Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, pressed on his stance on gay marriage, actually goes wobbly, saying "it really doesn't matter what I think now" because gay marriage is "in the Constitution." Yes, his job is to enforce the law, not dictate it, but "it really doesn't matter what I think now" does reek of whining, not to mention evading, and if I were Mary Burke, I'd hit him hard on his refusal to take a specific stand on an issue he's taken very specific stands on before. I wouldn't place too much hope in this misstep, though -- after all, it seemed like George W. Bush changed his mind on gay marriage every week in 2004.
FAIR asks, "When is Terrorism Not Terrorism?" The answer? Generally, when it's committed by non-Muslims on the far right. Best part: when the Brookings Institute's Daniel Bynum says the media doesn't use the word "terrorist" on far-rightists because "many of the objectives (of right-wing extremist groups) are close enough to legitimate political movements" that it'd offend actual far-rightists who don't go around shooting people. But how do these far-right political movements become "legitimate" in the first place? Partly because they get a lot of corporate money, but also because the "liberal" media enables them.
FCC says it'll investigate the numerous reports of internet "traffic jams," many of which apparently involve Netflix. I've noticed my own internet surfing slowing down noticeably since the FCC brought out its anti-net neutrality net neutrality platform, and I don't think I'm paranoid to notice that. But I'm not going to blame Netflix users, and CEOs who complain that Netflix users are traffic hogs might want to consider, I don't know, breaking off some of their nine-figure salaries to put some more servers in and hire some more people to maintain them. I have so little patience for people who won't do the right thing because it's hard.
Surprise, surprise: scientists find that a 2011 measles outbreak in Minnesota that sickened 19 children started when one unvaccinated child went to Kenya and brought measles back with him. It gets worse: nine of the 19 infected children were unvaccinated, and most of those nine had parents who feared their children would get autism, even though scientists have thoroughly debunked the "research" claiming a link between vaccines and autism. I repeat: scientists have thoroughly debunked the "research" claiming a link between vaccines and autism. I said it twice because I thought it would do twice as much good.
Finally, very sad news: radio announcer and voice artist Casey Kasem has died at the age of 82. He was the archetypical voice of my youth, not just from NBC voiceovers and cartoons like Scooby Doo and Battle of the Planets, but as the voice of American Top 40, where he spun records, told stories, and kept gentle guard over a significant part of our nation's popular culture over four decades. And he was also the fiery liberal who didn't feel right announcing "I Want Your Sex" as the nation's number one song. We need more like him.
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