Events

The Dept. of Homeland Security announced today that most undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as children will not be deported: Those who demonstrate that they meet the criteria will be eligible to receive deferred action for a period of two years, subject to renewal, and will be eligible to apply for work authorization. “Our nation’s immigration laws must be enforced in a firm and sensible manner,” said [Homeland Security] Secretary [Janet] Napolitano. “But they are not designed to be blindly...

Because it sounds utterly ridiculous when grown-ups use her arguments: Sen. Paul is basically reading from Atlas Shrugged. And it's nonsense, as Sen. Sanders demonstrates. Further, I think Paul knows it is. If you're just tuning in, Ayn Rand believed (as apparently Rand Paul believes) that taxes were only taken by force, and were therefore always illegitimate. She believed that a government levying taxes and providing services from those taxes was doing so "at the point of a gun," even if nearly...

Via Sullivan through Lloyd Grove's review of tonight's HBO documentary on President George H.W. Bush: Touting his qualifications for the presidency, including jobs as U.S. envoy to China and director of the CIA, he tellingly remarks: “It wasn’t like out of the clear blue sky some hick from West Texas coming in.” I wonder who he's comparing himself to, there... Nope. Not gonna do it. Wouldn't be prudent.

The branding cops from the International Olympic Committee are making sure the London 2012 sponsors get their £1 bn worth: With far more Olympic funds coming from taxpayers than sponsors, there is some resentment that the public is underwriting a massive advertising platform for big companies who then treat the games as their sole property. Stricter still are rules within the 35-day Brand Exclusion Zone due to be thrown about half a mile around London’s Olympic Park, where any advertising or endorsement...

Via WBEZ, the new route will help eliminate "pride island:" The parade, which will be held on Sunday, June 24, has grown annually, with over 800,000 attendees last year. The growth has made handling the auto and pedestrian traffic an arduous task for the city and organizers. Last year, crowds were difficult to disperse and streets took longer than usual to clean and open up to traffic. The parade traditionally circled from north Halsted Street, then headed south on Broadway Street. Now, the route is...

Robert Wright wonders: A few decades ago, Darwinians and creationists had a de facto nonaggression pact: Creationists would let Darwinians reign in biology class, and otherwise Darwinians would leave creationists alone. The deal worked. I went to a public high school in a pretty religious part of the country--south-central Texas--and I don't remember anyone complaining about sophomores being taught natural selection. It just wasn't an issue. A few years ago, such biologists as Richard Dawkins and PZ...

Via Sullivan, artist Jon Rafman has collected Street View oddities: (Yes, that's in Chicago.)

Just about: Then again, it's a hard accusation to prove: after all, one person's economic sabotage is another person's principled anti-government conservatism. Beyond McConnell's words, though, there is circumstantial evidence to make the case. Republicans have opposed a lion's share of stimulus measures that once they supported, such as a payroll tax break, which they grudgingly embraced earlier this year. Even unemployment insurance, a relatively uncontroversial tool for helping those in an economic...

Krugman says bailing out Spanish banks doesn't change the fundamentals: [T]he whole story is starting to feel like a comedy routine: yet again the economy slides, unemployment soars, banks get into trouble, governments rush to the rescue — but somehow it’s only the banks that get rescued, not the unemployed. Just to be clear, Spanish banks did indeed need a bailout. Spain was clearly on the edge of a “doom loop” — a well-understood process in which concern about banks’ solvency forces the banks to sell...

Parker never really likes the walk up to Ribfest. It's about 5 km, and yesterday the temperature hit 33°C, making him a very hot dog. He did, however, get a few bits of ribs, and when we stopped in the Urban Pooch booth, two entire elk jerky sticks he stole from the display case. This year's results: Mrs. Murphy's Irish Bistro, again my favorite; Itinerant Chicago BBQ, again my second-favorite; Corner 41, who had a good, hot vinegar sauce and fall-off-the-bone ribs (with a little too much fat, though)...