What if Ayn Rand wrote the Baby Sitter’s Club?
•Verizon and Sprint will pay $158 million to settle charges they turned a blind eye to dubious third-party charges on phone bills because of related fees.
•I’ve mentioned Joseph Epstein before, as a believer we were better off in the days when white guys ran everything. His new theory: Obama and (if elected) Hilary Clinton are totally elected based on their minority status, whereas white guys ran for office entirely on merit.
•Consumerist on the Salmonella risks of chicken and the ineffective regulations relating to it.
•Our old friend David Brooks is now whining that nobody’s having serious moral discussions. He’s wrong.
•Personally I find the idea of a computerized fitting room a little creepy.
•No, abortion is not easier to get in the US than in Europe.
•Google’s self-driving cars are already involved in accidents (though not necessarily the car’s fault).
•So much for supporting the troops: Texas right-wingers are worried new military exercises are setting up for a military takeover of the state.
•One peer review had a simple solution for improving a paper: have male co-authors to avoid “ideologically biased assumptions.”
•My current home state of North Carolina had its own religious-rights don’t-have-to-serve-gays bill that was even more generous to believers than any other that’s been passed around (they can disregard a law if it’s a “burden” rather than a “significant burden” for instance). It didn’t pass, but I’m curious how the pols who supported it would react when someone other than the religious right started exercising their freedom?
•One small victory: The NSA’s fondness for collecting bulk metadata about phone calls without any connection to national security is illegal.
•I was never under any illusion the culture wars were fading away any time soon. But if you were, Digby has the scoop.
•If you think your hospital being “in plan” for medical insurance means all your tests and treatments are in-plan—no, not always.
•Slacktivist once quipped that some conservatives are curdled with horror at the thought of food stamp recipients getting decent cheese. Unfortunately, it’s impossible to parody right-wingers any more (more here).
•I’ve read plenty of assertions that if people would just be good and do whatever the police command, they’d be fine. Which is a)not true. People, particularly black Americans, have been shot or beaten while handcuffed, on the ground and generally not fighting back. Some white people on the other hand, can threaten and point guns at the cops and be fine. Digby has more. Me too.
•A reminder how blatant and ugly sexual harassment can get.
•A 10 year old in Paraguay has been raped, is now pregnant and can’t get an abortion. Because having a 10-year-old bear a child is healthier! Oh, and the mother, who reported that the stepfather was abusing the girl but got no response from authorities, is now jailed for not doing more to stop it.
