One of the most beautiful photos ever taken, a couple kissing in the 1971 May Day Protests.
(via sexographies)
Je suis fasciné par l’extrême tension électrique, palpable, tremblée, qui peut se créer entre un homme et une femme qui ne se connaissent pas, sans raisons particulières, comme ça, simplement parce qu’ils se plaisent et luttent pour ne pas le montrer.
—Fréderic Beigbeder (via jesuisclaire)
(Source: ellednorih, via jesuisclaire)
5 am in Paris
Jardin des Plantes, Paris
The walk home from work
“We need to acknowledge that our system is giving extremists far more influence than the voters would,” Dionne argues. “That’s why American democracy is deadlocked.”
Here is the problem: A substantial portion of the Republican Party’s core electorate is now influenced both by hatred of Obama and by the views of the ultra-right. Strange conspiracy theories are admitted to the mainstream conversation through the GOP’s back door — and amplified by another fight for market share among talk radio hosts and Fox News commentators.
That’s because the Republican Party is no longer a broad and diverse alliance but a creature of the right. According to a March Washington Post/ABC News poll, 65 percent of Republicans called themselves conservative, just 27 percent were moderates and 7 percent were liberals. Democrats, by contrast, are far more middle of the road: 43 percent called themselves liberal, 38 percent moderate and 16 percent conservative. Among independents, moderates predominated at 46 percent.
[…]
Our Constitution combines with the way we draw congressional districts to overrepresent conservatives in both houses. The 100-member Senate is based on two senators per state regardless of size. This gives rural states far more power than population-based representation would. The filibuster makes matters worse. It’s theoretically possible for 41 senators representing less than 11 percent of the population to block pretty much anything.
In the House, those gerrymanders helped Republicans keep control even though more Americans voted for Democrats in the 2012 congressional races.
This representational skew affects coverage in the media. Most Americans may care more about jobs than deficits. But if a right-tilted power structure is talking about deficits all the time, members of the media feel obligated to cover the argument they hear in Washington, even if that means downplaying views held by a majority of the voters — and even if the economic data say we should be talking about growth, not austerity.
It is infuriating that such a tiny minority of radical extremists are able to wield such incredible control over the entire governing of my country. This system is broken, and it is failing to represent the will of the majority.
Ancient Astronauts - Break My Heart in 2
Max Frost - White Lies
It’s pretty motivating when your run ends here
