1/29/15 Today's Inquiries

Poverty + Distance = Crazy grannies trying to bite the ER staff. (Also, I think I'll be parenthetical today.)


The Links:

Here's your quote of the year about Mitt Romney: (oxymoron much?)

If he runs again in 2016, Romney is determined to rebrand himself as authentic...

More on the Scam PACs out to take money from well meaning conservatives. Or is this the same article I linked before? Who knows. No word on whether the GOP has realized the entire right wing election industry is designed to separate fools from their money.

Topic of the Week: Secession! A quick overview by Arnold Kling. I think there is a place where his #1 is in effect right now: Syria.

1. Alex endorses the idea of a region in which several governments compete to offer public services.

A good piece about how the social safety net enables entrepreneurialism.

In a 2014 study, he found that food-stamp assistance makes people significantly more likely to start businesses. Again, the data supports the hypothesis that “cuddly capitalism” boosts risk-taking, rather than discouraging it.

42 states saw a decrease in unemployment in December.

Obama scraps his plans to tax college savings plans due to the disproportionate impact on hedge fund managers.

Glenn Greenwald really hates the journalistic establishment. So, it's no surprise that he goes to the mattresses over Johnathan Chait's recent article about political correctness and free speech.

Being aggressively, even unfairly, criticized isn’t remotely tantamount to being silenced. People with large and influential platforms have a particular need for aggressive scrutiny and vibrant critique. The world would be vastly improved if we were never again subjected to the self-victimizing whining of highly compensated and empowered journalists about how upset they are that people say mean things online about them and their lovely and talented friends.

Smart words about terrorism. (Or: The Empire Strikes Back.)

…the truth is, in the contemporary world, Christians won big. And the frustration and humiliation that Muslims now feel as a result can help explain terrorism. That frustration and humiliation is rooted in politics rather than sex and in modern experience rather than deep history. And it has little to do with the Koran.

Oil and the North-South divide in Nigeria.

Is Sweden overrated? The Norwegians say yes.

What Silicon Valley thinks of women.

Anita Sarkeesian posted all of the threatening tweets she received in 1 week. There were 157 of them. Needless to say, trigger warning.

"Racially progressive" millennials are pretty much just as racist as the generations before them. Never underestimate the effects of privilege.

Such studies serve as proof that the white community tends to be extremely disconnected and oblivious to the realities of racism in America and what impact it has on people of color.

If Frodo had Google Maps: (or: One does not simply ask Siri how to walk to Mordor.)

Ta Nehesi-Coates writes about changes coming to the Spider Man comics.

I was 11 years old when Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson were married.