Happy Halloween; Breaking Bad; Television; Simpsons Did It; Disney Mix; Movies; Comics; Obamacare; Surveillance and Privacy

Happy Halloween

• Spinning Horror Into Gold—"The producer Jason Blum's winning movie formula relies on profit-sharing, and he's thinking about applying it to television." NYT
• Woman Handing Out Letters, Not Halloween Candy—"... to Halloween trick or treaters that she feels are 'moderately obese.'" Is this for real?
• 'Offensive' Halloween costumes banned by US university—"University of Colorado Boulder tells students to avoid costumes including cowboys, indians, white trash or anything potentially deemed offensive."
• 10 most haunted places around the world Salon
• Alien-themed promotion for Shoals radio station leads to concern over school safety—"A radio promotion spoofing aliens hacking into an Alabama radio station spooked students into believing schools would be attacked." H.G. Wells all over again?
• Review of Afterlife With Archie—Featuring Francesco Francavilla's art
• A Justice Halloween—Poor Bats.

Breaking Bad

• Which Great Literary Work Explains Breaking Bad Best?—"Comparing the series finale to Shakespeare, Moby-Dick, and ... Curious George?"
• "Breaking Bad"'s most powerful drug was money—"No matter how much Walt made, he wanted more -- until the bitter end, when ego was all that mattered." Salon
• Norm Macdonald is wrong; Breaking Bad ending not a dream
• "El Paso" scene in Breaking Bad
• Anthony Hopkins says Bryan Cranston's acting in 'Breaking Bad' is the best he's ever seen
• Breaking Bad creator says online piracy 'helped' show
• Breaking Bad, Full Fan Title Sequence
• Breaking Bad: New Episodes—Spoiler alert.

Television

• Netflix gloats as broadcast television ratings continue to horrify
• Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart react to "Colbert Report" Emmy win Salon
• BBC to reveal a number of missing Doctor Who episodes
• 4 of the Most Insane Versions of TMNT
• Archer -- Danger Zone

Simpsons Did it

• R.I.P. Marcia Wallace—Goodbye Mrs. Krabapple.
• The Simpsons' secret formula: it's written by maths geeks—"When one of Britain's best-known science writers went to Los Angeles to meet the show's writers for a new book, he found a team dedicated to inserting gags about complex maths problems. And you thought it was just a cartoon…"
• One, doh!, three: Homer Simpson is a math genius. Really!—"Believe it or not, Homer can teach us a lot about advanced math. He does work in a nuclear power plant..." Salon
• How to Make The Simpsons Relevant Again: The Characters Should Start Getting Older—Meh.
• Simpson's 24th Treehouse of Horror by Guillermo del Toro

Disney Mix

• If Disney Villains Were Cast in Chicago
• Star Wars Disney Mashups
• Disney Characters as College Students
• Disney-Last Airbender mash-ups
• Disney: I choose you!

Movies

• Thor: The Dark World—Didn't feel like as much as a sequel (which is a good thing) but more of a new chapter of what's hopefully more of our favorite Thunder Blond's adventures. "Chuck" as Fandral was a bit strange to see though.
• ReelViews: "The Vandalism of 3-D"
• Why Do We Eat Popcorn at the Movies?
• Terminator 3 deleted scene—Fun and scary at the same time.
• Titanic, as directed by Michael Bay

Music

• Culture is not about aesthetics. Punk rock is now enforced by law.
• Sinead O'Connor's open letter to Miley Cyrus. Miley responds, Sinead responds to Miley, Miley responds to Sinead, Sinead responds to Miley
• 20 isolated vocal tracks you need to hear right now
• Dolly Parton's Jolene slowed down—Great segment on her on Drunk History.
• Sesame Street sings with Jimmy Fallon and the Roots Salon

Comics

• The 75 Most Memorable Moments in DC Comics History
• Superman: 75 years of heroic history in a 2-minute animated short
• Comic Book-Strip Crossovers
• DC capitalizes on Arrow's success by making Green Arrow one of its best titles—I'm waiting for Lemire's trades to hit the stands.
• DC Apologizes for Harley Queen Talent Search Page
• A Map of Comic Book Burnings Across the U.S.
• 5 Iconic Characters You Didn't Know Were Ripoffs
• Not-So-Super Powers

Obamacare

• Sebelius: 'I apologize, I'm accountable' for Obamacare website flaws
• Another Obamacare horror story debunked
• Reich: GOP loved Obamacare until Obama proposed it
• Reminder: Republicans have no interest in fixing Obamacare
• Ignore Republican nihilism. Obamacare is already working—"The media parrots GOP talking-points about ACA bugs, but the fact is it's cutting healthcare costs and expanding coverage."

Surveillance and Privacy

• Glenn Greenwald: "Dick Cheney Engaged In Some Of The Most Radical & Criminal Conduct In The U.S.!"
• The Snowden Leaks and the Public—An article by The Guardian's editor, Alan Rusbridger.
• Boris Johnson defends Guardian over NSA revelations—"Mayor of London says it is right that 'salient and interesting facts' about espionage are brought into public domain."
• NSA infiltrates links to Yahoo, Google data centers worldwide, Snowden documents say—Naturally, they're angry. (Or are they pretending to be?) WaPo
• PRISM already gave the NSA access to tech giants. Here's why it wanted more. WaPo
• NSA May Have Spied On The Vatican During The Papal Conclave
• NSA pushed 9/11 as key 'sound bite' to justify surveillance
• Russia Reportedly Bugged the Goodie Bags at the G20 Summit
• Murdoch editors must have known of phone hacking, court hears
• Mike Rogers: You Can't Have Your Privacy Violated If You Don't Know About It

Shutdown aftermath, Politics, Economy, Corruption, Vote Machinations, Church and State, Racism; Obamacare; It's a Spy, Spy, Spy, Spy World, NSA Surveillance

Shutdown aftermath

• Obama: Shutdown Was About More Than Health Care
• In Iowa speech, Ted Cruz warns Democrats on shutdown—"Senator admits GOP failed to stop new health-care law, but will win in the long term." WaPo
• No retreat: Little reflection for House GOP after bruising shutdown
• 27 GOP Senators 'Disapprove' Of Their Own Vote To Raise Debt Ceiling
• Enough already, say respected conservatives—"Time to blow the whistle on the counter-productive right-wingers." WaPo

Politics

• Republican reform: Fringe and purge—"Ideological purity tests and apocalyptic pessimism have become entrenched features of Republican politics."
• Video: The great Tea Party purge begins
• House GOP gives up on working rest of year
• The New GOP Plan to Block Obama's Judicial Nominees
• Business, GOP Establishment: Tea Party Is Over
• California Republicans in trouble, former California Republican says
• The death of the political middle, in 1 PowerPoint slide—"In 1982, 80 percent of the House could be described as centrists. In 2012, that number was 2.5 percent." WaPo

Economy

• Warren, allies oppose Obama on budget compromise—"Party liberals oppose a deal on entitlements."
• Wisconsin Economic Development Corp cited in national report on how not to spend taxpayer dollars on economic development
• GOP Gov. Kasich Says There 'Seems To Be A War On The Poor'—Is he trying to "center" himself?

Corruption

• Ex-Okla. lawmaker guilty in bribery trial—"A former Oklahoma lawmaker accused of offering a state legislative colleague a job in exchange for her promise not to seek re-election was found guilty of felony bribery Tuesday."
• Ex-Arizona congressman faces up to 100 years at fraud sentencing
• Group Linked to Kochs Admits to Campaign Finance Violations—"The nonprofit, which has ties to the billionaire conservative businessmen Charles and David Koch, failed to disclose over $15 million in contributions it funneled into California referendum battles." NYT

Vote Machinations

• Voter Suppression is a Badder, Broader, More Bigoted Problem Than Just This Guy
• Virginia election officials purging almost 40,000 voters WaPo
• Wendy Davis Held Up While Voting Due To New Voter Suppression Law
• Jim Crow II—"A history of the fight for voting rights and the movement to restrict them once again."
• Video: 12-yr-old takes on NC Governor on voting rights

Church and State

• Virginia candidate E.W. Jackson: Yoga leads to Satan
• Bill to Put 'In God We Trust' Sign in Every Public School in Pennsylvania Gets Through Education Committee
• Oklahoma Judge Sentences Teen to Church for 10 Years—Might as well have sentenced him to hell.
• Tennessee judge cited for ordering baby's name changed from Messiah
• Christian, Not Conservative—"Why Marilynne Robinson's literary—and liberal—Calvinism appeals."

Racism

• It's (still) the racism, stupid!: political science weighs in on racial resentment and the government shutdown.
• White Alienation, Black Satisfaction and the Obama Era—"In sum, whites (especially conservative whites) are robustly overrepresented in Congress yet twice as likely as nonwhites to feel as if people like them are not well represented."
• Nevada lawmaker says he'd vote for slavery if his constituents wanted him to
• GOP Precinct Chair Delivers Most Baldly Racist Daily Show Interview of All Time
• 'Joe The Plumber' Says Democrats 'Have A History Of Lynching Black Americans'
• Grayson Ratchets Up Tea Party-KKK Flap Saying 'The Truth Hurts'
• Asian-Americans To Evangelicals: We're Not Your Punchline

Obamacare

• The seven deadly sins of HealthCare.gov—"A data center failure is the latest in Obamacare site's trail of tears."
• 7 Legitimate Questions For Kathleen Sebelius On HealthCare.gov
• "Rate shock": The GOP's shameful new Obamacare lie—"Conservatives -- with no concern for making healthcare better -- have made arguing about Obamacare a waste of time." Salon

It's a Spy, Spy, Spy, Spy World

• Obama May Ban Spying on Heads of Allied States—"President Obama was poised to order the ban in response to a deepening diplomatic crisis over reports that the National Security Agency had for years targeted the cellphone of Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany." NYT
• Obama orders curbs on NSA spying on U.N. headquarters
• NSA chief says NATO allies shared phone records with the U.S. spy agency—The claim is that they spied on the themselves. WaPo
• White House OKd spying on allies, U.S. intelligence officials say—"NSA and other U.S. intelligence agency staff members are said to be angry at President Obama for denying knowledge of the spying."
• As It Denounces U.S. Spying, Europe Delays Privacy Protection at Home—"Germany's acquiescence in a British-led effort to freeze the privacy measures highlighted what appear to be contradictions between the verbal support for privacy among European leaders and their policy decisions." NYT

NSA Surveillance

• NSA stores data to target any citizen at any time - Greenwald—Is President Obama on that list?
• Dozens in Congress now ready to end bulk data program—"Patriot Act author says gov't shouldn't have 'carte-blanche approach.'"
• Embattled NSA chief Keith Alexander rejects calls to limit agency's power—"Alexander goes before House committee and claims reports of NSA collecting millions of phone calls were 'absolutely false.'"
• Lavabit founder says he fought feds to protect the Constitution—"In a sit-down at CNET headquarters, Lavabit CEO Ladar Levison discusses the legal bureaucracy the US government employed to try to force him to become complicit with NSA surveillance."
• Dick Cheney Calls Snowden a 'Traitor,' Defends NSA—If anyone's a traitor, it's Darth Cheney.

War on Terror, Military Money, Drones, Police State, Press Freedom, NSA Spying; Obamacare, Abortion and Birth Control; "Honor" Killings, Rape

War on Terror

• How fear of al Qaeda hurts U.S. more than al Qaeda
• New DHS Nominee Spent Years Justifying War on Terror's Excesses
• Lindsey Graham: I Will Block Appointees Until Benghazi Survivors Testify
• Doctor who helped trace Osama bin Laden to face fresh trial
• Man wrongly deported from Canada to torture in Libya told he has to pay $6,800 in costs before returning
• 9/11 Suspects Can't Mention being Tortured during Trial Testimony because Their Torture is Classified
• Time to End the 'War on Terror' (For Real)—"Six months ago, President Obama said that the fearfulness and over-reaction of the 'GWOT' were doing far more harm than good. He was right then, and still is. So why hasn't he matched his -- our -- policies to his words?"

Military Money

• William Astore, War! What Is It Good For? Profit and Power
• U.S.-funded Afghan hospital project paid $500-a-gallon for gas instead of market-rate of $5 …and is still 23 months behind schedule
• After troops leave, U.S. to lose access to Afghan reconstruction projects worth billions WaPo
• Senior officer, NCIS agent are among those arrested in Navy bribery scandal—"Senior officer, NCIS agent are among those arrested in fraud case involving overseas defense contractor." WaPo
• Army chief: Just 2 brigades combat-ready—"Army Chief of Staff Gen. Ray Odierno revealed this week that just two Army brigades are combat-ready, with budget cuts hampering the military's ability to train its own troops."

Drones

• Confessions of a US drone operator: 'I watched him die. It took a long time'—"A drone operator for the US describes the horror of killing people remotely while sitting thousands of miles away from Afghanistan's battlefields."
• Secret memos reveal explicit nature of U.S., Pakistan agreement on drones—"For years, Pakistani officials have denounced the program, but CIA documents and diplomatic memos reveal how classified briefings on the U.S. program became routine." WaPo
• US defends drone strikes as 'necessary and just' in face of UN criticism—"Brazil, China and Venezuela sharply critical of 'illegal' program but US says it has taken steps to introduce new guidelines."

Police State

• Meet the Private Companies Helping Cops Spy on Protesters—"Promotional materials for private spy companies show that mass surveillance technology is being sold to police departments as a way to monitor dissent."
• Is Facebook going to let cops block you from posting about protests?
• Fury at Facebook as login requests "Government ID" from users
• Federal Prosecutors, in a Policy Shift, Cite Warrantless Wiretaps as Evidence—"The contentious issue of government wiretaps done without a warrant has now moved a step closer to being legally challenged." Or, concerningly, legally upheld. NYT
• Minnesota Supreme Court Upholds Warrantless DUI Tests

Press Freedom

• As Europe erupts over US spying, NSA chief says government must stop media—"With General Alexander calling for NSA reporting to be halted, US and UK credibility as guardians of press freedom is crushed ."
• AP CEO: Press freedom v. security a 'false choice'
• A Grim Report on Press Freedoms Under Obama
• David Cameron makes veiled threat to media over NSA and GCHQ leaks—"Prime minister alludes to courts and D notices and singles out the Guardian over coverage of Edward Snowden saga."
• Conservative Reporter Says Feds Took Her Files While Searching Her Home for Guns

NSA Spying

• NSA spying has nothing to do with terrorism, Greenwald tells Amanpour
• Senator changes tune, now is "totally opposed" to foreign leader surveillance—"'Our oversight needs to be strengthened and increased,' says Sen. Dianne Feinstein." The White House, however, says her statements were not accurate.
• White House says more intelligence constraints needed—For now Obama is keeping silent on whether he knew about Merkel's surveillance.
• The out-of-control NSA—"The agency alienates U.S. allies in its attempt to know all." WaPo
• US on Spying Scandal: 'Allies Aren't Always Friends'
• NSA oversight dismissed as 'illusory' as anger intensifies in Europe and beyond—"Condemnation by Latin American panel comes as US fields worsening outrage from Spain and Germany over surveillance." Europe is considering sanctions.
• If All These Countries Are So Outraged By Revelations Of US Spying On Them, Why Aren't They Offering Snowden Asylum?

Obamacare

• White House Extends Deadline for Obamacare Enrollment—Insurers warn of repercussions for the delay.
• Obama admin. knew millions could not keep their health insurance
• The Democrat's Version of Health Insurance Would Have Been Cheaper, Simpler, and More Popular (So Why Did We Enact the Republican Version and Why Are They So Upset?)
• Appeals court declines religious challenge to Obamacare by Michigan natural foods business—"Citing a recent case out of Grand Rapids, a federal appeals panel ruled Thursday that because a for-profit business cannot exercise religion, it cannot claim an exemption from mandated contraception coverage under the Affordable Care Act."
• Ohio Pro-Lifers Sue To Make Sure 300,000 Poors Don't Get Medicaid, Because 'Life'

Abortion and Birth Control

• Fed Judge: Texas Abortion Limits Unconstitutional
• Stealth Attack: What You Need to Know About the New Abortion Laws
• Why the Right Wing Is Targeting Birth Control Again—"Republican politicians and right-wing businesses are desperate to avoid the legal requirement of affordable contraception."
• Shackled and pregnant: Wis. case challenges 'fetal protection' law
• Wingnut Radio Preacher Kevin Swanson Begs You To Boycott Girl Scouts And Their Commie Lesbo Abortion Cookies

"Honor" Killings

• Yemeni girl, 15, 'burned to death by father'
• Killed for eloping: Girl lynched by family, boy beheaded in Haryana village
• Canadian Muslims Protest 'Honor Killing' Label as Racist—It's murder and should be prosecuted as such.

Rape

• 17 Year old school girl raped in Delhi
• 13 Year Old Girl Buried Alive After Rape in Pakistan
• Kenya petition over 'grass cutting for gang-rape' tops 1 million

Astroturfers, Tech Business, Amazon.com, e-Media, Wikipedia; Cord Cutters, Verizon, Telcos, Broadband; Obamacare; NSA Spying, Surveillance and Privacy

Astroturfers

• Fox News Allegedly Pushed Back Criticism With Phony Commenters
• Samsung fined $340,000 for faking online comments
• Astroturfers shut down after flooding Yelp and Google with fake reviews—"Companies paid freelancers $1 to $10 for each fake review, AG says."
• 20% of all Yelp reviews are written by paid shills
• Lawyers faking online reviews : How pervasive is it?

Tech Business

• Adobe's Software Subscription Model Means You Can't Own Your Software—"If you want certain software, you're going to have to pay up—month after month after month."
• Google's iron grip on Android: Controlling open source by any means necessary
• Get Ready to Pay 99 Cents to Watch YouTube
• People Still REALLY Don't Want Ads on Instagram
• Why I am unapologetic about paywalls or promotion

Amazon.com

• Illinois high court rejects 'Amazon' sales tax
• Amazon increases free shipping minimum to $35
• Little 'Libraires' That Could: French Law Would Keep Amazon At Bay
• Amazon's Jeff Bezos Is Like King Midas in Reverse
• How Amazon and Goodreads could lose their best readers—"When Amazon bought Goodreads it got a community of passionate readers, not all of whom want to follow the new rules." Salon

e-Media

• The Abomination of Ebooks: They Price People Out of Reading—"The real problem with ebooks is that they’re more 'e' than book, so an entirely different set of rules govern what someone can and can't do with them compared to physical books, especially when it comes to pricing. The collusion in pricing has been a public issue for a while, but we need to talk more about how they are priced differently to consumers and to libraries. That’s how ebooks contribute to the ever-growing divide between the haves and have-nots."
• Ebook Best-Seller Prices Jump to Highest Level in Months
• The 'Other' E-Book Pricing Problem—"Consumers are the ultimate victims here, also, but those most directly affected are public libraries."
• Self-publishing: Don’t price your ebook at $1.99
• Why tablet magazines are a failure
• Mark Waid: Reinventing Comics And Graphic Novels For Digital"
• Are Operations Like Flipboard Scams Against Publishers?—Josh posts a follow-up.

Wikipedia

• The Decline of Wikipedia—"The community that built the largest encyclopedia in history is shrinking, even as more people and Internet services depend on it than ever. Can it be revived, or is this the end of the Web's idealistic era?"
• Wikipedia China Becomes Front Line for Views on Language and Culture—"Even innocuous topics have become controversial for Wikipedia editors from China, Taiwan and Hong Kong, and compounding the issue are language differences." NYT
• Wikipedia editors, locked in battle with PR firm, delete 250 accounts—"Investigation follows reports that Wiki-PR scored Viacom, Priceline as clients."
• Wikipedia Will Start Texting Info To Users In Kenya Who Lack Internet
• Scots Wikipædia—The first encyclopædia in the Scots leid

Cord Cutters

• Comcast CEO: Aereo Illegal, A La Carte Never Happening
• Aereo gets big win in Boston: judge refuses to shut down streaming TV service
• Canadian gov't to push cable providers to unbundle channels
• Cable TV Is Dying, and Colleges Are Killing It
• A cord cutter's dream come true: Comcast offers HBO without cable service
• Netflix Poised to Pass HBO in Paid U.S. Subscribers
• Comcast's latest subscriber shakedown—"There are times when you just have to tip your cap to Comcast for coming up with creative ways of swindling its subscribers. The company's latest masterpiece has been the rollout of its channel encryption program, which now forces customers who have even the most basic television services to get all of their channels through a digital adapter box. "

Verizon

• What if Verizon succeeds in killing the Internet?—"Poor Verizon, its free speech is being violated by laws and competition. Won't someone think of the children?"
• Verizon's Outrageous Plot to Crack Up the Internet—"The company wants to charge web sites tolls for access."
• Verizon CEO says unlimited data plans simply aren't feasible
• Verizon Working Hard to Gut Massachusetts Consumer Protections
• Decades Of Failed Promises From Verizon: It Promises Fiber To Get Tax Breaks... Then Never Delivers

Telcos

• Crush the Carriers!—"For real mobile phone innovation, someone needs to smash AT&T and Verizon."
• T-Mobile: The most important wireless carrier in America
• Verizon and AT&T's data caps have made LTE a waste of money

Broadband

• Top cable lobbyist urges more ISPs to slap users with data caps
• Comcast seen increasing speeds solely as a way to further gouge customers
• Why New Fiber Networks Are Required To Shatter Monopolies Of Comcast & Other ISPs
• Cheapest 150Mbps broadband in big US cities costs 100% more than overseas—"US cellular customers are also paying more and getting less."
• Google's fibre optic boss unravels demand 'myth'—Other telcos outright lying saying users don't want faster speeds.

Obamacare

• How Kentucky Built The Country's Best Obamacare Website
• Claims That Obamacare Website Violates Health Privacy Reveals Embarrassing Fact-GOP Does Not Understand HIPAA Or Obamacare
• SNL skewers Obamacare Web site, suggests low-res version
• But What if Obamacare Works?—"Once the Web site is fixed, the real costs will start showing up." NYT
• Vermont is designing nation's first universal health-care system

NSA Spying

• Obama 'not told of Merkel phone bugging'—Thought he "approved" it 3 years ago? Or is the NSA keeping him in the dark?
• German interior minister: Confidence in U.S. is 'shaken'
• NSA 'monitored 60 million Spanish calls in a month'—Naturally, they're angry.
• Rogers says French should be 'popping champagne' over NSA—"If French citizens knew exactly what the U.S. phone intercepts were about in France, they would be 'applauding and popping champagne corks' because it keeps them safe, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee said Sunday." Politico
• Document Reveals NSA Monitored 125 Billion Phone Calls in One Month
• NSA Chief Keith Alexander Takes His PRISM Pitch to YouTube: "It's Like Taking a Bath"
• Feinstein plans bill to codify NSA's phone spying

Surveillance and Privacy

• Here's What Law Enforcement Can Recover From A Seized iPhone
• A black box in your car? Some see a source of tax revenue—"The devices would track every mile you drive —possibly including your location — and the government would use the data to draw up a tax bill."
• Ten Steps You Can Take Right Now Against Internet Surveillance

Big Energy, Fracking, Pollution; Climate Change; Oceans, Ecology; NSA Spying, Tech Tracking

Big Energy

• Koch Brothers Could Make $100 Billion if Keystone XL Pipeline Approved
• British Gas rakes in £20m profit from overestimated bills, says whistleblower
• Oil Spill in North Dakota Raises Detection Concerns—"A Tesoro Logistics pipeline that ruptured in North Dakota spilled more than 865,000 gallons of oil, one of the largest inland oil pipeline accidents in the United States." Not only that, North Dakota recorded 300 oil spills in two years without notifying the public. NYT
• Oil Companies Are Sued for Waste of Natural Gas—"Owners of mineral rights filed 10 suits to obtain royalties lost when the natural gas produced in oil drilling in North Dakota is burned." Also preventing natural gas from flooding the market and reducing prices. NYT
• Former Judge Testifies to Taking Bribes to Write Rulings Ordering Chevron to Pay Villagers $19 Billion
• Canada: New environmental review rules anger oilsands critics—"Many oilsands projects will not have their potential environmental impacts reviewed by the federal government under updated rules announced today, environmentalists warn."
• Koch Brother Wages 12-Year Fight Over Wind Farm—"The billionaire industrialist William I. Koch has donated about $5 million fighting Cape Wind, a vast wind farm proposed for Nantucket Sound." Clean energy? Hah. NYT

Fracking

• 'Gasland' director: Obama is AWOL on fracking Politico
• Wyo. high court to hear fracking disclosure suit—Can companies hide the shit they're shooting underground?
• Terminology used by fracking advocates purposely misleading
• Scotland to block fracking on environmental grounds
• Mi'kmaq Warrior risks losing leg after being shot by RCMP rubber slug in Thursday's cop attack.

Pollution

• Air pollution a leading cause of cancer - U.N. agency
• Taking out the rivers' trash, one piece at a time
• Material Remains: The Perpetual Challenge of Garbage

Climate Change

• Why We Don't Care About Saving Our Grandchildren From Climate Change—"A new study shows that human beings are too selfish to endure present pain to avert future climate change. That's why we need win-win solutions now."
• Gambling with Civilization by Paul Krugman—"The future is uncertain, a reality acknowledged in the title of William Nordhaus's new book, The Climate Casino: Risk, Uncertainty, and Economics for a Warming World. Yet decisions must be made taking the future—and sometimes the very long-term future—into account."
• Fox News defends global warming false balance by denying the 97% consensus
• Gore Says U.S. Likely to Beat 'Inadequate' Carbon Target
• Iowa scientists: Climate change affecting farming
• Climate change is 'absolutely' linked to wildfires, says UN chief
• Climate Change Aids Toxic Slime's Advance
• IPCC's New Estimates for Increased Sea-Level Rise

Oceans

• The ocean is broken—"A Newcastle sailor's trip across the Pacific Ocean after the Japan tsunami was frighteningly similar to a nightmare."
• Lionfish infestation in Atlantic Ocean a growing epidemic
• In China, victory for wildlife conservation as citizens persuaded to give up shark fin soup WaPo
• 13 Vietnamese arrested in Philippines over sea turtles
• Dolphin Slaughter Fueled by Illegal Shark Trade

Ecology

• Over 100 rhinos poached in South Africa in past month
• Texas hunters pledge to save endangered black rhinos by killing one
• Poachers kill 300 Zimbabwe elephants with cyanide
• Another jumbo poisoner jailed for 15 years
• Bob Barker pays nearly $1 million to rescue 3 elephants

NSA Spying

• Anti-NSA rally attracts thousands to march in Washington
• NSA surveillance: Merkel's phone may have been monitored 'for over 10 years'—"As German officials prepare to travel to the US, Der Spiegel cites a previously secret NSA document."
• NSA asked Japan to tap regionwide fiber-optic cables in 2011
• Sweden signs up to UN plan to curb US spying
• U.S. tapping Stephen Harper's phone? Unlikely, says intelligence expert

Tech Tracking

• ACLU: Lavabit 'fatally undermined' by US request for encryption keys—"Rights group files briefing in defence of founder Ladar Levison and says government's demands 'unreasonably burdensome.'"
• 7 alternative search sites that respect your privacy
• Aaron's agrees to stop spying on computer renters
• Mozilla's Lightbeam tool will expose who is looking over your shoulder on the web
• Researchers Flag Security Flaws In New LinkedIn Offering—"LinkedIn's new 'Intro' tool could be a security nightmare waiting to happen, researchers warn."

Workers, Wage Slaves, Income Inequality, The IT Crowd, Politics; Obamacare; Corporatocracy; Wall Street, JPMorgan, Accountability; NSA Spying, Surveillance and Privacy; October 26 Driving for Women

Workers

• Many middle-class Americans plan to work until they die
• Most Americans accumulating debt faster than they’re saving for retirement—"For three of every five workers, mortgages, credit card balances and loans outpace their savings." WaPo
• Pensions Ask Retirees to Pay Back Tens of Thousands
• Gallup: In U.S., Fewer Believe "Plenty of Opportunity" to Get Ahead
• Walmart employee fired after trying to help assault victim in store parking lot—Bad PR prompted them to offer him his job back, but good on him for saying that he won't go back. He's not going to be their poster boy to abuse.

Wages Slaves

• 75th anniversary of minimum wage: We're back to 1950
• Increasing the minimum wage a no-brainer
• Fast-Food Chains Costing Taxpayers the Most Money—"According to one group, often the industry workers' pay is not enough and many turn to government programs for assistance." Earning profits by devaluing employees.
• McDonald's helps workers get food stamps—"A McDonald's helpline admits that workers will be able to qualify for public assistance."
• Bill de Blasio to Burger King: 'This Is an Unsupportable Situation'—"The mayoral hopeful is one of the most high-profile politicians to come out in support of the growing movement for low-wage workers' rights."
• McDonald's Won't Be Lovin' This NYC Sidewalk Art Piece by Banksy
• Sued Over Pay, Condé Nast Ends Internship Program—"The publisher took the action after two former interns sued, complaining they had been paid below minimum wage for summer jobs at W Magazine and The New Yorker." NYT

Income Inequality

• Billionaires' Row and Welfare Lines—"The widely divergent fortunes of the rich and poor in this country are an unsustainable imbalance." NYT
• Income inequality isn't 'a problem' says NYC mayoral candidate
• CEO-to-worker pay gap is obscene; want to know how obscene?—"Corporate America is fighting a proposed SEC rule requiring companies to calculate the ratio of their CEO's pay to the median pay of all their employees."
• Swiss support rises for reduced executive pay—"Supporters of a drive to rein in executive pay in Switzerland stepped up their campaign on Thursday after polls put them neck and neck with opponents a month before a referendum."
• You earn how much?! Breaking the workplace taboo—"A small – but increasing - number of companies are implementing a pay program that breaks the most entrenched of workplace taboos: revealing your salary.

The IT Crowd

• Judge Certifies Class in Silicon Valley 'No-Poach' Case—"In one of Silicon Valley's most closely watched cases, a federal judge on Thursday certified a class of more than 60,000 skilled workers who accuse Adobe Systems Inc., Apple Inc., Google Inc. and Intel Corp. of illegally suppressing their pay through a conspiracy not to compete for each other's employees." Law.com
• Behind the 'Bad Indian Coder'—"An ongoing debate about the quality of outsourced code prompts a look at the country's precarious economic and educational picture."
• How "Dilbert" Practically Wrote Itself—Twenty years of pointy-heard bosses.

Politics

• The Republicans' War on the Poor—"The GOP is pushing to decimate food-stamp programs, punishing the most vulnerable just out of sheer spite." And helping out their corporate backers.
• The Republicans' Food Stamp Fraud: It's Not About Austerity—"As conference committee talks begin, the GOP isn't trying to cut $40 billion from SNAP just to save money. It wants to punish the poorest among us."
• Gov. LePage lets slip what he really thinks about Maine people—"About 47% of able-bodied people in the state of Maine don't work."
• Wis. judge: Officials in contempt for union curbs—"A Madison judge on Monday found Wisconsin labor relations officials in contempt for enforcing parts of Gov. Scott Walker's contentious bargaining restrictions despite a ruling that they're unconstitutional, clearing the way for hundreds of school district and municipal worker unions to negotiate with their employers again."
• Landowner uses congressional ties to sway Forest Service—"When a Texas millionaire built his 8,000-square-foot log home here, he placed it on or near a road that hikers, bikers and skiers had used for decades to access Forest Service land and the Spanish Peaks Wilderness." What a tool.

Obamacare

• The GOP's Obamacare chutzpah—"Republicans are furious that their plan to undermine Obamacare worked." WaPo
• Health law fails to keep prices low in rural areas—Whither the public option? NYT
• Republican clown show on Obamacare has already started
• Krugman: Raising The Medicare Age, Revisited—"It doesn't even save money." NYT
• Debugging the Healthcare.gov Hearings—"Thursday's testimony was a spectacle of tech illiteracy and buck-passing."
• Sebelius suggests Republicans to blame for ObamaCare website woes
• Admin: HealthCare.gov Will Be Fixed By End Of November

Corporatocracy

• Actor Russell Brand reduces BBC newsman to stunned silence with diatribe against corporate oligarchy
• Large companies find ways to a zero tax rate—"Despite widespread groans about the recent disclosure that Apple is finding ways to cut its federal tax bill, an analysis shows the computer giant is one of scores of corporations largely dodging the taxman."
• Marty Sullivan figured out how the world's biggest companies avoided billions in taxes. Here's how he wants to stop them. WaPo

Wall Street

• On the New Wall Street, Boring Is Better
• N.Y. Fed Moves to Seal Documents in Ex-Bank Examiner's Suit
• Big Banks Can Be Dismantled, Say U.S. and U.K. Regulators
• How to lose $172,222 a second for 45 minutes
• The Scholars Who Shill for Wall Street—"Academics get paid by financial firms to testify against Dodd-Frank regulations. What's wrong with this picture?"

JPMorgan

• JPMorgan pays $100M, admits fault in London trades
• JPMorgan in $4 billion deal with U.S. housing agency
• JPMorgan to pay $5.1B in mortgage settlement—"The deal is expected to be the opening step in a $13 billion overall mortgage-related settlement with federal prosecutors and government agencies."
• JPMorgan settlement could cost bank closer to $9 billion—"JPMorgan Chase & Co's preliminary $13 billion mortgage settlement with the U.S. government could end up costing the bank closer to $9 billion after taxes, because the majority of the deal is expected to be tax deductible, two sources familiar with the matter said." Emphasis mine.
• Record JPMorgan Settlement Wouldn't Deter Some Investors
• What Fine? Why JPMorgan Is Laughing All the Way to the Bank
• JPMorgan: Wall Street's Not Saying It's Guilty. It's Not Even Sorry—"For the big banks, cutting penalty deals without admitting wrongdoing is just a cost of doing business."
• Nobody Should Shed a Tear for JP Morgan Chase

Accountability

• 9 More Banks Are Getting Probed By The DoJ On Matters That Led To JP Morgan Paying $13 Billion
• Sen. Warren asks whether federal agencies are enforcing as well as TARP watchdog
• Former BofA employee accused of taking bribes to rig short sales
• Bank of America loses fraud trial over U.S. mortgages
• Executive At Center Of Bank Of America Mortgage Fraud Case Now Working For JPMorgan Chase
• Banks and tax evasion: The fall-out from Falciani—"A 41-year-old native of Monaco increasingly looks to be to banking what Edward Snowden is to American surveillance."
• This Is What Happens When A Spanish Judge Sends A Senior Banker To Jail
• Strangers donate $14K to woman facing petty theft case over $3 in courthouse fountain coins—The authorities went after someone who took $3 and many of those who have stolen millions are still uncharged.

NSA Spying, Surveillance and Privacy

• Obama promises changes after latest NSA snooping disclosure—"Under fire about disclosures of broad National Security Agency snooping on global leaders, President Barack Obama is offering a two-pronged response: You do it, too, and we'll make some changes."
• Alan Grayson: Congressional oversight of the NSA is a joke. I should know, I'm in Congress—"I've learned far more about government spying on citizens from the media than I have from official intelligence briefings."
• Head of NSA blasts reporters for 'selling' leaked documents—"Reporters should be prevented from 'selling' National Security Agency documents, Gen. Keith Alexander says in a videotaped interview with Department of Defense blog Armed With Science." Desperation tactics.
• Leaked memos reveal GCHQ efforts to keep mass surveillance secret—"Edward Snowden papers show UK spy agency fears legal challenge if scale of surveillance is made public."
• Germany wants a German Internet as spying scandal rankles
• US spied on Spanish leaders: Reports
• Snowden files: Report suggests Israel behind attempt to hack into French communication network
• The End of Hypocrisy: American Foreign Policy in the Age of Leaks—"Manning's and Snowden's leaks mark the beginning of a new era in which the U.S. government can no longer count on keeping its secret behavior secret."

October 26 Driving for Women

• Saudi Arabia's women hold day of action to change driving laws—"Government warily observes public reaction as media joins calls for ban on female drivers to be rescinded."
• Saudi Arabia Warns Online Backers of Women Drivers—Their website got hacked, but the fight goes on.
• Saudi Arabia women defy authorities over female driving ban—Some of them went through with it [WSJ].

Good Cops, K9; Road Rage; Fake Rape; War on Drugs, Politics, Legalization and Decriminalization, Medicinal Marijuana, Hemp; NSA Spying

Good Cops

• Florida Cop Buys $100 in Groceries for Woman Caught Shoplifting Food
• Policemen Immediately Go Shopping to Help Crying Girl on First Day of School
• Years later, cop reunites with suicidal man he saved on Golden Gate Bridge
• Police rescue woman from flying to Africa to meet online scammer
• 'We see you, loser': Exuberant Ohio police chief's Facebook page earns 51,000 fans
• NYPD officer's kind act goes viral
• Blast from the Past: Ice Cream!! You Scream!! We All Scream for Ice Cream!!

K9

• Baltimore police officer got a call about a 'vicious' pit bull and this is what happened next
• Police officer adopts abused puppy
• Cops, Firefighters Make Up Rescue Group Saving Dogs From The Streets

Road Rage

• Detroit man killed after hollering at driver to slow down
• Reginald (Reggie) Chance flips bird before arraignment in biker-SUV attack
• Arrested DHS Agent Accused In Another Road Rage Incident

Fake Rape

• Judith Grossman: A Mother, a Feminist, Aghast—"Unsubstantiated accusations against my son by a former girlfriend landed him before a nightmarish college tribunal." WSJ
• Charges dropped against Temple football player accused of rape
• Meg Lanker, Feminist Who Threatened to 'Hate-F*ck' Herself, Cops a Plea Bargain
• Fake teen jailed for false rape claim—"A conman who fooled social services into thinking he was a vulnerable 17-year-old boy before stealing from his foster carers and 'destroying' the life of a charity boss with a false allegation of rape, has been jailed for four and a half years."
• Ohio University student in hiding after website identifies her as 'false rape accuser': school—Unfortunately in this case, the guy running the website is not 100% certain of the girl's identity, and "even if it the woman filmed in the video isn't Cassidy, [Peter] Nolan said he'd have no regrets." Fuck this guy.

War on Drugs

• The War on Drugs Is Over. Drugs Won.
• 'It is time to end the war on drugs', says top UK police chief
• Richard Branson speaks out against 'war on drugs'
• War on illegal drugs failing, medical researchers warn
• The Wasteful War On Drugs Is Doomed By Economics 101
• After 20 Years in Prison, Missouri Man Serving Life Without Parole for Marijuana Asks Governor for Clemency
• NYPD cops confused Jolly Rancher candies for crystal meth: suit
• Mexico drug lord shot dead by clown assassins—"Gunmen in disguise kill lieutenant of once-powerful Tijuana cartel during family children's party."

Politics

• Supreme Court Rejects Marijuana Rescheduling Appeal
• Denver floats new rules that could make even the odor of pot a crime
• Washington state pot use regulations to be approved

Legalization and Decriminalization

• Gallup: For First Time, Americans Favor Legalizing Marijuana—"Support surged 10 percentage points in past year, to 58%."
• Esquire/NBC Poll: Majority of American Center Supports Marijuana Legalization
• Switzerland Decriminalizes Marijuana, Won't Prosecute For Small Amounts Of Weed
• Uruguay to legalize, harvest and sell Marijuana at one dollar per gram
• Mexico City Moves to Legalize Pot

Medicinal Marijuana

• $1.3B medical marijuana free market coming to Canada
• Utah lawmaker will help moms import cannabis extract
• Ohio Mother Moving to Colorado to Treat Daughter's Epilepsy With Cannabidiol Oil
• Post-traumatic stress disorder sufferers qualify for medical marijuana—"The new law, which went into effect... is expected to bring many new patients into Maine's medical marijuana program."
• With only 1 medical marijuana dispensary in NJ, Grandma resorts to buying street pot

Hemp

• Hemp Hemp Hooray: Hoodlab Screens Hemp Documentary Bringing It Home
• Governor Brown Signs California Industrial Hemp Farming Act Legalizing Hemp Farming Under State Law
• Oregon farmer sees potential for industrial hemp in Oregon
• Legal or not, Colorado farmers bringing in nation's first hemp harvest since the 1950s WaPo
• Video of the Day: TV report treats hemp and marijuana like they're the same thing—"Throughout, the piece uses the terms 'hemp' and 'marijuana' interchangeably and makes lots of completely inaccurate stoner jokes."

NSA Spying

• Stop Watching Us: The Video
• Snowden rebuts Feinstein's statement that NSA spying "is not surveillance"—"No telephone in America makes a call without leaving a record with the NSA." Feinstein is full of shit.
• Germany: We Think The NSA May Have Tapped Chancellor Angela Merkel's Cell Phone For Years—Naturally, they're angry.
• NSA monitored calls of 35 world leaders after US official handed over contacts—Sen. Sanders calls this 'outrageous.'
• Growing list of countries protest U.S. spying
• The NSA, Narcissism & Nationalism—"If the Germans were tapping our president's phone, Rush Limbaugh would be musing about fire-bombing Dresden. But since we're doing the spying, the right doesn't care. That indifference only weakens the U.S., says Peter Beinart."
• Activist Tweets Former NSA Chief's 'Off Record' Phone Call On Train
• Ron Wyden: The Lonely Hero of the Battle Against the Surveillance State—"The Oregon senator isn't as famous as Edward Snowden or Julian Assange, but his push for limits on the NSA could result in much-needed reforms."

Class War; Politics and Media; Shutdown aftermath, GOP, Split Ends, Tea Party; Public-Private Partnerships, Corruption; Vote Machinations, Woman Suffrage Suffering; Race and Racism; Obamacare, Healthcare.gov

Class War

• Bleak House—"The concerted effort backed by some of the richest men in this country to deprive poor Americans of the chance to get health insurance may be without precedent for sheer malice."
• Chris Hedges: Let's Get This Class War Started—"If we had paid attention to history we might understand the imperative of battling the rich."
• Cut food subsidies for wealthy CEOs, not needy families—"The House is keen on cutting food stamps, but it turns a blind eye to corporate tax deductions."
• How the Billionaires' Shadow Government Works
• Examining the state of the middle class and the "American dream"

Politics and Media

• Bernie Sanders: The Playboy Interview—"Independent senator Bernie Sanders from Vermont talks economics, avoiding foreign wars, politics."
• Why lies about Obama resist the truth WaPo
• Dick Durbin Stands By House GOP Quote—"Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) is sticking with his story that a House GOP leader told President Obama 'I cannot even stand to look at you.'"
• White House National Security Staffer Fired For Insulting, Anonymous Tweets
• These Village enablers have a lot of nerve ...
• Republicans, It's Time to Face Facts: The Right-Wing Media is Lying to You
• AP fires Bob Lewis, shocks Virginia—Last week, Bob Lewis was suspended for his McAuliffe flub. Politico
• Matt Damon reads from Howard Zinn's speech "The Problem is Civil Obedience"

Shutdown aftermath

• The shutdown-showdown postmortem: What changed in Washington and what didn't WaPo
• The Shutdown Was Not a Failed Strategy. It Wasn't a Strategy at All
• Lew: Lessons From a Crisis—"We should never again take this country to the point of near-default in order to exact political gain." NYT
• Steve Buscemi: 'I hope people remember the shutdown in the next elections'
• Pew Poll: 19 Percent Trust Government

GOP

• Poll: Major damage to GOP after shutdown, and broad dissatisfaction with government
• CNN Poll: 75% say most Republicans in Congress don't deserve re-election
• Most Americans say GOP House majority is a bad thing WaPo
• Poll: 63% of Americans want Boehner out as speaker
• Former Sen. Trent Lott: Republicans should pivot towards a positive agenda
• The GOP's narcissism problem—"Most Republicans think GOP congressional members are more interested in themselves than they are in serving the country." WaPo
• Business as Usual: The Republicans Are Still Winning—"House Republicans have suffered a huge tactical defeat of their own devising. But in a larger sense the Republicans are winning, and have been for the past three years, if not the past thirty. On economic-policy matters they are setting the terms."
• Reich: The Triumph of the Right
• Republicans Don't Really Care About Reducing America's Debt
• The GOP Hates Its Best Strategist

Split Ends

• Fiscal Crisis Sounds the Charge in G.O.P.'s 'Civil War'—"The confrontation between Tea Party conservatives and establishment Republicans will play out in the coming Congressional and presidential primaries in 2014 and 2016." NYT
• Republicans blame each other after shutdown fiasco
• Repubs need to say Tea Party is over
• Texas Judge Quits GOP Over Social Issues, Shutdown
• Big business faces uphill battle against tea party interests
• Selling Republican Shares Urged by Trucking Group
• Republican All About Building Roads Incurs Tea Party Ire

Tea Party

• History tricked the Tea Party—"If only they knew where their ideas came from." Salon
• Tea Party Spoiling for a Bigger Fight—"Though the political consensus is that Ted Cruz and Tea Party members in the House harmed their brand grievously, the budget battle may have only whetted the appetite of activists for more confrontation." NYT
• Ted Cruz faults his party for agreeing to 'lousy' deal to reopen the government—With no hint of irony, he claims, "I don't want a shutdown, I repeatedly voted to open the government."
• Cruz Is Unapologetic as Republicans Criticize Shutdown
• Jeb Bush to Ted Cruz: 'Have a little bit of self-restraint'
• House tea partiers snub GOP in 2014 Politico
• Sen. Mike Lee Takes Heat At Home Over Shutdown—"The campaign to defund the Affordable Care Act may have endeared him to the tea party, but Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) is facing an increasingly disgruntled constituency at home for his leading role in the quixotic effort that led to the government shutdown and brought the United States close to default."
• Mississippi Tea Party Senate Challenger Attended Neo-Confederate Gatherings
• Congressman Alan Grayson Suggests a Burning Cross for Tea Party Logo—How apropos.
• Stop blaming the tea party. It's the moderate Republicans' fault. WaPo

Public-Private Partnerships

• Washington's open secret: Profitable PACs—"Most Americans believe it's illegal for politicians to profit from their public office but, as Steve Kroft reports, that's not the case."
• At the PSC, a confederacy of yes men — and women—"The first thing we do is pass a truth-in-government law that changes the name of the Florida Public Service Commission to the Florida Utility Suckup Club."
• On tape, Gov. LePage justifies cutting taxes for millionaires with wildly inaccurate claim
• Wisconsin passes a $100 million tax cut in just four days WaPo
• Privatization Benefits the 1%, While Public Services Benefit Everyone

Corruption

• IRS paid more than $110B in improper tax credits
• New York is Drowning in Bribes and Corruption
• Ted Cruz Failed To Disclose Ties To Caribbean Holding Company

Vote Machinations

• Judge in Landmark Case Disavows Support for Voter ID—Judge Richard A. Posner said the repercussions were unclear in 2007 when he ruled in favor of an Indiana law that the Supreme Court would also uphold." NYT
• Another foolhardy GOP bid to suppress voter turnout—"Republican officials in two states are yet again trying to subvert democracy." WaPo
• TN Supreme Court upholds voter ID law, says it's not an undue burden
• Virginia Judge Rejects Request To Reinstate Purged Voter Rolls
• NC Gov.: State Atty General Should Keep Opinion On Voter ID Quiet
• Gore Says Money Influence in Politics Hacked Democracy
• Politicians' Extortion Racket—"A legal shakedown to extract campaign contributions." NYT

Woman Suffrage Suffering

• How The Texas GOP Is Waging A Hidden War On Women Voters
• Voter ID Law May Cause Problems for Women Using Maiden Names
• When the war on voting meets the war on women

Race and Racism

• Race is central to the fear and angst of the US right—"The shrinking white base of the Republican party cannot accept the country in which it now lives – so it shut it down."
• KKK - the invisible empire is alive and well in Virginia
• Barneys busted student for 'shopping while black'

Obamacare

• I was an ObamaCare guinea pig—"We've suffered through four years of outlandish attacks against ObamaCare -- that it will kill our grandmothers, or at least just kill our economy. But the fact is that ObamaCare has created a private marketplace so that millions of American families like mine can get affordable, quality health insurance while keeping more of our hard-earned money. Ideologues may not like ObamaCare, but my wallet and my family's health sure do."
• How the Kochs Are Actually Attacking Obamacare: In the States
• Howard Dean: 'You Gotta Blame' The GOP For Some Of Obamacare's Glitches—"[T]hey delayed everything they possibly could, threw as many monkey wrenches into the process as they could...."
• Ted Cruz's Wife Confirms He's Covered Under Her Blue-Chip Health Plan
• Idaho Governor Faces Primary for Not Nullifying Obamacare
• Opinion: Why Not Medicaid For All?—"Getting down to bedrock in the great health care debate." NYT
• Poll: ObamaCare approval ticking up

Heathcare.gov

• Obamacare website woes: another sign of out-of-control private contractors—"The Obama team outsourced Healthcare.gov to big corporations that rang up large bills without delivering what they promised."
• White House Planning To Line Up Obamacare Enrollment Deadlines
• How the Healthcare.gov Failure Will Morph Into Obamacaregate
• Sorry, but Obamacare is not President Obama's 'Iraq war'—"The media was quick to declare the Iraq war a success when it wasn't. Now reporters can't wait to label Obamacare a disaster."
• Democratic Congressman To Obama: 'Man Up' And Fire Someone For Obamacare Rollout
• Healthcare.gov is a disaster. Obamacare is just fine.
• Why Obamacare Will Work (on Its Own Terms)
• Medicare Had Messy Rollout, Too