3.30.2013

Sorry Abe: No more "by the people"


Senate negotiators cleared the last major hurdle to reaching a bipartisan immigration reform deal Saturday as labor and business groups signed off on a visa program for future low-skilled workers…
Politico

Not even pretending anymore.

Cool map


To preserve the electoral college while making it fair, Freeman redrew state lines so that each state contained about the same number of people: 6,175,000.…
See it here.


And more at Fake is the New Real, now on the work avoidance list.

I am just waiting for them to ban jacks: Acquisitive! Acquisitive!

The news that a New Hamp­shire school is plan­ning on elim­i­nat­ing the game of dodge­ball from their phys­i­cal edu­ca­tion cur­ricu­lum became the impe­tus for Fox News Chan­nel and CNN to dip into the issue on Thurs­day and for a vari­ety of panel guests to either praise the game or con­demn it over its cel­e­bra­tion of “human targeting.” 
Mediaite

I have a sister. Of course I played jacks growing up. Duh.

Awww: Even really rich guys have bad days


Testimony began this week in billionaire William Koch’s lawsuit against Eric Greenberg, who Koch claims sold him some very expensive counterfeit wine. Some of the bottles went for nearly $30,000, which has Koch so miffed that he refuses to settle the case.…
Slate


3.29.2013

When you're really, really, really hard up for something to see


No one in his or her right mind would ever call it great; but 45 years after it was unleashed on a head-scratching public, Barbarella feels like a movie that, if released today, might well garner raves for its garish retro stylings, or its warm evocation of late Sixties camp. Or something.
LIFE

Rant of the day (or yesterday)


The Day That TV News Died

What's the point of speed solitaire?

Really.

I have a solitaire app that ranks games by numbers of moves made – that part I get – and speed. Hey. When I play solitaire I want a game that's not too difficult – and slow. Painlessly wasting time is the whole idea. Racing through it is not my idea relaxation. Come on, guys, dial it down.

Sure, task oriented, I understand.

Just not me.

On never having to say you're sorry

Dale Peterson, who brandished a rifle and talked tough about criminals and thugs in a 2010 political ad that went viral on the internet, was arrested in Hoover this afternoon after authorities said he shoplifted from Sam's Club on Alabama 150.
All Alabama

Your lying eyes

Rep. Don Young (R-AK) released a statement Thursday that said he "meant no disrespect" by referring to farm workers on his father's ranch as "wetbacks."
TPM

3.28.2013

Fair play: Homeowners foreclose on bank


The Judge said the bank wrongfully tried to foreclose on the Nyergers' house.
…After more than 5 months of the judge's ruling, the bank still hadn't paid the legal fees, and the homeowner's attorney did exactly what the bank tried to do to the homeowners. He seized the bank's assets.
Crooks & Liars

Ka-Pow!

What's better than watching an explosion? Watching a controlled explosion. Jalopnik readers have ten amazing bridge, road, and assorted infrastructure demolition videos just for you.

Can you spell tubby?


My husband and I have a rule that we never, ever break when we leave the house with our 2-year-old: Bring. Loads Of. Snacks. I don’t care if he has just polished off four chicken fingers and a bowl of yogurt—chances are, our son will be hungry again within 14 minutes, and I better have something I can hand to him immediately or all kinds of screamy hell will ensue.
Slate

Antique Store
iPhone abstract: Phil Compton

Wait till Paul Ryan hears about this

They work seven days a week regardless of weather condition, never go on breaks, don’t take bribes and best of all, they require no pay. They are – wait for it – Bangalore’s new lifelike cardboard traffic policemen, and they’re watching you!
Oddity Central

How far is it from Arizona to Iowa?


CASHTON, Wis. (AP) — An Illinois man accused of stealing 21 tons of Wisconsin cheese has been arrested in New Jersey.
SFGate

Oh wait, I thought it was another one of those annoying math problems.

3.27.2013

Now that you mention it

One of the things New York will lose when Michael Bloomberg moves on from his perch as mayor is one of the world's greatest poker faces. Most politicians, obligated to make the populace like them, tend to grin and bear their ways through the cheesy photo ops and of-the-people activities. Bloomberg might bear it, but he sure doesn't grin if he doesn't feel like it.…
Proof

Be nice to our guns or we won't come shoot your stuff (hunters say, like it's a really bad thing)

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) -- Hunters across the country say they are boycotting Colorado because of recent legislation meant to curtail gun violence.
AP

Remembering the good old days


Tips From the Pundit Who's Always Wrong | The Nation
http://www.thenation.com/blog/173514/tips-pundit-whos-always-wrong#


Get sick soon…

… while you can still afford to.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama's top healthcare adviser acknowledged on Tuesday that costs could rise in the individual health insurance market, particularly for men and younger people, because of the landmark 2010 healthcare restructuring due to take effect next year.…
A new study released on Tuesday by the nonpartisan Society of Actuaries estimates that individual premiums will rise 32 percent on average nationwide within three years, partly as a result of higher risk pools. Changes would vary by state, from an 80 percent hike in Wisconsin to a 14 percent reduction in New York.
Yahoo News

3.26.2013

I am certainly the last person on earth…

… to discover that Barbara Kingsolver's Flight Behavior is a brilliant novel, its having been on everybody else's list for quite a while now, but finally I have, and surely it is. It's a story about what happens when the fate of humanity comes to rest on a mountaintop in rural Tennessee, told with humor, understanding, and an unflinching eye.

Definitely a must read, it's on the list.

Okay, if we really have to sequester something…

The nonpartisan Congressional Research Service says the federal government spent nearly $3.7 million on former presidents last year. That covers a $200,000 pension, compensation and benefits for office staff, and other costs like travel, office space and postage.
Talking Points Memo

We are shocked

new Gallup poll suggests that public support for drone use, while broad, narrows as strikes get closer to home. 
Atlantic Wire

Snooze on


Soon after Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., announced an assault weapons ban would not be part of a gun control bill, a new CBS News poll shows support for stricter gun control laws overall has dropped since the shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School.
CBS

Also yes, there is an Easter bunny. And Venezuelan rats.


GALVESTON, TEXASOfficials say a vial containing a virus that can cause hemorrhagic fever has gone missing from a research facility in Galveston, but say there's no reason to believe there's a threat to the public.
CBS

What, me worry?


3.25.2013

Off to the scrap heap in two months

The historic ocean liner [SS United States] carried princes and presidents [and me] across the Atlantic in the 1950s and 1960s but has spent decades patiently awaiting a savior at its berth on the Philadelphia waterfront.
AP story (with photo) here
Much more here 

We would not know where to begin


3.24.2013

But not you, HuffPo? Not you?

"The Onion" probably won't be apologizing for this one any time soon. In its latest week in review, the satirical news outlet jabbed democrats for caving on including the assault weapons ban in its gun control package.
HuffingtonPost


Tweets we never finished reading

Wall Street Journal (@WSJ)
Obsessed with house-cleaning?