In the News

Here is some stuff in the news today...

[Content Note: Class warfare] A new study from the Economic Policy Institute has found "that the wage gap between tipped and non-tipped workers is the widest it's ever been in American history. ...According to the study, the poverty rate among non-tipped workers is 6.5 percent—but among tipped workers, it rests at at 12.8 percent. More than half of the people represented by this overwhelmingly female demographic are more likely to rely on public assistance as a permanent wage subsidy. The authors of the EPI study note that public assistance was never meant to become 'part of the business strategy for low-wage employers.' They also found that the tipped laborer workforce is currently the largest it has ever been."

[CN: Death] Documents Show General Motors Kept Silent on Fatal Crashes: G.M. communication "obtained by The New York Times from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration casts doubt on how forthright the automaker was with regulators over a defective ignition switch that G.M. has linked to at least 13 deaths over the last decade." Welp, since corporations are people now, charge them with negligent homicide. Oh, you mean corporations are people without any people-type consequences? Neat.

[CN: War; death] In Israel and Gaza: "Israeli missiles struck the houses of several senior Hamas figures overnight, as at least seven Palestinians were reportedly killed in the latest escalation of violence.The renewed strikes came a day after the failure of a brief and one-sided ceasefire on Tuesday observed by Israel, but not by Hamas. ...The Israeli prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, has said he had 'no choice' but to escalate Israel's bombing campaign. 'When there is no ceasefire, our answer is fire,' he said. ...Rocket fire killed an Israeli man on Tuesday, the first Israeli fatality in eight days of fighting. In Gaza, more than 202 people have been killed and almost 1,500 wounded, Palestinian officials said, making it the deadliest Israel-Hamas confrontation in just over five years. Since 8 July, militants have fired nearly 1,000 rockets and mortars into Israel, and Israel has carried out about 1,500 strikes against targets inside the Gaza Strip, according to the army."

[CN: Coercion; misogyny] Take Your Boobs to the White House, Hillary Clinton! Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton appeared on The Daily Show last night and Jon Stewart harangued her about running for president. (Shocking, I know.) Take Your Boobs and Go Home, Hillary Clinton, and Take YOUR Boobs to the White House, Elizabeth Warren! "An enthusiastic band of activists has launched a campaign to slow the momentum of Hillary Clinton and convince Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) that she should run for president in 2016. 'I think there's an opportunity for us to convince her if we're really able to make the case as to why we think she's the right person,' said Erica Sagrans, who has signed on as the Ready For Warren campaign manager."

I realize there is a long history of campaigning to try to convince someone to run for president, but those people have usually been men, and it matters that women generally are subjected to a culture of coercion (in many things) that men are not, and it matters that the presidency has always been filled by a man. (It also matters that Elizabeth Warren has said she doesn't want to run for president in 2016, and this campaign is essentially ignoring that she's said no.) There's a difference in pressuring someone to run for an office that has never been filled by anyone like them, to take up a campaign that is more than just a political campaign. Stop pressuring and cajoling women to run. Let them decide on their own. And then respect their decisions. Fuck.

Neat: Scientists have discovered a feathered, four-winged dinosaur that lived in China 125 million years ago. "The meat-eating creature, called Changyuraptor yangi, had exceptionally long tail feathers—at one foot in length, they were the longest feathers of any dinosaur. It had feather-covered forelimbs akin to wings as well as legs covered in feathers in a way that gave the appearance of a second set of wings, and which may have allowed the creature to glide."

Danae Mines will be the first female firefighter ever to appear in the FDNY Calendar of Heroes: "'I wanted my picture in the calendar so that young girls and young women can see me and know that they can do this job,' said the 11-year department veteran, who, like the guys, was shot by celebrity photographer Patrick McMullan. 'I love the picture they took, and I love the month,' she added. 'It's Women's History Month.'" LOVE HER.

It's cool how Elle's excerpt of their cover feature on the amazing Kristen Wiig definitely includes the information she'll be naked in an upcoming movie. For sure the most important thing I need—and want!—to know about arguably one of the most talented comedians and actresses working today.

This is so great! SO GREAT: John Polimeno has "developed an app for your smartphone that will hopefully reconnect you with your lost pup. John calls his new app Finding Rover. He and a startup team of developers have been testing it over the past year, and now it's on its way to smartphone app markets everywhere. There will be no charge to download the app, nor a charge to use it. The app works on facial recognition and matching software. Basically, you take a picture of your missing dog, and upload it to the Findingrover.com database [which] then uses facial recognition to see if it can match up your picture, to any of the pictures of any dogs that people have uploaded as 'found.' If there's a match, you and your missing pet can be happily reunited." Amazing. This could be great for animal control units and shelters in helping place lost pets back at home. Yay!