Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals rules that our government can continue to get cellphone location tracking without a warrant -- because the records are "business records." But they're records collected by businesses about particular people, are they not? And people aren't businesses any more than businesses are people.

Another day, another right-wing clown who thinks he can beat pro-minimum wage arguments with the $2/hour job he had almost forty years ago -- apparently forgetting that $2/hour in 1974 translates to $9.74/hour in 2013 dollars, or almost two dollars an hour above the minimum wage. Plus, you think his parents made him buy his own health care? Me neither.

Meanwhile, dig the drama staged by right-wing opponents of Kentucky's recent revision of state science standards. The "rich man's elitist religion of evolution"? Imputing whatever ideas you don't like to "rich" "elitists" does not automatically transform you into a populist. And do you also get the feeling that Ms. Stewart-Gore has waited her whole life to give her legislature a piece of her mind?

Ex-superintendent of Indiana schools, famous for giving letter grades to public and charter schools, changed his grading system after one of his big donor's charter schools got a C instead of an A. Said donor actually wrote that "anything less than an A for Christel House compromises all of our accountability work." What, you thought "accountability" had to do with the actual job you were doing? So, to sum: charter schools already siphon off public school money, keep teachers from organizing, kick out students whenever they need to goose up their scores -- and still need help not looking like failures. Sounds like a racket to me.

Finally, Larry Sabato speculates on (among other things) what the Democratic caucus in Congress might look like if John McCain had won in 2010. Long story short: Dems would likely have held the House in 2010, being the "out" party, and probably would have made Senate gains as well. Which makes complete sense, if for no other reason that a McCain Presidency would have obviated the need for corporate front groups to put together a Tea Party.

Comments

[Cctree.net]

My partner and I absolutely love your blog and find most of your post's to be precisely what I'm looking for. Do you offer guest writers to write content to suit your needs? I wouldn't mind producing a post or elaborating on a number of the subjects you write regarding here. Again, awesome site!