The Republic of T.

Here are some of the people writing about some of the stuff I wish I had time to write about, for December 4th from 16:05 to 16:15:

• The Minimum Wage Used To Be Enough To Keep Workers Out Of Poverty—It’s Not Anymore: Raising It to $10.10 Would Lift a Family of Three Above the Poverty Line – As President Obama and others have noted, a parent who works full-time, year round at the federal minimum wage does not earn an income above the federal poverty line.
• Comedian Aamer Rahman debunks myth of ‘reverse racism’ – Australian comedian Aamer Rahman has a unique take on the concept of “reverse racism.”
• GOP Proven 100% Wrong About Food Stamps – Actual research shows SNAP program promotes self-sufficiency, not a culture of dependence.
• A university’s terrible “black Santa” question – And you thought racist idiocy was just for Halloween. Ho ho ho! Guess again! Just in time for the holidays, the University of Indiana is backing off a dormitory's "diversity program" display that recently asked, "Can Santa Claus be a black man?"
• People With Cushy Jobs Don’t Care Much About People Who Don’t Have Cushy Jobs – Dan Drezner points out today that in the latest poll from the Council on Foreign Relations, the opinions of foreign policy elites have converged quite a bit with the opinions of the general public. But among the top five items in the poll, there's still one big difference that sticks out like a fire alarm: ordinary people care about American jobs and elites don't. Funny how that works, isn't it?
• Obama: Income Inequality Is ‘Defining Challenge Of Our Time’ – President Barack Obama turned his focus Wednesday to the pocketbook issues that Americans consistently rank as a top concern, arguing that the dream of upward economic mobility is breaking down and the growing income gap is a "defining challenge of our time."

Here are some of the people writing about some of the stuff I wish I had time to write about, for November 26th through December 3rd:

• The Accidental Truth in the RNC’s Latest Race Gaffe – A tweet about Rosa Parks ‘ending racism’ reveals a shameful truth about the GOP: Equality has never been the party’s fight and likely never will be.
• $2,229.11 for Three Stitches? Behold the Wonder of the Free Market. – And let's be clear about this: what conservatives are arguing for is the maintenance of the status quo that gives us the $2,229.11 hospital charge for putting in three stitches. It was their devotion to the primacy of market freedom in health care that put us where we are now. When the government doesn't work properly, by, say, making a terrible website that took months to fix, the answer is to make it work better. Because we don't have to wonder whether the alternative is worse. We've been living it.
• Black females should have the right to wear an afro | Deborah Douglas – Vanessa VanDyke was threatened with expulsion from school for her hairstyle. It's another sad example of white beauty norms.
• The Banksters are getting off easy… – The banksters could be forced to pay tens of billions of dollars more in settlements for crashing our economy. But, these fees are just a small fraction of the price that American taxpayers paid for the economic collapse.
• The Elan Gale internet hoax sums up all that is rotten about our online lives – When I was a teenager, I thought it would be great to be an adult and be surrounded by people who weren't mean to each other all day. Enter stage left: the world wide web.
• Intelligence-led policing aka ”Pre-crime” – Say what you will about Goldman Sachs — and you could say a lot — but its CEO, Lloyd Blankfein, recently boiled down one of America’s most complex problems into a perfectly simple and quotable line. Repeat after Lloyd, folks: "This country does a great job of creating wealth, but not a great [job] of distributing it.”
• It’s High Time to Drug Test Our Lawmakers – Tenacity can be an admirable trait in a leader – except when it's stupid.
• Bayard Rustin and the Audacity of Hope – President Obama's posthumous award of the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Bayard Rustin on November 20, 2013, marked overdue recognition of Rustin's extraordinary contributions to the civil rights movement. On another level, Rustin's strategic vision has prophetic relevance for our time. It embodies the "audacity of hope" that we can build a deeper and more vibrant democracy.

Here are some of the people writing about some of the stuff I wish I had time to write about, for November 25th through November 26th:

• The gender wage gap: Made worse by the gender housework and childcare gap – This isn't surprising news, or even particularly new news, but it bears repeating since large swaths of the American public seem to be unconvinced that the gender wage gap is shaped by cultural influences beyond women's apparent innate desire to work less and in different fields than men.
• No One Is Talking About These Obamacare Stories – Last summer Ellen Holzman and Meredith Vezina, a married gay couple in San Diego County, got kicked off their long-term Kaiser health plan, for which they'd been paying more than $1,300 a month.
• Effective Corporate Tax Rates – Tax reform is needed to end the practice of many American corporations of stashing cash abroad, an economist writes.
• How the corporate Grinch stole Thanksgiving! – To the chagrin of some employees — and political, labor and religious allies – major retailers will kick off Black Friday even earlier this week on Thursday, compelling workers to face down throngs of shoppers rather than sharing the holiday with their families.
• Talking Turkey: How to Talk Jobs and Economy with Your Conservative Uncle at the Thanksgiving Table – You know you aren't supposed to do it. But you know you're going to. Talk about politics over the holidays. It's hard to avoid it and you know your uncle who worships Rush Limbaugh and runs Fox News 24/7 is going to be armed with conservative talking points. Here's your handy guide to quick responses and facts use when you hear those talking points about issues important to working families.
• A list of the weapons retrieved from George Zimmerman’s home – A Florida judge last week ordered George Zimmerman to surrender his weapons while under investigation for domestic violence. Local law enforcement searched Zimmerman's home, and on Monday filed court documents on the search.
• Nearly 9 of 10 Low-Wage Workers Fear They Can’t Make Ends Meet – Judging by the records being set on Wall Street and steady reports by corporations of high profits and hoarded cash, you’d think the economy was doing well. Yet a new poll reports that six of every 10 American workers fear getting fired or laid off, the highest measured level of job anxiety since the 1970s. Welcome to the new America.
• Leonard Pitts Jr.: Trayvon Martin or George Zimmerman — who’s the real thug? – With George Zimmerman out on bail last week after his latest run-in with police, it seems an opportune time to discuss the second killing of Trayvon Martin.

Here are some of the people writing about some of the stuff I wish I had time to write about, for November 19th from 12:06 to 16:45:

• In States Where the Website Works, Obamacare Works Too – It really is all about the website. In places where it's working, people are signing up and are pretty happy with what they're getting. Rate shock is an issue for a few of them, but not for a lot. The bottom line is the Republican Party's worst nightmare: Once Obamacare has been up and running for a while, it's going to be pretty popular.
• I don’t want anyone else to be a victim of revenge porn – My ex tried to sell nude photos of me on eBay and put them on a porn site. But I fought back and am pushing to make this illegal
• U.S. Counties Killing The Most People Are Good At Getting Death Penalty, Not So Good At Justice – Just 2 percent of counties in America are responsible for more than half the nation's executions, and those same counties have been responsible for a disproportionate share of high-profile prosecutorial misconduct and exonerations following wrongful convictions.
• Poor, with Savings – Being poor is expensive. A winter heating bill that comes due before the paycheck arrives can compel a trip to a payday lender who charges 350 percent interest. It takes the entire paycheck to pay off that loan in a week—emptying out the bank account and requiring yet another visit to the lender. A child who is too sick to go to school for a week may need her single father to stay home with her, costing him a quarter of his monthly income. He’s overdue on the rent and the bills, so he’s responsible for late fees as well.
• Sorry, Republicans: No big drop in Obamacare support – Despite the bad website roll-out, despite the controversy over the small percentage of the population getting a huge proportion of media attention for losing their current policies, despite the hyperactive media equating all this to Katrina, the American people are not abandoning support for Obamacare in any significant numbers.
• Regulations Are Killed, and Kids Die – Michael Steele, a gregarious kid whose friends sometimes called him Bubba, had recently shot up from chubby middle-schooler to a teen with a six-foot-three, 185-pound frame. Michael, who shared a home in the tiny town of Frankford, Missouri, with his mother and sister, had his eyes on a single goal. “He saved up all his money for a truck,” his mother, Dena Steele, told me. By last summer, Michael had saved up $7,000 from his modest farm wages, but he didn’t live to get his Dodge Ram.
• Here’s Where Obama Went Wrong on Healthcare, and Why – The Affordable Care Act, as a government mandate for people to purchase private insurance with an array of possible subsidies, had too many moving parts. It was an accident waiting to happen.
• This Is What A Walmart Worker’s Budget Looks Like – What is it like to live at the income threshold Walmart workers are asking for? After 11 years at Walmart, Patricia Locke of Seattle earns $13.10 per hour. She usually works 34 hours per week, but since her schedule can vary from week to week her checks are not predictable and she struggles to cover bills for herself and her 14-year-old daughter.

  Still, Patricia cannot get another job to supplement her income because she must always be available for scheduling at Walmart or risk losing her full-time status.

• GOP Food Stamp Cuts Help the Rich, Hurt the Poor and Starve the Economy – If House Republicans succeed in their quest to slash the federal Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program—food stamps—while preserving farm subsidies, they would both exacerbate economic inequality in the country and add yet another drag on the economy, a Nobel Prize-winning economist says.
• Why Black Folks Tend To Shout – Very few black people were shocked by the return of George Zimmerman to the headlines.

Here are some of the people writing about some of the stuff I wish I had time to write about, for November 12th through November 18th:

• The Gay Awakening – Any other day, Reverend Frank Schaeffer might look out onto the 179 acres of woods at Camp Innabah—a Christian retreat center 40 miles outside of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania—and stop to ponder God's design in the natural beauty. But today, his mind is on another matter: his trial. The 51-year-old pastor's crime? Officiating his son's same-sex wedding in 2007.
• Epic drug war rant: Watch Ethan Nadelmann destroy the ‘failed prohibitionist policy’ – The drug policy reform movement isn’t simply made up of people hoping to get high legally, according to Ethan Nadelmann. The executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance says the movement includes people who hate drugs and even people who “don’t give a damn” about drugs.
• The Real Reasons Insurers Are Canceling Policies – There are other reasons some folks are being told they'll have to change health plans next year. Many of them are having to switch plans not because of Obamacare but because their insurance companies want to move them into policies with higher profit margins.
• Louisiana residents choose libraries over jail to receive funds – Residents of Lafourche Parish in Louisiana recently voted down a proposal that would have used money currently going to local libraries to build a new prison.
• Walmart asks its workers to donate Thanksgiving food … to Walmart workers – So this Walmart's management is asking its low-paid workers to give to its even lower-paid workers. Those who are lucky enough to get close to full-time hours and have been around long enough to earn a princely $11 or $12 an hour can give canned goods to those working part time and earning more like $8, I guess. That's people who are kinda sorta getting by giving to those who are living in poverty—in an effort run by their mutual employer, who refuses to pay them the kind of wages that would make food donations unnecessary for all of them.
• The Libertarian Bizarro World – Today's post about how libertarians are big fans of initiating force reminds me of a subject near to my heart: libertarian theories of initial property appropriation. The part of a given libertarian theory that deals with initial property appropriation is always the hands-down most exciting part. This is so because it is at that point in the theory, especially for those inclined to talk about aggression and force, that we enter into bizarro world.
• Washington Post writer: ‘Conventional people’ repress ‘gag reflex’ over biracial de Blasios – Washington Post columnist Richard Cohen is under fire for his latest piece, in which he claims “people with conventional views” are repressing a “gag reflex” when they see New York City’s mayor-elect Bill de Blasio, his African-American wife and biracial children.

Here are some of the people writing about some of the stuff I wish I had time to write about, for November 4th through November 12th:

• Meet Your Taxpayer-Subsidized Farm Bill Billionaires! – Surely, these subsidies are helping to keep an important way of life alive for the True Sons of Soil and Toil … like, say, multi-billionaire Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen.
• 8 Brands With Religious Affiliations (Who Knew?!) – Would you like a Bible verse with those fries? Check out these popular U.S. companies that incorporate their beliefs into their businesses.
• What Some Kids Do Because They’re Hungry … I Have No Words – Yeah, it's a show for kids; I get that. But some issues are such that you need an explanation made for kids to see how basic the problem is. Because if a kid can understand, can't we do something about it?
• Conservative Group Tries To Bribe Young People To Stay Uninsured With Beer | The Raw Story – As reported by Scott Kaufman here at Raw Story, Generation Opportunity, the Koch-funded anti-Obamacare group, had a tailgate party at the University of Miami where they bribed kids with beer and then tried to talk them out of signing up for health insurance.
• The Tea Party is losing support — even among conservative Republicans | The Raw Story – It was just three years ago that the Tea Party was flying high. Riding a wave of anti-establishment and anti-Obama anger, Tea Party candidates knocked off Democrats and Republicans alike. Three years later, the Tea Party’s light seems to have faded.
• How Are The Rich Getting Richer? The More They Make, The Lower Income Tax Rates They Pay – Recently, comedian Russell Brand gave an interview with Jeremy Paxman of BBC's NewsNight which earned him the respect of many liberal-minded individuals. In 10 minutes he summed up many of the largest problems with politics today, from the influence of money in politics to global warming, and even to the wealth gap.

  But regardless of how articulate his summation was, and regardless of how much I enjoy his comedy, Brand is not a part of the solution; in fact it's quite the opposite.

Here are some of the people writing about some of the stuff I wish I had time to write about, for October 29th through November 4th:

• Unseen victims of food-stamp cuts – In recent weeks, it's been remarkably easy to find so-called "victims" of the Affordable Care Act on various news shows, each telling their story about how they're going to lose their old, awful coverage plan. These horror stories generally don't stand up well to scrutiny — we're talking about folks who are getting a subsidized insurance upgrade — but they've nevertheless become an easy, popular story for those eager to blast "Obamacare." I can't help but notice, though, that actual victims of food-stamp cuts aren't exactly blanketing the national airwaves.
• How America Is Killing the Poor – Lack of access to education, medical care, good wages and healthy food isn't just leaving the worst-off Americans behind. It's killing them.
• Lessons of the Obamacare Mess: Public Is Better – The more complex a system is, the more it is at risk of failing in complex ways that were not anticipated by its architects. It would be hard to imagine a more complicated way of expanding health coverage than the Affordable Care Act.
• Did John Boehner just say equal rights are ’frivolous’? – With Senate passage basically assured, some Democrats have been hoping to run the same playbook on the Employment Non-Discrimination Act that got the Violence Against Women Act through the Republican-controlled House. As Nancy Pelosi describes how the VAWA fight went, "We made it too hot to handle in the public … It had to come to the floor." ENDA will have to be white hot, though, given this:
• To Gov. Christie, from the Teacher he Screamed At | The Progressive – Though a smooth talker, this Republican favorite still has some rough spots.
• Insurance Companies Use ‘Misleading’ Cancellation Notices On Obamacare – Some insurance companies are sending cancellation notices or other "misleading" letters to customers in an attempt to push them into pricier alternatives, according to new reports.
• Student suspended for ripping Bible – An incredible new video is making its rounds on the Internet that asks a group of children, ages 5-13, their opinions about same-sex marriage.
• Black Girls Rock! delivers stunning performances from Janelle Monae, Jennifer Hudson and more – Speaker Boehner comes out against the ENDA workplace anti-discrimination law, effectively nixing any chance it will get a vote in the House or become law before 2015.
• ENDA, explained – The Senate is poised to spend most of this week debating the Employment Non-Discrimination Act. Here’s everything you need to know about the bill:
• The irony of Republican disapproval of Obamacare – The Democrat's version of health insurance would have been cheaper, simpler and more popular. But we enacted the Republican version. So why are they so upset? Because it an achievement for the Obama administration.