Why Americans Should Be In A Rage

The Article: We Should Be in a Rage by Charles M. Blow in The New York Times.

The Text: Voter apathy is a civic abdication. There is no other way to describe it.

If more Americans — particularly young people and less-wealthy people — went to the polls, we would have a better functioning government that actually reflected the will of the citizenry.

But, that’s not the way it works. Voting in general skews older and wealthier, and in midterm elections that skew is even more severe.

As David Wasserman wrote on the Cook Report last year:

“Voters under the age of 30 were 19 percent of all voters in 2012, but just 12 percent of all voters in 2010. Likewise, voters 65 and up were 17 percent of all voters in 2012, but 21 percent of all voters in 2010. Herein lies the biggest danger for Democratic candidates in 2014.”

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End Drug Cartels By Legalizing Weed

Uruguay’s president, José Mujica, has a novel idea for cutting the power of drug cartels: make weed legal, and price the cartels out by selling it for incredibly cheap.

Our Totally Rad American Justice System

LOL—punishment is for non-monied newbs.

A Deadly Decade for Environmentalists

The Article: A Deadly Decade for Environmentalists by Joshua Keating in Slate.

The Text: According to a report released today by the London-based NGO Global Witness, at least 908 environmental activists have been killed over the last decade. That number is comparable to the 913 journalists killed in the course of their work in the same period and is likely on the low side—reporting is inconsistent in many countries, and full data for 2013 hasn’t yet been collected. 2012 was deadliest year ever for environmentalists, with 147 killed.

According to the report, more than two-thirds of these killings took “took place in the context of conflicts over the ownership, control and use of land,” reflecting the dark side of rapid development in many emerging economies.

The most dangerous country in the world for environmentalists is Brazil, with 448 killings over the last 10 years. According to the report, “this can be attributed to Brazil’s land ownership patterns, which are among the most concentrated and unequal in the world.” The country’s rapid economic growth has frequently brought powerful business interests into conflict with small and medium-sized farms as well as indigenous groups, often with deadly consequences.

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Why CEOs Make So Much Money

The Atlantic dives into why and how CEOs make so much effing money in the United States. And guess what: it’s complicated.