Friday Open Thread [11.1.13]

Friday Open Thread [11.1.13]

9 Comments
Connor Simpson has some bad news for Fox News and Rupert Murdoch:
Fox News has fallen out of favor with Republicans after two years of untouched supremacy as the party’s brand of choice across any and every medium, according to a recent YouGov survey. YouGov measures which brands are preferred by each party (Republicans, Democrats, Independents) by adding and subtracting negative feedback on a 100 to -100 scale. In 2011, Fox News led all brands [among Republicans] with 68 support points, a full 5 points ahead of the rest. In 2012, Fox News led with 64.5 support points, 1.7 points above the rest. This year? In 2013, Fox News didn’t even make the top 10. [...] A Public Policy Poll released in January showed a serious decline in trust during the months after the election. Only 52 percent of those who identify as “somewhat conservative,” said they trust Fox News, down from 65 percent last year. Hardline conservatives trust Fox News less, too: 13 percent said they don’t trust Fox News anymore, compared to 6 percent last year.
LOL. You know what happened, right? Fox News dared to inform its viewers that President Obama won the election. THAT FACT IS CLEARLY UNTRUE!!!!! By reporting the President was reelected, Fox News revealed its horrible evil liberal bias, and no true conservative can watch it anymore.
John Bleeping Carney

John Bleeping Carney

10 Comments
John Bleeping Carney. One of 30 'Democrats' to vote to enable 'financial advisors' to continue to rip you off. Worse than useless. Check out this article from Daily Kos:
The Labor Department proposal, known as the “fiduciary rule,” would change the ethical standards by which employer-based retirement products like 401(k)’s and IRAs are marketed and sold. The rule has not been updated since 1975, before 401(k)’s and IRAs even existed. The Labor Department wants to broaden the definition of a “fiduciary” to cover all financial advisers who offer individual investment advice for a fee. Under the rule, they would be legally required to work in the best interest of their clients. For example, a fiduciary would not be able to push investment products on customers in which they have a financial stake.
Delaware ranked 5th best state for women

Delaware ranked 5th best state for women

22 Comments
The Center for American Progress (CAP) report, “The State of Women in America,” uses 36 different health, economic, and leadership factors to measure disparities between states and rank the best and worst states for women." Delaware women don't have it so bad (relatively speaking). We are fifth overall and our gals make $0.81 for every dollar men make for the same job. The national average is $0.77 - so not too shabby ladies. Maryland is number 1 by that measure. They pay their daughters $0.85 for every dollar their sons make doing the same job. The worst states in which to be a non-man are predictably, more often than not, in the south. Louisiana's Mesdames et Mesdemoiselles take down a measly $0.67 compared to their Messieurs. [...]
The myth of “shareholder primacy” continues to crumble; employers, employees and shareholders win

The myth of “shareholder primacy” continues to crumble; employers, employees and shareholders win

24 Comments
When I was getting my MBA 10 years ago, the manifold virtues of shareholder primacy were so ingrained in the culture of business academics that, while they informed every bit of the curriculum, they were only discussed in passing. There was no more attention paid this foundational concept than you would pay attention to the concept of addition in a calculus class. Fortunately that is changing. Lynn Stout, the Distinguished Professor of Corporate and Business Law at Cornell Law School, helps move shareholder primacy into a coffin and provides some coffin nails for the myth that has wrecked our economy in her most recent book, The Shareholder Value Myth: How Putting Shareholders First Harms Investors, Corporations and the Public. This abstract of the book explores the logical connections between the 40 year rise of shareholder value thinking and subsequent declines in investor returns, numbers of public companies, and corporate life expectancy. It also shows that shareholder primacy is an bullshit economic theory, completely lacking in support from history, law, or empirical evidence. [Set aside a few minutes to read the whole thing.]
NSA Is Out Of Control. Time To Rein It In.

NSA Is Out Of Control. Time To Rein It In.

10 Comments
James Clapper, the Obama Administration's Director of National Intelligence has said NSA does not "wittingly" collect data on citizens. General Keith Alexander, NSA's Director as well as his predecessor have testified that NSA is not spying on or collecting data on citizens. Even the Chair of the House Intelligence Committee has told the media that the American intelligence community is not intrusively monitoring the communications of our citizens without a warrant.
Wednesday Open Thread [10.29.13]

Wednesday Open Thread [10.29.13]

9 Comments
The News Journal has a haunted house expose up. Here is an interesting tidbit from the story:
Former Delaware GOP Chairman Terry Strine, for example, feels exactly the opposite of Milliken about his home near Centreville where a Delaware socialite was beaten to death in her first-floor bedroom in 1967. He finds it “totally illogical, irrational and psychologically crazy” that anyone would be spooked from buying the house where Katharine “Kaa” Thompson Wood died.
In fact, he enjoys conversing with the undead spirits every night as he refines the latest Republican talking points.

Rampant child rape and abuse going unreported

4 Comments
A new study says that each year approximately 7,500 children are admitted to U.S. hospitals having been raped and more than 500 children die during hospital admission as a result of rape.
An abstract of the study, titled "United States Child Rape--Disturbing Trends," was presented on Sunday by researchers at the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) National Conference and Exhibition in Orlando, Fla.
  Why isn't it a national scandal that this isn't covered in the media? It is almost as if someone is covering it up? Oh wait. I changed "gunshot" to "rape." Here is the original.
15 years ago, Congress kept Mickey Mouse out of the public domain. Will they do it again?

15 years ago, Congress kept Mickey Mouse out of the public domain. Will they do it again?

15 years already? I remember when this money grab went down. If you ever want to get pissed off at the BILLIONS in welfare that gets doled out to wealthy individuals and corporations, just look at copyright law. It is a sick joke. I distinctly remember writing to Senator Joe Biden's office to tell him that extending copyrights on books that should be moving into the public domain (like the Great Gatsby, for example) amounted to a HUGE tax on schools and school districts. His response was, "Go fuck yourself. The Gershwin's and Disney just wrote me some fat checks. What have you contributed?" Something to that effect. Maybe that's a paraphrase.