Hurricane Sandy Gas Shortage: Dry Pumps Could Last For Days
Residents of FiDi's 'Uninhabitable' Two Gold Scramble for Stuff - #ZoneA Information Blackout - Curbed NY Power's coming back on this weekend for most of SoPo in Manhattan, but that's not necessarily of help to the 130 or so flooded buildings that suffered mechanical or other failures as a result of the seawater. (lots of tall buildings' systems knocked out and it's not as simple as plugging them back in)
East Village Power On After Days Of Con Edison Work To Fix Outages From Hurricane Sandy
NYC Science Stunned by Sandy | The Scientist Magazine® Super storm Sandy wreaks havoc on researchers across New York City, destroying samples, killing lab animals, and cutting power to much of Manhattan.

Who is the worst civil liberties President in US history? | Glenn Greenwald | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk Where do the abuses of the last decade from Bush and Obama rank when compared to prior assaults in the name of war?

Karl Rove's Mission Accomplished - NYTimes.com
The Long Con: Mail-order conservatism | Rick Perlstein | The Baffler
Limbaugh: Romney "Looks Like" A President "Out There In A Suit And Tie," Unlike Obama In A Flight Jacket | Video | Media Matters for America

Get ready for the phony debt fight - Salon.com Both candidates agree: The national debt is the most urgent challenge facing the nation. But it's not -- at all ("everyone agrees" "something" "must be done")
October Jobs Report: U.S. Adds 171,000 Jobs As Unemployment Rate At 7.9 Percent

Most Americans living in Israel have voted for Mitt Romney, poll finds | World news | guardian.co.uk Votes from American-Israelis could make a difference in swing states, according to iVoteIsrael campaign group - An overwhelming majority of Israelis entitled to vote in the US presidential election have cast their ballot for Mitt Romney (dual-loyalty Jews)

Presidential Polls Update: Obama's Swing-State Margins Holding
Mitt Romney Closing Argument: I'll Get A Debt Ceiling Deal "You know that if the President is re-elected, he will still be unable to work with the people in Congress," Romney will say (see, our Republican Pres was too "partisan")
Romney's Last Stand: From Now On, It's Him-Him-Him - Esquire As part of his "closing argument," Willard Romney, who has tried on every argument for making him our president that can be conceived by the mind of mortal man, seems to have settled on simple blackmail (because Republicans are crazy Obama can't work with them so elect me)
Job Numbers October 2012 - Sandy and the Job Numbers: The Week the Actual Turning Points Stepped Out - Esquire
Campaigns mobilise lawyers for legal ground game in election's swing states | World news | guardian.co.uk Thousands of lawyers jetting in to battleground states to be on hand to litigate and prevent rivals gaining unfair advantage
Balloon Juice » Blog Archive » Buckeye Of The Storm Turns out Ohio GOP Secretary of State Jon Husted is making Ken “Let’s give Ohio to Bush!” Blackwell look like a saint. ("glitches")
Department of Justice Investigating Alleged Ballot Fraud At Clackamas County Elections Sources familiar with the incident say their understanding is that the woman filled in a straight Republican ticket on the ballots where preferences had been left blank by voters.
The 5 Most Racist Ads Of 2012 | ThinkProgress
Political Animal - Bad News For Mourdock Poll internals indicated Mourdock’s favorability ratings have just collapsed in the wake of his remarks in an October 23 poll that it was God’s Will that women carry to term pregnancies caused by rape.
Joe Donnelly Building Lead In Indiana, Polls Show Indiana Democrat Joe Donnelly shows signs of pulling ahead of Richard Mourdock (as God intended)
Political Animal - The Ultimate GOTV Appeal Yesterday we all enjoyed Bishop Daniel Jenky’s encyclical essentially ordering the people of the Diocese of Peoria to vote for Romney/Ryan on pain of eternal damnation. But at Religion Dispatches today, Sarah Posner has a whole jumbo platter of ecclesiastical endorsements that range from mere Obama-bashing to the full stage of eschatological theater

Balloon Juice » To Moscow With Love (Mitt sends Matt to Russia to kiss Putin's ass)

Nov. 1: The Simple Case for Saying Obama Is the Favorite - NYTimes.com
Nine 2012 Electoral College predictions have Obama ahead
Sam Wang (map of the sane and insane parts of the country by population)
Nate Silver's Offer to Wager $2,000 on the President's Re-election is Inappropriate | The Public Editor - NYTimes.com (Margaret Sullivan gets creamed in the comments)
Why Nate Silver's Gambling Streak Makes Me Trust Him More - Conor Friedersdorf - The Atlantic Margaret Sullivan explains. "That has endeared him to liberals and Democrats, just as it has infuriated conservatives and Republicans." (Nate Silver places a bet on "math;" Times Ombud clutches her pearls because she doesn't understand math and is clueless about what Silver is doing)
Balloon Juice » Blog Archive » Glasnost and Perestroika If you think that being a “Times journalist” is some kind of magic elixir of credibility for a guy whose blog was already widely read and quoted, and that the issue with Silver is left vs. right, instead of innumerate establishment political journalist vs. fact-based political journalism, then you are a member of the old guard, no matter how smart you are about journalism and truth.
Care To Make It Interesting? - Lawyers, Guns & Money : Lawyers, Guns & Money The public editor’s admonition to Silver — who, if I understand correctly, isn’t even a staff writer — is silly on its face. But it’s doubly silly because there was a real and important point behind it: namely, that Joe Scarborough is selling the public bullshit in bad faith, and this is pretty much what at least 90% of punditry is.
A Bet is a Tax on Bullshit Nate Silver, whose models give Obama a high probability of winning reelection, has offered one of his critics a bet. “Putting your money where your mouth is,” is a time-honored principle of integrity in my view but the NYTimes Public Editor is very upset.
Balloon Juice » Our Failed Media Experiment In Action (Deadspin: In retrospect, we should’ve seen it coming. It was only a matter of time before the war on expertise spilled over into the cells of Nate Silver’s spreadsheets)
A Fitting Coda To The Gut Vs. Data Slap Fight | Blog | Media Matters for America Because it's the numbers that screwed up, not the people whose job it is to interpret them. ("Occam's razor)
The $10,000 Question - New York Times Published: August 23, 2005 (context)

Political Animal - The Ultimate GOTV Appeal Yesterday we all enjoyed Bishop Daniel Jenky’s encyclical essentially ordering the people of the Diocese of Peoria to vote for Romney/Ryan on pain of eternal damnation. But at Religion Dispatches today, Sarah Posner has a whole jumbo platter of ecclesiastical endorsements that range from mere Obama-bashing to the full stage of eschatological theater
alicublog - No Sex Please, We're WINGNUTS
Requiring That You Get Something In Return For Your Health Insurance Premiums — Is There No End To Their Smutty Treachery? - Lawyers, Guns & Money

Arizona Latinos Urged to Oust Sheriff Joe Arpaio - NYTimes.com

Marijuana Legalization in 2012 Election - Marijuana Legalization Pros and Cons - Esquire (see Boston Globe's idiotic argument against)
Marijuana caught in a Catch-22 - Letters - The Boston Globe

Matt Romney Goes to Russia for Business - NYTimes.com
Jim Walton, Walmart Heir, Accused Of Campaign Finance Violations Walton is the seventh-wealthiest person in America, according to Forbes.

Will law school students have jobs after they graduate? - The Washington Post (meltdown)

Scientific fraud is rife: it's time to stand up for good science | Pete Etchells and Suzi Gage | Science | guardian.co.uk The way we fund and publish science encourages fraud. A forum about academic misconduct aims to find practical solutions
Cancer fight stalls amid push for profits, doctors say | Society | The Guardian Newer drugs fall short of hopes and cost too much, say experts who pledge to improve care in poorer countries


Apple has lost their legal claim to the iPhone name in Mexico
Best Windows 8 Start Screen Modifiers And Start Menu Apps

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Arms Sales, Politics and “Frankenforces”

Barclays faces record £290m penalty | Business | The Guardian British bank suffers another hit to its battered reputation as it confronts huge costs for alleged US energy market manipulation (.5 Bn, fraud, no one goes to jail, of course)

New Jersey Gas Lines Stretch For Miles [photos] - Business Insider
Gridlock | TPM Media
New York Con Edison: Power Restored By Nov. 10, 11
Hurricane Sandy: West Virginia, New York, Maine, And Many States In Between Recover From Superstorm killing at least 90 people in the United States. Power outages now stand at more than 4.5 million homes and businesses, down from a peak of 8.5 million.
Manhattan Evacuation Plan Reveals Island’s Old Contours » Manhattan Past
New York Storm Surge Barrier - Business Insider

Disasters and Politics - NYTimes.com the weird Republican obsession with killing FEMA. . Does the right somehow imagine that only Those People need disaster relief? Is the whole idea of helping people as opposed to hurting them just anathema?
A Case Study of Republicans vs. Democrats on FEMA | Mother Jones
Sandy Should Remind Us Why We Need A Big, Strong Federal Government | The New Republic
Political Animal - Mitt on Emergency Management: Status Quo Minus
Bloomberg Endorses Obama - Mayor Bloomberg Speaks Truth to Power (and Sandy) - Esquire I will be even more impressed when either Bloomberg or Cuomo goes that One Step Beyond and explains that, because we have to get serious about climate change because of what happened in New York, running the world's dirtiest fossil fuel through the Oglalla Aquifer is a stupid idea and, therefore, so is the Keystone XL pipeline. In for a dime, boys...

Nate Silver Bets Joe Scarborough $2,000 That Obama Wins
Twitter / fivethirtyeight: Politico: pundits don't know ... Politico: pundits don't know what's going on, therefore race IMPOSSIBLE to predict. Occam's razor: pundits are usless.

My View: Why I will vote for President Obama – Schools of Thought - CNN.com Blogs A Romney administration promises a society in which life is very sweet for those at the very top, but hard, mean, and brutish for the growing number of Americans falling out of the middle class and into poverty.
What Are President Obama’s Black Critics Talking About? | The New Republic
Late Super PAC Ad Buy Urges African Americans In Ohio To Vote Republican Because Lincoln Freed The Slaves | TPM2012
Bloomberg: I Cannot Abide Romney 5.7 | TPM Editors Blog one of the key reasons that I suspect Romney will lose next week: that it’s almost treated as a given that Romney is something like a software package or a car that has a different edition each year or so and gets a total makeover every half dozen years or more.
Our American endorsement: Which one? | The Economist America could do better than Barack Obama; sadly, Mitt Romney does not fit the bill ("the devil you know")
Barack Obama Is a Great President. Yes, Great. -- Daily Intel

Congressional Research Service Report On Tax Cuts For Wealthy Suppressed By GOP ... "pressure from the Senate minority to take it down," (Republican war on facts)
Congressional Research Service Tax Report Muzzled By GOP. | The New Republic

Political Animal - The Problematic “Magic Vote” the election may hinge on voters who are disappointed with Obama because he didn’t perform the magic trick of overcoming partisanship in Washington, and/or who are hopeful Mitt Romney can perform the magic trick of overcoming partisanship in Washington. For all I know, these are the same people, but they are really missing just about everything important that’s happened in politics and government over the last four years. (not paying attention dept)

The Morning Plum: Chris Christie drives stake into Romney closing argument - The Plum Line - The Washington Post
Romney Got Through The Campaign Without Disclosing More Tax Returns Or His List Of Bundlers And Much More. Did It Cost Him? | The New Republic (media uncomfortable calling attention to it)
Romney’s VA Supporters Hope For Victory, But Fear Obama May Pull Through | TPM2012
Donald Trump Is Robo-Calling For Romney | ThinkProgress (Harry Reid keeps his job)
Election 2012 - Author of voter fraud billboards steps forth Stephen Einhorn - a Wisconsin venture capital fund manager and major GOP donor - disclosed Monday that he and his wife, Nancy, paid for dozens of anonymous billboards in and around Milwaukee and two Ohio cities warning residents of the penalties for committing voter fraud.
Balloon Juice » Blog Archive » Tweet of the Day: Chrysler CEO to Donald Trump: “You’re Full of Sh*t.”
Donald Trump Is Robo-Calling For Romney | ThinkProgress
Sad Pundits: Why Won’t Insiders Tell Us Who Will Win The Election?
Balloon Juice » Blog Archive » Worst Timed Gotcha Ever On a side note, for the love of everything holy, why don’t people pay their hookers in full?
Politico on Media Stumped by Election - Things in Politico That Make Me Want to Guzzle Antifreeze, ThisClose Edition - Esquire It's been a tough week for the gang at Tiger Beat on the Potomac. First, they got into a wrangle with Nate Silver, and Nate thrashed them with his mighty sword of geekdom. Then, their beloved Mittmentum narrative got itself blown out to sea. Then ... +When nepotism and stupid battle, it is almost always a draw.
North Dakota Senate Race Results - How the World's Greatest Democracy Sucks at Elections - Esquire why we might not know who won the Senate race in North Dakota until the Fourth of July
Election may not wrap up Tuesday | The Columbus Dispatch If it’s close, Ohio could be what Florida was in 2000
The Washington Monthly - Ten Miles Square - Romney, Dixie, and the Future of the Electoral College (Southern bigots fucking up the country)
Republican Battleground Map - Welcome to the Eye of the Stupid - Esquire
Balloon Juice » Blog Archive » Worst Timed Gotcha Ever

Congressional Candidates 2012 - Rape in the 2012 Election - Esquire "But on the rape thing, it's like, how does putting more violence onto a woman's body and taking the life of an innocent child that's a consequence of this crime, how does that make it better?" (everytime they open their mouths)
Political Animal - Rape On Their Minds

Bishop Daniel Jenky - The Worst Bishop of 2012 - Esquire of the Diocese of Peoria for being just about the biggest jackass ever given Holy Orders. ("cult of the red beanie")

A Harvard Man’s Critique of Affirmative Action by Michael Kinsley | Washington Monthly

Poll: Nearly six in ten voters believe in demonic possession | The Daily Caller

A Zombie Is a Slave Forever - NYTimes.com - For the slave under French rule in Haiti — then Saint-Domingue — in the 17th and 18th centuries, life was brutal: hunger, extreme overwork and cruel discipline were the rule.

Wisconsin Marijuana Surveillance Cameras - Big Brother Is Watching You Grow Pot - Esquire Our latest chapter comes from Wisconsin, where a federal judge ruled that, under certain circumstances, surveillance cameras can be placed on private property without a warrant. It should surprise approximately nobody that the DEA was behind this scheme,

From Master Plan to No Plan: The Slow Death of Public Higher Education | Dissent Magazine Elected governor of California in 1966 after running a scorched-earth campaign against the University of California, Reagan vowed to “clean up that mess in Berkeley,” warned audiences of “sexual orgies so vile that I cannot describe them to you,” (Reagan destroyed education in California, model for Republicans ever after)

Graham B. Spanier, Former Penn State President, Charged in Sandusky Case - NYTimes.com


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US warns Israel off pre-emptive strike on Iran | World news | The Guardian Arab spring has left US-friendly rulers in region nervous about possible impact of an Israeli strike on Iran's nuclear programme
China thinktank urges end of one-child policy | World news | guardian.co.uk Foundation close to central leadership urges end to birth limits policy across China by 2015, with experts saying reform is 'inevitable'

Jimmy Savile scandal: BBC executives face losing jobs, says former TV chief | Media | guardian.co.uk Will Wyatt says poor handling of crisis and lack of reaction to Newsnight revelations shows something 'doesn't work' at the top (which would also mean the top of you-know-what, but we knew that already)

Eschaton: Guardians Of Our Discourse We all know this, but sometimes it's worth repeating. For years our elite media has promoted bigots and misogynists as our moral betters and ethical standard bearers.

For Years, Warnings That Storm Damage Could Ravage New York - NYTimes.com "Look, the city is extremely vulnerable to damaging storm surges just for its geography, and climate change is increasing that risk," said Ben Strauss, director of the sea level rise program at the research group Climate Central in Princeton, N.J. “Three of the top 10 highest floods at the Battery since 1900 happened in the last two and a half years. If that’s not a wake-up call to take this seriously, I don’t know what is."

Weather Models Get Sandy Right | The New Republic (we don't need no steenking weather dept.)
WaPo-ABC tracking poll: High marks for President Obama on Hurricane Sandy response ... Nearly eight in 10 likely voters say the president has done an “excellent” or “good” job dealing with what’s been labeled a “super storm.”
Storm provides Obama with a commander-in-chief moment - The Washington Post
Chris Christie Probably Really Doesn't Give a Damn About Presidential Politics Right Now | Mother Jones
Craig Fugate, FEMA Administrator, Responds To Michael Brown: 'Better To Be Fast Than To Be Late'
Mitt Romney Disaster Relief Position Faces Scrutiny - Federal Emergency Management Agency should be shuttered and its responsibilities left to the states (and "private enterprise")
Daily Kos: Forecast the Facts shows what a joke Romney is on climate change. But what about us? (zing)

The Case Against Romney -- Daily Intel - At Heart, He’s a Delusional One-Percenter (and lies like Satan)
Joe Biden Torches Mitt Romney For 'Flagrantly Dishonest' Jeep Ad

Poll: Obama Reaches 50 Percent, Leads Romney By 5 Nationally | TPM LiveWire

In defense of Nate Silver — and basic math - Salon.com Pundits taking pot shots at the New York Times stats whiz need to take remedial math
Obama Endorsement 2012 - Charles P. Pierce: Why I'm Voting to Re-Elect President Obama - Esquire
Will Right-Wing Media's Hatred Of Auto Bailout Cost GOP The Election? | Blog | Media Matters for America
Political Animal - Through the Looking Glass everybody knows Dick Morris is a lying, spin-mad hack, so why would I pay any attention to what he’s saying? Here’s why: everybody does not know (or more likely, care) that Morris is full of it, which is why he has a column in a respectable publication like The Hill,
Balloon Juice » And The Rejoicing Has Begun he Most Wrong Man In America is predicting a Romney landslide. And he actually used the term “landslide”.
Deserve’s Got Nothing To Do With It - Lawyers, Guns & Money (Greenwald has been out of the country too long)
Voter ID is not the law in Texas. But law, schmaw! Demand it anyway. | Trail Blazers Blog (and then she "accidentally" typed his name in wrong)
Political Animal - Fruits of Polarization Charles Pierce looks at the latest outrageous utterance by U.S. Rep. Steve King, and just can’t take it any more:

Iowa warns international observers of arrest - Bobby Cervantes - politico.com
Search For Mythical Voter Fraud Leads To False Sighting In Ohio

Massachusetts Senate Race Polls - How Close Is the Massachusetts Senate Race, Really? - Esquire Unfortunately for all concerned, McDreamy bagged the event on Monday, at the height of the storm, claiming that... (he had better things to do)

Limbaugh: Climate Change Is "A Nonissue Anymore Because It's Fraudulent. The Whole Thing Has Been Proven To Be A Hoax" | Video | Media Matters for America (meanwhile in the Republican alternate universe ...)

Xavier Backtracks by Daniel Luzer | Washington Monthly Back in April this year Xavier University, a Jesuit-affiliated college in Cincinnati, Ohio, announced that its employees’ health care plans would no longer cover birth control.

Australia Embraces the “Asian Century” » Duck of Minerva there are still more students studying Latin (205,000) in America’s public schools than Chinese (60,000) (while America embraces the Roman empire)

'Female Viagra,' A Nasal Spray Meant To Boost Sexual Arousal, Is Now In Clinical Trials The drug, called Tefina, is a testosterone gel that is absorbed into the body through the nose.
Joe Biden: Transgender Discrimination Is 'The Civil Rights Issue Of Our Time'


Lydia Callis, Bloomberg Interpreter, Warms Hearts As Sandy Sweeps Through New York Unlike Bloomberg's own stilted Spanish, another highlight of the updates, Callis's signing is both lightning-fast and emotive, her animated face lighting up and contorting happily as she goes, not unlike a guitarist during a blistering solo.
Dumb as a Blog: The 12 best moves of Lydia Callis, Mayor Bloomberg's sign language interpreter on truTV.com
AT&T, T-Mobile Will Share Networks In New York And New Jersey As A Result Of Hurricane Sandy

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Poland found explosives on wreckage of president's plane-report | World | Reuters


A Privacy Catch-22 Clapper v. Amnesty International takes on warrantless wiretapping - The Obama administration is continuing to argue that the potential legal defects of the warrantless wiretapping regime established by Congress should insulate the program from meaningful legal review.
The Supreme Court Exposes Obama’s Circular Logic On Wiretapping | The New Republic
Why Should We Believe Solicitors General about Warrantless Wiretapping | emptywheel

Wind Map

UPDATE 2-Sandy leaves unprecedented challenges for New York City subways | Reuters - t could be four to five days before subway service resumes, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg told a news conference on Tuesday
Eschaton: No Substitute There's no way to that city can function without a functioning rail system (7 million people a day ride rail to/from/in NYC)
NYC Subway Shutdown Will Mostly Affect Low-Income Workers | FDL News Desk (elites have their own helicopters)
Hurricane Sandy Aftermath: Storm Leaves Millions Without Power, More Than A Dozen Dead
Superstorm Sandy Shows Nuclear Plants Who's Boss | MyFDL
Hurricane Sandy's Storm Surge Wreaks Havoc As Its Energy And Trajectory Stun Experts
Hurricane Sandy Power Outage Map: Millions Without Electricity On East Coast (infographic)
US Media Covering Hurricane Sandy Mostly Ignore Whether Climate Change Fueled Storm’s Fury | The Dissenter (Candy Crowley doesn't think it's important)
Maybe We Should Talk About Climate Change Now - Esquire
Yes, Hurricane Sandy is a good reason to worry about climate change
Al's Journal : Statement on Hurricane Sandy (Al Gore)
?Hurricane Sandy Damage Photos: Superstorm's 'Unthinkable' Aftermath Revealed (pictures)
Breezy Point Fire: At least 80 Flooded Houses Destroyed By NYC Blaze
Bush’s disgraced FEMA director stunned at Sandy response: ‘Why was this so quick?’ | The Raw Story
Obama Romney Sandy Reactions - Sandy: Evidence That Romney Is the Wrong President - Esquire
Mitt Romney Mother's Day Floods 2006 - Governor Romney After the (2006) Flood: Not Good - Esquire
America's Foes Are Giddy About Hurricane Sandy - Global - The Atlantic Wire
Sandy’s most obnoxious responses - Salon.com Not even mega-storms can stop right-wing hacks from spewing their venom
Sandy Should Be Politicized - Lawyers, Guns & Money

Obama’s secret weapon: Democrats have a massive advantage in targeting and persuading voters. - Slate Magazine When it comes to targeting and persuading voters, the Democrats have a bigger advantage over the GOP than either party has ever had in the modern campaign era.
Balloon Juice » Blog Archive » Our Very Strange Political Discourse - Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell (Larry and his buds agree, it would be too partisan to mention Romnoid's FEMA statements)
Romney's LDS Tax Loophole, Broken by Bloomberg (he cheats everybody, even his church)
FreakOutNation: FOIA Report Shows How Mitt Romney Avoided Paying Taxes For 15 Years
Chrysler, GM Rebuke Mitt Romney Jeep Ad “We've clearly entered some parallel universe during these last few days,” GM spokesman Greg Martin said. “No amount of campaign politics at its cynical worst will diminish our record of creating jobs in the U.S. and repatriating profits back to this country.”
Norm Coleman Assures Ohio Voters That Roe v. Wade Will Remain Law Of Land Under Romney | TPM2012 (Norm Coleman lies, as usual)
Political Animal - Is Romney Lying to Antichoicers? Romney himself has taken the tack of suggesting that he’s going to be way, way too busy with job-creating and deficit-reducing and non-apologizing to find the time to restrict abortion rights
Conservertarianism Again Obliterated By Reality - Lawyers, Guns & Money
Political Animal - Romney By Hook or By Crook Speaking of Moderate Mitt and his mendacity, a lot of folk are gazing in awe today at the latest David Brooks column, which, predictably, offers the American Beauty Rose of twisted rationales for electing Romney.
Political Animal - Default Drive Mendacity In a display of chutzpah that would be remarkable coming from just about anywhere else, the Romney campaign, caught making a completely erroneous charge about Jeep moving jobs from Ohio to China, has—yes, I know it’s an overused term, but it’s the most accurate available—doubled down with a claim that would shame an actual weasel. The Cleveland Plain Dealer provides a succinct account:
Political Animal - The New Katherine Harris And if you’re looking for a villain-figure—this year’s Katherine Harris—Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted has been auditioning for the role all year.
Pundits Vs. Nate Silver, Data Vs. "Gut" | Blog | Media Matters for America
Nate Silver Critics - The Enemies of Nate Silver - Esquire
Balloon Juice » Blog Archive » Let Them Eat Little Rectangular Pizzas If you want to know what the real goals of the Romney administration will be, ignore Mitt and listen to Ann ("throwout" the educational "system")
Why Are States So Red and Blue? - NYTimes.com ("honor cultures" - Pinker ignores slavery, of course)

Suffolk University - Poll: Warren Surging Toward Victory Over Brown Democratic challenger Elizabeth Warren (53 percent) has widened her lead over incumbent Republican Scott Brown (46 percent), according to a Suffolk University/7News (WHDH-Boston) poll of likely general election voters in Massachusetts.

“New Public Option” Not a Public Option | FDL News Desk

Scientists identify likely origins of vertebrate air breathing | Frontier Scientists

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Syrian air force launches multiple Aleppo attacks on final day of Eid | World news | The Guardian Opposition activists report 48 air strikes in a few hours, UN reports failure of Muslim truce and Damascus car bomb kills 11
Wen Jiabao's family deny 'hidden riches' report | World news | guardian.co.uk Lawyers for Chinese premier's family dispute New York Times article which said they have accumulated wealth of $2.7bn
The Washington Post Thinks Its Terrible that Japan is Becoming Less Crowded and the People are Becoming Healthier | Beat the Press
Iran Drone Photos Show Israeli Bases, Says Report

Spain and Italy criticise Berlin plan for EU to police budgets | World news | The Guardian Europe divided over German proposals for a 'super commissioner' who could punish nations with large deficits

War Rape is Not Declining » Duck of Minerva
The Cursory Pedant: War Rape, the Human Security Report and the Calculation of Violence « The Disorder Of Things
The Citadel Has Been Blown Up. Hurray! Next? A Response to Hobson « The Disorder Of Things

Hurricane Knowledge.com
East Coast Waits For the Hammer To Drop - Dan's Wild Wild Science Journal - AGU Blogosphere
Sandy wreaks havoc across Northeast; at least 10 dead - CNN.com
Hurricane Sandy -- Pass 2, Oct. 29, 2012 - YouTube
Hurricane Sandy Eyes DC, Baltimore, Philadelphia And New York
New York City Flooding: Storm Surge At Irene Levels, Says Cuomo, Before Hurricane Sandy Has Even Hit In Earnest (Brooklyn under water)
Atlantic City Flooding Photos Reveal Hurricane Sandy Damage - "Be advised that there are heavy timbers floating in Atlantic Avenue,"
Hurricane Sandy: More than 1.5 million already without power - CBS News
The Most Intense Hurricanes In U.S. History: Sandy Climbs Into The Ranks (Infographic)
(24) Twitter / Search - #mittstormtips

Voting machines tied to the Romneys could decide the election in Ohio

Mitt Romney In GOP Debate: Shut Down Federal Disaster Agency, Send Responsibility To The States
Political Animal - You’re On Your Own When Disaster Strikes
Mitt Romney Federal Disaster Relief - Willard Romney and the Relief from Disaster Relief - Esquire
Or We Could Just Make Sure Unqualified Republican Fundraisers Run FEMA - Lawyers, Guns & Money
As the Frankenstorm Arrives Romney/ Ryan Go Silent on Their Plan to Cut FEMA and Disaster Relief
House GOP Voted To Cut Disaster Relief In Order To Preserve Military Spending | ThinkProgress
FEMA loses nearly $900 million if sequester cuts hit
Budget Sequestration Deal - Sequester This: Of FEMA Budgets and the GOP Mindgame - Esquire
Hurricane Sandy unlikely to have much impact on election - The Plum Line - The Washington Post
DownWithTyranny!: Would Mitt Romney Handle Hurricane Sandy Any Differently Than Obama? You Betcha! (Atlas Drugged)
Hullabaloo If Republicans had their way: Natural Disaster Edition
Rodney Crowell & Emmylou Harris - Shelter From The Storm - YouTube

Hullabaloo - Ole Moderate Mitt - Now, for the first time in this campaign, video has surfaced of Romney making those bigoted claims about gay parents while pushing his heartless policy against their children.

Presidential Race Dead Even; Romney Maintains Turnout Edge | Pew Research Center for the People and the Press
Obama's Edge: The Ground Game That Could Put Him Over the Top - Molly Ball - The Atlantic - In a close election, the president's sophisticated organization -- which Republicans don't seem to have matched -- could make all the difference
Obama, In Morning Joe Interview, Predicts War Inside Republican Party If He Is Reelected

Medicaid on the Ballot - NYTimes.com But one thing is clear: If he wins, Medicaid — which now covers more than 50 million Americans, and which President Obama would expand further as part of his health reform — will face savage cuts.
Political Animal - The Card Left Unplayed: Medicaid , the failure of Democrats to make a big deal out of his and his party’s health care agenda beyond Medicare should haunt progressives for a long time.

Des Moines Register Endorses Romney - What Are the Gobshites Saying These Days? - Esquire let's pause for a moment and congratulate the editors of the Des Moines Register, a newspaper we're supposed to care about every four years or so, for throwing a public tantrum and making themselves look like idiots in the process.
Balloon Juice » Blog Archive » The lie Romney told last Thursday in Defiance, Ohio (defiantly lying, knowing no one will call him on it)
Is Harry Reid Immortal? - Politics - The Atlantic Wire
Pretending That Bush v. Gore Was Constitutional Law: Ohio Edition - Lawyers, Guns & Money : Lawyers, Guns & Money
No More Mister Nice Blog - "Why Are We Fighting A Gender-Based Culture War?" Asked The Author Of Save The Males (Kathleeen "I am an idiot" Parker)
Oklahoma 'Personhood' Ballot Amendment Appeal Rejected By Supreme Court The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected an attempt by anti-abortion activists to place what they call a "personhood amendment" on the Oklahoma ballot to define an embryo as a human being from the moment of conception.
GOP Senator Alleges Obama May Delay Friday's Jobs Numbers To Boost Re-election Prospects | ThinkProgress (why do that when he can just make it up?)
Tax Expert Calvin Johnson 'Skeptical' Of Mitt Romney's Taxes (the story your media won't touch)

The Mormon Ethic And The Spirit Of Capitalism | The New Republic (like Judaism without the spiritual core)
Political Animal - Mormonism’s Bain Moment Jackson Lears’s piece, which has been published in the latest issue of the New Republic, parses Mormon theology and history to explain how the Church of Latter-Day Saints embodies the Spirit of Capitalism better than the Protestant Ethic itself. And in doing so, has led the Church straight to its Bain Capital moment.

Romnopoly - YouTube
Whedon On Romney - YouTube

Elizabeth Warren, Scott Brown In Dead Heat, Massachusetts Poll Shows (Cosmo-boy surges to victory)

Nate Silver, Artist of Uncertainty In the campaign’s last days, a leading political scientist says all hail to the polling guru’s sobering new book about predicting outcomes.
People Who Can't Do Math Are So Mad At Nate Silver - Politics - The Atlantic Wire
Silver - Lawyers, Guns & Money : The threat Nate Silver’s mathematical models offer to traditional punditry, with its emphasis on the horse race and the personalities and the media ratings, is quite real. How do we know? So many pundits hate Silver with the heat of a thousand suns.
Nate Silver: One-term celebrity? - politico.com (laugh)

The Washington Monthly - Ten Miles Square - Who is the Future U.S. Senator from Maine?

Las Vegas Sands' Money Laundering Probe May End In Settlement: Report (but no jail time)

Fake @CokieRoberts Twitter account fools journalists | Poynter.

1tM41.jpg - Chris Kluwe - Freedom FROM religion

Cancer fight stalls amid push for profits, doctors say | Society | The Guardian Newer drugs fall short of hopes and cost too much, say experts who pledge to improve care in poorer countries

Scientist Shows What Happens To 'Soul' After Death (VIDEO) when the heart stops beating, the blood stops flowing, and the microtubules lose their quantum state, the quantum information in the microtubules isn't destroyed. It's distributed to the universe at large, and if the patient is revived, the quantum information can go back to the microtubules.

Early Menopause: Study Says Common Item Can Be A Trigger A new study warns that chemicals in cosmetics, plastics and household cleaners -- phthalates -- could actually cause women to go through menopause earlier than their peers.

Your Right to Own, Under Threat | Electronic Frontier Foundation The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments today in a case called Kirtsaeng v. Wiley, and their final decision could help shape the future of "first sale," a legal doctrine that underpins the right to sell, lend, or give away the things you buy, even if those things contain copyrighted elements (you don't really own anything)
Windows 8: A Bridge Too Far For Enterprises? - Windows - Operating
windows 8 shortcuts - Bing
Windows 8 Tip: 4 easiest ways to shutdown/restart/sleep your Win 8 PC
New keyboard shortcuts for Windows 8 and Windows RT - Microsoft Windows
Design, Develop, and Certify Hardware for Windows 8
The 20 most common words, and five most common attachments, in phishing e-mails -- GCN
Dropbox vs. iCloud: No Contest - SmallNetBuilder

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Dozens killed in Afghan mosque blast | World news | The Guardian Suicide bomber kills at least 45 outside mosque in Maimana where people had gathered to celebrate Eid al-Adha holiday
Malala Yousafzai 'is everybody's daughter', says father | World news | The Guardian Ziauddin Yousafzai says daughter shot by Taliban for daring to want to go to school has provided a turning point for Pakistan
New York Times blocked by China after report on wealth of Wen Jiabao's family | World news | guardian.co.uk Authorities censor publication after revelations that the premier's relatives have accumulated billions during his leadership
Jimmy Savile scandal: 'celebrity hedonism no excuse for child abuse' | Media | guardian.co.uk Child protection expert criticises Max Clifford for saying celebrities didn't ask for birth certificates
Imran Khan detained and 'interrogated over drone views' by US immigration | World news | guardian.co.uk Former cricket captain turned politician detained on flight from Canada to New York to be questioned over his views on jihad (fucked by immigration)
Fukushima 'running out of space' to store dirty water / World / Britain/World / Home - Morning Star Japan's crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant is struggling to find space to store tens of thousands of tons of highly contaminated water,
More Cultural Heritage Destroyed - Lawyers, Guns & Money : If there’s one thing we can say about the Saudi government, it’s that their commitment to subtlety is unmatched except by the Russians.

Bryan Norcross' Official Blog : Sandy: Serious As a Heart Attack | Weather Underground Right now, the odds favor that southern track. The threat from this situation is serious as a heart attack for anybody near the rising water (aimed at Manhattan)
Did Climate Change Help Create 'Frankenstorm'? | ThinkProgress


Racial Views: Poll Shows Majority Harbor Prejudice Against Blacks Racial attitudes have not improved in the four years since the United States elected its first black president, an Associated Press poll finds, as a slight majority of Americans now express prejudice toward blacks whether they recognize those feelings or not ... When measured by an implicit racial attitudes test, the number of Americans with anti-black sentiments jumped to 56 percent (racist America getting more racist)
Lawrence Wilkerson, Former Colin Powell Aide, Blasts Sununu, GOP, As 'Full Of Racists'
Hullabaloo Sununu and the dogwhistle strategy (Boston Globe's favorite op-ed racist +John McCain is an asshole)
Obama's Skin Color Loses Him 2 Percent - The Dish | By Andrew Sullivan - The Daily Beast - Close to 80 percent of Republican voters expressed "explicit racism." (well, there you are)
G.O.P. Split Over Whether to Emphasize Misogyny or Racism : The New Yorker
Balloon Juice » » A Campaign foretold in an 150 year-old cartoon… he Negrophope Strategy.

State polling averages support Obama camp’s view of the race - The Plum Line - The Washington Post
2012 Polls: When Is A Lead Really A Lead?
Obama Campaign Makes Closing Argument Against Mitt Romney In New Swing State Ad
2012 House Races: Spending By Outside Groups Rocks Many Candidates
Barack Obama Tribune Endorsement: Chicago Tribune Endorses President Again For only the second time in its 165-year history, the Chicago Tribune has endorsed a Democratic candidate for president (Rahm threatened to rip their hearts out)
Des Moines Register endorses Romney - First Read (third swing-state major newpager to switch to Romnoid)
89 Outrageous Anti-Obama Books - The Daily Beast (blizzard of rightwingnut lies)

Daily Kos: Medicare's 'death spiral' under Romney/Ryan voucher plan confirmed in new study
Mitt Romney overruled state agency and rejected new birth certificates for children born to gay parents - Politics - The Boston Globe As governor, he ordered review for each child (he has always been a total asshole)
Michelangelo Signorile: Romney: 'Some Gays Are Actually Having Children. It's Not Right on Paper. It's Not Right in Fact.'

Mitt Romney Economy Speech Repeats Disputed Lines On Job Creation, Health Care (BFLs)
Charles Ferguson: Romney's Other Credibility Problem: Glenn Hubbard (crack-pot "economist")
The Dow as Election Indicator - NYTimes.com WALL STREET does not love Barack Obama, a fact demonstrated by large contributions by bankers to Mitt Romney. (but the stock market does well with incumbents)

Balloon Juice » Then they came for Nate Silver
Right-wing psychosexual obsessions, Nate Silver edition - Lawyers, Guns & Money
Unskewed Studmuffin Dean Chambers Does Not Care For Nate Silver’s Dickless Polling | TBogg
Ohio Is Not a Toss Up Nate Silver looks at the polling average in Ohio (why they hate him, he represents reality)

Hillary Clinton's Birthday: 65 Reasons To Love Her On Her 65th

A tale of two healthcare plans | David Cay Johnston Americans spend $2.64 per person for healthcare for each purchasing power equivalent dollar spent by the 33 other countries that make up the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. The OECD data shows the U.S. spends $8,233 per capita compared with an average of $3,118 in the other 33 countries.
Trouble In Mitt Romney's Socialist Hospital Paradise

Hullabaloo But to pay for that, students in fields such as psychology, political science, anthropology, and performing arts could pay more because they have fewer job prospects in the state. (Flori-duh)
Charles Darwin Supporters Protest Rep. Paul Broun at UGA Arch - Athens, GA Patch Broun, who has made recent religious comments saying evolution is a lie "straight from the pit of hell.
How Mandatory Minimums Forced Me to Send More Than 1,000 Nonviolent Drug Offenders to Federal Prison | The Nation

Third Party Nihilism: The Arguments Can Always Get Worse! - Lawyers, Guns & Money : Matt Stoller, who is sort of Paglia but 1)with fewer references to Madonna and uses of the word “Dionysian,” and 2)less coherent. (never read anything by Matt Stoller, ever)

Women who quit smoking before 30 cut risk of tobacco-related death by 97% | Science | The Guardian Lancet study of more than 1m UK women shows death rate three time higher for those who smoke into middle-age

Obama On Paul Ryan's Hero: Ayn Rand is something we pick up when we are "17 or 18 and feeling misunderstood... Then, as we get older, we realize that a world in which we’re only thinking about ourselves and not thinking about anybody else ... is a very narrow view" : politics
BlessedBlogger comments on one of the most perfect and eloquent explanations of day to day sexism that goes unnoticed by most men, as explained by a friend of mine who is a trans woman.
Sinfest - 2011-10-09: The Sisterhood 7

Jailbreaking Tablets Deemed Illegal By The U.S. Copyright Office

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Hurricane SANDY
Hurricane Sandy may be unprecedented in East Coast storm history - Capital Weather Gang - The Washington Post - a monstrous hybrid vortex. A combination of a hurricane and a nor’easter.
Dying Satellites Could Lead to Shaky Weather Forecasts - NYTimes.com The United States is facing a year or more without crucial satellites that provide invaluable data for predicting storm tracks, a result of years of mismanagement, lack of financing and delays in launching replacements (NYT can't bring themselves to say Republican obstructionism)

Why You're Likely to Believe Political Lies | Psychology Today What happens in your thoughts and emotions that makes political lies stick (lazy non-thinking)

Romney In National Polls Overtaking Obama By Narrow Margin (landslide victory predicted)
CNN Poll: Obama 50%-Romney 46% in Ohio – CNN Political Ticker - CNN.com Blogs
Oct. 25: The State of the States - NYTimes.com - Obama’s 73 percent overall chance of winning the Electoral College. (Ohio has about a 50-50 chance of providing the decisive Electoral College votes.)
Sorry, America, there is no such thing as “October Surprises” - Salon.com Trump's bombshell fizzled, but it's only partly his fault. There are no big reveals two weeks before an election
Politico Doomsday Election Scenarios - Things in Politico That Make Me Want to Guzzle Antifreeze, DOOMSDAY Edition - Esquire
Matt Bai on Bill Clinton and Obama - Dear Matt Bai: You're Fired - Esquire
xs
The Real Cost of Citizens United, Explained - Esquire

Sununu: Powell endorsed candidate of his own race (Boston Globe's favorite op-ed Romney campaign racist guy)
Obama Dismisses John Sununu's Race Comment, Cory Booker Calls It 'Dumb'
Triumph the Insult Comic Dog Debate Video - John Sununu Triumph Debates Video - Esquire (Boston Globes favorite racist)

Balloon Juice GOP: Rape Nuts (Republicans love rape)
The Washington Monthly - Ten Miles Square - If States Embrace Romney’s So-called “Moderate” Stance, They Would Ban 90 percent of Abortions

Balloon Juice » Blog Archive » Ronald Reagan Was as Perverted as Lena Dunham Is!
Conservatives flip out over Lena Dunham Obama ad - Salon.com The "Girls" creator makes a flirty Obama ad and drives the right so batty they compare her to the Russian strongman
Dunham’s ‘First Time’ Ad Similar To 1980 Reagan Joke | TPM2012

Elizabeth Warren Interview - Elizabeth Warren on Romney and More - Esquire

U.S. Economy Grew at 2% Rate in 3rd Quarter - NYTimes.com
Pointing Toward Prosperity? - NYTimes.com Romney’s “plan” is a sham. It’s a list of things he claims will happen, with no description of the policies he would follow to make those things happen. ("bullshit")
CNBC Anchor Becky Quick Bashes Paul Krugman's 'Downright Dangerous' Deficit Stance (austerity the only solution!)
The Richest Person In Each U.S. State - DailyFinance (Mass: Abigal Johnson, $12Bn)

Obamacare Forces Small Business To Trim, But Not Eliminate, Health Care Coverage, Survey Says

Justice Department lawsuit says arrests in Meridian, Miss., schools violate students’ rights - The Washington Post Authorities in east Mississippi run a “school-to-prison pipeline” that locks up students for infractions like flatulence or wearing the wrong color socks, a policy that mainly affects black and disabled children, the U.S. Justice Department said Wednesday in a federal lawsuit.

Sexism in the skeptic community: I spoke out, then came the rape threats. - Slate Magazine I spoke out about sexual harassment among atheists and scientists. Then came the rape threats. (Dawkins is an asshole)
Richard Dawkins asks: “Can’t we just get back to talking about how awful religion is?” - Lawyers, Guns & Money

One of most ambitious films ever made, 'Cloud Atlas' succeeds on all levels | Fox News

Windows, Revamped and Split in 2 - NYTimes.com
A Windows 8 Cheat Sheet - NYTimes.com
Pokki - Download Free Desktop Apps and Games

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Family of Wen Jiabao Holds a Hidden Fortune in China - NYTimes.com

Fox's Moore: U.S. Abandoning "Free Enterprise" For "Socialist Model," Which Is "The Europe Model That's Collapsing" | Video | Media Matters for America (the most socialist countries in Europe are doing better than America)
Greek Unemployed Cut Off From Medical Treatment - NYTimes.com Life in Greece has been turned on its head since the debt crisis took hold. But in few areas has the change been more striking than in health care. (Romnoid's plan for America)

Hurricane Sandy, Winter Storm Hybrid Threatens New York, Delaware, Maine With Bad Weather

Plan for hunting terrorists signals U.S. intends to keep adding names to kill lists - The Washington Post
Codifying the Arbitrary Executive - Lawyers, Guns & Money
"Sustaining a Seemingly Permanent War" The problem with giving "emergency" powers to the executive branch? Once claimed, they are too rarely surrendered. (we are always in a "state of emergency")

Who Threw Israel Under the Bus? - NYTimes.com
Selfhaters - Lawyers, Guns & Money : Obviously former Mossad director Efraim Halevy is a self-hating Jew like the large majority of American Jews who vote for the Democrats. Otherwise why would he write an op-ed for the Times exposing the truth that Democrats have traditionally been greater friends of the Israeli state than Republicans. I don’t think the true Jew-lovers in this country–Pat Robertson let’s say–are going to approve of this.

Quote of the Day "This all dates back to when we were growing up together in Kenya. We had constant run-ins on the soccer field. He wasn't very good and resented it. When we finally moved to America I thought it would be over." -- President Obama, on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno, joking about Donald Trump's latest challenge.

Oct. 24: In Polls, Romney's Momentum Seems to Have Stopped - NYTimes.com
Obama’s Blunder Was in Ceding Political Center to Romney - Bloomberg (well, he's always been a center-right Republican, hasn't he?)
AP-GfK poll: Romney edging out Obama on economy - Businessweek Americans are growing increasingly optimistic about the future of the U.S. economy, and likely voters trust Republican Mitt Romney slightly more than President Barack Obama to do a better job of managing it - shows Romney pulling even with Obama among women at 47-47 after lagging by 16 points among women a month earlier.
Colin Powell Endorses Obama For President
Political Animal - Powell Endorsement Not Part of the “Romney Momentum” Narrative
Obama: Ayn Rand Is For Misunderstood Teenagers | TPM LiveWire
Why even President Obama won't champion social security | Dean Baker | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk Although millions of middle-class Americans strongly support social security, big bucks campaign donors hate it. That's why (the great underminer)
Strident Anti-Obama Messages Flood Key States - NYTimes.com
Mitt Romney Cast As 'Economic Traitor' In New Ad Campaign
Hillary Clinton Indicates She Could Remain Secretary Of State Longer Than Expected
GOP Voter Fraud Accusations Suddenly Blowing Up In Their Faces a growing number of GOP voter registration drives that either submitted false applications or threw away authentic ones.
Greg Abbott, Texas Attorney General, Threatens To Arrest U.N. Elections Observers (Republican thug "poll-watchers" just fine)
Texas’ Greg Abbott Threatens UN-Affiliated Poll Watchers | TPMMuckraker
Dark Money Rising: An Eye on Montana and Beyond - Esquire
Mitt Romney vs. the English Language - Bloomberg
Politico takes on “conspiracy theories,” including various real non-conspiracy things - Salon.com Reporter Ginger Gibson dismisses them as conspiracy theorists -- even those with real fears about voter suppression (fair 'n balanced conspiracies, except one side is true and the other isn't)
Arizona Dark Money Group Spends Millions In California | TPMMuckraker
On the Move in Florida? | TPM Editors Blog
Donald Trump Offers $5 Million For Obama's College Transcripts, Passport But Won't Show His: Report (AUDIO) The Guardian's Adam Gabbatt contacted Trump's office on Wednesday to ask for Trump's college transcripts and passport records, to which an executive at the company responded that the newspaper's request was "stupid."

Richard Mourdock One Of At Least 15 GOP Senate Candidates Who Oppose Abortion For Rape Victims
GOP's Mourdock stands by rape, abortion remark - Times Union
Rape. It’s Just Different. Wait. No, It’s Not. | hecatedemeter
Mitt Romney Refuses To Answer Questions About Richard Mourdock At Campaign Stop In Cincinnati
Obama Campaign Presses Mitt Romney To Fully Disown Richard Mourdock For Rape Comments
Post removed: Study looks at voting and hormones – The Chart - CNN.com Blogs

Michelle Rhee: Union-Buster - Lawyers, Guns & Money : Lawyers, Guns & Money Michelle Rhee’s organization StudentsLast is not just anti-teacher union. It’s anti-collective bargaining more broadly. The organization has contributed $500,000 against Michigan’s Proposal 2, which would make the right to collective bargaining a part of the state constitution.
The Presidential Candidate Who Would Destroy the Economy - Bloomberg The usually reasonable Conor Friedersdorf of The Atlantic also backs Johnson. This is unfortunate because Johnson has nutty economic policy views and would do tremendous damage to the global economy were he to somehow become president. (young Conor could give a shit how many people die from his policies)

Mitt Romney and the GOP’s plans to woo Florida Jews from Barack Obama appear to be going nowhere. - Slate Magazine It turns out it’s not much of a battle after all.
Political Animal - Ignoring Michael Bloomberg (elitist rich fuck)

Keith Olbermann Casts A Wide Net In Job Search - Forbes

“The Revisionaries”: Texas schoolbook battle — crazier than you thought! - Salon.com An alarming, hilarious documentary revisits the Tea Party-fueled fight over evolution and Obama in school textbooks

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Well, It Would Have Been a Good Religion Question... | Religion Dispatches ("women's rights" are only for Muslim countries while Netanyahu says kiss my ass)
Italy Orders Jail Terms for 7 Who Didn’t Warn of Deadly Earthquake - NYTimes.com (Italian "justice")

Spain Output Shrinks Fifth Quarter Amid Bailout Talk: Economy - Bloomberg Spain’s economy contracted for a fifth quarter, adding pressure on Premier Mariano Rajoy to seek more European aid even as the euro area’s fourth-largest economy met a bill-sales target. (wreck the country with austerity so they need more aid so more austerity!)

Global Gender Gap Report 2012: The Best And Worst Countries For Women This year, amid a whole lot of talk about women's rights and gender equality, the U.S. is ranked 22nd with a score of .7373 (its lowest since 2009).

Does Romney’s Religion Condone Torture? | Religion Dispatches n late 2001, Jessen and James Mitchell (both clinical psychologists with no previous interrogation or intelligence training; both members of the LDS Church) were contracted by the CIA to develop “enhanced interrogation techniques” and to train interrogators during what one source describes as “brutal interrogations that effectively unfolded as live demonstrations.” Together, Jessen and Mitchell came to be known as the “Mormon mafia.”
Joe Klein's sociopathic defense of drone killings of children | Glenn Greenwald | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk Reflecting the Obama legacy and US culture, the Time columnist says: "the bottom line is: 'whose 4-year-olds get killed?'"
Robert Gibbs Says Anwar al-Awlaki's Son, Killed By Drone Strike, Needs 'Far More Responsible Father'

Will 2012 see the most divided American electorate ever? | Harry J Enten | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk Even if Obama wins a second term, voter demographics don't look too rosy for his hopes of being a post-partisan president

Romney Says He’s Winning — It’s a Bluff -- Daily Intel (Romnoid 2.x programmed to lie)
How Mitt Romney Won The Debate Spin Over And Over — By Fulfilling The Liberal Media's All-Consuming Need For Fresh Narrative | The New Republic
No More Mister Nice Blog Alec MacGillis, speaking for his fellow journalists, explains why the press is feeding us nothing but Romney's spin now:
Despite a Strong Debate Campaign, Romney's Path to 270 Remains Steep - Charlie Cook - The Atlantic - National polls show a tight race, but the campaign has stabilized and the map still favors Obama.
The Problem with the New American Exceptionalism - Esquire
The Washington Monthly - Ten Miles Square - Romney’s Geography Problem
Paul Ryan Poverty Speech Proposes Reforming Programs For The Poor
Connie Mack: 'United Nations Should Be Kicked Off Of American Soil' (fortunately, this idiot is losing)

DownWithTyranny!: Step right up and vote for that "transparent faker" Willard Inc. and the unknowable contents of his campaign Mystery Box

How Strong Is the U.S. Navy Really? — The Monkey Cage In 1916, the US controlled roughly 11% of the world’s naval power. This is an impressive number that ranks the US third in naval strength behind the UK (34%) and Germany (19%), and just ahead of France (10%). What about the US navy in 2011? In 2011, the US controlled roughly 50% of the world’s naval power putting it in a comfortable lead in naval power ahead of Russia (11%).

Richard Mourdock Rape Comments May Be October Surprise To Help Dems, Obama
John McCain Withdraws Richard Mourdock Support After Abortion Comments
Republican Senate Candidate: Conception From Rape ‘Is Something That God Intended’ | TPM2012 (Mourdock says God rapes you)
Richard Mourdock Rape Comment Reveals Stark Divide, Harsh Question For GOP (Romnoid supports "God-rape")
Why, I’m Beginning to Think That the Links Between Misogyny and the Anti-Choice Movement Might Not be a Coincidence - Lawyers, Guns & Money
Why God's Intentions Are Irrelevant | Religion Dispatches
Richard Mourdock, misogynist - Salon.com Pregnancy after rape is what "God intended," says the Indiana Republican, showing the real right-to-life movement
Richard Mourdock Rape Comments - The Trouble with Richard Mourdock Is Not His Alone - Esquire
Fox News Completely Ignores Senate Candidate's Claim That Rape Pregnancy Is A 'Gift From God' | ThinkProgress
Echidne Of The Snakes: About Richard Mourdock. May Trigger.
Pennsylvania Bill Includes Provision Requiring Women To Prove They Were Raped ... According to the Rape, Abuse, & Incest National Network, 54 percent of rapes and sexual assaults are not reported to the police. (Republicans are obsessed with rape, you have to ask yourself why?)
Pennsylvania Bill Would Reduce Welfare Benefits For Women Who Cannot Prove They Were Raped | ThinkProgress

GOP's Big Guns Trained, Elizabeth Warren Fights Back Outside groups are spending big to defeat progressive Massachusetts Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren.
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Study looks at voting and hormones – The Chart - CNN.com Blogs New research suggests that hormones may influence female voting choices differently, depending on whether a woman is single or in a committed relationship.
Ladies In Uproar Over Time-Of-The-Month Science and now the Ladiez of Twitter — ladies we honestly admire! — have gone totally raggo.

What Happened to Barack Obama? Um, He Had to Win Reelection - Lawyers, Guns & Money : Lawyers, Guns & Money The class of writers like John Cook with a sad because Barack Obama isn’t the adult standing above the fray he was in 2008 shows a lot of naivete about politics.
Jennifer Rubin: Criticizing Bush = "Apologizing For This Nation" | Blog | Media Matters for America (Jennifer "genocide all the Palestinians" Rubin)
Balloon Juice » Snowbilly Snooki Inches Us Closer to the Ni-CLANG! Event Horizon “President Obama’s shuck and jive shtick with these Benghazi lies must end.” That’s what she said.
Sarah Palin Shuck and Jive - Down the Rabbit Hole with Sarah Palin & Megyn Kelly - Esquire Princess Dumbass of the Northwoods
Texas History: The More You Know, The More You Want to Run Away - Lawyers, Guns & Money
‘Greedy’ U.S. billionaire urges Michigan voters to reject free bridge to Canada | Canada | News | National Post

Netroots Bloggers Mark 10th Birthday in Decline and Struggling for Survival - The Daily Beast What began 10 years ago as a network of progressive bloggers offering a voice they thought missing from the mainstream press has all but disappeared as a force in the Democratic Party,
Balloon Juice » Blog Archive » No, Virginia, the Progressive Blogosphere is Not Dead, It Just Has Different Actors (dead Newsweek accuses prog blogosphere of deadness)
Daily Kos: Is the netroots dead? Hardly
Booman Tribune ~ Thinking About Old Times

Hullabaloo: Credibility wetdreams (Joe Nocera is very serious about cutting the deficit and Chuckie Schumer can't be trusted)
Bank Of America Mortgage Fraud: Feds Sue For Over $1 Billion Alleging Multi-Year Scheme (Obama pre-pardons everyone)

Former law school career services employee admits to falsifying employment data, says she was ordered to do so - Lawyers, Guns & Money
One Year Out Of College, Women Already Earn Less Than Men For Doing The Same Job | ThinkProgress


Dana Milbank: Trending on Twitter: Groupthink - The Washington Post (how twitter formed MSM post-debate consensus)
Dutch court says Samsung does not infringe Apple patent | Reuters

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Presidential Debate Polls Show Win For Obama (metrosexual black Abraham Lincoln vampire hunter slays Romnoid 2.x blood-sucking squid death robot as it attempts to attach itself to the face of America)
The Foreign Policy Debate: Blog Reax - The Dish | By Andrew Sullivan - The Daily Beast The Foreign Policy Debate: Reader Reax - The Dish | By Andrew Sullivan - The Daily Beast - Shorter Romney: "I will lead America the same way, but with more leadership!"
Presidential Debate 2012: Live Updates On Final Obama-Romney Showdown
Live-Blogging The Foreign Policy Debate - The Dish | By Andrew Sullivan - The Daily Beast (Sullivan thinks Obama won but it may not matter because Americans are stupid)
Insta-Verdict | TPM Editors Blog - From the CBS instapoll of uncommitted voters: Who won the #Debate? OBAMA: 53%; ROMNEY: 23%, TIE: 24% (Margin of Error: 4%; Sample Size: 521)
Live-Blogging the Third Presidential Debate | Matt Taibbi | Rolling Stone a clear signal that he knew Romney fucked the dog tonight. This should be the death-blow to Romney, but I've said that before and been wrong.
Summary | TPM Editors Blog Shorter Mitt Romney: We’d do exactly what you’re doing. But I’d be President!
The Final Debate | TPM Media (pics)
Meme Of The Day - The Dish | By Andrew Sullivan - The Daily Beast
Obama Horses and Bayonets
Obama On Size Of Navy: 'We Also Have Fewer Horses And Bayonets' (video)
This helpful map explains Mitt Romney’s contention This helpful map explains Mitt Romney’s contention... - John Green's tumblr This helpful map explains Mitt Romney’s contention that Syria is Iran’s “path to the sea.”

The Truth Behind the Benghazi Attack - Newsweek and The Daily Beast
Balloon Juice » » When The Former Head Of Mossad Calls You a Moron…Or Why You Don’t Hand Over Foreign Policy To An Out-Of-His-Depth-Hack Guided By The Worst People In The World
Former Israeli Spymaster: We Need To Talk to Iran - Al-Monitor: the Pulse of the Middle East Making foreign policy on Iran a serious issue in the US elections — what Romney has done, in itself — is a heavy blow to the ultimate interests of the United States and Israel.”
Asia Unbound » What We Need to Hear From the Candidates on China

Sorry World: What Happens in Beijing, WON'T Stay in Beijing - The Diplomat While many have feared its rise, a weaker China struggling with economic and political challenges at home may present an even greater challenge.
allAfrica.com: Africa: Is Africa's Maritime Strategy All At Sea? The African Union's (AU) deadline for securing the continent's territorial waters - the world's last major geographical region without a maritime strategy - has been set at 2050, a target that may prove untenable.
Britain goes to trial for colonial crimes - World - Macleans.ca Kenyans look for financial compensation and a state apology for torture committed 60 years ago - On Oct. 5, a British high court ruled that three elderly Kenyans who were tortured and abused by colonial authorities in Kenya in the 1950s can proceed with their case against the British government
Inequality and the world economy: True Progressivism | The Economist A new form of radical centrist politics is needed to tackle inequality without hurting economic growth

Ikea, eBay Avoid Paying UK Taxes, Reports Allege
On the Need to Continue Pointing Out That Nobody Has Gone to Jail for the Financial Crisis | FDL News Desk

Lame Duck Whip Count | OurFuture.org (John Kerry may vote for "grand bargain" to screw America)

The Secret of Our Non-Success - NYTimes.com this is what normally happens after a severe financial crisis. But Mitt Romney’s economic team rejects that evidence. And this denialism bodes ill for policy if Mr. Romney wins next month. (Republicans hate reality)
Paul Krugman: 'The Public Really Doesn't Care' About The Deficit

Romney’s Limp Blimp Crash Lands In Florida (video) | Addicting Info
The Symbol Mitt Romney Demanded on His Official Gubernatorial Portrait - The Daily Beast “I don’t understand it,” Whitney says. “He was the first person in the country to do something about health care, long before Obama or anybody else. That’s a great achievement.”

Matt Taibbi: Mitt Romney 'A Salesman And Bullshit Artist Of The Highest Order'
Matt Taibbi: Wall Street Executives Believe 'Everybody Else Is A Parasite'
New Generation Of Veterans Skeptical Of Presidential Politics And Political Parties
This Is Not The Voter Fraud Virginia Republicans Are Looking For (rich douchebag endorses Scott "Senator McDreamy" Brown)
Balloon Juice » Mind The Gap, Ladies (women 18% smarter than men)

Bats Left/Throws Right: All's Well That Ends With A Merely Short-Term Chilling, Racially-Motivated Voter Suppression Campaign Put Up By "Mistake"
This Is Not The Voter Fraud Virginia Republicans Are Looking For
Who Created the Voter-Fraud Myth? : The New Yorker Hans von Spakovsky, a Republican lawyer who served in the Bush Administration, has promoted strict voter-I.D. laws (Satan's minions)
Wis. judge rejects request to reinstate union law A Wisconsin judge refused Monday to put on hold his earlier decision repealing major parts of Gov. Scott Walker's law effectively ending collective bargaining for most public workers.

Texas Church Calling Obama a 'Muslim Communist' Could Have Its Tax-Exempt Status Revoked - The sign now reads, "Vote for the Mormon, not the Muslim! The capitalist, not the communist!" (most Fundie churches are transparent political orgs)

Popular High Schoolers Earn More Later In Life, Study Shows students who were popular in high school earned 2 percent more 35 years down the road than their classmates with less friends. The additional earnings are almost equal to half of the extra income they would have earned, if they'd had an extra year of school, conclude researchers at the National Bureau of Economic research.
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Earthquake Scientists Jailed Over 'Inexact' Statements Preceding 2009 L'Aquila Quake (VIDEO) Seismologists are condemning a manslaughter verdict for six Italian scientists and one government official accused of being too reassuring about the risk of an earthquake prior to a deadly temblor in 2009.
Overgrown: What happens when urban farms get too big? | Grist (agribiz takes over the cities)
You've Heard of Urban Coyotes. Urban Bears Could Be Next - Neighborhoods - The Atlantic Cities
Will Pot Barons Cash In on Legalization? - Newsweek and The Daily Beast Pot use in the United States is rising sharply, and voters may make it fully legal in two states this fall. Smart businessmen are banking on that happening.

NY Times journalists mull byline strike | TPMDC
Copy, Shake, and Paste: How to find Plagiarism in Dissertations

Why Microsoft's Surface Tablet Shames the PC Industry - Businessweek
Gawker, Reddit, Free Speech and Such – Whatever
Gawker/Reddit Followup – Whatever

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Lebanese protesters clash with security forces after intelligence chief's funeral | World news | The Guardian President tells mourners in Beirut he has ordered rapid investigation into murder of General Wissam al-Hassan
Jordan claims to have thwarted al-Qaida inspired terror campaign | World news | guardian.co.uk Jordanian intelligence has arrested 11 men alleged to have planned bomb and mortar attacks on western diplomats, foreign nationals and shopping centres
Syria crisis: Damascus bomb kills at least 10 | World news | guardian.co.uk Car explosion in Syrian capital's Bab Touma district during visit by UN peace envoy leaves 10 dead and dozens injured
Gaza-bound ship Estelle intercepted by Israeli forces | World news | guardian.co.uk sraeli marines board the Estelle and direct it to port of Ashdod as 30 activists on board attempt to break Gaza blockade
Mah Gul, Young Afghan Woman, Beheaded For Refusing To Become A Prostitute
Iraq records huge rise in birth defects - Health News - Health & Families - The Independent New study links increase with military action by Western forces
Yemen Drone Strike: Officials Say U.S. Drone Airstrike Kills At Least 4 Suspected Militants

Hint: If Hillary’s Involved with Negotiations, They’ve Started Already | emptywheel - A bizarre little October Surprise just happened–and then un-happened.

Calculated Risk: On Greece: More Austerity, More Recession, More Extremism

Brookfield Square Mall Shooting: Incident Reported Near Wisconsin Mall

U.S. Intellectual History: "This Chamber Reeks of Blood" "Every Senator in this Chamber is partly responsible for sending 50,000 young Americans to an early grave," McGovern declared. And then in a statement that came to represent the core of his indictment he intoned: "This chamber reeks of blood." (and still does, as does drone-boy's WH)
George McGovern: He deserved better - Salon.com
When blue-collar pride became identity politics - Salon.com AFL-CIO leader George Meany’s description of the New York delegation to the disastrous 1972 Democratic convention: “They’ve got six open fags and only three AFL-CIO representatives!” (Meany screwed liberalism and labor and fucked up the country)
Balloon Juice » Blog Archive » McGovern one of the ironies of George McGovern’s life—a war hero whose patriotism was attacked for opposing the Vietnam War.
liverputty: George McGovern as a B-24 pilot - the crew of the Dakota Queen - George McGovern's crew. It's a helluva story guaranteed to leave the reader in awe of the young men that won the war, a great companion piece to Ambrose's Band of Brothers. (comment: He was all of 21 when he flew 35 bomber missions during the war and his crew had complete confidence in him. He had to grow up very fast -- as so many soldiers did in those times.)

Political Animal - The Failure of the Liberal Idea Machine - The problem here, which has been a problem from the beginning, is that lots of members of congress genuinely don’t believe in Keynesian economic prescriptions and nobody’s managed to persuade them. (deficit! everyone knows Social Security is broken! Austerity! - all psychotic ideas embraced by Dems)
Democrats Bragging on Their Deficit-Cutting Skills Helps Nobody, Hurts America | FDL News Desk

Voter Fraud - Lawyers, Guns & Money : As Jamil Smith’s piece once again shows, the only voter fraud going on in this country is by white conservatives attempting to intimidate people of color into not voting.
Ohio “Voter Fraud” Billboards In My Backyard | The New Republic
Daily Kos: Clear Channel to Remove "Voter Fraud" Billboards in Cleveland claiming they were put up in error ... 10 billboards that will be visible Monday and carry the message "Voting Is a Right. Not a Crime!" Cleveland City Council will pay for five more to carry the same message.
Romney family buys voting machines through Bain Capital investment (Tagg Romney owns all the voting machines in Ohio)
HIG Private Equity:: H.I.G. Capital Completes Strategic Investment in Hart InterCivic - Hart is a leading national provider of voting systems, election management products and services.
Hawaii: The state that doesn't vote - CNN.com (no need to suppress anything)

Obama, Romney Tied Among Likely Voters: NBC/WSJ Poll
Ohio Poll: Obama’s lead dwindles to 1 | TPM2012 (well with the "margin of chicanery)
Akin: McCaskill Pushes For Big Government 'Like A Dog' Plays 'Fetch' | TPM LiveWire
Marco Rubio: Lilly Ledbetter Act 'Nothing But An Effort To Help Trial Lawyers' (and women apparently love voting for these guys)

Balloon Juice » Blog Archive » Ann Romney Comes To Florida For A Shameless Breast Cancer Photo Op [by @BeachPeanuts] you must understand that Mitt Romney supports the Blunt Amendment which would permit your employer to deny you breast cancer screenings (as well as a laundry list of other preventive healthcare services primarily used by women) (and they all wore pink)

drugs without the hot air by david nutt - bookforum.com / daily review
My son is schizophrenic. The ‘reforms’ that I worked for have worsened his life. - The Washington Post


The New Cartographers: ‘Mappy Hour,’ Sex Clubs And Diversity At OpenStreetMap | TPM Idea Lab
xs Free Speech and Power: From Reddit Creeps to anti-Muslim Videos, It’s Not *Just* “Free Speech” | technosociology (so where are the limits?)

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Issa’s Benghazi document dump exposes several Libyans working with the U.S. | The Cable (Republican traitor to America)
John Kerry: Darrell Issa's Release Of Raw Libya Cables 'Irresponsible And Inexcusable'
Hullabaloo - What is this kill list you speak of? (Debbie is an idiot)
David Ignatius: Benghazi intelligence revealed - The Washington Post
The town-hall debate: The utterly useless Benghazi argument | The Economist
Sonia Dridi, Cairo Reporter, 'Savagely Attacked': France 24 TV

Bank Of England: Debt Cancelation - Business Insider just straight up throw it on the fire, and tell the government it no longer owes the money.

If Romney Cuts Taxes For The Rich By 20%, Dems Charge-- He Will Have To Raise Taxes For The Middle Class By $1 Trillion - Forbes
For all the details on Mitt Romney's 5 trillion dollar tax plan visit- romneytaxplan.com

Avedon's Sideshow: The purpose of voting

Oct. 19: After Romney Gains, Should Obama Concede Florida? - NYTimes.com (Boomer fogies vote to starve younger generations)
Big Fail: CBS Pushes Scare Story About Social Security | Crooks and Liars
Rachel Maddow Reminds Us Again What Romney's Foreign Policy Team Would Look Like | Video Cafe (the neo-con failures return, triumphant, to screw the world again)
Mitt Romney Bain Attacks: Obama-Backing Super PAC Goes Back To The Well
Bill Maher Mocks Mitt Romney's Women Remarks With Hitchcock's 'Shadow Of A Doubt' (VIDEO)
Hullabaloo Mitt wants to enable adoption of snowflake babies - It's true that Democrats have not been the stalwart defenders --- and expanders --- of women's rights that we need. But they're Gloria Steinham's fondest dream compared to that list of atrocities Mitt proudly articulates. He wanted to create adoption for blastocysts. You just don't get any more fanatical than that.
Political Animal - Total Obstructionism Not a Guaranteed Winning Strategy for the Minority In other words, Mitch McConnell and his brethren may have thrown a wrench into the gears of government for no benefit whatsoever even to their own narrow self-interest. (evil for evil's sake)
Arthur Allen, CEO Of ASG, Sent Email Pressuring Employees To Donate To Mitt Romney
Democrat Jim Graves Has a Chance to Unseat Michele Bachmann - The Daily Beast Outspent 10 to 1 in a tight race in Minnesota’s most conservative congressional district, businessman Jim Graves is polling well with independent voters, writes John Avlon.

Georgia's Bitter Charter Battle Will voters create a $430 million charter-school commission when school budgets are already suffering? (subsidizing Fundamentalism)


Political Animal - Climate Change Is Simple

Bats Left/Throws Right: Petards Are For Hoisting
Lazy Slut Who Did No Work Dinesh D’Souza ‘Resigns’ From Million Dollar Christian College Prez Gig
No More Mister Nice - Blog Dinesh D'Souza'S Penis Is Now Helping Us Lose The War With Islamofascists, Or Something Like That
Balloon Juice » Blog Archive » Late Night Open Thread: (Probably Not) The Last of Dinesh D’Scrwsher

Large, Poor Families Are Left Out of New York’s Housing Plans, Officials Say - NYTimes.com (Bloomie has always hated minorities)


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Anti-Syrian security official among dead in Beirut car bomb attack | World news | The Guardian Lebanese general who foiled pro-Syrian bombing campaign and led investigation into Hariri assassination reportedly the target
Turkey calls on major powers to intervene in Syria | World news | guardian.co.uk Turkish foreign minister says countries must set aside differences over Syria to prevent humanitarian disaster

Rowan Atkinson: we must be allowed to insult each other - Telegraph Rowan Atkinson has launched a campaign for a change in the law that bans "insulting words and behaviour".
George Osborne scorned for 'great train snobbery' after incident in first-class | Politics | guardian.co.uk The chancellor, George Osborne, has refused to comment on reports that he tried to sit in the first-class compartment on board a Virgin train from Cheshire despite only having paid for a standard ticket. "Osborne couldn't possibly" sit in standard class.

The remarkable, unfathomable ignorance of Debbie Wasserman Schultz | Glenn Greenwald | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk - Obama's Kill List - But one does not expect this level of ignorance, the ability to stay entirely unaware of one of the most extremist powers a president has claimed in US history, trumpeted on the front-page of the New York Times and virtually everywhere else.
Secret ‘Kill List’ Tests Obama’s Principles - NYTimes.com (May 29, 2012)

ActBlue — Contribute Now to Orange to Blue 2012

Gallup vs. the World - NYTimes.com

President Obama in Fairfax, Virginia: "Romnesia" - YouTube
WTO hands Obama victory in US-China steel case | ABS-CBN News (not what Mitt says)

Tribune Endorsement: Too Many Mitts | The Salt Lake Tribune - Obama has earned another term
Obama for president - Tampa Bay Times
Orlando Sentinel endorses Mitt Romney for president - OrlandoSentinel.com
Cornel West Plans to Vote for Obama in November and Protest His Policies in February | VICE

Snow Job on Jobs - NYTimes.com But Mr. Romney, it turns out, doesn’t have a plan; he’s just faking it ... To summarize, then, the true Romney plan is to create an economic boom through the sheer power of Mr. Romney’s personal awesomeness
The State of the Election Is All of Us, by Charles P. Pierce - Esquire This is an election that is going to be held well within the Margin of Chicanery ... We will have a self-governing political commonwealth or we will decide not to have one. And, right now, 20 days out, you'd have to be crazy or Nate Silver to think you know what which way that decision will fall.
Romney As Governor: 800 Vetoes And One Big Deal : NPR Romney issued some 800 vetoes, and the Legislature overrode nearly all of them, sometimes unanimously.
It's Funny Because We're White - Ta-Nehisi Coates - The Atlantic Mitt Romney's son jokes about assaulting the president: Yes because a good whippin' would teach that Obama boy to mind his place.
Balloon Juice » Bring On Multiple Choice Mitt
Mitt, Tagg, And The Romney Family’s Myth Of Self-Reliance | The New Republic Mitt, Tagg, and the Romney family’s myth of self-reliance.
Mitt Romney still struggling to convince Pennsylvania's female voters | World news | guardian.co.uk Obama's lead has grown smaller in the Democratic-leaning state but women say they are unimpressed by Romney at debates

The Next Grand Bargain Negotiations Will Begin January 1 | FDL News Desk
Obama’s plan: Push Republicans off the fiscal cliff the Obama administration’s plan for a second term is much like their plan for the first term: Make a deal with Republicans. Get a big bipartisan solution to our problems.
AARP: Please, let payroll taxes go up - The expiration of the tax cut will mean a $1,000 hit for the average taxpayer, and unlike many other tax provisions of the fiscal cliff, it will hit ordinary Americans immediately when they get their paychecks in January 2013 if it isn’t extended.
Congressman Joe Walsh Makes Dumb Abortion Remark -- Daily Intel “With modern technology and science, you can't find one instance,” he said. “... There is no such exception as life of the mother, and as far as health of the mother, same thing.”

Women In Binders | Facebook

Balloon Juice » Blog Archive » If Only Dinesh D’Souza Had Been Numerate…. ...he might have been able to channel his urges into evangelically innocuous porn:

Minnesota bans Coursera: State takes bold stand against free education - Free Online Education Is Now Illegal in Minnesota
Minnesota Coursera ban: State won't crack down on free online courses after all.

TSA Removes X-Ray Body Scanners From Major Airports - ProPublica The Transportation Security Administration has been quietly removing its X-ray body scanners from major airports over the last few weeks and replacing them with machines that radiation experts believe are safer. (but it wasn't about safety, of course)

Vostok’s microbes elusive in first measurements of surface water : Nature News Blog

Your Brain on French - Ta-Nehisi Coates - The Atlantic
Dschinghis Khan - Moskau Buffalax (English Lyrics) - YouTube
Eton's Gangnam Style lingo explained | Music | The Guardian

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Yemen Drone Strike - The Lethal Presidency Has Become an Everyday War - Esquire Today, like too many days, there was another battle in the president's personal war. Another drone. Another dead militant. More "charred bodies." More "scattered remains." Another dead militant. And some more "others." And these are just the dead others.

Blue States Are From Scandinavia, Red States Are From Guatemala | The New Republic
Political Animal - Not Fully American Now, as then, the liberty the red states seek is the liberty to let a whole class of citizens suffer.

GOP’s problems exposed in struggle for Senate - David Catanese and Manu Raju - politico.com
Political Animal - Senate GOP Blame Game

It's All In the Words The silliness of Romney and Obama's argument about Libya
Fox News Constructs A Catch 22 Over Possible Military Response To Benghazi Attack | Blog | Media Matters for America

How Obama Gave The Campaign Back To Romney - The Dish | By Andrew Sullivan - The Daily Beast If anyone thought that the feisty Biden debate undid the massive damage the president did to himself in the first debate, the news isn't great. Biden does seem to have reversed the speed of Obama's free-fall but not the decline itself
Romney 50%, Obama 46% Among Likely Voters Obama down sharply among men, college grads, and Southern voters vs. 2008 (Romney landslide coming)
Why Do The Gallup Poll's Likely Voter Results Differ From The Rest?
Romney Doesn't Have a Woman Problem "So, for all of the chatter about Romney's women problems, he is currently positioned to do as well or better than every Republican presidential candidate among female voters save one: George W. Bush in 2004 who lost among women by just three points to Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry."

Mitt The Jerk: A Woman’s View Of The Debate | The New Republic Mitt the Man gets his way by talking over you and not stopping until you give in so he can make his point. Which he may have forgotten by then, because getting his way was the point.
Why Bosses Always Win When the Game Is Always Rigged - Esquire There was a moment right there at the end of 2008 and the beginning of 2009 when the nation could have radically reassessed the power of corporations and the power of their money in our politics. (O'bambi skated right past it)
In Conference Call, Romney Urged Businesses To Tell Their Employees How to Vote - Working In These Times
Mitt's (Still) Impossible Math - The Dish | By Andrew Sullivan - The Daily Beast
Quotes For The Day - The Dish | By Andrew Sullivan - The Daily Beast "As president, I will create 12 million new jobs," - Mitt Romney, October 16. "The government doesn't create jobs," - Mitt Romney, October 16.
Mitt Romney and Counterfeit Apple Stores in China - Isidor's Fugue (and fib)
Amazon.com: Customer Reviews: Avery Durable View Binder with 2 Inch EZ-Turn Ring, White, 1 Binder (reviews are pouring in)

Is China A Cheater? - The Dish | By Andrew Sullivan - The Daily Beast
How Many "Gangbangers" Do We Deport? - The Dish | By Andrew Sullivan - The Daily Beast (that was pretty revealing, wasn't it?)

Balloon Juie » We’ve Determined That Trying To Cover It Up Requires Too Much Effort Sure. The election date in Spanish was wrong. But only in Spanish. That was a mistake. Of course it was.

Jill Stein Arrested at Debate - The Green-Party Candidate Gets Busted - Esquire They had 13 officers there and three plainclothesmen. For most of the time, it was just Cheri Honkala and myself, yet they felt the need to keep us in tight plastic restraints, tightly secured to metal chairs.

MA-Sen PPP for LCV (Oct. 2012) A new Public Policy Polling survey in Massachusetts finds Elizabeth Warren with her biggest lead in the race to date, 53-44 over Republican Scott Brown. Warren gained three points since last week we found her ahead 50-44.
Massachusetts Senate Race Now Leaning Toward Warren In Polls She has narrowly led Brown in nine of the last 10 polls and is now ahead by 3.1 points in the HuffPost Pollster estimate -- which includes all available public polling -- just a large enough lead to move this race from "tossup" to "leaning Democratic."
Scott Brown Asbestos Ad Actors - Senator McDreamy's No-Good, Very-Bad Day - Esquire - "Let Scott Brown tell me to my face that I am nothing but a paid actor, and I'll set him straight on what it was like to watch my father suffocate to death," English said.
Elizabeth Warren and Sheila Bair - Warren and Bair: An Escape from the Thieves' Paradise - Esquire

| Graham's Romney Endorsement Accidentally Spreads "Mormonism is a cult" Meme to Millions

D’Souza’s Hard Fall | TPM Editors Blog
Dinesh D'Souza Resigns - Dinesh D'Souza Gets What He Deserves, Thank God - Esquire
Balloon Juice » It Gets Better Dinesh D’Souza just got fired from his $1 million/year job as president of some tiny evangelical college, and his girlfriend is married, too. (Dinesh Da-Ratfuck)

A Turn of the Page for Newsweek - The Daily Beast After 80 years in print, the newsmagazine adopts an all-digital format.

NY federal appeals court becomes 2nd in nation to strike down Defense of Marriage Act - The Washington Post
Another big step forward for gay rights - The Plum Line - The Washington Post
Special Report: 3.4% of U.S. Adults Identify as LGBT

Boy Scouts 'Perversion' Files Show Locals Helped Cover Up Child Sex Abuse By Scoutmasters (2nd largest pedophile organization)

Apple loses U.K. Samsung appeal; must run 'apology' ads | ZDNet Apple has lost an appeal against Samsung in the U.K. after the first judge claimed the Galaxy Tab 10.1 could not have infringed the iPad because it wasn't "cool" enough.
Deconstructing Recommender Systems - IEEE Spectrum How Amazon and Netflix predict your preferences and prod you to purchase

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Live By The Smear ... - The Dish | By Andrew Sullivan - The Daily Beast - As for the accusation that Netanyahu is a "war-monger trying to push the US to start a war on Israel's behalf," well, what are you gonna do? Be an anti-Semite or believe your lyin' eyes?
AFP: Salafists destroy ancient Morocco carvings: NGO

China’s technology revolution | Mark Leonard (China's internal security/censorship budget larger than external defense)

ActBlue — PEC — High-leverage target races for 2012

Transcript: Second presidential debate – CNN Political Ticker - CNN.com Blogs
The Town-Hall Debate: Blog Reax - The Dish | By Andrew Sullivan - The Daily Beast
The Town-Hall Debate: Blog Reax II - The Dish | By Andrew Sullivan - The Daily Beast
Fehrnstrom, Romney's Top Strategist, Says Auto Bailout Worked Because It Was Mitt's Idea All Along | The New Republic
Gasps, applause: What you didn't see on TV - Yahoo! News
Last Night's Debate - Charles P. Pierce at the Presidential Debate - Esquire - America Has Now Met the Many Romneys, and America Knows They Can Get Their Asses Kicked
Small-Time Mitt - NYTimes.com So, I was amazed to hear Mitt Romney describing himself as having “come through small business”, as if his private equity firm were just like a mom-and-pop store or something.

Election-Year Stakes Overshadow Nuances of Benghazi Investigation - NYTimes.com To Libyans who witnessed the assault and know the attackers, there is little doubt what occurred: a well-known group of local Islamist militants struck the United States Mission without any warning or protest, and they did it in retaliation for the video.
Mitt Romney Shoots Himself In the Foot Repeatedly | Recess Appointment
Combative Obama Keeps Romney On The Defensive In Hofstra Debate | TPM2012
Mitt Romney Brought Every Mitt Romney He Could to the Debate Tonight, and President Obama Destroyed Them All | Slog - the look of a man who knew he was failing. He brought all of his best ideas to Hofstra University, and President Obama left every single one of those ideas broken on the debate hall floor, looking chintzy and cheap in the floodlights.
Balloon Juice » It was a draw, at least for the first quarter hour
Obama Repeatedly Challenged Veracity Of Romney’s Comments During Hofstra Debate | TPM2012
President Barack Obama talked of Libya attack as 'terror' 2 weeks ago - politico.com
The Moment Mitt Romney Lost The Election - First Drafts
Romney Caught Flatfooted Making Incorrect Claim About Libya | TPMDC
DownWithTyranny!: Job Creation Isn't The Same As Vulture Capitalism
David Stockman: Mitt Romney and the Bain Drain - Newsweek and The Daily Beast s Romney really a job creator? Ronald Reagan’s budget director, David Stockman, takes a scalpel to the claims. - Mitt Romney: The Great Deformer

Twitter / nemoran3: This picture is so important. ...
Balloon Juice » He’s Always Watching You, America (spawn of Satan? you decide)

Mind The Binder - Talking Politics Hey, I know about that binder! And guess what -- Mitt Romney was lying about it ... a UMass-Boston study found that the percentage of senior-level appointed positions held by women actually declined throughout the Romney administration
Romney’s Empty Binder - Lawyers, Guns & Money : Lawyers, Guns & Money Romney’s utter indifference to discrimination against women is a logical outgrowth of his reactionary conception of the role of women in society more generally:
The 'Binder' Everyone Is Talking About - Yahoo! News
No Twitter record, #bindersfullofwomen and immigration: The second debate in social | The Ticket - Yahoo! News

Fox News Watergates Debate Transcript; Erases Four Worst Minutes Of Mitt Romney’s Life

Candy Crowley Stands By Her Debate Fact Check | Blog | Media Matters for America Right-Wing Media Falsely Claim Candy Crowley Walked Back Her Fact Check Of Romney
Team Romney Gets Bogged Down In Candy Crowley Fight | TPM2012
Candy Crowley Fact Checks Mitt Romney On Libya (women fell hard for their sadistic depriving master)

Climate Change in 2012 Election - 2012's Incredible Disappearing Issue: Climate Change - Esquire We have had three debates now, counting the Biden-Ryan fandango, and we have not had one extended conversation about the most pressing environmental catastrophe since the meteor wiped out the dinosaurs. either)
Chris Hayes: Climate Silence In The Debate Is 'Like Talking About Smoking And Not Talking About Cancer' | ThinkProgress - Crowley admitted that there was a person in the town hall audience who wanted to challenge the candidates on climate change, but wanted “all you climate people” to know she just couldn’t get to the question because “the economy was still the main thing.” (destruction of the world and the end of life as we know it not that important)
Presidential Foreign Policy Debate Topics Announced (Bob Schieffer won't mention it either)
What about climate change? - Salon.com The candidates fight over who loves coal more in a completely ludicrous energy debate
Fact-Checking The Energy Debate - The Dish | By Andrew Sullivan - The Daily Beast

Debate Spin Room: Beyond Binders, Etch-A-Sketch 2.0 - Esquire

A Coda On Voting Dealbreakers - Lawyers, Guns & Money

Dinesh D’Souza faces tough questions over personal life - Salon.com After an Evangelical magazine broke the news, the right wing will force him to defend himself

Origin of the Moon "Making the Moon from a fast-spinning Earth: A giant impact followed by resonant despinning"
Earth Gave Violent Birth To The Moon, New Harvard Theory Says | TPM Idea Lab

xkcd: Electoral Precedent (*)

Cranberry juice to fend off bladder infections? Latest study says skip it - Lifestyle - Boston.com

The Claire Danes Cry Face Project
In Defense of Pinterest | Wired Design | Wired.com Therapists often run into a curious problem during treatment: Clients aren’t very good at describing their emotions. How exactly do you express the nature of your depression?


ISS Startrails - TRONized on Vimeo



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Malala Yousafzai deserved to die, say Taliban | World news | guardian.co.uk Pakistani Taliban militants say Pakistani schoolgirl was targeted for speaking out against them and praising Barack Obama
Jennifer Rubin Takes a Cheap Shot at Hillary Clinton - Conor Friedersdorf - The Atlantic
Cuba eases curbs on foreign travel | World news | guardian.co.uk From January Cubans will no longer need to obtain exit visas before travelling abroad, the government has announced

Where Michael R. Bloomberg Sees Clear Fiscal Skies, Clouds Gather - NYTimes.com Praising the “gold medal” Tory prime minister, David Cameron, Hizzoner cheered on Mr. Cameron’s decision to fight a deep recession by slashing deficits and carving away at public spending. (true aristocratic colors dept.)

BBC News - Gary McKinnon extradition to US blocked by Theresa May

Romney Leading National Polls - Romney's Vision for Etch-A-Sketch America Takes Hold - Esquire
Romney Takes The Lead In Florida | The New Republic (will surge to landslide victory in Nov; Pres Aloof big loser)
Leaked Debate Agreement Shows Both Obama and Romney are Sniveling Cowards
High court won't block early voting in Ohio
Marco Rubio On Romney Tax Plan: Don't Touch The Biggest Deductions Underscoring just how hard a political lift Mitt Romney's tax reform plan would be if pursued, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) said on Tuesday that he would be uncomfortable with any plan that cut down some of the biggest deductions.
Anderson Cooper Rips Mitt Romney's Tax Plan (video)
Bill Clinton Breaks Down Mitt Romney's Tax Plan 'Illusion' For Obama Campaign (video)
In Medias Res: Why I'm Not Troubled by my Decision Not to Vote for Obama this Time One Bit

Thomas Edsall’s Productivity Fears | Beat the Press

Republicans and Consent: The Former Will Never Grasp the Latter Concept - Lawyers, Guns & Money : Lawyers, Guns & Money You’ve probably heard about the Wisconsin Republican who opined that “some girls rape easy”? Well, here’s the case he was talking about:

ScienceShot: The Sharp Shape of Frozen Water - ScienceNOW

Advertisers launch $1 million campaign to combat privacy concerns - The Hill's Hillicon Valley (you don't need no steening privacy)
Reddit’s Biggest Troll Fired From His Real-World Job; Reddit Continues to Censor Gawker Articles
Violentacrez Fired: Michael Brutsch Loses Job After Reddit Troll Identity Exposed By Gawker
Amanda Todd's Alleged Bully Named By Anonymous After Teen's Tragic Suicide

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John Yoo, 'Torture Memo' Author, Says Obama Violated Constitution With Deferred Action Policy (he should know)

Death by Ideology - NYTimes.com Mitt Romney doesn’t see dead people. But that’s only because he doesn’t want to see them; if he did, he’d have to acknowledge the ugly reality of what will happen if he and Paul Ryan get their way on health care.
Romney’s ‘Six Studies’ Validating Tax Math Face Growing Scrutiny | TPMDC (self-validating Romney)
Bringing Citizens United to Bear on the Workplace - Lawyers, Guns & Money
The Questions That Haven't Been Asked Although Martha Raddatz's moderation of the vice-presidential debate went leaps and bounds above that of Jim Lehrer's last week, the questions haven't veered far from the insider baseball questions that leave pundits cheering—and voters hungry for other topics.
The Romney Campaign Is Successfully Hiding Both Candidates from the Public | Slog

Obama Presidency Assessed - The Cynic and President Obama, by Charles P. Pierce - Esquire
Stephen Colbert on Meet the Press - What Are The Gobshites Saying These Days? - Esquire (and MoDo is an idiot, as usual)
Tommy Thompson Son on Obama and Kenya Video - Tommy Thompson: Plagued by Things People Really Believe - Esquire

Balloon Juice » Let them eat totebags Corporate whore and totebag hero Adam Davidson has one of the worst New York Times pieces I’ve ever read. His point: Obama’s and Romney’s economics policies will be exactly the same because
Adam Davidson’s Journalistic Corruption: NPR Host Boosts for Wall Street, While Taking Undisclosed Banking Money

Elizabeth Warren Raises $12.1 Million In Third Quarter
Obama Looms Large For New York’s Tea Party Four | TPM2012
Report: Charity President Objects To Paul Ryan's Soup Kitchen Photo Op | TPM LiveWire (but will the NYT issue a correction?)
Scott DesJarlais Hit With Ethics Complaint For Sex With Patient

Why I Resigned the Paterno Chair - The Chronicle Review - The Chronicle of Higher Education

Becoming Part of the Story (Maybe): The Peanut Butter Recall | Wired Science | Wired.com
Food Sickens Millions as Company-Paid Checks Find It Safe - Bloomberg

2012 Saw Warmest September On Record Across The Globe, Says NOAA
'Interference' Changes Colors At An Atomic Level At Harvard (photos)

Impersonal Google Search Results Are Few And Far Between, DuckDuckGo Says | TPM Idea Lab

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Clinton on Benghazi: 'To This Day We Do Not Have A Complete Picture' - ABC News
Obama campaign adviser accuses Romney of 'exploiting' Benghazi attack | World news | guardian.co.uk David Axelrod claims the president's Republican challenger is using the embassy attack to score political points in the election
Syria and Turkey in tit-for-tat flight bans - Sunday 14 October 2012 | World news | guardian.co.uk
Al-Qaida-linked Islamists in Mali threaten French citizens after UN move | World news | guardian.co.uk Spokesman says 'we will send pictures of dead French hostages' after UN backs African-led force in north of country
Imran Khan says Taliban's 'holy war' in Afghanistan is justified by Islamic law | World news | The Guardian Pakistani politician's comments at hospital that treated shooting victim Malala Yousafzai outrage Afghanistan's government
Mauritania's president shot by own army 'by mistake' | World news | The Guardian Reports of foiled coup attempt denied as Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz flown to France after being shot in the stomach

George Osborne's austerity is costing UK an extra £76bn, says IMF | Business | The Observer New analysis of figures throws doubt on chancellor's forecast (fail after fail, more austerity)
Portugal scraps rent controls amid financial crisis, triggering alarm for low-earners - The Washington Post (let granny pick garbage and sleep on a park bench)
Balloon Juice » Some Kind of Deviated Prevert Dominique Strauss-Kahn fucks anything that moves, especially if it is a prostitute, goes to lavish sex parties and apparently likes assaulting women on special occasions. Here’s the buried lede: " Mr. Strauss-Kahn, who sometimes sought sex with three or four women. ... a little outré." - Aside from the rape, I don’t care where DSK was sticking his dick, but I sure do care if the head of the IMF was being bribed. The Times seems to be more interested in how many hookers he was banging at once.
Political Animal - Dept. of WTF: the EU wins Nobel Peace Prize! Really!! (reward the austeritizers for their great work!)
Information Dissemination: How a slowdown in Chinese economy may eaffect PLA

9/11 Trial Censorship In Guantanamo Terror Cases Under Scrutiny "What we are challenging is the censorship of the defendant's testimony based on their personal knowledge of the government's torture and detention of them," "It's a truly extraordinary and chilling proposal that the government is asking the court to accept"
Breaking: Panetta Equating Crude Iranian Cyberattacks with Pearl Harbor, Iran Infiltrated Aramco | emptywheel

Nuclear submarine collides with cruiser off US coast | World news | guardian.co.uk Investigation under way as LA-class submarine USS Montpelier collides with cruiser USS San Jacinto

Graph of the day: 211 years of political change | Chris Blattman

The Self-Destruction of the 1 Percent - NYTimes.com 93 percent of the income gains from the 2009-10 recovery went to the top 1 percent of taxpayers. The top 0.01 percent captured 37 percent of these additional earnings, gaining an average of $4.2 million per household.
Political Animal - Must-read op-ed of the day: “The Self-Destruction of the 1 Percent” Freeland argues that crony capitalism in the U.S. exemplifies the “extractive” model through the “tilting of the economic rules in favor of those at the top.” American crony capitalism, she says, works in two ways:

How The GOP Destroyed Its Moderates | The New Republic

The Washington Monthly - Ten Miles Square - The Politics of Pinocchios So, on the one hand, Dobbs is telling us that Pinocchios are just an expression of a specific journalist’s considered and evidence based opinion, which readers and politicians are free to agree or disagree with. On the other, he seems to be suggesting that it’s great that so many people take them so seriously. Something there seems to me not to compute. ("fact-checking" = enforcing consensus view)

Lazy | TPM Editors Blog Ed Gillespie went on TV this morning and said Mitt Romney would only reveal the details of his tax plan after he’s sworn into office as President. That alone should be enough to disqualify him, though I confess I’m not holding my breath. (trust me, I'm a liar)
That Bad | TPM Editors Blog The Romney camp’s claim at that ‘six studies’ validate the math behind his tax plan is such a transparent lie that even Fox’s Chris Wallace is giving them grief.
Economist: Romney's Tax Plan 'Doesn't Work'
Hullabaloo - Paul Ryan, phony altruist (What would Ayn say?) - Ryan not only arrived after all the homeless diners had left, but also after the kitchen was cleaned up. Although cautiously worded, the WAPO story indicates that Ryan, with his family present and donning aprons, took already clean dishes, then soaped them up and washed them for the cameras as if he was really contributing. (NYT just printed the picute without saying it was staged)
SNL on the Vice Presidential Debate
Balloon Juice » Ryan Can Only Be Failed A week ago, Paul Ryan was going to crush doddering gaffe monster Joe Biden with his wonky Powerpoint sensibility. A week later, they’re happy that Martha Raddatz’ feet didn’t get wet in a spreading pool of urine from the delicate young man.
The Romney-Ryan Plan to Obliterate Medicaid | Mother Jones
Barack Obama and Mitt Romney’s Economic Plan -- New York Magazine
Wisconsin Senate Candidate's Son Says We "Have The Opportunity" To Send Obama Back To Kenya (not racist or birther at all, just a joke, ha-ha)
Todd Akin: No 'Science' Behind Evolution | ThinkProgress (no "science" behind "science")
Campaigns Mine Personal Lives to Get Out Vote - NYTimes.com Strategists affiliated with the Obama and Romney campaigns say they have access to information about the personal lives of voters at a scale never before imagined.

No More Mister Nice Blog The New York Times has a long profile today on Mitt Romney's chief economic adviser, Columbia Business School dean Glenn Hubbard, who has a good shot at becoming the treasury secretary in a Romney administration. I'm sure his policy prescriptions won't surprise you: (hedge-fund guy bought Columbia B-School; sound familiar?)
Las Vegas activists try to 'level the field' as casino moguls pump up Super Pacs | World news | guardian.co.uk n the age of the Super Pacs, wealthy gaming tycoons are free to invest millions in Mitt Romney. But a dedicated group is mobilising on the ground to try and counter the money machine

Political Animal - She’s baaacck … Salon’s interminable interview with Camille Paglia But really, Joan Walsh — Paglia is long past her sell date, and it’s well past time Salon cut the cord. You should be ashamed of yourself for allowing Salon to continue to publish Paglia’s malicious, misogynist, wingnutty nonsense.
I Am The Cosmos | Welcome To Grigr Impolitic, by Molly Ivins (1991 takedown of Paglia by Ivins)
Dr. Peggy Drexler: The Scarlet Manifesto: The Rise of the Adulterous Woman divorce among couples married for a long time is up -- at a time when divorce in general is down. The bigger surprise: Wives are now more likely to initiate the split than husbands. In two out of every three marriages longer than 20 years, it's the woman who leaves the man.

Political Animal - Must-watch video of the day: “I had an abortion … or maybe I didn’t” - in the U.S., abortion is the single most common surgical procedure for women. By the age of 45, more than one-third of American women will have had an abortion. Almost half of pregnancies in the U.S. are unintended, and about 40% of those unplanned pregnancies are ended by abortion.

CAP Credits FHA for Its Useful Ignorance, Allowing Mortgage Fraud to Continue | FDL News Desk So forgive me if I don’t heap praise on the FHA, another asleep-at-the-wheel regulator who helped bring us this Great Recession in which so many Americans suffer today.

Why we should give into grade inflation (and graphs of the day) | Chris Blattman

Burning Man on its last legs - Salon.com With rising mainstream knowledge of the event, it's lost almost all of its creative and subversive spark

Unmasking Reddit's Violentacrez, The Biggest Troll on the Web
Political Animal - A troll unmasked: the riveting tale of Reddit’s notorious Violentacrez - MIchael Brutsch (now unemployable for all eternity)

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Strauss-Kahn Admits to Sex Parties secret soirees with lawyers, judges, police officials, journalists and musicians that start with a fine meal and end with naked guests and public sex with multiple partners."

A Very Good Question That Deserves an Answer | Firedoglake Is it ever morally acceptable to detain a person, citizen or not, possibly for the rest of his life, without charges or a trial?

C.A. Rotwang: Mr. President: Tweak This! It would not be right to call it a sell-out: the cuts that Democrats would make to Social Security benefits. They have been signaling it for some time.

Mitt Romney Ad Spending: Candidate And Allies Greatly Outpace Obama As Election Closes
Chronicling Mitt's Mendacity, Vol. XXXVIII - The Maddow Blog
Balloon JuicE » Freakout ("disrepectful and disgusting" behavior by Biden as he squashes the Ryan-bot) )
V.P. debate: Missing from the abortion discussion? Women - Salon.com
Mitt Romney Ad Spending: Candidate And Allies Greatly Outpace Obama As Election Closes
Daily Kos: The #Sensata Story Could Destroy Romney And Bain Capital forced the company to take down their American flag and put up a Chinese flag while they trained them. A Chinese flag was flying over a Bain-owned factory in Freeport, Illinois.
Absentee Governor "During Mr. Romney's four-year term as governor of Massachusetts, he cumulatively spent more than a year -- part or all of 417 days -- out of the state, according to a review of his schedule and other records. More than 70 percent of that time was spent on personal or political trips unrelated to his job."

Will a Surging Latino Vote Turn Arizona Blue This Election? | Crooks and Liars
Bachmann Raises Huge Sum

Frackademia: Controversial SUNY Buffalo Shale Institute's Reputation Unraveling | MyFDL (Scaife-funded "research")

Balloon Juice » Time to Find a New Set of Suckers Jean-Claude Brizard, who was the latest school savior hired in Chicago, has been canned.
Yankee Stadium Parking Company Defaults On Its Bonds | Transportation Nation

Exclusive: MS drug 'rebranded' – at up to 20 times the price - Health News - Health & Families - The Independent Pharmaceutical giant withdraws existing treatment to boost profits
Revolutionary breast cancer vaccine 100% effective in mice: awaits human trials
Memory & Cognition, Online First™ - SpringerLink

New Study Finds Less Access for Women and Higher Costs for Texas With Elimination of Planned Parenthood | MyFDL
Grenade burns sleeping girl as SWAT team raids home - "I would like to see whoever threw those grenades in my daughter's room be reprimanded," she said. "If anybody else did that it would be aggravated assault. I just want to see that the city is held accountable for what they did to my children."

Why Shutting Down Non-Consensual Porn Matters | The Raw Story
Microsoft To Make Same Privacy Change Google Was Attacked For; No One Seems To Care

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Benghazi attack: pressure on White House as GOP demands answers | World news | guardian.co.uk Republicans claim Joe Biden misled Americans by suggesting that he and Obama 'did not know' about security concerns
Benghazi attack: complex picture emerges over Libya security | World news | guardian.co.uk Evidence from hearings suggests US state department officials ignored requests for more security personnel, but efforts were hindered by political infighting
Mexico condemns US border shooting | World news | guardian.co.uk Teenager found shot dead after US border patrol agent opened fire on people throwing rocks from across Mexican border

Eurozone crisis live: IMF and eurozone split over austerity | Business | guardian.co.uk Brinkmanship over failing Greek bailout revealed

Deepwater Horizon pipe 'responsible for new oil slick in Gulf of Mexico' | Environment | guardian.co.uk BP and Transocean to submit clean-up operation, after scientists link three-mile oil slick to Deepwater Horizon disaster

The Final Word on Mitt Romney's Tax Plan - Bloomberg Mitt Romney's campaign says I'm full of it. I said Romney's tax plan is mathematically impossible: he can't simultaneously keep his pledges to cut tax rates 20 percent and repeal the estate tax and alternative minimum tax; broaden the tax base enough to avoid growing the deficit; and not raise taxes on the middle class.

Complete Vice Presidential Debate 2012: Joe Biden vs. Paul Ryan - Oct 11, 2012 - Elections 2012 - YouTube
10 Thoughts — Joe Biden – Paul Ryan Round-Up | Recess Appointment
So Let It Be Written, So Let It Be Done | The American Conservative (debate rhetoric)

The Vice Presidential Debate: Joe Biden Was Right to Laugh | Matt Taibbi | Rolling Stone
Paul Ryan Debates Joe Biden - VP Debate 2012: The Real Paul Ryan Is Bad for America - Esquire
Out on the Weekend - Esquire If you want the perfect distillation of why we mock Politico so often around these parts as Tiger Beat on the Potomac, you can't do much better than this sentence right here:
In Case You Missed Tonight’s Beatdown - Lawyers, Guns & Money
All you need to know about Paul Ryan’s skill as a debater - Lawyers, Guns & Money - The decision to do so via an anecdote about a tragic car accident in a debate with Joe Biden means you’re either a sociopath or possessed of an idiocy of immeasurable power. (something else the Globe didn't mention)
10 Thoughts — Joe Biden – Paul Ryan Round-Up | Recess Appointment
Peter Beinart: Why Biden Had the Better Night at VP Debate - The Daily Beast
The Veep Debate: Blog Reax II - The Dish | By Andrew Sullivan - The Daily Beast
Joe Biden Dispenses With the Niceties -- Daily Intel
How the 2012 Election Is Stacked for the GOP -- Daily Intel - The upshot is that it would take a huge wave for Democrats to win the House. The median House district is three percentage points more Republican than the country as a whole. Republicans could maintain control merely by winning their own natural territory. Democrats could only win the House by penetrating deep into red America.
Balloon Juice » Malarkey
Ad War Update: Malarkey Edition - The Dish | By Andrew Sullivan - The Daily Beast
Balloon Juice » Really, I appreciate the concern, but we’re fine

Paul Ryan's abortion remarks at debate worry pro-choice groups | World news | guardian.co.uk Vice-presidential candidate indicated a Romney administration would move to put abortion legislation back in states' hands
Paul Ryan on Roe v Wade at Debate - Paul Ryan on Abortion - Esquire If you believe that Thursday night's vice-presidential debate was a "draw" because Joe Biden was "rude" and "disrespectful" while Paul Ryan was obviously being disingenuous and uninformed, or that you've decided to go with "disingenuous" and "uninformed" because its manners made it more "likable," then you deserve the inadequate health-care voucher that's coming your way in 2014, as well as the letter from the Social Security Administration that your benefits will be down to 85 cents a month because International Embezzlement LLC went belly-up and took your retirement with it. Tough luck, kids. Them's the risks of an Opportunity Society.

Martha Raddatz Debate Moderating Draws Praise: 'Killing It,' 'Way Better' Than Lehrer
Martha Raddatz Draws Conservative Complaints

Mitt Romney's Hospital Comment 'Frightening' To Uninsured Woman "No, you go to the hospital, you get treated, you get care, and it's paid for, either by charity, the government or by the hospital," Romney continued. "We don't have people that become ill, who die in their apartment because they don't have insurance."
Romney Rebuts Romney On Uninsured And Emergency Rooms | TPMDC | Romney Says People Don’t Die Because They Lack Insurance — Here’s Why He’s Wrong

Peter Berg Rips Mitt Romney Over 'Friday Night Lights' Slogan 'Plagiarism'
Daily Politics Blog - Charles P. Pierce - Political Blogging - Esquire We've mentioned here that Senator McDreamy has developed a almost reflexive tendency to gild his own lily ... "Let's be honest," writes McGrory, "it was more like a visit." ...And, not for nothing, but, as far as I know, Elizabeth Warren is still the only senatorial candidate in a contested race who has called for the immediate withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan. Not in 2014. Not "when circumstances warrant." Not whatever the hell Paul Ryan was babbling about on Thursday night. Today. Now. That's worth noting, I think.
Jon Stewart Blasts 'F*cking Crazy' GOP Candidates Todd Akin, Paul Broun (video)

Brizard out as CPS chief: 'We agreed it is best' - chicagotribune.com Mayor Rahm Emanuel's hand-picked choice to head the Chicago public schools resigned Thursday, just three weeks after the end of the city's first teachers strike in a quarter century



Nokia 808 PureView Review: Connect


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China May Surpass Japan as World’s Second-Most Wealthy by 2017 - Bloomberg


Dana Milbank: Letting us in on a secret - The Washington Post When House Republicans called a hearing in the middle of their long recess, you knew it would be something big, and indeed it was: They accidentally blew the CIA’s cover.
Why Is Darrell Issa Doing Mike Rogers’ Job? | emptywheel

Forget Red vs. Blue -- It's Slave States vs. Free States in 2012 | Alternet
Leonard Pitts: War on Reality is killing our future | Dallas Morning News Opinion and Editorial Columns - Opinion and Commentary for Dallas, Texas - The Dallas Morning News

Oct. 10: Is Romney Leading Right Now? - NYTimes.com
2012 Polls Show Romney Gaining, But Key Swing States Still Tip To Obama
Mitt Romney: People Don't 'Die In Their Apartment Because They Don't Have Insurance'
Over 26,000 annual deaths for uninsured: report | Reuters
VP Debate 2012 - Charles P. Pierce on VP Debate 2012 - Esquire
The Washington Monthly - Ten Miles Square - Mitt Romney Made Big Money From Big Tobacco

Brown Nervous And Snarky; Warren Confident And Tough | WBUR In law school, the worst sin you can commit as a freshman is to come to class unprepared. Scott Brown came very close to looking unprepared for Professor Warren’s class. He was tentative, smirked inappropriately, and often glanced down at his notes.
Warren Brown Debate - Warren/Brown III: The Night of Liberation from Nonsense - Esquire
Elizabeth Warren Pulling Ahead In Massachusetts Senate Polls Warren leads Brown, 50 percent to 44 percent, in a survey released by the Democratic firm Public Policy Polling, the widest margin they've found between the two candidates in the tough Massachusetts contest.
Massachusetts Democrats File Ethics Complaint Against Scott Brown

Breaking News: Sixth Circuit Decides Provisional Ballot Cases, Finds Constitutional Violation in Not Counting Certain Wrong Precinct Ballots | Election Law Blog
Court: Ohio Can't Throw Out Ballots Because Of Poll Worker Error | TPM LiveWire
Cartoon candidate - Editorials - Ohio Josh Mandel has become a Saturday Night Live skit.

Schumer Gets Backup From Democratic Leadership on Taxes | FDL News Desk We now know where Harry Reid stands in the great divide between base-broadening, rate-lowering “tax reform” and the Chuck Schumer approach, which rejects lowering rates as a trap. As I fully expected, Reid sided with Schumer. (no, Barry, we won't let you sell out)
Darrell Issa Looking Into September Jobs Report [update]
The Fiscal Cliff Is Not a Cliff | FDL News Desk They put the band back together. The Gang of Six – now a Gang of Eight, with Lamar Alexander and Michael Bennet added to the roster of Crapo, Coburn, Chambliss, Warner, Durbin and Conrad, met in Virginia yesterday, aiming to create a grand bargain
Conspiracy Jack | Felix Salmon

Joel Klein's Misleading Autobiography What the former chancellor of New York City schools' sleight of hand tells us about education reform

NOM Doubles Down On Ex-Gay Therapy, Lifetime Celibacy For Gays | ThinkProgress

Ameridose Meningitis Oversight - People Don't Kill People. Deregulation Kills People. - Esquire Massachusetts has just five inspectors for more than a thousand compounding pharmacies that make drugs. Five inspectors. A thousand facilities. The dead hand of Big Government certainly has been lifted from these job-creators.

Female Hormones: A Dangerous Myth Persists | Cognoscenti

The mysterious case of the missing noble gas : Nature News & Comment

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BBC News - Malala Yousafzai: Reward offered for arrest of attackers The Taliban said they had shot her because she had "promoted secularism", and that they would target her again.
Malala Yousufzai Shooting: Attack On Pakistani Teen Activist Sparks Outrage

PTSD And Drones: Emotional Costs Far Away From The Battlefield (VIDEO)
Army to Congress: Thanks, but no tanks – CNN Security Clearance - CNN.com Blogs

State Department: Libya Consulate Attack Not Preceded By Protest
Partisan fireworks at Libya hearing - Seung Min Kim - politico.com (Daryl "Ratfuck" Issa)
Mitt Romney Won't Mention Glen Doherty, Slain Former Navy SEAL, After Mother's Complaint
Romney son compares Obama in debate to ‘obstinate child’ | theGrio

Obama Apologies for Debate Performance - Wake the F Up: The Two Jobs of Barack Obama, Polite Man - Esquire I defer to nobody in my belief that Willard Romney is the single most politically maladroit national candidate in my lifetime. But, boy howdy, the current president of the United States is giving him a run for his offshore money these days:
The New New Romney Is a New Kind of Mendacious Liar - Esquire
Voting Rights if Obama Wins - The Great Voting-Rights Brawl of 2012, Now and Later - Esquire the way we run elections in this country is so completely banjaxed that, even assuming every election official and secretary of state in the country was an angel, there would still be enough cracks in the system to justify almost any counter-history that the crazoid mind could foster.
New Mexico Attorney General Investigating GOP ‘Voter Supression’ | TPMMuckraker New Mexico Attorney General Gary King has launched an investigation into a video that allegedly shows Republican officials giving volunteer poll watchers false information about state election law, his office announced Tuesday.

Balloon Juice » President Obama Is Aware of All Internet Traditions Towards the end of the interview, Obama sought to assure listeners that he was still confident, alluding to an internet meme that features him: “As some of these emails that go around with my picture on them say, I can’t quote the entire thing, but ‘I got this.’”
Hullabaloo The landslide debater (Reagan debating in 1984 with advanced Alzheimers and winning in a landslide)
Obama’s Debate Performance: How Twitter Has Done Us Wrong - The Daily Beast The hysterical reaction to Obama’s debate performance speaks volumes about the way politics—and the journalists who cover the subject—have changed. Richard Just on what we’re getting wrong.
Political Animal - The Loneliness of the Long-Form Writer
Obama Foreign 'Scandal' Based On Inaccurate Google Translation

Mitt Romney CNN Interview: The 47% Comment Is 'Not What I Meant' Mitt Romney again distanced himself from his infamous 47 percent comments caught on video at a private fundraiser in May, telling CNN in an interview Tuesday night that, "the words that came out were not what I meant."(rolls eyes)
Don’t let Romney win the economic argument - The Plum Line - The Washington Post This new ad from the Romney campaign is perhaps the best one it has produced yet on the economy:
Hey Drudge, Daily Caller: This Is What A Real Moderator Conflict Of Interest Looks Like | Blog | Media Matters for America (they ... NYT is this case ... always report the wingnut bullshit)

Schumer’s Gambit: Ending the Tax Reform Con, Ending the Grand Bargain? | FDL News Desk
Republicans to Schumer: You’re Ruining Everything! | FDL News Desk - Republicans simply value the tax cuts more than pretty much everything else. (Chuckie kicks Obama's and McConnell's butts)
C.A. Rotwang: Mr. President: Tweak This!- it would not be right to call it a sell-out: the cuts that Democrats would make to Social Security benefits. They have been signaling it for some time. In the recent presidential debate, the president reiterated his determination to reduce retirement, survivor, and disability benefits for millions of Americans. This admission came in the form of an acknowledgement that his position did not differ materially from that of Mitt Romney. (Scumbag Obama)

Brad DeLong: When Conservative Republicans Loved Keynes and Expansionary Fiscal Policy No. Paul Ryan and Kevin Hassett have absolutely no shame or honor. Why do you ask?
The Washington Monthly - Ten Miles Square - Contra David Brooks, There Is no “Market System” Alternative to the Political System in Running Medicare

The Texas Affirmative Action Case by Daniel Luzer | Washington Monthly One of the central questions the more liberal judges seemed to have was whether or not Abigail Fisher, the white woman denied admission to the University of Texas, really suffered the sort of wrong that gives her reason to sue at all. (hurt her little whte fee-fees)

Political Animal - Broun’s Crazy-Talk Just About “Religion,” Not Science or Politics
Scott DesJarlais, Pro-Life Republican Congressman And Doctor, Pressured Mistress Patient To Get Abortion - a Tea Party-backed Republican
Jon Hubbard, Arkansas Legislator, Defends Pro-Slavery Comments

The Myth of Walter Cronkite and Vietnam - Lawyers, Guns & Money : Lawyers, Guns & Money As Menand explains, however, the idea that Cronkite’s (rather timorous) criticism of the Vietnam War significantly affected public opinion, or caused LBJ not to run again, collapses on actual inspection:
The Dark Side of Jefferson is the Dark Side of America - Lawyers, Guns & Money

Ghana grapples with mental health – Global Public Square - CNN.com Blogs Christian religious institutions operate throughout Ghana. In some, “prophets” treat people with mental disabilities through prayer and traditional medicines, like herbs. Administrators and pastors in seven of the camps I visited said that mandatory fasting – in some cases, as long as 12 hours a day, for 7 to 40 days – was a key component of their “treatment.”

Inside the Law School Scam: A frank exchange of views

Eben Alexander, Harvard Neurosurgeon, Describes Heaven After Near-Death Experience (VIDEO) Alexander says that he traveled through this heaven, surrounded by "millions of butterflies," with a woman. This woman gave him three messages: “You are loved and cherished, dearly, forever," “You have nothing to fear" and “There is nothing you can do wrong.”
Cormac McCarthy’s Blood Meridian: Early drafts and history. - Slate Magazine Blood Meridian used to be a much different novel. McCarthy’s early drafts reveal how an American masterpiece was born.


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National Peace Award winner Malala Yousafzai injured in attack | NewsPakistan.PK

Official Warmth and Public Rage for German Leader in Athens - NYTimes.com With thousands of police reinforcements on duty to shield her from rowdy protesters who see her as the archvillain of the euro crisis and their national pain, Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany (Sadistic Queen of Failed Austerity)


Jon Husted, Ohio GOP Secretary Of State, Appealing Early Voting Decision To Supreme Court calling a decision last week by a federal appeals court "an unprecedented intrusion" into how states run elections.

Jim Lehrer To Media Critics: 'Weren't You Paying Attention To What Was Happening?' (78 yr-old says his job wasn't to moderate)

Gallup Poll Switch To Likely Voters Shows A 'Wipe Out' Of Obama Lead [update]
Mitt Romney Favorability Reaches New High In Poll Mitt Romney's favorability rating reached a new high of 47 percent
Notes on a Couple of Polls: Pew and RAND - Lawyers, Guns & Money

Mitt Romney campaign sends some PA staffers to Ohio That Daily Caller story cited a "knowledgeable campaign source" as saying Romney was "diverting substantial resources" from Pennsylvania to Ohio.
Romney's Threat to Big Bird Sows Confusion Abroad, and Feeds It at Home - NYTimes.com
With New Vigor, Mitt Romney Intensifies Ohio Campaign - NYTimes.com (yet again, this time with more lies)
The Constant Attention to Individual Polls Is Hurting America — The Monkey Cage
Political Animal - What It Always Was So it will be difficult some days to cut through the din of perpetually renewed lusty conservative cries that the Black Devil-Man in Washington is on the run
Noam Scheiber Reviews Bob Woodward's "The Price Of Politics" | The New Republic
Paul Ryan Fundraiser Bans Recording ("you can't record my lies")
Thin-Skinned CEO Superstar Jack Welch Quits Fortune, Reuters After His Demented BLS Tweet Gets Criticized ... Welch returned to Twitter (in for a penny, I guess!) to say, "Have never commented on White House in any tweets I can recall." Which, I guess exposes the fact that Welch is now having a problem with object permanence (as well as the truth)
David Siegel Email To Workers Threatens Layoffs If Obama Is Reelected (update)

In Speech, Schumer Rejects Idea of Tax Code Overhaul - NYTimes.com - Mr. Schumer branded the idea of a tax code overhaul that could lower the top rates, bring in more revenue and protect middle class taxpayers from increases as “little more than happy talk.” (Obama is on board, of course)
Eschaton: Chuck Schumer Is NOT Going To Reduce The Deficit By Cutting Taxes For Rich People Stupid Chuck Schumer! Cutting taxes for rich people is the bipartisan deficit-reduction plan!!! Don't ruin it man!!!
GOP Congressmen May Give Up On Bush Tax Cuts For The Rich: Report (fat chance)

The Two Worst Experts to Ask About Todd Akin's Rehabilitation - Politics - The Atlantic Wire Smith's no longer in Missouri politics is that he was sentenced to a year and a day in prison for violating elections law in his 2004 Democratic primary campaign for Missouri's 3rd congressional district. He was recorded by a former staffer, who was wearing a wire, suggesting they pin the crime on an aide who'd committed suicide. Smith has not found his way back into Missouri politics, but he is a professor at the New School (crook hired by Bob Kerry? way to go, New School for Felons and Lobbyists)
American Airlines delays: The airline that can’t get its passengers to their destinations on time, manage its workers, or even keep its seats bolted down. - Slate Magazine The airline that can’t get its passengers to their destinations on time, manage its workers, or even keep its seats bolted down (but it's execs can give themselves huge bonuses)

State to Town: Sorry, People Are Allowed to Swear - Massachusetts AG asks Middleborough to scrap rule Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley is recommending that the town of Middleborough change or repeal a bylaw that prohibits public profanity. The town approved a proposal this summer that would allow police to enforce the 1968 ban by imposing a $20 fine on people who engage in loud swearing in public.

'No Religion' Is Increasingly Popular Choice For Americans: Pew Report One in five American adults now have no religious affiliation (19% up from 15% five years ago)
New Report: ‘A Third of Adults Under 30 Have No Religious Affiliation’

MIT creates carbon nanotube pencil, doodles some electronic circuits | ExtremeTech
Heli showreel late summer 2012 on Vimeo



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Afghanistan 'sliding towards collapse' | World news | The Guardian Afghan forces are far from ready to secure a country riddled with violence and corruption, Red Cross and thinktank warn (it always was)
Hugo Chávez vows to keep Venezuela 'on socialist path' after re-election | World news | The Guardian President will need to deal with rising violent crime and over-dependence on oil after winning election with smaller margin
Syria crisis: Homs on the brink - Monday 8 October 2012 | World news | guardian.co.uk Homs could fall at any moment, resident claims • Syrian vice president touted to lead transition by Turkey • Mitt Romney set to call for arming Syrian rebels
Suspicion: Settlers attacked cops posing as Palestinian shepherds - Israel News, Ynetnews Undercover officers beaten by Jewish settlers with clubs after approaching farm they were staying in. Legal aid group: Police treats settlers like worst enemies
Romney talks tough and accuses Obama of failing to lead on Middle East | World news | guardian.co.uk Mitt Romney attacks president's foreign policy record and claims world is a more dangerous place than when Obama took office (Bush amnesia)
Romney calls for US military role in Syrian civil war - AMERICAblog Yes, because if there’s one thing Americans are begging for these days, it’s another war in the Middle East that drains money and requires more US troops.

Chinese sex fair shows how prudishness and liberation sit side-by-side | World news | The Guardian Decades after Mao Zedong, couples are happy to browse sex toys together – but not all attitudes have changed

What price basic competence in economics reporting? | Dean Baker | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk What chance do policy-makers and the public have if business journalists are so wildly wrong? We need some accountability
World Bank warns on China slowdown | Business | guardian.co.uk nternational lender cuts growth forecasts for Asia Pacific region and says slowdown could worsen
George Osborne seals deal for £10bn welfare cuts | Politics | The Guardian Conservatives claim Liberal Democrats have agreed to plan provided that rich are targeted next (Lib Dems = Charlies Brown)

Julian Assange to publish book about freedom and the future of the internet | Media | guardian.co.uk WikiLeaks founder to be co-author of book entitled Cypherpunks, despite being confined to Ecuadorean embassy in London

Supreme Court Looking At Affirmative Action In College Admissions

Truth About Jobs - NYTimes.com If anyone had doubts about the madness that has spread through a large part of the American political spectrum, the reaction to Friday’s better-than expected report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics should have settled the issue. For the immediate response of many on the right — and we’re not just talking fringe figures — was to cry conspiracy.
Eschaton: The Rich Shouldn't Have To Pay Any Taxes At All Conservatives have decided that the flat tax is for wimps, it's time to just remove all taxation on the wealthy.

Romney’s Strong Debate Performance Erases Obama’s Lead | Pew Research Center for the People and the Press GOP Challenger Viewed as Candidate with New Ideas
Mitt Romney Closes Gap In Presidential Polls
Social media analysis: Who really won the debate? - NBC Politics
Obama Jokes About His Debate Performance - ABC News (sorry, that's who he really is)
With Biden Up Next to Debate, Obama’s Aides Plot Comeback - NYTimes.com With Biden Up Next to Debate, Obama’s Aides Plot Comeback
Why Do the Sunday Shows Suck So Much? Explaining the awfulness that is Meet the Press, This Week, and the rest
Mary Matalin Calls Paul Krugman a Liar - What Are the Gobshites Saying These Days? - Esquire Why does any television network put Mary Matalin on the air any more? ... She is not entertaining. She is not funny. She is not particularly bright. She certainly isn't in any way informative. She's just a nasty, bitter old piece of work who spent eight years supplying fresh earth for the coffin in which Dick Cheney sleeps during the daylight hours,
No More Mister Nice Blog - The Mythical Republican Party That Exists Only In Ross Douthat's Brain

The Bobblespeak Translations

Counterpunch: Vol 19 number 17 Text Version - Obama and Romney vs. Medicare The First Cuts Won't be the Deepest

Scalia’s Political Originalism - Lawyers, Guns & Money : Richard Posner, who recently gave what could be used as the induction speech for Scalia’s induction into the Academy of the Overrated.
Conservative Commonwealth - Another Ceaseless Threat to the - Esquire Apparently, this Sunday was something called Pulpit Freedom Sunday, in which various reactionary god-botherers engaged in an act of organized civil disobedience against a 58-year-old IRS regulation banning specific endorsements of specific candidates by ministers of any church otherwise claiming tax-exempt status
States Deny Millions Of Ex-Felons Voting Rights

Elizabeth Warren Ads Hit Back Against Scott Brown Asbestos Attacks
Linda McMahon Campaign Leaks HuffPost Reporter's Emails To Bolster Its Ethical Bona Fides When Terkel told McMahon spokesman Todd Abrajano that HuffPost planned to write about the campaign's practice of leaking reporters' emails, he responded: "No, we don't leak reporter emails, but we consider you to be a far-left liberal blogger, not a real reporter."
Bachmann Should Not Have Been Focus of Yom Kippur, Chicago Rabbi Says - Lake View, IL Patch
Tommy Thompson Forgets Number Of Homes He Owns In the 2008 election, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) famously forgot how many houses he owned. This cycle, it's Wisconsin GOP Senate candidate Tommy Thompson who is having trouble remembering.
Larry Pressler: Republican Senator, Vietnam Veteran Endorses President Obama

Lead abatement policies lead to smarter kids.
Legalising marijuana: most Americans get it, so when will our politicians? | Gary Johnson | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk The 'war on drugs', like 1920s Prohibition, has been a miserable failure. America would be better-off with a legal marijuana trade

Cultural Technology and the Making of K-Pop : The New Yorker Cultural technology and the making of K-pop.
Balloon Juice » Open Thread: Gangnam Stylin’
Letters of Note: This, sir, is my resignation

Jerry Sandusky releases audio statement on eve of sentencing hearing - Yahoo! Sports Jerry Sandusky released a defiant and delusional audio statement from the Centre County Correctional Facility on Monday, blasting the system, the prosecution and begging people with "the courage to listen" to "evaluate the accusers and their families."

Twitter: It’s time for patent trolls to bear the costs of frivolous lawsuits — Tech News and Analysis
Facebook's new business plan: from utility to monopoly | Dan Gillmor | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk n the wake of its IPO debacle, expect Facebook to leverage its market dominance aggressively – with its billion users hostage

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Turkey backs veteran Syrian politician as Assad replacement | World news | guardian.co.uk Vice-president Farouq al-Sharaa receives Ankara's support to lead possible Syrian transitional administration
Pakistani military blocks anti-drone convoy from entering tribal region | World news | guardian.co.uk Imran Khan says two-day convoy has been a success despite failing to reach intended destination
Venezuela: peaceful but partisan mood as voters give verdict on Chávez | World news | The Guardian National guards armed with AK47s and teargas patrol streets amid fears of unrest if election result is close
Human Rights Watch Report Critical of Hamas Justice System in Gaza - NYTimes.com
Jerusalem Church Anti-Christian Graffiti At Church Of Dormition May Be Work Of Jewish Settlers ... Extremist Jewish West Bank settlers are suspected. (just because they wrote in Hebrew?)
Saudi Religious Police Losing Some Powers Due To Complaints Saudi authorities instructed the religious police, run by the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, to draw up guidelines to keep individual officers from imposing their personal interpretations of Islamic rules.

GOP Poll Denialists Not Totally Wrong -- Daily Intel (+Waldman comment +Repugs hate democracy)
Is America Man Enough to Vote? - NYTimes.com men who had voted for the losing presidential candidate, John McCain, suffered a big drop in their testosterone after hearing of his defeat. (voting for losers kills guys' dicks )

Political Animal - Real Live Voter Fraud Jaded by relentless GOP vote suppression efforts directed towards phantom voter impersonators, it’s easy to forget that real fraud actually happens. Today Adam Liptak of the New York Times surveys some recent problems with absentee ballots, which now make up twenty percent of all votes (Republican voter fraud, of course)

‘Subversives,’ by Seth Rosenfeld - NYTimes.com “Subversives,” the journalist Seth Rosenfeld’s electrifying examination of a newly declassified treasure trove of documents detailing our government’s campaign of surveillance of the Berkeley campus during the ’60s. Rosenfeld spent 30 years fighting to compel the government to release more than 300,000 pages of documents about the illegal spying program, an effort the F.B.I. spent almost a million dollars opposing. (Taibbi review in the Times)

SNL Nails the First Debate

Romney’s Sick Joke - NYTimes.com “No. 1,” declared Mitt Romney in Wednesday’s debate, “pre-existing conditions are covered under my plan.” No, they aren’t — as Mr. Romney’s own advisers have conceded in the past, and did again after the debate. Was Mr. Romney lying? Well, either that or he was making what amounts to a sick joke.
Paul Krugman Blasts Media Over Presidential Debate: Press Can't 'Handle Flat-Out Untruths' (Republicans have figured this out)
Paul Krugman Debunks Mary Matalin's Myth That This Is "The Worst Recovery In History" | Video | Media Matters for America
Robert Gibbs: Mitt Romney's Budget Math Is 'Absolutely Crazy' (Video) (Republicans can't add)
Chuck Todd: Republican Edge In Voter Enthusiasm Is 'Huge Problem' For Democrats (VIDEO) Seventy-nine percent of Republican voters are "extremely interested" in the election, compared to 73 percent of Democrats. In 2008, Democrats led in this measurement by 13 points, Todd said. (not enthusiastic about their Republican Pres)
Republican chairman downplays 'impressive' Obama fundraising totals | World news | guardian.co.uk Reince Priebus insists GOP has 'all the money we need to be competitive' as the president maintains a polling advantage
Tough Tests for Steve King and Other Tea Party Favorites - NYTimes.com Like Mr. King, Tea Party candidates across the country in districts with a mix of voters are finding a far less hospitable environment this time, especially in swing states.

Massachusetts Senate Polls: Warren Has 5 Point Lead, But Unfavorability Rating Jumps: WNEU/MassLive.com
New McCaskill Ad Hits Akin on Rape Views
Murphy Ascendant | Colin McEnroe (rich wrestling lady going down)

Third Parties Don’t Solve The Underlying Problem - Lawyers, Guns & Money

Republicans to Cities - Drop Dead - NYTimes.com

Pulpit Freedom Sunday: Pastors Challenge IRS Ban On Political Endorsements As part of "Pulpit Freedom Sunday," on Oct. 7, religious leaders across the country will endorse political candidates -- an act that flies in the face of Internal Revenue Service rules about what tax-exempt organizations, such as churches, can and cannot do.
LDS General Conference Includes Major Announcements On Mormon Missionaries And New Temples The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will rapidly increase the number of missionaries it sends throughout the world, church leaders have announced.

Blue State or Red? Look at the Nails - NYTimes.com

Is Alzheimer's Type 3 Diabetes? - NYTimes.com - people with diabetes are at least twice as likely to get Alzheimer’s, and that obesity alone increases the risk of impaired brain function.
Obesity and Type 2 Diabetes Cases Take Toll on Children - NYTimes.com
That Flawed Stanford Study - NYTimes.com he Stanford study was not only an exercise in misdirection, it was a headline generator. By providing “useful” and “counterintuitive” information about organic food, it played right into the hands of the news hungry while conveniently obscuring important features of organic agriculture.
For Poor Schoolchildren, a Poverty of Words - NYTimes.com there is strong evidence that increasing the general knowledge and vocabulary of a child before age 6 is the single highest correlate with later success. Schools have an enormously hard time pushing through the deficiencies with which many children arrive.

Political Animal - The End of the End of Men?
The Weaker Sex - Sandra Tsing Loh - The Atlantic How the new gender economics has more and more professional-class women looking at their mates and thinking: How long until I vote you off the island?
How The Zero Weeks Of Paid Maternity Leave In The U.S. Compare Globally | ThinkProgress
War between the sexes | TLS How conflict and cooperation have shaped men and women from prehistory to the present - Seabright’s solution is straightforward: “compulsory paternity leave”

Hullabaloo Will it go round in circles? - Review of Looper by Dennis Hartley

Political Animal - The Corruption of Crowds

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Court orders Ohio to restore early voting for all residents | The Raw Story

Presidential Debate Aftermath: Mitt Romney Wins All-Important BS Contest | Matt Taibbi | Rolling Stone (Mark Shields' occupation)
7 ways Obama should change his strategy in the next debate - The Week
Jon Stewart on the Debate
Political Animal - Biden to the Rescue? One of Obama’s biggest missed opportunities Wednesday night occurred when moderator Jim Lehrer asked the candidates about their respective plans for Social Security. Obama, rather than point out that his opponent’s running mate proposed privatizing it in 2010, said he suspected he and Romney mostly agreed. Biden is unlikely to let a similar opportunity slip. (but it's what he really believes)
Bill Moyers and Univision anchors slam presidential debate organizers | The Raw Story “The Commission on Presidential Debates, they’re stuck in the 1950s,” Ramos said on Moyers & Company. “They still think that the country could be divided between men and women and that’s it. And they do not realize that one in every three persons in the United States is from a minority.”
Romney Claims of Bipartisanship as Governor Face Challenge - NYTimes.com

Paul Broun: Evolution, Big Bang 'Lies Straight From The Pit Of Hell' All that stuff I was taught about evolution and embryology and the big bang theory, all that is lies straight from the pit of Hell," said Broun, who is an MD. "It's lies to try to keep me and all the folks who were taught that from understanding that they need a savior" ... Broun is a high-ranking member of the House Science Committee, of which Rep. Todd Akin (R-Mo.) is also a member.
Political Animal - Another Fine Scientist on the Hill The Bible, he says, is a “manufacturer’s handbook,” that shows “how to run our lives individually, how to run our families, how to run our churches…how to run all of public policy and everything in society.”

Hullabaloo Oh fergawdsakes, they can't be serious. After making utter fools of themselves insisting the polls are all skewed in favor of Obama, today they're insisting that the jobs numbers are corrupted too. ... But that's not the only problem. Check out how NPR reports the story ... So, basically what we have in the media today are right wing outlets living in an alternate universe and mainstream outlets simply saying that there's no way of knowing the truth.
The outrageous attack on BLS | Economic Policy Institute
Job Numbers September 2012 - 7.8: Hope for Obama, Bummer for Romney, Indicator for All - Esquire it may well evaporate whatever momentum Willard Romney was planning on surfing after his stunning performance as a quasi-human carbon-based life form on Wednesday night.

Sally Quinn Wants Obama to Wear God, Has Gone Mad - Esquire The continued authorship of something called "On Faith" by Beltway social-climber and Hall of Fame trophy wife Sally Quinn remains the most hilarious thing about The Washington Post, a once-great newspaper now d/b/a an adjunct to the educational testing institute.
Catholic theologian: Unseat pope and push ‘authoritarian’ church to radical reform | The Raw Story - Hans Küng is appealing to priests and churchgoers to confront the Catholic hierarchy, which he says is corrupt, lacking credibility and apathetic to the real concerns of the church’s members.
Pope’s butler gets 18 months’ jail in ‘Vatileaks’ case | The Raw Story

Bonus Quote of the Day: "The institution of slavery that the black race has long believed to be an abomination upon its people may actually have been a blessing in disguise. The blacks who could endure those conditions and circumstances would someday be rewarded with citizenship in the greatest nation ever established upon the face of the Earth." -- Arkansas state Rep. Jon Hubbard (R), quoted by the Arkansas Times.

President Obama: Preventative Care, Like Birth Control and Mammograms, Should be Affordable (w/ video) | Angry Black Lady Chronicles
Study shows free birth control results in fewer abortions | The Raw Story
Judge Upholds Contraception Mandate | The Raw Story the basic issue has gotten somewhat obscured, which is that your boss is not actually your master. Also, your compensation is not your allowance, and they don’t get to dock your pay because they think you’re being naughty on your own time.
Abortion Worldwide - YouTube - Guttmacher Institute | Transcript: "Worldwide Abortion"
Facts on Induced Abortion Worldwide Facts on Induced Abortion Worldwide

Yosemite Hantavirus and Climate Change - The Plague of Climate Denial Confronts an Actual Plague - Esquire (see the Republican science committee)
Ancestry DNA Family Tree - Your Family Tree Just Got a Lot More Interesting - Esquire

Healthier School Lunches Face Student Rejection - NYTimes.com - “Before, there was no taste and no flavor,” said Malik Barrows, a senior at Automotive High School in Brooklyn, who likes fruit but said his classmates threw away their mandatory helpings on the cafeteria floor. “Now there’s no taste, no flavor and it’s healthy, which makes it taste even worse.” (it's Michelle's fault)

New study says Facebook and Twitter are more tempting than sex | The Raw Story (they're always there for you)
Yes, The Pirate Bay Stores IP-Addresses (Temporary) | TorrentFreak
Which VPN Providers Really Take Anonymity Seriously? | TorrentFreak

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Balloon Juice » Military Justice Updates and Open Thread PFC Bradley Manning has spent almost 900 days in Pre-Trial Confinement.
US investigates possible WikiLeaks leaker for 'communicating with the enemy' | Glenn Greenwald | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk US military's new legal theory threatens to convert unauthorized leaks into a capital offense. Who is the real 'enemy'?
Sweden detains Pirate Bay founder in oppressive conditions without charges | Glenn Greenwald | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk The case underscores the prime fear long expressed by Assange supporters about the Swedish justice system


CNBC's First Question To Labor Secretary Solis: How Do You Respond To Accusation That Jobs Numbers Are "Fixed"? | Video | Media Matters for America (BLStrutherism)
Household survey vs payroll survey: The household survey always finds more.
Jack Welch: Unemployment rate cooked - Oct. 5, 2012 (Jack Fucking Welch)

Paul Ryan's Debt to Barry Goldwater—Who'd Be Mortified by Paul Ryan - Elias Isquith - The Atlantic - Ryan is the most ideological and potentially divisive nominee to the White House in a half century. Not since Barry Goldwater proclaimed extremism in defense of liberty to be no vice and moderation in pursuit of justice no virtue has a major party candidate so forcefully challenged America's political status quo.
The US presidential debates' illusion of political choice | Glenn Greenwald | Comment is free | The Guardian The issue is not what separates Romney and Obama, but how much they agree. This hidden consensus has to be exposed

Reince Priebus Forced Back Into Ancient Puzzle Box After Being Tricked Into Saying Name Backwards | The Onion

Calculated Risk: Gasoline Prices surge in California due to Refinery Problems

Who's On Top? Color-Coded Maps Rank States' Education Performance | Education on GOOD
Education Rank - Data Across States - Kids Count Data Center

You Brought a Coastal Defense Ship to a Battleship Fight - Lawyers, Guns & Money

Wikipedia Policies Limit Editing Haymarket Bombing : NPR

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BBC News - Turkey's parliament authorises military action in Syria
US drone strike in southern Yemen kills four al-Qaida-linked militants | World news | guardian.co.uk Security official and residents say four armed combatants were killed, two were wounded and one fled the scene
Russia denies knowledge of spy plot as US man appears in court on charges | World news | guardian.co.uk Alexander Fishenko and six others accused of selling microelectronics to be used in Russian weapons systems
Police in Mallorca arrest man on suspicion of planning Columbine-style attack on university | World news | The Guardian Suspect was planning to plant bombs on a university campus in Palma de Mallorca, police say
China landslide buries primary school | World news | guardian.co.uk Landslide in south-western Yunnan province traps 19 people, 18 of them children, after last month's earthquakes
French Alps shootings case will not be solved quickly, prosecutor warns | World news | guardian.co.uk Eric Maillaud says investigation into the four killings will take a 'very, very long time' unless there is a sudden breakthrough

Austerity has worsened Greek crisis, says institute | World news | The Guardian Institute of International Finance says politicians put desire for debt reduction ahead of efforts to spur growth (sadists)
West coast rail debacle blamed on Whitehall brain drain | UK news | guardian.co.uk Former cabinet secretary Lord O'Donnell says skills shortages are hurting departments and calls for higher civil service pay

Meningitis warning spreads to 23 states as investiagtors focus in on cause | Society | guardian.co.uk Officials said all of those infected received spinal injections of a steroid solution sold by a Massachusetts-based facility

Gallup: Obama's Approval Rating Reaches 54 Percent, Highest Mark Since '09 | TPM LiveWire

Presidential Debate Obama 2012 - The Presidential Debate That Wasn't Very Presidential - Esquire - The Presidential Debate That Wasn't Very Presidential: How Obama Let the Etch-a-Sketch Take the Controls
Obama Debate Review - Tom Junod on Obama's Debate Magic - Esquire - Obama, Endurance Artist: What Comes After the Magic?

At Last Night's Debate: Romney Told 27 Myths In 38 Minutes | ThinkProgress
First Debate Often Helps Challenger in Polls - NYTimes.com
The Return of Massachusetts Mitt -- Daily Intel

Obama hits back after debate dip and accuses Romney of not telling the truth | World news | guardian.co.uk President turns on Romney for 'dancing around his positions' as he seeks to revive fortunes following lacklustre Denver display
Would a Republican Candidate Lie About Taxes? -- Daily Intel
Political Animal - The Audacity of Mendacity
Fact Checking the Debate: Who Stretched the Truth?: Video - Bloomberg
Daily Kos: Mitt Romney: Lying to victory

Political Animal - Why Obama Didn’t Go After Mitt - a very low-risk debate strategy that Romney successfully exploited. (+Pres non-partisan)
A good night for Mitt Romney, but was it really enough? - The Plum Line - The Washington Post
First Round to Romney In tonight's debate, Obama made the same error he made at the beginning of the health-care fight: Failing to stand his ground for fear of appearing too partisan.

Romney's Sick Joke - NYTimes.com I guess you could say that Romney’s claim wasn’t exactly a lie, since some people with preexisting conditions would retain coverage. But as I said, it’s the moral equivalent of a lie; if you think he promised something real, you’re the butt of a sick joke. And we’re talking about a lot of people left out in the cold — 89 million, to be precise.
My Quick Read | TPM Editors Blog He basically tossed aside his own tax plan or said he would if his numbers didn’t add up. But then he insisted that he could find enough loopholes to close to afford a $5 trillion tax cut for upper income earners. These are more numbers on the table. That’s really what most of the debate was about — budget numbers. Romney insisted with a straight face that up was down.
First Thoughts: Romney helps himself - First Read
Brad DeLong: Paul Ryan the Republican Unperson Watch All the romney signs just say "Believe in America" where "paul ryan" would usually be
Balloon Juice » Mitt Romney Will Get Rid of PBS, Jim Lehrer, and Big Bird
Mitt Romney's Big Bird Attack Threatens Thousands Of U.S. Jobs (BB: "will work for food")
Coal Miner’s Donor: A Mitt Romney Benefactor And His Surprisingly Generous Employees | The New Republic A Mitt Romney benefactor and his surprisingly generous employees - Murray Energy.
I’m Not Concerned - Lawyers, Guns & Money
Simpson-Bowles: The Conventional Wisdom Is Correct - Lawyers, Guns & Money
Balloon Juice » Thank You John Sununu Today John Sununu called the President “lazy”—and on being pressed, doubled down and said it again. Just to be clear: the word Sununu was looking for is “shiftless.” ... Sununu, not content to insult every American who believes that the Presidency deserves minimal respect, added this gem on Fox News. Asked if Obama would do better next round, he replied “When you’re not that bright, you can’t get better prepared.” (thank you Boston Globe for giving a perch to this racist asshole)

Six Digital Takeaways from the Denver Debate - Forbes

Equality and the Supreme Court: A Potential Blockbuster Term - Lawyers, Guns & Money
Billboard Attempts to Intimidate African American Voters in Cleveland A billboard declaring “Voter Fraud is a Felony” is now on display in Cleveland – a clear attempt to intimidate and suppress African American and student voters in the area.
Akin Fails to Report Pension Income Rep. Todd Akin (R-MO) failed to report almost $130,000 in Missouri legislative pension income over the past 10 years on his congressional financial disclosure report, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports. Said Akin: "This was an unintentional oversight and I regret any inconvenience this may cause."

Mark Gongloff: Romney's Dodd-Frank Comments Shock Bewildered Bankers Mitt Romney is on to their perverted games. At last night's debate, he declared that a key component of the financial-reform law was "the biggest kiss that's been given to New York banks I've ever seen."
JPMorgan Shouldn’t Cut Dimon’s Pay Over Loss, Harrison Says - Bloomberg
Super Rich More Likely To Live In Blue States: Wealth-X

Saving the world’s fisheries - The Washington Post The World’S Waters are dangerously overfished, threatening the health and livelihood of millions across the planet.

The Drug War Is a National Scandal That's Getting Worse - Esquire


Larry Ellison To Make His Hawaiian Island A 'Little Laboratory'

Facebook hits 1 billion users a month | Technology | guardian.co.uk
Google reaches Library Project settlement in court case with publishers | Technology | guardian.co.uk Google Library Project to proceed after seven-year court case brought by group of American publishers is resolved
“I am calling you from Windows”: A tech support scammer dials Ars Technica | Ars Technica Cold caller from "Windows Technical Support" asks for remote access to my PC.
Gephardt Gets It: Scam involves negative online reviews | ksl.com

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South Korea: Asia's Other Rising Naval Power - Flashpoints

West coast rail fiasco: three government officials suspended | Business | guardian.co.uk Three government officials at the heart of the abandoned west coast mainline franchise competition have been suspended after the transport secretary launched an urgent review into how the award of Britain's most lucrative rail service ended in fiasco.

NDAA Decision Extended - The NDAA Decision and the Unknown Power of Obama - Esquire the current president wants the power to detain indefinitely anyone he and the intelligence community see as a threat, whether that person is an American or not

The debates are crucial – for both sides

Tucker Carlson Fails at Trolling - Ta-Nehisi Coates - The Atlantic
Booman Tribune ~ Attacking the Less Fortunate - The Republicans think a five-year old video of Obama doing nothing particularly unusual will hurt him politically. They have a lot of delusions, even at the highest levels.
An Unlikely Voice Of Reason On The Drudge-Daily Caller Flop | Blog | Media Matters for America
rubber hose: reruns again? from tucker carlson himself: [People will say] this has already been reported. Actually, it hasn’t been reported. I know because I reported it the first time.
Balloon Juice » Next up in Oogity-Boogity
Limbaugh On 2007 Obama Speech: "This Is Rabble-Rousing Kind Of Talk. ... He Race-Baited Throughout" (mentioning slavery is racist)

Explore voter ID laws in all 50 states
Tallahassee: Botched voter registration forms not the first sign of trouble for GOP firm - Florida - MiamiHerald.com In 2004, employees with his previous firms were accused of a wide assortment of infractions: destroying voter registration forms of Democrats, duping college students into registering as Republicans, refusing to register Democrats or independents. Nevada, Oregon and Arizona opened investigations but closed them without charging anyone.

Noam Chomsky: If I were in a swing state, I’d vote for Obama | The Raw Story (if you've been following the "lesser of two evils" argument) - Chomsky also said the national deficit wasn’t a major problem, and was being used as propaganda to hide the issue of joblessness ... That tells you there is something deeply pathological about the general socio-economic system.
L'Hôte: requests, easy and difficult
Balloon Juice » Hi, Hello, Wake from Thy Sleep

Todd Akin Climate Control Video - Todd Akin's Unique View of Women - Esquire

College graduates are in for a rude awakening - Salon.com Grade inflation has spawned a generation of graduates convinced they're exceptional. They're not


Red Sox intend to fire Valentine when season ends - CBSSports.com


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We're Still at War: Photo of the Day for October 2, 2012 | Mother Jones

Armageddon in Greece | Mother Jones If you happen to be wondering why Greeks are rioting in the streets, this is why. You might be too if this were happening to your economy

Voting Rights Groups Get a Partial Win in Pennsylvania | Mother Jones The ruling states that poll workers are allowed to ask voters for photo identification, but those who don't have it will be allowed to cast regular ballots, as opposed to provisional ones. (poll workers will be "confused")
Pa. court rules voters can cast regular ballots without ID
Pennsylvania Voter ID Law Postponed - Pennsylvania Voter-ID Law Tossed: Between the Rulings - Esquire

Elizabeth Warren Scott Brown Debate 2 - Charles P. Pierce on Massachusetts Senate Debate - Esquire

Paul Ryan: 30 Percent 'Want Their Welfare State,' 70 Percent 'Want The American Dream' (video)

David Brooks Opening Statement Column - Our Mr. Brooks Practices His Ventriloquism - Esquire Moral Hazard, the Irish setter owned for photo-op purposes by New York Times columnist David Brooks
George Will Romney Turn Around Column - George Will Is Not Making Any Human Sense - Esquire - Second, if Will believes that the reason the president seems to be prospering right now is because the good heart of America is giving the black fella a break, he's climbed so far up his own ass that he could sneeze and break his collarbone. And that's what I call staying within yourself.
Balloon Juice » Hello Blackness My Old Friend, George Has Come to Talk About You Again George Will thinks that firing blackety-black-black President Obama will prove once and for all that we live in post-racial America. Also, too, baseball:
Eschaton: The Blahs Get All Of The Advantages: George Wills of the world
Eschaton: Our Own Craig T. Nelson: Inqy commenter "The Monk." How and when did feeding school kids ever become a government and taxpayer obligation? When I was a kid in Wilson Park Project, on welfare, my MOTHER sent me to school every day with my own lunchbag. It's called PARENTAL responsibility. Just more nanny state nonsense. (white people are so stupid)
Balloon Juice w » A low bar impossible to cross… Liz Marlantes of the Christian Science Monitor said this: (sheesh, CSM)
ComPost Live with Alexandra Petri - The Washington Post
Media Research Center dishonor awards: Why conservative media critics aren’t laughing. - Slate Magazine
Patrick Murphy Ad on Allen West - Patrick Murphy's Big Mistake - Esquire

America's Top 10 Polluters | Mother Jones The EPA releases a database of greenhouse gas sources. Is there a global warmer in your backyard?

How To Survive A Plague
‘How to Survive a Plague’ looks back at AIDS activism’s power - A&E - Boston.com
‘How to Survive a Plague’ a triumph of activism - Boston.com

Column: U.S. needs paid family leave Paid parental leave would give parents time with their kids without risking their jobs.
Devaluing care work — and women - Salon.com Protections for care workers and paid sick days are off the political agenda, and women are paying the price (moochers)

Kate Middleton topless photos: When did bare breasts become taboo? - Slate Magazine the general prohibition on bare breasts in European society was firmly entrenched again by the 1600s.

What Happened After U.S. Cables Revealing Massive Bulgarian Corruption Were Leaked in Bulgaria - Slate Magazine
Website pagination: Stories should load into a single page every time. - Slate Magazine Why websites should not make you click and click and click for the full story. (lookin' at you, Arianna)

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World faces ageing population time bomb says UN - Telegraph The world needs to take urgent action to cope with the impact of a rapidly ageing population, according to a new report, which forecast that the number of people older than 60 would surpass one billion within a decade.

Nato withdrawal from Afghanistan could be speeded up, says Rasmussen | World news | The Guardian Anders Fogh Rasmussen admits 'green on blue' attacks have hit morale, and raises prospect of accelerated pullout
'Innocence Of Muslims' Banned In Russia By Moscow Court
Bahraini court confirms jail terms for medics who aided protesters — RT
Gridlock as China begins its 'Golden Week' holidays - Telegraph A decision to grant free road travel meant hundreds of thousands of Chinese drivers spent the first day of the mid-autumn festival in gridlock.

Stephen Hester: RBS is 'poster child' for banking failures - Telegraph Stephen Hester, chief executive of Royal Bank of Scotland, has admitted the institution is a “British poster child for what went wrong in banking

White House Hacked In Cyber Attack That Used Spear-Phishing To Crack Unclassified Network
The Head of Homeland Security Stays Secure by Not Using Email, At All
Iran Unblocks Gmail After Members Of Iranian Parliament Complain

Why Do America’s Super-Rich Feel Victimized by Obama? : The New Yorker Why do billionaires feel victimized by Obama? - he has gone so far as to draw a parallel between Obama’s election and the rise of the Third Reich.
The Real Referendum - NYTimes.com Voters are, in effect, being asked to deliver a verdict on the legacy of the New Deal and the Great Society, on Social Security, Medicare and, yes, Obamacare, which represents an extension of that legacy.
Wait for a Better Deficit Report
Why Simpson/Bowles Should Be DOA. To follow up on Mark's post, I think it's worth explaining a central problem with Jon Chait's defense of Simpson/Bowles.

Romney: My Magic Tax Plan Will Repeal Math -- Daily Intel
Paul Ryan On Why He Didn't Discuss Tax Plan Math: 'Everyone Would Start Changing The Channel'
The Paul Ryan Legend Dissipates -- Daily Intel (it was a fog and mirrors anyway)
They Stopped Loving Him Today, WaPo Edition - Lawyers, Guns & Money : Lawyers, Guns & Money Wow, Paul Ryan has even lost the newspaper that inexplicably signs Robert Samuelson’s paychecks. The declining reputation of the zombie-eyed granny starver is shocking to me; normally, once somebody gets an entirely unearned reputation is a “fiscal hawk” because they want to impose pain on poor people to fund upper-class tax cuts, they keep it forever.

Fox's Crowder Claims Young People Will Vote For Obama Because "They Want More Free Crap" | Video | Media Matters for America
Undisclosed: Fox Lets Bayh Do His Clients' Bidding | Blog | Media Matters for America
No More Mister Nice Blog: History'S Greatest Monsters: The Shaming Is A Massive Box-Office Flop (must have been a MSM conspiracy)
Before 2nd Debate, Warren/Brown Still Mostly Standstill - Esquire
Blue Mass Group | Talk radio has gone batsh!t crazy over Elizabeth Warren
Civil Beat Poll - Hirono Up Big On Lingle - Honolulu Civil Beat The Civil Beat Poll shows Hirono, a Democratic congresswoman, with a 55 percent to 39 percent advantage over the two-term Republican Hawaii governor. T

Voter Fraud, Sincere Edition: Holy Crap, it Exists - Lawyers, Guns & Money
About Mr. Sproul | TPM Editors Blog
A Recent History of GOP Voter Suppression in Florida | The Nation

Bush-Appointed Judge Upholds Obama Administration's Birth Control Coverage Rules | ThinkProgress [Federal religious freedom law] is a shield, not a sword. It protects individuals from substantial burdens on religious exercise that occur when the government coerces action one’s religion forbids, or forbids action one’s religion requires; it is not a means to force one’s religious practices upon others (freedom to oppress you with my religion rejected)

TSA hired priest accused of molesting girls to do pat downs | The Raw Story

63,000-Year-Old Modern Human Skull Found in Laos | Anthropology | Sci-News.com According to an international team of anthropologists, an ancient skull collected from a cave in the Annamite Mountains in northern Laos is the oldest modern human fossil found in Southeast Asia.

Fellowship of the Ring: Conventions of film, conventions of genre - Lawyers, Guns & Money

The economics of video games

The (Not So) Daily: Dexter Season 7 Premiere "Are You...?"

Kindle Paperwhite Review: Amazon's New Kindle Has A Screen That Shines
iPhone In Taiwan: Government Official Get Heat Over Promoting iPhone Over HTC One

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US military death toll in Afghanistan hits 2,000 after confused firefight | World news | guardian.co.uk Exchange of fire kills two Americans and three Afghan soldiers, marking 2,000th US death in the conflict
Bombings across Iraq kill 26 | World news | guardian.co.uk Shia neighbourhoods and Iraqi security forces targeted in attacks described as rallying call by al-Qaida
Iranian economy on verge of collapse, says Israel | World news | guardian.co.uk Sanctions creating great economic difficulties, says finance minister in a further indication that military action may be on hold
Parisa Hafezi, Reuters Tehran Bureau Chief, Convicted Of 'Propaganda-Related Offenses' By Iranian Media Court
Where next for China as the new generation of leaders take power? | World news | The Observer The 18th Communist party congress will see an organisation with 80 million members decide the fate of the world's second largest economy
Bo Xilai Scandal: In Chongqing, Chinese Politician's Fall Blamed On Elite Intrigue
Rape And Abuse In Syria's Detention Centers Documented In BBC Report (VIDEO) "He inserted a rat in her vagina. She was screaming. Afterwards we saw blood on the floor. He told her: 'Is this good enough for you?' They were mocking her. It was obvious she was in agony. We could see her. After that she no longer moved."

White House defends UN ambassador over response to Benghazi attack | World news | guardian.co.uk Libya embassy attack becomes election issue as Republicans call for Susan Rice's resignation over alleged misinformation

Bangladesh Muslim protesters torch Buddhist temples over Facebook photo | FaithWorld (you can see where this is going)
Any questions? : atheism
ancient iranian women - Google Search
iranian women - Google Search

French protesters march in 'resistance' to austerity | World news | guardian.co.uk Thousands take to the streets of Paris in move described by government minister as 'fundamental error'

Deepwater Horizon settlement talks stall as US demands $18bn from BP | Environment | guardian.co.uk Reports indicate talks over payment for the 2010 disaster have hit a snag as BP split over whether to push for $15bn payout

Hullabaloo Is torturing "material witnesses" constitutional? - A federal judge in Idaho has ruled that the United States, after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, wrongly imprisoned an American under a law designed to keep trial witnesses from fleeing and that since there was evidence that the government may have willfully misused the law against him, his case should go to trial. (Obama opposed, of course)

No More Mister Nice Blog - Is Frank Bruni Now The Worst Op-Ed Columnist At The New York Times? - The vast majority of Americans have sacrificed plenty in the past few years. If Frank Bruni hasn't, he needs to realize how anomalous and lucky he is, rather than projecting his awareness of his own soft life onto the rest of us.
‘I Am the Change’ by Charles R. Kesler - NYTimes.com The conservative mind, a repository of fresh ideas just two decades ago, is now little more than a click-click slide projector holding a tray of apocalyptic images of modern life that keeps spinning around, raising the viewer’s fever with every rotation.

I am a job creator: A manifesto for the entitled - The Washington Post - I am entitled to everything I have and more that I still deserve.
There Aren’t That Many Takers in America — The Monkey Cage The most restrictive definition pegs the percentage of takers at 2.4%. If we’re willing to include people in households with at least one earner, that number increases to 5.2%. Lots of people, even quite rich people, receive government benefits in the United States, and that is a reasonable thing for true fiscal conservatives to be frustrated about. But these numbers simply don’t line up with the rhetoric of a massive class of lazy people taking advantage of the rest of us while eating solely at the trough of government.
Balloon Juice » The numbers guy and the wonk skipped a step Both Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan accepted the factual basis of the makers versus takers argument they promote without ever looking into it at all. (that would require "thinking" and "honesty")
No More Mister Nice Blog - The vast majority of Americans have sacrificed plenty in the past few years. If Frank Bruni hasn't, he needs to realize how anomalous and lucky he is, rather than projecting his awareness of his own soft life onto the rest of us.

| Nationwide GOP Voter Registration Fraud Scandal Widens, Becomes Criminal Matter in Florida (how ironic the only voter fraud in America is by Republicans)

Elizabeth Warren leads Scott Brown in Boston Globe poll | masslive.com The Globe poll [PDF], conducted by the University of New Hampshire Survey Center, shows Warren leading Brown, 43 percent to 38 percent.

Q&A With Nate Silver on His Book, Romney, Polls -- Daily Intel - So I think a slightly impolite way to put it is that at best Dick Morris is detached from reality, and at worst I guess, he knows it and is just lying to people.

Balloon Juice » Saying So when I say, fuck Thomas J Paprocki, and note that the world would be a better place if assholes like him were in jail for conspiring to shield child molesters instead of preaching the hate and divisiveness that spontaneously escapes his geriatric piehole, I’m not making a conscious decision, I’m just saying. (Catholic Bishops doing the work of Satan)

Reinventing Atlantic City With gambling troubles, agencies focus on bringing in more arts, retail, and residential development.

California banishes controversial 'gay cure' therapies to 'dustbin of quackery' | World news | guardian.co.uk Bill bars mental health providers from engaging in therapies meant to 'cure' homosexuality in children and teenagers - But the idea that homosexuality can be cured – by therapy and/or prayer – persists in conservative Christian circles.

Living on Earth: New Study Links Genetically Modified Corn to Cancer (you know, the corn they don't want to have to tell you was GMO'd)
Pictures: New-Species "Heaven" Discovered in Peru
Lightning captured at 7,207 images per second - YouTube

Pirate Bay Founder Remains Locked Up Without Charges | TorrentFreak Gottfrid Svartholm will be kept in detention for at least two more weeks on suspicion of hacking into a Swedish IT company connected to the country’s tax authorities. According to Prosecutor Henry Olin the extended detention is needed “to prevent him from having contact with other people.” The Pirate Bay co-founder is not allowed to have visitors and is even being denied access to newspapers and television. (nice little justice system you have there, Sweden)

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Medieval Aleppo souks destroyed by fire as battle rages in Syria | World news | guardian.co.uk Syrian activists say residents are struggling to control blaze in labyrinthine markets which were once a tourist attraction
Pour 56 % des Français le "racisme anti-Blancs" se développe
‘You really did not manage this well’: Czech president to bodyguards after being shot with toy handgun | World | News | National Post

VatiLeaks Exposes Internal Memos of the Catholic Church - The Daily Beast

The Clintons: the real winners of the 2012 election | World news | The Observer With Bill lauded even by his political opponents and Hillary enjoying success as secretary of state, there's a new groundswell among Democrats to secure the succession and back a Clinton run for the White House in 2016

Political Animal - The Million Wingnut March There’s been a steadily building discussion, albeit shrouded in some mystery, about the potential impact on Election Day (and to some extent, before it) of right-wing “volunteer poll watchers” who are promising to descend on minority neighborhoods to make sure the Pink Elephant threat of “voter fraud” does not transpire.
Get Ready Dems: If Obama wins conservatives will try to de-legitimize his victory with hysterical, phony claims of "massive election fraud." There are four important ways Dems can plan now to fight back | Democratic Strategist Get Ready Dems: If Obama wins conservatives will try to de-legitimize his victory with hysterical, phony claims of "massive election fraud." There are four important ways Dems can plan now to fight back

Daily Kos: WSJournal Accused of Failing Disclosure, 10 Op-Ed Writers Are Romney Advisers

Whose Idea Was It to Nominate Romney, Anyway? -- Daily Intel
Political Animal - Nowhere Man if Mitt Romney loses, he will vanish from Republican politics without a trace. He has no public office to fall back on, no real geographical base, and no personal following (again, outside the LDS flock). Having contrived a presidential candidacy out of familiarity, money and comparative advantage over an incredibly weak field, this is the closest he will ever get to the brass ring. As always, that makes me wonder what he might resort to in the stretch run.

“47%” Was Bad For Romney; Ryan Has Been Deadly | The New Republic
Cramming and Pruning for First Presidential Debate - NYTimes.com Mr. Romney’s team has concluded that debates are about creating moments and has equipped him with a series of zingers that he has memorized and has been practicing on aides since August. His strategy includes luring the president into appearing smug or evasive about his responsibility for the economy.
No More Mister Nice Blog I'm sure Fox and Drudge and the New York Post already have the list of zingers, and already have a plan, coordinated with the Romney campaign, to declare one of them the line of the evening, the one that embodied Romney's decisive victory, with the backup choices rank-ordered in case Romney never manages to deliver Choice #1, or in case it falls flat.
Booman Tribune ~ A Progressive Community So, Romney has spent over a month memorizing "zingers" which he will then attempt to offer in a spontaneous and witty manner in the debates. I don't think this will go well.
Webb delivers blistering Romney critique in Virginia - The Maddow Blog But it was of particular interest to see the senator reflect on the Vietnam War era, and the decisions made at the time. The Romney campaign released a photograph this week of Romney in 1968, laying on a French beach alongside a giant "I Love Ann" sign he'd drawn for his future wife in the sand.
Matt Taibbi: Mitt Romney's 'Insane' Comments Reveal Delusions Of The Super Rich - "If you're low-income enough to not be paying income tax, you're doing a shitty job that nobody else wants to do in this country," Taibbi said. "You're cleaning toilets. You're driving buses at the night shift. You're bussing tables. You're doing all these things that Mitt Romney is never going to do."
Chronicling Mitt's Mendacity, Vol. XXXVI - The Maddow Blog When Mitt Romney talked to "60 Minutes" last week, he said President Obama has "repeatedly shown a reckless disregard for the truth." If there's ever been a more blatant example of political "projection," I can't think of it.
A Heaping Helping of Ridicule for Ruth Marcus | Beat the Press Ruth Marcus commits just about every major error in budget analysis in her Washington Post column this morning. To start with, she warns of the fiscal cliff at the end of the year (another WaPo evil Republican hack)
CNN Lets Dinesh D'Souza Peddle Conspiracy Theory That Obama Is "Anti-American" | Blog | Media Matters for America CNN host Zoraida Sambolin pressed D'Souza to explain his accusations, she offered no pushback to D'Souza's outlandish claims about Obama's character nor did she point out the discredited claims contained in his movie.
Attack ads have... | Facebook Attack ads have come to this: President Obama makes babies cry. Jeremy Peters reports:
Republicans accuse Obama of cover-up over death of Chris Stevens in Libya | World news | guardian.co.uk Rudolf Giuliani leads Republican attack as confusion grows over circumstances of Chris Stevens' death in Benghazi (Mayor 911)
Political Animal - Pollack On Medicaid and “Taking Care of Each Other”