The Links:
Rand Paul wrote an op-ed in Time this Thursday calling for the demilitarization of police. Two thoughts: First, he is absolutely correct. There's a reason our nation doesn't use its military domestically. We don't need to fill that void with a domestic military. The police are citizens not soldiers. The more we destroy that distinction, the more we create situations like those in Ferguson. Second, have republicans found an issue where they can make inroads with minorities and young people? Obviously it would take a long term commitment and actual legislation on the right to convince anyone but this is an issue they can win. Maybe "hawks overseas and doves at home" isn't the traditional GOP stance but things can change.
Glenn Greenwald makes the same civil liberties point but also notes that we're importing tactics from the global war on terror for use on our own citizens. It's an unprecedented step which, at its core, sees all citizens as potential violent criminals.
Ta-Nehisi Coates responds to criticisms that blacks only care about white-on-black violence.
Vox reports that, after a day of lower tensions, the armored vehicles are back on the streets and that Mike Brown was stopped for jaywalking not robbery. So what, exactly, was the propose of releasing a video from a robbery investigation which allegedly shows young Mr. Brown? Character assassination I guess. Hey sorry we shot that kid for jaywalking but he kinda looks like this other guy that stole $15 of cigars so it's all cool that we killed him.
Nate Cohn continues doing midterm math. He looks at ways the democrats can hold onto their senate majority.
Rick Perry is under indictment for two felonies. Oops.
Josh Barro takes a look at what it would be like to have a government that is completely not polarized. He doesn't have to look far, because we have an excellent example in Rhode Island, America's least polarized state.
Phoebe Maltz Bovy thinks I should just give up this whole blogging thing and stop blathering about my opinions on the internet.
Writing at The Atlantic, Ethan Zuckerman examines the internet's original sin. It's not furry porn. I could have sworn that the original sin of the internet was furry porn. Also, there's something ironic about an Atlantic writer calling out online media for being ad-based when the Atlantic got in to much hot water over their Scientology sponsored content.
Dean Baker checks in on the "skills gap" in retail and restaurant trade. I think he is in terpreting the data in the wrong way, it's not that people don't have the skills to wait tables or clerk a counter; it's that they don't want to because the hours suck, the pay is poor, and they are trying to move up the job ladder. If wages are flat, staying employed at such a low income level is very undesirable.
As a side note, it appears that home ownership causes people to stay unemployed for longer. After all, they can't easily move to a new job until the (possibly underwater) home is sold. Or, maybe they have to make a mortgage payment and have to hit a certain monthly income to make that work.
The Boston Globe asks how classification of workers in "the sharing economy" will change things. Is your Lyft driver an employee or an independent contractor? I think the term sharecropper probably covers it pretty well.
The Atlantic interviewed several academics a about what a liberal arts education will look like in 50 years.
Noah Smith swears that Silicon Valley can solve the "big problems" and looks to all the efforts to improve quality life coming out of the tech industry.
What critics of Silicon Valley’s vision fail to realize, though, is that the really big problems aren't the hard ones or the spectacular ones. The really big problems are things that affect the quality of human life...
The problems of this higher rung of Maslow’s ladder are exactly the ones that tech companies like Facebook and Match.com have begun to crack. Consider the impact of dating sites on the lives of divorced people.I think he misses the point entirely. Look at the massive health epidemics facing our nation. Look at the drought in California and most of the rest of the country. Look at Ferguson. Look at the map of global clean water supply I linked the other day. Look at E-fucking-bola. Those are the big problems. They're big problems because all this self-actualization bullshit only matters to the rich white people who have all the other parts of the hierarchy on lockdown. But stay up your own asshole Silicon Valley. It's better there.
Elizabeth Nolan Brown points to a recent interview with Joseph Gordon-Levitt as evidence of why we all need feminism.
Animal hybrids like the coywolf (and let's be honest, that's an awesome name for a wolf coyote hybrid) are showing up more an more frequently in the Northeastern US.
I started watching The Strain with Lisa this week. It's always funny to see the main scientist guy make such a big deal out of his CDC credentials while watching with someone who actually worked at the CDC. Let's just say they are slightly exaggerating what the CDC does and what authority it actually has. Anyway, for a taste of how it really works, check this quick article out: CDC accidentally contaminated bird flu samples because scientist was late for a meeting. Meetings make for less compelling TV.
A new study finds that people shouldn't spend more than 5 consecutive hours together.
And, a dog has been elected mayor of Cormorant, Minnesota.
No comments:
Post a Comment