Midday open thread: Kirby Delauter smacked down, more jails than colleges in United States

Meteor Blades for Daily Kos

Daily Kos Staff

Wednesday January 07, 2015 · 12:00 PM PST

2015/01/07 · 12:00

Today's comic by Matt Bors is Lucky strike:
U.S. has more jails than colleges. Map shows location of incarcerated population:
There were 2.3 million prisoners in the U.S. as of the 2010 Census. It's often been remarked that our national incarceration rate of 707 adults per every 100,000 residents is the highest in the world, by a huge margin. […]
The map shows the raw number of prisoners in each U.S. county as of the 2010 Census. Much of the discussion of regional prison population only centers around inmates in our 1,800 state and federal correctional facilities. But at any given time, hundreds of thousands more individuals are locked up in the nation's 3,200 local and county jails.

To put these figures in context, we have slightly more jails and prisons in the U.S.—5,000 plus—than we do degree-granting colleges and universities.
Archived audiotape from 1962 show JFK and California Gov. Pat Brown dishing Nixon:
Anyway, I was shocked to find both Brown and JFK eager to label Nixon as a nut job, even "psychotic." And then, as a bonus, dad puts young son Jerry on the phone for his first chat with JFK. Here we are, 53 years later, and Jerry is still governor of the state.
Cops find stolen O.J. Simpson Heisman trophy after 20 years.
These Daily Kos community posts were the most shared on Facebook Jan. 6:

97% of fracking now operating at a loss at current oil prices, by gjohnsit
President Obama Will Veto Keystone XL Pipeline Bill, by ericlewis0

Bernie Sanders To Obama Admin: Let Me See The Damn TPP Draft, by Tasini
Miami archbishop says employees who publicly support marriage equality could be fired:
On Tuesday, the Archbishop of Miami, Thomas Wenski, sent a letter to his employees lamenting the arrival of marriage equality to the state and warning staff members that they could lose their jobs if they post anything to social media to express support for same-sex marriage.
“Whatever the role in which you serve within the Archdiocese, you publicly represent the Catholic Church and the Archdiocese in everything you do and say,” the letter read, according to NBC 6. “Therefore, it is important that you understand the Church’s position and are well informed.”
Need a bit of praise? Try the Joe Biden random compliment generator.
Frederick News-Post editorial talks up Kirby Delauter:
Knowing Councilman Kirby Delauter as we do, we weren't surprised that he threatened The Frederick News-Post with a lawsuit because we had, he says — and we're not making this up — been putting Kirby Delauter's name in the paper without Kirby Delauter’s authorization. Attorneys would be called, Kirby Delauter said.
In fact, we spent quite some time laughing about it. Kirby Delauter, an elected official; Kirby Delauter, a public figure? Surely, Kirby Delauter can't be serious? Kirby Delauter’s making a joke, right?

Round about then, we wondered, if it’s not a joke, how should we now refer to Kirby Delauter if we can't use his name (Kirby Delauter)? Could we get away with an entire editorial of nothing but “Kirby Delauter” repeated over and over again -- Kirby Delauter, Kirby Delauter, Kirby Delauter? OK, imagine we agreed because of temporary madness or something funny in the water that week, how would we reference "Kirby Delauter" and do our job as journalists without running afoul of our lack of authorization?
More Earth-like planets found:
Astronomers announced today that they have found eight new planets in the 'Goldilocks' zone of their stars, orbiting at a distance where liquid water can exist on the planet's surface. This doubles the number of small planets (less than twice the diameter of Earth) believed to be in the habitable zone of their parent stars. Among these eight, the team identified two that are the most similar to Earth of any known exoplanets to date.
In promoting her new movie, Selma, Oprah Winfrey has attempted to look at the parallel between the civil rights struggle of the 1960s compared to the struggle going on today. Team Blackness found her seeming to be way out of touch in saying that she feels this new movement has no real leaders and no actual demands. To see how just how wrong Oprah is, we sat down with St. Louis native Ashley Yates, better known as @brownblaze—who has been in Ferguson from the beginning—to discuss the new movement, what activists have learned since August and why self-care is so important for the overall movement. Subscribe on iTunes | Subscribe On Stitcher | Direct Download | RSS
On today's Kagro in the Morning show: Paris attack. Greg Dworkin notes sleds, not guns, banned. Boehner prevails. Delauter's 15 min. How rules rule Congress. Christie still toast. Armando gets his daily licks in. Lindsey Graham still weird. What ID mom's purse & gun tell us.

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