SAR #14310

Americans only pretend to believe in equal opportunity. 

 
Cartography: The Republicans, convinced they've won a great victory, are also convinced they can do Great Things. Nope. The banksters are not going to jail. Nothing will be done to stop global warming (vide Inhofe). Your taxes are not going down, but corporations will continue not paying their share. Various bills handicapping teachers even more will pass, but kids will still go to school hungry. Student debt will continue to rise and it will still take 6 years to pay off a new truck. Healthcare will not be expanded, but it won't be reversed. The US will keep covertly stirring up wars in the name of peace. A lot of pointless political demagoguery will be inflicted on the airwaves – to little or no effect. Business as usual.

Another Shoe: The Saudis are waving oil prices around like a weapon – wielding it against the US because the US did not attack Syria as they were supposed to and because it's not nice to annoy the junk-yard dog of oil reserves with yappy little frackers.

Heat Sink: The IPCC confirms that the latest 30-year period was the warmest such span in at least 1,400 years. As for 'The Pause” the deniers are enamored of, perhaps someone should tell them that for 40 years over 90% of the globe's extra warmth (from fossil fuel burning) went into the oceans, not the air over the land. Ocean acidification is up 26% - threatening crustaceans and shellfish and the tiny creatures that make up the bottom of the food chain. The majority of IPCC scientists fear that we will easily pass the 2°C increase in average temperature that is seen as the maximum before various disasters become commonplace. 
 
Election Result: US unemployment claims have fallen to a 14-year low – because Obama and the Democrats can't do anything right. 
 
The Grounded Floor: Those who piled into the OW Bunker IPO last spring – pushing its market value to over a billion dollars – have lost their shirts. Shoes. Pants and undies. Seems that massive fraud and embezzlement ate all the equity. Takeaway:”The stock market depends deeply on the gullibility of investors relationship of trust between investors and companies.” 
 
Takes One: Bill Gates is warning that the world is still not prepared for epidemics. He should know - look how much damage Windows caused worldwide before an antidote was developed. 
 
Of Mice And Men: The Federal Appellate Court for the Sixth District has upheld the gay marriage bans of KY, MI, OH and TN, throwing the gay marriage question back into the laps of the Supreme Court, which had thought by refusing to hear appeals on rulings in favor of gay marriage they had finessed the whole question. Now for Plan B, which is not going to make anyone happy and a lot of folks really mad.

Once More With Failing: Ukrainian military forces and pro-Russian separatists in the east of the country are mobilizing for another round of voting fighting.

Self Inflicted: Russian actor Alexei Devotchenko, an outspoken critic of Vladimir Putin, was found dead in his apartment an apparent victim of self-inflicted free speech.

Porn O'Graph: The profit gap.