May 2013
22 posts
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“The most significant differences between those who smoked marijuana and those...”
– The Atlantic’s Lindsay Abrams, reporting on the results of a recent study on the health effects of marijuana. In addition, regular pot smokers were skinnier than those who abstained, “even after adjusting for factors like age, sex, tobacco and alcohol use, and physical activity levels,” and had...
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Why I'm Voting for Her | The Nation →
Next time around…I’m voting for a woman. Not because I believe that the female Democratic candidate (and I think we all have a good idea who that will be) is guaranteed to be the most feminist, but because I’m just too fed up to do anything else. I’ve made a full transition from youthful idealism to jaded orneriness, and my vote will be just as angry as I am.
It would undoubtedly be a...
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“When a staffer told Mr. Lopez that she was a victim of a sexual assault in...”
– The 10 Worst Allegations Against Vito Lopez in Ethics Report
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“Whenever someone is accused of racism—even if they are caught saying something...”
– Jamelle Bouie
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The Wisdom of a Founding Father
Alexander Hamilton’s son dies in a duel that takes place in Weehawken, New Jersey in 1802.
Alexander Hamilton responds by helping to pass a law that makes dueling illegal in New York.
Alexander Hamilton dies in a duel that takes place in Weekhawken, New Jersey in 1804.
Genius.
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“Every day behind prison walls, inmates—some elderly, some caring for...”
– Liliana Segura
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DOJ: Yeah, we don't need warrants to read your...
poorrichardsnews:
Sometimes I wonder if our federal officials have ever even heard of the Constitution. According to documents recently obtained by the ACLU, prosecutors at the Justice Department have argued that they do not need a warrant to search through any personal email or social media, public or private.
From CNET:
The U.S. Department of Justice and the FBI believe they don’t need a...
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Factory Deaths and Individual Liberty
The proper function and size of government is a seemingly infinite debate that, at least among politicians who favor rhetoric over reason, has made little headway. But it’s difficult to conceive how basic workplace safety regulations, assuming they are rigorously enforced and substantiated by solid evidence, could be anything but beneficial to the average worker, who is too often a victim of...
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Judge rips Obama’s right-wing Plan B stance →
“You’re disadvantaging young people, African-Americans, the poor…that’s the policy of the Obama administration?”
Indeed it is.
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It's Time to End the War on Terror
“We are at war” seems to be an excuse these days for nearly any instance of government misbehavior or illegality. It is generally acknowledged and accepted that during wartime, acts that would be unthinkable during a time of peace are easily excused. It is horrifying to reflect upon the bombing of Dresden, which claimed more than 20,000 lives, or the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and...
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“A survey of Republicans found nearly half agreed that “an armed revolution in...”
– Republicans say U.S. headed toward ‘armed revolution’: Poll
I’ll see you all at the revolution atop my unicorn with fire-breathing dragons in tow.
(via mohandasgandhi)
Nothing says “party of Lincoln” like an armed rebellion against a President from Illinois.
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“This is a good case study in how the presumption of innocence is literally dead...”
– Letters To My Country: Meg Lanker-Simons Cited For Making UW Crushes Post
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“I think it’s fair to say that most people are uncomfortable with the idea of a...”
– Jessica Valenti
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San Francisco's Hemp Center Is the Latest Target... →
The Hemp Center…has been in business for nearly 14 years and has been in its current location for 11. Its landlords recently received a letter from U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag. The letter warned of property seizures and prison sentences if the dispensary was not shut down, according to dispensary operator Kathleen Capetti.
Similar letters, which claim the clubs are too close to parks or...
April 2013
65 posts
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freedomofwhat asked: What post is Meg accused of lying about? Or do we know at this time?
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Meg Lanker-Simons Cited For Making UW Crushes Post →
University of Wyoming Police have issued a citation to Meg Lanker-Simons for a charge of interference. According to the citation “Subject admitted to making a controversial post on UW Crushes webpage and then lied about not doing it.”
An anonymous statement posted to the UW Crushes Facebook page last week caused a controversy. The post stated that the author would like to copulate with...
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Everything Libertarians and Liberals Get Wrong... →
By using drones, one can wait until the children are away from the area, allow both multiple layers of command and lawyers time to review the life feed, and take other measures necessary for minimizing collateral damage.
As true as that may be in theory, the critics reply, in practice the use of drones has been reckless and caused significant collateral damage. However, it is difficult to reach...
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Andrew Cuomo tells associates he would skip 2016... →
“The governor has told people in recent weeks that there’s not a chance for him to run if Hillary gets in the race because she’ll easily wrap up the Democratic nomination,’’ said a Cuomo administration insider with direct knowledge of the situation.
“He knows that and he accepts that, and so he won’t even be thinking at all in those terms — unless Hillary decides not to run, which seems...
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“George W. Bush failed to keep us safe, partly because he happened to be...”
– Conor Friedersdorf (via azspot)
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“To President Barack Obama’s credit, he abandoned much of his campaign rhetoric...”
– Ed Gillespie, former Counselor to President George W. Bush, illustrating how little Obama has altered his predecessor’s foreign policy agenda.
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“My daughter is already growing up in a society in which illegal drugs are easier...”
– Tony O’Neill (via letterstomycountry)
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“There seems to be this pervasive belief in the US that we can invade, bomb,...”
– Glenn Greenwald
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“One of the enduring legacies of the Obama Presidency is going to be that he...”
– Jeremy Scahill
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A couple serving probation for the death of their... →
Herbert and Catherine Schaible belong to a fundamentalist Christian church that believes in faith healing. They lost their 8-month-old son, Brandon, last week after he suffered from diarrhea and breathing problems for at least a week, and stopped eating. Four years ago, another son died from bacterial pneumonia.
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Man Dies in Police Raid on Wrong House →
letterstomycountry:
A 61-year-old man was shot to death by police while his wife was handcuffed in another room during a drug raid on the wrong house. Police admitted their mistake, saying faulty information from a drug informant contributed to the death of John Adams Wednesday night.
Bad information from a drug informant? Why, that never happens!
“The death of John...
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Congressional analysis upholds states' right to... →
Today, Congressman Jared Polis (D-CO) shared a new legal analysis, prepared by the Congressional Research Service, the nonpartisan research agency supporting the United States Congress, which finds that the federal government cannot compel states to prohibit marijuana use within their borders.
More specifically, the Congressional Research Service (CRS) writes that:
“Although the...
“Just six days ago, my village was struck by a drone, in an attack that terrified...”
– Farea Al-Muslimi, a Yemeni speaking to the Senate Judiciary Committee in a hearing on the legality of the drone war.
As Glenn Greenwald put it: “The matrix broke today and an actual Yemeni was allowed to testify about drones in the Senate - he was brilliant.”
(via hipsterlibertarian)
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“Whether something is or is not “terrorism” has very substantial...”
– Glenn Greenwald
tumbleweeddreams asked: yo Jon, just curious (although not very since I'm too indifferent to really research it), how many of these 13,288 religiously-affiliated murders last year do you suppose were the handiwork of radical Christian extremist/terrorists? Go ahead and make a guesstimate.
“The Constitution of the United States is a law for rulers and people equally in...”
– ex parte Milligan (1866)
—ht: BB
(via politicalprof)
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“To the problem of violence, there ought to be a path between callous...”
– Richard Kim
This piece is brilliant. Please read in full at the link above.
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letterstomycountry replied to your photo: “An avidity to punish is always dangerous to…
My favorite quote from Paine.
It’s a good one but “WTF?” is my favorite.
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Americans Are as Likely to Be Killed by Their Own... →
The number of U.S. citizens who died in terrorist attacks increased by two between 2010 and 2011; overall, a comparable number of Americans are crushed to death by their televisions or furniture each year. This is not to diminish the real—albeit shrinking—threat of terrorism, or to minimize the loss and suffering of the 13,000 killed and over 45,000 injured around the world. For...
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“In cases where the religious affiliation of terrorism casualties could be...”
– The National Counter Terrorism Center’s 2011 Report on Terrorism 