Quote of the day (yesterday) goes to Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) at Betsy DeVos’s appearance before Congress on the 2018 Education Department budget:
Education is not mayonnaise, and, frankly, the day we start treating the education of our children like we do the marketing of a condiment is the day we have given up on our kids.
This was in response to a Republican Senator’s (R-La.) comment that choosing a school should be like going to the store to choose from six kinds of mayonnaise. Louisiana was ranked #46 out of 50 states in USNews’ 2017 report and last in an independent 2016 study.
This case has been called the Citizens United of products, but this time the Supreme Court actually came down on the side of the people instead of the corporations.
I didn’t expect this result, but the Supreme Court just ruled in favor of consumers in the Impression v. Lexmark case, which basically says companies can’t enforce US patent rights abroad–the result of which means we’ll have cheaper foreign-manufactured generic drugs and, yes, cheaper ink cartridges.
Queens of the Stone Age is going to release a new album…soon.
Homme described the forthcoming record as “uptempo,” and whereas 2013’s …Like Clockwork was “about making it through, this time we’ve made it through the other side and we’re ready to roll.”
Well, that’s interesting. A federal court overturned the law that required drone pilots to register with the FAA. As a sometime drone pilot, I’m happy I don’t have to fill out forms just to take pictures of my own house.
I like photography and I like cars. This woman wrote a fantastic ‘How To’ Guide to Car Photography which also includes business, technical, and visual advice. Worth reading on several levels.
Baltimore Brick By Brick is a blog that details the buildings taken down by a salvage company. The author takes the time to learn about the people and neighborhoods around the buildings they take apart, and provides a glimpse into the city that was.
In the early days, she took pictures of flowers and sunsets. “I’d never post something like that now,” she said, looking at a closeup of ripening blackberries, from four years ago. As I thumbed toward the top of the screen, I had the disconcerting sense of watching a life become a life-style brand.
The New Yorker on #Vanlife, the social media trend of young white couples traveling in antique VW vans, paid for by sponsors and marketing deals.
File this under blue state, FUCK YEAH!
Maryland has become the first state to guarantee funding for Planned Parenthood, promising to reimburse clinics if the federal government cuts support.
My Governor, who is a Republican, did not endorse the bill but did not veto it, and allowed it to go into effect. $2,700,000 is fucking peanuts compared to the lack of any viable alternative to effective, low-cost family planning care.
On the other hand, Donald Trump’s graphics were easy to dismiss. They combined the design sensibility of the Home Shopping Network with the tone of a Nigerian scam email. Like so many other complacent Democrats, my only question was: Why is this even close?
Michael Beirut does a postmortem on his logo for the Hilary campaign, putting it in the context of the Obama campaign, the changes in atmosphere since 2008, and how his personal experience put him out of touch with the Midwest, where most of Trump’s supporters originated.