In a Facebook post on Tuesday, social justice warrior Donald Trump promised to show zero tolerance for intolerance as President, ensuring that “every American is treated equally, protected equally, and honored equally.”
“This is my pledge to the American people: as your President I will be your greatest champion,” wrote Trump. “We will reject bigotry and hatred and oppression in all its forms, and seek a new future built on our common culture and values as one American people.”
According to The Hill, the words were taken from the speech he gave on Monday proposing “extreme, extreme vetting” for immigrants into the United States, including an ideological screening test to prevent those who “support bigotry and hatred” from entering the country.
On Tuesday, officials in Louisiana said that at least 11 people have died since widespread flooding hit the state in what the Red Cross has called “likely the worst natural disaster since Superstorm Sandy,” NBC News reports.
Gov. John Bel Edwards acknowledged that the state did not know how many people were missing, but he said that nearly 8,100 people had slept in shelters on Monday night and that some 40,000 homes had been “impacted to varying degrees.”
“We are still very much in an emergency, search-and-rescue response mode for much of the Florida parishes,” Mr. Edwards said, referring to an eight-parish area east of the Mississippi River. “Saving life is the most important priority that we have. We’re going to dedicate every available response to that effort until it’s no longer required.”
As floodwaters receded in Denham Springs, where approximately 90 percent of homes took on water, some residents returned on Tuesday to begin piecing their lives back together.
“I remember thinking how glad I was to not have to go through that,” one homeowner, recalling Hurricane Katrina, told the Louisiana Advocate. “And now this morning, I’m standing in line down at Immaculate Conception to get us something to eat.”
Donald Trump is restructuring his campaign once again, the Wall Street Journal reports, hiring Stephen Bannon, the executive chairman of Breitbart News LLC, as campaign chief executive, and promoting Kellyanne Conway, a Republican strategist who’d been advising the campaign, to campaign manager. Paul Manafort will reportedly retain his position as campaign chairman.
Conway, who has apparently become very friendly with Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, told the New York Times that she did not foresee Manafort being sidelined as a result of the changes:
“It’s an expansion at a busy time in the final stretch of the campaign,” she said, adding that Mr. Manafort and his deputy, Rick Gates, would remain in their roles.
“We met as the ‘core four’ today,” Ms. Conway added, referring to herself, Mr. Bannon, Mr. Manafort and Mr. Gates.
People briefed on the move said that it reflected Mr. Trump’s realization that his campaign was at a crisis point. But it indicates that the candidate — who has chafed at making the types of changes his current aides have asked for, even though he had acknowledged they would need to occur — has decided to embrace his aggressive style for the duration of the race.
Bannon’s Breitbart News has encouraged Trump’s most confrontational and abrasive impulses so avidly that, BuzzFeed News reported last summer, some writers and editors suspected Trump might be paying for positive coverage.
“I’ve known both of them for a long time,” Trump told the Associated Press. “They’re terrific people, they’re winners, they’re champs, and we need to win it.”
Imagine that you are a journalist, tasked with crafting a true, powerful, and insightful piece of writing about a well known celebrity that can puncture their veil of false mystique. Here is how it’s done.
3. Use their words against them: Skillfully quote the subject’s own words in a way that goes beneath the surface to reveal the self-loathing nature of the celebrity lifestyle, and the secret yearning of these superstars for a life of meaning, which they may never find while trapped in their bubble of wealth and unearned prestige.
“My name is Jaden Christopher Syre Smith, and the way that I like to give back to the world is through the environment, because the way that the earth is going now... it is taking us to a breaking point where we almost might not be able to survive,” he said at the Variety Power of Young Hollywood event, where he was one of the honorees.
4. Wield the power of bearing witness: Though celebrities and their handlers may spew endless smokescreens of words and images designed expressly into tricking the gullible public into buying into the hollow plastic dream of fame and fortune, a journalist is able to use their own two eyes, combined with professional reporting, to puncture the bubble of propaganda and serve readers a steaming helping of truth.
“The plastic, that’s the issue,” Smith said Tuesday night. “I want to create a bottle of water that is made from renewable resources, that is not made from plastic, that you don’t need fracking, that you don’t need petroleum, that you don’t need to go to war for this bottle of water,” he said, showing off what looked like a prototype.
5. Expose hypocrisy with factual research: Hollywood will do anything to keep its dirty, hypocritical practices in the closet. By comparing what celebrities have done in the past to what they say now, a journalist can expose the gaping, empty maw that sits where a human soul is supposed to be.
Making a sustainable water bottle seems a fitting cause for Smith, who has been photographed drinking jugs of water, and recently tweeted a gem about saving the world earlier this week.
New Jersey has one of the largest and most ruthless student loan programs in the country, described by one bankruptcy lawyer as “state-sanctioned loan-sharking.” The state is less strict about collecting on debts, however, when it comes to bankrupt casinos owned by celebrity real estate developers.
According to the New York Times, by 2010, when Chris Christie became governor of New Jersey, Donald Trump’s casinos owed the state almost $30 million, with interest, in back taxes. The company that owned the casinos failed to pay its taxes from 2002 through 2006—a period during which Trump was the company’s chairman and chief executive. (The company lost money every year during this time.) The state spent years trying to collect the taxes, through bankruptcies and other litigation, even accusing Trump’s holding company of lying to state casino regulators about how much it had already paid. And yet, in December 2011, after six years in court, and a year after Governor Christie took office, the state agreed to a settlement in which it would accept just $5 million of the $30 million owed.
A spokesman for Christie told the Times that the governor was not aware of the tax dispute and could not comment on the terms of the settlement. Christie, a former prosecutor, and Trump had been friends for many years before the governor assumed office—Trump’s sister, Maryanne Trump Barry, a federal judge, introduced the pair in 2002. Christie was invited to Trump’s third wedding, in 2005, and Trump attended the governor’s 2010 inauguration; he’s also made several large donations to a nonprofit that maintains the governor’s residence and to the Republican Governors Association when Christie was chairman.
Such settlements are not completely out of the ordinary, but the size of the reduction certainly, especially considering the decrepit state of the casino industry in general and Trump’s casinos in particular. From the Times:
A spokesman for the attorney general’s office, Leland Moore, said the settlement was approved largely because of the risks of continuing to fight in bankruptcy court and the “concerns about the future ability of the casinos to pay their tax debts.”
The Trump casinos may not have been able to afford their long overdue taxes, but they did not turn suddenly spartan, either. They continued to rent a helicopter from Mr. Trump for $390,000 a year, until they filed for bankruptcy again in 2014.
Mr. Moore declined to release the titles of officials who approved the settlement, except to say it was agreed to by officials from both the attorney general’s office and the State Division of Taxation.
Mr. Christie was close to the attorney general at the time, Paula T. Dow, whom he had appointed and who worked for him as a prosecutor at the United States attorney’s office. A week after the settlement was signed, Mr. Christie announced that he was appointing Ms. Dow to the counsel’s office of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey until he could find her the judgeship that she desired.
“I think you all know that Paula Dow has been one of my most trusted advisers for the last 10 years,” Mr. Christie said at the time.
A month after the bankruptcy case was closed, in January 2012, Christie and Trump were double-dating with their wives at a fancy restaurant in Manhattan.
Following a day-long auction against the online publisher Ziff Davis, the media conglomerate Univision is buying Gawker Media’s assets—including Deadspin, Gizmodo, Jalopnik, Jezebel, Kotaku, and Lifehacker—for $135 million. However, the fate of the company’s flagship website, Gawker.com, remains unclear.
Recode’s Peter Kafka reported yesterday that Univision’s final and successful offer shall “encompass all seven of Gawker Media’s sites, including Gawker.com,” but following his report, Gawker.com staffers were told that Univision has not yet decided whether the company will take Gawker Media’s namesake website under its wing. Both Lloyd Grove of The Daily Beast and Sydney Ember of the New York Times later noted that the future of Gawker.com remains an open question.
While Gawker.com was included in Univision’s winning bid, the proposed acquisition agreement gives Univision the option to transfer Gawker.com back to the bankrupt Gawker Media LLC prior to the deal’s closing in September. Alternatively, Univision could choose to acquire Gawker.com’s assets but decide not to operate it.
Excluding Gawker.com from the acquisition, or deciding to end its editorial operations, would not necessarily entail layoffs, as Univision executives have committed to finding positions for current Gawker.com staffers elsewhere within Univision, including among the other six sites.
Univision has not publicly commented on its acquisition of Gawker Media. And its hesitance toward Gawker.com does not seem to be widely known within the company. Following news of the sale, Felix Salmon, a senior editor at Fusion, wrote on Twitter that Univision chief news, digital, and entertainment officer Isaac Lee’s appetite for “honest, fearless journalism” matched that of Gawker Media founder Nick Denton. He also said: “I’ve known and admired [Lee] for [approximately] 13 years, and can unequivocally say that he is the best possible boss that Gawker Media could have.”
Heather Dietrick, the president of Gawker Media, informed the rest of company of the news at an all-hands meeting on Wednesday morning. She did not know exactly when Univision would make a final decision about Gawker.com, but said that she hopes one will be made soon.
What’s happening to our website? Who owns us now? Who’s in charge? Nobody knows. Why don’t you bring us a dog?
You know what would make life in our office better? A dog. Always nice to have a dog around here to pat.
I don’t have a dog. Do you? If so, maybe bring it by our office. We’re close to Union Square. Bring your dog here and let us do whatever we want with it. That dog loves our open office space. We have water here for your dog. Who’s going to tell you not to bring your dog to our office? Not me. In fact, I invite your dog to come by. (You may not be allowed to accompany your dog, depending upon your security clearance.)
Please email us a picture of your dog for approval.
In response to a sexual assault controversy that’s currently engulfing the New York comedy scene, women’s satire site Reductress has devoted its entire landing page to humor articles (primarily written by women) about rape.
“Man Who Sexually Assaulted You Likes Your Facebook Post About Sexual Assault” reads one headline, while another touts “I Anonymously Reported My Rape for the Anonymous Attention.”
As many women know, the process of reporting the rape can be as traumatic as the assault itself. The burden of proof is put upon the victim and there’s often a bias toward innocence, which can make the entire process feel futile and even cruel. The process of reporting my rape nearly destroyed me, but it was all worth it—just to see my name, “21-year-old woman,” emblazoned in newspapers next to the words, “may have had two beers that night.”
The articles were posted after a popular New York City comedian was banned from the Upright Citizens Brigade comedy network after he was accused of rape by multiple women. Since then, several (mostly) male members of the community have jumped to the accused’s defense—Kurt Metzger, a staff writer for Inside Amy Schumer, being among the most vocal.
In a rambling Facebook post, Metzger wrote:
(Note: Jiff Dilfyberg is a name Metzger made up, not the name of the accused comedian.)
Reached for comment by Jezebel, Reductress founder and editor Beth Newell said:
Our female comedian friends were feeling pretty frustrated with a lot of the dialogue surrounding these events, specifically some of the comments coming from men. We put out a call to writers for pitches on the topics of sexual assault and related issues and we received an overwhelming response.
So we came up with the idea to use as many of those ideas as possible and do a full homepage takeover.
Asked whether or not she views artistic expression and humor as the most effective form of speaking out, Newell replied, “I think we all cope in our own way and I don’t want to shame any of the women who are calling out Metzger, but I think this story is so much bigger than him and to make it entirely about him is maybe giving people a scapegoat. Not to mention giving him the attention he desires.”
“For us, this is about how we can all take responsibility for improving the dialogue about sexual assault and abuse going forward,” she added.
A Reductress post by Ingrid Ostby titled “‘Most Woman Lie About Rape,’ Says Man Lying About Rape” reads:
“This is a true stat, I’m not making this up—99 percent of women are lying about rape,” Ratner said, blatantly lying about rape. According to reports, Ratner wrote this across several Facebook comment threads and also shared it aloud to anyone who would listen.
Another post by Sarah Pappalardo, written in the voice of a medieval witch, calls out the men describing the actions of women in the comedy community a “witch hunt.”
“Would you like to know what an actual witch hunt looks like? Cut me down from this burning stake and I’ll tell you. Seriously, pull me down, I am about to burn,” says Hagatha the Witch.
She continues:
You might be wondering why I’m almost afire in the first place. Well, I was accused of a crime. And what was I accused of? Floating in a lake. If you were wondering what an actual bullshit accusation looks like, please come and pull me out of this burning pyre and I’ll tell you that it’s “floating in a lake.” You’d have to ask me in person, though, ‘cause I don’t do Twitter.
The move by Reductress has been cathartic to many, signifying further progress among women in the comedy scene to make their voices and needs both heard and met. In December of 2015, comedian Beth Stelling came forward to talk about her alleged rape by fellow comedian Cale Hartmann and the following month, BuzzFeed published a damning article on sexual harassment in the L.A. improv comedy scene by former Jezebel reporter Katie J.M. Baker. Around the same time, female comedians and improvisors in Chicago also began to rally after Charna Halpern, founder of Improv Olympic (iO), questioned women’s sexual harassment allegations in a Facebook post.
Soon after surviving a 2013 beating in Williamsburg that left him blind in his right eye, then 22-year-old Taj Patterson told NBC New York, “I want these people to know they can’t put their hands on anyone and get away with it, and think just because you have on certain attire you can get away with certain things. We’re all equal here.” But the majority of the five men who were investigated for committing a hate crime on Patterson, in fact, have gotten away with it.
Pinchas Braver and Abraham Winkler were formally sentenced Tuesday to 150 hours of community service, according to the New York Daily News. They also received three years of probation and were ordered to pay $1,400 in restitution to Patterson, though they received an extension on that payment yesterday as well.
According to the police report, Patterson was “highly intoxicated, uncooperative and incoherent,” and the Post reported that he couldn’t make a coherent statement that morning.
Braver and Winkler were initially scheduled to be sentenced on August 10, but that was delayed when Braver and Winkler’s lawyer advised that his clients wanted to serve their community service at Manhattan’s Chai Lifeline, which provides services for Jewish children with life-threatening illness. As a condition of their plea bargain, the prosecutor recommended that their community service take place in a “culturally diverse neighborhood outside of where this unlawful imprisonment took place.” In response to the Chai Lifeline request, the judge said, “The people have concerns with the organization, under the plea the community service was to be in a culturally diverse atmosphere.” A venue for Braver and Winkler’s community service has yet to be selected.
But within 24 hours, cops in the 90th Precinct classified the attack as a misdemeanor and inexplicably marked the complaint “final, no arrests, CLOSED,” records show.
It was only after the dogged efforts of the victim’s mother that the case was reopened and five men subsequently arrested.
The new details about the investigation emerged as the NYPD is facing a federal corruption probe focused in part on a member of the Borough Park Shomrim, the Jewish volunteer patrol, accused of bribing cops with cash and other gifts.
In June, Patterson filed a lawsuit against the city, alleging very much the same and claiming that the premature closing of the case could have prevented more evidence from being uncovered and more participants identified.
Taken all together, this narrative screams injustice at Patterson’s expense. On Facebook earlier today, journalist (and friend of mine) Steven Thrasher contrasted the lenient sentencing of Patterson’s white attackers with the 15 years that Bayna El-Amin, who’s black and queer, is facing for hitting Jonathan Snipes, who’s white and queer, over the head with a chair in a Dallas BBQ. While I think that many of El-Amin’s vocal supporters tend to simplify (and ultimately undermine) their cause by omitting key details (or by pretending that hitting someone with a purse is the same as hitting someone over the head with a wooden chair), it’s galling that a bunch of white guys who left a guy half blind barely get reprimanded, while a black guy who inflicted no lasting damage that we know of faces a decade and a half in jail. That seems...what’s the word for it? Oh yeah, racist.
In these trying times, a little retail therapy can do wonders when you’re stressed out of your mind and/or uncertain about your future. (By “retail therapy” I mean: Entering a store, walking around a bit, then leaving without buying anything.) So where do you go when you need your kick? My go-to options are:
I don’t know, man. Don’t ask me why the chicken is wearing blue pants. Don’t ask me where the chicken even got his blue pants. Just enjoy the silly inanity of a chicken running around the yard like a total goofball while wearing blue pants. I don’t know if the chicken likes wearing his blue pants but I know the internet (hell, maybe even the world) is better off for it. Enjoy.
The video, which is easily the best video on the internet today, was taken by Debra and Billy Snodgrass of Prescott, Arizona. The caption reads that their chicken, Charlie, is back at it again with the blue pants which is an obvious callback to that one “Damn, Daniel” meme but also presumably (hopefully) means that ol’ Chuck the Chicken has been known to put on his blue pants and run around the yard.
In a recent segment, CNN used a short clip featuring the sister of Sylville Smith, a man who was shot dead by a Milwaukee police officer on Saturday. In CNN’s version of the clip, Sherelle Smith can be heard telling a crowd of onlookers, “Don’t bring the violence here, and the ignorance here.” Later, in a portion of her speech that CNN didn’t air, Smith suggested that if the crowd wanted to riot, they should “take that shit to the suburbs, burn that shit down.”
Breitbart dot com is on the case. “CNN CUTS SYLVILLE SMITH SISTER’S CALL TO MOVE RIOTS TO SUBURBS” reads the headline of a post arguing that CNN deceived its viewers by labeling Smith’s speech as a call for peace and omitting her remarks about the suburbs. “It’s like they don’t realize there’s a whole Internet out there with videos of people’s full remarks,” read a Breitbart tweet about the story. The right-wing trolls that make up the site’s audience rallied around the story, and CNN later issued a correction.
Breitbart regularly strikes this kind of liberal media watchdog pose, and though CNN’s edit is not exactly a crime against journalism, it’s not unfair for a critic to call them out on it. But misleading video editing is a funny critique for Breitbart in particular to take up, considering the incident that launched the site into infamy: its own misleading editing and publication of a video of a then-USDA official named Shirley Sherrod addressing a gathering of NAACP members.
A Bloomberg profile of Breitbart boss Steve Bannon, which has been making the rounds today after Bannon’s appointment to head of the Trump campaign, does a good job of summarizing the Sherrod fracas:
In 2010, Breitbart News hit a wall. The site published video, furnished by a conservative activist, of a speech to the NAACP by a Department of Agriculture official named Shirley Sherrod, in which she appeared to advocate anti-white racism. Within hours, she was fired, as the story blanketed cable news. It soon became clear that the Breitbart News video was misleadingly edited—that Sherrod’s point was the opposite of what was portrayed Fox News, which aggressively promoted the video, banned Andrew Breitbart as an on-air guest. Bannon, who was raising capital for the site’s relaunch, suddenly encountered “nuclear winter.”
It’s no wonder Breitbart staffers were able to recognize CNN’s editing sleight-of-hand: they know how it’s done firsthand.
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Unlike an unsympathetic traditional alarm clock, the Philips Wake-Up Light eases you awake with a gradually-brightening light that simulates a natural sunrise, which is how humans are designed to wake up anyway. And of course, it will still nudge you awake with an audible beeping when it’s really time to get out of bed. It also doubles as a very warm and pleasant reading light as you’re getting ready to go to sleep. I’ve owned this thing for over a year, and I can definitely tell the difference when I sleep away from home and have to rely on my iPhone alarm.
The light is listed for $56 right now, which would actually be a really good price on its own. But if you clip the $10 coupon on the page, you’ll see it for $46 at checkout. We don’t expect this to last long.
The dirty little secret about fitness trackers is that a lot of people try them for a few months, then stash them in a drawer. That’s fine—they aren’t for everyone—but if you want to test one out before spending $100 on a Fitbit, this $20 tracker from Aukey looks like a solid entry-level option.
So what are you giving up here compared to a higher end tracker? It doesn’t measure your heart rate, its battery only lasts a few days, and you can’t swim with it. But otherwise, it’ll count your steps, estimate your calories, and sync all of that data to your phone over Bluetooth. Plus, the band actually has a USB-A connector built in, meaning you can charge it by plugging it directly into a computer, no cable required. Just use promo code TRACKER8 at checkout to get the deal.
JBL’s Synchros headphones are a solid upgrade to the earbuds that came with your phone, and you can grab a pair from Amazon for $26 today, or $4 less than Prime Day.
The review average here isn’t spectacular, but a lot of the bad reviews seem to be related to confusion about the inline remote. The model on sale today has an Android-compatible remote, which may not play nicely with your iPhone, but the headphones should sound the same no matter what they’re plugged into.
We see selfie sticks for about $6 every now and then, and those are all well and good for the kids. But you’re an adult with a job. You’re not afraid to invest a little cash into your narcissism accessories. And this premium Bluetooth selfie stick is designed just for you.
Unlike some of the pretenders out there, this selfie stick is crafted from aluminum alloy, lending it extra structural integrity when you extend it all the way across the bar to fit your wide circle of friends and alcoholic beverages into the frame. Its premium silicone handle will prevent it from slipping when your hands start sweating because Dave Franco or whoever is walking across the street behind you and you only have a moment to line up the shot. Best of all, it supports GoPros too, so your friends won’t miss out on seeing your facial expressions from your zip-lining adventure in the Poconos. So go get this thing for $10 with promo code GNZW8DBE. You deserve it.
Like Brother’s home printers, this model spits out about 30 pages per minute, includes Wi-Fi connectivity, uses inexpensive and long-lasting toner, and just generally works much more reliably than any inkjet printer out there. The biggest advantage of this model over an HL-series printer is that it includes a document feeder for the scanner, meaning it can automatically scan 35 pages in a row with no user input.
$90 is within $5 of the best price Amazon’s ever offered on this model, so list that inkjet printer of yours on Craigslist, and go lock in your order.
Let’s say you’ve already upgraded to a good toothbrush; what’s the next step for cleaner teeth? Judging by the excellent user reviews, this 14-count box of Crest 3D Whitestrips is a great place to start. Just be sure to clip the $5 coupon before you check out.
The 20% coupon is valid on dozens of different Vega items, and will stack with any existing discounts you see on the product pages. Just add your selections to your cart, and you’ll see the final price at checkout.
Vega has a great calorie-to-protein ratio, but the best thing about their shakes is that they aren’t just about protein. Vega’s shakes typically contain six grams of fiber, 3 servings of vegetables, and good amounts of Omega-3, probiotics, vitamins, and illusive potassium. It’s like a protein shake, a multivitamin, and a bunch of bonuses all in one convenient package.
We see deals on WeMo switches and TP-Link Smart Plugs on a pretty regular basis, but this similar product from Koogeek is Apple HomeKit certified, and only $24 today.
Like those other smart switches, the Koogeek Wi-Fi Smart Plug includes an app for turning your electronics on and off, and putting them on a schedule. The key difference here is that you can also control it with Siri from your phone, or from Control Center in iOS 10 (coming soon). That’s a big deal if you’re an iPhone owner, and with promo code CBNSYGGW, you’re not even paying a premium for it.
Brisk autumn nights are just around the corner (I hope), and you can make the most of them with this gas-powered fire pit. Sure, starting a real fire might be more rewarding, but turning a knob is a whole lot easier than splitting logs.
Just note that a few reviewers say that it’s smaller than they expected. It’s 9" high and 28" in diameter, which is indeed not very large, but it should be fine for smaller gatherings.
This inexpensive mandoline slicer can chop all of your favorite fruits, vegetables, cheeses, and fingers for just $17. Plus, its five interchangeable plates and two thickness settings mean it can adapt to many different ingredients and recipes. Just please, please, please, please use the food guard. I don’t want any blood on my hands.
$200 is a lot to spend on a refurbished vacuum cleaner, but the Dyson Cinetic has an ace up its sleeve:
The Dyson Cinetic big ball vacuum is the first upright vacuum with Dyson Cinetic science. It’s our biggest technological breakthrough since DC01: it has been engineered to solve the problem of cyclones clogging and losing suction. Inside, 35 Dyson Cinetic tips oscillate 5,000 times every second. They generate high centrifugal forces to separate the microscopic dust that clogs other vacuums. Because Dyson Cinetic science is so efficient, the Dyson Cinetic big ball vacuum doesn’t need to rely on filters to trap dust as other vacuums do, so there is no pre-motor filter. This means there are no dirty filters to wash or replace, and it never loses suction.
Mpow’s Swift Bluetooth headphones dominated 2015, and the company’s ergonomic Cheetah line looks like a great sequel. If you want to try out a pair, promo code 2BOHN8NW will knock them down to $18, the lowest price we’ve seen by $7.
Note that this is actually the second generation of Cheetah earbuds; Mpow claims to have improved their water resistance this time around, making them perfect for exercise.
You might not need a multimeter very often, but for $10, it’s not a bad idea to add one to your toolbox. That’s one of the best prices we’ve seen on any multimeter, let alone one from a name-brand manufacturer like Craftsman.
If you’ve tried an unamplified HDTV antenna (like the standard Mohu Leaf), but can’t quite pull in every channel you want, this 1byone leaf-style model includes a USB-powered amp that should add a few miles of range. Just note that this is a Gold Box deal, meaning it’s only available for $22 today, or until sold out.
You can’t control these semi-smart power outlets with your phone, or automate them with IFTTT recipes like you can with Belkin’s WeMo line, but you can control them from across your house with a remote control, and they’re incredibly cheap today.
Whether your current mouse is giving you chronic wrist pain, or you just want to try something different, this 4.3 star rated ergonomic vertical mouse is only $13 today with code BW6JELL9. In addition to the clever design, it even comes with three adjustable DPI settings, which is pretty rare at this price level.
The best part of not actually going back to school is participating in all of the back to school sales. Take Levi’s, for example. They’re marking down select new men’s and women’s styles up to 40% off. And you don’t have to be in school (or pretend you are) to get in on the discounts.
Rare is the apartment kitchen that includes enough storage and counter space, but you can add your own with this attractive Whitmor baker’s rack for just $59 from Amazon, down from its usual $75.
That includes stainless steel shelves and hanging hooks, a removable butcher block cutting surface, and a 10 year limited warranty.
$50 is about as cheap as 1TB external drives ever get these days, so if you need more space for your files, or if (gasp) you haven’t been doing regular backups, this is a great price.
Jackery’s newest battery packs include Quick Charge 3.0, and they’re offering $8 discounts on both the 10,050mAh and 20,100mAh varieties today. Just pick your favorite size, and note the promo codes.
Little Giant Ladders are some of the most popular on the market, and you can get a 17' model with a wall rack for for $180 on Groupon today. We’ve seen the bare ladder a little cheaper in the past, but the wall rack makes this deal particularly enticing.
We’re no strangers to waterproof Bluetooth speakers, but most of them under $30 are 3W or 5W single-driver affairs. If you want something a little louder to hear over the din of your shower or from across the pool deck, Jackery’s new 10W Boom is only $29 today with code JKRYBOOM, or $30 with an included bike mount.
We’ve posted a lot of deals over the years on the original Anywhere Mouse, but the second generation adds a rechargeable battery and (optional) Bluetooth to the mix, which are two huge reasons to upgrade. And of course, it still includes Logitech’s dark field laser sensor, which means it can be used on any surface, including glass.
Today’s $50 price tag is a match for the best we’ve ever seen, so click over to eBay and lock in your order.
iTunes gift card discounts are noticeably less common than they used to be, and while we do see 20% discounts from time to time, a $100 iTunes gift card for $85 is still a solid deal if you pay for Apple Music, iCloud storage, or PokéCoins.
Range extenders can’t work miracles, but if there’s one corner of your home that struggles to get a good Wi-Fi connection, this $30 gadget might be all you need.
Packing cubes can make organizing clothes and toiletries for your next trip a little less hellish, and this highly-rated set of four from AmazonBasics is only $20 today. That’s about $5 less than usual, and an all-time low. I actually own a set of these, and I absolutely love them.
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Missouri was the first state to get approved federal funding for building an interstate, built out of Route 66. Photo Credit: Missouri Department of Transportation
A few days ago in 1956, construction began on what became the starting point of modern America: the Interstate Highway System.
The initial proposal to Congress for the ribbons of pavement that would web this whole country together came first in 1939, but actual construction began on August 13th, 1956. It was just a few months after Eisenhower signed the Federal Aid Highway Act. Construction started first in Missouri then Kansas, and spread from there developing existing highways into our interstates.
This is the genesis of our crushing blandness, chain food spots, gigantic box stores, and wilting main streets. And it’s also the start of our ability to engage so much more local color and character, easily moving from towns to cities and from one side of the country to the other. The interstates opened up what was for so long closed and regional.
The good and the bad, the modern America, is completely tied to our Interstates, bleary eyed through the night. Happy birthday.
The legacy of Andrew Breitbart, the late founder of the Breitbart News Network, has been invoked repeatedly during this election cycle, mainly by people who insist that he would not have allowed his media outlet to have become a sort of house organ of the Donald Trump campaign. Former Breitbart contributor Ben Shapiro, who resigned from the site in March, has been particularly adamant that the site’s support for Trump is a betrayal of all that Breitbart the man stood for.
Weekly Standard senior writer Mark Hemingway joined the chorus today, also roping in Antonin Scalia:
This is horseshit.
Andrew Breitbart was an reckless opportunist with no principles or ethos beyond shit-stirring and attention-seeking. If he were alive today, he’d be in the locomotive of the Trump Train wearing a jaunty engineer’s cap. He wasn’t a conservative except in the sense that the modern conservative movement counts among its leading lights a wide array of hucksters and irresponsible bomb-throwers—the Republican nominee for the presidency chief among them.
The Breitbart revisionist case rests on one 2011 Fox News appearance, in which Breitbart said Trump was a celebrity and not a true conservative. Of course, Breitbart himself was obsessed with celebrities—in his largely incoherent political worldview, Hollywood loomed far larger than Washington—and I’ve no doubt that he would have been thrilled to see a genuine TV star hijack the GOP to the horror of both liberals and establishment Republicans. For Andrew Breitbart, like Donald Trump, dominating the media conversation was more important than any policy or election. I read his memoir, and in it he spent far more time recounting his appearances on “Real Time With Bill Maher” than actually laying out any sort of conservative philosophy.
As for whether Trump’s race-baiting and winking indulgence of his widespread white nationalist support would have offended the sensibilities of the late Mr. Breitbart, I don’t think the guy who mentored James O’Keefe and smeared Shirley Sherrod would have had trouble rationalizing all anti-Trump sentiment as anything other than political correctness.
The Trump candidacy is the logical endpoint of Breitbartism, not any sort of betrayal.
As every child knows, playing dress-up can be a lot of fun. As a least one Circuit judge in Illinois doesn’t, it can also be serious violation of judicial ethics.
According to the Chicago Tribune, Judge Valarie Turner was removed from the bench on Wednesday after she allegedly allowed lawyer Rhonda Crawford to put on her judicial robe and rule on at least two cases. Crawford—who is currently running unopposed for a subcircuit judgeship—has also been suspended without pay from her job as a law clerk for Cook County Chief Judge Timothy Evans pending an investigation. From the Chicago Sun-Times:
A spokesman for Evans said the Aug. 11 incident involved “two minor traffic tickets — one for driving with no insurance and another for driving on a median.” Evans did not reveal how Crawford ruled in those cases, but his spokesman indicated both cases will be heard again by another [i.e. real] judge.
But that’s not expected to be the end of it.
Lawyers tell me the case goes beyond just a display of extraordinarily bad judgment and could be regarded as a serious breach of judicial ethics if the allegations are accurate.
Despite sounding like a particularly zany subplot from the celebrated NBC sitcom Night Court, legal ethicists said the episode was no laughing matter.
“I can’t see how someone else can just sit and be a judge,” law professor Clifford Scott-Rudnick told the Tribune. “Obviously, if you’re entitled to have a judge hear your case, it has to be a real judge.”
As the incident itself demonstrates, however, even real judges make mistakes.
This whole story about US swimmers Ryan Lochte, Gunnar Bentz, Jack Conger, and Jimmy Feigen maybe or maybe not getting robbed at gunpoint by men who were maybe posing as Brazilian police officers is fishy and riddled with inconsistencies. Brazilian police cast doubt on Lochte’s story, and earlier today, a Brazilian judge ordered Lochte and Feigen to remain in Brazil to answer questions about the alleged robbery. Lochte is already out of the country, but apparently, Bentz and Conger got pulled off their plane by Brazilian authorities. They were not initially named by the judge, but are apparently now stuck in Rio.
We’ll update this post as more information becomes available.
Update, 10:11 p.m. EDT: The New York Times has more from the tarmac:
Agents from Brazil’s Federal Police, an investigative force that oversees Brazil’s borders, removed Conger and Bentz from an American Airlines plane on the tarmac at Rio’s Galeão International Airport, according to local news reports. Investigators from Rio’s Tourism Police had asked for their passports to be seized so they could respond to questioning in the case.
Shortly after they were removed from the plane, the two men were shown on the Globo television network as they were escorted to a police station in the airport. They declined to talk to television reporter at the entrance to the station.
According to the Associated Press, officials in Louisiana now say that at least 13 people have died since historic flooding hit the state this weekend. On Tuesday, a White House spokesperson said that more than 70,000 residents have registered for federal disaster aid.
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