Martha Burk explains why the Trans-Pacific "Partnership" would be a bad deal for women. Long story short: this "free" trade deal would, in addition to all the other harm it would cause, cut off access to generic HIV drugs (which more women need these days) and outsource majority-female professions (like human resources departments, now there's irony for you). I notice that the protestor in the graphic holds up a sign saying the TPP would affect 40% of the world's Gross Domestic Product. You'd think Republicans would be up in arms about that figure -- after all, they got so hysterical about the Affordable Care Act affecting a mere 17% of America's economy.
University of Cambridge study finds that when police wear body cameras, they use less force on citizens. It's one study, so let's see it replicated, but it's hardly an unexpected result. And no it's not an example of TEH BIG BROTHERZ WATCHINGZ UZ!!!!!!, like warrantless wiretapping and NSA data-vacuuming -- it's an example of the people watching their public servants so they do less harm. People also complain too much about police turning the cameras off, as if there's just no way to subject such "mistakes" to discipline.
Israeli high court orders the West Bank settlement of Amona demolished, and its 300 residents relocated, within two years. The Israeli government didn't even authorize the settlement in 1995, and has for years admitted that it's illegal -- but keeps asking for extensions on relocation and keeps claiming it's bought some of the land in question. But why do the article's last two paragraphs (out of 10) concern a completely unrelated firebomb attack? Hysterically insisting that everything is intimately related to everything else is a right-wing trick that the "liberal" media certainly shouldn't enable.
ProPublica finds that banksters routinely "bragged" about how easily they could influence agencies like S&P's and Moody's to rate their tobacco-settlement bonds more highly than they deserved. And surprise, surprise, those same tobacco bonds (which, as you know, some states have used to fill budget holes, never mind the exorbitant fees or the consequences when the bonds come due) "have proved much riskier than advertised." If you thought conservatism was all about fiscal responsibility, recall that "conservatives" pushed for 49 states to adopt balanced-budget constitutional amendments, so that states become desperate for budget fixes like these (and others, like raiding their own pension funds). You could say balanced-budget amendments present yet another example of how "zero tolerance" policies hurt a lot more than they help.
Finally, Politico suggests that Republican governors won't cut state taxes much further, given how badly the Sam Brownback tax-cuts-for-the-rich "experiment" is going in Kansas. The article is larded with quotations from Republican operatives about how moving slow is the best way to go, etc., but I bet Republican "unwillingness" to cut taxes lasts only until the next self-created catastrophe they inflict on their states. And nothing prevents a Scott Walker from inflicting some other catastrophe -- like making Wisconsin a "right-to-work" state because WE'RE BROKE!!!!, for instance.
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