DNC

Elizabeth Warren’s Wall Street Money

Elizabeth Warren receives beaucoup bucks from Wall Street lawyers and the DSCC, the latter a wholly-owned subsidiary of Wall Street banksters.

Native American Democrats Not Keen On Elizabeth Warren

It’s curious to ponder how Dems would react to a Republican lying about her ethnic heritage for personal gain. Elizabeth Warren is a charlatan and demagogue of the worst kind, exactly the type of vile creature that the Democratic Party’s increasing reliance upon identity politics creates.

World Socialist Web Site on the DNC

Always worth a read, the WSWS cuts through the BS to the heart of issues, particularly with regard to the Democratic Party and “the left.” This article is no exception and a welcome breath of reality.

Animals

Vietnamese Elephants Almost Completely Exterminated

As a vegan, I obviously find this very troubling and sad. Without any intention of diminishing any person or group’s experience, I don’t understand why the world reacts to this differently than it would genocide.

War

U.S. To Retain Role As Afghan Jailer

The American government will continue to oversee prisons in Afghanistan for the foreseeable future. The atrocity stories should start trickling in any second now.

Libyan Alleges C.I.A. Waterboarding

Remember when Barack Obama started an illegal war and liberals didn’t care? Well, it wasn’t as clean and surgical as the self-appointed PR men claimed, surprise of surprises.

Names of the AfPak Dead

The names of the war dead aren’t something I seek out, but I will always repost when I see them. My position isn’t some nationalist “respect for their service,” but a desire to humanize the perverse waste of this deeply unpopular 10-year war.

Secularism

Circumcision Limited But Not Banned in Berlin

Proof that if you say “God commands it” you can get away with anything.

Russian Social Conservatives Emboldened By Pussy Riot Verdict

Pussy Riot’s conviction have emboldened the Russian ultra-right, who are now behaving in a decidedly fascistic manner.

Police State

Police Work With Apple To Block Transmission of “Sensitive Data”

Apple, America’s favorite toy maker, are working hand in glove with police departments on a device that would disable cameras during protests, etc., in any attempt to curtail police brutality footage.

Literature

Bret Easton Ellis Attacks David Foster Wallace

The thousand monkeys in a room known as Bret Easton Ellis projects hard, calling David Foster Wallace “the most tedious, overrated, tortured, pretentious writer of my generation.” Harsh words about the dead from a man who wrote one good book almost 30 years ago.

Odds and Ends

Stanford Study On Organic Food

Organic food is a marketing gimmick. Get over it, hippies.

Are Attacks On Clint Eastwood “Ageist?”

Mostly wanted to post this to point out the absurdity of using -ist / -ism to explain and analyze everything. This is a paradigm that can literally be applied to everything from hair color to what kind of car you drive.

L.A. City Pot Ban Blocked

Add this to the long list of “toldyasos” I have clocked.

DNC Lacking Same Delusional Magic It Had In 2008

The Onion nails it once again.

Cops Detain Journalists Outside of DNC

Attacks on civil liberties aren’t limited to Republican conventions.

World’s Richest Woman Suggests $2 Daily Wages For Miners

I feel like she’s just saying what most people in her tax bracket think.

7-Year-Old Girl Recovering From Bubonic Plague in Colorado

Cases of bizarre disease, however isolated, strike me as a pretty ringing indictment of public health policy in the United States.

CNN Suppresses Bahrain Documentary Due To Ties To Regime

A picture of America’s “free” press.

Massive BitCoin Heist

You no longer even need a gun to rob a bank.

Are Democrats Trying To Be The Austerity Party?

Slate asks the $64,000 question no one else wants to touch.

Study Shows Social Media Changes Hearts and Minds

Pretty striking evidence against the idea that posting arguments online is a waste of time.

RNC Viewers Preferred Eastwood and Chair to Romney Ryan

The “Draft Chair” movement continues.