In the News

Here is some stuff in the news today...

[Content Note: Class warfare] How outrageous has wealth inequality truly become? So outrageous that a "note from Goldman Sachs Group Inc. analysts" includes this comment on corporate profit margins: "We are always wary of guiding for mean reversion. But, if we are wrong and high margins manage to endure for the next few years (particularly when global demand growth is below trend), there are broader questions to be asked about the efficacy of capitalism." Holy shit. The Bloomberg article ends thus: "Needless to say, it's not every day you see a major investment bank say it might have to start asking broader questions about capitalism itself."

[CN: Discussion of racism] This piece by Erin Aubry Kaplan for Salon is extraordinary and I beg you to read every word of it: "Obama as folk hero: To be what he's trying to be—black, idealistic, and president—is nothing less than superhuman."

[CN: Descriptions of bullying; assault; rape] And this piece by Melissa Harris-Perry, "Of Teachers and Students," is also an absolute must-read: "I had little time to fret because moments later a dozen of my students came tumbling into the lobby, barely able to contain their enthusiasm, literally bursting at the seams with stories of what they had seen and experienced in their caucus locations. I don't know if he was there to kill me. I know they were there to save me. It was seeing my students out of the corner of my eye that broke the trance of survivor submission into which I'd slipped earlier. As he'd invaded my space with angry, incoherent cruelty, I heard a voice in my head roar, 'Not in front of my students!' I did not think, 'No! Get away from me!' I thought, 'Not in front of my students!'"

[CN: Racism; misogyny; violence; war on agency] Tina Vasquez has a conversation with Virginia Espino and Renee Tajima-Peña, who made the film No Más Bebés, about women, primarily Spanish-speaking immigrants, who were coerced into signing papers "consenting to" sterilization at the Los Angeles County General Hospital in the 1970s. "The way they told their stories in the 2000s was the same way they told it in the 1970s, based on court records. They didn't stray from their original memories. They still remembered the details 40 years later."

RIP Alyce Dixon: "The oldest female Veteran, the high-spirted, fun-loving, amazing local celebrity, Ms. Alyce Dixon, died peacefully in her sleep at the Washington DC Veterans Affairs Medical Center's Community Living Center. She was 108 years old. ...Ms. Dixon was born in 1907, when an American's average life expectancy was only 47 years. She was born Alice Ellis in Boston. At the age of 16, she changed the spelling of her name to Alyce after seeing a picture show starring actress Alyce Mills. She lived life on her own terms from that day forward. She was married for a time, but divorced her husband over an $18 grocery bill. He found out she was sending money home to her family and put her on a strict allowance. This didn't sit well for the independent young woman. 'I found myself a job, an apartment and a roommate. I didn't need him or his money,' she said. She later joined the military in 1943. She was among one of the first African-American women in the Army. As a member of the Women's Army Corps, she was stationed in England and France where she played an important role in the postal service as part of the 6888th Battalion." You can read more about the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion here.

[CN: Birtherism] The Illinois Board of Elections has ruled that Senator Ted Cruz meets the criteria for being on the state's ballot and is indeed "a natural born citizen by virtue of being born in Canada to his mother who was a U.S. citizen at the time of his birth." Maybe now we can put to rest this entire racist garbage argument and start talking about how Cruz should be considered ineligible for the presidency by voters because he is an ignorant jackass.

In other presidential news: Senator Marco Rubio is a plagiarist who stole part of his speech from President Obama. Who's the maker and who's the taker now, pal?

"David Beckham bought hot drinks for a paramedic and her patient after he spotted them waiting for an ambulance in the cold. Cycle response paramedic Catherine Maynard was helping an elderly man, who had fallen in central London. Ms Maynard said the former England captain greeted them, got in his car and returned 10 minutes later with cups of tea and coffee." This guy.

Headline of the Day: "Daddy longlegs discovered with 99-million-year erection." Better see a doctor about that!

"Scientists have discovered what causes Resting Bitch Face: One particular emotion was responsible for the jump: 'The big change in percentage came from 'contempt,'' [behavioral researcher Abbe Macbeth] said." I keep telling y'all: I'm not offended; I'm contemptuous!

And finally! "Furbonacci Sequence Proves That Cats Are Purrfect." LOL.