The New York Times finds that "Squatters See a New Frontier in the Empty Homes of Las Vegas," a city hit harder than most by the 2008 financial services meltdown and resulting foreclosure crisis. The article then focuses on an anecdotally-supported "trail of crime" squatters "often" bring with them (in addition to illegally occupying houses, apparently), losing an opportunity to ask if the squatters are victims themselves, let alone focus very much on how those houses got empty in the first place. But this is the price we pay when our government decides that coddling banksters from their screw-ups is better than protecting homeowners from unearned hardship. Next time, why not let the banks fail, and give some aspiring bankers a shot at doing better?
Kim Zetter, writing at Wired, presents a brief history of the FBI's hacking of the citizenry over the last two decades. Carnivore, keystroke loggers, Magic Lantern, CIPAV, watering holes -- in all these you'll see a pattern: the FBI introduces a tool, swears it's selective about what it captures, and surprise! It's a damn Hoover. Also, they can't tell you what they're doing because EVERYONE WILLZ DIEZ!!!!! But it seems we've gotten more leaks about specific FBI surveillance methods during the Obama Administration than we did during Tha Bush Mobb's reign. Maybe that recommends Mr. Obama -- though, again, being better than Mr. Bush isn't exactly hurdling a high bar.
Surprise, surprise, yet another poll demonstrates a huge majority of Americans support a Medicare-for-all, single-payer health insurance plan. I am surprised to find it reported in Politico -- though, of course, all the horse-race stuff afterward could have used some analysis. How much of that slim majority that wants to repeal the Affordable Care Act is composed of folks who'd want to replace it with single-payer, for example? After all, the numbers themselves suggest overlap, and other pollsters have considered the question.
The Huffington Post finds more and more mainstream media outlets using the word "Islamophobia" in headlines. I do remember being surprised (and pleased!) when Ron Paul used the term to describe the "Ground Zero mosque"'s opposition in 2010. Normally I hesitate to assign that much importance to diction, but characterizing folks' racism and rage as fear might make us regard their feelings as less significant, and that's a good thing. Of course, they'll whine about everyone calling them "phobic," just like they now whine about everyone calling them "bigots," but haters gonna hate.
Finally, Florida Republican Senate candidate Carlos Beruff calls President Obama an "animal." And when probable Democratic Senate nominee Patrick Murphy criticized him for it, a Beruff spokeshack accused Mr. Murphy of "resort(ing) to name-calling and the politics of racial division." And here you thought calling a black President an "animal" in front of a group of Republican supporters at a Florida country club was an example of ""resort(ing) to name-calling and the politics of racial division"! If I'm Florida Democrats, I'm putting up ads calling Carlos Beruff "the only real conservative in the race" right quick.
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