…Or so it could be, in John Scalzi’s retelling. [h/t PZ Myers]
I want to drink in that bar.
All of which makes this a give-Rush-Limbaugh-a-feminazi-sad open thread.
Image: Francis William Edmonds Barking up the Wrong Tree, between 1850 and 1855.
This post is in: Open Threads, Vagina Outrage
…Or so it could be, in John Scalzi’s retelling. [h/t PZ Myers]
I want to drink in that bar.
All of which makes this a give-Rush-Limbaugh-a-feminazi-sad open thread.
Image: Francis William Edmonds Barking up the Wrong Tree, between 1850 and 1855.
This post is in: C.R.E.A.M., Free Markets Solve Everything, Sports
What?! I had no idea that the NFL enjoys a tax-exempt status.Why the NFL probably won't lose its tax-exempt status http://t.co/wRVV5K6oPe
— Valerie Plame Wilson (@ValeriePlame) September 24, 2014
David Roth, SB Nation, “Meet the woman who wants to make the NFL pay its taxes“:
It happens every year, briefly and usually around Super Bowl time. That’s when the matter of the NFL’s tax-exempt status percolates to the surface, generally as a result of all the outrageous things that the NFL demands from whatever city is lucky enough to host the Super Bowl that year, and which kind of idly enrage those so-inclined. Most states exempt 501(c)6 non-profit organizations — trade groups, ordinarily, like the Chamber of Commerce or National Beef Council — from state income and sales tax, and the NFL is classified as such. The NFL also pays no federal corporate taxes.
This tends to offend, especially given the NFL’s notable dedication to profit and power above just about everything else; it also violates the spirit of the law, as Slate‘s Jordan Weissmann points out, because the NFL is more like a closed cartel than an industry organization. And offend it does, generally for that one week in January. And then things roll on for another 50 or so weeks, more or less as it has since Congress first granted the NFL 501(c)6 status back in 1966…
But a New Orleans-based activist Lynda Woolard hit upon an idea that might force a little bit of accountability upon an organization that’s otherwise proven itself resistant to it. Several years ago, she started a Change.org petition aimed at revoking the NFL’s tax-exempt status. Since then, first slowly and then all at once, the movement has picked up momentum — the campaign now has the endorsement of a wide array of prominent national political figures, and the petition has more than 363,000 signatures. In the last week, two Senators — Maria Cantwell of Washington and Cory Booker of New Jersey — have introduced bills aimed at ending the NFL’s nonprofit status. The unlikely coalition supporting this cause includes an independent Senator from Maine, an arch-conservative Senator from Oklahoma, and a libertarian-leaning congressman from Utah.
Woolard, an artist and a Crescent City resident for over twenty years — and a die-hard Saints fan — was politically galvanized after Hurricane Katrina, and has dedicated herself to organizing in the years since. It’s not her only job, but it’s one she’s embraced with rare passion…
What was your inspiration for starting this petition — that is, what was the moment when you decided that the NFL’s tax-exemption was unjust enough that you wanted to organize and try to do something about it?
The Super Bowl riders were something I learned about after I started the petition… and I have learned much more about the intricacies of the NFL’s finances in the course of talking to like-minded sports writers and sports fans over the last few of years. Besides the fact that this multi-billion dollar industry being governed by a non-profit seems, on the face of it, unfair to everyone else who works hard and pays taxes, I really started the petition as a tool to gain some financial leverage over the NFL, and as a mechanism to call in the only body who seemed to have any authority over them: Congress.
I felt like every season started with some issue that fans felt uncomfortable with, but that we had no power to do anything about, whether it be the player lockout, the replacement refs, the growing body of evidence that the NFL hid reports linking concussions to later life disabilities, and so on. We just see that list of concerns getting longer today…
Useful Tim Lavin piece on why the NFL benefits from nonprofit status even though it doesn't have profits. http://t.co/lTMn79Bj79
— Josh Barro (@jbarro) September 25, 2014
Open Sports Thread: The NFL’s Tax StatusPost + Comments (42)
This post is in: Election 2016, Open Threads, Clown Shoes
In a country that allowed George W. Bush to assume office, twice, It’s impossible to be absolutely sure any given mope or miscreant won’t manage to win sufficient electoral votes or the negotiable allegiance of five Supreme Court Justices. That being said, there’s an awful lot of chaff being emitted in advance of 2016.
No matter how many Mormons and/or vulture fund managers tithe, this guy is not going to be elected President in 2016 (thank you, Paul Constant):
… There’s an undercurrent of smugness in contemporary Republicans, a belief that if Mitt Romney had won the presidency in 2012, America would be a paradisiacal wonderland by now. And that pro-Mitt undercurrent seems to be going mainstream.
Why, no less a foreign policy expert than Ann Romney declared yesterday on Fox News that if we lived in an America headed by a President Romney, ISIS would not be the huge problem that it is. Romney believes her husband “would have tried to arm the moderates in Syria,” which would have curbed the ISIS threat, along with “other things that would have happened that would have made the equation a little bit tilted in our favor.” Do you see the error you have made, America? …
Nor will this guy, much though I hate agreeing with anyone working for WaPo‘s “The Fix” blog:
…[N]ot to take anything away from Webb’s service — including as a war hero, Navy secretary under Ronald Reagan and one-term senator from Virginia. It’s just that there wouldn’t seem to be a more unlikely presidential hopeful than Jim Webb… He retired after one term in the Senate and didn’t seem to particularly enjoy being in public life…
Nor, except in my nightmares, this guy (thank you, Mr. Kilgore):
Jeb ‘16—The Excitement Builds!
It’s no secret the GOP Donor Class loves Jeb Bush and would like to see him run for president. But if you have any doubts, read this unintentionally hilarious spin sent out via Politico’s Mike Allen today:As Jeb Bush plunges into a frenzy of fall travel for Senate candidates, his allies insist a presidential campaign is becoming more of a possibility than even they thought a few months ago. He’s doing a lot of under-the-radar prep, including foreign policy tutoring and meetings with tech gurus. And several of his friends think he is leaning more yes than no…
In the next breath, Allen is admiring Bush’s practice of holding fundraisers IN FLORIDA for Senate candidates in other states… As to why this would “amp up demand for the former Florida governor,” Allen is as “opaque” as the man he’s hyping.
And, finally, I think we can safely cross this guy off the list…
Anyone who thinks it’s too early to talk about the 2016 presidential campaign should be aware that the Right has just chosen its Big Narrative for the cycle, via the Free Beacon’s discovery of correspondence between Hillary Rodham and—wait for it!—Saul Alinsky. It was previously known that HRC had written (both favorably and unfavorably) about Alinsky in a college thesis on community organizing (it would have been rather difficult to ignore him on that subject—sorta like writing about Chick Fil-A without interviewing the late Truett Cathy). But direct correspondence is a new thing.
No, it doesn’t reveal any revolutionary plotting between the two, and yes, this was forty-six years ago. But we’re off to the races…
… because I’m fairly sure “not being dead“ is referenced somewhere in the Constitution. Looks like the Wingnut Wurlitzer is ready to anoint him as the VP candidate, though!
***********
Apart from pointing & mocking, what’s on the agenda for the evening?
Thursday Evening Open Thread: Safe BetsPost + Comments (144)
by $8 blue check mistermix| 97 Comments
This post is in: The War On Women
Arielle Duhaime-Ross writing at The Verge about what Apple left out of its “Health” app:
When it comes right down to it, most smartphone-carrying women want an app that will notify them before they end up with a blood stain on their jeans. That alone is nothing short of revolutionary. […]
So, is it really too much to ask to that Apple treat women, and their health, with as much care as they’ve treated humanity’s sodium intake?
It’s not too much to ask, but I’m not surprised that a product from a male-dominated tech culture missed this obvious feature.
This post is in: Black Jimmy Carter
As you all are in touch politically, you are all probably aware that Holder is resigning. I have no idea who will be nominated to take his place, but I sure hope it is someone who will push decriminalization of marijuana laws and will continue to aggressively pursue civil rights violations. Taking on the banksters would be nice, as well.
Who do we think the next nominee will be? I’m assuming it will be someone who is not being groomed for the Supreme Court, because serving for two years under Obama will make them impossible to elevate to the court, given the way the right wing and the compliant media are able to gin up lasting nontroversies (Fast and Furious, anyone?).
So who would you like it to be, and who do you think it will be? I have no earthly idea. Also, will the confirmation happen before or after the midterms?
by Elon James White| 29 Comments
This post is in: This Week In Blackness
You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to know one of the first rules of working in an office: don’t look at porn on your work computer. But what’s even more of a concern is that Rep. Mark Meadows (R-NC) is seeking to pass a bill that actually states that government employees can’t watch porn at work:
In May, the Environmental Protection Agency’s inspector general disclosed that a senior-level employee was caught spending as much as six hours of his day looking at porn. The IG found that the employee had downloaded and viewed more than 7,000 pornographic files. … Four months later, the employee has not been fired and is still collecting government pay, Environment & Energy Publishing reported last week. Many agencies, including the EPA, have such rules, but Meadows says they are not enforced. EPA’s spokeswoman Liz Purchia confirmed that the porn-watching employee is still employed but on leave.
Frankly, if you can’t get through an eight-hour shift without watching watch Bang Bus, we’re worried about you. Also, those government bathrooms must go through a lot of tissues.
Team Blackness also discussed the Jordan Davis retrial, how it’s still okay to take upskirt pictures in Texas, and the destruction of the Michael Brown Ferguson memorial.
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We Really Need A Law Telling Government Employees Not To Watch Porn At Work?Post + Comments (29)
by $8 blue check mistermix| 153 Comments
This post is in: Shitty Cops
Unless I missed it, we haven’t seen this insane and disturbing dashcam video here yet. It shows South Carolina State Trooper Sean Groubert shooting an unarmed driver of a car who was reaching for his drivers’ license. Groubert was fired and has been charged with aggravated assault.