Man tries to rob people in line for LeBron James sneakers, is shot and killed

From Marylynn Ryan, CNN

Atlanta (CNN) -- A man, who tried to rob a group of people waiting in line to buy the new $180 LeBron James sneakers, was shot and killed when one of the customers pulled out a gun, Atlanta police said.

The incident took place before dawn Saturday outside a shoe store in Atlanta's Little Five Points area.

The group was waiting for the store to open for the day so they could buy the LeBron X Denim on its first day of release.

Police said the man approached the group with a gun in hand and tried to rob them.

One of the men in the group took out his own handgun and fired, said Atlanta police spokesman Carlos Campos.

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http://www.cnn.com/2013/06/24/justice/lebron-sneaker-store-shooting/index.html?sr=reddit

The NRA must be proud. Their dream scenario.

A Congress Only CEOs Could Love

Sam Pizzigati

In a vote that largely went uncovered, House Republicans, with help from some Wall Street-friendly Democrats, voted to repeal the Dodd-Frank Act's check on excessive executive pay. You won’t believe their rationale.

Only 10 percent of Americans now have confidence in Congress, Gallup has just informed us. No other major institution in American life today has this low an approval rating. In fact, adds Gallup, no major American institution has ever had an approval rating this low.

The most amazing aspect of all this? Public confidence in Congress would likely be running even lower if average Americans knew more, day to day, about what Congress is actually doing. The latest case in point: last week’s congressional committee action on H.R. 1135, the “Burdensome Data Collection Relief Act.”

This particular piece of legislation speaks to an ongoing frustration in America’s body politic: the supersized paychecks that go to America’s top corporate executives. Average Americans, in overwhelming numbers, want something done to bring some common sense back to CEO pay.

But the House Financial Services Committee, this past Wednesday, opted to do the exact reverse. By a 36-21 margin, committee members voted to repeal the only statutory provision now on the books that puts real heat on overpaid CEOs. The full House, observers expect, will shortly endorse this repeal.

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http://thecontributor.com/business/congress-only-ceos-could-love

LeBron James Narrowly Avoids Being Decapitated During Heat Victory Parade

Whoever planned this Miami Heat parade route doesn’t like tall people.

Just for a second, imagine a world in which LeBron James doesn’t duck.

Mr. Fish: Supervillain

In Debate Over Military Sexual Assault, Men Are Overlooked Victims

By JAMES DAO
Published: June 23, 2013

Sexual assault has emerged as one of the defining issues for the military this year. Reports of assaults are up, as are questions about whether commanders have taken the problem seriously. Bills to toughen penalties and prosecution have been introduced in Congress.

But in a debate that has focused largely on women, this fact is often overlooked: the majority of service members who are sexually assaulted each year are men.

In its latest report on sexual assault, the Pentagon estimated that 26,000 service members experienced unwanted sexual contact in 2012, up from 19,000 in 2010. Of those cases, the Pentagon says, 53 percent involved attacks on men, mostly by other men.

“It’s easy for some people to single out women and say: ‘There’s a small percentage of the force having this problem,’ ” said First Lt. Adam Cohen, who said he was raped by a superior officer. “No one wants to admit this problem affects everyone. Both genders, of all ranks. It’s a cultural problem.”

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http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/24/us/in-debate-over-military-sexual-assault-men-are-overlooked-victims.html?=_r=6&_r=0

How America's friendly northern neighbor became a rogue, reckless petrostate.

BY ANDREW NIKIFORUK

For decades, the world has thought of Canada as America's friendly northern neighbor -- a responsible, earnest, if somewhat boring, land of hockey fans and single-payer health care. On the big issues, it has long played the global Boy Scout, reliably providing moral leadership on everything from ozone protection to land-mine eradication to gay rights. The late novelist Douglas Adams once quipped that if the United States often behaved like a belligerent teenage boy, Canada was an intelligent woman in her mid-30s. Basically, Canada has been the United States -- not as it is, but as it should be.

But a dark secret lurks in the northern forests. Over the last decade, Canada has not so quietly become an international mining center and a rogue petrostate. It's no longer America's better half, but a dystopian vision of the continent's energy-soaked future.

That's right: The good neighbor has banked its economy on the cursed elixir of political dysfunction -- oil. Flush with visions of becoming a global energy superpower, Canada's government has taken up with pipeline evangelists, petroleum bullies, and climate change skeptics. Turns out the Boy Scout's not just hooked on junk crude -- he's become a pusher. And that's not even the worst of it.

With oil and gas now accounting for approximately a quarter of its export revenue, Canada has lost its famous politeness. Since the Conservative Party won a majority in Parliament in 2011, the federal government has eviscerated conservationists, indigenous nations, European commissioners, and just about anyone opposing unfettered oil production as unpatriotic radicals. It has muzzled climate change scientists, killed funding for environmental science of every stripe, and in a recent pair of unprecedented omnibus bills, systematically dismantled the country's most significant long-cherished environmental laws.

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http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2013/06/24/oh_canada

Sacrificing everything for my dog

Damian Sowers
Web Developer. Founder of Mycelial, Briarpatch and AppRaptor.

Published
June 23, 2013

How I became a programmer.

Nobody will bat an eye if you’re making big sacrifices to give your children a better life. This sacrificial behavior is hard wired into our DNA and it’s expected of every parent. In fact, evolution depends on this behavior.

However, if you tell somebody you’re restructuring your life to make your dog happy, there’s a good chance they will laugh and think your future involves a strait-jacket and a big nurse by the name of Ratched.

Until now I never told anybody about my reasons for my big life changes and I feel quite embarrassed as I’m typing this. The truth is, if I didn’t love my dog so much, my life would be radically different and I’m sure I would be miserable.

I don’t believe in God but I do believe in karma. Maybe karma is similar to luck, as in “the harder I work, the luckier I get” type of thing. Being good to someone or something seems to create a bunch of collateral happiness.

Here is my story.

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https://medium.com/this-happened-to-me/612aeda3d770

At Taco Bell, It's Not 'Meat,' It's 'Protein'

After all the pink slime and horse meat fiascoes consumers have endured recently, the word “meat” just isn’t working up the appetite like it used to. One euphemism you might see more of at lunchtime: “protein.”

On July 25, Taco Bell (YUM) will start testing a new “Power Protein” menu in Ohio aimed at health-conscious consumers. It will include items with more than 20 grams of protein and less than 450 calories per serving, such as a burrito and a bowl, both served with a double portion of chicken or steak. The menu is already being tested under the name “Fresco Power” in Southern California.

Missy Schaaphok, nutritionist and product manager for Taco Bell, says in an e-mail that the company is using the “protein” label on its new menu “because of the ingredients in the items.” The emphasis on nutrition, rather than meatiness, is one consumers are likely to notice. Data from Infegy—a company that analyzes user-generated content on blogs, social-media accounts, and other online sources—shows that 43 percent of conversations about “meat” over the last six months were negative and often included such words as “bad,” “concerns,” and “problem.”

On the other hand, only 6 percent of conversations about “protein” were negative. Most people associated it with words like “good”, “healthy,” and “delicious.” The result: Some 91 percent of conversations about the “Power Protein” menu have been positive, according to Infegy.

Taco Bell hopes the menu will appeal to both men and women (unlike the Taco Bell Fresco menu, which has done better with women). Infegy says that so far, more women are talking about “Power Protein.” The menu is part of Taco Bell’s recent commitment to making a healthier menu by 2020.

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-06-24/at-taco-bell-protein-is-code-for-meat#r=rss

Monday Toon Roundup 3: The Rest

Gitmo



Detroit


Bridges


Education


Warming




Fame




Deen




Brazil

Monday Toon Roundup 2: Farmer Boehner