derrick gordon, the first openly gay division 1 college basketball player (boy)

espn

Many congratulations to you Derrick Gordon @flash2gordon - you have so many in your corner and we're all proud and rooting for you #courage

— Michael Sam (@MikeSamFootball) April 9, 2014

romney economics

via

class-achusetts

Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.) and Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat who is challenging him for his seat, signed an agreement Monday that discourages outside spending in their hard-fought Senate race, which has been inundated with millions of dollars in advertising by super PACs and other independent groups.

The pact marks a groundbreaking attempt by the candidates to gain control over outside spending, which has proliferated this year in the wake of court rulings that made it easier for corporations, unions and wealthy individuals to raise and spend unlimited amounts of money on political campaigns.

It’s unclear how effective the agreement will be, however, because candidates are prohibited from coordinating with independent groups.

Under the deal, Brown and Warren pledged to pay a penalty of 50 percent of the cost of any TV or Internet advertising by an outside group, regardless of whether the ad is aimed at supporting themselves or attacking the other candidate. The money would be given to a charity of the opposing candidate’s choice. (via)

got him.

newt gingrich must be a carpenter. thx midge.

read this.

if you're in the 99%, you should be following massachusetts senatorial candidate, elizabeth warren. you might know her from this quote that went viral all over the internet a couple months back. she's a fascinating and brilliant lady, and the more you know about her, the better. nymag profiles her in their latest issue:

“Our job is to let Elizabeth be Elizabeth,” says Doug Rubin, “and to build a campaign around her.” A former top adviser to Massachusetts governor Deval Patrick, Rubin is now Warren’s chief political strategist. When I met him recently at his Boston office, copies of The Tipping Point, Moneyball, and The Art of War were stacked on his desk, while Scott Brown’s memoir Against All Odds sat on the bookshelf. Rubin has worked in state politics for two decades, but the first time he ever spoke to Warren was this past summer, when she called him on a Sunday afternoon to pick his brain about a potential Senate race. “Normally when I talk to people who are thinking about running for office, it’s all logistics: How much money am I going to have to raise? How much time will I have to be out on the trail?” he says. “But she spent the first half-hour talking about why she wanted to do it, the issues she cared about. I was very impressed by that.” (via)

bonus links:
her simple breakdown of the 2008 economic collapse on the daily show
an hour-long lecture on the 30-year erosion of the middle class from earlier this year

HFS

look at this fucking tornado. it happened the other day to springfield, massachusetts aka the birthplace of basketball. it's also the birthplace of lillywhitefish. ;(

what did you do for thanksgiving?

so, it's officially christmas season, but i have just been swamped, and haven't had a chance to tell you guys what my thanksgiving was like. and trust me. you want to know. now where do i start...

lilly invited me up to the ol' slezak farm in massachusetts to spend thanksgiving with her lovely family.

they have a ginormous barn!

there's a (defunct) chicken coop!

and firewood4dayz.

thanksgiving day was one impressive affair. i woke up to find a bonfire already burnin' outside. 

lilly's mom (judy!) prepared a 16-pound turkey on the same model of weber grill that i can barely make hot dogs with on my roof. and it was aMaZiNg!!

the spread, featuring the standout procuitto-wrapped sweet potata spearz. mmmmm. mm-mm-mmmm!

after the meal, lilly's dad (larry!) gave us a tour of his beautiful print studio / gallery, out in the barn.

now, i know what you're thinking, and you're right. there WERE puppies and kitties. everywhere, as a matter of fact! introducing....

louise! she sits like this. 

and let me throw the frisbee to her for hours (until she got tired, oc.)

anna's roommate, kitchen! she only has 3 legs!

gretta's kitty, tulip! one million toes!

and last and my FAVORITE: YUKI!!!!!!!

look at her!

gosh, i miss her. well, now you know everything. hope you all had half as good a thanksgiving as i did. now, on to christmas!

what are louise + yuki doing?

celebrating twosie tuesday.

and being totes BFFs 4e.

thx lilly!!!

get a load of this masshole.

PEABODY, Mass. (AP) - A Massachusetts teacher cleaning up her classroom in preparation for a move has discovered a Colonial-era document buried in a pile of outdated textbooks and dusty scraps of papers.

Michelle Eugenio, a fourth-grade teacher in Peabody, found the yellowed sheet of paper two weeks ago. Dated April 1792 and protected by plastic, it appears to document the payment of a debt by a Vermont man named Jonathan Bates.

Peabody Historical Society President Bill Power verified the paper's authenticity. He tells The Salem News he was thrilled with the discovery.

No one knows how the paper ended up at Peabody's Center School or how long it has been there.

Bates served in the Continental Army in 1780 and died in 1808 at age 63. He's buried in Williamstown, Vt. (via)

ahem, djv and lilly.

the casting call for the massachusetts jersey shore is out:

"You come from all over - Gloucester, Worcester, South End, Charlestown, Chicopee and South Swansea. You share a love for muscle cahs, hair products and little necks on the frickin half shell. You don't take sh*t from nobody - least of all each othah. You are the hottest girls and proudly buff guys from Massa -freakin-chusettes who believe in God, Family, The Red Sox and partying!!" (via)

see y'all on mah TV!!

glenn beck's low opinion of scott brown

"I want a chastity belt on this man. I want his every move watched in Washington. I don't trust this guy. This one could end with a dead intern. I'm just saying. It could end with a dead intern."

apparently glenn didnt like senator brown's comment about his beautiful daughters being "available"

i wish that hadn't have happened.

massachusetts blew it big time yesterday, giving the democrats' 60th senate seat to white male pickup-truck-driving republican instead of a nice freedom-loving lady democrat. son of a.