The Fount of Useless Information
Your place for useless information that just might possibly be interesting.
Comments about politics
Newtown kids v. Yemenis and Pakistanis: what explains the disparate reactions?
Numerous commentators have rightly lamented the difference in how these childrens’ deaths are perceived. What explains it?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/dec/19/newtown-drones-children-deaths
I commented earlier a bit on the Newtown tragedy where I …
New York’s top court highlights the meaninglessness and menace of the term ‘terrorism’
A fascinating new ruling unwittingly illustrates the separate system of ‘justice’ invented for Muslims in the US after 9/11
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/dec/16/court-terrorism-morales-gangs-meaningless
I talked about the meaninglessness of the …
HSBC, too big to jail, is the new poster child for US two-tiered justice system
DOJ officials unblinkingly insist that the banking giant is too powerful and important to subject to the rule of law
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/dec/12/hsbc-prosecution-fine-money-laundering
HSBC was given a …
Four huge corporate power grabs possibly worse than Citizens United
These court cases offer a chilling reminder how close America has come to becoming an outright plutocracy
http://www.salon.com/2012/12/09/4_huge_corporate_power_grabs_that_never_came_to_pass/
This author chooses to use the term ‘plutocracy‘ where I …
Feinstein amendment doubles down on NDAA’s assault on constitutional rights
While US government lawyers persist in defending the menacing Section 1021 in court, a Senate initiative makes matters worse
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/dec/05/feinstein-amendment-ndaa-assault-constitutional-rights
In what now has become standard for our government, laws …
Obamacare architect leaves White House for pharmaceutical industry job
Few people embody the corporatist revolving door greasing Washington as purely as Elizabeth Fowler
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/dec/05/obamacare-fowler-lobbyist-industry1
The revolving door spins ’round and ’round. I can’t put it any better:
…This is precisely
Laptop seizures by US government highlight 9/11-era climate of fear
The treatment of dissidents is the true measure of how free a society is: consider today’s examples from the US
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/dec/04/us-constitution-and-civil-liberties
This is a really interesting article that speaks to …
DOJ Mysteriously Quits Monsanto Antitrust Investigation
http://www.motherjones.com/tom-philpott/2012/11/dojs-monsantoseed-industry-investigation-ends-thud
Funny how our government treats everything as secret now. Soon people will be going to jail (like Bradley Manning) for leaking SEC investigations. The idiotic paranoia of the top of our government …
I read an article that talked about carbon ‘reduction’ (the article isn’t really relevant to this post, so I won’t distract you with a link) and decided to climb up on my soap box for a few minutes and rant …
Unemployment benefits cost: $520 billion
http://money.cnn.com/2012/11/29/news/economy/unemployment-benefits-cost/index.html?source=cnn_bin
The headline is clearly intended to fire up conservative blowhards who are convinced that poor people are stealing their money. Note that this figure is for the entire 5 year period of the Great …