Max Honoré

AP nixes 'homophobia', and other '-phobia' words, 'ethnic cleansing'

Wed, 28 Nov 2012 08:09:32 -0500

AP nixes 'homophobia', and other '-phobia' words, 'ethnic cleansing':

Short version: Phobia is a psychological disorder. Anti-gay, Anti-Mulsim, etc. will be used in its place.

“Ethnic cleansing” is a euphemism. Specifically state what happened. i.e. “The Holocaust is an example of ethnically-motivated genocide.”

(Side note: Per usual, don’t read the comments. Most of them didn’t actually read past the headline and the word “Orwellian” is used injudiciously.)

Photo

Wed, 07 Nov 2012 08:09:39 -0500

tamburina: The Empire State Building is changing colours as...

Tue, 06 Nov 2012 23:09:10 -0500

tamburina:

The Empire State Building is changing colours as electoral votes come in. Can’t wait until it’s all blue!

Photo

Tue, 06 Nov 2012 23:07:08 -0500

If Barack Obama wins the election, the party's at my house.

Mon, 05 Nov 2012 17:00:24 -0500

If Mitt Romney wins the election, the party’s at my house in Toronto.

"If hard work were a guarantee of success, trust me, this nation would be run by a bunch of Mexican..."

Wed, 24 Oct 2012 08:09:28 -0400

“If hard work were a guarantee of success, trust me, this nation would be run by a bunch of Mexican guys with leafblowers. So congratulations, Paul Ryan—blue eyed grandson of the U.S. attorney and heir to Ryan Incorporated. You made it against no odds. You somehow came out on top, even though the deck was stacked for you.”

- Bill Maher

"If properly done, affirmative action can help us come together, go forward and grow together. It is..."

Thu, 18 Oct 2012 07:50:47 -0400

“If properly done, affirmative action can help us come together, go forward and grow together. It is in our moral, legal and practical interest to see that every person can make the most of his life. In the fight for the future, we need all hands on deck and some of those hands still need a helping hand.”

- from President Bill Clinton’s July 19, 1995, speech on affirmative action

Terry Gross reassigned to Wine Fancy!

Thu, 18 Oct 2012 06:35:43 -0400

Terry Gross reassigned to Wine Fancy!

At 11th Hour, Georgia Passes "Women As Livestock" Bill (April 2, 2012)

Tue, 16 Oct 2012 20:12:06 -0400

At 11th Hour, Georgia Passes "Women As Livestock" Bill (April 2, 2012):

meanwhileincollege:

This is the same bill I wrote a letter about and someone told me that the government was trying to distract me and that there was no way women’s rights would be taken away. Well I guess you were wrong, bitch. The bill passed and it wasn’t like you helped.

So fucking congratulations everyone. Thank you so much for helping us women out. Thank you so much for being close-minded idiots. Thank you so much for never taking biology or a real ethics class. Thank you so much for being the most ill-informed group I have ever seen. Thank you so much for not understanding the difficulties of pregnancies or the birthing of a child. Thank you so much for comparing women to cattle. Thank you so much for debasing women. Thank you so much for taking a step back in time.

If I could, I would send a jar to each person who voted for this filled with an aborted fetus. Because fuck it, I’m not really a person, so clearly I don’t have feelings.

CNN poll: 7% of Americans think PBS gets half the US budget;...

Sat, 06 Oct 2012 15:13:58 -0400

CNN poll: 7% of Americans think PBS gets half the US budget; 30% think +5%; 40% say 1-5%. In reality: 0.014% http://nyti.ms/QYMTf9 #BigBird

Imagine someone offers you a job, and they tell you, “It’s going to be great! You’re going to love it.”

Thu, 04 Oct 2012 09:17:47 -0400

Imagine someone offers you a job, and they tell you, “It’s going to be great! You’re going to love it.”:

You ask, “Okay, so what will I be doing?”

“A lot of great things!”

“Well, what specifically?”

They answer, “One, something you LIKE. Two, something that will make you look good. Three…”

You’re sort of frustrated, so you cut them off and ask, “Can you tell me anything about what I’d actually be doing on a day to day basis?”

They just smile and say, “All the stuff you like, and none of the stuff you don’t like!”

Frustrated, you move on. “Whatever. Can you at least tell me what the job pays?”

They smile again and say, “The pay is going to be great! You’re going to love it!”

You blink at them, incredulous, and ask, “But what amount will actually be on my paycheck?”

“You’re going to be very pleased. Don’t worry.”

Getting more upset, you ask, “What about benefits?”

“You’ll have some.”

“What specifically?”

They smile confidently and punch you playfully on the arm. “Oh, you. You ask some great questions.”

“I know. So what is the answer?”

“It’s going to be great. I PROMISE.”

“What about time off?” you press.

They stand there smiling at you like a cardboard cut out.

“Do I get sick time? Vacation? What hours will I be working? Is it a salaried job? Hourly? Who will be my boss?” Blank smile. “Can you even tell me where I will be working?”

They grin and gush, yet again, “Trust me, you’re really going to like it. It’s going to do lots of great things for you.”

Would you take this job?

If you answered no, then you understand why I don’t think Romney won the debate tonight and why I don’t want him to be my president.

Fact Checking the Presidential Debate in Denver

Thu, 04 Oct 2012 08:35:55 -0400

Fact Checking the Presidential Debate in Denver:

Here’s a look at some of the facts thrown around during the debate. We found some facts, some fictions, some not quite facts and some mostly fictions…

"Nice Libor … Our six-month fixing moved the entire fixing, hahahah."

Fri, 28 Sep 2012 09:13:48 -0400

“Nice Libor … Our six-month fixing moved the entire fixing, hahahah.”

- New instant messages released in court this week reveal the extent to which traders at one of the world’s largest banks freely — and fraudulently — manipulated the London Interbank Offered Rate, or LIBOR, a key benchmark interest rate that affects hundreds of trillions of dollars in consumer loans, including everything from credit cards to mortgages to student loans. Prosecutors in New York, Connecticut and elsewhere are investigating whether their states incurred losses as a result of the rate-fixing scandal.

Up w/ Chris broke down the LIBOR scandal — and what it means for you — in an in-depth segment in July.

(via upwithchris)

NoHomophobes.com tracks homophobic slurs used on Twitter in...

Fri, 28 Sep 2012 08:03:56 -0400

NoHomophobes.com tracks homophobic slurs used on Twitter in realtime

Ralph Nader: President Obama a war criminal, worse than Bush

Wed, 26 Sep 2012 13:19:23 -0400

Ralph Nader: President Obama a war criminal, worse than Bush:

It’s no surprise that Ralph Nader isn’t a fan of former President George W. Bush. After all, the longtime activist ran against him in both 2000 and 2004. But Nader’s even less a fan of President Barack Obama, if only because he thinks Obama was capable of so much more.

On issues related to the military and foreign policy, Obama’s worse than Bush, “in the sense that he’s more aggressive, more illegal worldwide,” Nader told POLITICO, going so far as to call Obama a “war criminal.”

“He’s gone beyond George W. Bush in drones, for example. He thinks the world is his plate, that national sovereignties mean nothing, drones can go anywhere. They can kill anybody that he suspects and every Tuesday he makes the call on who lives and who dies, supposed suspects in places like Yemen and Pakistan and Afghanistan, and that is a war crime and he ought to be held to account.”

Nader called Obama “below average because he raised expectation levels. What expectation level did George W. Bush raise?… He’s below average because he’s above average in his intellect and his knowledge of legality, which is violating with abandon.”

“I don’t know whether George W. Bush ever read the Constitution,” said Nader. “This man taught the Constitution, and this is what we got.”

Nader gave Obama this much: He’s the lesser of two evils when compared to GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney. But he said Obama is “the more effective evil because he brings credibility, he brings the democratic heritage to it, he has legitimized the lawless war-mongering and militarism abroad of George W. Bush.”

When asked to highlight some positives about Obama’s presidency, Nader said, “I like the way he’s emphasized renewable energy, even though he still supports nuclear and fossil fuels, as if they’re all the same, all of the above. But he does speak more about renewables than any president perhaps since Jimmy Carter.” (Nader will be speaking at the Green Festival in Washington, D.C., later this month.)

And: “He wanted to have a public works program, he really did want to have a jobs program and the Republicans crushed it and that would have created a lot of jobs that couldn’t be exported to China.”

Nader doesn’t let Republicans off easy, either, calling them “the worst Republican Party in history.”

“We’re dealing with a real sick, decaying Democratic Party that can’t defend the country against the cruelest, most ignorant, most anti-worker, most war-mongering, most Wall Street–indentured Republican Party in its history, since the 1850s.”

As for Romney, Nader said “he’s not the old Romney, governor of Massachusetts. He’s had a character and personality makeover. He’s just bought into the extreme right wing of the Republican Party, represented by Paul Ryan, and I don’t think he’s going to be able to shake that. He’s basically a corporation running for president masquerading as a human being.”

For the first time in a long time, Nader is not running for president this year. From the way he puts it, he may be through with such campaigns.

“I’ve run several times and we’ve documented the two-party tyranny, which means they’re very adept at excluding, with a whole variety of ways, third parties.”

It’s not, however, because he’s been billed by some as a political spoiler.

“That’s a politically bigoted words, as if we’re second-class citizens,” said Nader. “Since we’re all trying to get votes from one another, either we’re all spoilers of one another or none of us are spoilers.”

Forbes 400 Reinforces Flawed "We Built It" Claims & Misleads About Wealth & Opportunity in the U.S.

Wed, 26 Sep 2012 08:06:18 -0400

Forbes 400 Reinforces Flawed "We Built It" Claims & Misleads About Wealth & Opportunity in the U.S.:

Boston, MA—Forbes Magazine calls their list of the 400 richest Americans the “definitive scorecard of wealth in America,” but a new report asserts the magazine is misleading. Born on Third Base: What the Forbes 400 Really Says About Wealth & Opportunity in America, released this week by Boston-based non-profit United for a Fair Economy, examines the sources of wealth for members of the Forbes 400 and uncovers the role of inheritance and privilege in economic mobility. The report urges Forbes to stop glamorizing the “self-made man” while minimizing the other factors in wealth accumulation, including tax policies, birthright, gender, and race.

The report finds that 40 percent of the Forbes 400 list inherited a sizable asset from a family member or spouse, and over 20 percent inherited sufficient wealth to make the list. In addition, 17 percent of the Forbes 400 have family members on the list.

“Forbes spins a misleading tale of what it takes to become wealthy in the U.S. by understating the overwhelming impact of birthright and privilege,” said Shannon Moriarty, co-author of the report. “Economic success should be a function of achievement, not just a guarantee for people lucky enough to be born into wealthy families. The Forbes 400 shows that birthright and family privilege are still very much at play in the American Dream.”

The report explains that the net worth of the Forbes 400 grew fifteen-fold between the launch of the list in 1982 and 2011, while wealth stagnated for the average U.S. household. In 1982, the wealth threshold for the Forbes 400 was $75 million; today, every person on the list is a billionaire.

Women accounted for just 10 percent of the list in 2011, and nearly 90 percent of those women inherited their fortunes. The whiteness of the Forbes 400 list also makes clear the racial wealth divide. In the past two years, just one African American made the list. “Instead of asserting that ‘the American dream is very much alive,’ Forbes should acknowledge that the opportunity to become wealthy has never been equally shared,” said Moriarty. “The billionaire members of the Forbes 400 are exceptions, not the rule.”

Born On Third Base takes Forbes to task for their misuse of the loaded term “self-made” and the undervaluing of privilege and social capital in financial success. “We disagree with Forbes claim that 70 percent of the list made their fortunes entirely from scratch,” said Brian Miller, executive director of United for a Fair Economy and co-author of the book The Self-Made Myth. “The ‘self-made’ and ‘I built this’ narratives wrongly present the opportunity to become rich as equally attainable by all people in today’s highly stratified society. Forbes’ story also ignores the important contributions of others and the role of government in the success of the wealthiest Americans.”

“Tax policies have for decades been tilted in favor of the very wealthy,” said Tim Sullivan, federal policy coordinator at United for a Fair Economy. “Tax rates on capital gains have been slashed to historic lows, which is of particular benefit to the likes of the Forbes 400.” The report explains that the wealthiest 0.1 percent (including those on the list) receive half of all net increases in capital gains. “Drastic cuts to the federal estate tax made under George W. Bush and extended with the 2010 Obama tax deal have made it easier for wealthy families to keep and amass even greater fortunes,” said Sullivan.

“As was once said of President George W. Bush, many of those on the Forbes 400 were ‘born on third base’ but claim to have ‘hit a triple,’ and the Forbes 400 list perpetuates this falsehood,” said Moriarty.

United for a Fair Economy is launching a petition to coincide with the release of the Forbes 400 and the Born on Third Base report, asking Forbes to tell the whole story of wealth and opportunity in the U.S. Download the report and see the petition at www.faireconomy.org/BornOnThirdBase2012. Co-authors of Born on Third Base and authors of the book The Self-Made Myth are available for interview.

"I don’t think the President should be watching Homeland for the same reason I don’t..."

Sun, 23 Sep 2012 20:09:18 -0400

“I don’t think the President should be watching Homeland for the same reason I don’t think Charlie Sheen should be watching Breaking Bad.”

- Jimmy Kimmel

‘I Didn’t Know You Had Families’ Mitt Romney Told Group Of Gay Parents - by David Badash

Sun, 23 Sep 2012 18:58:26 -0400

‘I Didn’t Know You Had Families’ Mitt Romney Told Group Of Gay Parents - by David Badash:

In 2004, then-Masachusetts Governor Mitt Romney succumbed to meet with a group of gay and lesbian parents who were trying to get him to follow that state’s supreme court ruling to enable same-sex couples to marry. Romney reportedly was unmoved after hearing their stories and why they needed the law to allow them to marry — to protect their families.

“I didn’t know you had families,” Romney told the LGBT parents in the group, standing in his office, according to an extensive article in Boston Spirit, a blog hosted by the Boston Globe’s website:

“It was like talking to a robot. No expression, no feeling,” recalls David Wilson, one of the plaintiffs in the case who met with Romney that day. “People were sharing touching stories, stories where you’d expect recognition in the other person’s face that they at least hear what you’re saying — that there’s empathy. He didn’t even shake his head. He was completely blank.”

Occasionally Romney would say something.

“I didn’t know you had families,” remarked Romney to the group, according to Wilson. The offhanded remark underscored that Romney, the governor of the first state prepared to grant same-sex marriage, hadn’t taken the time to look at what the landmark case was really about. By this point the plaintiff’s stories had been widely covered by national media — in particular, Julie Goodridge’s heartrending tale of how her then-partner, Hillary, was denied hospital visitation following the precarious birth of daughter Annie. It was the ignorance of these facts — and Romney’s inaccurate, insensitive answer to her parting question, that pushed Julie Goodridge to her breaking point.

“I looked him in the eye as we were leaving,” recalls Goodridge. “And I said, ‘Governor Romney, tell me — what would you suggest I say to my 8 year-old daughter about why her mommy and her ma can’t get married because you, the governor of her state, are going to block our marriage?’”

His response, according to Goodridge: “I don’t really care what you tell your adopted daughter. Why don’t you just tell her the same thing you’ve been telling her the last eight years.”

Romney’s retort enraged a speechless Goodridge; he didn’t care, and by referring to her biological daughter as “adopted,” it was clear he hadn’t even been listening. By the time she was back in the hallway, she was reduced to tears.

“I really kind of lost it,” says Goodridge. “I’ve never stood before someone who had no capacity for empathy. It went behind flat affect. It was a complete lack of ability or motivation to understand other people.”

The extensive article, written by Scott Kearnan, notes too Romney’s decision to dismantle the Governor’s Commission on Gay and Lesbian Youth, created to “to specifically address youth-related issues like anti-gay harassment and teen suicide,” Kearnan writes:

At first Romney seemed as though he’d be an ally to the Commission, says Kathleen Henry, who chaired the Commission during Romney’s administration. Romney released official proclamations recognizing Youth Pride, and in his inauguration expressed the importance of defending civil rights regardless of, among other things, sexual orientation. “I opened almost every meeting reading that [passage from Romney’s inauguration], like it was a prayer,” recalls Henry. “I’d say, ‘This is what our governor believes.’”

Then in May 2006, Henry got a phone call from Romney’s chief of staff. A Commission press release touting the Youth Pride parade had been sent out on stationery that included the governor’s name in its sidebar. This placed Romney’s name on the same page as the word “transgender.” He was not happy. He was going to shut down the Commission. Just like that. The end.

Henry’s heart sank. Suicide prevention programs, support for Gay-Straight Alliances (GSA), training administrators to establish “safe school” practices for gay youth — all of that was “flashing before my eyes,” says Henry, who was only hours away from a Commission fundraiser at the Omni Parker House when she received the call. Luckily, political allies leapt to the Commission’s defense, and within hours Romney reversed his order to dismantle the group. In response, Henry worked with the Massachusetts Legislature to hurriedly create the Massachusetts Commission on GLBT Youth, which would exist independent of the governor’s office.

Once that was established, Romney dismantled the original Commission as a redundancy. Then something strange happened. Henry’s phone rang again, it was Romney himself calling, and the tone was very different.

Kearnan’s article appears extensively researched and covers far more ground on Mitt Romney’s interactions with the LGBT community or anything remotely gay. Highly recommend you read and share.

nedhepburn: Watched a very disturbing #StopandFrisk episode...

Sun, 23 Sep 2012 08:03:38 -0400

nedhepburn:

Watched a very disturbing #StopandFrisk episode unfold when I was out on the bike. The guy was walking along and two cops grabbed him and threw him against the wall. He was screaming for help and saying he did nothing wrong. (Taken with Instagram at Bergen Bagels)

Welcome to the Up w/ Chris Tumblr

Sat, 22 Sep 2012 09:52:00 -0400

upwithchris:

Today on Up w/ Chris Hayes we celebrated our one-year anniversary. Our first year on the air has been defined by a sense of self-discovery and experimentation, a determination to innovate, to push forward the boundaries of what our show can be. We’ve journeyed from a conference room in 30 Rockefeller Plaza to Inequalistan to Occupy Wall Street, tinkering and improving at every step of the way. And you, our online audience, have been an integral part of that process, making Up w/ Chris very much a communal enterprise.

In the spirit of that innovation, today we’re launching a Tumblr. For as much as you see on the air, there is so much more that goes into producing Up w/ Chris every week. We have a rigorous, thoughtful, creative editorial process, and we’re hoping this platform will be an expression of that. We’ll be posting considerably more of all those revealing production elements you see each week on the show: charts, graphs, photos, videos, thoughts from our producers, and more. We hope it will be evocative of the UP sensibility — weekend mornings, all week long.

We also want this to be as much of an interactive experience as possible. On Tumblr you can reply, reblog, ask us questions and more. Is there an especially knotty political issue you think UP can elucidate with a handy chart or graph? A myth we can debunk with a quick review of the empirical evidence? Some historical perspective we can provide? Let us know.

When we first launched our Twitter account — and when Wyeth Ruthven, the original #upper — created the #uppers hash tag, there were just eleven mentions. Today, our record is above 7,000. We hope to see the same growth and enthusiasm here. Welcome!

— Sal Gentile, segment & digital producer, Up w/ Chris Hayes.

Up with Chris Hayes has joined Tumblr. We can all stop now and let them take over.