firehose

Some tea-party groups examined by the IRS indeed crossed the line Washington Post (blog) The more information that comes out about the scandal at the Internal Revenue Service, the harder it is to say employees there erred completely in putting more scrutiny on particular groups seeking tax-exempt status. According to the New York Times, for ... and more »

captcarl13:

Indeed.

(chuckle)

aslimshadylady:

yet another unrealistic standard for women

(sigh) THEY HAD ONE JOB.

This chart shows how native-born Americans and immigrants affect the finances of Medicare, the US public health insurance for seniors. Immigrants consistently pay in more money than they take out, while natives cost the program far more than they contribute. The data, from a new study published in Health Affairs, is the latest to confirm that immigration will help save the US public money on social programs.

It’s the demography, stupid. Immigrants are younger, and have a higher work-force participation rate than native Americans, which means they pay more of the pay roll taxes that fund Medicare for longer. In the case of non-citizen immigrants, they may pay those taxes but be unable to claim benefits, and in other cases, older immigrants retire in their home countries and aren’t around to claim US benefits. Also, immigrants are generally healthier than native-born Americans.

The surplus will continue. Immigration is projected to grow in the next eighteen years. And the largest recent cohort of immigrants—those who arrived from Mexico during the US economic booms of the 1990s and 2000s —aren’t likely to retire for decades to come. Thus, the study’s authors conclude, new arrivals will continue providing a subsidy for natives.

The immigration bill could turn on access to health care. If the immigration reform bill moving through Congress were to be voted on today, it would fail, according to a political scientist working to predict the results of a vote. That’s partly because critics of immigration think new immigrants would impose heavy costs on the recently expanded health care system. Such thinking makes findings like this all the more important: skeptics need more convincing that immigration will improve the economy, not destroy it.

NPR

James Comey Understands FBI Can Say 'No' Bloomberg James Comey is the grandson of an Irish cop. But it's not the policeman in his DNA that makes him the right choice to run the Federal Bureau of Investigation. It's his deep understanding of the power of secret intelligence. Comey arrived as the No. 2 man at the ... Obama to name former Bush official James Comey as new FBI directorThe Guardian Looking Back: Testimony Put Comey in SpotlightWall Street Journal Former Bush Official Said to Be Obama Pick to Lead FBINew York Times Westfair Online -Washington Post -The Missoulian all 213 news articles »

An anonymous reader writes "The Drupal.org team released a bulletin this evening notifying users of a breach in their infrastructure. From the bulletin: 'The Drupal.org Security Team and Infrastructure Team has discovered unauthorized access to account information on Drupal.org and groups.drupal.org. This access was accomplished via third-party software installed on the Drupal.org server infrastructure, and was not the result of a vulnerability within Drupal itself. This notice applies specifically to user account data stored on Drupal.org and groups.drupal.org, and not to sites running Drupal generally. Information exposed includes usernames, email addresses, and country information, as well as hashed passwords... All Drupal.org passwords are both hashed and salted, although some older passwords on some subsites were not salted.' Users are encouraged to update their Drupal.org passwords and the passwords of any accounts that could be linked via the compromised information."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

ABC News

Motorola peels away mystery over 'hero phone' USA TODAY RANCHO PALOS VERDES, Calif. — Folks have been wondering what Google will do with Motorola Mobility, the venerable but struggling phone maker it acquired about a year ago. While short on specifics, some details began to emerge Wednesday night at ... Motorola's Moto X Phone Will Be Made in AmericaABC News Motorola's new 'Moto X' smartphone will be built in TexasApple Insider Texas marks the spot for new Moto X from MotorolaMind Of The Geek BGR -Latinos Post -Huffington Post all 164 news articles »

Six-time Oscar nominee Glenn Close is in final negotiations to board Marvel's "Guardians of the Galaxy" as the leader of the Nova Corps.

The conceit of “Baby Formula 2013,” the latest installation by Chinese dissident and artist Ai Weiwei, should be outdated.

After all, it was back in 2008 that contaminated milk killed 6 children and sickened 300,000 others. But in the intervening five years, little has changed. The Chinese government has declined to institute safety standards (paywall) and, unsurprisingly, a slew of new contamination scandals have cropped up. The resulting panic famously caused global supply disruptions after Hong Kong instituted measures to protects its own infant formula supply from desperate mainland parents.

And, of course, it’s not just milk formula. With every bite, people living in China must wonder whether they’re downing lead, formaldehyde, human hair, e-coli, melamine, pesticides, bleach, rat meat, or any number of other foul and toxic substances. ”There’s increasingly the sense that simply living is bad for you,” Maura Cunningham, a modern Chinese history scholar living in Shanghai, tells Quartz. “Food safety cuts across all boundaries. I think it’s the issue that has the most potential to get the widest range of popular support.”

Ai is even more pointed on the matter. “That Chinese people have to go across the border just to get a fresh supply of baby formula and clean food, that’s shocking to me,” he told NBC. “Food safety is a huge issue now due to the neglect of the government.”

In the spirit of “Baby Formula 2013,” Quartz has mapped the most prominent food scandals of the last few years on top of Ai’s new artwork. Click on the white dots to explore the map.

Behold, The Blank Page

MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA—Tech giant Google announced Wednesday that their newest version of Maps will enable users to fire a missile at any location on the planet.

In this prank video, Mashable tells people on the street that a 1995 R-Zone gaming headset is actually Google Glass and records their reactions. Previously we posted about their humorous “Don’t Be a Glasshole” public service announcement.

submitted via Laughing Squid Tips

The first class has graduated. Will there be another?

From water sensors to weather stations, DIY farm hacking takes off.

SPOILERS, PEOPLE. SPOILERS FOR THIS WEEK'S COMICS, WHICH JUST CAME OUT TODAY. Spoilers for Justice League of America #4, specifically, if you're trying to gauge how much this spoiler-ness affects you personally. If you're cool, here's who bit the big one in the New 52:

Read more...

By Reed Hastings, Netflix CEO

Alongside the Facebook marketing is a Web 2.0 site that lets people “scroll” through different images and paragraphs in a complex dynamic way.

Link (Thanks, Choire!)

“The fact that you thought this was a real show says a lot about the state of TV.”

In collaboration with CHI&Partners NY, New York PBS station Thirteen has launched a shrewd ad campaign that criticizes the current state of television. The campaign’s five posters advertise fake reality TV shows, with crazy names like Married to a Mime (“She’s got plenty to say.”) and Bad Bad Bag Boys (“Clean up on every aisle.“), and will appear in New York City subways until the end of June 2013.

images via Entertainment Weekly

via Entertainment Weekly, Gawker

Public Opinion On The Record Number Of Female Breadwinners WKNO FM A new Pew study finds that in a record 40 percent of all households with kids under 18, mothers are either the sole or primary source of income. In 1960, that share was just over 10 percent. These breadwinner moms number in the millions, but about ... More mothers are breadwinnersKFVS all 194 news articles »

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