January 2012
10 posts
Think the primary race is absolute shit? Using... →
People that are interested in Approval Voting should definitely check this out, too: http://www.electology.org/approval-voting
And if you’re really interested in voting systems, then you should probably “like” this group with the hundreds of other people that already have: https://www.facebook.com/electology
INCOME INEQUALITY IS BAD FOR SOCIETY. REALLY BAD. →
jonathan-cunningham:
chasingsunsetsandjustice:
“Societies with more income inequality have higher infant death rates than other societies:
Societies with more income inequality have higher rates of mental illness than other societies:
Societies with more income inequality have a higher incidence of drug use than other societies:
Societies with more income inequality have a higher high...
10 reasons the U.S. is no longer the land of the... →
nickturse:
An important round-up by Jonathan Turley in today’s WaPo. He writes:
Americans often proclaim our nation as a symbol of freedom to the world while dismissing nations such as Cuba and China as categorically unfree. Yet, objectively, we may be only half right. Those countries do lack basic individual rights such as due process, placing them outside any reasonable definition of...
Police Tie Mentally Ill Man in Chair and Pepper... →
There may be something wrong with the way police use force, maybe.
The deputies then put Christie into a restraining chair, a controversial device that binds inmates at both wrists, both ankles, and across the chest. In depositions, the other inmates, along with a deputy trainee named Monshay Gibbs, testified that Christie was sprayed at least two more times after he had been strapped to the...
“We have said as a policy matter that this administration will not put U.S....”
– Anonymous White House official, during an interview with TPM, regarding liberal, progressive, and libertarian criticism of President Obama’s decision to sign the National Defense Authorization Act. (via manicchill)
Fake legal opinions from an “anonymous source” don’t exactly inspire confidence when...
President Obama Signs Indefinite Detention of... →
Obama again out-Bushes his predecessor, George Bush. Obama has signed a law making it legal to have the military indefinitely detain Americans in the US without trial.
Under the Bush administration, similar claims of worldwide detention authority were used to hold even a U.S. citizen detained on U.S. soil in military custody, and many in Congress now assert that the NDAA should be used in the...
December 2011
22 posts
WatchStudy Published in Science Shows How Future Learning Could Be Instant
This has all kinds of potential, obviously. I can’t imagine the consequences of using this immorally.
New research published today in the journal Science suggests it may be possible to use brain technology to learn to play a piano, reduce mental stress or hit a curve ball with little or no conscious effort. It’s...
Obama Breaks Promise to Veto the NDAA →
jonathan-cunningham:
There was a brief moment when civil libertarians were stunned to see President Barack Obama actually take a stand in favor of civil liberties after years to rolling back on basic rights of citizens and moving beyond the Bush Administration in building up the security state. Obama said that he would veto the defense bill that contained a horrific provision for the indefinite...
35 Facts That Demonstrate Higher Education is a... →
#1 After adjusting for inflation, U.S. college students are borrowing about twice as much money as they did a decade ago.
#2 According to the College Board, college tuition is absolutely soaring. The following comes from a recent CBS News article….
Average tuition and fees at public colleges rose 8.3 percent this year and, with room and board, now exceed $17,000 a year, according to the...
Newsweek: "We Cannot Hide Important News" →
newsweek:
Did you see the image that ran on the front-page of the Los Angeles Times (and other newspapers) depicting the immediate aftermath of a suicide bombing in Afghanistan? It’s terrible. Readers are understandably upset, and many are criticizing the Times for subjecting them to such visual…
What’s clear is that you won’t see these news outlets print a picture of Afghan...
Blackwater Has Third Identity Crisis in Two Years.
vanityfair:
Security contractor Blackwater has not actually been named Blackwater for some time: in 2009, the company changed its name to Xe (pronounced “Oh, you mean Blackwater?”) in an effort to rehabilitate its atrocious public image. However, The Wall Street Journal reports, starting now Xe would preferred to be called “Academi.” Xe—sorry, Academi—would also like to attend an existentialism...
Except One: May the Fifth Be With You →
except-one:
This morning, we received a funny thing through the post. I say “we”, because said thing was addressed to my mother and I - strangely, my dad was not included on the mailing address. Now, before I become sidetracked with a conspiracy theory about why this may be, let me tell you what this…
While you’re looking at different voting systems, you may as well look at...
Why Community Is Important For Long-Term Success
fitocracy:
Today we’re featuring the very awesome JC Deen of JCDFitness.com with a special article on why community is critical to helping you reach your fitness goals and make real sustainable changes in your life.
JC Deen - Online Fitness Coach
When I was first introduced to Fitocracy, I had no idea what was in store for me. For all I knew, it was another one of the many fitness startups...
LAPD uses excessive force, NPR ignores and... →
jonathan-cunningham:
I unlinked my arms voluntarily and informed the LAPD officers that I would go peacefully and cooperatively. I stood as instructed, and then I had my arms wrenched behind my back, and an officer hyperextended my wrists into my inner arms. It was super violent, it hurt really really bad, and he was doing it on purpose. When I involuntarily recoiled from the pain, the LAPD...
happyemergency asked: I'm not sure of a better way to post a response to your comment, so here it is! Approval Voting is a very poor choice, in my opinion, because it doesn't allow for a complete expression of voter preference, and can be highly Tactical. I also wouldn't consider it to meet the Condorcet Winner criteria. Philosophically it fails because it doesn't capture voter intent, where as...
Happy Emergency: The Bum Factory →
happyemergency:
We have highly dysfunctional public policy in this country. Despite the incredible work being done to make government more transparent, responsive and honest, our political dysfunction has been getting worse and will continue. Why? Because politicians and political organizations are…
The simplest bang-for-your buck system is easily Approval Voting. Vote for as many as...
Lattyware's Blog: The Alternative Vote →
lattyware:
I will be voting in favour of the Alternative Vote system in the upcoming referendum. I wish to use this to explain why I’ll be doing so.
AV means that you rank the candidates in order of preference. This means that when you vote, you will be voting in a way that represents your views better. We…
I realize you posted this after the election, but perhaps you’d still like...
Swiss Government Declares Downloading for Personal... →
cultureofresistance:
notionaquarium:
Thanks, Swiss. It’s good to have political and legal diversity, even though the US wants to control the world and have everyone be just like them.
The government of Switzerland has issued a statement declaring that it will not take action to alter current copyright laws allowing the downloading of music and movies for personal use. The statement is the...
US Senate Passes Bill (93-7) to Allow Military to... →
The Senate just passed a crazy-ass bill that allows the military to detain you indefinitely without trial. Who in the Senate voted for it? Everybody except these people:
Coburn (R-OK) Harkin (D-IA) Lee (R-UT)
Merkley (D-OR) Paul (R-KY) Sanders (I-VT)
Wyden (D-OR)
Some of the 93 names that may surprise people of who thought that indefinite detention without trial was an okay idea:
Al Frankin
...
Politics as [Un]Usual: Pendulum Politics →
politics-as-unusual:
“Finding the Cure for Pendulum Politics”
One of the reasons why I am fed up with American Politics is our two party system. In every election, every candidate acts like they know the needs and wants of every single person in America. Then, when those same candidates become elected officials,…
Careful with IRV. It’s a falsehood that it allows you to always vote...
November 2011
9 posts
submission from coltivator: Voting Record for...
occupywallstreet:
Check the list to see which senators voted against the amendment to PREVENT indefinite detention and who voted for it.
http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=112&session=1&vote=00211
Senate vetoes amendment (67 to 30) to remove provision allowing use of military to enforce indefinite detentions without trial. (Nays are...
Stop Bullshit in Its Tracks →
Anatomy of an effective debunking
Bringing all the different threads together, an effective debunking requires:
• Core facts—a refutation should emphasise the facts, not the myth. Present only key facts to avoid an Overkill Backfire Effect;
• Explicit warnings—before any mention of a myth, text or visual cues should warn that the upcoming information is false;
• Alternative explanation—any...
How Can The American People Ever Trust Congress... →
fucknobigbrother:
Will the shocking insider trading revelations that have come to light in recent days finally be enough to motivate the American people to start throwing all of the con men and charlatans out of Congress? On Sunday, 60 Minutes opened up a huge can of worms when it did a feature story on insider trading by members of Congress. Up until now, the vast majority of Americans had no...
Video Evidence of FBI Provocateur Inciting... →
October 2011
12 posts
Your thoughts on this?
evanna11:
So, I was studying for social studies, and was reading a part about proportional vs regional representation. I quite like the proportional voting system we have here in the Netherlands, and I was wondering how people in other countries feel about their voting system. So…
-Where are you from? -Do you have a proportional or regional system, or a variation there? -What do you...
3 tags
Skeptoid host Brian Dunning took a look at the...
Police do their job in Albany, NY →
jonathan-cunningham:
In a tense battle of wills, state troopers and Albany police held off making arrests of dozens of protesters near the Capitol over the weekend even as Albany’s mayor, under pressure from Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s administration, had urged his police chief to enforce a city curfew...
“We were ready to make arrests if needed, but these people complied with our orders,” a State...
Greenwald on the killing of Awlaki's son →
jonathan-cunningham:
Two weeks after the U.S. killed American citizen Anwar Awlaki with a drone strike in Yemen — far from any battlefield and with no due process — it did the same to his 16-year-old son, Abdulrahman al-Awlaki, ending the teenager’s life on Friday along with his 17-year-old cousin and seven other people. News reports, based on government sources, originally claimed that...
RE: AGAIN - Voting is the single most powerful...
jonathan-cunningham:
abaldwin360:
eaudaria:
Ugh, no. I’m sick of the local Democrats piling this bullshit on me and people like me; They only do it because they know we’d vote Democrat because there is no better option. Frankly, I’m sick of not having a better option, which is why I do grassroots organizing and participate in the direct democracy that’s happening now. Being given 2 party...
A former NYPD narcotics detective snared in a... →
The judge pressed Anderson on whether he ever gave a thought to the damage he was inflicting on the innocent. “It was something I was seeing a lot of, whether it was from supervisors or undercovers and even investigators,” he said.
