#siliconvalley Isn't that one actor playing that 5 percent guy dead?

The tech seems good. Compressed algorithms, the one talked about in the show, could make dialup fast. 

#GameofThrones I guess I have to watch the blood and murder I enjoy so much.

Did they fancy up the titles?

#continuum Hope the lead fails. Her future is horrible.

Let's give some alternative timelines a shot.

#TheAmericans I can't believe I missed this: The many wigs of The Americans

You can find that link here. I looked at all 48. Related: Fact checking the Americans. 

#TheAmericans Okay why is she crying now?

I know I don't get relationships and marriage but still...and why is he upset?

#TheAmericans "Why can't you fuck me like your other wife?"

Problems that spy couples have...

#TheAmericans So they knew about the Arpanet? And did nothing?

#TheAmericans Who does their hair and makeup?

That's more impressive to me than the accents. They have, like, a thousand different looks.

#TheAmericans I agree with them about the Contras.

The Contras were evil. 

#TheAmericans I don't like handlers.

They're always giving me the bad news about who I should and shouldn't be killing. For the Motherland blah blah blah....

Some cute pictures of Lynx Cats as Pets. Dangerous yet adorable.

#rachelmaddow Horrifying piece about the Koch brothers developing a ground game.

Note to Tom Steyer: You have to counter this. Yes there are many people who would love to knock on doors, especially without having to worry about fundraising, and fight for these issues. Especially in Pittsburgh.

#TheAmericans Things that are or not true about this season.

I actually have a short essay all ready to be self published about The Americans first season. It's about those things that actually happened. These are the things I'm trying to figure out are true for this season.

1. Are the Walk Ins true and how devastating are they?
2. I guess I'm wondering aloud about repatriation. How much did that happen?
3. Did Soviet scientists help the US develop stealth technology? I know that the Google founder was the son of a Russian ex pat but did they do that much? Were the Soviet expats all Jewish...Ashkenazi Jewish?

Hey I only need five to do another short book so....

#TheAmericans Russians vs Mossad? Mossad protecting the Jewish refusnik...?

Has to be Mossad. They would  have eyes on them. Others?

#TheAmericans Life is so hard with the second completely fake wife.

That makes sense. He's already married so he knows how to fight irrational...

#TheAmericans "The Future Opens Wiide..."

I like her taste in music.

#TheAmericans Repatriation? Well that seems like that's against the law...

Did that happen?

#TheAmericans Granny Goodness is back! From the sitcom?

Not someone I want to watch in a sitcom...

#TheAmericans The daughter lies about going to church? I guess they're not religious.

#TheAmericans Who killed the other Russian family? The Chinese? NSA?

Will that kid go to CMU? I hear its a great school...

"Whimsical Fascists" #philsbandnames

Borrowed from a Mother Jones film review of the latest from Wes Anderson.

#thegoodwife. Weirdly effective True Blood lawyer is back.

She never loses.

#thegoodwife Because some of us are mature enough to wait until 11 to watch Walking Dead.

This is what makes the country strong.

MoveOn is welcome to bring those ads to Pennsylvania.

MoveOn is running ads in southern states where Republican governors, for reasons that are beyond my grasp, have refused the free Medicaid money that would probably guarantee their reelections. But one awful republican won't take this lying down. Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal has warned MoveOn of a suit if it persists on, apparently, telling the truth about Jindal's terrible policy of not expanding Medicaid, which could improve and save thousands of lives in his state.

Or this is how it was described to me in the email that was sent to me by MoveOn yesterday:

"Dear Philip,
MoveOn is being threatened with legal action by the state of Louisiana after we bought a billboard criticizing Governor Bobby Jindal for preventing 242,000 Louisianans from accessing Medicaid.

In politics, a frivolous lawsuit or the threat of it—combined with a smart reaction—can be a golden opportunity. On the other hand, the wrong reaction can be disastrous. That's why what we do now—which is dependent on you—is so important.
Here's what happened: This week, MoveOn put up billboards in red states criticizing Tea Party governors for refusing federal funds to expand Medicaid. The billboards are working really well, and are getting a ton of press coverage.
Now, the Republican lieutenant governor of Louisiana wants us to take down a billboard criticizing Governor Jindal—who has presidential ambitions—because it's a takeoff on the state's tourism slogan, "Pick Your Passion." This is a blatant attack on free speech. A state government isn't entitled to use trademark law to censor citizens who want to criticize the state for its heartless and stupid policies.
The good news is, legal action like this can be a dream when it comes to focusing press coverage on the need for Medicaid expansion. If we take this on from a position of strength, unapologetically doubling down on our Medicaid campaigning right now—while preparing to vigorously defend ourselves against a potential lawsuit—we can score a big win.On the other hand, if we let Louisiana Republicans bully us into silence, then we could face similar legal battles in every other state where we put up billboards. We're committed to standing up to bullies. But to do that, it's crucial that we have the resources to take this on and win."

The ad in question seemed to be quite harmless and also absolutely true. I have no idea what legal grounds that Jindal would be suing under even with a judiciary that's full of GOP sympathizers. Here's what it said: "Louisiana pick your passion. But hope you don't love your health. Gov. Jindal's denying Medicaid to 242000." The trademark angle seems interesting but this political speech and not commercial speech. Of course, who knows what goes on in the minds of partisan judges. Still, the lawsuit sounds like a long shot and kind of silly.

If you like what MoveOn is doing I highly recommend that you support them with their fundraiser here.


Related: MoveOn could also run ads here in Pennsylvania but our Republican Governor Tom Corbett seems to deeply endangered. A recent poll put him about 20 points behind current Democratic Party frontrunner Tom Wolf. Good riddance I say. I also wholeheartedly agree with Keystone Politics take on Corbett working to get a modified deal that would be much worse than what the government is actually offering. Hey, this is personal in that I'm actually eligible for the Medicaid expansion. I can wait until a Democrat takes over the governor's mansion in November.

Also Related: Here's the ad from Texas.

Ham vs. Nye #atheism Oh great a sermon. Can't you find another scientist...#billnye

...who believes in fairy tales? His 30 minutes is almost up.

Ham vs. Nye #atheism Please don't let Ham quote Craig Venter.

Did Bill catch it? Why didn't Ham quote Craig Venter as he's creating life?

Ham vs. Nye #atheism Ham is losing me with the Pro Noah arguments.

On the other hand, Bill Nye has expertise in mechanical engineering not the evolutionary record like say a Dawkins or a P Z Myers. Interesting to see his response...

Ham vs. Nye #atheism Why is Bill starting off with the tie thing?

Okay now he's starting the argument. 

Liveblogging Ken Ham vs. Bill Nye #atheism

Ham is up first. Fairly predictable stuff from the Creationist. Seems to not understand that people don't accept the Bible as fact. Most of the world in fact.

The Week in "We Hate Tom Corbett and Hope He Dies News"

Well, as always, there's lots of good reasons to hate Pennsylvania based Governor Tom Corbett this week and to wish that his term in office ends come November.

The first item comes to us from The Real News, one of the best alternative news sites in the country. Where we learn that all of the states that have not accepted the initially free Medicaid money are literally condemning 17000 of their citizens to death. I've heard higher numbers. Pennsylvania, thanks to my gawdawful governor Tom Corbett, is one of those states. So, for the first time in my life, I live in a less progressive and caring state than Kentucky. Here's a quote from the story:

DESVARIEUX: So, according to your study, nearly 8 million people will not be able to access health insurance because their states opted out. Can you give us a rundown of the health consequences for these 8 million people?

WOOLHANDLER: Yes. Well, we'll expect between 7,000 and 17,000 of those people to die. We'll expect about three-quarters of a million, 750,000 people to experience depression that they would have been spared had they had access to health care. We'll also see that many diabetics will not have access to medications to treat their condition and that women who need pap smears and mammograms will not get the pap smears and mammograms that they need. So we're going to see a lot of adverse health consequences from what is essentially a political refusal by the red state governors to accept the Medicaid expansion.

DESVARIEUX: And these red state governors, they really have been coming out saying that they cannot afford to expand Medicaid. What's your response to that?

WOOLHANDLER: Well, that's completely ridiculous. The first three years of the Medicaid expansion are 100 percent funded by the federal government, and thereafter the expansion is 90 percent funded by the federal government. And, you remember, these billions are going to go into--if they accepted the money, billions would have gone into the state to pay for the hospitals, to pay for hospital workers, doctors, supplies. So it would have been money that would have gone to their states' economies. So there's absolutely no economic argument for turning down the Medicaid expansion. The decision by the red state governors to turn down that expansion is purely political.

Two, there is some good news in that Tom Corbett's many awful policies have caused his polling numbers to collapse. He's getting creamed by just about every prominent Democratic Party nominee. Human Events, a conservative publication that bills itself as "powerful conservative voices" as opposed to "funded by right wing tyrants" which would be more accurate in my opinion, did two polls that shows Corbett getting roundly defeated. One poll showed that only 41 percent of registered Republicans think he deserves to be reelected. You're only considered safe if you're getting 50 percent of the overall electorate wants you back. Corbett can't even sell his own base.

The second poll reveals that 60 percent of the electorate, including democrats this time, want Corbett to be a one termer. Rob McCord, a democrat, soundly thrashed Corbett by a 48 percent o 36 percent margin. Democratic candidate Tom Wolf also handily beats Tom Corbett by about seven percentage points.

So there is hope that the Evil One will be dispatched come this November. Some of us would prefer that a giant dragon incinerate him but we will take a convincing election loss.