The NEWS !!

[grokit]

much better starting material is readily available to the highest bidder

What about this part, this is where the funding comes in.
I would imagine that the expertise is for sale as well (pakistan, former su)
Don't forget they're supposedly hooked up with nato and the saudis, what a tangled web.

 

[cybrguy]

Don't you just love it...

Fox News Glosses Over Awkward Reality That Impeachment Calls Came From Its Own Contributors
Blog ››› July 10, 2014 8:46 PM EDT ››› OLIVIA KITTEL

Fox News' Special Report highlighted conservative calls for President Obama's impeachment, but hid that the calls they cite as coming from "some prominent outside conservative voices" actually originated with Fox's own contributors.

On the July 10 edition of Fox News' Special Report with Bret Baier, Fox correspondent Mike Emanuel reported that "some prominent outside conservative voices have called for President Obama to be impeached":

While an on-screen image showed that Fox contributors Sarah Palin and Allen West were those "outside conservative voices" calling for impeachment, Emanuel dodged the uncomfortable truth that Fox contributors have been leading the impeachment that he reported on.

On Fox News, Palin said that "impeachment is a message that has to be sent to our president that we're not going to put up with this lawlessness," citing the recent humanitarian crisis at the border, and urged Congress to "get going" on impeachment.

West called for Obama's impeachment more than a month ago, and was quick to claim that Palin's call for impeachment was a sign that "his efforts to remove the president from the White House were gaining momentum."

 

[grokit]

These two seem to go together

U.N. To Confront US On Persistent Racial Discrimination

Imagine the government taking away your two children in a hearing that lasts less than 60 seconds. Madonna Pappan and her husband, members of the Oglala Sioux Tribe in South Dakota, don’t have to imagine it, because it happened to them. And they’re not alone: An American Indian child in South Dakota is 11 times more likely to be sent to foster care than a non-Indian child. Imagine receiving a life sentence without the possibility of parole for serving as a go-between in the sale of two small $5 bags of marijuana. That’s exactly what happened to Fate Vincent Winslow, an African American homeless man who says that he accepted the offer of an undercover police officer for a $5 commission in order to earn some money to get something to eat. Mr. Winslow is now serving a life sentence, without the possibility of parole, in Louisiana for this and his other prior non-violent crimes. In that state, African Americans are serving life without parole sentences for nonviolent crimes at approximately 23 times the rate of whites. Nationwide, an estimated 65.4 percent of the prisoners serving such sentences are African American...


Arrests In Detroit Today Over Water Shut-Offs

Police arrested about 10 protesters this morning after opponents of massive water shutoffs in Detroit locked hands and blocked the entrance to a company hired to turn off the utilities of tens of thousands of delinquent residents. Police began making the arrests as the human blockade stopped a red pickup truck from entering the Homrich Inc. facility on East Grand Boulevard. The city is paying the company $5.6 million to handle shutoffs for two years. Among those arrested were pastors and seniors, who were placed in the backs of police cars and hauled off. Some were dragged by police for refusing to move. Protesters said tens of thousands of residents are delinquent on their water bills because they can’t afford them. Water is a human right, they said. The city said the water system is hemorrhaging money and delaying much-needed repairs because of nonpaying residents...

 

[Vicki]

These two seem to go together

U.N. To Confront US On Persistent Racial Discrimination

Imagine the government taking away your two children in a hearing that lasts less than 60 seconds. Madonna Pappan and her husband, members of the Oglala Sioux Tribe in South Dakota, don’t have to imagine it, because it happened to them. And they’re not alone: An American Indian child in South Dakota is 11 times more likely to be sent to foster care than a non-Indian child. Imagine receiving a life sentence without the possibility of parole for serving as a go-between in the sale of two small $5 bags of marijuana. That’s exactly what happened to Fate Vincent Winslow, an African American homeless man who says that he accepted the offer of an undercover police officer for a $5 commission in order to earn some money to get something to eat. Mr. Winslow is now serving a life sentence, without the possibility of parole, in Louisiana for this and his other prior non-violent crimes. In that state, African Americans are serving life without parole sentences for nonviolent crimes at approximately 23 times the rate of whites. Nationwide, an estimated 65.4 percent of the prisoners serving such sentences are African American...


Arrests In Detroit Today Over Water Shut-Offs

Police arrested about 10 protesters this morning after opponents of massive water shutoffs in Detroit locked hands and blocked the entrance to a company hired to turn off the utilities of tens of thousands of delinquent residents. Police began making the arrests as the human blockade stopped a red pickup truck from entering the Homrich Inc. facility on East Grand Boulevard. The city is paying the company $5.6 million to handle shutoffs for two years. Among those arrested were pastors and seniors, who were placed in the backs of police cars and hauled off. Some were dragged by police for refusing to move. Protesters said tens of thousands of residents are delinquent on their water bills because they can’t afford them. Water is a human right, they said. The city said the water system is hemorrhaging money and delaying much-needed repairs because of nonpaying residents...

It's really sad when the rest of the planet says, "you are being assholes, and you have no morals. The rest of the world is looking down on you, please stop."

Just for the record, some of us hate these other people for being moral assholes, including me!

 

[cybrguy]

Medical marijuana research stalls after Arizona professor is let go
By Saundra Young, CNN
updated 1:13 PM EDT, Sat July 12, 2014

This is your body on weed
STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Dr. Sue Sisley was planning to study marijuana's effect on veterans with PTSD
• Studies on the medical benefits of cannabis have been few and far between
• Sisley's contracts at University of Arizona were not renewed
• University says it has championed medical marijuana research on campus

Editor's note: For an exclusive interview with Dr. Sue Sisley, watch "Sanjay Gupta | M.D." Saturday at 4:30 p.m. ET and Sunday at 7:30 a.m. ET.

(CNN) -- A well-known medical marijuana researcher at the University of Arizona says a study she's been planning for four years has cost her her job.

Dr. Sue Sisley, a clinical assistant professor in the college of medicine, has been with the university for nearly eight years in several capacities. She has been planning a pioneering study on marijuana's effect on veterans with chronic post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD.

"I was on the forefront of the most controversial research happening at the university," said Sisley, the study's principal investigator, said. "And they did not like the optics of veterans smoking and vaporizing marijuana on their campus, even in the context of a rigorous, FDA-approved, randomized controlled trial."

That trial was designed to look at the safety and efficacy of using marijuana to treat veterans who suffer from PTSD and aren't responding to other approved treatments. Seventy veterans were to participate in the randomized, triple-blind study, in which five different potencies would be used; some would be placebos and others would contain doses of up to 12% tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, the psychoactive ingredient in pot.

For decades, studies to determine the medical benefits of cannabis have been few and far between because the Drug Enforcement Agency classifies it as a Schedule I drug -- the most dangerous class of drugs. That puts it in the same category as heroin, LSD and ecstasy. Schedule I drugs are defined by the agency as "drugs with no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse."

The whole article from which this is only part, is here:
http://www.cnn.com/2014/07/12/health/marijuana-researcher-arizona/index.html?hpt=hp_t2

 

[grokit]

^ PLEASE University of Colorado hire (and empower) this woman!

 

[cybrguy]

An abundance of rhetoric, a dearth of solutions
07/14/14 08:01 AM

By Steve Benen

Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas), chairman of the House Homeland Security committee, argued yesterday that “some” of the unattended minors from Central America he saw “looked more like a threat to coming into the United States.” How could he tell? McCaul didn’t say.
Soon after, Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) argued in support of sending the National Guard to the border. Asked what good Guard troops could under the circumstances, Perry couldn’t say. (In fact, he seemed confused by the question.)
A variety of congressional Republicans have now balked at President Obama’s appeal for emergency resource, insisting the package costs “too much.” What’s the GOP’s alternative response? What’s the proper amount of spending? They wouldn’t say.
Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.), the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, is among many far-right lawmakers condemning the White House for not deporting Dream Act kids. Why are Republicans focusing so heavily on a policy unrelated to the humanitarian crisis at the border? They haven’t said.
To be sure, this is an incredibly difficult crisis to resolve. Anyone who suggests there’s an easy, quick fix to this is kidding themselves. But as is too often the case, congressional Republicans – folks who were elected to help shape federal law – appear to be sitting out the substantive debate altogether. GOP lawmakers have decided what’s really needed right now is incessant complaining – and little else. Danny Vinik added:
If Republicans object to this request, what exactly do they propose instead? How should we move through the huge backload of cases? Where should we hold the unaccompanied minors in the meantime? And how should we pay to transport them to their home countries?
It’s not that Republicans have poor responses to these questions; it’s that they’re not even trying to answer them.
The post-policy GOP knows what it doesn’t like – the president and his policies – but seems to have forgotten that a governing party, or at least a party that maintains the pretense that governing matters, cannot simply boo from the sidelines.
In some cases, they’re hardly making any effort at all. For example, Goodlatte late last week published an item for Breitbart, with some specific recommendations.

Send the strong, public message that those who enter illegally will be returned. President Obama needs to use his bully-pulpit to send the clear message that those who are seeking to enter the U.S. illegally will be returned to their home countries and that subjecting children to the perilous trek northward to our southern border will no longer be tolerated.

​

This sounds like sensible advice, right up until one realizes that the president has already done this, and asked for resources from Congress for an advertising campaign in countries like Honduras and El Salvador to reach an even larger Central American audience. Putting aside the question of why the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee is writing pieces for Breitbart, why doesn’t Goodlatte know that Obama’s already done what he’s asking the president to do?
It’s easy to get the impression that congressional Republicans’ policymaking muscle has atrophied after a prolonged lack of use. GOP lawmakers have failed to work on public policy for so long, doing so little substantive work in recent memory, that they seem wholly unprepared to act with any sense of purpose now.
Their complain-first instinct obviously remains intact, but a challenge this complex will need more than whining politicians. There’s real work to be done – the sooner the better – and it’s well past time for congressional Republicans to pick up their game. They’re outraged by the crisis at the border? Good. Now they can get to work doing something about it.

 

[RUDE BOY]

Why does the media portray the Palestinian People as an outside force when the country they now/still live in was theirs and called Palestine for 2000 or so years?

I don't get it. What a fucked up World we live in.

 

[cybrguy]

An odd definition of ‘failure’
07/14/14 08:38 AM

By Steve Benen

Last week we learned that even Republican consumers who signed up for health care coverage through the Affordable Care Act are pleased with the results. The results were striking – when the GOP loses its own voters in the debate over “Obamacare,” it’s a bad sign – but they were also part of a fantastic streak of good news for those rooting for the success of the American system.

The drop in the number of uninsured Americans is terrific. There’s been an “amazing” decline in Medicare’s price tag, thanks in part to ACA reforms. Consumers are paying their premiums and insurers are clamoring to participate. Every Republican prediction about the success of the system has failed to come true.

Indeed, just this morning, the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office reported that the ACA itself will cost even less than previously believed.
And it’s against this backdrop that some dead-enders can’t let go of their old talking points.

In what could be the latest move toward a 2016 presidential bid, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) offered a wide-ranging critique of President Obama’s domestic and foreign policies.

Speaking to reporters at the National Governors Association on Saturday, Christie labeled Obamacare, the administration’s signature legislation, a “failure on a whole number of levels” and said it should be repealed.
​

Lately, it seems Republicans call the ACA a “failure” more out of habit than sincerity. Christie, for example, didn’t back up his rhetoric with anything specific, perhaps hoping people would just take his criticism at face value.
But there’s an obvious follow-up question: what exactly does Chris Christie think “failure” means? Because it doesn’t seem to apply at all to the Affordable Care Act.

Paul Krugman today notes the larger phenomenon.

You might ask why, if health reform is going so well, it continues to poll badly. It’s crucial, I’d argue, to realize that Obamacare, by design, by and large doesn’t affect Americans who already have good insurance. As a result, many peoples’ views are shaped by the mainly negative coverage in the news media. Still, the latest tracking survey from the Kaiser Family Foundation shows that a rising number of Americans are hearing about reform from family and friends, which means that they’re starting to hear from the program’s beneficiaries.
And as I suggested earlier, people in the media – especially elite pundits – may be the last to hear the good news, simply because they’re in a socioeconomic bracket in which people generally have good coverage.
For the less fortunate, however, the Affordable Care Act has already made a big positive difference. The usual suspects will keep crying failure, but the truth is that health reform is – gasp! – working.
​

Someone might want to let Chris Christie know; he seems to be a little behind on the news.

 

[grokit]

humanitarian crisis at the border

Both sides are full of shit on this one; the fact is that this crisis was created by obama's cia back in 2009, when they played a significant role in ousting el salvador's democratically-elected government. El salvador is now a "failed state", and is where the majority of these refugee kids are from. Because it happened back in 2009 it was on obama's watch, but the operation was likely instigated by his predecessor's administration.

Why does the media portray the Palestinian People as an outside force when the country they now/still live in was theirs and called Palestine for 2000 or so years?

I don't get it. What a fucked up World we live in.

The israeli's latest pr salvo has backfired at least,
here's what they put out followed by the much more widely-viewed spoof:

Well played



Finally, this guy thinks the american century is over. (duh!)

"China and Russia have rudely declined America’s offer to make them subservient military satellites, like Japan and Germany. China has been building up its military, engaging in cyber-attacks on the U.S., and intimidating its neighbors, to promote the end of American military primacy in East Asia.

Meanwhile, Russia has responded to the expansion of the U.S.-led NATO alliance to its borders by going to war with Georgia in 2008 to deter Georgian membership in NATO and then, in 2014, seizing Crimea from Ukraine, after Washington promoted a rebellion against the pro-Russian Ukrainian president.

There are even signs of a Sino-Russian alliance against the U.S....

Suppose a delegation from a developing country were to visit various First World nations in search of models. What on earth could the U.S. teach them? How to enrich bankers who add little or no value to the economy? How to ensure that citizens pay far more for medical goods and services that cost much less everywhere else? How to make citizens go into debt to get an education? How to import multitudes of poor foreign workers to compete with native workers, even though the country is suffering from massive and persistent underemployment? How to allow many employers to pay wages so low that workers are forced to use public welfare services to survive?

The U.S. is facing a triple crisis — a crisis of foreign policy, a crisis of economics and a crisis of democracy. The American republic has renewed and rebuilt itself during even greater crises in the past, and can do so again. But the first step is to drop the happy talk and chest-thumping and flag-waving and be honest with ourselves about the severity of the problems confronting us."

http://www.salon.com/2014/07/12/the...t_down_in_a_blaze_of_shame/?source=newsletter

 

[cybrguy]

This is such an easy argument to make I will never get why it isn't at the top of everyone's list...

http://www.vox.com/2014/7/7/5877017/how-legalized-pot-could-make-america-healthier

This should work with EVERYONE!

BTW, WE know that there are myriad ways that MJ is GOOD for many people, but while some just can't accept that, this argument is practically impossible to deny.

 

[Crohnie]

Jose Antonio Vargas, an illegal immigrant from the Philippines who has been flaunting his status on all the national news networks, was FINALLY detained by Border Patrol in Texas today. That Vargas is a Pulitzer Prize winner is irrelevant. He fraudulently obtained numerous government documents. My question is: why the fuck did it take so long?

All of my grandparents were immigrants to the USA. They did it the right way and didn't shove their way to the front of the line even though their lives were at risk. If you're an illegal immigrant, it's probably not a good idea to repeatedly flaunt it on national television.

 

[cybrguy]

Those who see McCarthy comparisons as a compliment
07/15/14 03:22 PM—Updated 07/15/14 03:39 PM

By Steve Benen
Republican Party officials would be delighted to see Todd Akin quietly go away. Apparently, though, the failed far-right Senate candidate doesn’t care – he just keeps talking. Take Akin’s interview with the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, for example.

In a 15-minute telephone interview, the Republican Akin compared his downfall in the 2012 Missouri Senate race to that of former Sen. Joe McCarthy, R-Wis., who in the 1950s was discredited after making allegations that many thought overstated Communist influence in the U.S. government.
“I use McCarthy as an example of someone who was assassinated by the media, so he had no credibility,” Akin said, just as he believes he was politically assassinated by “intentional and dishonest” distortions of what he said about rape and pregnancy in 2012.
​

Right off the bat, let’s note that Akin wasn’t “assassinated by the media,” so much as the media reported what Akin said publicly, which in turn doomed the former congressman’s career. News organizations gave Akin a spotlight; it’s not reporters’ fault that Missouri voters didn’t like what they saw.
But more important is this notion that Akin sees himself as a modern Joseph McCarthy. In most circles, that would be considered an ugly insult, but for the far-right Republican, McCarthy comparisons are apparently some kind of compliment.
What’s especially interesting, though, is just how often this comes up. As we talked about in March, the American mainstream recognized for years the fact that McCarthyism was a dangerous mistake – and the Senate was right to censure McCarthy in 1954.
But as Republican politics moved to the right, the former senator’s witch hunt got a second look by many conservatives, and slowly but surely, McCarthy became a GOP hero again.
In Alabama, for example, Republican Scott Beason, a state senator and congressional candidate, condemned parallels between the Salem Witch Trials and McCarthyism because, in his words, McCarthy ”turned out to be right.”
Meanwhile. in Congress, Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) has endorsed bringing back the House Un-American Activities Committee, while Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) told msnbc in 2008 that she supports investigations to determine which members of Congress are “pro-America or anti-America.”
A few years ago in Texas, conservative activists rewriting the state’s curriculum recommended telling students that McCarthy was a hero, “vindicated” by history.
And just last year, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) was asked whether McCarthy is someone he personally admired. The senator refused to answer
When thinking about the differences between the contemporary Republican Party and how much it’s changed over the last generation, look no further than those who’ve decided McCarthyism wasn’t so bad after all.

 

[Caligula]

Those who see McCarthy comparisons as a compliment
07/15/14 03:22 PM—Updated 07/15/14 03:39 PM

By Steve Benen
Republican Party officials would be delighted to see Todd Akin quietly go away. Apparently, though, the failed far-right Senate candidate doesn’t care – he just keeps talking. Take Akin’s interview with the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, for example.

In a 15-minute telephone interview, the Republican Akin compared his downfall in the 2012 Missouri Senate race to that of former Sen. Joe McCarthy, R-Wis., who in the 1950s was discredited after making allegations that many thought overstated Communist influence in the U.S. government.
“I use McCarthy as an example of someone who was assassinated by the media, so he had no credibility,” Akin said, just as he believes he was politically assassinated by “intentional and dishonest” distortions of what he said about rape and pregnancy in 2012.
​

Right off the bat, let’s note that Akin wasn’t “assassinated by the media,” so much as the media reported what Akin said publicly, which in turn doomed the former congressman’s career. News organizations gave Akin a spotlight; it’s not reporters’ fault that Missouri voters didn’t like what they saw.
But more important is this notion that Akin sees himself as a modern Joseph McCarthy. In most circles, that would be considered an ugly insult, but for the far-right Republican, McCarthy comparisons are apparently some kind of compliment.
What’s especially interesting, though, is just how often this comes up. As we talked about in March, the American mainstream recognized for years the fact that McCarthyism was a dangerous mistake – and the Senate was right to censure McCarthy in 1954.
But as Republican politics moved to the right, the former senator’s witch hunt got a second look by many conservatives, and slowly but surely, McCarthy became a GOP hero again.
In Alabama, for example, Republican Scott Beason, a state senator and congressional candidate, condemned parallels between the Salem Witch Trials and McCarthyism because, in his words, McCarthy ”turned out to be right.”
Meanwhile. in Congress, Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) has endorsed bringing back the House Un-American Activities Committee, while Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) told msnbc in 2008 that she supports investigations to determine which members of Congress are “pro-America or anti-America.”
A few years ago in Texas, conservative activists rewriting the state’s curriculum recommended telling students that McCarthy was a hero, “vindicated” by history.
And just last year, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) was asked whether McCarthy is someone he personally admired. The senator refused to answer
When thinking about the differences between the contemporary Republican Party and how much it’s changed over the last generation, look no further than those who’ve decided McCarthyism wasn’t so bad after all.

Meanwhile, Todd Akin's interns Betty Parris and Abigail Williams, have been reported as claiming that President Obama is using Kenyan black magic to give Mr. Akin "spectral fits".

 

[cybrguy]

Well, hell yeah. Why do you think the ACA is working so well? Black Magic!

 

[grokit]

The GOP is in need of a new brand, they will not have much impact as a majority in any national government for much longer if this recent poll on the "millennial" generation is representative of the future. Perhaps this is why the republicans are acting out so much lately, they have seen the writing on the wall.

"This generation is racially diverse, pro-pot, pro-marriage equality and pro-online gambling."

GOP Self-Destruction Complete: Millennials Officially Hate Conservatives
The backlash machine has finally, completely backfired.

July 14, 2014

Conservatives are stuck in a perpetual outrage loop. The reappearance of Todd Akin, the horror-movie villain immortality of Sarah Palin, theunseemly celebration of the Hobby Lobby decision – these all speak to a chorus of "la-la-la-can't-hear-you" loud enough to drown out the voice of an entire generation. Late last week, the Reason Foundation released the results of a poll about that generation, the millennials; its signature finding was the confirmation of a mass abandonment of social conservatism and the GOP. This comes at a time when the conservative movement is increasingly synonymous with mean-spirited, prank-like and combativeactivism and self-important grand gestures. The millennial generation has repeatedly defined itself as the most socially tolerant of the modern era, but one thing it really can't stand is drama.

Republicans were already destined for piecemeal decimation due to the declining numbers of their core constituency. But they don't just have a demographic problem anymore; they have stylistic one. The conservative strategy of outrage upon outrage upon outrage bumps up against the policy preferences and the attitudes of millennials in perfect discord.

We all can recognize the right's tendency to respond to backlash with more "lash" (Akin didn't disappear, he doubled down on "legitimate rape"), but it seems to have gained speed with the age of social media and candidate tracking. The Tea Party's resistance to the leavening effect of establishment mores and political professionals has been a particularly effective accelerant. Palin's ability to put anything on the internet without any intermediary has rendered her as reckless as any tween with a SnapChat account. Akin's whiny denouncement of Washington insiders is likely to make him more credible with a certain kind of base voter. The midterms are, as we speak, producing another round of Fox News celebrities, whether or not they win their races: the Eric Cantor-vanquishing David Brat, Mississippi's Chris McDaniel and the hog-castrating mini-Palin, Jodi Ernst of Iowa.

The fire-with-fire attitude of hardline conservatives has its roots in the petulant cultural defensiveness adopted by the GOP – especially the Christian right – during the culture wars of the 90s. Their siege mentality bred an attitude toward liberals that saw every instance of social liberalization as proof of their own apocalyptic predictions and conspiracy theories. Gay marriage will lead to acceptance of beastiality and pedophilia. "Socialized medicine" will lead to the euthanizing Grandma. Access to birth control will lead to orgies in the streets.

Then came Obama's election, the Zapruder tape for the right's tin-foil hat haberdashers – a moment in history that both explained and exacerbated America's supposed decline. Dinesh D'Souza, the Oliver Stone of the Tea Party, has now made two movies about the meaning of Obama's presidency. The first, 2016: Obama's America, garnered an astounding $33m at the box office, and his lawyers blamed disappointing returns from this summer's America on a Google conspiracy to confuse moviegoers about its showtimes. (Of course.)

The GOP has long staked a claim on The Disappearing Angry White Man, but they have apparently ever-narrowing odds of getting a bite at millennials, who appear to be more like The Somewhat Concerned Multicultural Moderate. This generation is racially diverse, pro-pot, pro-marriage equality and pro-online gambling. They are troubled by the deficit but believe in the social safety net: 74% of millennials, according to Reason, want the government to guarantee food and housing to all Americans. A Pew survey found that 59% of Americans under 30 say the government should do more to solve problems, while majorities in all other age groups thought it should do less.

The Rupe-Reason poll teases out some of the thinking behind the surge of young people abandoning the GOP, and finds a generation that is less apt to take to the streets, Occupy-style, than to throw a great block party: lots of drugs, poker and gays! Millennials don't want to change things, apparently – they want everyone to get along. The report observes "[m]any specifically identified LGBTQ rights as their primary reason for being liberal"; and "[o]ften, they decided they were liberals because they really didn’t like conservatives."

But liberals can't be complacent about their demographic advantage. Their challenge is to resist the impulse to copycat the hysteria that has worked so well for the right historically. "No drama Obama" was the millennials' spirit animal – his popularity has sunk with the economy, but also with the administration's escalating rhetoric. Today, under-30 voters show a distinct preference for Hillary Clinton (39% according to Reason,53% according to the Wall Street Journal), and no wonder: she's as bloodless as Bill was lusty, as analytical as Bill was emotional. The professorial Elizabeth Warren is the logical (very logical) backup.

Right now, Democrats benefit from both the form and content of conservative message: this next generation is not just inclusive, but conflict-adverse. Millennials cringe at the old-man-yelling-at-gay-clouds spectacle of the Tea Party. Perhaps this comes from living in such close proximity of their parents for so long. If this generation does have a political philosophy, it's this: "First, do no harm." If it has a guiding moral principle, it's simpler: "Don't be embarrassing."

 

[lwien]

^^ But the problem is this. The Millennial's need to get out and vote. If they don't, the above means absolutely nothing.

In 2012, the percentage of the overall voting turnout for the age group of 18-29 was 19%. The voting turnout for the age group of 45 and over was 54%.
----http://www.ropercenter.uconn.edu/elections/how_groups_voted/voted_12.html

This HAS to change.

 

[thisperson]

I vote for third parties primarily.

I'm registered with the Green Party. I'm from the year 1991 so I think I am classified as Gen Y, I'm curious what your news have to say about that, but am still very interested in this up-coming generation.

This is excellent news since this falls in-line with my beliefs. Looks like the world is leaning slightly more left.

As for voter turnout. I know that Russell Brand does a do-not-vote campaign because he believes that the current system doesn't serve us and to vote is to show that you are complicit with this system. I wonder how many more people advocate something like that, but I think that to vote is to show that you are interested and to throw away your vote is to be registered as wanting change.

So I think people should do what I do, obviously.

 

[lwien]

As for voter turnout. I know that Russell Brand does a do-not-vote campaign because he believes that the current system doesn't serve us and to vote is to show that you are complicit with this system. I wonder how many more people advocate something like that.....

Naw, I think the low turnout for young voters is a combination of:

Laziness
Apathy
Not feeling empowered that their vote could make a difference

 

[Caligula]

That will get solved when we move to online voting. Download the app and sign in with your Facespace account to vote now!

 

[grokit]

According to the article, millennials just want everybody to chill out and get their groove on:

"[The poll] finds a generation that is less apt to take to the streets, Occupy-style, than to throw a great block party: lots of drugs, poker and gays! Millennials don't want to change things, apparently – they want everyone to get along."

As far as voting goes, the overriding issue seems to be trust:

"Millennials don’t have much confidence in either of the two major political
parties. When asked who they trust most to handle a series of issues, neither
Democrats nor Republicans receive a majority of support on any of the 15
issues surveyed. Instead pluralities say they trust “neither” party to handle
12 of the 15 issues. Pluralities trust Democrats the most on gay marriage, the
environment, and poverty. On none of the issues do a plurality of millennials
trust Republicans. 50% of millennials trust neither Democrats nor Republicans
on the issue of privacy..."

On voter registration:

"Millennials who registered to vote are also more likely to support a socially
liberal, economically conservative candidate (58%) than non-voters (48%).
Support for such a candidate also increases with educational attainment.
Forty-nine percent of those with a high school degree or less would support
a socially liberal, economically conservative candidate, compared to 63
percent of those with post-graduate degrees"

 

[Stu]

Naw, I think the low turnout for young voters is a combination of:

Laziness
Apathy
Not feeling empowered that their vote could make a difference

This is exactly my assessment as well after spending some time trying to convince my (just-turned) 18 year old son to register to vote. No matter what I threw at him as good reasons to vote, he just had the same response: "I just don't care".

Makes me kind of sad, really. I think the only way out of this mess is to make voting compulsory as they do in some countries like Brazil.

 

[cybrguy]

As for voter turnout. I know that Russell Brand does a do-not-vote campaign because he believes that the current system doesn't serve us and to vote is to show that you are complicit with this system. I wonder how many more people advocate something like that, but I think that to vote is to show that you are interested and to throw away your vote is to be registered as wanting change.

Well, I think that it is pretty fucking irresponsible and inappropriate for Brand, a Brit, to be telling American young people not to vote and exercise their responsibility as citizens. What kind of bullshit is that? I have no idea what kind of audience he has, but WTF?

Decisions are made by the people who show up. If you don't like the way things are, staying home is the worst thing you can do. Stu's son may say he doesn't care now, but I guarendamnty he is gonna care about it later. And it will be too late because he let someone else decide who would make the decisions.

I really don't understand apathy when so many things are so fucked up. If it was the 50s and smooth sailing, maybe, but that isn't what the world is like today. Damnit.

And get off my lawn, Damnit!

 

[grokit]

I think the only way out of this mess is to make voting compulsory as they do in some countries like Brazil.

In afghanistan, we're testing out a program that gathers biometric data on all of that country's eight (I think) million inhabitants. Then after the election, we can "audit" their votes (Kerry's word).

edit: Have things been improving at all in Brazil since then? Because the world cup seemed to highlight issues such as widespread poverty that have always seemed so intractable down there.

 

[Stu]

Have things been improving at all in Brazil since then? Because the world cup seemed to highlight issues such as widespread poverty that have always seemed so intractable down there.

Things are fucked up in Brazil still. If you happened to catch the end of the World Cup, you may have noticed the Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff (in the bluish suit pictured below) looking very irritated and uneasy. I asked several Brazilians about this and they all responded that it was because she knows her re-election is toast since Brazil didn't win the cup and therefore the billions spent on the event were indeed wasted. She will have to pay for this politically now as the voters express their disappointment.

Letting something as trivial as fútebol take down a president is not a good way to run a country IMO. But there is something to be said for public outrage that actually manifests itself in political change. Both Dilma and her predecessor Luis Ignacio "Lula" da Silva rose to power as outsiders fighting for the little guy. They implemented a "no hunger" policy that has brought millions out of poverty and their recent economic boom has started to build a viable middle class.

Unfortunately corruption runs rampant with all political actors in Brazil. The elite class have the system by the balls, so most of the government is bought and paid for by "special interest groups". The contractors that had to be hired at the last minute to finalize preparations for the World Cup were given to no-bid contractors that just so happen to be "friends" with whatever political party is in power.
Not too dissimilar with Putin/Sochi Olympics or the US's intimate relationship with Haliburton et al.

I think that if we forced all Americans to vote and that that forced our representative officials to act upon our true wishes, cannabis would not only be legal, but part of the fucking "Food Nutrition Pyramid" and Justin Beiber would be deported.