WEEKEND READING (Feb. 27, 2016)

John Steinbeck was born on this day (Feb. 27) in 1902.

Notable quotes from John Steinbeck (John Steinbeck Quotes).

Latinos have passed whites as the largest ethnic group in California (LA Times).

When it comes to politics you're not as rational as you think (University of California)

In state with medical marijuana, painkiller deaths drop by 25 percent (Newsweek).


AMERICA: A NATION OF IDIOTS?
Donald Trump's political triumph makes it official - we're a nation of idiots (Salon).

It's official: 'Idiocracy' writer says his satire about a dumber America has become reality (Raw Story).

Age of Ignorance (The New York Review).


AMERICA: A NATION OF HATE TOO?
Southern Poverty Law Center: GOP is a megaphone for right-wing hate (Daily Beast).

The year of 'enormous rage': Number of hate groups rose by 14 percent in 2015 (Washington Post).

KKK chapters more than doubled in 2015 - and the GOP candidates shoulder part of the blame, report finds (Salon).

White Americans are the biggest terror threat in the United States (Mint Press News).

Hate Map ... There are currently 892 Hate Groups in America (Southern Poverty Law Center).

This map shows where America's hate groups live and operate (Business Insider).


THE PAMPERED LIFE
Being the ex-president's daughter pays off: Hugo Chavez' ambassador daughter is Venezuela's richest woman (Daily Mail).

Jeb Bush is out of the presidential race; will return to life of privilege and minimum effort (The Intellectualist).


SCIENCE
This new 3D printer makes live-sized ear, muscle, and bone tissue from living cells (Science Alert).

Cuba's had a lung cancer vaccine for years, and now it's coming to the U.S. (Huffington Post).

This tiny glass disc can store 360TB of data for 13.8 billion years (Science Alert).


THE 2016 PRESIDENTIAL RACE
What we learned from the Donald Trump-Marco Rubio screamfest (The New Yorker).

"He was so scared, like a frightened puppy": The 10 most bizarre moments from Trump's Fort Worth rally (Salon).

29 WTF moments from the 10th GOP debate (Rolling Stone).

Bernie Sanders doesn't need momentum - he needs to win these states (FiveThirtyEight).

Bernie Sanders has led Hillary Clinton in this major national poll nearly all month (Salon).

SO, WE NEED MORE GUNS?
Gun deaths by state political leanings (Crowdpac).

He uses his gun to threaten and torture me. He's my boyfriend (Cosmopolitan).


WHAT CONSERVATIVES HAVE GOTTEN WRONG
Looking Back ... Scalia wasn't all that (The New Yorker).

Welfare drug tests: Conservatives are lining their pockets with poor people pee (Freakout Nation).

Because it needs to be said again ... A comprehensive investigation of voter impersonation finds 31 credible incidents out of one billion ballots cast (Washington Post).


THE FBI vs. APPLE
Why you should care about Apple's fight with the FBI (Gizmodo).

Apple's fight against the FBI is not just about encryption: Here's why you should care (Tech Times).


MISCELLANEOUS
Thomas Piketty on the rise of Bernie Sanders: The U.S. enters a new political era (The Guardian).

Thomas Friedman's America: The NY Times columnist is puzzled by populist anger (Salon).

Smartphone ownership and internet usage continues to climb in emerging economies (Pew Research Center).

'Hotspotting' pinpoints low-income areas that need health care the most (Al Jazeera).

Oregon militant accuses feds of committing 'works of the devil' in $666 billion lawsuit (Raw Story).

- Mark