Nate Silver informs us that black folks are not just eight times more likely to be murdered than white folk, they're about as likely to be murdered as people in actual war zones are. I expect there'll be underreporting of such crimes in war zones, but still, take that, "white lives matter too" crowd. "Eight times more likely to be murdered" pretty much obliterates whatever advantage white folks, in their bitterness and self-pity, imagine black folks have.
Lest we forget the original occupants of the bottom rung of the Great Chain of Being: CDC/National Center for Health Statistics data tells us that Native Americans are almost as likely to get killed by police as black folks are. At a considerably higher rate than white folks, again, if the average of all races is 1.2 per million folks and Native Americans just from the ages of 25-34 is 6.6 per million. It's hard to imagine how "the minorities" get "all the advantages" in life, when it'd be more accurate to say they get all the advantages in death.
Paul Mason says "the end of capitalism has begun," and that the "sharing" economy (which, to be fair, he defines more broadly than the "sharing economy" that deserves our enmity) is our escape hatch. Don't be intimidated by the article's length and breadth -- it may be full of historical insights, and yes it's always hard to imagine the precise equilibrium that emerges from chaos, but I still think that unless we enact some good old-fashioned tax-the-rich and clean-the-water, the biggest actors will still bend the new equilibrium to their will.
Scott Walker puts out a fundraising email aimed at religious-right voters claiming that his Presidential run is "God's plan." Thankfully, the email doesn't say whether him winning is God's plan. Seriously, though -- "(m)y decisions are guided by my relationship with God -- not by what might win me a few votes"? From the man who only makes decisions based on what'll win him a few votes? And talking about "my decisions" is a way of saying the people don't have very much to do with his decisions, which is certainly paternalistic, if not autocratic. So I guess he knows his audience, then!
Hillary Clinton keeps pushing corporate "profit-sharing," and supports giving corporations who share profits with their workers a tax credit. But once a corporation disburses such money to its workers, seems to me it's not "profit" anymore but "expense," so they'd hardly need a tax break on top of that. And the corporate tax loopholes they'd close to pay for the tax credit? Unidentified, naturally. You know what would deliver worker earnings back to workers? The 91% tax bracket on millionaire income, that's what.
Finally, Alaska Gov. Bill Walker (I) says he'll expand Medicaid for good Alaskans even though the state legislature doesn't want to. Which, all by its lonesome, makes him the best Governor named Walker in America. Maybe he could be the Gallant to Scott's Goofus.
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