The Deep State

Former longtime Republican congressional staffer Mike Lofgren says in a long essay what many of us have been saying all along, that despite all the posturing about divided government and gridlock and nothing getting done, in reality there is an underlying, unspoken, smoothly operating consensus on some things that result in certain policies that benefit a select few, the oligarchy, getting implemented with little or no discussion. He gives the group behind it a name and calls them the ‘Deep State’.
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Squatter becomes a model resident

The collapse of the real estate bubble exacerbated a problem that some older mid-western cities like Cleveland faced in that decreasing population had left many homes empty. Since the real estate bubble resulted in the ownership of many homes being held by shell companies that were hard to trace, these building feel into disrepair and became eyesores since no one was being held responsible for their upkeep. This led to the problem of urban blight and some cities have tried to solve it by demolishing the buildings.
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Apple security flaw alert

Those of you who use any Apple products should take steps to fix a major security flaw that has been exposed. This flaw implicates a breakdown in its SSL protocols and so enables a third party to intercept communications between you and any site that you visit. Apple has issued patches to fix this for its iPad and iPhones and you should immediately install them by going to Settings->General->Software Updates.
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The extremely delicate sensibilities of some religious organizations

The Affordable Care Act requires employers that provide health insurance to employees to provide contraceptive coverage for women. Religious organizations that oppose contraception have argued that this violates their religious beliefs and have gone to court to say that they should be exempt under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) that prevents the government from taking actions that would “substantially burden a person’s exercise of religion” unless there is a “compelling governmental interest” and the action is the “least restrictive” it can take.
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The heartland speaks – and it sounds nuts

The individual states are popularly supposed to be the laboratories of US democracy where many ideas can be tried out and the best ones then adopted nationally. The Daily Show takes a look at some of the ideas that being proposed in states that, as we repeatedly told by idiotic politicians, represent the ‘real’ America, without them ever explaining why the rest of America in the big cities and the coasts are any less American.
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Ted Cruz’s unusual strategy

It is not uncommon for political neophytes who once raged against the system to, once they get into office, temper their rhetoric in order to get things done, since governance usually requires compromise and not alienating those one needs to work with. But what begins as a tactical maneuver to get others to go along with your plans can often end up with you going along with their plans and eventually changing your own views to theirs. This process is what George Orwell satirized in his Animal Farm where the pigs who overthrew the human farmers on the slogan of “Four legs good, two legs bad” and took charge of running the farm eventually became indistinguishable in attitude, actions, and even appearance from the humans they once despised.
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