Despite all the insistence that the business world is a meritocracy, it ain’t. Hullabaloo links to a Guardian piece reporting that Wall Street bonuses have gone up the second years straight, while profits have continued to sink. Because they have to retain valued employees, dammit (the Guardian piece points out that’s not so). One might think the employees can’t be so great if profits are down, but the standard explanation for that (in the past, the Guardian doesn’t offer this as a quote) is “well, it’s been a rough year, they did the best they could.” Which somehow never applies when the years are flush, then the employees are super-geniuses.
The article says 40 to 50 percent of revenue raised by the Wall Street firms goes out in bonuses.
•Yet another Republican says rape can create a beautiful child. He’s not unique.
•The true leader of America and the free world? According to some conservatives, it’s the leader of Israel. So much for all that stuff about how Obama defers to much to foreign leaders … just kidding, that’s totally different.
•The federal investigation concludes Darren Wilson was indeed acting in self-defense when he shot Michael Brown (which doesn’t justify portraying Brown as a thug in the media because he liked rap). However it also finds massive problems and racism in the PD in general. Bill O’Reilly agrees the force was targeting black citizens. More here.
•Another police department claims medical-privacy laws prevent it saying anything about a man who died in custody.
•The White House has cracked down hard on leakers. Except when they’re someone important, of course.
•Michael Schiavo on the nightmare of trying to disconnect his wife from her life support (with court approval) when Jeb Bush didn’t want him to.
•Big business’s power to arbitrate our complaints is gutting the right to sue them.
