Thursday, July 3, 2014

States That Raised Their Minimum Wages Are Experiencing Faster Job Growth

www.thinkprogress.org/economy/2014/07/03/3456393/minimum-wage-state-increase-employment/
"The states that raised their minimum wages on January 1 have seen higher employment growth since then than the states that kept theirs at the same rate."

Dow pops above 17,000, S&P 500 at record as jobs jump

www.reuters.com/article/2014/07/03/us-markets-stocks-idUSKBN0F713U20140703
"Wall Street's holiday-shortened session ended with multiple records on Thursday, with the Dow topping 17,000 for the first time after the June jobs report came in much stronger than expected.
Both the Dow and S&P 500 ended at their third consecutive record highs. The Nasdaq closed at its highest since 2000 and rose for a third straight week. The three major indexes wrapped up a week of solid gains."

Thanks, Obama! Unemployment Rate Drops To Lowest Level Since September 2008

www.politicususa.com/2014/07/03/thanks-obama-unemployment-rate-drops-lowest-level-september-2008.html
"Fox News, on the other hand, barely mentioned it, pushing it off to the side in small print."

The South is America's poverty belt, and Republicans want to make all of America more like the South

www.dailykos.com/story/2014/07/02/1311236/-The-South-is-America-s-poverty-belt-and-Republicans-want-to-make-all-of-America-more-like-the-South
"It's terribly sad and kind of a blot on the entire country that such a large region of the country could have such high poverty. But what's worse is that Republicans want to expand the policies that heighten the distress in the South across the entire country."

Protesters block buses carrying immigrants

What is Fox News’ obsession with Beyonce?

Supreme Court Broadens Hobby Lobby Ruling to All Forms of Birth Control

www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/07/supreme-court-scotus-hobby-lobby-all-forms-contraception
"Less than a day after the United States Supreme Court issued its divisive ruling on Burwell v. Hobby Lobby, it has already begun to toss aside the supposedly narrow interpretation of the decision. On Tuesday, the Supremes ordered lower courts to rehear any cases where companies had sought to deny coverage for any type of contraception, not just the specific types Hobby Lobby was opposed to."

‘Hobby Lobby’ case already opening floodgates to discrimination

Corporations race into Ginsburg’s ‘minefield’ to claim post-Hobby Lobby religious exemptions

www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/07/03/corporations-race-into-ginsburgs-minefield-to-claim-post-hobby-lobby-religious-exemptions/
"Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg warned in a scathing, 35-page dissent that her colleagues had “ventured into a minefield” with their ruling, arguing that the majority had invited “for-profit entities to seek religion-based exemptions from regulations they deem offensive to their faith.”
It took only one day to prove her predictions accurate."

#HobbyLobbyLove is a thing, but it's not going well

www.dailykos.com/story/2014/07/03/1311503/--HobbyLobbyLove-is-a-thing-but-it-s-not-going-well
"But much like abstinence education, Twitter hashtags often do not work out quite as conservatives plan they might."

Hobby Lobby's Not Alone: Here are 4 of the High Court's Biggest Science Blunders

www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/07/supreme-court-worst-scientific-blunders
"The decision in Hobby Lobby wasn't the first case in which the court or one of its justices flubbed the facts."

GOP’s culture war disaster: How this week highlighted a massive blind spot

GOP’s culture war disaster: How this week highlighted a massive blind spot

"the right’s crippling panic over women’s autonomy will eventually doom it to irrelevance"

Jonah Goldberg’s sexual tumult: The right doesn’t get how birth control works

Jonah Goldberg’s sexual tumult: The right doesn’t get how birth control works

"The right's lame talking points on Hobby Lobby are wrong -- and show a misunderstanding of health insurance and sex"

Rush Limbaugh confirms he is made of garbage and lives in a garbage can, Hobby Lobby edition

Rush Limbaugh confirms he is made of garbage and lives in a garbage can, Hobby Lobby edition

"Limbaugh said something about Hobby Lobby. It barely made sense but still displayed his clear hatred for women"

The religious right’s No. 1 obsession: Policing women’s sex lives by any means necessary

The religious right’s No. 1 obsession: Policing women’s sex lives by any means necessary

"But a case like Hobby Lobby flushes the true motivations out into the public, forcing conservatives to defend their position by admitting that they want sexuality to be treated like a weird, marginalized behavior to be punished instead of a normal part of everyday life."

Hate and fear mongering over immigration

Wall Street’s control of gas prices

Dirty campaign tactics in Florida

NASA Satellite Launched to Help Track 'Challenge of Our Generation' | Common Dreams

NASA Satellite Launched to Help Track 'Challenge of Our Generation' | Common Dreams

"NASA on Tuesday launched a rocket carrying a satellite that will track atmospheric carbon dioxide, the greenhouse gas fueling climate change—the "challenge of our generation"."

GMO Labeling Bill Moves Forward in Oregon | Common Dreams

GMO Labeling Bill Moves Forward in Oregon | Common Dreams

"Voters in Oregon want to know what's in their food and in November they will be given the chance to have their voices heard."

Wal-Mart’s big July 4 lie: This is how it really treats veterans

Wal-Mart’s big July 4 lie: This is how it <em>really</em> treats veterans

"Walmart veterans have had enough of the company taking advantage of our service for their public relations campaigns. If Walmart really wants to honor us, it’s time to invest in us so we can support ourselves and our families."

Why divest from fossil fuels?

'Buzzword List' Reveals What State Officials Can't Say About Fracking | Common Dreams

'Buzzword List' Reveals What State Officials Can't Say About Fracking | Common Dreams

"Former employees of the Pennsylvania Department of Health were ordered by supervisors to ignore complaints about fracking-related health issues and follow a host of other rules to keep the dangers of drilling under wraps — even at the expense of people's health."

Renewables Projected To Add Triple The Capacity Of New Fossil Fuel Plants By 2030

www.thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/07/01/3449868/renewables-soar/
"There seems little doubt that fracked wells — those that are still producing and those that are abandoned — leak methane into the water and air creating serious health and climate problems."

Four Of 10 Fracked Wells In Pennsylvania Are Projected To Fail, Spewing Methane Into Air And Water

www.thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/07/02/3453533/fracked-wells-methane/
"There seems little doubt that fracked wells — those that are still producing and those that are abandoned — leak methane into the water and air creating serious health and climate problems."

Birthing a Solar Age

Watch CNN Blast Hobby Lobby For Investing In Birth Control While They Deny It To Their Female Employees (VIDEO)

www.addictinginfo.org/2014/07/03/watch-cnn-blast-hobby-lobby-for-investing-in-birth-control-while-they-deny-it-to-their-female-employees-video/
"The owners of Hobby Lobby are certainly hypocrites. While they invest in the very birth control that prevents the abortions they despise, they deny the women who work for them from preventing themselves from having unwanted pregnancies. But the bigger villain here is the Supreme Court."

Democrat Tom Wolf Is Blowing Out Gov. Tom Corbett in Pennsylvania 47%-25%

www.politicususa.com/2014/07/02/democrat-tom-wolf-blowing-gov-tom-corbett-pennsylvania-47-25.html
"Corbett has alienated every voting bloc in the state with the exceptions of the fracking industry and far right conservatives. He won election in 2010 because most of the state’s Democrats didn’t vote. They won’t be making that mistake again in 2014."

Jim Hightower on the Rise of Populism

Laura Ingraham's Nativist Rhetoric Too Extreme For Bill O'Reilly

Laura Ingraham's Nativist Rhetoric Too Extreme For Bill O'Reilly

"Right wing hate talker and Fox regular Laura Ingraham and her anti-immigrant nativist rhetoric were even too much for Bill O'Reilly this Wednesday evening."

Thad Cochran Conference Call Interrupted By Racist "Blacks Picking Cotton" Caller

Thad Cochran Conference Call Interrupted By Racist "Blacks Picking Cotton" Caller

"How despicable are the tea partiers in Mississippi? Very"

8 Women Explain Why The Hobby Lobby Ruling Is Dead Wrong

Protesters Hound Buses Of Immigrant Children: ‘Nobody Wants You’

www.thinkprogress.org/immigration/2014/07/02/3455678/protesters-block-families-children-buses/
"Organizers from the anti-immigration group We the People Rising shouted, “Nobody wants you. You’re not welcome. Go home.” One protester shouted, “Turn around and go back,” “Vamanos. You’re in contempt of Congress…. criminals. Go home. We have no money for you"."

The Forces Behind SCOTUS Anti-Union Ruling

Wednesday, July 2, 2014

All The Single Ladies: Female Voting Power and The Looming Extinction of The GOP

www.politicususa.com/2014/07/02/single-ladies-rise-power-female-voter.html
"Since single women are on the rise, Republicans have gone out of their way to demonstrate their contempt for single women. Instead of trying to woo single women, Republicans choose to try to control them via shame, as if they have no idea what decade it is."

Pandora's Box Opens: Religious Groups Ask Obama for Exemptions To Discriminate Against LGBT Persons

www.alternet.org/pandoras-box-opens-religious-groups-ask-obama-exemptions-discriminate-against-lgbt-persons
"In the wake of the Hobby Lobby vs. Sebelius decision, U.S. religious leaders have sent a missive to President Obama demanding exemptions from a pending executive order that prohibits federal contractors from discriminating against gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and transgendered persons."

CNN Rips Hobby Lobby For Investing In Birth Control: 'Hypocrisy At Its Finest'

CNN Rips Hobby Lobby For Investing In Birth Control: 'Hypocrisy At Its Finest'

"CNN host Ashleigh Banfield on Wednesday highlighted the "hypocrisy" of Hobby Lobby for investing in companies that made the same birth control products that it refused to provide to female employees."

The Deeply Held Religious Principle Hobby Lobby Suddenly Remembered It Had | Common Dreams

The Deeply Held Religious Principle Hobby Lobby Suddenly Remembered It Had | Common Dreams

"The idea to bring the case was not Hobby Lobby's, but the work of the conservative Becket Fund for Religious Liberty. This is critical, because reporters ought to note that Hobby Lobby, according to its own court filing, was providing employees with contraceptive coverage it apparently concluded violated its religious beliefs. As Stephanie Mencimer of Mother Jones  (3/21/14) pointed out, Hobby Lobby says it has a problem with "the emergency contraceptive pills Plan B and Ella and intrauterine devices (IUDs), which they (erroneously) believe are abortifacients"."

5 states trying to make their kids scientifically illiterate

5 states trying to make their kids scientifically illiterate

"The biggest threat to the US education is the Republican Party’s refusal to accept scientific evidence as fact and turn every scientific claim into some form of liberal conspiracy."

The Hobby Lobby Ruling Is Trojan Horse For All Businesses and Corporations

www.politicususa.com/2014/07/02/hobby-lobby-ruling-trojan-horse-businesses-corporations.html
"What that means for this country is that no American, federal or state law, or Constitutional protection will be spared from the Koch brothers, anti-gay and anti-women supporters, or theocratic public schools because conservatives on the High Court legalized universal religious tyranny in a Trojan Horse; and they did it with extreme prejudice to destroy America’s 238-year flirtation with democracy and freedom from Christian fundamentalists’ intent to dominate the American people."