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Florida’s Welfare Drug Testing Costs More Than It Saves

Republican Florida Gov. Rick Scott’s plan to test welfare recipients for drugs is costing the state money, despite his claims that the program would actually save tax dollars.

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Under the rules of the program, the state must reimburse recipients who receive negative test results. The state paid about $1,140 for the 38 negative tests, while saving less than $240 a month by denying benefits over the two positive tests.

From Crooks And Liars

I don’t think this was ever about saving money. This was about spending money on testing and I fully expext that the firms being paid for this testing are somehow connected to the Florida GOP.

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Justice Clarence Thomas Should Resign For His Egregious Conflicts of Interest and Unethical Behavior

Leading conservative donor Harlan Crow, whose company often litigates in federal court, donated $500,000 to allow Thomas’s wife to start a Tea Party group and he once gave Thomas a $19,000 Bible that belonged to Frederick Douglass. The American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank which frequently files briefs in Thomas’ Court, also gave Thomas a $15,000 gift.If this sounds familiar, it’s because America has seen this movie before. Indeed, the Thomas scandal is little more than a remake of the forty year-old gifting scandal that brought down Justice Abe Fortas. Like Thomas, Fortas liked to associate with wealthy individuals with potential business before his Court. And like Thomas, Fortas took inappropriate gifts from his wealthy benefactors.

[…]One of Thomas’ benefactors has even filed briefs in his Court since giving Thomas a $15,000 gift, and Thomas has not recused himself from each of these cases.

From Justice Clarence Thomas Should Resign For His Egregious Conflicts of Interest and Unethical Behavior

Why should he resign, it isn’t like he is a Democrat or something.

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Al Qaeda spokesman urges terrorists to buy lots of guns at gun shows

America is absolutely awash with easily obtainable firearms. You can go down to a gun show at the local convention center and come away with a fully automatic assault rifle, without a background check, and most likely without having to show an identification card. So what are you waiting for?

From Al Qaeda spokesman urges terrorists to buy lots of guns at gun shows

While lots of people are going to attack the NRA about this story, I think that’s the wrong take away. If only the ACLU were as strong at defending the other parts of the bill or rights as the NRA is at defending the 2nd amendment. In such a world, any politician proposing invasive screening, gag orders or limiting access to courts would face the same resistance as politician wanting to make it slightly harder for our enemies to turn our guns against us.

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New study says Paul Krugman is top prognosticator

The Hamilton students sampled the predictions of 26 individuals who wrote columns in major print media and who appeared on the three major Sunday news shows – Face the Nation, Meet the Press, and This Week – and evaluated the accuracy of 472 predictions made during the 16-month period. They used a scale of 1 to 5 (1 being “will not happen, 5 being “will absolutely happen”) to rate the accuracy of each, and then divided them into three categories: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly.

The students found that only nine of the prognosticators they studied could predict more accurately than a coin flip. Two were significantly less accurate, and the remaining 14 were not statistically any better or worse than a coin flip.

The top prognosticators – led by New York Times columnist Paul Krugman – scored above five points and were labeled “Good,” while those scoring between zero and five were “Bad.” Anyone scoring less than zero (which was possible because prognosticators lost points for inaccurate predictions) were put into “The Ugly” category.

From New study says Paul Krugman is top prognosticator

Krugman, better than a coin flip.