Happy Blogiversary, Judicial Edition

So, I’ve been at this 11 years. My second post was about the new Supreme Court rulings of the day, and as such, it’s only fair to bring you a breath of fresh air from the Supremes: the cops can’t just go browsing through your cell phone, even if you’ve just been arrested. In another surprisingly reasonable ruling from a different Federal court, the No Fly list is unconstitutional because there’s no due process involved.

However, a different court ruled that collecting data on the communications of citizens of the world is just fine (I have to wonder if there’s anything the international courts can do). In the meantime, the NSA debate and the resulting fallout continues vigorously. It’s important to remember that our own government isn’t the only government that thinks suspected criminals (and anyone they may talk to) have limited privacy rights.

Still, the idea that we’re all being spied upon is relatively benign compared to what happens if you are actually suspected of any sort of crime. Yes, I do mean any sort, particularly if you happen to be a person of color. Militarization of our police means more SWAT teams, more no-knock warrants, more wondering if the home invader is government sponsored, and make no mistake it also means more dead cops.

In Closing: girls; your money or your life; modern slavery; prudence; someone got paid to find out that a lot of people have no money saved; logical fallacies; help JP out; and Stay Focused.

Let the Right Shorties In

Source.

Happy Friday the Thirteenth, and Happy Honey Moon.

NSA: Aw, you know I can’t possibly go more than a few days without coming up with some NSA, spying on Americans, War on Terror,or Privacy right? Heck, they may actually have to do things the legal way.

We Don’t Need No Education: Maybe. Unless of course we do.

It’s good to be the king: Or even just the CEO. Not so good to be a serf, but that’s “same as it ever was.”

Election Follies: So much to ridicule, so little time. At least the Chicken Lady lost her bid to be a candidate for Lieutenant Governor in Nevada.

Is anyone in their right mind surprised?: The DEA is playing hard ball with docs who associate themselves with medical marijuana. This is why Nevada doesn’t require a prescription. Remember: pot is still illegal under Federal law, and when all is said and done the Civil War established that Federal law will always trump state law (in that case, the state laws that said people could own other people).

Times haven’t changed: Perception has.

Maya: Zen Pencils.

And Finally: Purple Toes. More.

Point, Counter-Point

Remember when we were told that only a good guy with a gun could stop a bad guy with a gun?

Last week, a good guy with a grain of common sense but no gun stopped a bad guy with a gun.

Yesterday, a good guy with a concealed carry license was killed by two cop-killing bad guys with guns. Instead of saving the day, he lost his life. Unfortunately this was local news for me. Oh and it’s off topic, but by the way? If you are ever trying to describe a northern section of Las Vegas, do not simply call it North Las Vegas. That’s someplace else.

Now that we’ve debunked that, what’s the real argument for carrying guns everywhere you go?

In Closing: Sure, we can serve up some more fun and interesting NSA, spying, and Snowden, and related links for you; can your smart TV be hacked?; a big leap for genetic engineering; another missive from the Duhpartment of Research; times have changed (or at least prices have); question everything; hope and change; and can anybody explain how these numbers are cost effective?

Another Month, Another Jobs Report

Good news everyone!

Employment is at an all time high. There’s 217,000 more jobs than last month, and we finally have more people working than at the start of the Great Recession.

Ok, now for why that isn’t really very good news at all. Good jobs went away only to be replaced by crappy ones with low wages and low/no benefits. This is double true if you happen to be a man. And the number of people who are not in the labor market but now want a job is up 292,000 this month (for the math impaired, 292,000 is greater than 217,000). And we still have businessmen arguing with a straight face that it would be bad for business to pay sick workers to stay home 3 days a year rather than have them come to work and share their illness with coworkers and customers.

No wonder the majority of Americans think that the “American Dream” is out of reach.

In Closing: Got a whole heaping helping of random NSA, Snowden, privacy, secrecy, spying, terrorism, and related links; people hate the cable company, love cute kittens, film at 11; a couple of gun links; turns out the stoner was actually drunk, but that doesn’t make for a good pot-is-bad story; breakin the law; careful what you post on Facebook; eggs; for a movement that calls itself “men’s rights“, they spend a lot of time worrying about women (yeah, pretty sad that’s Cracked pointing it out too); young adult literature; and social media.

You mean news should be informative rather than just sensationalist?

As far as I am concerned, the mainstream TV news sources should be utterly and completely ashamed of themselves.

A new study shows that the most informed “news” watchers are not the ones watching CNN or Fox or even reading their local newspapers. The most informed consumers of news are the ones watching Comedy Central’s The Colbert Report.

Remember back in the 2004 elections? Presidential candidate and then Senator John Kerry went on Comedy Central’s Daily Show with Jon Stewart? He didn’t really do that well. Tucker Carlson wanted to rag on Jon Stewart for not asking hard enough questions, who said among other things “I didn’t realize — and maybe this explains quite a bit — that the news organizations look to Comedy Central for their cues on integrity. . . . If your idea of confronting me is that I don’t ask hard-hitting enough news questions, we’re in bad shape, fellows.” 

So here we are, a few months shy of a decade later, and Comedy Central is more than “Where more Americans get their news than probably should.” Comedy Central is in fact where the most informed Americans get their news. Stephen Colbert is doing a better job of explaining convoluted topics like campaign finance than any traditional news source, and that is a pity.

Maybe — just maybe — that’s why all the major news channels are seeing a drop in viewers.

In Closing: “Come on guys, you’re making us look like a bunch of morons“; Portland Japanese Gardens; 86 real Life Pro Tips with pictures!; a few random economy things; a few really random NSA and spying on Americans things; Thank heaven Radley isn’t working for HuffPo anymore (because now I can get a freaking feed that is just him rather than 102 things I don’t care about plus just try to find what he wrote — is HuffPo that desperate for readers?); the only reason I hope Senator Warren doesn’t run for President is that she’s too useful where she is; oh look, they noticed; antibiotic resistance; and the importance of good research methodology.

Music Monday: Ladies and Gentlemen, LENA HORNE!

Apparently, women still say bad things about one another just to preserve their own [perceived] social standing.

Now here’s a topic I’d love to put to bed and never talk about again. Or more accurately, I wish the world would change enough that I never felt the need to talk about it again. However, the fact of the matter is that women and men live in one society but have completely different experiences in it. My life is somewhat better because I don’t live someplace like Nigeria or India, but my risk of being a victim of violence simply because I am not a man is too damn high. Don’t think I am speaking only for myself; Most women who aren’t Fox News anchors are aware that their *ahem* opportunities for good or ill depend in part on the variety of their genitals.

And in a phrase, that sucks.

Look, I don’t want a lot. I want to know that I am valued for who I am rather than my cup size. Women and men to earn the same pay for the same work, and indeed to have the same job opportunities. I want women to be able to go to a bar without worrying about being groped or raped and murdered, or being called a slut for — ironically! — not giving in to a man’s unwanted advances. I want Google to not find it totally logical to autofill “violence against women” from just “violen.” I want people to stop tut-tutting me for admitting that I’m a woman on the internet.

I don’t want better. I just want to be included in that thing all people being “created equal.”