TomDispatch: Pentagon socialism
The Federalist: 9 years into Common Core, test scores are down, indoctrination up
TAC: The mad rush to college is killing our children’s entrepreneurial spirit: “Entrepreneurship, of course, requires time devoted to imagining and dreaming—time today’s students simply don’t have. Many spend every minute trying to build a résumé that will usher them into the best colleges. In The Coddling of the American Mind, social psychologist Jonathan Haidt and former Foundation for Individual Rights in Education president Greg Lukianoff argue that, for the last two decades, parents have overscheduled their children to their detriment. To make sure college applications shine, they fill up kids’ time with supervised activities, eroding the hours they need to enjoy playing and simply being young. When you have school, then piano recital, then soccer practice, then choir, then homework, then bed, it’s tough to find time to go skateboarding with your friends. That isn’t a good thing.”
FEE: Stop shaming people who don’t vote Ed: The sheer amount of sanctimoniousness, ignorance, and schoolmarmishness over voting today has been ridiculous. Do these people actually care about ending war? About reducing the prison population? About making everyone’s lives easier and more free? Not at all. The sole issue they care about is that their team wins the game.
Oh HO HO: America’s wars are a non-factor in today’s midterm elections Ed: The vulgar preening over having voted, and ensuring that everyone knew the deed had taken place, reaches absurd levels among the high-income crowd in Norman, as I quickly found out today. There seems to have been an unspoken contest to see who could place their comically lame “I Voted!” sticker as close to their face as possible, without it actually touching. I’m surprised that some of these people don’t actually place it on their forehead, or right between their eyes. “Oh, you voted huh?” “Yes! It’s the most important election in our lifetimes!”, responds someone long past the age where they should know better than to actually believe it. Engaging in mindless conspicuous consumption is apparently next on their list after engaging in their equally mindless act in the voting booth, and my place of employment could not be a more perfect destination. As I take their cash, I idly wish another group of Porsche Cayenne-driving Baby Boomers would breeze in through the door, high on the fumes of counterfeit democracy, and engage the current customers in some meaningless-yet-heated political discussion, quickly devolving into a primitive slap-fight among the elders of two warring tribes. It would almost make voting worth it.
I do not understand the compulsion to make oneself into a flying monkey for a political party, but for the vast majority it appears to be high on the list of basic human instincts.
Now HERE is some real news: MDMA therapy eliminated PTSD in 76% of patients. Ed: This is news worthy of coverage and disk space in your brain, not the meaningless midterms. Psychedelics are a pharmaceutical and mental health revolution in utero. The pharmaceutical industry will cease to exist in its current form once these compounds are made widely and easily available.
Reason: Missouri becomes 32nd medical marijuana state
EFF: Spot the surveillance: A VR experience for keeping an eye on Big Brother
