As you may recall, a few years ago the Obama Administration’s early ads for ACA health coverage included a young man signing up while sipping coffee in his pajamas. Some conservatives still freak out about “Pajama Boy.”
•Conservative bloggers are also shell-shocked about the Obama administration supporting transgender students.
•Don’t worry that Donald Trump is sexist. According to one Republican leader, Trump is above normal rules. I’m sure they’ll find a way to excuse his other problems too. And discover that as the party has all its eggs in Trump’s basket, the basket is awesome. Certainly supposedly moral conservative Foster Fries (all women need for contraception is an aspirin pressed between their legs!) is fine with it—he’s not going to judge Trump just because of a few affairs in his past.
•There have been several recent cases where a toddler found their parent’s gun and injured themselves using it. Police response seems to vary depending on skin color.
•Eye doctors sometimes hang on to the glasses prescription so you can’t get the specs somewhere else. Bad idea, the government says. And insurers must now provide services regardless of gender identity.
•The working class was better off back when we had unionized manufacturing jobs. LGM argues that in today’s economy the “union” part is the more important. Conversely, outsourcing and the gig economy can reach even management jobs. And here’s another argument for paying service workers well.
•Speaking of the gig economy, Lyft is agreeing to a $27 million settlement to keep California drivers classified as independent contractors, not employees.
•A security guard gunned down a fleeing man for stealing a 95 cent candy bar.
•A while back I linked to a Rewire story that involved a right-to-life group tricking a teen into signing a document claiming she didn’t want an abortion. Rewire alerted me that the attorney involved in the mess is running for the Mississippi state court.
•North Carolina governor Pat McCrory—the guy now struggling to defend the No Transsexuals in Bathrooms Law—has always been hostile to gays.
•As Scott Lemieux says, claims that American liberals want white, working-class Trump voters to suffer hardship are bullshit. I don’t think they deserve more consideration than, say, the black or Hispanic working class, but they don’t deserve less either.
•A company developed a New Improved Blood Test a couple of years back … but it turns out it doesn’t work well.
•A new Senate bill would limit the government’s ability to hack into our computers and phones as part of an investigation. The DOJ unsurprising says the bill is not needed.
•The threat of antibiotic-resistant superbugs continues to grow.
•One woman’s story: enlisted in the military, raped, discharged as mentally unstable when she spoke up.
•This Ruthless World vents about militarizing police in America and the belief the military have all the answers to everything.
•Muslims skewed heavily Republican in 2000; today not so much. Could it be because of things like a Republican insisting a Muslim can’t be Republican (although the Repub objector was overruled in this case)? Northier Than Thou looks at the way rules and platforms become creeds. You can also check out my blog post about dogma from a few years back.
Thanks for the mention Fraser.
You’re welcome.