Abraham Lincoln On Religion
Posted on January 24, 2014 in Quotes
Debates about Lincoln’s religious beliefs carry on to the present, but this succinct quote is about as inclusive and circumspect as you can get.
Obama On Pot Legalization
Posted on January 24, 2014 in Articles
The Article: Obama on Pot Legalization: ‘It’s Important for It to Go Forward’ by Conor Friedersdorf in The Atlantic.
The Text: In the course of being profiled for an article in The New Yorker, President Obama told the magazine’s editor, David Remnick, the following things about smoking marijuana:
“I view it as a bad habit and a vice, not very different from the cigarettes that I smoked as a young person.”
“I don’t think it is more dangerous than alcohol.” In fact, it is less dangerous than alcohol “in terms of its impact on the individual consumer.”
“Middle-class kids don’t get locked up for smoking pot, and poor kids do. And African-American kids and Latino kids are more likely to be poor and less likely to have the resources and the support to avoid unduly harsh penalties.”
The Growing (And Scary) Power Of The Presidency
Posted on January 23, 2014 in Videos
American University professor Chris Edelson bites down on the constitutional scholar Barack Obama’s problematic interpretations of the constitution and civil liberties.
A Day In The Life Of Chris Christie, The Innocent
Posted on January 23, 2014 in Political Cartoons
If ignorance is truly blissful, why does Chris Christie seem like such a boorish bully in his press meetings?
The Rise Of College Grads In Dead-End Jobs
Posted on January 23, 2014 in Articles
The Article: The Growth of College Grads in Dead-End Jobs (in 2 Graphs) by Jordan Weissmann in The Atlantic.
The Text: These post-recession years have not been gentle on young college grads, and by now, you’ve heard plenty of stories about students matriculating from campus to life as a barista. But how many B.A.’s are really out there toiling in dead-end jobs? A new report from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York offers us an answer this week, which I think can be summed up as: Fewer than you probably think, but definitely more than we’re used to.
Using Census data, the bank’s researchers found that, through 2012, roughly 44 percent of working, young college graduates were “underemployed,” meaning they were in a job that did not require their degree. While the number sounds pretty daunting, it’s not actually without precedent. It’s about the same rate as in 1994.
