Author Archives: KayleighABG

Being Reminded of Racism Is Destroying Pro Football for Whites

by KayleighABG Posted on October 6, 2016

Mother Jones

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC “-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN” “http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd”>

National Review’s Jim Geraghty passes along the news from SI’s Richard Deitsch that ratings for NFL football are down this season. Deitsch suggests several possible explanations: a crazy election season sucking away attention; a smaller group of star quarterbacks (no Peyton Manning or Tom Brady); bad Monday night games; a slowdown in fantasy football; fatigue from too many days of football; and just generally the fact that this season has featured an awful lot of lousy play. However, Geraghty has his own theory:

There’s probably more than one reason, which means it’s oversimplifying it to say Colin Kaepernick and kneeling NFL players are driving way football fans. But it’s a factor, and maybe the biggest factor.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey finds that nearly one-third (32%) of American adults say they are less likely to watch an NFL game because of the growing number of Black Lives Matter protests by players on the field. Only 13% say they are more likely to watch a game because of the protests. Just over half (52%) say the protests have no impact on their viewing decisions.

Looks like I’m not the only one who just wants to enjoy watching the game.

I don’t watch much pro football, so someone help me out: do the TV nets actually show much kneeling at the start of the game? Do they talk about it? Is it something that intrudes on the game, or would you barely even know it’s happening unless you read about it elsewhere? In other words, is there any plausible reason that Geraghty can’t just enjoy the game anymore without having his beautiful mind reminded that racism still exists in the US?

Speaking of which, you will be unsurprised at just who finds all this kneeling so unpleasant: “Whites are twice as likely as blacks — 36% to 18% — to say they are less likely to watch this year.” Surprise!

Original post:

Being Reminded of Racism Is Destroying Pro Football for Whites

Posted in alo, FF, GE, LG, ONA, Uncategorized, Venta | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Being Reminded of Racism Is Destroying Pro Football for Whites

Watch John Oliver Take on the Death Penalty on “Last Week Tonight”

by KayleighABG Posted on May 5, 2014

Mother Jones

On Sunday’s episode of HBO’s Last Week Tonight, host John Oliver weighed in on the recent botched execution in Oklahoma, the president’s response to it, and the death penalty in general. “The death penalty is like the McRib,” Oliver says. “When you can’t have it, it’s so tantalizing. But as soon as they bring it back, you think, ‘This is ethically wrong. Should this be allowed in a civilized society?'”

Here’s more from Oliver:

It costs up to 10 times more to give someone the death penalty than life in prison. So what a death sentence is really saying is, “Hey! This is America! And the way we treat the most despicable members of our society is by spending the entire budget of the Lord of the Rings trilogy on them.” So what we know now is the death penalty is expensive, potentially kills innocent people, and doesn’t deter crime. And here is where it gets hard—harder than is potentially appropriate for a comedy show late on a Sunday night. But if we are going to answer difficult and profound questions…the toughest one is probably if someone is guilty of committing a horrible crime, and the family of the victim want the perpetrator executed, do we want to live in the kind of country that gives that to them? I would say no. You might, very reasonably, say yes…But it’s a question that is going to need an answer.

The whole segment is very good. Check out the 12-minute clip:

Taken from: 

Watch John Oliver Take on the Death Penalty on “Last Week Tonight”

Posted in Anchor, FF, GE, LG, ONA, Oster, Radius, Sterling, Uncategorized, Venta, Vintage | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Watch John Oliver Take on the Death Penalty on “Last Week Tonight”

EPA is finally taking at least a small step to protect water supplies from fracking

by KayleighABG Posted on February 12, 2014

EPA is finally taking at least a small step to protect water supplies from fracking

By

Noel Byrne

Obviously, diesel should not be pumped into the ground. It is a filthy fossil fuel that can cause cancer. But about 2 percent of frack jobs include the ingredient in their cocktail of drilling poisons — and that will be allowed to continue, albeit with some weak new oversight from the EPA.

The L.A. Times reports on the EPA’s overdue foray into regulating the use of diesel in fracking:

The Environmental Protection Agency has little authority to regulate fluids used in hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, which involves pumping water laced with chemicals into shale formations to unlock trapped oil and gas. But the agency has been allowed since 2005 to regulate the use of diesel in fracking. Until Tuesday, it had not done so. …

The EPA’s new guidance defines five substances as diesel that require a permit for use in fracking. …

It is not a rule, but guidance on how to interpret the law for federal officials who review and grant fracking permits.

Needless to say, frackers denounced the new guidance, even as they claimed that diesel has been virtually phased out of fracking operations. One drilling group told the Times that the EPA’s move is “a solution in search of a problem.”

Environmentalists were similarly unimpressed — but for very different reasons. They want the use of diesel in frack jobs banned outright. ”Given the potential health and environmental impacts, the use of diesel presents an unacceptable risk and should be prohibited,” Natural Resources Defense Council scientist Briana Mordick wrote on a blog post. “Alternatives that perform the same function as diesel are available.”

Meanwhile, the EPA is working separately to develop regulations for fracking on public lands.


Source
Obama administration issues guidelines on using diesel in fracking, Los Angeles Times
EPA Releases Final Guidance for Fracking with Diesel, NRDC

John Upton is a science fan and green news boffin who tweets, posts articles to Facebook, and blogs about ecology. He welcomes reader questions, tips, and incoherent rants: johnupton@gmail.com.

Find this article interesting? Donate now to support our work.Read more: Business & Technology

,

Climate & Energy

,

Politics

Read original article: 

EPA is finally taking at least a small step to protect water supplies from fracking

Posted in Anchor, FF, GE, LAI, LG, ONA, organic, solar, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on EPA is finally taking at least a small step to protect water supplies from fracking