Friday, December 28, 2012
Alternate Realities Roundup: 12/28
Posted By Eric S. Peterson on December 28, 2012, 9:51 AM
Mother Jones profiles 151 victims of mass shootings from 2012, the worst year in modern history for these violent epidemics.---
Top of the Alty World
“151 Victims of Mass Shootings in 2012: Here Are Their Stories”—MotherJones
The Economist looks at how the United States’ deficit problem will be a problem that festers long after the “fiscal cliff” is, or isn’t, averted.—The Economist
A recent Gallup poll shows Americans in favor of more gun laws but not bans on assault weapons.—Slate
Documents reveal that the FBI considered the nonviolent Occupy Wall Street movement as a potential terrorist threat from the movement’s beginning.—Democracy Now!
Top of Alty Utah
Q Salt Lake looks at how the anti-gay Defense of Marriage Act hits home for a gay Utah couple.—Q Salt Lake
Salt Lake City Weekly recaps some of the year’s big stories, from crooked call centers to mentally ill inmates.—Salt Lake City Weekly
Celebrated Utah anchorman Dick Nourse reveals he is battling throat cancer.—Salt TV
While a spokeswoman for the Gateway Mall in SLC says traffic has been up, storeowners disagree.—KCPW
With the passing of “legal gadfly” and civil-rights attorney Brian Barnard, who will fill his shoes?—Salt Lake Magazine
Rantosphere
Truthout argues that the Republican Party is ruled by despots of the nationless nation of “Billionaire-istan”
“In America, the Republican Party is following in the footsteps of the 19th-century Whig Party, rapidly descending into irrelevance. But, in the fledgling new nation of Billionaire-istan, the Republican Party is achieving new prominence, and has staked out its position as the ruling Party of this tiny nation comprised of extremely wealthy American ex-pats.The problem with the Republican Party, as we knew it, is that a handful of billionaires have taken it over and are using it to push the interests of their exclusive little nation of Billionaire-istan at the expense of our nation, the United States; arguably, at the expense of the entire world, which is why a London-based publication like the Financial Times is so concerned.”—Truthout
The Long View
Slate looks at Georgia’s war on its poor and how its conservative hate for welfare is straining services for low-income families.
“What this has created is a land that welfare forgot, where a collection of private charities struggle to fill the resulting holes. For the Atlanta Community Food Bank, that means sending out more than 3 million pounds of canned goods, bread and other groceries each month to churches in and around Atlanta to help feed the state's growing number of poor and near-poor. The food bank’s staff also helps arrange for free tax-prep services, and helps the city’s poor apply for food stamps and Medicaid. One thing they don't discuss, though, is welfare. "We don't talk about TANF anymore," says food bank advocacy and education director Laura Lester. "We don't even send anybody in to apply, because there's just no point."--Slate
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