Salon.com > Lauren Kelley

Jon Stewart destroys Glenn Beck’s utopia

Thu, 31 Jan 2013 16:33:00 +0000

On last night's Daily Show, Jon Stewart discussed the Citadel, a proposed right-wing utopia -- a "haven of liberty" that would keep residents "safe from the liberal tyrants." Um, sure.

Perhaps Stewart knew we've missed his Glenn Beck coverage ever since Beck's show was taken off the air, so he threw the lefties a bone by likening the Citadel to a past ridiculous Beck idea: Freedom Town, an actual city dedicated to preserving our freedoms. Or something.

Freedom Town was a particularly bizarre idea because it was in many ways so antithetical to many of Beck's beliefs. For instance, it was all about imposing order, when Beck is always railing against how the state is trying to impose order on him and take away his freedoms.

Check out the segment in two parts below, and get your Glenn Beck-Jon Stewart nostalgia on.

World’s tallest (and smelliest) building

Sat, 29 Dec 2012 14:00:00 +0000

There are lots of noteworthy facts about Dubai’s Burj Khalifa: it’s the tallest building in the world and the tallest free-standing structure in the world, and it contains an elevator that travels the longest distance in the world, to name a few. But despite all these impressive accomplishments, the Burj Khalifa has a major problem.

A poop problem.

In an interview with "Fresh Air’s" Terry Gross last month, author Kate Ascher discussed her recently published book on the skyscraper (via Boing Boing):

Is Mississippi about to execute an innocent man?

Sat, 01 Dec 2012 16:00:00 +0000

We’ve had too many reminders over the years that the death penalty system is deeply flawed. Now we have one more, with the case of Jeffrey Havard, a man who is scheduled for execution in Mississippi, despite serious questions about his guilt.

Writing at theHuffington Post , Radley Balko describes how Havard was convicted in 2002 of murdering his girlfriend’s six-month-old daughter. Havard says he dropped the baby after giving her a bath – a terrible accident – but he was convicted after a private medical examiner claimed his autopsy found evidence of Shaken Baby Syndrome and sexual abuse.

But there are now questions surrounding those autopsy results. As Balko writes, “experts have begun to question the validity of the [SBS] diagnosis and how it's used in court, pointing out, for example, that a number of other factors could cause the symptoms that experts have been telling juries could be caused only by shaking.”

8 bosses who screwed their employees after Obama’s reelection

Tue, 20 Nov 2012 14:31:00 +0000

Most of us have had a terrible boss or two in our day, but right now thousands of Americans find themselves with a very special kind of bad boss: one who uses Obama's election as an excuse to threaten to cut their hours, roll back their benefits, slash their wages or fire them outright. Much of this worker abuse centers on the new law that businesses with 50 or more employees must offer workers healthcare options by 2014. Jon Stewart noticed this recent post-election "trend" and issued a strong judgment:

Guys, I get it. Providing healthcare benefits to employees costs money, and as a group you tend to prefer things that do not cost that [money].... But own your layoffs and your policies. Let’s stop pretending that suddenly, with this election, bosses have been transformed into reluctant assholes. Obamacare is just the latest excuse to wriggle out of the social contract [that’s existed] for many years.

5 signs the right is losing it

Fri, 16 Nov 2012 14:29:00 +0000

Last week on election night, we saw the right-wing media and its audience have a collective meltdown after their fantasy world was shattered and Barack Obama won a second term. It was a big win for people who believe in numbers, and a loss for folks who prefer to have Karl Rove lie to them.

We had seen signs of stress within the party and its adherents leading to to the election, and since then we’ve seen everyone from members of the GOP elite to right-wing foot soldiers go through the first four Kübler-Ross stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, and depression. (Whether they’ll get to acceptance remains to be seen.)

Below are several examples of how conservatives at all levels have gone off the deep end in the days leading up to and following the election.

Karl Rove’s having a bad week

Sat, 10 Nov 2012 16:00:00 +0000

There’s been much schadenfreude on the left in the days after Tuesday’s election, and understandably so: Fox News, right-wing politicians, and conservative pundits all took an embarrassing beating.

Perhaps the biggest recipient of that schadenfreude is Karl Rove. Rove has had a rough week, to put it mildly. After his infamous meltdown on Fox News Tuesday night – at one point in the evening Fox anchor Megyn Kelly asked him if his calculations were “math you do as a Republican to make yourself feel better” – things have just continued to go downhill. Here’s how.

1. Researchers find that Rove’s super PAC was one of the election’s biggest losers.

Researchers at the watchdog group the Sunlight Foundation found that Rove’s American Crossroads super PAC came in second to last, ahead of only the NRA, in terms of how much “bang for their buck” they got in this election. TheAmerican Prospect explains:

Seven best “binders” spoofs

Fri, 19 Oct 2012 13:27:00 +0000

After Mitt Romney’s remark about de-funding PBS during the first presidential debate launched several “fired Big Bird” Twitter accounts, his “binders full of women” comment at Tuesday night’s town hall debate spawned an even larger national phenomenon.

If you’re confused about what the whole “binders” thing is all about, here’s Romney’s quote in context (he had just been asked by moderator Candy Crowley to comment on the subject of “pay equity for women”):

ROMNEY: Important topic, and one which I learned a great deal about, particularly as I was serving as governor of my state, because I had the chance to pull together a cabinet and all the applicants seemed to be men. And I went to my staff, and I said, “How come all the people for these jobs are -- are all men.” They said, “Well, these are the people that have the qualifications.” And I said, “Well, gosh, can’t we -- can’t we find some -- some women that are also qualified?”

Five disturbing stories that reveal the real Mitt

Tue, 16 Oct 2012 15:36:00 +0000

Mitt Romney’s infamous dog-on-the-roof-of-the-car story is atrocious, and has been mocked within an inch of its life. But there are many other stories from the Republican presidential candidate’s personal life that illuminate what kind of a human being he really is. Here’s a look at a few of them.

1. Mormon women have reported "horror stories" about Romney from when he served as a Mormon bishop.

According to investigative reporter Geoffrey Dunn, several Mormon women have reported disturbing stories about how Romney treated them while he was an LDS bishop and “stake president.” (One Mormon woman who’s known Romney since the '70s called them “horror stories.”) In one story, a woman who was facing a life-threatening medical condition was advised by her doctor to terminate her eight-week pregnancy. Despite receiving the blessing of her local stake president, Romney, then a bishop, reportedly came to her hospital room uninvited to pressure her not to go through with the abortion. "At a time when I would have appreciated nurturing and support from spiritual leaders and friends," Sheldon has written, "I got judgment, criticism, prejudicial advice, and rejection."

Eight staggering GOP comments on rape and women

Wed, 22 Aug 2012 14:30:00 +0000

By now you’ve likely heard -- and perhaps felt your jaw drop over -- Todd Akin’s interview, in which the Republican Senate candidate from Missouri admitted that he believes abortion should be illegal even in cases of rape, because “if it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down.” If you follow that logic to its end, Akin means: Ladies, if you say you got pregnant after being raped, you’re probably lying about being raped.

Of course, the scientific facts are far from being on Akin’s side, which should be embarrassing for a member of the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology. While it may be true that female ducks have evolved in such a way that they now have a biological anti-pregnancy response to forced sex, human beings most definitely have not. As the Washington Post’s Sarah Kliff notes, many scientific studies have proven that the you-only-conceive-if-aroused theory is complete bunk. In fact, one study from 2003 even showed that rape victims may be more likely to get pregnant than individuals on the whole.

Seven ways the IOC ruins the Olympics

Tue, 07 Aug 2012 17:57:00 +0000

The Olympics have been a lot of fun this year, what with underdog Gabby Douglas taking home the all-around gymnastics gold, the Phelps-Lochte rivalry, Rafalca Romney competing in dressage, all the great firsts for women athletes, and those wacky/wonderful opening ceremonies. But as in years past, one aspect of the games has been something of a wet blanket: the International Olympic Committee.

The IOC has plenty of necessary functions, to be sure: ensuring fair play, monitoring for discrimination and doping, and protecting athletes from “political or commercial abuse,” for instance. The group keeps order in an event that involves thousands of individual games, meets, and matches, with many thousands of people involved -- athletes, coaches, and attendees. So good on them for that.

Right-wing food companies

Tue, 24 Jul 2012 14:39:00 +0000

For all the Oreo Cookies out there – companies that support gay rights, if only because doing so is good for business – there are plenty of food companies that have not come around on progressive social issues. In fact, a number of food companies are owned by far right-wingers who’ve spent significant money opposing gay rights, abortion rights, and other important causes and funding attack ads against left-leaning politicians.

The companies in question include many popular chain restaurants that you may eat at occasionally, or even all the time. It’s wise to know where your dining dollars are going.

To that end, here are five food chains that are helmed by owners who support right-wing politics.

1. Chick-fil-A

It won’t be news to many readers that Chick-fil-A’s owner is deeply entrenched in conservative politics and social issues. The chain has been in the news many a time for its owner’s anti-gay attitudes, in particular.

Supporting gay rights is good for business

Wed, 04 Jul 2012 23:00:00 +0000

By now everyone has seen the rainbow-filled Oreo that the cookie company mocked up for Pride month. It was the Picture That Launched a Thousand Facebook Comments (actually 54,000, as of this writing), a large number of them hateful. But for all the homophobic insults and calls for an Oreo boycott, Oreo has seen no credible threat to its business. In fact, many LGBTQ rights supporters are more likely than ever to go out and buy a box of the cream-filled cookies, both to spite the haters and support a company that appears to have bravely taken a stand for gay rights.

In reality, Oreo’s move wasn’t all that brave. You can be sure that Oreo, which is made by Nabisco, which in turn is owned by mega food corporation Kraft, knew exactly what it was getting into. Kraft knew it would rile some homophobes’ feathers but that the majority of Americans who now support same-sex marriage would hold more weight.

TED: Even more elitist than we thought

Fri, 18 May 2012 12:40:00 +0000

We've long heard complaints that TED is elitist. The annual conference in California costs $7,500 to attend and is nearly impossible to get into, even for those who can afford the price tag; it is widely considered to be "unofficially invite-only."

Still, you'd be hard pressed to find someone who hasn't gone down a TED video rabbit hole at least once. Snobby as they may be, those TED folks sure know how to pull together some fascinating speakers and share their talks online in a compelling way. There are some questionable TED talks in the archives, sure, but most of them are solid, and some are great (for example, the scientist who studied her own stroke).