One year ago today
This American Life’s report on kids and disability claims riddled with factual errors: Many of the claims in the report are debatable, and many, many more and simply not true. A Media Matters report called This American Life Features Error-Riddled Story On Disability And Children systematically debunks many of the claims in the story, which NPR has modified slightly since posting online (though NPR and Ira Glass continue to stand behind the story).
Five years ago today
Congressman who’s giving payday loan companies legal 391% APR loans says he’s powerless to resist their lobbying: Key committee members have received large campaign contributions from the “payday” industry, and the committee chairman, Luiz Gutierrez (who also received contributions from the payday people) says the reason he’s offering the industry this sweetheart deal after being on record as opposing this sort of thing is that their powerful lobbying has left him powerless to resist them: “…[T]hey’re very powerful. Their influence should not be underestimated.”
Ten years ago today
French-translation wash-care label apologises for Bush: Care instructions (in English and French) from a Seattle-made laptop bag. The last lines of the French instructions read ‘We are sorry that our President is an idiot. We didn’t vote for him.’