Columbia is a critical place but at least we're not like him.

Columbia is a critical place but at least we’re not like him.

Under a new government-funded program, the city of Amsterdam is giving street cleaning jobs to alcoholics that will be partially paid in beer. Beer is pretty much rebellion, right? (NYT)

Microsoft is following in the footsteps of other major companies like Mozilla, Google, Facebook and Twitter in upping its encryption and security to protect users from government spying. Keep on the fight, corporate America! (NYT)

Yesterday, President Obama made a speech about refocusing on the key issues facing America today: income inequality and social mobility.  The New York Times wrote an op-ed lauding such efforts but concluding with a few critical thoughts.  PrezBama taking on the government! (NYT)

According to Human Rights Watch and HuffPo, defendants in US drug cases are being forced to plead guilty rather than go to trial, so much so that only 3% of such cases went to trial in 2012. Everything is shot to hell, move to Seattle, guys. (Huffington Post)

That salt and pepper via Shutterstock