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More online news like this, please: New Orleans gets flood help; Memphis breathes easier. Note captions (use “subtitle” option), AND transcript available! Nifty. Although there’s an extremely amusing caption typo at 00:17.
Overseeing Government Oversight. Live tweeting of the hearings on Whistleblower protection. Glenn Greenwald delivers the goods: The WikiLeaks Grand Jury and the still escalating War on Whistleblowing, plus Guardian: WikiLeaks: US opens grand jury hearing. It’s a safe bet, though, that none of the U.S. mainstream media is reporting on this…
I just… you know. Wasn’t this supposed to be the more transparent administration? FBI: If We Told You, You Might Sue.
Nothing that hasn’t already been said elsewhere, but an excellent summary of the issues at hand. And really, short of ejecting the administocracy - which is behaving remarkably similarly to corporatocracy - I don’t see a good way out in this social & economic climate: Faulty Towers: The Crisis in Higher Education.
Well so much for Skype: now it will turn into nonfunctional bloatware with about fifteen available versions. Microsoft Near Deal to Acquire Skype. So long, it was nice knowing ya…
Really? REALLY?? Studies About Taser Safety Funded by Taser International, Can’t Be Trusted. I would have never thunk it!
It’s The Jobs, Stupid. Even the excreble freshman GOP ran on this line, though they’ve done nothing but crash budgets and stomp feet over gay rights since coming into office the start of this year. They really need to listen to this (transcript available): Deficit Solution: Get Americans Back To Work. As for the feet stomping: Republican attempts to damage repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” at tomorrow’s House Armed Services Committee markup, which Sam Seder absolutely skewers (decent auto captioning, esp if you can read lips) here: Tea Party Willing to Trade Debt Limit for Closeting Gays in majority.fm (and the commenters take a good shot as well: top comment is currently, “A dude dressd [sic] in silky skin tight britches and a powdered wig has the nerve to say anything about the gays?”). Heh.
More on It’s The Jobs issue: How the McEconomy Bombed the American Worker.
It’s a start: California Teachers Launch “State of Emergency” Protests, but I question the effectiveness of a strike with a planned ending. Should do what Wisconsin did - as long as necessary. Other strikes spreading around: Heroism of Wisconsin Protestors Inspires Students to Rise Up and Fight. Meanwhile the pushback against unions continues at a breathtaking pace: New Hampshire, Missouri, South Carolina Next States Attacking Unions.
Uh, huh. Now they’re on board: GOP Freshmen On Medicare Attacks: Let’s Let Bygones Be Bygones. o.O But I guess Texas hasn’t got the memo yet: State Senator Adds Provision To Texas Bill Jeopardizing Women’s Health Program. On the other hand I’ve got whiplash checking this one out: GOP Cries Of ‘MediScare’ Prompt Democratic Shout of ‘Hypocrisy’.
Oh FFS. Because THAT WORKED SO WELL IN FLORIDA: Legislative Analyst Wants to Give HSR the Scott Walker Treatment.
Implosion of GOP beginning: The Battle for the Soul of the GOP.
Wow. I don’t think he’s looking for re-election? Haley Barbour To Flood-Stricken Mississippians: You’re On Your Own.
Oh, is the Catholic Church FINALLY waking up in the morning and taking a good fucking look at who’s in bed with them?? Catholic Scholars To Boehner: Your Agenda Defies ‘Church’s Most Ancient Moral Teachings’ On Helping Poor. Way past time to chew your arm off and get away, dudes.
Actually, I think they can’t figure it out because secretly, they DO want the U.S. to be surrounded with an alligator-filled moat… They Don’t Get It: Unable To Take A Joke, Right-Wing Media Attack Obama Over “Moat” Comment.
Way past time. In fact, why the fuck are we here again? Does no one remember the breakup of Ma Bell in the 80′s? I guess now that corporates have all that fancy personhood, routinely threaten the government, and salt away billions of dollars, they’re getting uppity again: It’s Time to Break Up AT&T, Verizon, Comcast, Time Warner and the Rest of the Telecoms. Break it up again! Lots of opposition floating about today: AT&T in Wonderland, Stopping AT&T’s Takeover of T-Mobile, AT&T Cut 5,900 in First Quarter (note that AT&T is claiming that merger will result in more jobs…riiiiiight), and AT&T Wants to Monopolize Everything among others.
If you’ve been hearing a bit about the SlutWalks, here’s the summary: Standing with Sluts. It sounds like a bunch of other similar types of efforts - not belittling it by any means, but noticing the repetition (and repetition) of history a bit here… when do we finally move to a point recognizably past previous efforts? The conversation, if you can call it that, it has sparked is also dismally familiar: Redeeming the Slut: a response to Gail Dines. But those neanderthals still walk among us: In Segment On “Slutwalk” Protests, Hannity Guest Says Women “Are Asking For Sex If They’re Dressing Immodestly” (no captions in video; that’s okay - it’s better for the blood pressure
).
This is excellent food for thought, and really applies to activism in general, not just feminism: Filling the Gaps.
More interesting developments with Google & captioning: Google launches live captions on YouTube at Google I/O. Although as we’ve seen with the first item above, live captioning can have its own pitfalls (why do you think I prefer pre-captioned content
)
And now for something completely different and very interesting: MIT management professor Tom Malone on collective intelligence and the “genetic” structure of groups.
Originally published at What's that you said?. You can comment here or there.