Author Archives: Finley Kay

Judge Upholds Arizona Ballot Collecting Ban, Raising Fears of Suppressed Minority Vote

by Finley Kay Posted on September 23, 2016

Mother Jones

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A federal judge denied a Democratic challenge on Friday to Arizona’s ban on collecting other people’s absentee ballots, a move that opponents of the ban fear will suppress the minority vote in the state in the upcoming November elections.

The Arizona Republic reported Friday that US District Court Judge Douglas Rayes ruled that the law didn’t disproportionately impact minority groups. Although it could cause inconvenience for some voters, Rayes found, it didn’t create a significant enough burden to warrant blocking its enforcement during this election. The legal fight over the constitutionality of the law will continue, but the law will not be blocked for the Nov. 8 general election.

The law, Arizona House Bill 2023, targets so-called “ballot harvesting.” It makes it a felony, punishable by up to a year in state prison, for somebody to submit a ballot that isn’t his or hers. Election officials, family members, and caregivers are exempt.

Arizona Republicans have tried for three years to block the ability of people to gather other voters’ absentee ballots and submit them for counting. Republicans have argued that the practice would allow a person to take someone else’s ballot and not turn it in, or to alter it in some way before turning it in, constituting a form of fraud. Arizona Democrats and community activists argued that the practice was common in areas of the state with a substantial minority population, including the Phoenix metro area, and that a ban would be a form of voter suppression. The bill was finally approved this year.

“Voting is a key pillar of our democracy,” said Republican Gov. Doug Ducey when he signed the bill in March. “The bill ensures a chain of custody between the voter and the ballot box.”

State Republicans acknowledged during court arguments in early August that there’s no evidence that a ballot has ever been tampered with or thrown away during the process of ballot collection. But they argued that was irrelevant. “You need not wait until someone breaks into your house before putting a lock on the door,” Arizona Republican Party attorney Sara Jane Agne said during court arguments.

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Judge Upholds Arizona Ballot Collecting Ban, Raising Fears of Suppressed Minority Vote

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Röyksopp and Robyn Meet the Inevitable End

by Finley Kay Posted on November 10, 2014

Mother Jones

Most bands don’t announce their final album in advance. That designation is typically applied post-facto, when once-harmonious bandmates descend into irreparable squabbles on the road. But Norwegian electronic duo Röyksopp has declared that its aptly named new LP, The Inevitable End, out this week, its last.

But Svein Berge and Torbjørn Brundtland aren’t disbanding. Instead, they simply plan to ditch the old long-play format. “We feel like this is a goodbye to the traditional album,” the duo wrote on their website.

I caught up with Berge and Brundtland alongside Swedish pop star Robyn, as the three toured to promote their collective EP, Do It Again. The three performers opened up about how they got together, how the internet has changed the game, and the joys of not being beholden to record executives.

Mother Jones: Your first song together was 2009’s “Girl and The Robot,” on a Röyksopp album. Had you known each other before that?

Robyn: Nope. We met the first day we went into the studio and wrote that song.

MJ: Röyksopp had sent you some tracks in advance, though? Did you turn anything down?

Robyn: No, I turned some things up. Laughs. I don’t turn anything down. There were so many things they sent that I really liked, but just liking something doesn’t always mean that you can use it. Some things just evoke ideas and feelings in you, and that has nothing to do with good or bad—it’s just what resonates at the time.

MJ: Were you trading ideas back and forth beforehand?

Brundtland: Robyn had heard some instrumental bits, beats and stuff like that, but I don’t think that was necessary. Either way, it can be slightly—I wouldn’t say scary—but you can crash and burn. That’s what it can feel like when you’re meeting up with someone and you’re supposed to make something that’s really good. But when we met up it wasn’t like that at all.

Robyn: No. And all my past experiences are like that. ‘Cause I had a period when I working and writing with professional songwriters, and I always dreaded it. It was so horrible to work that way.

MJ: What made it so horrible?

Robyn: It was early on in my career when I was in another type of world. It was never really people that I liked what they did. It’s never like, “Oh, I don’t really like this guy, but maybe, maybe if we work together some more we’ll start to like each other.” It’s either you click or you don’t.

MJ: I’ve read that each of you was each at an impasse before deciding to do this current album. How so?

Robyn: I don’t know how detailed I would like to be, but I was definitely exhausted after touring a long time. I was not in a good place at all. I was really looking forward to making more music, but I just didn’t feel like I had had enough time off after the Body Talk albums to make my own album. And I was looking to start collaborating with other people in a different way, where I didn’t want the music to become an album. I just wanted to make music and see what happened.

Brundtland: Looking back, I think that we subconsciously thought that we’ve had a nice run with our albums. They represent something different, all of them, and conceptually it’s just progressed. So I guess we were looking for something to break up that thing a little bit.

Berge: I think doing what we did with Robyn felt—this sounds a bit cheesy—but a bit cathartic. To make it even more cheesy, it gives life a bit of purpose. I personally was in a place that I wasn’t too comfortable with.

Brundtland: It felt new, because we didn’t really set out with that plan or anything like that. But just creating this album, which is referred to as an EP, you get a feeling of “I want more.” We have heard people say that they wish it was longer, and that’s so much better than “I wish the album was shorter.”

MJ: And people skipping past tracks.

Brundtland: Yeah. That exists—18-song albums with a lot of unnecessary stuff.

MJ: Robyn’s Body Talk was a series of three shorter releases. Do you think that sort of capital-A album—where you pack in as many songs as possible—has lost relevance?

Robyn: I hope so. It’s a horrible way of working, actually. I mean, I don’t mind taking time off to make an album. If it takes a long time, it does. But then to spend two or three years promoting it? It’s fucking insane. I’d rather spend that time making new music. I think back in the day when pop music started, people made albums every year, and you played music live that people hadn’t heard before you released the album. It was like a constant production period. Everything was slower and you could sell more records, of course, but it kind of worked in a different way then.

Then the ’90s came, and everything changed and became really heavy marketing. It totally destroyed everything. We all started our careers around that time. The way it is now is so much better creatively. You can set your own pace. It’s not weird to release short albums anymore, and people get better music too.

MJ: So you’re are no longer beholden to big record labels?

Robyn: Yeah. I don’t make any records anymore in collaboration with the record company. I make them on my own, and deliver them when they’re done. There’s this way of thinking about an album like it’s something that doesn’t exist anymore, but I don’t think it’s true. It’s just chopped up into different parts. You might release it in parts like I did with Body Talk, or do a mixtape and album, or a mixtape and an EP. For me, an album is more like a period of time where you’re thinking in a special way, exploring something. It doesn’t have to be one release.

MJ: Do you guys have a similar setup?

Berge: We’ve always done it so that we make the album and then sort of say, take it or leave it. We have our own label, same setup as Robyn. When we’ve said what we want to say, we’re finished. No fillers. It’s not like your 1998 hip-hop album, which is 80 minutes long and 48 tracks.

MJ: Did you have a bigger collaboration in mind when you started working on these songs?

Brundtland: We just enjoyed getting together. When we’re together we do things like we’re a band, so then we are a band I guess.

Berge: And although there is Robyn and there is Röyksopp, the tracks are neither Robyn nor Röyksopp; it’s something else.

MJ: You’ve referred to “Do It Again” as an accidental song. How is a song accidental?

Robyn: It wasn’t accidental in that “Wow, I wrote a song without knowing it.”

Brundtland: Well, the monkeys and the typewriters.

Berge: Shakespeare. Sometimes we have an idea: Let’s write a song about sadness, whatever, and it’s going to be 94 beats per minute. Let’s go. But in this instance the track sort of dictated itself. We didn’t know where to take it.

Robyn: We followed it, kind of.

MJ: How often do you start taking something in one direction and have to pull back?

Berge: We’re so professional and good that we don’t do that anymore.

Robyn: We don’t make mistakes.

Berge: Never. Laughter. Sometimes we would try a few things you know will absolutely not work, but you have to do it. Just like I had to see the latest Spiderman movie. I knew it would be shit, but I had to just see it anyway. It’s a bit like that.

Robyn: But I also think when you’ve made music a long time—I’m not trying to sound like a prick—but you kind of know. Like, let’s not try anything that isn’t good enough.

MJ: How does The Inevitable End compare to Senior, your previous album?

Berge: It’s not like Senior. It’s got a dark energy and I think it’s very sincere in many ways.

MJ: It feels closer to the heart?

Berge: They all do; it’s like comparing children.

Robyn: It’s very inviting. It’s sad, but it’s not cold. It’s very warm.

Berge: That’s very well put. I’m going to steal that.

MJ: How about you, Robyn?

Robyn: Markus Jägerstedt from her touring band and I are working on an album that we’ve made together with a producer.

Berge: And it’s fucking awesome.

Robyn: Will be. The album is made with producer Christian Falk. I worked with him on my first album that I recorded when I was 16. So I’ve known him half of my life. We became good friends and we kept working in different ways and he passed away a couple of weeks ago from cancer. We’re finishing without him, which is a really strange experience, but also a really beautiful thing because we get to be around the memory of him and the music a little bit longer. It was something we started before he knew he was sick. So it was a real collaboration between me and Christian, and then Markus came in as well. It was like a band effort.

MJ: How does it compare with Body Talk?

Robyn: We’ll see. I think it’s messier than what I usually do, because Christian was messy. It’s a raw energy and it’s based on a club world. I think it’s going to be fantastic, I’m really happy about it.

MJ: Do you think you’ll join up again for a sequel to Do It Again?

Robyn: Never ever.

Berge: We say be-bop-a-lula she’s my baby, Scooby Doo, Daddy-o. We don’t have any plans. That’s the way we operate.

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Röyksopp and Robyn Meet the Inevitable End

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Dot Earth Blog: Beneath the Surface of China’s Great Urban Rush

by Finley Kay Posted on April 22, 2014

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Inside of a Dog – Alexandra Horowitz

The bestselling book that asks what dogs know and how they think, now in paperback. The answers will surprise and delight you as Alexandra Horowitz, a cognitive scientist, explains how dogs perceive their daily worlds, each other, and that other quirky animal, the human. Horowitz introduces the reader to dogs’ perceptual and cognitive abilities and then draw

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White Dwarf Issue 12: 19 April 2014 – White Dwarf

It’s a hobby extravaganza this week as host of new hobby tools are released; in a special edition of Sprues And Glue we go in-depth on using them, while Paint Splatter takes an in-depth look at texture paints. You’ll also find Astra Militarum tactics, a Hobbit: The Unexpected Journey Battle Report and much more. About this Series: White Dwarf is Ga

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How to Raise the Perfect Dog – Cesar Millan & Melissa Jo Peltier

From the bestselling author and star of National Geographic Channel’s Dog Whisperer , the only resource you’ll need for raising a happy, healthy dog. For the millions of people every year who consider bringing a puppy into their lives–as well as those who have already brought a dog home–Cesar Millan, the preeminent dog behavior expert, says, “Yes,

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My Boyfriend Barfed in My Handbag . . . and Other Things You Can’t Ask Martha – Jolie Kerr

“Wise and funny. . . . The Lorrie Moore short story, or the Tina Fey memoir, of cleaning tutorials.” —Dwight Garner, The New York Times “Thrillingly titled. . . . For a generation overwhelmed not just by dust bunnies, but by bong water on the carpet, pee stains on the ceiling and vomit seemingly everywhere, Jolie Kerr dispenses cleaning advice free of judgme

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Codex: Astra Militarum (Enhanced Edition) – Games Workshop

The Astra Militarum are the mighty Hammer of the Emperor, an army so vast that it has never been fully recorded by the scribes of the Administratum. Drawn from a million worlds, its men and women are the thin line between Humanity and the void. On hundreds of thousands of warzones across the galaxy the armies of the Astra Militarum hold back the advance of a

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Codex: Militarum Tempestus (Interactive Edition) – Games Workshop

Codex: Militarum Tempestus The Scions of the Militarum Tempestus are the highly skilled elite of the Astra Militarum. Trained from youth in the combat schools of the Schola Progenium, each one has been psycho-conditioned to obey without question and kill without remorse. In battle, the toughest missions fall to the Tempestus Scions. Their specialist sq

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How to Paint Citadel Miniatures: Astra Militarum – Games Workshop

The Astra Militarum is an army of regimentation and proud tradition, with soldiers drawn from across the length and breadth of the Imperium. Their uniforms and iconography reflect this strict adherence to military organisation, and whether it is the Scions of the Militarum Tempestus, the Imperial Guardsmen of Cadia or the tanks of an armoured formation, each

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The Art of Raising a Puppy (Revised Edition) – Monks of New Skete

For more than thirty years the Monks of New Skete have been among America’s most trusted authorities on dog training, canine behavior, and the animal/human bond. In their two now-classic bestsellers, How to be Your Dog’s Best Friend and The Art of Raising a Puppy, the Monks draw on their experience as long-time breeders of German shepherds and as t

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Codex: Astra Militarum (eBook Edition) – Games Workshop

Codex: Astra Militarum The Astra Militarum are the mighty Hammer of the Emperor, an army so vast that it has never been fully recorded by the scribes of the Administratum. Drawn from a million worlds, its men and women are the thin line between Humanity and the void. On hundreds of thousands of warzones across the galaxy the armies of the Astra Militarum hol

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Marijuana Grower’s Handbook – Ed Rosenthal

The all new Marijuana Grower’s Handbook shows both beginners and advanced growers how to grow the biggest most resinous, potent buds! This book contains the latest knowledge, tools, and methods to grow great marijuana – both indoors and outdoors. Marijuana Grower’s Handbook will show you how to use the most efficient technology and save time, labor, and

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Dot Earth Blog: Beneath the Surface of China’s Great Urban Rush

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Supreme Court to Take Up Greenhouse Gas Limits

by Finley Kay Posted on October 15, 2013

Mother Jones

The Supreme Court announced today that it will take up the question of whether the Environmental Protection Agency can include greenhouse gas emission limits in permits it issues for new or expanding large polluters like refineries and power plants.

But perhaps even more significant was what the court chose not to consider: a challenge to the EPA’s broader authority to regulate greenhouse gases as dangerous pollutants under the Clean Air Act, and a challenge to its authority to issue emission limits for cars, both of which have been upheld by lower courts and remained untouched today.

For now, the justices chose to leave intact the legal basis for greenhouse gas emissions limits on new and existing power plants the EPA is expected to roll out over the next several years. Those limits could shutter many of the nation’s coal plants and discourage others from opening. Today’s announcement also preserves the Obama administration’s plan to slash climate change-causing pollutants from cars.

The justices’ decision “means that EPA’s legal and scientific findings that greenhouse gases harm health and the climate remains the law of the land,” said Natural Resources Defense Council senior attorney John Walke.

The question the court will consider is whether the EPA can use greenhouse gas emissions as a criteria, like it does with smog and soot limits, to determine whether large industrial polluters receive permits to build new facilities or expand existing ones. But even if the justices disallow such a permitting criteria, the EPA would still retain the authority to set greenhouse gas emissions limits for these polluters—just not written into the permits, per se.

The petition behind the permitting issue was brought by a coalition of industry groups, including the National Association of Manufacturers, which in a statement today said “stringent permitting requirements” would “impact every aspect of our economy.”

But Walke stressed that the permitting program “is not necessary to establish or enforce” greenhouse gas emission standards for power plants, like those proposed in September that are a signature product of new EPA administrator Gina McCarthy.

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Supreme Court to Take Up Greenhouse Gas Limits

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Is October 17 Still the Drop Dead Date for the Debt Ceiling?

by Finley Kay Posted on October 8, 2013

Mother Jones

I’d still like to know if Treasury thinks October 17 is the drop-dead day for hitting the debt ceiling. I’ve looked through the various numbers about federal income and outgo, and I accept that the government shutdown probably doesn’t affect spending all that much. But it does affect it some, and I’d like to know how much.

Here’s why. If October 17 rolls around and Jack Lew suddenly announces that, thanks to the shutdown, we have some extra time before the sky falls, it’s going to feed the shockingly common Republican belief that all the debt ceiling chatter is little more than liberal scaremongering. For the same reason, I’d like Treasury to tell us definitively if they can prioritize payments or not. Because if it turns out they can, and the worst effects of the debt ceiling can therefore be deferred, Republicans will take it as even further evidence of scaremongering.

I know Treasury is in a tough position. But it could be disastrous if they’ve been less than 100 percent forthright and pundits everywhere start claiming that the whole thing has been a cynical game and there was never any serious danger after all. It wouldn’t be true, but it would nonetheless make resolution of the debt ceiling crisis even harder than it seems now.

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Is October 17 Still the Drop Dead Date for the Debt Ceiling?

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Death Panels: Why Firefighters Are Scared of Solar Rooftops

by Finley Kay Posted on September 11, 2013

Mother Jones

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This story first appeared on the Atlantic Cities website and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration.

A 300,000 square foot refrigerated warehouse in Delanco, New Jersey, burned down last week, and the local fire chief says solar panels are partly to blame. No, the 700 solar panels on top of the Dietz & Watson warehouse didn’t cause the fire, but their presence did dissuade Delanco Fire Chief Ron Holt from putting his team on the roof. “With all that power and energy up there, I can’t jeopardize a guy’s life for that,” Holt told NBC Philadelphia. The only thing firefighters fear more than fire is solar.

So long as a solar panel is getting sunlight, it’s impossible to turn off. “During daylight, there can be enough voltage and current to injure or even kill a firefighter who comes in contact with the energized conductors,” Matthew Paiss, a fire engineer with the San Jose Fire Department, wrote in a handy guide for firefighters. The Dietz & Watson warehouse fire started when the sun was out. By the time the sun went down, the fire was beyond control. The warehouse burned for 29 hours.

As Paiss explained in his essay on solar panels and firefighting, roof access is crucial for firefighters:

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Death Panels: Why Firefighters Are Scared of Solar Rooftops

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Create Your Own Solar Panel – To Generate Electricity In Your Home

by Finley Kay Posted on August 22, 2013

To generate electricity in your home it is not a difficult task to make your very own solar panel. If you have no experience you can make one, even. You can make it yourself in your home at the expense of as reduced as $200 when compared with the commercially made solar panel, which would cost you approximately $2000. To develop this solar panel in your home you require a good understandable, reliable guide on how making it.

Internet instructions:

On the internet you can discover great reliable guides on this. On the internet you can discover the best ways to construct the solar panel with step-by-step guidelines and materials. By discovering ways to build your very own solar panel through the web, step by step guidelines can minimize your house electricity bills considerably.

When you are considering the best ways to make your very own solar panel detailed guidelines are essential. These solar panels can be installed on the roofing totally out of the way and they do not use up needed area. You can build solar panels with materials bought at the local hardware store and can be constructed in your basement, garage or yard utilizing common handyman tools.

Lower your electrical power costs:

Lots of people around the planet made their own solar panel to reduce their consumption of house electrical power. You can decrease your house electricity expense by developing your own solar panels and power a few of your home devices making use of solar energy.

There are 2 ways in which you can approach your solar power necessaries:

Make a solar panel that will allow you to remove your home totally from the power-grid. If you make all your own solar panels yourself, the expense is high even.

Select some certain home appliances and plan to eliminate their power source from the power-grid for example TV, pc, DVD player or external lights. After a certain period you can further get rid of things from the grid with the savings that you can obtain by lowering your home electrical power expense. Using solar panels you can minimize your electrical bill by 40 to 60 percent.

Before you make your own solar panel you need to choose whether your home is appropriate for solar energy. The location in which the solar panel is set up, there ought to be sunlight a minimum of a couple of hours daily, otherwise you may not have the ability to create electricity at home. Construct your very own solar panel and produce electricity in your home and lower your bills considerably.

Structure solar panels for a certain use is something that you can do likewise. You will discover that the one specific appliance you are developing the panel for will be powered by it when you do this. You certainly won’t require to be worried about its illustration power off the grid or even increasing your electric bill. An exceptional gadget that numerous individuals may provide some idea to constructing a solar panel for being a pool pump, which can extremely easily draw a lots of electricity.

Selling the solar panels that you make is an additional thing that you need to consider. You could even be able to do that to make added income or launch your very own business. Thinking about that you are making the panels by yourself, the chances are very good that you will have the ability to offer them for a lower quantity of money than other people which might result in you earning a lot of income.

Lots of people want to conserve money on their electricity expense. If you understand the benefits of developing solar panels you will recognize that it is rather simple to save lots of cash. Some of these benefits include producing your very own electrical power, conserving cash monthly on your power costs, selling back excess electrical power to your power company, and you can even offer your solar panels to other individuals.

Are you interested in how to make solar panels? Be sure to visit solar panels for sale

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