Mike Luckovich Toon- Sibling Rivalry

Best Light Installations 2014

Pierce (Wa) deputies kill white supremacist after he kills

Deputies shot and killed a white supremacist suspected of shooting a black man to death early Wednesday in South Tacoma, Pierce County sheriff's officials say.

Just before 5 a.m. when deputies received a call about a shooting at the Woodmark Apartments, in the 2400 block of 96th Street South.

Arriving deputies found the severely injured victim, a black man believed to be in his 20s. He died at the scene.

Deputies then tracked the suspect to the nearby Drake Apartments, in the 2200 block of 97th Street South, when residents there called 911 to report a suspicious man in the hallway who matched the suspect's description.

more

http://www.seattlepi.com/local/komo/article/Pierce-deputies-kill-white-supremacist-after-he-5962934.php

After years of effort, Vermont's governor reportedly gives up on single-payer health care

Shumlin: "The time is not right"

Vermont has long had a two-pronged approach to building a single-payer health care system. First, they would figure out what they would want the system to look like. Then, they would figure out how to pay for it.

The state passed legislation outlining how the single-payer system would work in 2011. And ever since, the state has been trying to figure out how to pay for a system that covers everybody. Most estimates suggest that the single payer system would cost $2 billion each year. For a state that only collects $2.7 billion in revenue, that is a large sum of money.

What Shumlin appears to be saying today is that the "time is not right" to move forward on the financing of the single-payer system. And that means putting the whole effort aside, with no clear moment when the debate would be reopened.


more
http://www.vox.com/2014/12/17/7411357/single-payer-vermont-shumlin

Inside Beijing's airpocalypse – a city made 'almost uninhabitable' by pollution

The scene could be straight from a science-fiction film: a vision of everyday life, but with one jarring difference that makes you realise you’re on another planet, or in a distant future era.

A sports class is in full swing on the outskirts of Beijing. Herds of children charge after a football on an artificial pitch, criss-crossed with colourful markings and illuminated in high definition by the glare of bright white floodlights. It all seems normal enough – except for the fact that this familiar playground scene is taking place beneath a gigantic inflatable dome.

“It’s a bit of a change having to go through an airlock on the way to class,” says Travis Washko, director of sports at the British School of Beijing. “But the kids love it, and parents can now rest assured their children are playing in a safe environment.”

The reason for the dome becomes apparent when you step outside. A grey blanket hangs in the sky, swamping the surroundings in a de-saturated haze and almost obscuring the buildings across the street. A red flag hangs above the school’s main entrance to warn it’s a no-go day: stay indoors at all costs. The airpocalypse has arrived.

more

http://www.theguardian.com/cities/2014/dec/16/beijing-airpocalypse-city-almost-uninhabitable-pollution-china

Wednesday Toon Roundup 4- The Rest

Dems







Banks



Climate



Oil




Northern White Rhino





Season






Putin






Mexico




Pakistan

Wednesday Toon Roundup 3- Injustice and the big issue

InJustice







The Issue

Wednesday Toon Roundup 2- Torture and other unpleasant facts

Wednesday Toon Roundup 1-Rethug Party

UK cops demand list of attendees at university fracking debate

Canterbury Christ Church University refused to give the Kent police a list of the attendees at a debate on fracking, despite the cops insistence that they needed to have the names to assess "the threat and risk for significant public events in the county to allow it to maintain public safety."

One of the speakers at the debate, Ian Driver, a Green party councillor in Thanet, has been subjected to extensive police surveillance, though he has no criminal record: the police logged 22 public meetings and demonstrations he helped to organise about gay marriage and animal exports.

It's part of a wider pattern of police spying on peaceful protesters and political organizers: