This shit matters.

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Sun, 01 Jul 2012 17:38:30 -0400

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Fri, 29 Jun 2012 00:14:36 -0400

Israel to put thousands of Africans in detention camp

Sun, 10 Jun 2012 17:46:23 -0400

Israel to put thousands of Africans in detention camp:

mohandasgandhi:

Israel’s interior minister said on Friday he hoped to soon start moving tens of thousands of illegal African migrants from Tel Aviv and elsewhere to a detention camp being built and a planned “tent city.”

An Israeli court cleared the way on Thursday for the deportation of an estimated 1,500 South Sudanese, after ruling that their lives were no longer threatened in their homeland.

Interior Minister Eli Yishai told public radio 40,000 Sudanese and Eritreans were next in his sights.

“There are still about 15,000 from north Sudan and some 35,000 from Eritrea,” he said. “I am not allowed to get them out at the moment.”

He said he expected legal obstacles would be removed and that the government was also offering a grant to those prepared to leave voluntarily.

“They are close to being expelled either willingly or against their will,” he said. “This is a number that threatens the Jewish identity.”

As a first step, he said, illegals would be rounded up and moved to a detention centre being built in southern Israel at a projected cost of 250 million shekels ($6.7 million, 5.4 million euros).

(Continue reading…)

I never want to hear “but Israel isn’t racist” ever again.

The only democracy in the Middle East.

House Dems propose $10 per hour minimum wage

Sun, 10 Jun 2012 17:36:05 -0400

House Dems propose $10 per hour minimum wage:

foreverliberal:

fuckyeahfeminists:

dumbthingswhitepplsay:

smidgetz:

sinidentidades:

A group of Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives proposed this week a bill that would raise the nation’s minimum wage from $7.25 to $10 per hour, which they say will help consumer purchasing power catch up to the rate of inflation since the late 1960s.

It’s primary sponsor, Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr. (D-IL), is even calling the bill “The Catching Up to 1968 Act.” Jackson explained in prepared text that it “may sound like a hefty wage increase but it doesn’t fully equal the purchasing power of the minimum wage in 1968 – which today would be closer to $11 per hour. The bill is really only allowing American workers a degree of ‘catch-up.’”

He’s not wrong about that, either: Had lawmakers kept the minimum wage pinned to the rate of inflation as measured by the Consumer Price Index, 1968′s minimum wage of $1.60 per hour would in fact be worth $10.58 per hour in 2012.

Congress last raised the minimum wage in 2007, moving it from $5.15 to $7.25 per hour over the course of the following two years. Jackson claimed that move provided “an additional $1.6 billion annually in increased wages,” and called upon President Barack Obama to support another increase.

I really want them to push this through…

gubbermint pls

How amazing would this be?

This is amazing and needs to pass.

— Brittany

Capitalism is....

Sun, 10 Jun 2012 17:32:15 -0400

overtheeventhorizon:

Capitalism is the combined GDP of the worlds poorest 48 countries being less than the wealth of the worlds three richest people.

"Look, guys. No matter what a girl does, no matter how she’s dressed, no matter how much she’s had to..."

Sun, 03 Jun 2012 19:00:08 -0400

“Look, guys. No matter what a girl does, no matter how she’s dressed, no matter how much she’s had to drink, it’s never, never, never, never, never okay to touch her without her consent. That doesn’t make you a man, it makes you a coward.”

- Vice President Joe “the BAMF” Biden, in a speech launching the federal government’s campaign to fight sexual violence on college campuses (via girl-non-grata)

truth-has-a-liberal-bias: abstractionsandobstructions: I didnt...

Sun, 03 Jun 2012 13:25:34 -0400

truth-has-a-liberal-bias:

abstractionsandobstructions:

I didnt make it. Dont own the rights. Found and enjoyed, figured I would share

Mitt Romney - Another Republican Chicken Hawk.

thedailywhat: Breaking DOMA News of the Day: In a victory for...

Thu, 31 May 2012 17:21:39 -0400

thedailywhat:

Breaking DOMA News of the Day: In a victory for gay marriage advocates that rivals the enormity of Proposition 8 in California, the First Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in Boston today upheld a lower court’s ruling and declared the federal Defense of Marriage Act unconsitutional.

From the court’s opinion:

“[M]any Americans believe that marriage is the union of a man and a woman, and most Americans live in states where that is the law today. One virtue of federalism is that it permits this diversity of governance based on local choice, but this applies as well to the states that have chosen to legalize same-sex marriage. Under current Supreme Court authority, Congress’ denial of federal benefits to same-sex couples lawfully married in Massachusetts has not been adequately supported by any permissible federal interest.”

Expect the ruling to be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.

[politico]

"The United States imprisons a larger percentage of its black population than South Africa did at the..."

Mon, 28 May 2012 18:41:50 -0400

“The United States imprisons a larger percentage of its black population than South Africa did at the height of apartheid.”

- Michelle Alexander, The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness (via humanformat)

How can Florida Gov. Rick Scott steal the election for Mitt Romney?

Mon, 28 May 2012 14:10:52 -0400

think-progress:

Easy enough — he’s created an error-filled list of “ineligible voters”, which targets thousands of Democratic and Hispanic voters.

Here’s how it would work.

WSJ: Obama spending binge never happened

Thu, 24 May 2012 10:40:38 -0400

WSJ: Obama spending binge never happened:

demnewswire:

Market Watch’s Rex Nutting examines the facts and concludes, “of all the falsehoods told about President Barack Obama, the biggest whopper is the one about his reckless spending spree.” The actual record under President Obama “doesn’t show a reckless increase in spending. Far from it.” Take a look at Nutting’s breakdown of spending over the last four years, which says that, under President Obama, federal spending is rising at the slowest pace since Dwight Eisenhower was President:

Here are the facts, according to the official government statistics:

In the 2009 fiscal year—the last of George W. Bush’s presidency—federal spending rose by 17.9% from $2.98 trillion to $3.52 trillion. Check the official numbers at the Office of Management and Budget.

In fiscal 2010—the first budget under Obama—spending fell 1.8% to $3.46 trillion.

In fiscal 2011, spending rose 4.3% to $3.60 trillion.

In fiscal 2012, spending is set to rise 0.7% to $3.63 trillion, according to the Congressional Budget Office’s estimate of the budget that was agreed to last August.

Finally in fiscal 2013—the final budget of Obama’s term—spending is scheduled to fall 1.3% to $3.58 trillion. Read the CBO’s latest budget outlook.

Over Obama’s four budget years, federal spending is on track to rise from $3.52 trillion to $3.58 trillion, an annualized increase of just 0.4%.

There has been no huge increase in spending under the current president, despite what you hear.

Most importantly, the President has a balanced plan that would cut deficits by over $4 trillion over the next decade, including the spending cuts he has already signed into law that will bring discretionary spending to its lowest levels as a share of the economy since the Eisenhower Administration.

positive-press-daily: Hawaii to become first U.S. state to ban...

Tue, 22 May 2012 21:50:44 -0400

positive-press-daily:

Hawaii to become first U.S. state to ban plastic bags at checkout in every county

Hawaii is slated to become the first state in the nation to ban plastic bags at checkouts in every county.

“This is groundbreaking,” said Honolulu Mayor Peter Carlisle, according to msnbc.com.

Carlisle signed off on the ban last week, joining Honolulu County with the state’s three other counties, which had already passed the ban.

“By signing this environmentally friendly bill, Honolulu joined our neighbor island countries. Hawaii has become the only state in the United States where every county has plastic bag legislation.” Carlisle said.

The change goes into effect on July 15, 2015, giving retailers “plenty of time to get ready,” he told msnbc.com.

“Retailers will be able to use up their inventory of bags and make arrangements to educate the public on the importance of bringing their own bag,” Carlisle said.

Bans are already enforced in Kauai and Maui counties, and Hawaii County’s takes effect on Jan. 16, 2013.

The news comes on the heels of a report from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography documenting a shocking increase in plastic waste floating in the northeast Pacific Ocean.

Particularly in a region dubbed the “Great Pacific Garbage Patch,” marine life is changing as creatures ingest plastic at alarming rates.

The bans passed after a two-year campaign directed by the Sierra Club, an environmental group.

“Passing the bans did take an effort — change always does — but people seemed to understand the need for such an effort,” Robert Harris, director of the Sierra Club’s Hawaii chapter, told msnbc.com.

“Being a marine state, perhaps, we are exposed more directly to the impacts of plastic pollution and the damage it does to our environment,” he said.

“People in Hawaii are more likely to be in the water or in the outdoors and see the modern-day tumbleweed — plastic bags — in the environment.”

mohandasgandhi: theeconomist: Overfishing, global warming and...

Sun, 20 May 2012 11:20:07 -0400

mohandasgandhi:

theeconomist:

Overfishing, global warming and pollution threaten to transform the ocean—and perhaps life as we know it

This is important.

The best democracy money can buy

Sun, 20 May 2012 00:47:47 -0400

The best democracy money can buy:

anticapitalist:

The state is far from neutral-it acts in the interests of the dominant class in society.

In the U.S., economic power is concentrated at the top. According to United for a Fair Economy, the top 1 percent of U.S. households in 2001 had more wealth than the bottom 94 percent combined. And while there were more than 265 billionaires in the U.S., 34.5 million people lived below the poverty line.

In a society based on a massive concentration of wealth at the one end and poverty at the other, a single billionaire has far more political clout than even millions of poor people. The economic pecking order determines the political pecking order.

One has only to look at George W. Bush’s cabinet to see this. The business weeklyBarron’snoted that Bush “already has presented the business community with the keys to the city. He has packed CEOs and industry lobbyists on transition teams that are advising his new cabinet secretaries and agency heads on pressing policy issues and new hires.”

The new Bush administration was more brazenly pro-business than Clinton and Gore. But money spoke loudly under the Democrats as well. “No administration in modem history has been as good for American business as the Clinton-Gore team,” wrote Clinton’s former Labor Secretary Robert Reich. “None has been as solicitous of the concerns of business leaders, none has generated as much profits for business.”

cartoonpolitics: references new attempts in California to close...

Sat, 19 May 2012 15:47:21 -0400

cartoonpolitics:

references new attempts in California to close medical marijuana dispensaries. The situation in the USA at federal and state level regarding ‘drugs’ in general, and marijuana in particular, is characterized by political posturing, ignorance, inconsistency, and fantasy-based beliefs. It’s a mad hatters tea-party.

BREAKING: George Zimmerman Could Be Charged With Federal Hate Crime

Tue, 15 May 2012 11:26:56 -0400

BREAKING: George Zimmerman Could Be Charged With Federal Hate Crime:

stfuhypocrisy:

The FBI announced today that George Zimmerman could be charged with a federal hate crime, a charge that would mean Zimmerman could face the death penalty if convicted. The FBI made the announcement shortly after Zimmerman’s lawyers received the list of witnesses and evidence materials, which included never before seen accounts of the shooting from witnesses, new footage and new 911 call recordings.

State Prosecutors made the case that Zimmerman, who admitted to fatally shooting 17 year old Trayvon Martin, profiled and stalked the youth prior to a confrontation, which lead to Martin’s death, something that has prompted the FBI to investigate the possibility of raising the charge from second degree murder to a federal hate crime.

From WFTV News:

FBI investigators are actively questioning witnesses in the retreat at the Twin Lakes neighborhood, seeking evidence for a possible federal hate crime charge.

Martin was unarmed when he was shot to death, police said, and some accuse Zimmerman of targeting the teenager solely because of the color of his skin.

WFTV legal analyst Bill Sheaffer said federal prosecutors would have to prove the hate crime to charge Zimmerman, though.

"Hello one percent! More power to ya!"

Fri, 11 May 2012 15:02:16 -0400

“Hello one percent! More power to ya!”

- Sarah Palin today at a hedge fund conference in Las Vegas.

CLASSIC
(via think-progress)
*shakes head*

You're not being "oppressed" when another group gains rights that you've always had.

Fri, 11 May 2012 12:09:44 -0400

mohandasgandhi: A cartoon included in Shireen Burki’s Joint...

Fri, 11 May 2012 10:44:25 -0400

mohandasgandhi:

A cartoon included in Shireen Burki’s Joint Staff Forces College presentation on “Jihad: Defined and Operationalized” (.pdf) contains a number of ugly stereotypes.

U.S. Military Taught Officers: Use ‘Hiroshima’ Tactics for ‘Total War’ on Islam

The U.S. military taught its future leaders that a “total war” against the world’s 1.4 billion Muslims would be necessary to protect America from Islamic terrorists, according to documents obtained by Danger Room. Among the options considered for that conflict: using the lessons of “Hiroshima” to wipe out whole cities at once, targeting the “civilian population wherever necessary.”

The course, first reported by Danger Room last month and held at the Defense Department’s Joint Forces Staff College, has since been canceled by the Pentagon brass. It’s only now, however, that the details of the class have come to light. Danger Room received hundreds of pages of course material and reference documents from a source familiar with the contents of the class.

The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff recently ordered the entire U.S. military to scour its training material to make sure it doesn’t contain similarly hateful material, a process that is still ongoing. But the officer who delivered the lectures, Army Lt. Col. Matthew A. Dooley, still maintains his position at the Norfolk, Virginia college, pending an investigation. The commanders, lieutenant colonels, captains and colonels who sat in Dooley’s classroom, listening to the inflammatory material week after week, have now moved into higher-level assignments throughout the U.S. military.

[…]

In the same presentation, Dooley lays out a possible four-phase war plan to carry out a forced transformation of the Islam religion. Phase three includes possible outcomes like “Islam reduced to a cult status” and “Saudi Arabia threatened with starvation.” (It’s an especially ironic suggestion, in light of today’s news that Saudi intelligence broke up the most recent al-Qaida bombing plot.)

International laws protecting civilians in wartime are “no longer relevant,” Dooley continues. And that opens the possibility of applying “the historical precedents of Dresden, Tokyo, Hiroshima, Nagasaki” to Islam’s holiest cities, and bringing about “Mecca and Medina[’s] destruction.”

Dooley’s ideological allies have repeatedly stated that “mainstream” Muslims are dangerous, because they’re “violent” by nature. Yet only a few of al-Qaida’s most twisted fanatics were ever caught musing about wiping out entire cities.

(Continue reading…)

The last part is bolded for emphasis.

truth-has-a-liberal-bias: Great Video!

Wed, 09 May 2012 16:46:30 -0400

truth-has-a-liberal-bias:

Great Video!