Allan Hennessy, writing at The Guardian, laments that the dead in Brussels seems to matter more to the West than the dead in the multitudinous non-Western places where ISIS terrorists have also struck. Put simply, "Brown and black lives are not afforded the same respect" as white lives, and "(t)his imperialism feeds into the terrorist narrative. 'They don’t care about you,' ISIS can tell farmers suffering from drought in Raqqa." I suppose we should expect to feel fear more acutely when people "like ourselves" suffer at the hands of terrorists. But empathy still demands more of us than that, and as as civilized people, we do not make decisions based on fear, let alone reflex or reaction. That is when the terrorists win.
State of California wins $1 billion-plus judgment against Corinthian Colleges, after a San Francisco Superior Court Judge finds the now-bankrupt for-profit college chain misled prospective students about job placement rates, advertised degrees and programs it didn't actually offer, and used unlawful means to collect student debts -- among so, so many other things! Normally this would be cause for rejoicing, but it sure doesn't look like anyone's going to jail, and I wonder how California will actually collect from a corporation that doesn't actually do anything anymore.
In advance of the Wisconsin Presidential primaries, Sarah Smith, writing at ProPublica, informs us that Wisconsin's draconian Voter ID law mandates a "public service campaign" to inform the public what forms of ID will be accepted at the voting booth -- but the state legislature hasn't actually funded that mandate. That's more bold Scott Walker leadership for you! This is, of course, the kind of thing even an Antonin Scalia wouldn't sanctify on the Supreme Court -- but if a Republican wins the Presidency in 2016 in part because he wins a heavily-vote-suppressed Wisconsin, chances are pretty good that he'll be able to get someone (or several someones!) far more pliant on the Supreme Court by the time the case gets there.
You know all about Burger King and Pfizer -- now let's meet data corporation IHS, the latest corporation trying to pretend it's a "foreign" corporation in order to evade American taxes. Turns out, according to ITEP President Matt Gardner, that IHS hardly pays any American taxes right now, and thus doesn't lend itself well to the right-wing talking point that ZOMG TEH CORPORASHUNZ ARE LEAVINGZ TEH AMURIKAHS BECUZ TEH TAXUZ!!!!! That's after we confront the reality, yet again, that corporations typically buy themselves tax breaks so they don't have to pay that "onerous" 35% rate. Of course, if corporations don't pay it, then small businesses and working families do pay it, almost like that's the idea or something.
Lisa Graves, writing at PR Watch, describes something called "Democrats for Education Reform," which turns out to be (surprise, surprise!) a PAC directing millions of rich investor dollars to state campaigns. Their ideas of "reform" naturally include more taxpayer money for charter schools, ballot initiatives attempting to strangle union power, and meddling in local elections with big out-of-state money -- and their backers naturally include banksters and Koch brothers. Warning: the sheer volume of front groups described in the article may make you a bit dizzy.
Finally, Chris Cilizza finds it "absolutely insane" that Ted Cruz has become the Republicans' establishment candidate, after endorsements from such unlikely actors as Lindsey Graham and Jeb Bush and support (however muted) from Mitt Romney. Mr. Cilizza's assessment is absolutely correct, but you can't ignore the possibility that this is really what the establishment wanted all along -- to anoint someone so far right he's gone right out of America as "establishment." Which would mean that whatever they say in public, in private they're toasting their dumb luck that Donald Trump came along to make Mr. Cruz look "reasonable."
Comments