Enemies Of The Poor

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Paul Krugman, at The New York Times writes:

It’s not much of an exaggeration to say that right now Republicans are doing all they can to hurt the poor, and they would have inflicted vast additional harm if they had won the 2012 election. Moreover, G.O.P. harshness toward the less fortunate isn’t just a matter of spite (although that’s part of it); it’s deeply rooted in the party’s ideology, which is why recent speeches by leading Republicans declaring that they do too care about the poor have been almost completely devoid of policy specifics. Let’s start with the recent Republican track record. Krugman does a good job of calling the GOP on their recent bullshit campaign to claim they care about the less fortunate.

"Worker Deaths Raise Questions at an Apple Contractor in China"

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Another inflammatory headline from the New York Times:

"Apple supplier"? Really? Pegatron makes notebooks, netbooks, desktop PCs, tablets, other mobile devices, motherboards, graphic cards, cable modems, set-top boxes, phones, game consoles, mp3 players, e-readers, and a host of other devices for many companies - but all the New York Times can focus on is that Apple buys stuff from them so somehow this is an Apple problem? Apple is probably the only customer they have who holds them responsible in any way. Mentioning Apple in the headline is an easy way to get clicks. Android apologists will share it and then go on to explain that this is why they don't use Apple products, even though they use devices made in the same facility, for a company that does less to ensure safe working conditions than Apple does.

The story of out-of-control debts and deficits is just plain wrong. US deficits have fallen in the past four years

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Dean Baker, at The Guardian writes:

Republicans are delusional about US spending and deficits

Contrary to the widely repeated stories of out-of-control deficits and spending, deficits have plunged in the last four years falling from 10.1% of GDP in 2009 to just 4% of GDP in 2013. The Congressional Budget Office projects the deficit to be just 3.4% of GDP in 2014. The latest projections show the debt-to-GDP ratio falling for the rest of the decade.

Syria Intervention Would Reaffirm Obama’s Biggest Flip-Flop

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Alex Altman and Zeke Miller writing for Time's Swampland:

In 2007, Barack Obama was asked when Presidents have the authority to launch a military strike without congressional authorization. He had a precise answer at the ready. “The President does not have power under the Constitution to unilaterally authorize a military attack in a situation that does not involve stopping an actual or imminent threat,” Obama told the Boston Globe. While I fully support this President's actions with regards to social policy, I am continually disappointed by his firm Republicans beliefs when it comes to national security, civil liberties and foreign policy.

This Is How You Do Local Journalism

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This is fantastic. I am floored. I cannot begin to express how much I love this. C-ville.com has produced a New York Times 'Snowfall' style local investigative piece covering a contentious local battle over a road project in central Virginia around Charlottesville. This got my attention because I frequently drive this route to go home and visit family and hate driving through this section of Charlottesville on 29 due to how much it slows me down (stoplights, congested traffic, etc). I had no idea that there was a 30 year old issue surrounding this section of road, a proposal to make a bypass around it and huge local political fight over it.

You HAVE to check this out.

The Road

Albemarle County's three-decade fight over the Western Bypass isn't over yet

Late on the night of Wednesday, June 8, 2011, a few prominent Albemarle County real estate developers and other vocal supporters of the long-stalled plan to build a Route 29 bypass around Charlottesville strolled into Lane Auditorium at the tail end of a marathon meeting of the Board of Supervisors…. I would love to credit whomever reported on this and developed the story from a code sense. C-ville just credits its writers so it looks as if their whole news division contributed. Shockingly well produced.

Update: I've now learned that while C-ville handled all the reporting, their code monkeys appear to be Vibethink. (Twitter)

My Notes From Apple's WWDC Announcements

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Software

OS X Mavericks

Finder

iOS 7

iTunes Radio

  • Build your own playlist on any Apple device (Mac, AppleTV, iPhone, iPad)
  • The more music you listen to whether it is music you own, download or just play, stations will build around those selections intelligently.
  • Define your own rules such as "New station from song", "New station from artist", and a slider bar that allows you to tune between Top Hits, Mix, or Discovery.
  • Completely integrates with Siri.
  • Purchase songs for download directly into your collection.
  • If you subscribe to iTunes Match, then iTunes Radio is ad-free.
  • Station history is stored in iCloud and synced across devices.

Hardware

New MacBook Airs - I noticed on Apple Store, that you can now configure a 13" MacBook Air with a 1.7Ghz processor, 8GB RAM and a 512GB SSD for $1849.

New Mac Pro (holy shit)

  • My next computer.

New Airport Extreme

  • Perfect timing for our new house for when I network everything.

Complimentary articles from reputable sites:

The Wirecutter's brief rundown of Apple's announcements.

MacStories Numbers Roudup