The links that mocked them and the heart that fed

A very good post from Irin Carmon looking at women who respond to the Weiner mess with less than feminist thoughts (Huma Abedin makes women look weak! Abedin is doing this because she’s brainwashed by growing up in Saudi Arabia! Anthony Weiner is the real war on women!).
•Defeating the Dragons on what it’s like to be told you were lying about the rape you just experienced. Might be triggering.
•You know those Internet ads that offer a Simple Amazing Secret To Do X? Alex Kaufman sat through a bunch of the related videos …
•There’s an old joke that similar “Amazing Secret to Get Rich Quick” books are just going to say “Write a book about getting rich quick and convince suckers to buy it.” In the case of this infomercial duo, it’s true: Their money came from selling training videos, not from actually practicing their system (for buying up promissory notes). Result: A $330 million fine.
•Apple employees say bag checks cost them $1,500 a year in wages because of the time standing in line to be searched.
•A court has ruled the new limits on merchant fees for using debit cards are too high to comply with the law.
•”Look, the homeless man had a cell phone!” is one of those arguments that supposedly proves everyone in poverty is a fraud. But the phone is essential. Courtesy of Slacktivist which looks at other class-war issues.
•North Carolina just slashed unemployment benefits (losing $700 million in federal funds in the process). Paul Krugman says slashing unemployment reflects this is both an emotion-fueled attack on the supposedly undeserving poor, and a bad policy decision based on the belief that the social safety net really does turn people into worthless parasites (like the guy who believes homeless shelters just encourage people to be homeless). He also points out it’s ultimately financially harmful).
•New Zealand defines investigative journalism as a type of subversive activity which justifies spying on journalists (allegedly with US help). Showing once again that this kind of authoritarianism isn’t unique to the W or Obama administrations.
•Consumerist looks at TSA misconduct cases.
•A new kind of card skimmer fits completely inside the card-swipe slot.