Ever run out of gas within sight of home? That’s what I felt like today with eleven posts done but my brain turning to sludge. Had to hitch myself to a wrecker and and limp through the day-ender with yellow lights flashing. Here’s what I’ve got:
* At least 150 arrested during the latest of regular protests in Raleigh, NC, against Republican legislature’s aggressive policy agenda, making the state a sort of purple version of Kansas.
* Charles Pierce notes that House GOP is making a redundant effort to “de-fund” ACORN, which no longer exists. Guess if you can’t repeal Obamacare in 37 tries, digging up ACORN and burying it again is somehow cathartic.
* Nathaniel Popper pens important piece for New York Times on the heavy involvement of big Wall Street investors in boosting home prices in depressed markets. This ain’t middle class families snapping up bargains, folks; indeed, many regular buyers being squeezed out entirely.
* At Ten Miles Square, Austin Frackt points out that backlash in Medicaid-expansion-denying states could include major efforts by insurers and/or providers to force late acceptance of expansion.
* At College Guide, Daniel Luzer reports on the reaction–and over-reaction–to the appearance of Porn Studies, the “first dedicated, international, peer-reviewed journal to critically explore those cultural products and services designated as pornographic.”
And in non-political news:
* AirTran flight crew boots more than 100 high school students off plane before flight from New York to Atlanta because many wouldn’t sit down and shut off cellphones. Just wait til the videos go viral.
Ah yes. Let’s end the day with another riot grrrrl classic from Bikini Kill: “Double Dare Ya.”
Selah.
