The Red White and Blue Pill
Florida: History of shameful jury decisions
Twenty years for a warning shot against a known abuser versus no time at all for killing an unarmed teenager leaves you scratching your head and wondering if justice is not just blind but also insane.
Worth a read. There is something seriously and deeply wrong about southern culture.
davidvienna: (inspired by this, which was inspired by this)
Racists Love Ron and Rand Paul for Some Reason
But his son and progeny Rand Paul also has a close aide who is a huge racist, reports Alana Goodman. Jack Hunter, author, with Rand Paul, of The Tea Party Goes to Washington, is not just kinda bigoted in an uncomfortable, old-guy sort of way. He’s a serious neo-Confederate.
Why does this keep happening?
Here’s Exactly Who to Blame in Congress for Authorizing Government Spying
Nice itemized list of who voted for the patriot act and its extensions and expansions.
Privacy Group to Ask Supreme Court to Stop N.S.A.’s Phone Spying Program
All 11 members of the FISA court are appointed by John Roberts.There is no confirmation process. Any chance the court is far right?
Jack Welch versus Milton Friedman
On the face of it, shareholder value is the dumbest idea in the world. Shareholder value is a result, not a strategy… your main constituencies are your employees, your customers and your products. Managers and investors should not set share price increases as their overarching goal… Short-term profits should be allied with an increase in the long-term value of a company.
Welch basically invalidating the theory of the firm, inspired by Friedman.
Intro to the Structure of Lies in Conservative Jurisprudence
Scalia wasn’t just being hypocritical. He was, quite blatantly, lying. If he actually believed what he claimed to believe in Windsor, then he never would have joined the decision to strike down the Voting Rights Act in Holder. To the contrary, he would have denounced John Roberts’ opinion with venomous glee. To absolutely no one’s surprise, he did not. Because everybody knows he was lying in his Windsor dissent. Everybody knows he’s been lying for decades.
The whole five part series is worth a read. The conservative movement is basically founded on this kind of BS.
members of the Muslim Brotherhood are defined by certain beliefs. They reject pluralism, secular democracy and, to some degree, modernity. When you elect fanatics, they continue, you have not advanced democracy. You have empowered people who are going to wind up subverting democracy. The important thing is to get people like that out of power, even if it takes a coup.
Replace Muslim Brotherhood with Conservative Movement and it is oddly accurate.
Democracy in peril
Edward Snowden and asylum: He is a terrible candidate.
On the merits, Snowden’s claim for asylum would not count for much in any country. Applicants for asylum typically must prove they are the victims of persecution on account of their race, ethnicity, religion, or membership in a social or political group. Frequently, these are political dissidents who are fleeing government oppression, or members of the wrong group in a civil war or ethnic conflict. They have been tortured, their families have been massacred. Snowden could be regarded as a political dissenter, but the United States is attempting to arrest him not because he holds dissenting views, but because he violated the law by disclosing information that he had sworn to keep secret. All countries have such laws; they could hardly grant asylum to an American for committing acts that they themselves would regard as crimes if committed by their own nationals.
Well written and fair article.