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Sunday Link-Off: Maybe Father’s Day

nina-dobrev-lafilmfest15-01I know that today is Father’s Day but with all that’s been happened in the world this past week, I wouldn’t blame anyone if you forgot that. Between Charleston and Spokane and the Trans-Pacific Partnership, there has been a lot in the news occupying us this week.

Anyway, it’s Sunday so it’s time for us to do the links. Let’s kick things off with Nina Dobrev.

As is often the case, Charles Pierce has one of the best takes on a big story. This time, he has the best take on the Charleston shooting. (Esquire)

Whenever a high-profile shooting occurs, people talk gun control. That tends to quickly end when people think it’s not possible. However, that’s just one of several myths about gun control that keep holding it back. (The Guardian)

Good news! While everyone was distracted with the Charleston shooting, the US House of Representatives put the Trans-Pacific Partnership in the fast track to approval. (The Hill)

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Wednesday Link-Off: Investigate This

salma-hayek-guyschoice15-01bIf there’s one thing that I’m a fan of, it’s an empowered press corps. Often times, the press are at their best when they try to do actual reporting. When investigative reporting works, it’s one of the great public services. Of course, as an ex-newsman, I might be a little biased there.

Anyway, it’s time for us to do the Wednesday set of links. Let’s kick things off with Salma Hayek.

The boss of Canadian investigative reporters, Kevin Donovan, just took down another big star. This time, it’s the CBC’s Evan Solomon. (Toronto Star)

Investigative reporting isn’t just the realm of newspapers any more. InTouch did some solid investigative reporting to break the Duggar story. (Washington Post)

One of the reasons that Sepp Blatter got re-elected (for four days) as FIFA president was because of the help he supposedly gave poorer soccer nations. While they’re getting money, they aren’t improving because of it. (FiveThirtyEight)

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Wednesday Link-Off: Politics Makes Strange Bedfellows

gillian-jacobs-criticschoice15-01I think I’ve got a good mix of links today. We’ve got some stories about modern society and some about politics and some about FIFA. This has been a pretty interesting week so far and we’re really only two days into it. Granted, in my many years doing this blog, that usually means a dull back half of the week.

Anyway, it’s Wednesday which means that it’s time for the links. Since Community just wrapped up Season Six, here’s Gillian Jacobs.

Here in longform news that is obvious any time people go on the internet: “Badly educated men in rich countries have not adapted well to trade, technology or feminism.” (The Economist)

Hilary Clinton might be the most popular politician in America. She’s so popular that the media machine that hates the Clintons might be broken by popular support to the contrary. (Vox)

Breaking news: Your scoop doesn’t matter any more. (Gawker)

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Wednesday Link-Off: Quick Hits

Tomorrow and Friday is review day this week. We’ll have a couple of Game of Thrones reviews. One will be the TV show review that’s on Fridays of Ice and Fire. Tomorrow, it’s a look at Episode Three of Telltale’s Game of Thrones game. Maybe it should have been Game of Thrones week here on the blog. Mind you, we’d probably get a lot of hits if we did daily GoT content during the season.

Anyway, it’s time for us to do Wednesday’s links. Continuing our photos from Cannes, here’s Irina Shayk.

The Baltimore riots weren’t really about one person dying in police custody. It was the result of an ongoing pattern of police violence that we’ve seen in the news time and time again. (Rolling Stone)

Bad news for America’s political right. Americans are starting to lean back to the left and are more open about identifying as liberals. While President Obama might have started this trend, he won’t be around to reap the benefits. (Washington Post)

Not helping matters for the GOP is that a former Republican Senator has some pretty damning things to say about the party’s legal challenge to Obamacare. (The New Republic)

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Sunday Link-Off: The Political Domain

chrissy-teigen-bbma15-02bToday’s set of links has a lot of links about politics and the economy. Considering how many important things are happening in the world, it amazes me how few people seem to care about the stuff that truly matters. Maybe it’s just the people I spend my time with day-to-day but they’ll gladly talk about sports or reality TV but things like current events? Forget about it. And you wonder why people worry about younger generations.

Alright, it’s Sunday so it’s time for us to do the links. Let’s kick things off with Chrissy Teigen.

Five big banks have been hit with nearly $6 billion in fines for rigging currency markets. It’s kind of a big deal. (The Real News)

The Trans-Pacific Partnership was supposed to be a slam dunk trade deal. Now that the public is catching wind of what it’s really about, there’s push back that is threatening the agreement. (Al Jazeera America)

Al Jazeera America was built to be a newsman’s dream. Think of it as The Newsroom of newsrooms. However, somewhere along the way, the culture has taken a tumble and AJAM is falling apart. (Jezebel)

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Sunday Link-Off: TKO

chrissy-teigen-daytimeemmys15-03So I understand that there was a boxing match on last night. While I like boxing, I never had any intention of watching that fight. I don’t know how some people can separate Floyd Mayweather the person from Floyd Mayweather the boxer and I certainly don’t know how people can overlook Mayweather’s history of violence altogether. So rather than put money in his pocket, I skipped the fight.

Anyway, enough with the pre-amble because it’s Sunday which means that it’s time for us to do the links. Let’s kickoff today’s post with a knockout of a different kind. Here’s Chrissy Teigen.

Robyn Doolittle isn’t the only reporter (once) of the Toronto Star to get her own book about a major Canadian scandal. Her partner on the Rob Ford beat, Kevin Donovan, will get one for the Jian Ghomeshi scandal. (Hello)

In other media matters, things aren’t getting any better for Brian Williams but he isn’t going to give up without a fight. (Page Six)

So the so-called fight of the century that would save boxing was last night. One participant (and the likely winner though I’m writing this several hours before bell time) has a track-record of domestic violence. However, the Nevada legal system has been successfully used to protect Floyd Mayweather and keep evidence under wraps. (Deadspin)

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Wednesday Link-Off: Power and Politics

taylor-swift-glamouruk15-01Politics isn’t an easy arena to be in. Unless you’re exceptionally popular or just happen to luck into it, chances are that more than half of your constituents will disagree with whatever you do or say. I can’t say that I can understand how someone could hate themselves so much to put up with it unless they legitimately think they can help people more than the next man. Of course, if you aren’t in it for public service, I won’t vote for you. I can think of plenty of politicians who I wouldn’t vote for.

Anyway, it’s Wednesday which means that it’s time for us to do the links. Considering the controversial nature of politics, it’s only fitting that the controversial Taylor Swift opens up this post.

Amid the coverage of the Baltimore riots on Fox News, Shep Smith once again proves that he is the station’s only voice of reason. (Salon)

The US Supreme Court is hearing arguments to decide if gay marriage should be legalized in America. Support for it has increased by 50% since 1988. (Washington Post)

Watch out, Hilary! Bernie Sanders is coming for you! (VPR)

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Wednesday Link-Off: Budget Blues

renee-young-wwe15-01You know that you’re gearing up to an election when everyone is talking about the federal budget. I haven’t really gotten into the nitty-gritty of the budget yet but some of what I’ve read about how it’s been put together kind of scares me. That Vice article downright terrifies me.

Anyway, it’s Wednesday which means that it’s time for us to do the links. Since we’re talking a lot about the Canadian budget, let’s kick things off with Renee Young.

Yesterday was federal budget day in Canada. It’s 500+ pages of campaigning for the Conservative government. (MacLean’s)

By the way, the budget is balanced. That’s thanks to taking money from the Government’s reserve funds which leaves the country in vulnerable financial shape should the economy get worse. (Vice)

Speaking of upcoming elections, rather than deal with a minority government, Canadians want a coalition government. Bad news for the Conservatives? (Toronto Star)

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Wednesday Link-Off: Not the Onion

kristen-bell-naturalhealth15-01I know that there are some people and even major news agencies who get tricked by satirical news agencies like The Onion but with some of the news stories that come out are so out there that you can understand how these satirical stories can be mistaken for real. Some of the stories in today’s linkdump fall along those lines but we do have some serious stories in here too.

Anyway, it’s time for us to do the links. Let’s kick off with Kristen Bell.

Remember the Secret Service’s prostitution scandal of 2012? Well, the DEA had them beat. They’ve been having sex parties with prostitutes since 2001. (Associated Press)

Former Ontario deputy minister of education Ben Levin plead guilty to child pornography charges. The problem is that he’s admitted to more than just simple child porn and not been charged. (National Post)

After a 15-month pilot project, Hamilton Police have launched a program that will see mental health workers join police on the frontlines when they receive calls that may involve a mental health issue. (CTV News)

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Wednesday Link-Off: The Media of Failure

olivia-wilde-shape15-01It’s not just the politics of failure that have failed. It’s the news media of failure that has failed as well. Try as everyone might to make it work again, they have a long way to go to get there. If only they could fail at being failures but it seems as though politicians and the news media can only get failure right.

Anyway, it’s Wednesday which means that it’s time for us to do the links. To change things up, let’s kick this off with Olivia Wilde.

There’s always more on the Brian Williams situation but he was just the biggest face of the ongoing self-destruction of NBC News under Comcast’s ownership. (Vanity Fair)

A report on Rolling Stone’s University of Virginia rape story had shown a systematic failure of their reporting and editorial processes. (NPR)

Inside the strange money-making world of Twitter parody accounts. I can’t believe that’s a thing. (Vice)

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