knockout game, media, and race

Racial political controversy is heating up again as the conservative press recently began keying off on the "knockout game," a pastime presumably perpetrated by black youths against unsuspecting whites encountered in public space. Two recent articles put this phenomenon into context. These NPR and NY Times pieces address it in terms of larger issues of violent assault and youth crime. The latter article also suggests it may well be simply "urban myth."

lobster boy: new Republican poster child

As discussed in this NPR story, Congressional Republicans have seized upon this FOX News video in their attempts to generate support for cutting back the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). See the entire collection of FOX News' "Great Food Stamp Binge" at http://youtu.be/rXoTX1sP-jo.