CoffinTramp is:
Currently 24.
A disillusioned, pessimistic, atheist, feminist trying to find the good in this life.
Wanted to be a rock star.
Settling for attempted-writer.
my writing blog is here
Lives for:
Late-night conversations, spending too much time alone, finding those rare people to really connect with, kitties, music, mohawks, modifications, big boots... and coffee.
Often reblogs to the themes of:
Whatever the fuck I want. Politics, rights, atheism/religion, music, mental illness, silly things, favorite quotes.
Oh, and of course, KITTIES.
Catching Elephant is a theme by Andy Taylor
Walmart Ends Insurance For New Hires, Blames Obamacare
Walmart, the world’s largest retailer and America’s largest employer has announced that they will stop offering health insurance to new hires. Walmart is blaming the Affordable Care Act (AKA Obamacare) for the decision to deny healthcare to their newest employees. Walmart currently employs more than 1.4 million workers. Walmart has declined to disclose how many workers would be affected by the change in policy. One of the key provisions of the Affordable Care Act is the expansion of Medicaid to cover people who make under a certain level of income. Labor and Health Care experts are saying that a majority of Walmart’s workers will qualify for Medicare under the new law. If an employer has a worker that receives insurance through Medicare than their employer has to pay a fine. The fine is substantially less than the cost of health care for the worker.
A reminder that Walmart sucks. Just in case you forgot. This is more of a political statement than anything. Walmart has a long record of treating their workers badly. Studies repeatedly show that allowing your workers to have health insurance and be healthier is a benefit for the employer.
Chris Howard: America really looks like this - I was looking at the amazing 2012 election maps created by Mark Newman (Department of Physics and Center for the Study of Complex Systems, University of Michigan, http://www-personal.umich.edu/~mejn/election/2012 ), and although there is a very interesting blended voting map (Most of the country is some shade of purple, a varied blend of Democrat blue and Republican red) what I really wanted was this blended map with a population density overlay. Because what really stands out is how red the nation seems to be when you do not take the voting population into account; when you do so many of those vast red mid-west blocks fade into pale pink and lavender (very low population).
So I created a new map using Mark’s blended voting map based on the actual numbers of votes for each party overlaid with population maps from Texas Tech University and other sources.
Here’s the result—what the American political voting distribution really looks like.
Now THIS is the most accurate map that I’ve seen, and it is fascinating.
Well, if this isn’t proof of GOP gerrymandering, I don’t know what is.
The notion that if we cut our defense budget by as little as 10%, we’d be completely defenseless and prone to disaster is ridiculous.
We could cut our defense budget by 75% (nearly $500 billion!) and we’d still spend more than our two biggest threats combined; Russia & China.
Can we plaster this graph all over the news, and billboards, pls?
thx.
And the notion that we need to INCREASE our defense budget by two trillion when the DOD isn’t even asking for it is even more ludicrous.
(Source: christopherstreet)
The debate rules specify that to be included, candidates must receive at least 15 percent in a major poll. Most major polls do not even list [Jill] Stein and [Gary] Johnson as an option. Televised presidential debates date back to 1960, and have been a regular event since the 1976 election. Originally administered by the League of Women Voters, they’ve been jointly organized by the Democratic and Republican parties through the Commission on Presidential Debates—a group the two parties jointly formed—since 1987.
Green Party Candidate Jill Stein Arrested Outside Debate (10/16/12).
Jill Stein and her VP candidate, Cheri Honkala, attempted to enter the presidential debate between Obama and Romney this evening, but were denied entry because they didn’t have credentials. They then stayed put in the street demanding to be let in to the debate, and were arrested for “obstructing traffic.” This of course, another sign that our democracy is vibrant and tolerant of pluralistic discourse.
“Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never has, and it never will.” — Frederick Douglass
(via letterstomycountry)
Is Making a Protest Vote in Presidential Elections a Vanity Choice?
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We need to be realistic about elections and stop using them as opportunities to express disappointment, anger or even personal morality.
Ironic fact is fact. :)
Reddit, are you aware how dangerous the ask-a-rapist thread is?
(trigger warning for rape)
From the front page of reddit, user DrRob discusses with other users why the ask a rapist thread was dangerous.
Hi all. I’m a psychiatrist. My main area of clinical work is emergency psychiatry, and my main research interest is functional brain imaging. I’d like to start a discussion about the rapist thread, which I see as a serious danger. In a nutshell:
- Rape is a crime which hinges directly on feelings of power over the victim.
- That power often loses its meaning if the victim is unconscious. Many rapists typically need a victim who knows they are being victimized.
- This victim is the rapist’s audience. This is crucial.
- The audience gives the rapist pleasure, euphoric delight from unfettered, witnessed suffering. That euphoria is intense and is driven by the same neurobiology involved in a drug high.
Now, when Reddit invites rapists to retell their stories, they offer an audience of thousands. The possibility that individuals reading these stories will be horrified afresh is very appealing to some rapists. It’s neurobiologically very much like anticipating drug use.
Note: the audience doesn’t actually need to be horrified. In the mind of the rapist, the possibility of horrifying an audience is what is appealing.
Ever wonder what makes addicts keep using? A major factor is the craving that comes from recalling the feelings associated with the pleasurable activity or drug. Cocaine addicts, active or in recovery, who are asked to think about using cocaine have measurable brain changes precisely when they report cravings. We haven’t actually measured this in rapists, but we suspect it’s highly analogous.
Thus, the Reddit rape forum is very likely triggering rape cravings in rapists.
It is also teaching rapists how to rape better via shared stories, the same way we teach new participants to improve in any field, by sharing our experiences.
I plan to be available to discuss this, so jump in.
(For those more curious about the guy behind the message, I’m a frequent guest on the [1] Caustic Soda Podcast.)
Edited at 6:43 pm to eliminate gendered language. My apologies for insensitivity! I was pretty anxious when I was writing this, and my bias showed. Any gender can rape any gender.
Second edit at 7:09 pm (Pacific): [2] My credentials
Third edit at 7:19 pm: Edit #2: [3] Caustic Soda has confirmed my identity on their Facebook page.
the full thread is here
On a second note, this adds an entirely new level of disgust to people who intentionally try to trigger rape victims on-line.
I mean, not that it wasn’t gross before, it’s just that after reading what DrRob had to say, it makes it that much more disgusting.
The Young Turks talked about this last night. This professional POV is very interesting.
FACT CHECK: Romney on Polish Economy, Gov’t Role His saying that Poland has a small government is wrong. The Polish government gives women $300 for each baby they have, doubling that for the poor. It fully funds state university educations and it guarantees health care to all its 38M citizens.
Republican presidential challenger Mitt Romney hailed Poland’s economy Tuesday as something akin to a Republican dream: a place of small government, individual empowerment and free enterprise.
While it’s true that Poland is one of Europe’s fastest-growing economies and boasts dynamic entrepreneurs, Romney’s depiction of Poland as a place of small government is debatable. Even 23 years after throwing off a communist command economy, the Polish government continues to have a strong presence in people’s lives: it gives women $300 for each baby they have, doubling that sum for poor families; it fully funds state university educations; and it guarantees health care to all its 38 million citizens.
And while Poland’s economic growth has certainly been impressive in recent years, this is partly the result of economic redistribution in the form of subsidies that have been flowing in from the European Union since it joined the bloc in 2004.
That last paragraph above really says it all.