First Looks category archive

Just racism and bigotry. And making the rich richer and the poor poorer.

Really, it’s just not a very nice party.

Via Balloon Juice.

Why does the Republican Party think that the answer to every question is “War”?

Tuesday, Triumph Brewing Company, 2nd and Chestnut, Philadelphia, Pa., 6 p. Good food, good drink, good fellowship.

You’re probably safe to attend tomorrow. I have a summer cold that will likely keep me off the road.

From a comment up the road a piece and to the left.

It amazes me how so many people in this country confuse “freedom of speech” with “freedom from consequences.”

An armed society is a polite society. Not.

John Cole on Cheney and the violation of civil liberties:

I was listening to NPR yesterday, and one analyst stated that the reason Washington is terrified to investigate this is because they know that so many laws were broken so flagrantly that any investigation will lead to the indictment of Bush and Cheney, and that, for obvious reasons, terrifies the Democrats (you can listen to that piece here). It would simply consume Washington and destroy Obama’s agenda, and they want to avoid that at all cost. Holder, on the other hand, may not give two hoots about Obama’s agenda and the delicate sensibilities of the Democrats, and go after them anyway.

(Follow the link to see the links that Mr. Cole refers to above.)

Looking to the future is one thing. Turning a blind eye to evil is quite another.

Evil was done.

In our names.

Read more »

Via BartBlog.

Sample institution about which consumers should be able to make their own decisions without a financial consumer protection agency.

Because, natch, financiers are so trustworthy and have only their fiduciary duty in mind.

Bank of Wyoming, Thermopolis, Wyoming, ain’t no more.

By my count, that’s 53 dustbiters this year. The FDIC is maintaining their two banks a week average.

It’s not just a large island in the North Atlantic any more.

. . . overall, more than 1,000 Peco (Philadelphia Electric Company–ed.) customers have lost power in the last few months because of aggressively growing vines that have shrouded tree trunks, poles, fences, rocks, and anything else in the paths of their insidious tendrils.

The outages are symptoms of what evidently has been a breakout year for the region’s vegetation.

The harvest of growth – and it’s not just the vines – is the product of a near-perfect recipe concocted by nature: generous and consistent rains mixed with gently warmed soil.

(There’s a short ad at the beginning.)

A scientist writing in the Guardian has skeptical commentary here.

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First time initial claims for unemployment have dropped under 600,000 in quite a while. MarketWatch:

The number of (unemployment) initial claims in the week ending July 4 fell 52,000 to 565,000 – the lowest level since January – as the manufacturing layoffs, predominantly automotive, that had been expected have already occurred at some companies, according to the Labor Department. The department added that some seasonally expected layoffs may come later or not at all.

(snip)

The four-week average of initial claims fell 10,000 to 606,000. The four-week average smoothes out distortions in the week-to-week data.

(snip)

Last week the government reported that the U.S. economy shed jobs at a faster pace in June than in May, suggesting that the turnaround in the economy may take longer than expected. Nonfarm payrolls shrank by 467,000 in June, higher than the 325,000 decline expected by economists surveyed by MarketWatch and the 322,000 jobs lost in May. The unemployment rate ticked higher to 9.5% in June from 9.4%. Since the recession began in December 2007, payroll employment has dropped by 6.5 million

Still doesn’t get my next door neighbor a job.

Some pictures taken from the South Island of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel. The South Island has parking, a fishing pier, and a diner with surprisingly reasonable prices.

A freighter entering the bay from the ocean. The picture is facing north; the vessel is moving from east to west:

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Via Oliver Willis.

From the Guardian:

Rupert Murdoch’s News Group Newspapers has paid out more than £1m to settle legal cases that threatened to reveal evidence of his journalists’ repeated involvement in the use of criminal methods to get stories.

The payments secured secrecy over out-of-court settlements in three cases that threatened to expose evidence of Murdoch journalists using private investigators who illegally hacked into the mobile phone messages of numerous public figures and to gain unlawful access to confidential personal data including tax records, social security files, bank statements and itemised phone bills. Cabinet ministers, MPs, actors and sports stars were all targets of the private investigators.

No, it will never end, not so long as Pinocchio’s nose can grow.

Twit ain’t necessarily so.
The things you are liable to read on the Twible,
Twit ain’t necessarily so.

Twitter Inc., which lets users post 140-character messages online, said last month that it is testing a feature that would add the word “verified” to some accounts to distinguish real and fake users. While Palin’s account is verified, more than a dozen accounts, including “hockymom64” and “EXGovSarahPalin,” use Palin’s name or title, and some show her photo.

H/T Alison for the link.