Chris Christie’s latest misery: N.J.’s finances

Here’s how drastically Chris Christie’s political fortunes have turned: Bridgegate might not be his biggest problem.
Just as the New Jersey governor is trying to turn the corner on the traffic scandal and restore his national luster, now he’s getting blamed for a yawning budget deficit and recent downgrade of the state’s debt.

Christie and state lawmakers have less than two months to close a sudden budget hole. Analysts say the governor’s administration brought on the problem by projecting the state would collect much more in tax revenue than it did; Christie’s aides insist the Legislature and changes in federal tax laws bear some of the blame.

Either way, the stream of bad headlines could undercut a central tenet of Christie’s comeback attempt and message in a potential 2016 bid: that he’s led an economic “miracle” in the Garden State.


http://www.politico.com/story/2014/05/christies-finances-106519.html#ixzz31GYuBkUA

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The bully on the shore has a lot to juggle

The Science of Your Racist Brain

When the audio of Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling telling a female friend not to "bring black people" to his team's games hit the internet, the condemnations were immediate. It was clear to all that Sterling was a racist, and the punishment was swift: The NBA banned him for life. It was, you might say, a pretty straightforward case.

When you take a look at the emerging science of what motivates people to behave in a racist or prejudiced way, though, matters quickly grow complicated. In fact, if there's one cornerstone finding when it comes to the psychological underpinnings of prejudice, it's that out-and-out or "explicit" racists—like Sterling—are just one part of the story. Perhaps far more common are cases of so-called "implicit" prejudice, where people harbor subconscious biases, of which they may not even be aware, but that come out in controlled psychology experiments.

Much of the time, these are not the sort of people whom we would normally think of as racists. "They might say they think it's wrong to be prejudiced," explains New York University neuroscientist David Amodio, an expert on the psychology of intergroup bias. Amodio says that white participants in his studies "might write down on a questionnaire that they are positive in their attitudes towards black people…but when you give them a behavioral measure, of how they respond to pictures of black people, compared with white people, that's when we start to see the effects come out." You can listen to our interview with Amodio on the Inquiring Minds podcast below:

http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2014/05/inquiring-minds-david-amodio-your-brain-on-racism

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But the Supremo Court said there is no racism

Former Israeli Nuclear Head says No Iran Bomb for More Than Ten Years

The former head of the Israel Atomic Energy Commission Brigadier General (res.) Uzi Eilam just dropped a bombshell (no pun intended): “The Iranian nuclear program will only be operational in another 10 years,” he told the Israeli paper Yediot Ahronoth. “Even so, I am not sure that Iran wants the bomb.” And he added that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is employing needless fearmongering about Iran’s atomic aspirations in order to further his own political aims.

Mindful of the ongoing—and thus far successful—nuclear talks with Iran, and Netanyahu’s vocal opposition to them, Eilam’s statement must be music to the ears of the Obama administration. It further embarrasses those in Washington who so uncritically swallowed Netanyahu’s talking points hook, line and sinker—and repeated the Israeli prime minister’s arguments as their own.

But when such an Israeli authority as Eilam publicly tears apart the official Israeli narrative about Iran’s nuclear intentions, one must ask oneself why such a unfounded narrative—in the words of Netanyahu himself, “It’s 1938 and Iran is Germany. And Iran is racing to arm itself with atomic bombs”—ever gained foot in the first place.

Particularly when ample evidence has existed in the public realm that the Israeli-Iranian enmity is exacerbated, but not caused or driven by Iran’s nuclear program.

http://www.laprogressive.com/iranian-nuclear-bomb/

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Listen to an expert or a politician, hmmmmmmmmmmm

Obama administration limits on soot pollution upheld by appeals court

The Obama administration on Friday scored its third major legal victory on air pollution in less than month when a federal appeals court rejected an industry challenge to its latest health standards for fine particulate matter, or soot.

The unanimous ruling by a three-judge panel of the the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit found the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency was within its discretion in 2012 when it tightened limits on lung-damaging soot.

The National Assn. of Manufacturers filed a legal challenge to the regulations last year, saying the agency had overreached and would crush businesses' plans for growth.

The 11-page decision rejected industry complaints and found that the EPA had acted reasonably and within its bounds when it adopted stricter nationwide standards for fine particulate matter. The tiny, chemical-laden particles and liquid droplets are emitted by power plants, diesel trucks, refineries and factories. They lodge deep in the lungs when inhaled and are linked to heart and lung disease, respiratory illnesses and premature deaths.

http://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-soot-air-pollution-epa-ruling-20140509-story.html

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Score one for climate change

Why the FCC Is Ditching Net Neutrality

Late last month, the Federal Communications Commission announced that it would propose new rules allowing companies like Netflix or Google to pay internet service providers (ISPs) like Verizon or Comcast for faster data lanes to deliver video and other content to their customers. In other words, the FCC was proposing to replace net neutrality—the egalitarian internet that we all know—with a pay-to-play platform designed to favor the biggest and richest players.

The backlash online was so huge, swift, and predictable that one might wonder what the hell the FCC bureaucrats were thinking. Could a handful of powerful companies really matter more to the commission than pretty much everybody else who uses the internet? The charts below show how a few wealthy special interests wield huge sway within the FCC, particularly with regard to the net neutrality debate. But first, a quick refresher on what net neutrality means:

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/05/charts-why-fcc-ditching-net-neutrality

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Why is the FCC ditching net neutrality ??

Defend Net Neutrality

10 Times When You’re Better Off Saying Nothing at All

You know the saying that sometimes the best thing to say is nothing at all?

You’ve probably read before about the key phrases that greatest leaders say every day.

But great leaders are also wise when it comes to the opposite strategy: Sometimes, the smartest thing to say is nothing at all.

I’m not referring here simply to the advice your mother might have given you about keeping your mouth shut if you don’t have anything nice to say. Instead, think of the big moments when people come close to achieving goals, accomplishing great things, or even just developing good relationships and encouraging people to like them more. Sometimes, a simple slip of the tongue can set them back and destroy all they’ve worked for.

http://time.com/94555/10-times-youre-better-off-saying-nothing-at-all/

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This is especially true on blogs

As Earth Warms, West Nile Spreads

The day that everything changed was a broiling Thursday in July—95 degrees, the kind of dry heat that Sacramento Valley residents are used to. If you have to work outside, you do it before noon, swathed in long sleeves and pants to keep the sun at bay and the mosquitoes from eating you alive.

On this day, however, my grandmother, an active and spritely woman even at 80, never made it outside to the garden. She mentioned at breakfast that she wasn’t feeling well, and my grandfather suggested that she take a nap in the sunroom. When he finally woke her up at 4 p.m., she still felt ill and feverish. The nearest emergency room is more than an hour’s drive from their 20-acre farm in rural northern California, but they decided to make the trip. The doctors performed a CAT scan, gave my grandmother some Tylenol, and sent her home.

When my grandparents finally got back at around 11 p.m., my grandfather tried to convince my grandmother to eat something; she said that she could manage a piece of toast. A few days later he found the toast, one bite taken out of it, abandoned in the microwave.

Although it may be possible to disregard the slow changes happening within our climate, it’s less easy to ignore the effects of a disease ravaging a family.

While getting ready for bed, my grandmother went into the bathroom and stood in the dark for 10 minutes. “I asked her what she was doing, and she said she was washing her teeth,” my grandfather recalls. He coaxed her out, and they climbed into bed.

http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2014/05/the-perfect-storm-for-west-nile-virus/361896/

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Another climate change symptom

John Mica, fake joint roll into pot hearing

Call it a joint committee hearing.

Rep. John Mica (R-Fla.) brought a rolled marijuana cigarette to a House Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee hearing Friday.

Mica was quick to add that it was not a real joint — simply a visual prop to illustrate the potential consequences of the new Washington, D.C., marijuana decriminalization law.

“I have this joint here,” Mica started, before adding: “Don’t get too excited. … This is not a real one, it’s a mock one.”


http://www.politico.com/story/2014/05/john-mica-marijuana-pot-hearing-106529.html

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Like the fake politician that he is , bring a fake joint

Cliven Bundy armed standoff reportedly sparks FBI investigation

The FBI is investigating last month’s standoff between supporters of anti-government rancher Cliven Bundy and employees of the Bureau of Land Management, according to a report from the Las Vegas CBS affiliate KLAS.

The investigation is reportedly related to the April standoff between Bundy and a heavily armed ad-hoc militia and agents from the Bureau of Land Management. Bundy, who owes more than $1 million in grazing fees and penalties after using government land to feed his cattle, refuses to accept the authority of the federal government. He and his approximately 400 supporters stopped BLM officials from taking Bundy’s cattle in response to his delinquency.

The FBI would neither confirm nor comment on the reports of an investigation.

Clark County Sheriff Doug Gillespie and Assistant Sheriff Joe Lombard both confirmed to KLAS that they were interviewed by FBI agents, as well as members of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department.

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/fbi-reportedly-investigating-cliven-bundy-standoff?cid=sm_twitter

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Finally!