azspot:

reality check

jkottke:

Antonin Scalia once said that no one had ever been executed in the US for a crime they didn’t commit. Well, the Columbia Human Rights Law Review is devoting its entire spring issue to the case of Carlos DeLuna, who was executed by the state of Texas in 1989 for the murder of Wanda Lopez. Their…

(4.) We give prison sentences for smoking marijuana, but not for billion-dollar fraud

About half of our world-leading prison population is in jail for non-violent drug offenses. Americans have also been arrested for handing out free food in a park. Mothers in Ohio and Connecticut were jailed for enrolling their kids in out-of-district schools. As of 2003 in California there were 344 individuals serving sentences of 25 years or more for shoplifting as a third offense, in many cases after two non-violent offenses.

How does the market deal with this steady tide of petty crime? It strives for more. The new trend of private prisons is dependent on maintaining a sizable prison population to guarantee profits, with no incentive for rehabilitation.

As the number of inmates has surged, the people who devastated countless American lives “get out of jail free.” The savings and loan fraud cost the nation between $300 billion and $500 billion, about 100 times more than the total cost of burglaries in 2010. The financial system bailout has already cost the country $3 trillion. Goldman Sachs packaged bad debt, sold it under a different name, persuaded ratings services to label it AAA, and then bet against their own financial creation by selling it short. Other firms accused of fraud and insider trading were Morgan Stanley, Bear Stearns, Bank of America, Countrywide Financial, and Wells Fargo. The New York Times reported in 2008 that the Justice Department had postponed the bribery or fraud prosecutions of over 50 corporations, choosing instead to enter into agreements involving fines and ‘monitoring’ periods.

nationalpost:

122 Quebec protesters arrested in raucous night before proposed strike-breaking legislation
A bid to restore order in restive Quebec was met with streets clogged with thousands of protesters, a multitude of flying projectiles, several smashed windows, and blasts of pepper spray leading to 122 arrests.

The unrest on Wednesday night followed the Quebec government’s announcement it would suspend the current academic session for striking students in an effort to calm things down.

It also hinted at more punitive measures, without sharing details. (Photos: ROGERIO BARBOSA/AFP/GettyImages)

potatoast:

tastefullyoffensive:

Scarecrow

Haylarious! 

bowlofstew:

Taken from a collection on Designers Couch by Chris McVeigh called “Chipmunk Adventures”. See the full set here.

(via shelbetreble)

collegehumor:

11-Month-Old Found in Sandwich

Always the last place you think of looking.

fyeahchemistry:

tinananaaa:

Read the rest at http://theoatmeal.com/comics/tesla! Apparently tumblr has max height for posts. Ew.

Tesla, the original BAMF.