Whenever things make absolutely no sense, I think it can be said that while it may make no sense to you, it may make sense to someone. And nine times out of ten, what has previously appeared nonsensical may be sensical, especially if someone somewhere is making money from the nonsense.

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Very simply, a town that bankrolls itself through racial profiling and harassment of minority citizens in penny ante driving violations which are then ratcheted up in both costs and ramifications through manipulative measures, is EXACTLY the kind of place where a jaywalking offense would spiral out of control. There really is something very systemically awful going on in that town and it is tragic that it took the death of black teenager to draw one's eyes to it. Please follow below for the full, horrifying story.

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“Despite Ferguson’s relative poverty, fines and court fees comprise the second largest source of revenue for the city, a total of 2,635,400,” according to the ArchCity Defenders report. And in 2013, the Ferguson Municipal Court issued 24,532 arrest warrants and 12,018 cases, “or about 3 warrants and 1.5 cases per household.”

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How can this be? we ask ourselves. Well, one of the fruits of disparate policing and the spiraling of charges and the mass transformation of an entire population into fugitives due to outstanding bench warrants is that that same population has now been successfully disenfranchised of their vote. Felons don't vote and fugitives don't vote.

As we discussed in our recent article, 4 Ways You Can Effectively Fight Conservatives, there are many things we can do to combat their agenda. We can work to advocate truthfulness, avoid television stations that air conservative Super PAC propaganda. WE can support candidates facing elections against right-wing candidates…

And we can boycott boycott boycott right-wing companies whose products and services help fund the conservative agenda and candidates.

For your convenience, here is a list of but a few of those companies we should avoid. Be sure to share with your family and friends. This is by no means a fully comprehensive list, but it is a good beginning.

As some of you noted, companies like Hobby Lobby and Papa John’s are good ones to avoid as well – however, this list is focused more on larger operations such as those by News Corp and Koch Industries as you can see below.

NEWS CORP

Be sure not to watch:

20th Century Fox Television programs on other networks (24, Married with Children, etc.)
Big Ten Network (49%)
Fox Business Network;
Fox College Sports
Fox Movie Channel
Fox News
Fox News Channel
Fox Reality Channel
Fox Soccer Channel
Fox Sports en Español
Fox Sports Enterprises
Fox Sports Net
Fox-branded local television stations
Foxtel (25%)
FUEL TV
FX Networks
National Geographic Channel (International) (50%)
National Geographic Channel (US) (67%)
Speed Channel
Sport South
Do not watch movies produced by these studios:

20th Century Fox Español
20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
20th Century Fox International
20th Century Fox movies;
Blue Sky Studios pictures;
Fox Searchlight Pictures;
On the web, avoid:

AmericanIdol.com
AskMen.com
Authonomy via HarperCollins
Fox Interactive Media
Fox.com
Foxsports.com
GameSpy
Hulu.com
IGN
MyNetworktv.com
MySpace (5%)
News Digital Media
Scout.com
TheSimpsons.com
TheXFactorUSA.com
WhatIfSports
Do not buy/subscribe to magazine/print publications or read books from:

Alpha
Barron’s – weekly financial markets magazine.
Big League
Chopper
Country Style
Financial News
Harper Collins
Lifestyle Pools + outdoor design
Live to Ride
Marketwatch – Financial news and information website.
MasterChef Magazine
Modern Boating
Modern Fishing
New York Post
Overlander 4WD
SmartSource Magazine
Super Food Ideas
Tattoo
The Wall Street Journal
Truck & Trailer Australia
Truckin’ Life
Two Wheels
Two Wheels Scooter
Vogue Entertaining + Travel
Zondervan Publishing
THE KOCH BROTHERS

ADI-Pure ®
Antron ®
Brawny brand paper towels and other products;
Chemical products including: •Sure Sol ® products
Comforel® fiberfill
CoolMax ®
Cordura ® fabric
DACRON ®
DBE ® dibasic esters
Delica ®
Demak’Up ®
Dixie® Brand cups plates, and other products;
European brands: •Colhogar ®
Georgia-Pacific lumber and paper products;
Inversoft ®
Kitten Soft ®
Koch Agricultural – Operates cattle ranches
Koch Fertilizers
Lotus ®
Man-made fabrics and fibers including: •LYCRA ®
Mardi Gras brand paper goods;
Matador Ranch – Hunting ranch.
Moltonel ®
Northern brand toilet paper;
Nouvelle ®
Okay
Oxyclear ™
Performa ®
Polarguard ®
Polyclear ®
Polyshield ®
Soft-n-Gentle® brand toilet paper;
SolarMax ®
Somerelle ® Bedding
Sparkle brand paper goods;
Sparkle brand paper napkins;
Stainmaster® carpet and fabric care products;
Supplex ® Fabric
Tactel®
Tactesse ® Carpet Fibers
Tenderly ®
Terathane
Thermolite ®
Tutto ®
Vanity Fair brand paper napkins;
Zee brand paper goods
THE DeVOS FAMILY

AMWAYproducts (much of which are made in China) including: •Nutrilite ®
Artistry make-up and skin care products
Body Series personal products;
DITTO Delivery
eSpring laundry and cleaning products;
Fulton Street Market products;
Glister oral care products;
Hi-Gear automotive products
iCook
Legacy of Clean;
Miss America make-up and skin care products
NUTRIPET ® products
Nutriplant agricultural products;
Perfect Empowered drinking water
Personal Accents ® scents;
Satinique bath products;
The Creme LuXury Collection make-up and skin care products
The NBA ® Orlando Magic
Trend Collection make-up and skin care products
XLP automotive products
XS energy drinks

America’s racial divide is older than the republic itself, a central fault line that has shaped the nation’s history. This month it has manifested itself in sometimes violent protests in Ferguson, Mo., after a police killing of an unarmed young black man. The resonance of that event is related to deeper racial fissures between blacks and whites; that divide is the reason that the events in Ferguson amount to something bigger than a local crime story.

What is the state of that larger divide? In what areas has there been meaningful progress toward shared prosperity over the last generation, and in what areas is America as polarized by race as ever — or even more so?

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Across a broad range of economic and demographic indicators, the data paint a largely depressing picture. Five decades past the era of legal segregation, a chasm remains between black and white Americans – and in some important respects it’s as wide as ever.

The unemployment gap is virtually unchanged over the last 40 years. The income and wealth gaps have actually widened. So has the gap in educational attainment.

Here’s something I do know: one extraordinarily bad way to stand with Ferguson is to show up there, strive to ratchet up tensions with police, tangle with local black leaders about tactics, and insist that the problem at hand is everything everywhere rather than this thing here.

That appears to be the mode of solidarity chosen by Revolutionary Communist activist Greg “Joey” Johnson:

(Video at link. I could not get it to embed)

In another video, Johnson leads a chant against "the whole damn system." Take that! In Ferguson, of course, the outrage is a little more specific: the cops killed Michael Brown and then responded to overwhelmingly peaceful protests with oppressive restrictions and absurd firepower. If you want to be in solidarity with people, protest what they’re protesting. And defer to local leaders, don’t fight with them! They might not be full-time revolutionary agitators, but they probably know a thing or two about Ferguson, its people, and their needs.

According to Chris King of St. Louis American, Johnson was responsible for at least some of the molotov cocktails last night. Yes, some black protesters threw them, too. As Christena Cleveland reminds us, the image of God exists even in the minority of protesters who haven’t stayed 100 percent peaceful.

The National Center for Photovoltaics (NCPV), which is part of the U.S. National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL), maintains a chart that shows efficiency records for all kinds of research solar technologies, from more vanilla to very exotic flavors (thin-film, single-junction cells, multi-junction cells, organic cells, quantum dot cells, etc). Above is the latest version as of April 2013.



On it, you can see the steady pace of progress and how different solar cell compositions compare to each other. Of course, these record-breaking cells were probably very expensive to manufacture and made only in very small quantities, so don't expect to see efficiency numbers like these in commercial PV... But over time, yesterday's record-breakers become today's mass-market products, so all this progress isn't just for the sake of breaking records either.

Screenshot from Susan Happ's lone campaign ad of the primary season, titled "Susan Happ for Attorney General."
Photo: Susan Happ's YouTube Page.

Conservative blogger and former Dane County supervisor David Blaska has some advice for the Republican candidate for Wisconsin attorney general: Don’t underestimate your opponent. “I think Brad Schimel should be very concerned,” Blaska said. Schimel, the Waukesha Coounty district attorney, is running against Jefferson County District Attorney Susan Happ. Happ emerged from this week’s three-person Democratic primary with 52 percent of the vote.

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The lone ad of Happ’s campaign showed an unidentified person driving a Harley on a country road with the narrator asking, “Which candidate for attorney general has put murderers behind bars, locked up heroin dealers and prosecuted domestic abusers?” Then, the driver is shown standing next to the motorcycle and removing her helmet as the narrator says, “District Attorney Susan Happ.” Happ then goes on to explain that she will fight for women’s rights.

...



Wausau attorney Christine Bremer-Muggli agreed that Happ is a “formidable candidate.” “Fear the woman,” she said. Bremer-Muggli stated that she supported state Rep. Jon Richards of Milwaukee, but that she -- and many other women -- can get behind Happ. “I’m happy with Susan Happ,” said Bremer-Muggli. “You know, she gets off that Harley … and I can’t ride a Harley, I’m not strong enough, but she gets off that Harley and she’s a strong woman.”

Bremer-Muggli also indicated that she is impressed with Happ’s credentials and accomplishments in the courtroom. “Susan Happ is a prosecutor who won in a Republican county,” she said. “She’s very charismatic, she’s smart, she knew what she needed to do.”