Breaking Bad, Comics, Entertainment, Music; Games; Free to Play, Pay to Win; Tilt; NSA Spying, Surveillance and Privacy, Your Rights Online

Breaking Bad

• The Last Stand of Walter White—"A cancer-ridden science teacher transforms himself into a sinister meth lord. That's the story of 'Breaking Bad.' But it's also the story of how Bryan Cranston became TV's greatest leading man. As the show enters its final stretch, GQ's Brett Martin discovers why Walter White will always live on."
• 'Mythbusters' tests 'Breaking Bad'
• Walter White goes undercover as himself at Comic-Con
• Breaking Bad Jr – Afterwards They Will Explode
• With 2 Hit Series Ending, a Transformed AMC Is at a Crossroads NYT

Comics

• Interview: David Steward II on Founding Lion Forge and Getting into the Entertainment Business
• 'Batman' takes boy battling respiratory illness on Batcave tour
• Watch JOKER RISING - Full-Length Fan Film
• If Woody Allen Made Wolverine
• Hawkeye: Afternoon Stroll—Amazing fan-art.

Entertainment

• Five hundred new fairytales discovered in Germany—"Collection of fairytales gathered by historian Franz Xaver von Schönwerth had been locked away in an archive in Regensburg for over 150 years."
• JK Rowling law firm pays damages over pseudonym leak—The settlement goes to The Soldier's Charity, as well as the book royalties.
• Netflix, Studios Have Very Different Explanations for Widescreen Cropping
• Massive 'Simpsons' supercut features every movie reference in first 10 seasons
• Nate Silver ESPN: The eight sports problems that the FiveThirtyEight maestro should solve
• Portraits By Erika Saracino
• 33 Skeletor Affirmations To Get You Through Even The Worst Day

Music

• The Rock 'n' Roll Casualty Who Became a War Hero—Jason Everman is not your every man (Salon). NYT
• Jimmy Fallon, Robin Thicke & The Roots Sing "Blurred Lines" (w/ Classroom Instruments)
• Daft Punk Punks Stephen Colbert

Games

• Microsoft gives a damn 'bout your bad reputation on Xbox One—"Not living in the past—it's a new generation of Xbox Live community management."
• New Oculus Rift cover shooter is so realistic, players warned not to lean on virtual objects
• 10-year-old saves family in errant car, credits Mario Kart
• Greek Mythology Chess Set
• Blast from the Past: The Ages of Minecraft

Free to Play, Pay to Win

• Apple refunds $6,131 iTunes bill for 8-year-old's unauthorized in-app purchases
• In-app purchasing and $3,000 iTunes bill stun mom
• Why Free-to-Play is a fad —Or, is it here to stay?

Tilt

• Lawsuit Awards $11 Million to Original Madden Programmer—EA accused recycling code and features.
• Zynga loses $15.8M in Q2, nearly half its daily users year-over-year
• Kickstarter tabletop game collapses after bringing in $123K
• Video game suit can proceed—"A federal lawsuit filed against the video-game vendor GameStop Corp. alleges three South Jersey stores sold used games that sometimes cost more than buying new."
• Xbox Live Policies Are Blocking Cross-Platform MMOs like "Final Fantasy XIV" and "Dust 514"

NSA Spying

• Obama touts NSA surveillance reforms to quell growing unease over programs—"President to work with Congress to reform NSA's Fisa court and Patriot Act but made clear that mass surveillance would continue."
• Obama Promises Reform of NSA Spying, But the Devil Will Be in the Details
• Obama Administration Releases Previously Secret Legal Opinion on NSA's Associational Tracking Program
• Obama's Reassurances about Domestic Surveillance are not Reassuring
• Making You 'Comfortable' with Spying Is Obama's Big NSA Fix
• Obama's former adviser ridicules statement that NSA doesn’t spy on Americans
• WikiLeaks founder: Obama surveillance changes vindicate Edward Snowden—Warning: Has un-pausable, un-muteable auto-playing video advertisement. Turn off your speaker before clicking.

Surveillance and Privacy

• Lawmakers say obstacles limited oversight of NSA’s telephone surveillance program
• Jennifer Hoelzer's Insider's View Of The Administration's Response To NSA Surveillance Leaks
• Don’t worry, NSA says—we only "touch" 1.6% of daily global Internet traffic
• Researchers say Tor-targeted malware phoned home to NSA—"JavaScript attack had a hard-coded IP address that traced back to NSA address block."
• A Call to Boycott U.S. Tech Platforms Over the NSA's PRISM Surveillance
• Lavabit's closure marks the death of secure cloud computing in the US—"Once Edward Snowden's use of the email service was public, it was perhaps a given that Lavabit would be targeted by the US."
• Mega to fill secure email gap left by Lavabit—"Kim Dotcom's privacy company Mega prepares 'cutting edge' email encryption service."

Your Rights Online

• Spy access to NZ used as bargaining tool—"The ability for US intelligence agencies to access internet data was used as a bargaining tool by a Telecom-owned company trying to keep down the cost of the undersea cable from New Zealand."
• Facebook used in worker dismissal—"A flight attendant was forced to let her bosses examine her Facebook pages and bank accounts in a stoush over what she was up to on sick leave."
• New tool monitors e-mail language to catch workplace thieves
• No, this isn't a scene from Minority Report. This trash can is stalking you
• Pirate Bay Releases 'Pirate Browser' to Thwart Censorship

Workers and Wage Slaves, McJobs, Occupational Hazards; Accountability, Commodities and Price Fixing, Energy and Price Fixing, Mortgages and Foreclosures; Tax Dodgers; Money, Money, Money; Surveillance and Privacy

Workers and Wage Slaves

• Wal-Mart's Loss In Fight For Lower Wages In DC Concerns Congress—Gotta get some ROI on those lobbying dollars.
• More retailers urge veto of D.C. 'living wage' bill—"Top government affairs executives from Home Depot, Target, AutoZone, Lowe's, Walgreens and Macy's..." band together.
• David Brooks Wonders Why Men Can't Find Jobs: Comedy Ensues—"'Times' columnist thinks the unemployed are just lazy, or something."
• Colbert: If poor people want food stamps, they should become massive corporations
• Unpaid Interns: Silent No More NYT
• The Expendables: How the Temps Who Power Corporate Giants Are Getting Crushed
• Just How Low Can Your Salary Go? 117 ALEC Bills in 2013 Fuel Race to the Bottom in Wages and Worker Rights

McJobs

• McDonalds' suggested budget for employees shows just how impossible it is to get by on minimum wage
• The real budgets of McDonald's workers
• McJobs Are the Future: Why You Should Care What Fast Food Workers Earn
• McDonalds CEO Claims Company Has 'Always Been An Above-Minimum Wage Employer'
• Stephen Colbert on protests against McDonald's and minimum wage

Occuptional Hazards

• McDonald's Employees Walk Out In Protest Of No Air Conditioning After Crew Member Collapses
• Fast Cash: How Taking Out a Payday Loan Could Land You in Jail—"Payday loan companies have a new debt-collection tool: Texas courts and prosecutors."
• 80 Percent of Low-Wage Workers Lack Even One Paid Sick Day a Year
• Stop Glorifying Hard Work and Long Hours
• Study: Ugly people bullied at work—"Those perceived as unattractive reported experiencing cruel treatment from colleagues, according to new research." Salon

Accountability

• Senate ends blockade against consumer chief pick—"The Senate has voted to end a two-year Republican blockade that was preventing Richard Cordray from winning confirmation as director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau." Which was supposed to have been Sen. Warren's job.
• Elizabeth Warren's Takedown Of CNBC Removed From YouTube
• CNBC: kid gloves for bankers, boxing gloves for bank critics
• JPMorgan Executive May Escape Penalty—Shocker. NYT
• 'Blagger's manual' leaked: UK authorities concealed private investigators' tactics?
• Shocking Things Wall Street Financiers Say Off the Record About Their Bloated, Corrupt Industry—"A new survey shows how brazenly immoral Wall Street is."
• Archbishop of Canterbury Welby warns of bankers 'lynch mob'—"The Archbishop of Canterbury has described the naming and shaming of bankers in the wake of the financial crisis as 'lynch mobbish.'"

Commodities Price Fixing

• A Shuffle of Aluminum, but to Banks, Pure Gold—"Regulators have allowed banks to buy companies that trade in commodities, resulting in huge profits for the banks and higher prices for consumers." NYT
• Fed rethinking move allowing banks to trade physical commodities
• Harold Meyerson: Big banks' dangerous commodity monopolies
• JPMorgan to quit physical commodity trade amid scrutiny
• John Oliver lambastes Goldman Sachs for screwing America without fear of jail

Energy Price Fixing

• Regulators Fine Barclays $453 Million Over U.S. Energy Price Rigging
• Chase, Once Considered "The Good Bank," Is About to Pay Another Massive Settlement—"...for manipulating energy prices in Enron-esque fashion in Michigan and California."
• Here's Why JP Morgan Is Being Accused of Enron-Style Shenanigans

Mortgages and Foreclosures

• Vinton County Woman Wants Possessions Back After Bank Tried To Repossess Wrong House
• Banks shiver as UBS swallows $885 million U.S. fine—"UBS will pay $885 million in a settlement with a U.S. regulator over allegations the Swiss bank misrepresented mortgage-backed bonds during the housing bubble, paving the way for billions more to be paid by other banks."
• Federal Prosecutors May Charge Wall Street Bankers Who Sold Bad Loans Under An Obscure 1984 Law

Tax Dodgers

• Swiss Bank Leaker: 'Money Is Easy to Hide'—It was the most spectacular bank data leak of recent years: In 2008, former HSBC employee Hervé Falciani disappeared with the information of some 130,000 customers. He tells SPIEGEL he wants to help Europe hunt down its tax dodgers and expose a broken system."
• Treasury delays offshore tax-dodge law by 6 months—"The U.S. Treasury Department said on Friday it will postpone enforcement of a new law that cracks down on offshore tax avoidance by Americans by six months to give foreign banks more time to figure out how to comply."
• US blocks crackdown on tax avoidance by net firms like Google and Amazon—"France fails to win backing for tough new international rules targeting online companies in run-up to G20 summit."
• G-20 Backs Plan to Curb Tax Avoidance by Large Corporations—"The plan aims at corporations only and, if widely adopted, would shift some of the global tax burden away from small businesses and individuals." NYT
• Almost 30,000 UK, Austrian tax dodgers disclose Swiss accounts

Money, Money, Money

• Bank of America's Recipe for Getting Away with Massive Fraud, Racketeering and Money Laundering—How much of that contributed to their profit of 63%?
• Guy Walks Into Citigroup Branch, Loses $40,000
• PayPal accidentally credits man $92 quadrillion
• What one billion dollars looks like
• Meet the new $100 bill, the world's most popular bank note
• B.C. police find counterfeit versions of new polymer $100 bills
• Monopoly Is Getting Rid of Jail to Appease Your Busy Kids

Surveillance and Privacy

• Sen. Ron Wyden On NSA Spying: It's As Bad As Snowden Says
• Senators Udall & Wyden: The White House should end the bulk collection of Americans' phone records
• Hey San Francisco, Your Rep. Pelosi Saved The NSA Phone Metadata Program
• Lawmakers Who Upheld NSA Phone Spying Received Double the Defense Industry Cash
• 'Imaginary threats' justify New Zealand spy bill – Dotcom

World Health Day; Saved; Brain; Bill of Health; Obamacare; HIV; Fat Tuesday

World Health Day

• The New Bird Flu, and How to Read the News About It
• Cancer patients in Canada got weak doses of chemo drugs
• Health Canada recalls birth control pill Alysena, after finding out some packages were sold with 2 weeks of placebos instead of 1
• Pregnant Woman Gives Birth In Radisson Edwardian Hotel Bathroom After London Hospital Turned Her Away
• Chinese parents can sue adult kids — for not visiting enough—"With China’s elderly population soaring, the government is trying to limit the cost of caring for overlooked seniors."
• As OSHA Emphasizes Safety, Long-Term Health Risks Fester—"The Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the agency that many Americans love to hate and industry calls overzealous, has largely ignored the slow, silent killers that claim the most lives." NYT
• The Man who Could Bring you back from the Dead

Saved

• Don Ritchie, Angel of The Gap - who helped save 500 people from suicide - dies at 85
• 'Man with the golden arm' James Harrison saves 2 million babies in half a century of donating rare type of blood
• As she nears death, Chinese hail woman who saved 30 babies from trash
• Argentine mom rescues hundreds of sex slaves during long, failed hunt for kidnapped daughter
• Taxis light up remote airstrip in Peru for medivac flight

Brain

• Obama Announces $100M Research Fund To Map The Human Brain
• Brain-Training Games Don't Actually Make You Smarter
• The volatile chemistry in the business brain—"Far from being rational individuals making independent choices, the effects of testosterone, dopamine and other chemicals predispose us to mob behaviour."
• Harvard lets human minds control rats, private rodent armies remain distant
• Scientists Zap Rats' Brains to Cure Cocaine Addiction

Bill of Health

• You Don't "Own" Your Own Genes—"Researchers raise alarm about koss of individual 'genomic liberty' due to gene patents that may impact the era of personalized medicine."
• India's Supreme Court rejects Novartis' right to patent new version of cancer drug—Ensuring affordable pills.
• Why an MRI costs $1,080 in America and $280 in France
• 21 graphs that show America’s health-care prices are ludicrous
• Why we need to fix our health care
• America's fastest growing job pays poorly—"Meet home health care aides."
• Cancer clinics are turning away thousands of Medicare patients. Blame the sequester.

Obamacare

• What Is Obamacare? Just basics that everyone should know, though many don't
• How Insurers May Successfully Dodge Obamacare's Consumer Protections For Another Year
• The South: A near-solid block against 'Obamacare'

HIV

• Swiss Police Storm Home of Fugitive in HIV Trial—"Swiss police have arrested a self-styled acupuncturist who holed up in his home after refusing to attend a trial at which he is accused of intentionally infecting 16 people with HIV."
• Dentist's office a 'perfect storm' for HIV, hepatitis exposure, health official says
• Taiwan: Man indicted for spreading HIV out of revenge and hate

Fat Tuesday

• Marital Satisfaction Predicts Weight Gain in Early Marriage
• Airline to charge overweight passengers more
• Should fat fliers pay more?—"The debate over how to accommodate obese fliers on planes has long led some travelers to ask: why not just charge heavier passengers more?" Weight shouldn't just be the deciding factor but more of girth.

Economy; Wall Street; Poverty; Jobs, H-1B, Occupational Hazards, Disability, Sick Leave, Labor

Economy

• State-Wrecked: The Corruption of Capitalism in America—"Eight decades of bipartisan Keynesian spending and Federal Reserve money-printing have left us exhausted and bankrupt." NYT
• Krugman: Cheating Our Children—"By neglecting public investment and failing to provide jobs." NYT
• Sequester axe falls in Washington — but not on lawmaker salaries
• Obama to return 5% of salary because of sequester—"The president follows the lead of Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, giving up some salary because of forced federal furloughs."
• The case for expanding Social Security, not cutting it

Wall Street

• Democrats Are Undermining Wall Street Reform, Too—"Eight House Dems are pushing a slate of bills that would roll back key financial-reform laws."
• It's still a lovefest between Wall Street and regulators—"Here's how we regulate banks and funds: they pay a small fine and 'neither admit nor deny' wrongdoing. And nothing changes."
• Wall Street power player: We're incentivized to cheat—"Jim Chanos, an early detector of Enron's fraudulent practices, explains our dysfunctional banking system." Salon
• Justice Department Official Who Didn't Prosecute Banks Returns To Law Firm That Defends Them
• The Growing Sentiment on the Hill For Ending 'Too Big To Fail'

Poverty

• Where Are the Country's Least Happy and Healthy Americans? New Studies Reveal America's "Sadness Belt"
• Help shrinks as poverty spikes in the US—"US poverty spikes but help from Washington shrinks as government struggles with debt."
• Want to Help People? Just Give Them Money
• Fox's Charles Payne Criticizes Anti-Poverty Programs: "It Gets A Little Comfortable To Be In Poverty
• Obama administration pushes banks to make home loans to people with weaker credit

Jobs

• Ask The Headhunter: The Talent Shortage Myth and Why HR Should Get Out of the Hiring Business
• McDonald's want ad demands bachelor's degree, two years experience for cashier
• Retailers Track Employee Thefts in Vast Databases—"Databases that are used by major retailers to prevent workers accused of stealing from getting another job are increasingly under scrutiny from labor lawyers and federal regulators." NYT

H-1B

• Lawmakers hear from CEO opponents of H-1Bs—"Domestic IT services providers believe U.S. visa policies put them at a competitive disadvantage."
• Outsourced, at home—"Hyped as source of tech talent, H-1B visas usher in cheap replacements for US workers."
• High-Skilled Visa Requests Likely To Exceed Supply

Occupational Hazards

• When workers die: "And nobody called 911"—"A man is scalded by nearly boiling water and citric acid. His fate points to a dark reality for temp workers." Salon
• Undocumented workers' grim reality: speak out on abuse and risk deportation—"Migrants in the low-wage depths of the US economy say they're being targeted for simply standing up for employees' rights."
• Business balks at immigration deal—"A deal between the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and labor groups on visas for low-skilled workers was supposed to clear a path for an immigration reform package in the Senate. Instead, some business groups are grumbling about the deal and they're gearing up for a lobbying battle on Capitol Hill — where powerful interests helped doom immigration reform over the same issue before."

Disability

• Unfit for Work: The startling rise of disability in America—"In the past three decades, the number of Americans who are on disability has skyrocketed. The rise has come even as medical advances have allowed many more people to remain on the job, and new laws have banned workplace discrimination against the disabled. Every month, 14 million people now get a disability check from the government."
• The Right Is Furious at How Much Disability the Right Is Claiming
• The simple, boring reason why disability insurance has exploded

Sick Leave

• 'We Have a Deal': Paid Sick Days Will Be Law in NYC
• Lack of paid sick leave is unhealthy for America
• Efforts to Deliver "Kill Shot" to Paid Sick Leave Tied to ALEC

Labor

• When America Came 'This Close' to Establishing a 30-Hour Workweek
• GOP Pitches 'Family-Friendly' Policy That Would Weaken Overtime Pay
• Respect and implement employees' rights for better productivity

Minimum Wage, Occupational Hazards, Work-Life Balance, On the Job; Inequality, Baby Boomers; Public-Private Partnerships; JPMorgan, Goldman, Banks

Minimum Wage

• Why we need to raise the minimum wage—"A higher wage will lift hardworking Americans out of poverty and break their link with government assistance."
• Costco back in the forefront of minimum wage debate—"Costco Wholesale Corp. President and CEO Craig Jelinek is putting his name and company in the forefront of the latest drive to increase the federal minimum wage."
• Starbucks CEO Comes Out In Favor Of A Minimum Wage Increase
• Conservative lobby group behind push to lower minimum wage, report says—"Politicians backed by conservative group Alec have introduced 67 laws in 25 states aimed at reducing minimum wage levels."
• House Republicans Unanimously Vote Down Minimum Wage Hike—"Six Democrats joined...."
• Walmart Fighting Bill That Would Grant Living Wage to Employees in D.C.
• Police: Oregon panhandlers raking in the green—"A police survey says panhandlers outside Wal-Mart in Coos Bay can make $300 a day. Inside, it takes a clerk a week to make that much."

Occupational Hazards

• Discredited: How Employment Credit Checks Keep Qualified Workers Out Of A Job
• With Positions to Fill, Employers Wait for Perfection NYT
• 6 Ways Companies Are Secretly Screwing Job Applicants
• Lies Your Employer Tells You
• Meet the Heartless Jerk Leading a Project to Eliminate Sick Leave
• Sick leave shark wrestler Paul Marshallsea sacked—"If I hadn't gone in to save the kids on that beach that day my wife and I would still have a job."
• On the Flip Side: Volkswagen shares NZ$1.1b in profits with workers

Work-Life Balance

• Is There Life After Work?—"Reflections on balancing (or failing to balance) a job with the rest of life." NYT
• Relax! You'll Be More Productive—"To be at your peak, don't work so much." NYT
• Don't slog away at the end of the day
• Key to Happiness: Keeping Busy Without Feeling Rushed
• De-stress your life, says HuffPost founder
• US trails most of world in providing paid family leave NYT
• Portland, Oregon Becomes Fourth American City To Adopt Paid Sick Day Law

On the Job

• Jobs confidential: 15 people reveal the truth about their work—"Ever wondered what it's really like to be a vicar or a dominatrix? Or what a brain surgeon or a bikini waxer think about their job? Here, 15 people with very different careers reveal – anonymously – the trade secrets of their working day."
• The Seven Habits Of Highly Effective Mediocre People
• If You're Busy, You're Doing Something Wrong: The Surprisingly Relaxed Lives of Elite Achievers

Inequality

• Robert Reich explains why you won't get rich Salon
• Why Social Mobility In The United States Is A Total Myth
• Major corporations are pocketing your taxes—"Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist David Cay Johnston explains how the economy is rigged to benefit the one percent." Salon
• Incomes of bottom 90 percent grew $59 in 40 years—"During the same period, average income for the top 10 percent of Americans rose by $116,071." Salon
• Why the precariat requires a basic income

Baby Boomers

• The unaffordable baby boomer dream—"Race and gender barriers might have eased, but economic strictures have tightened, denying the dreams of new generation."
• Workers over 50 are the new 'unemployables'
• Are baby boomers stealing the country's future?—"Legendary investor Stan Druckenmiller says the US is heading for a 'storm' as millions of boomers threaten to suck the system dry."

Public-Private Partnerships

• 'Monsanto Protection Act' slips silently through US Congress—Doing the bidding of their corporate masters.
• How the Maker of TurboTax Fought Free, Simple Tax Filing
• Is JPMorgan a farmer?—"How the nation's biggest banks use the little-covered House Agriculture Committee to gut regulations." Salon

JPMorgan

• JPMorgan: Poster Child for the Most Dangerous Financial System Since 1929
• JPMorgan’s Follies, for All to See—"The nation supposedly has new safeguards against another financial crisis. But a Senate report on JPMorgan Chase's $6.2 billion trading loss offers cause for worry." NYT
• "I Can't Keep This Going": How JPMorgan Chase Changed Its Own Risk Rules and Lost $6 Billion

Goldman

• Goldman mortgage appeal rejected by Supreme Court—"The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce supported Goldman, saying they feared 'vexatious, abusive litigation and coercive multimillion or billion dollar settlements to the detriment of the nation's economy.'"
• After Watering Down Financial Reform, Ex-Senator Scott Brown Joins Goldman Sachs' Lobbying Firm
• Goldman Rejects Proposal That Firm Run for Elected Office—"...using a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that corporations have similar political rights to individuals."

Banks

• Eric Holder Makes it Official: Crime Is The Economic Model
• It's time to tax financial transactions
• Senate votes to end advantages for 'Too Big To Fail' banks
• Bill Moyers: Are the Monster Banks on the Verge of Unleashing Fresh Economic Disaster?
• As Profit Slips, Credit Suisse Increases C.E.O. Pay by 34%
• Freddie Mac Drags 15 Banks To Court Over Losses From LIBOR Manipulation
• Wall Street Bankers Dispense Advice for Living Like the Normals

International Women's Day, Gender Issues, Religion, Violence Against Women Act, Politics, Abortion and Birth Control, Texas, Rape, Law and Disorder, Beauty and Body

International Women's Day

• Malala, teen champion of girls' rights, nominated for Nobel Peace Prize—The Taliban tried to silence her voice.
• One Billion Rising: 'It's like a feminist tsunami'
• Afghanistan's first female mayor proves critics wrong
• Profile: South Korean President-elect Park Geun-hye—The country elects its first woman president.
• Syria's women: Fighting a war on two fronts
• Russian women get flowers, not power
• Women in Paris finally allowed to wear trousers—"A 200-year-old law forbidding women to wear trousers in Paris has finally been revoked."
• Women in the Netherlands work less, have lesser titles and a big gender pay gap, and they love it.
• March 3: 100 Years Of Women's Rights
• Blast from the Past: A timeline of women's right to vote

Gender Issues

• Questioning Alpha Leadership—"A recent debate has asked whether mothers with high-level positions should be working crazy jobs. Maybe a better question is whether anyone should be working like that." NYT
• Gender Wage Gap Widened In 2012, As Women Workers Were Held Back By Recovery
• Why Gender Equality Stalled NYT

Religion

• Jimmy Carter: Losing my religion for equality
• Christian Pastor: Women Should Have No Say in How Our Country is Run
• Christian school fires pregnant woman over premarital sex—"Also insulting, James said, was that after firing her, the school offered a job to her then-fiancé – they are now married – even though it was known that he, too, engaged in premarital sex. He did not accept the job, she said."
• Gaza marathon cancelled after Hamas bans women runners
• Women in the shadows in Vatican 'old boys club' conclave

Violence Against Women Act

• Obama signs Violence Against Women Act
• How House Republicans Caved On The Violence Against Women Act—Senate Democrats stood firm against Republican shenanigans.
• Violence Against Women Act Now Touted By Republicans Who Voted Against Bill—"When Congress passed the Violence Against Women Act reauthorization bill late last month, more than 130 House Republicans voted against it. But some of those same lawmakers are putting out misleading statements that make it look like they voted for the bill instead."

Politics

• N.H. Lawmaker Says Some People Might 'Like Being In Abusive Relationships'
• Rep. Rayne Brown, North Carolina State Republican, Introduces Bill Criminalizing Nipple Exposure
• Iowa GOP Lawmakers Try To Curtail Divorce, Worry It Makes Young Women More 'Promiscuous'

Abortion and Birth Control

• Teen Pregnancy Is Most Common In Rural America, Where There May Be More Barriers To Birth Control
• Surrogate offered $10,000 to abort baby
• Federal Judge Strikes Down Idaho's 20-Week Abortion Ban
• Arkansas lawmaker: 'We are not eliminating choice at all' with 12-week abortion ban—"...by overriding Democratic Gov. Mike Beebe's veto of a 12-week abortion ban."
• Morning-After Pills Don't Cause Abortion, Studies Say
• GOP: No to VAWA, no to Sandy, yes to half a billion on abstinence education
• Planned Parenthood ads target GOP on birth control
• Native American Women Demand Rightful Access to Emergency Contraception
• German Catholics allow morning-after pill in rape cases
• Vaginas Come to Campus—"The demonstration titled 'Re-Envisioning the Female Body' is a reaction to the images of aborted fetuses brought to UC by the Genocide Awareness Project."

Texas

• Restoring Family-Planning Cuts Without Ruffling Feathers—"Republican senators in Texas have proposed adding $100 million to a state-run primary care program specifically for women's health services, an effort that could help avoid a political fight." NYT
• Texas GOP: Planned Parenthood Is Convincing Teens To Get Pregnant So It Can Perform Their Abortions
• Texas parents agree not to pressure teen to have abortion

Rape

• President of the 'Conscience Of the Republican Party' Says Pregnancy by Rape is Rare—Here we go again.
• Fox News host doesn’t believe rape happens on college campuses Salon
• Company removes 'rape' shirt listed on Amazon
• Raped Egypt Women Wish Death Over Life as Crimes Ignored
• Every 2 hours, a woman in Delhi is molested or raped
• Kerala church bans Suryanelli rape victim
• Bosnian woman helped make rape a war crime

Law and Disorder

• Compulsive liar jailed after 11 false rape claims in decade—"A compulsive liar made almost a dozen false claims that she was raped in nearly a decade after making her first complaint at the age of 13, a court has heard."
• London woman left disfigured by shocking random acid attack by mystery woman in niqab as she walked home from work at Victoria's Secret
• Michigan woman who snapped kittens' necks after fight with young owner jailed
• Chinese Woman Left Humiliated After Fake Baby Bump Tube Seat Con Is Exposed
• France pursues Saudi princess over €6m bill

Beauty and Body

• My year without makeup Salon
• Model Cameron Russell: I get what I don't deserve
• CES 2013: Booth babe debate returns

Jobs, Wage Slaves, Retirement, Public Sector; Inequality, Rich, Philantrophy

Jobs

• Union-busting bullies—"Conservative lawmakers in Topeka are bullying labor unions. Sadly, they are acting like hired thugs for large corporate interests that finance their campaigns."
• Labor unions file federal suit challenging Michigan's right-to-work legislation
• Gov. Pat Quinn to seek minimum-wage hike to $10 an hour—“The governor feels very strongly that nobody should work 40 hours a week and live in poverty."
• Cities Must Strategize To Boost Service Workers' Pay
• Nike accused of using military to intimidate workers—"Workers at a Nike shoe factory in Indonesia say the company paid military personnel to intimidate them into working for less than the minimum wage."

Wage Slaves

• Working, but still poor—"Why is it that millions of Americans who have jobs can't make ends meet?"
• The Rise of the Permanent Temp Economy—"To avoid union opposition, the postwar temp industry exploited cultural ambivalence about middle-class white women's work. Then it became a model for corporate America." NYT
• The Age of the Permanent Intern—"Many of the ambitious young people who flock to Washington toil for years as low-paid interns—and count themselves lucky to do so. Is this what success looks like in 2013?"
• I'm sick of working for free—"I do volunteer design work and they treat me like a dog. I'm through giving it away!" Salon
• The Most Important Chart in American Politics

Retirement

• 401(k) breaches undermining retirement security for millions
• Wealthy CEOs Want To Force Americans To Retire Later
• Insurers under fire over annuities—"Insurers were... accused of being slow to pass on the full benefit of recent rises in the assets which underpin annuities, leaving pension customers short-changed."

Public Sector

• Paul Krugman Destroys GOP's Talking Points On Government Jobs—Why does failed-CEO-then-failed-senatorial candidate Carly Fiornia still get to tell people what to do?
• U.S. keeps building new highways while letting old ones crumble
• Postal Service will end Saturday mail delivery

Inequality

• Before Greed: Americans Didn't Always Yearn for Riches
• Social mobility in America: Repairing the rungs on the ladder—"How to prevent a virtuous meritocracy entrenching itself at the top."
• Oxfam seeks 'new deal' on inequality from world leaders
• In China, a Vast Chasm Between the Rich and the Rest NYT
• First World problems read by Third World people

Rich

• Noam Chomsky: The Paranoia of the Superrich and Superpowerful
• Republicans Still Hellbent on Cutting Taxes on the Rich—"[G]overnors in Louisiana, Nebraska, and North Carolina have proposed eliminating their state's personal and corporate income taxes and raising the sales tax to offset the lost revenue..."
• Wisconsin considers steep sales tax hike to eliminate income tax
• Ohio Governor's Tax Plan Would Cut Taxes For Wealthy, Raise Them On The Poor
• 87% of Americans Say Tax the Wealthy More to Protect Social Security Benefits
• The Swiss turn on the super-rich
• D.C. turns down Donald Trump's request for tax break
  

Philantrophy

• Philanthropist Wants to Be Rid of His Last $1.5 Billion—Chuck Feeny is the "James Bond of Philantrophy." NYT
• S. African Billionaire to Give Away Half His Money
• RSA Animate: First as Tragedy, Then as Farce—"In this short RSA Animate, renowned philosopher Slavoj Zizek investigates the surprising ethical implications of charitable giving."

Kelly Thomas, North Carolina, Obama, Marriage Equality, Politics, Cases

Kelly Thomas

• Newly-Released Surveillance Video Shows Police Officers Brutally Beating, Suffocating, and Tasing Kelly Thomas to Death
• Medics, not cops, to blame for death, defense says
• Fullerton Police Officers Bail Out Manny Ramos, Cop Accused of Murdering Kelly Thomas

North Carolina

• Amendment One, North Carolina Gay Marriage Ban, Passes Vote
• Why North Carolina’s Anti-Gay Marriage Amendment Could Be Just as Bad for Straight Couples
• Anti-Gay Marriage Bill Created 'To Protect Caucasian Race' Says Senator's Wife

Obama

• Ron Reagan: Obama 'Taking More Time Evolving' On Gay Marriage Than Humans Did Evolving From Apes
• Obama gay-marriage stance comes under scrutiny from gay-rights advocates
• BREAKING: Obama Embraces Marriage Equality

Marriage Equality

• Joe Biden Endorses Marriage Equality
• Civil unions bill clears Colorado Senate despite theocratic opposition
• Three Ads Mitt Romney Helped Fund To Stop Gay Marriage

Politics

• Gay rights in the US, state by state
• Stop pandering, Romney: The religious right may be anti-gay, but GOP voters aren't
• Gay Bush Ambassador Slams Romney Campaign For Indifference To Anti-Gay Attacks On Grenell
• N.C. Preacher Tells Parents to Crack Wrists, Punch Effeminate Children
• Rape Away The Gay? Radio Personality Tells Father To Get A Man To Rape His Daughter Until She Turns Straight
• We Are Now Beginning Our Descent: Delta Sides With Anti-Gay Donohue, Withdraws Ads From The Daily Show
• Irrelevant Homophobes Newly Enraged Over JC Penney Ad Showing Lesbian Couple Being Happy

Cases

• Indiana mom sends son to school with stun gun to confront bullies--"An Indiana mother who sent her gay son to school with a stun gun after administrators apparently didn't do enough to stop the bullying against him said she would do it again -- even though the teen now faces expulsion."
• Employers Liable For Anti-Gay Harassment, Connecticut Supreme Court Rules
• Two Kentucky teens plead guilty to hate crime after targeting gay man

Marriage Equality, Religion, Educamation, Politics and Media, International, Teh Gay

Marriage Equality

• Gay Marriage: Nothing to be Afraid of Anymore
• Group sought wedge between blacks, gays to fight same-sex marriage
• The Catholic Hierarchy's Quest To Erase Same-Sex Marriages From The Universe
• Rick Santorum says he'll try to unmarry all same-sex married couples if he's elected
• How the New Hampshire GOP voted to keep gay marriage--It's a good thing or else left-handed people would've been left hanging. Salon
• Gay Marriage Effort Attracts a Novel Group of Donors NY
• Romney: Fag Hag?

Religion

• D.C. archdiocese: Denying Communion to lesbian at funeral was against 'policy'--It was his perogative not to give communion, but it was inexcusable that he "did not come to the grave and made no arrangements for another priest to be there."
• Suicide Leads to Calls for Improved Treatment of LGBT Mormons
• Dutch Catholic church abuse: at least one youth castrated for 'homosexuality'
• Robertson: Satan Behind Homosexuality, Abortion Rights
• Protesters gay the pray away

Educamation

• How Anoka-Hennepin Failed Its Bullied LGBT Students--"In most of the cases, the district placed burdens on the bullied student rather than take steps to interrupt the harassment"
• Minnesota school district drops anti-LGBT policy that spawned national controversy
• Judge Slaps School for Blocking Gay Websites--"A federal judge ordered a central Missouri school district to stop using Internet filtering software that blocks access to gay, lesbian and transgender issue-related websites."
• Principal Who Condemned Gay And Pregnant Students Resigns--She told them they were going to hell.
• Iowa school assembly devolves into surprise anti-gay and anti-choice bash fest
• Alabama's First Gay Legislator Teams Up With Republican To Repeal State's Anti-Gay Sex-Ed Law
• Yanked Student Body President Gives His High School a Lesson--"The student body president claims in court that Alpharetta High School stripped him of his office because he asked the Student Council to change the title of "Prom King and Queen" to "Prom Court," "so that a same-sex couple could be elected," if students voted for them."

Politics and Media

• Sen. Mike Lee: Employers Have Right To Fire People Because They're Gay Or Transgender
• Why CNN Suspended Liberal Roland Martin For Offensive Comments But Not Conservative Dana Loesch
• Gay Marine's Kiss Was 'Four Years Of Pent-Up Emotion And Secret Love'
• Is homophobia disappearing? Salon
• Paul Babeu's Mexican Ex-Lover Says Sheriff's Attorney Threatened Him With Deportation--Well, there's a little silver lining.
• Anti-gay Conservative Radio Host Accused Of Hit-And-Run After Visiting Gay Bar
• Wang's, Chicago Gay Bar, Investigated Over Reports That It Bans Women During Busiest Hours

International

• WATCH: The Speech You’ve Been Waiting For--Hillary Rodham Clinton's address before the United Nations in Geneva
• Malawi to review homosexuality ban after US aid threat
• African Union: Ban Ki-moon urges respect for gay rights
• Boycott St. Petersburg
• What It's Like To Be Gay in Tajikistan .
• Nobel peace prize winner defends law criminalising homosexuality in Liberia
• Proving you're gay to the Turkish army

Teh Gay

• 5 Myths About Gay People Debunked by Science
• Blizzard's swear filter banned 'homosexual' and 'transsexual' but let through 'faggot'
• Marvel Invites You To The Wedding Of Northstar And Kyle
• My Grindr love affair Salon
• Ooooh Canada--Just lovely.

Trayvon Martin; Obamacare, Health Scare, UK, Work and Stress, Abortion and Birth Control, War on Women

Trayvon Martin

• Gun Owners Of America Head Defends Shooter: Trayvon Was 'Assailant'
• Police: Zimmerman says Trayvon decked him with one blow then began hammering his head
• What Everyone Needs To Know About The Smear Campaign Against Trayvon Martin (1995-2012)

Obamacare

• Obamacare is Now Officially Obamacare
• Good News! Obamacare Will Cost Less than Projected
• Mary Brown, 'Obamacare' foe -- and broke
• Legal experts predict a Supreme Court win for 'Obamacare'
• A Technicality That Might Save Obamacare: The Anti-Injunction Act
• What Happens to the Uninsured If Health-Care Reform Is Dismantled?
• The truth about healthcare reform--"The Affordable Care Act has already changed the lives of millions of Americans for the better. The problem is, most people don't understand the reforms."

Health Scare

• Discussion by Florida lawmakers on insurance premiums illustrates government at its worst--"Our comment:It's bad policy for lawmakers to pay the same insurance premiums as rank-and-file state employees? Incredible."
• GOP Slams Dems For Medicare Cuts Republicans Support
• Woman demanding care at St. Mary's hospital is arrested for trespassing, dies in jail
• PTSD diagnoses at Lewis-McChord reexamined--"The Army initiated an investigation following an Army ombudsman's memo indicating that hospital officials were encouraging psychiatrists to limit diagnoses of PTSD in order to reduce costs."
• Chronic fatigue syndrome researchers face death threats from militants

UK

• Health chief warns: age of safe medicine is ending
• David Cameron gloats as hated Health Bill passed to allow private firms to cash in on NHS
• Osborne 'raiding' NHS budget to fund income tax cuts--"Chancellor George Osborne has been accused of 'raiding' the NHS budget to help fund the cut in the top rate of income tax."

Work and Stress

• Stress Makes You Sick: Exploring the Immune System Connection
• Deaths spotlight Taiwan's 'overwork' culture
• Why We Have to Go Back to a 40-Hour Work Week to Keep Our Sanity--"One hundred fifty years of research proves that shorter work hours actually raise productivity and profits -- and overtime destroys them. So why do we still do this?"

Abortion and Birth Control

• Springfield schools approve condom policy
• Governor Herbert Vetoes Sex Education Bil
• Tennessee Abortion Bill Would Make Abortion Providers' Names Public
• Alaska Rep Says Women Should Have To Get Man's Permission To Obtain an Abortion
• The pope’s controversial visit--"Benedict XVI bypasses Mexico City to go to an ultra-conservative town where women are imprisoned for abortions." Salon

War on Women

• Sandra Fluke: Slurs won't silence women
• Women troll 'Rick Perry for President' page over State Rape bill, hilarity ensues
• Wisconsin Lawmaker to Spousal Abuse Victims: If You Are Being Beaten, Just Remember the Things You Love About Your Husband

Presidents' Day, Jobs, Fired, Work-Life, Retirement, Customer Disservice

Presidents' Day

• FDR as a Michael Bay 'Transformers' Hero Offers You a 'New Deal You Can't Refuse'--Check out the rest of the series.
• "Washington, Washington, 6-foot-8, weighs a fucking ton"
  
• Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter
• William Taft
• The Apotheosis--Whu... buh... what?

Jobs

• Unemployment is world's fastest-rising fear, BBC finds
• Millions of young people worldwide are unemployed - are we creating a lost generation?
• Manufacturing illusions--"The fundamental problem isn't the decline of US manufacturing, and reviving manufacturing won't solve it. The problem is the declining power of workers to share in the gains of the economy."
• How the 1% Destroys Jobs and the Real Heroes are Everyday People--"Mitt Romney & Co. want us to think that making the rich richer will create jobs. That's not true. And it's not the American way."
• Why Companies Can't Find the Employees They Need

Fired

• Firing contest by boss leads employees to quit
• Chicago Woman Fired for Doing Work at Lunch Wins Unemployment Claim
• YouTube video goes Venti after singing Starbucks employee fired in Chowchilla
• Long Island Bus Driver Fired After Rescuing 3 Police Detectives During Hail Storm 
• Three Types of People to Fire Immediately

Work-Life

• The 23 Best Countries for Work-Life Balance (We Are Number 23)
• Swiss want six holiday weeks: survey
• Answering work emails after hours is overtime: Brazil
• Volkswagen turns off work email after work hours for staff--"Volkswagen has agreed to stop its Blackberry servers sending emails to some of its employees when they are off-shift."
• Germany battles burnout--"Germany, holding up better than its eurozone partners in the current debt crisis, is battling the increasingly widespread phenomenon of 'burnout' which it says is costing its economy billions of euros each year."
• Cut the working week to a maximum of 20 hours, urge top economists
  

Retirement

• Can Retirement Kill You? Are people more likely to die after they stop working?
• Seniors decide retirement doesn't suit them, keep working
• Most Employees Unprepared For Retirement
• Most Retirement Advice is Worse than Useless
• How to solve the boomer retirement crisis Salon

Customer Disservice

• Car service Uber passes economics test, fails marketing
• Ocean Marketing makes fatal gaming PR mistake
• Rude Employee Behavior Quietly Sabotages the Bottom Line
• Customer Relations Fiascos
• Clients from Hell--The customers aren't always right, no matter what you're told.

Facebook: CaseBook, BlockedBook, SchoolBook, TeenBook, WorkBook

Casebook

• Facebook user poked - by the courts
• Facebook Linked To One In Five Divorces in the United States
• Bulawayo man arrested over Facebook message
• Driver sued for updating Facebook during fatal crash
• Facebook to delete prison inmates' active accounts
• Australian deported from Bahrain over Facebook posts
• Politico sues Facebook because he lost election

Blockedbook

• Facebook Rejects Lesbian Film Ad
• Facebook shuts down page of lead gay active-duty military group, refuses to restore it
• Christian Progressives Censored by Facebook

Schoolbook

• Students suspended, expelled over Facebook posts
• California Teen Avoids Suspension for Facebook Status, Thanks to ACLU
• Another School Suspends a Student for Criticizing a Teacher on Facebook

TeenBook

• 'Karma' Facebook post leads to criminal charges .
• Teen arrested after allegedly ranking girls on Facebook
• Wisconsin Teen Gets 15 Years for Facebook Sex-Extortion Scam
• Teenager Gets Ass Whoopin for Acting Hard On Facebook
• Facebook douche of the day

Workbook

• It's Getting Harder for Your Employer to Use Facebook Against You.
• Md. corrections department suspends Facebook policy for prospective hires
• Depressed woman loses benefits over Facebook photos
• Feds settle case of woman fired over Facebook site
• REPORT: Facebook Usage At Work Is Still Rising