Media Watch

We've discussed the relative safety of being a cop as a backdrop to the constitutionality of cops in general, using the narrative of Roger Roots' piece Are Cops Constitutional? from the nineties. Here's a more recent piece by Huffington Post: 9 Things You Need to Know About the Dangers of Being a Cop .

Does "radical Islam" refer only to an extremist faction of Islam, or are we talking about all who identify with the Islamic faith? If there's any debate whether it means the latter, then I think it lacks diplomacy and tact and maturity, and a person occupying the Oval Office is justified in avoiding such inflammatory labels. Context does matter. Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.V.) says the president should use the words , but Manchin himself isn't generalizing; he's speaking of acts of ISIS and some who evoke the extremist group, not the whole of the Muslim community. Regardless of whether Islamic doctrine calls for violence, there are those within the community who strongly believe Islam is inherently a peaceful belief system. It'll be a fruitless endeavor to school people on their own beliefs, and in attempting to do so will undoubtedly ensure nothing useful is achieved in the campaign to end violence.

Holy moly, when did Bill Maher turn into an apologist for RIAA, the healthcare complex and the entire edu-capitalist-rats? Look, Napster didn't become the music industry's poster child equivalent of dining-and-dashing, but it did an effective job of revealing what an antiquated music distribution system we had. And it showed how to build one that made it easy for music fans to get what they want. And then Apple capitalized on it in a way that got artists paid for their works. Free college? It doesn't have to be free, but how about NOT locking all the formally accredited knowledge of the universe behind a gigantic paywall? We're still waiting for Khan Academy to disrupt the corrupt university scams and show how inexpensive and efficient a 21st education can be. Finally, healthcare cost, in case you've been living in a rich-man's bubble, is consuming the earnings of the working man … BEFORE HE EVEN GETS SICK! So while we're holding out for a Steve Jo...

Well, they're at it again. We've watched our local Fox affiliate and Mediacom struggle during contract negotiations, and now we see Tribune Broadcasting (owners of Channel 13/Des Moines and WGN-9/Chicago) doing battle. While the two sides negotiate carriage fees, the public posturing has gotten ugly and painful to watch. It’s hard for the typical viewer to unpack what’s really going on and we’re left to wonder. Is Dish really being a bully and threatening to unfairly yank Channel 13 off its system? Or is Tribune Media using its news anchors and commercial inventory (and coaxing viewers to make demands on its behalf) to extort more money from Dish subscribers for programming that anyone can get free over the air? In either case, this is the first time I can remember seeing members of our local community and news media -- actual TV news anchors -- being drawn into a fight between multi-billion-dollar corporations in this way. As a 35-year broadcaster it's unsettling to wa...

YouTuber 'superrick568' posted this video. We presume he is the unseen individual being dressed down by the officer in this video. Officer "Let me see your ID!" Lentz is an outstanding ambassador for the city of Milwaukee and his department ... with his combative and adversarial tone, saying nothing of his demands for ID and veiled threats. And Sergeant "That's just him!" Carpenter is fine example of a police supervisor ... with her dismissive attitude toward a citizen complaint. I enjoyed that deflating moment at around 3:15 when Lentz realized he'd been beaten. All he had for you after that point was schoolyard sarcasm. "On 03/05/16 the Milwaukee police went on a ticket writing bonanza. I filmed this guy and his partner three times in less than an hour. There were so many stops within a 2 mile radius that I couldn't keep up. The third time got to him and he demanded my I.D. ." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S01EvBA0Y3U Pe...

For me, living a sous vide life means to...  - Buy in bulk  - Vacuum pack meal courses  - cook-chill/cook-freeze  - Cook foods gently and thoroughly, to the desired doneness, at precisely controlled temperatures Benefits...  - Volume priced food  - Fast, no-fuss meal prep  - Non-critical cook times  - Meals are consistently delicious  - No waste  - Less cleanup  - Cost savings  - Better food safety  - Refrigerator is less cluttered  - It's healthier (portioning helps me to keep an eye on my calorie intake) I buy fresh chicken, beef, pork and frozen vegetables at sale prices, portion for meals, vacuum package it, pre-cook/pasteurize, then store in the refrigerator or chest freezer. In the morning I cut open lunch courses and put them in a microwavable container for work. I can drop dinner courses in the sous vide bath either before or after work. I've spent $960 on gear & gadgets to facilitate m...

I've asked my Iowa Assembly members Sen. Matt McCoy and Rep. Jo Oldson to help stop Iowa House Study Bill 130 and Senate Study Bill 1228 . If passed and signed by Gov. Branstad these bills would immediately create a brand new law called "Iowa Transportation Network Company Insurance Act" designed to crush taxicab competition by putting draconian burdens on rideshare drivers, ultimately resulting in fewer transportation options for Iowans and prospective Iowans, as well as tourists. We need an environment in Iowa that allows innovation and free market competition to flourish, and this is a step in the wrong direction.

Poverty exists because too many workers aren't paid equitably by corporate American capitalists for the fruits of their labor, limiting consumer spending, which hurts the economy, which kills jobs, creating high unemployment, which creates the need for a compulsory levy on other people's earnings to pay into the welfare system. The business model of corporate America is to keep labor costs as low as possible, but if small businesses on Main Street shared in that kind of greed (essentially pocketing more than their fair share of the profits, which they enjoy thanks in large measure to their labor force), they’d be run out of town. In recent years, corporate America has been able to get away with paying low wages precisely because of the high unemployment they caused in the first place; more workers competing for fewer jobs facilitates a low-wage climate. A lot of the job loss in this country is permanent because U.S. companies have been pushing production offshore, exacerb...

If having the more persuasive pitch in a competition between radio and television is considered stealing , then guilty as charged. Many people operate on the full faith and credit of bad information in perpetuity, and the conventional wisdom on Madison Avenue is no exception. Here are my top five reasons radio advertising is better than television advertising: 5) TV advertising is overpriced chiefly because it's easily disrupted by technology and a general collective attention deficit in the real world. 4) One doesn't require a study to prove that images are nearly superfluous in marketing; most people know innately that the most significant, powerful and lasting impressions in our memories are made by audio input to the brain. 3) The best marketing value in radio and social media is derived from the power of a personal recommendation from familiar, credible people; you don't need pictures for that, but sound is our most penetrating cue. 2) Without an intuitive pr...