monsterbeard:

Secret PRISM program gives intelligence agency access to web and email of Google, Facebook and Apple customers

Forget about our earlier worries about the NSA getting Verizon calling data.  Turns out they have a thing called PRISM, which has apparently provided them with direct access to servers from Microsoft, Google, Apple, Facebook, etc.

All access, all data, all your privacy.  All legal. 

Lets please make a big deal about this.

So yeah, we should all be freaking out right now. And by that I mean calmly working toward getting this 1984 Big Brother nonsense shut the hell down.

Another article: http://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/us-intelligence-mining-data-from-nine-us-internet-companies-in-broad-secret-program/2013/06/06/3a0c0da8-cebf-11e2-8845-d970ccb04497_story.html

“Scott, 47, will become the only African-American currently serving in the Senate and the first black Republican to serve in the upper chamber since the 1970s. He will also be the first black senator from the South since Reconstruction.”

What? I mean, yay, minority representation, but ARE YOU KIDDING ME. South Carolina’s population is 30% African-American; how is this the first time in over 100 years that we’ve had a Black man in the Senate?

And there’s this, from ThinkProgress:

“Though DeMint left big, controversial shoes to fill for Republicans, few conservatives will be disappointed with Scott’s record. Elected to Congress just two years ago in the Tea Party wave, Scott has already garnered headlines for his plan to impeach President Obama, his legislation to cut off union members’ children from food stamps, and his defense of Big Oil.”

I AM SO DONE.

Damn it, Obama! Why are you not in the Northeast using your secret African magic to toss aside fallen trees and push back the seas! I’m sure Romney… Oh, wait, Romney’s campaigning today too? Oops.

But seriously, people. New York and New Jersey are in crisis; one of the girls in my seminar who is from New Jersey said her town probably won’t have power for another three weeks just because there’s so much damage from downed trees and such. Can we please focus on helping people who have been affected instead of worrying about attacking people who are doing what they can?

Ah, pre-election week. Time for my church/high school friends to start reminding me that if I *really* loved Jesus I’d be voting for Romney.

tyleroakley:

Woman at VP Debate calls Obama a communist, yet can’t explain what a communist is when questioned.

God bless that interviewer.

merescribblers:

fucking-niall:

samljackson:

And that’s how you do religion and politics.

Omg finally THANK YOU.

As roommate says, #goodcatholicbiden

(Source: kaidencechrist)

Drinking and getting on facebook during a political event is a very bad idea. Must resist urge to comment snidely on blindly conservative friends’ ratchet statuses…

Bam.

terribletoaster:

milesjai:

motherjones:

Well here’s a headline you don’t see every day…

If you’re skeptical, hear him say it for himself. 

It just gets worse and worse as you read it and LISTEN to him. Holy crap. Spread this, I mean it, to every American able to vote LISTEN.

I don’t know if I approve of the rather sketchy means through which this recording was obtained/released, but holy shit, how dare people feel entitled to FOOD, those selfish, lazy bastards.

(I’ll stop using this gif when it stops being appropriate.)

(Source: bloomberg.com)

barackobama:

jemappellery submitted:

In my first presidential election, I am what they call a one-issue voter. I didn’t think I would be; when I started looking seriously at the candidates, I thought things like economic policy, the war in Afghanistan and gay rights would be things I would seriously consider.

They weren’t. It came down to the Affordable Care Act. As a college student with a pre-existing, chronic condition, healthcare is incredibly important to me. I am alive today because of the healthcare I have received. I have medications that cost $32,000 a year wholesale. I have been hospitalized twice in the past year. I will probably be hospitalized once a year for the foreseeable future. A drug that addresses the underlying cause of my genetic disease is in development, but a similar drug for a slightly different mutation costs $294,000 a year. What I’m saying: I am not a cheap person to insure.

However, because of the Affordable Care Act, I am secure in the knowledge that I can stay on my parents’ healthcare plan until I am 26 years old. The insurance company cannot cap the amount of care I can receive in my lifetime. In the future, I will be able to get insurance regardless of how much my care costs. I will not be denied because of my pre-existing condition. I will not have a limit on the care that will be paid for in a year.

If Mitt Romney becomes president, this historic act will be repealed. Romney has said that he will repeal Obamacare on his first day in office. That will be absolutely catastrophic for me. The Affordable Care Act means that insurance is no longer something I have to think about every day. It means that I will be covered for the medicines and treatments I need. The Affordable Care Act will keep me healthy for years to come.

The Affordable Care Act is the one reason I am voting for Obama in 2012. I doesn’t hurt that I agree with him on all the other issues, too.

Seconded. There’s lots of other important stuff (like the fact that Romney seems intent on keeping gays and women in the back of the bus, so to speak), but on a selfish, personal level, I’m down with healthcare that won’t magically disappear when I turn 24, and I’ll do my best to elect the candidate that will make that happen.

Okay, I might be opening up a can of worms here, but can anyone explain to me why people don’t want other people to have healthcare? Like, I get that everyone’s all “oh, the quality of healthcare in America will plummet if it’s socialized” because of… reasons, I don’t know, but do they really think that some mediocre healthcare is better than no healthcare? Speaking as someone with several chronic illnesses, I promise I’d personally prefer to be able to get the medicine I need to not die at a reasonable price than… well pretty much anything.

But really, I do want to hear arguments from the other side. I can’t promise that I’ll agree, but I’d like to know for the sake of knowing.

tyleroakley:

undoneattheseams:

Is anyone gonna tell these people that Canada uses provincial government healthcare systems and public health insurance or is everyone just going to sit back and watch these people make asses of themselves? Wait, don’t answer that.

God bless.

Probably my favorite reaction to this whole thing.

(Source: leeleeleelee)

barackfuckingobama:

radiationkid:

mad-maddie:

lakrymosa:

Fuck.

Not even tagging this. This is too important for that.

Not American, but yes, reblogging.

Fuck this.

This screenshot looks sketchy and it all sounds unbelievable but it’s actually telling the truth

America needs another revolution

Articles to add a bit more legitimacy:

The Media’s Blackout of the National Defense Authorization Act is Shameful
National Defense Authorization Act: White House Renews Veto Threat After Senate Vote
Guantanamo for US citizens? Senate bill raises questions.

Of course Lindsey Graham’s name pops up in two of those articles. Shocked? Not a bit.

(Source: doomofraven)