SAR #14070

The right hates food stamps because they are a reminder of capitalism's failures.

Mouthy Horse: A“senior TEPCO employee says that the ruined Fukushima nuclear reactor site is still not under control. “No one knows what to do at Fukushima, it’s impossible to fix, the reactors are not under control... We just can’t deal with the melted fuel.” The current plan seems to be to just dump it in the ocean and hope for the best. 
 
Tit For Tat: The CIA says it spied on the Senate Intelligence Committee because committee staffers had stolen CIA documents detailing torture that the agency didn't want the Committee - which was investigating the CIA's use of torture - to have; documents that detailed the torture that the agency denies ever happened.

Free Grift With Purchase: Turns out that there never were any dinosaurs, that the whole thing was a hoax made up by the toy industry to sell little plastic models to kids.

Noted: The big problem with the 'efficient markets' theory is that markets are not efficient.

Sing Along: “Happy Birthday” first appeared in print in 1912 and was first copyrighted in 1935, yet somehow Warner Music still owns all the rights to the song, and will for another 15 years. Every time you sing it, send a nickel to 'em, in honor of the ridiculous aspects of US copyright law.

Seal Of Approval: An Anaheim, CA jury has absolved cops for killing an unarmed man because he was dressed like a gang member. There's a lot of that going around; ask Travon.

Austerity: Kansas has cut school budgets so deeply that one school nurse, whose work schedule has been cut to only two days a week, freezes ordinary kitchen sponges to use as ice packs, which the school can no longer afford.

Attractive Nuisances: According to the CDC, the largest single source of controlled substances used in overdoses is your friendly neighborhood physician. Not, drug dealers. Well, not illegal drug dealers. 
 
Imagine: Experts say the conflict in Syria may go on for another decade. Seems unlikely, at the rate they're going, either both sides run out of people to kill or Iran, Saudi Arabia and the US will run out of money.

Payments: Duke Energy, faced with a billion dollar bill to clean up NC's water supplies after dumping over 100 million tons of pollution in them, is trying to decide whether to pay for the cleanup out of company profits or to stick their customers with the bill. Not a difficult choice. At the same time, NC legislators – many, like the Governor, recipients of Duke cash – have voted to cut the environmental protection agency by 13%.

Couch Potatoes: Spending on furniture, appliances and other home improvements still lags about 30% below 2006 levels. If you can't afford the new house, you don't need to replace the old couch.

One More Time: “What everyone knew isn’t true.” This time it's about the levelers. Seems that the only people who would miss the 1% are the 1%. Turns out that reducing our inequality would most likely increase economic growth. 
 
Crime Marches On: At a prison in São Paulo, Brazil, cocaine is being delivered to prisoners via drones. In Australia, too. Maybe it's Amazon, trying out that home delivery thing.

School Lunches: The US is giving Israel $429 million to spend on its short range version of a Star Wars missile defense system – but only if they spend most of it on US-manufactured items. 
 
Day Late: In its continuing struggle to prevent the public from finding out what the government is up to, US intelligence officials are developing a complex system of electronic and computer monitoring to track everything about all 5 million federal employees with security clearances. A job benefit.

Porn O'Graph: Travel agency.

The Parting Shot:

 Sponges.