Tag: TMC News

Cross posted from The Stars Hollow Gazette

The main purpose our blogging is to communicate our ideas, opinions, and stories both fact and fiction. The best part about the the blogs is information that we might not find in our local news, even if we read it online. Sharing that information is important, especially if it educates, sparks conversation and new ideas. We have all found places that are our favorites that we read everyday, not everyone’s are the same. The Internet is a vast place. Unlike “Punting the Pundits which focuses on opinion pieces mostly from the mainstream media and the larger news web sites, “Around the Blogosphere” will focus more on the medium to smaller blogs and articles written by some of the anonymous and not so anonymous writers and links to some of the smaller pieces that don’t make it to “Pundits” by Krugman, Baker, etc.

We encourage you to share your finds with us. It is important that we all stay as well informed as we can.

Follow us on Twitter @StarsHollowGzt

This is an Open Thread.

Today at Corrente, we have lambert with a question about his garden and an interesting chart from Bonddad:

• Gardendote of the Day 2013-05-16
• Political risk increased when conditions improve, not when they are at their worst

and from libbyliberal:

• Obama, the F-word, & the Criminalization of News-Gathering

Dean Baker is going on vacation but for he left he gave us something to chew on:

• How Much Money Do You Need to Get an Op-ed in the Washington Post?
• There Are No More Bangladeshes

Gaius Publius on the climate at Americablog:

• Atmospheric CO2 at highest levels in 3 million years

From the Electronic Frontier Foundation, news on the next round of talks on the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement (TPP):

• Secretive TPP Talks Re-Commence in Lima, Peru: They Can Shut Us Out, But They Can’t Shut Us Up
  
  by Maira Sutton
• We Beat Them to Lima: Opening a New Front Against Secret IP Treaties
  
  by Danny O’Brien

At emptywheel:

• The Internet Didn’t Kill the Middle Class; Laxity and Apathy Did
  
  by Rayne
• hat Is the Attrition Rate for Afghan Special Operations Forces?
  
  by Jim White

At FDL’s The Dissenter, Kevin Gosztola:

• The Obama Administration’s Propensity for Chilling News Sources

and Jon Walker at FDL Action:

• More Signs Obama Will Likely Approve Keystone XL
• We Just Have to Take Holder’s Word That He Recused Himself From AP Case
• At Least Washington Isn’t Talking About the Grand Bargain Anymore

At RH Reality Check:

• Why Is El Salvador Letting a Woman Die?
  
  by Marianne Møllmann, Amnesty International
• Yes, Abortion Is a Women’s Issue, and Yes, More Male Allies Are Welcome
  
  by Erin Matson, Editor at Large, RH Reality Check

Contributor Jaye Raye at Voices on the Square has a on going series on unions and human rights:

• Hellraisers Journal: Our food and child labor, USA.

Charles P. Pierce on grifter Michelle Rhee, climate change and Missouri at Esquire’s Politics Blog:

• The Continental Grift
• Because It’s There, Just Less Of It Than There Was
• Missouri Goes Crazy

Atrios named Michael Kinsley his Wanker of the day and Charles Pierce thinks he needs to shut up. Take a hint, Mike.

And the last words from Atrios: Deficit Panic

The real deficit panic is about the possibility that it might go away, making it slightly more difficult to engage in a program of poors kicking.

Cross posted from The Stars Hollow Gazette

The main purpose our blogging is to communicate our ideas, opinions, and stories both fact and fiction. The best part about the the blogs is information that we might not find in our local news, even if we read it online. Sharing that information is important, especially if it educates, sparks conversation and new ideas. We have all found places that are our favorites that we read everyday, not everyone’s are the same. The Internet is a vast place. Unlike “Punting the Pundits which focuses on opinion pieces mostly from the mainstream media and the larger news web sites, “Around the Blogosphere” will focus more on the medium to smaller blogs and articles written by some of the anonymous and not so anonymous writers and links to some of the smaller pieces that don’t make it to “Pundits” by Krugman, Baker, etc.

We encourage you to share your finds with us. It is important that we all stay as well informed as we can.

Follow us on Twitter @StarsHollowGzt

This is an Open Thread.

There is something going on other that the “Three Gates.”

From our friends at Corrente, economics contributor, letsgetitdone:

• Mr. President, End Debt Ceiling Hostage-taking for Good!

and a note from lambert about the outage at FDL that has been off line since yesterday. We are keeping out fingers crossed that Jane gets her server issues resolved soon. You can follow Jane’s tweets here for the latest on the site.

At AMERICAblog, from John Aravosis:

• Minnesota to become 12th state to legalize gay marriage
• Benghazi bombshell: Email supporting GOP “conspiracy” theory is fake

(I know I said no “gates” but it’s John)

and from Gaius Publius:

• Keith Ellison: “I don’t care what party you’re in. I’m in the Social Security party.”

David Dayen writing at New Republic, tells us how smarter shareholders are becoming activists and are about to claim their biggest “scalp”:

• Guerillas in the Boardroom

At his blog, Beat the Press, Dean Baker:

• Credit Rating Agencies Likely to Evade Dodd-Frank Provision to End Conflict of Interest
• Trade Deficits and the Dollar

From CounterPunch:

• The End of QE?
  
  by Mike Whitney
• The Elusive Minimum Wage
  
  by David Macaray
• The Real Gatsby
  
  by David Rosen

From the gang at Crooks and Liars:

• RNC Hispanic Outreach Chief Quits, Registers as Democrat
  
  By Susie Madrak
• Sen. Franken to Speak at SEC Roundtable on Credit Rating Industry Reform
  
  By Heather
• The 182 Percent Loan: How Installment Lenders Put Borrowers in a World of Hurt
  
  by  Paul Kiel, ProPublica

From the contributors at Grist:

• Vermont House passes GMO-labeling law by John Upton
• Occupy the Farm movement rises again, hours after being raided
  
  by John Upton
• London may soon be drinking recycled sewage
  
  by Sarah Laskow

Mike Konszal at The Next New Deal:

• Beta: Universal Basic Income Calculator

At New Economic Perspectives, Dan Kervick:

• Money, Taxes and What We Can Afford

The last words from Charles P. Pierce on The Clan of the Red Beanie and Responsible Gun Ownership.

Cross posted from The Stars Hollow Gazette

The main purpose our blogging is to communicate our ideas, opinions, and stories both fact and fiction. The best part about the the blogs is information that we might not find in our local news, even if we read it online. Sharing that information is important, especially if it educates, sparks conversation and new ideas. We have all found places that are our favorites that we read everyday, not everyone’s are the same. The Internet is a vast place. Unlike “Punting the Pundits which focuses on opinion pieces mostly from the mainstream media and the larger news web sites, “Around the Blogosphere” will focus more on the medium to smaller blogs and articles written by some of the anonymous and not so anonymous writers and links to some of the smaller pieces that don’t make it to “Pundits” by Krugman, Baker, etc.

We encourage you to share your finds with us. It is important that we all stay as well informed as we can.

Follow us on Twitter @StarsHollowGzt

This is an Open Thread.

From Atrios, the scandal you won’t hear of today, or any other day:

Gaius Publius at Americablog, tells us how to become an activist by asking a question:

• Henry Waxman will support Chained CPI in trade for “things we want”

But just what is it that “we want”?

At Corrente, lambert‘s litany of the Obamacare Cluster F**k continues:

• ObamaCare Clusterfuck: Kremlinology
• ObamaCare Clusterfuck: Is Ross Douthat dumb enough to be a “progressive”?
• ObamaCare Clusterfuck: The IRS scandal and the ObamaCare “eligibility engine”

Patrick Cockburn, Counterpunch, gives a history of the similarities of Syria and Iraq:

• History Lessons the West Refuses to Learn

Also at Counterpunch, Binoy Kampmark on the effect of drone attacks on US/Pakistan relations:

• Stopping the Drones

On the failing American health care system, and Obama’s FHFA nominee Mel Watts, Yves Smith at naked capitalism:

• Coming Corporate Control of Medicine Will Throw Patients Under the Bus
• Mel Watt, Nominee to Head FHFA, Opposes Administration by Voting to Deregulate Derivatives

From Voices on the Square, contributors Cassiodurus and JayeRaye:

• Socialism is like total equality y’know.
• Hellraisers Journal: Big Bill Haywood exposes “The Rip in the Silk Industry.”

Jeralyn Merritt at TalkLeft, gives a peak at Dzokhar Tsarnaev’s conditions of confinement and the cost of a death penalty prosecution of Aurora Theater Shooting defendant James Holmes:

• Details on Dzokhar Tsarnaev’s Solitary Confinement
• The Cost of James Holmes Death Penalty Prosecution

From Grist, Sarah Laskow bursts a healthy fast food myth:

• Sorry, Jared, Subway food can be just as bad for you as McDonald’s

and from Sarah Miller, what could be eating your house:

• Hand-sized, house-eating snails show up in Texas

Charles P. Pierce in his wry wit at Esquire’s Politics Bog sums up the latest obsessions of the Sunday talking heads and the latest in the bizarre world of Rand Paul:

• What Are The Gobshites Saying These Days?
• Somebody Hit Bill Keller’s Knee With A Hammer
• Rand Paul’s Big Weekend

In his “What We Know Now” segment, Up host Steve Kornacki notes that Sen Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) is proposing legislation that is aimed at lowering the rate students pay on their loans to the same rate that banks get when borrowing from the Federal Reserve. Steve is joined by his guests Jared Bernstein, former economic advisor to V.P. Joe Biden; Sarah Kliff, health policy reporter for The Washington Post; Perry Bacon, Jr., TheGrio.com and MSNBC contributor; and former Rep. Patrick Murphy (D-PA), now MSNBC contributor, to discuss what they have learned this past week.

Elizabeth Warren: Student Loans Should Have Same Rate Big Banks Get

by Ryan Grim and Will Wrigley, Huffington Post

WASHINGTON — Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) unveiled her first bill Wednesday, designed to set student loan interest rates at the same level the Federal Reserve offers to big banks.

With some student loan rates set to double on July 1 — from 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent — Warren’s bill would reduce student loan interest rates to 0.75 percent, opening the Fed’s discount window to students.

“Every single day, this country invests in big banks by lending them money at near-zero rates,” Warren told The Huffington Post. “We should make the same kind of investment lending money to students, who are trying to get an education.”

Working Families Flexibility Act Passes House Over Opposition Of Democrats, Labor

by Dave Jamieson, Huffington Post

WASHINGTON — As part of their efforts to rebrand the GOP as a more caring party, House Republicans passed a hotly debated bill Wednesday that would loosen federal overtime laws, allowing for “comp” time instead of pay for private-sector employees who work more than 40 hours in a week.

Although GOP legislators made a strong public-relations push for the bill as worker-friendly legislation, the measure is not expected to go anywhere in the Democrat-controlled Senate, and the White House said Monday that the president would be advised to veto such legislation on the grounds that it would weaken protections in the Fair Labor Standards Act.

Pentagon: Estimated 26,000 Sexual Assaults In Military Last Year

by Hayes Brown, Think Progress

Just one day after the Air Force’s chief of sexual assault prevention was arrested for sexual assault himself, a new Pentagon report shows a sharp increase in the estimated number of assaults in the military annually.

The report from the Department of Defense’s Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office for Fiscal Year 2012 found a 6 percent rise in reported assaults over the last year, for a total of 3,374. But much more troubling is the estimated number of sexual assault incidents that were never officially reported. In last year’s report, there were an estimated 19,000 instances, but this year the number has jumped to an unprecedented 26,000 instances of assault, leaving thousands unreported.

Environmentalists seize on Biden’s Keystone XL remarks to launch new attack

by Juliet Eilperin, The Washington Post

Environmentalists have seized on a comment Vice President Biden made while working a rope line in Columbia, S.C., on Friday, in which he told an activist he is “in the minority” within the administration when it comes to opposing the Keystone XL pipeline.

Elaine Cooper, who serves on the executive committee of the Sierra Club’s South Caroline chapter, said in an interview Wednesday that Biden shared his thoughts with her during Rep. James Clyburn’s (D-S.C.) annual fish fry.

Buzzfeed first reported the vice president’s remarks late Tuesday, based on an e-mail a colleague of Cooper had sent to fellow environmentalists.

Cross posted from The Stars Hollow Gazette

The main purpose our blogging is to communicate our ideas, opinions, and stories both fact and fiction. The best part about the the blogs is information that we might not find in our local news, even if we read it online. Sharing that information is important, especially if it educates, sparks conversation and new ideas. We have all found places that are our favorites that we read everyday, not everyone’s are the same. The Internet is a vast place. Unlike “Punting the Pundits which focuses on opinion pieces mostly from the mainstream media and the larger news web sites, “Around the Blogosphere” will focus more on the medium to smaller blogs and articles written by some of the anonymous and not so anonymous writers and links to some of the smaller pieces that don’t make it to “Pundits” by Krugman, Baker, etc.

We encourage you to share your finds with us. It is important that we all stay as well informed as we can.

Follow us on Twitter @StarsHollowGzt

This is an Open Thread.

At Voices on the Square, contributor Glinda gives us the latest bill by the House Republicans to screw workers:

• H.R. 1406: A Republican Bill to Upend Overtime Pay for Workers

From Gaius Publius all about big, bad corn at Americablog:

• Corn is bad for your body, your car & the environment

At his blog, Conscience of a Liberal, Paul Krugman is trying to understand why the hedge funders are mad at Fed chair Ben Bernanke:

• I Am Become Ben, Destroyer of Worlds

and on Japan’s break up with austerity:

• The Moral Equivalent of Space Aliens

Need a job? Lambert at Corrente wants to know if Hillary supporters can apply for it:

• Equal opportunity employment at Daily Kos

and the continuing saga of the horrors of the ObamaCare Clusterfuck:

• CO rollout campaign doesn’t mention ObamaCare
• California exchange spending and contractors exempted from open records law

Also at Corrente, libbyliberal:

• Libby’s Stew: Gitmo & Obama’s Alarming Inertia

At FDL Action, Jon Walker alerts us about more shortcomings of Obamacare:

• “The Pool” Doesn’t Exist, That Is the Real Problem
• The Insanity of What Hospitals Charge and the Solution No One Is Talking About

At FDL’s The Dissenter, Kevin Gosztola reports on the FBI’s disregard of civil liberties and US drone policies:

• ACLU Obtains Documents Showing FBI Doesn’t Always Get Warrants Before Reading Emails
• Congressional Progressive Caucus Holds Hearing on US Drone Policies

Marcy Wheeler at emptywheel, on why some people just can’t atop digging:

• Harold Koh Relitigates the Argument He Already Lost

What Charles P. Pierce at Esquire’s Politics Blog said: On War Powers

and what Atrios said:

I’d love to be able to explain Benghazi to you all, but other than it has something to do with an Arkansas land deal gone bad I really have no idea.

Cross posted from The Stars Hollow Gazette

The main purpose our blogging is to communicate our ideas, opinions, and stories both fact and fiction. The best part about the the blogs is information that we might not find in our local news, even if we read it online. Sharing that information is important, especially if it educates, sparks conversation and new ideas. We have all found places that are our favorites that we read everyday, not everyone’s are the same. The Internet is a vast place. Unlike “Punting the Pundits which focuses on opinion pieces mostly from the mainstream media and the larger news web sites, “Around the Blogosphere” will focus more on the medium to smaller blogs and articles written by some of the anonymous and not so anonymous writers and links to some of the smaller pieces that don’t make it to “Pundits” by Krugman, Baker, etc.

We encourage you to share your finds with us. It is important that we all stay as well informed as we can.

Follow us on Twitter @StarsHollowGzt

This is an Open Thread.

Paul Krugman on austerity and the deficit at Conscience of a Liberal:

• The Fix the Debt Fix Is Still In
• The Dwindling Deficit

At naked capitalism, Yves Smith exposes the latest string of lies from our new Treasury Secratary:

• Jack Lew’s Nose is Getting So Long He Needs a Hacksaw

At Corrente, lambert has another eye opener about the ObamaCare Clusterfuck:

• “Accountable Care Organizations” to throw “non-compliant” patients under the bus

and some thoughts on Hypermasculinity:

• One more reason Big Media is a public health hazard (with remarks on masculinity and fear)

At Beat the Press, economist Dean Baker continues to document what is wrong with The Washington Post:

• Why Does the Post Think It’s Bad News that the Republican Budget Strategy is Falling Apart?

and the decline in working hours:

• Someone Notices the Decline in Hours

Contributor Harry at Crooked Timber asks:

• When is copying not plagiarism?

Elise Gould at the Economic Policy Institute on the impact of health care costs:

• Increased health care cost sharing works as intended; It burdens patients who need care the most

Atrios pointed out this article at Think Progress:

• North Carolina May Force Teens To Get Notarized Parental Consent Before Getting STD Tests

And at Techdirt, Tim Cushing on the NYPD trashing civil liberties:

• NYPD Sergeant Says ‘Guilty Until Proven Innocent’ Is Just The Price We Pay For A ‘Free Society’

and from contributor Mike Masnick on just how low IP owners can go:

• Intellectual Property Owners Association Against Helping The Blind Because It Would ‘Set A Dangerous Precedent’

Cross posted from The Stars Hollow Gazette

The main purpose our blogging is to communicate our ideas, opinions, and stories both fact and fiction. The best part about the the blogs is information that we might not find in our local news, even if we read it online. Sharing that information is important, especially if it educates, sparks conversation and new ideas. We have all found places that are our favorites that we read everyday, not everyone’s are the same. The Internet is a vast place. Unlike “Punting the Pundits which focuses on opinion pieces mostly from the mainstream media and the larger news web sites, “Around the Blogosphere” will focus more on the medium to smaller blogs and articles written by some of the anonymous and not so anonymous writers and links to some of the smaller pieces that don’t make it to “Pundits” by Krugman, Baker, etc.

We encourage you to share your finds with us. It is important that we all stay as well informed as we can.

Follow us on Twitter @StarsHollowGzt

This is an Open Thread.

At Beat the Press, Dean Baker gives a lesson in logic:

• Economics 101 for WAPO: Supply and Demand in the Labor Market

At Conscience of a Liberal, Paul Krugman, defends his role in the ’08/’09 stimulus debate:

• The Stimulus Debate, Revisited;

and dissects John Maynard Keynes’ views on the liquidity trap:

• Keynes’s Not So Big Mistake.

From Marcy Wheeler at emptywheel continues to document the war crimes:

• Brennan Cedes to Feinstein on Torture Tape Destroyer But “Defiant” on Torture Report;
• Human Rights Groups: Don’t Let John Brennan Cover Up the Torture He Condoned.

Two articles by Jon Walker at FDL Action on Medicare:

• Study Takes on the Myth of Medicare Cost-Shifting;
• Why Insurance Exchanges Won’t Work: People Don’t Like Choosing Insurance

From Yves Smith at naked capitalism, an article by Robert H. Wade, a Professor of Political Economy, London School of Economics and a winner of the Leontief Prize in Economics for 2008:

• Our Misleading Measure of Income and Wealth Inequality: The Standard Gini Coefficient

While the news media has been gushing over guns, Benghazi (again) and the three women rescued in Cleveland, OH, the House of Representatives has been really busy aiding and abetting grand theft by the banks and Wall St., as noted by DSWright at FDL News Desk:

• House Moves To Gut Derivatives Regulations Again

Finally Charles P. Pierce at the Esquire’s Daily Politics Blog:

• Good Guys Are Not Bulletproof

Cross posted from The Stars Hollow Gazette

The main purpose our blogging is to communicate our ideas, opinions, and stories both fact and fiction. The best part about the the blogs is information that we might not find in our local news, even if we read it online. Sharing that information is important, especially if it educates, sparks conversation and new ideas. We have all found places that are our favorites that we read everyday, not everyone’s are the same. The Internet is a vast place. Unlike “Punting the Pundits which focuses on opinion pieces mostly from the mainstream media and the larger news web sites, “Around the Blogosphere” will focus more on the medium to smaller blogs and articles written by some of the anonymous and not so anonymous writers and links to some of the smaller pieces that don’t make it to “Pundits” by Krugman, Baker, etc.

We encourage you to share your finds with us. It is important that we all stay as well informed as we can.

Follow us on Twitter @StarsHollowGzt

This is an Open Thread.

From CounterPunch a really good article by Jeffery St. Clair, on Obama’s The Game of Drones.

From Dean Baker at his blog Beat the Press: Tyler Cowen Recognizes Public Goods Problem of Pandemics: More Money for Drug Companies

At Corrente, letgetitdone posts Make ’em Prove the Causality before They Cause Any More Suffering: Part Two, the Fall and After

George Gideon Oliver Osborne, the Chancellor of the Exchequer and Second Lord of the Treasury of the United Kingdom, is about to get “spanked” by the IMF for not “living it up and spending more.”, from Paul Krugman at Conscious of a Liberal: George Osborne’s Fear of Ghosts

Apparently austerity loving economist said something really, really offensive about John Maynard Keynes, get taken to the wood shed by Corey Robin at Crooked Timber: Edmund Burke to Niall Ferguson: You know nothing of my work. You mean my whole theory is wrong. How you ever got to teach a course in anything is totally amazing.

Over at FDL Book Salon, Mike Konczal of the Roosevelt Institute: Welcomes Robert Kuttner, Debtors’ Prison: The Politics of Austerity Versus Possibility

And a h/t to ql at Eschaton this morning noted this link from Avedon’s Sideshow to an article by David Roberts at Grist: Solar panels could destroy U.S. utilities, according to U.S. utilities

In this Saturday’s segment of “What We Now Know,” Up host, Steve Kornacki up dates last week’s show and notes that the fight for real filibuster reform is not over. He discusses what they have learned this week with panel guests Mary C Curtis, The Washington Post; State Sen. Kelvin Atkinson (D-NV); John Amaechi, former NBA player; and Mike Pesca, NPR.

Progressives Urge Filibuster Reform Revival In Senate

by  Sabrina Siddiqui, Huffington Post

Progressive and labor groups on Thursday renewed calls for Senate leaders to reform filibuster rules that have allowed Republicans to repeatedly stonewall presidential nominees and legislation, including gun control.

Fix the Senate Now, a coalition of more than 70 progressive and labor organizations sent a letter to Senate leaders focusing on judicial vacancies. Republicans have repeatedly used filibusters to block President Barack Obama’s judicial nominees. The coalition’s letter urges Senate leaders to change rules requiring 60 votes to break a filibuster.

Jeff Merkley Escalates Push For Filibuster Reform

by Sahil Kapur, TPMDC

Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) is teaming up with the liberal advocacy group Democracy For America to build public awareness of filibuster abuse and court supporters for reform.

“It’s now clear the experiment has failed. The Senate remains broken,” Merkley wrote to supporters. “Senate Republicans continue to force delays – even on bills with overwhelming public support, and even on nominees widely considered well-qualified.” [..]

Senate Democrats have the option to weaken the filibuster at any time with 51 votes, and Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) has repeatedly threatened to use that “nuclear option” if Republicans don’t stop blocking presidential nominees. Hardly any Democrats have publicly ruled out using that option to fix the Senate. But behind the scenes, despite anger at the GOP now, there is concern that weakening the filibuster could come back to haunt them when Republicans return to power and, for instance, seek to weaken abortion rights.

Merkley insists he’d be just as strong a supporter of his plan if he were in the minority, arguing that the point of the filibuster is to debate, not to obstruct in the dark.

Obama ‘comfortable’ with FDA’s lowered age limit for ‘Plan B’

By Michael O’Brien, Political Reporter, NBC News

President Barack Obama said that he was “comfortable” with new federal regulations making emergency contraception available to women and girls over the age of 15, but said more study was needed to see whether it was safe to allow access to the “morning after” pill for girls younger than that. [..]

On Wednesday, the FDA agreed to lower the age limit to 15 for sales of “Plan B One-Step,” and to make the emergency contraceptive available in the general aisles of stores instead of behind the pharmacy counter.

Justice Department to appeal judge’s Plan B order

By JoNel Aleccia, Senior Writer, NBC News

U.S. Department of Justice officials have filed notice that they will appeal a federal judge’s order requiring the Food and Drug Administration to make the so-called “morning after” pill available without a prescription to all women without age or certain sales restrictions.

The department also has asked the federal district court to stay its order, which was set to take effect on May 6, according to Allison Price, a spokeswoman.

The move comes a day after the FDA agreed to lower the age limit to 15 for sales of non-prescription Plan B One-Step emergency contraception and to make the drug available in the general aisles of stores with pharmacies, instead of behind the counter.

Iraq Violence Leads To Deadliest Month In 5 Years

by Eline Gordts, Huffington Post

With more than 700 people killed in just 30 days, April was the deadliest month in Iraq in five years. According to the United Nations Mission in the country, 712 Iraqis lost their lives in acts of terrorism and acts of violence in the month of April. Nearly 600 of the dead were civilians.

The string of attacks continued in the first days of May. On Friday, a bomb outside a Sunni mosque in Rashidiya killed at least seven, the Associated Press reported. In a separate incident, nine police officers and four militants were killed during clashes Thursday evening in the northern city of Mosul.

Cross posted from The Stars Hollow Gazette

The main purpose our blogging is to communicate our ideas, opinions, and stories both fact and fiction. The best part about the the blogs is information that we might not find in our local news, even if we read it online. Sharing that information is important, especially if it educates, sparks conversation and new ideas. We have all found places that are our favorites that we read everyday, not everyone’s are the same. The Internet is a vast place. Unlike “Punting the Pundits which focuses on opinion pieces mostly from the mainstream media and the larger news web sites, “Around the Blogosphere” will focus more on the medium to smaller blogs and articles written by some of the anonymous and not so anonymous writers and links to some of the smaller pieces that don’t make it to “Pundits” by Krugman, Baker, etc.

We encourage you to share your finds with us. It is important that we all stay as well informed as we can.

Follow us on Twitter @StarsHollowGzt

This is an Open Thread.

From Gaius Publius at Americablog on climate change:

Climate crisis – where we’re headed, how much time is left

At his blog Conscience of a Liberal, Paul Krugman

Medicaid Nonsense

Jim White reports on the ricin case arrest at emptywheel

The FBI’s Evidence Against the Genius Who Framed Elvis

At Voice on the Square, JayeRaye’s

Hellraisers Journal: “Shall Americanism or Unionism Rule?”

digby at Hullabaloo points out A big silver lining for deficit hawks

At Corrente, letsgetitdone:

Make ’em Prove the Causality before They Cause Any More Suffering: Part One

and lambert continues to document the Obamacare atrocities:

ObamaCare Clusterfuck: New 3-page eligibility form may screw states that are farthest ahead on their exchange software

ObamaCare Clusterfuck: IL expected 16 insurance companies on its exchange, only 6 apply

ObamaCare Clusterfuck: SCOOP! IT Whistleblower shares systems diagram for ObamaCare “eligibility engine”

ObamaCare Clusterfuck: Exchanges only expected to cover 7 million in first year

Dean Baker at his blog, Beat the Press:

The Housing Experts on the WAPO’s Rolodex Never Heard of Jumbo Mortgages

Cross posted from The Stars Hollow Gazette

The main purpose our blogging is to communicate our ideas, opinions, and stories both fact and fiction. The best part about the the blogs is information that we might not find in our local news, even if we read it online. Sharing that information is important, especially if it educates, sparks conversation and new ideas. We have all found places that are our favorites that we read everyday, not everyone’s are the same. The Internet is a vast place. Unlike “Punting the Pundits which focuses on opinion pieces mostly from the mainstream media and the larger news web sites, “Around the Blogosphere” will focus more on the medium to smaller blogs and articles written by some of the anonymous and not so anonymous writers and links to some of the smaller pieces that don’t make it to “Pundits” by Krugman, Baker, etc.

We encourage you to share your finds with us. It is important that we all stay as well informed as we can.

Follow us on Twitter @StarsHollowGzt

This is an Open Thread.

Corrente:

lambert has done several a posts on the Obamacare Clusterfuck that are well worth reading to truly understand what a corporate giveaway it is and how little it does for anyone. This is his latest entry

ObamaCare Clusterfuck: Here are the states where “the magic of the marketplace” will fail most spectacularly

VOTS:

Hellraisers Journal: Walmart Workers march to house of board member with Bangladesh fire survivor

by JayRaye

naked capitalism:

Reply to Reinhart and Rogoff’s NYT Response to Critics

by Warren Mosler

Medical Journal Editorial Blasts Obamacare for Increasing Underinsurance

by Yves Smith

MyFDL:

The Rise of the Corporate State

by masaccio

FDL Action:

Why the Sequester Strategy Is Doomed to Fail

by Jon Walker

FDL Dissenter:

SF Pride President Capitulates to Military Groups, Announces Bradley Manning Won’t Be Honored

by Kevin Gosztola

Matt Tailbbi at Rolling Stone:

While Wronged Homeowners Got $300 Apiece in Foreclosure Settlement, Consultants Who Helped Protect Banks Got $2 Billion

Everything Is Rigged: The Biggest Price-Fixing Scandal Ever

Paul Krugman at Conscience of a Liberal:

Knaves, Fools, and Me (Meta)

The Great Degrader

The American Prospect:

Banking Regulation: Closed for Business

by David Dayen

Dean Baker at Beat the Press:

Reinhart and Rogoff #61,346: Stevenson and Wolfers Edition

Robert Samuelson Tells the Middle Class and Poor that they Should Stop Expecting to Have Decent Lives Because His Rich Friends Want All the Money

Excel Errors, Debt, and Stimulus: Is Our Politicians Learning?

Washington Post Editorial Condemns Austerity in Europe!

In this week’s segment of “What We Know Now,” Up’s new host Steve Kornacki the human element in how our clothes are made and the collapse of the garment factory in Bangladesh that killed 340 people. His guest Starlee Kine, contributor to “This American Life;” Ed Cox, chairman of the NY Republican State Comittee; former Rep. Nan Hayworth, (R-NY); and Timothy Naftali, former Director of the Nixon Presidential Library discuss what they have learned this week

Bangladesh factory collapse: police detain owners, as death toll exceeds 350

by Syed Zain Al-Mahmood in Dhaka for The Guardian

Reports of workers being ordered to Rana Plaza building on day before collapse despite cracks appearing and jolts being felt

Police in Bangladesh have detained two factory owners for criminal negligence over the deaths of at least 352 workers at an eight-storey building that collapsed on Wednesday – a day after warnings had been given that it was unsafe.

Two engineers who had been involved in issuing building permits for the Rana Plaza complex in Savar, just north of Dhaka, were also being held. The owner of the building was being sought by police, who have put border authorities on alert and arrested his wife in an attempt to bring him out of hiding.

On Saturday around 30 survivors were found and police say that as many as 900 people remain missing, trapped dead and alive under the twisted steel and concrete, through which rescue teams were still searching last night using electric drills, shovels, crowbars and their bare hands. Anger at the collapse has sparked days of protests and clashes, with police on Saturday using teargas, water cannon and rubber bullets on demonstrators who burned cars.

French Gay Marriage Bill Approved By France’s Parliament

from Huffington Post

Gay marriage has been legalised by the French parliament on Tuesday after weeks of divisive national debate on the issue.

The Socialist-majority assembly passed the measure by a large margin of 331-225.

Despite large and vocal public protests against same-sex marriage, polls suggest 55-60% of the public are in favour, reports the BBC.

And Then There Were Ten

by Dorothy J. Samuels, The New York Times

Rhode Island’s Senate – including all five Republican members – voted 26-12 on Wednesday in favor of legislation to allow same-sex couples to marry. Once Gov. Lincoln Chafee signs the bill, which is expected to happen next week, marriage equality will be the law in every New England state (Rhode Island plus Massachusetts, Connecticut, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine) – a meaningful victory for civil rights and a proud distinction for the region.