UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCE? Hate-Speech Laws are ‘Fostering Hatred’
Author Archive: Stephen Green
August 15, 2016
THERE’S NO REPLACEMENT FOR DISPLACEMENT: Infiniti’s variable compression engine is a huge technological leap.
HEALTH WATCH: Hillary Clinton’s ‘Erratic’ Behavior Raises Eyebrows.
There are many things much more worrisome about Hillary Clinton than her health.
21ST CENTURY HEADLINE: How states use facial recognition to sniff out driver’s license fraud.
Deep learning makes it easy and cheap to scan millions of photos for duplicates and fraud, and since it doesn’t involve any extra data collection or access — you just need to find matching entries, not link them to an identity — privacy groups see it as one of the more benign forms of facial scanning. Forty-three of the 50 states have used some form of that technology, with seven of those states adopting the system for driver’s licenses in the last three years. (The holdouts are California, Missouri, Louisiana, Mississippi, Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont.) But while the scans are still limited, some worry those systems could be the first step toward something more troubling.
One of the driving forces behind the new DMV systems has been a new wave of federal requirements — and newly available federal money to meet those new standards. The RealID Act was passed in 2005 in response to the 9/11 Commission’s identification requirements — including the requirement that driver’s licenses be stored in digital form. States are still in charge of their own licenses, but if licenses don’t meet the new federal requirements, they’ll stop being valid for use in airports as early as 2018.
What about for voting?
CHANGE: Congress is getting richer.
The median net worth of lawmakers was just over $1 million in 2013, or 18 times the wealth of the typical American household, according to new research released Monday by the Center for Responsive Politics.
And while Americans’ median wealth is down 43% since 2007, Congress members’ net worth has jumped 28%.
I’ve long thought that elected federal officials should be required to place their assets in a blind trust.
MORE LIKE THIS, PLEASE: Whole Foods CEO Drops the Mic on Why Socialism Will Never Work.
John Mackey, chief executive officer of Whole Foods Market, recently debated John Roemer, a Marxist economics professor at Yale, on the question of “Capitalism vs. Socialism: Free to Choose or Free to Lose?”
Roemer, a supporter of former Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, wrote a book called “Free to Lose,” challenging the theme of free-market economist Milton Friedman’s classic, “Free to Choose.” Roemer blames the 2008 financial crisis and growing inequality of wealth on “greedy” capitalists.
Yet during the debate, hosted at FreedomFest in Las Vegas, Mackey pointed out that countries with high economic freedom such as Hong Kong, Singapore and Chile have improved prosperity, while socialist countries such as Greece, Venezuela and North Korea are poor and getting poorer all the time. He also looked at Sweden as a case study, which he reported has lowered its corporate tax rate and reduced its top marginal tax rates and achieved improved economic growth. More broadly, Mackey contended people are better off financially as they enjoy freer markets.
If you think Whole Foods is expensive, wait’ll you try government ownership of the means of production.
GERMAN INTELLIGENCE: We Have Evidence ISIS Hides ‘Hit Squads’ Among Syrian Refugees.
According to Politico, Manfred Hauser — the vice president of BayLfV, the Bavarian region’s intelligence gathering apparatus — told the BBC Thursday that officials must “accept we have hit squads and sleeper cells in Germany.”
“We have substantial reports that among the refugees there are hit squads,” he added. “There are hundreds of these reports, some from refugees themselves.”
Hauser stated that BayLfV is currently following up on the reports of ISIS operatives inside German borders, but maintained the investigation is far from complete.
Why must Germans “accept” this?
ANALYSIS: TRUE. PAC Operative Confesses, “We Killed the Tea Party”
What began as an organic, policy-driven grass-roots movement was drained of its vitality and resources by national political action committees that dunned the movement’s true believers endlessly for money to support its candidates and causes. The PACs used that money first to enrich themselves and their vendors and then deployed most of the rest to search for more “prospects.” In Tea Party world, that meant mostly older, technologically unsavvy people willing to divulge personal information through “petitions”—which only made them prey to further attempts to lighten their wallets for what they believed was a good cause. While the solicitations continue, the audience has greatly diminished because of a lack of policy results and changing political winds.
A lot of well-intentioned people have been duped out of millions of dollars, with nothing to show for it but increasing electoral outrage.
DON’T DO STUPID SH*T: U.S. allies unite to block Obama’s nuclear ‘legacy’
The governments of Japan, South Korea, France and Britain have all privately communicated their concerns about a potential declaration by President Obama of a “no first use” nuclear-weapons policy for the United States. U.S. allies have various reasons for objecting to what would be a landmark change in America’s nuclear posture, but they are all against it, according to U.S. officials, foreign diplomats and nuclear experts.
Japan, in particular, believes that if Obama declares a “no first use” policy, deterrence against countries such as North Korea will suffer and the risks of conflict will rise. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe personally conveyed that message recently to Adm. Harry Harris Jr., the head of U.S. Pacific Command, according to two government officials.
U.S. allies in Europe have a separate, additional concern. They don’t want any daylight between their nuclear policies and those of the United States, especially since Britain, France and the United States all are permanent members of the U.N. Security Council. In the case of an emergency, those differences could cause real coordination problems.
Nuclear deterrence against rogue states and bad actors just isn’t as important as giving progressive voters a temporary case of happy feelz.
ANOTHER RUBE SELF-IDENTITIES: Once Skeptical of Executive Power, Obama Has Come to Embrace It.
In nearly eight years in office, President Obama has sought to reshape the nation with a sweeping assertion of executive authority and a canon of regulations that have inserted the United States government more deeply into American life.
Once a presidential candidate with deep misgivings about executive power, Mr. Obama will leave the White House as one of the most prolific authors of major regulations in presidential history.
That was always the intention.
HOOSIER DADDY? Records contradict Bayh’s assertion over staying in Indiana.
A CNN review of public records since Bayh left office in 2011 shows the Democrat repeatedly listed his two multi-million dollar homes in Washington as his main places of residence — not the $53,000 condo he owns in Indianapolis.
Just three weeks after leaving office in 2011, Bayh changed his address to his $2.3 million home in a leafy neighborhood in Washington, according to Indiana records. And often when Bayh registered his address — whether it was on an Alaska fishing license, a donation to Hillary Clinton or on the deed to his beachfront property in Southern Florida — he listed Washington as his home.
Even when Bayh returned back to Indianapolis last summer for an Indiana Democratic Party dinner, he stayed at a JW Marriott just 12 miles away from his condo. A source with Indianapolis Power and Light said Bayh’s monthly electric bills averaged less than $20 per month since 2012, suggesting little — if any — use at his Indiana condo.
HOPE: What Conservatives Did to Pull Off Religious Liberty Win in California.
Facing a maelstrom of grassroots controversy, state Sen. Ricardo Lara, a Democrat, said Wednesday that he would remove the portions of his bill, SB 1146, that would have harmed the right of religious colleges to operate according to their principles.
Under the previous wording, SB 1146 would have ultimately blocked low-income students from receiving Cal Grants, California’s system of need-based education aid, if they attended colleges with policies such as bathroom use based on biological sex that violated the state’s LGBT policies. It also would have enabled students who feel discriminated against in light of these policies to bring a lawsuit against their college.
“Without a doubt, the unmodified version [of the bill] would have jeopardized Christian institutions and egregiously penalized all students of faith, especially Latino and African-American individuals,” Samuel Rodriguez, president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, said in a statement.
If a win like this is possible in California, then it’s possible in any state.
PUTIN’S WEB: Manafort blasts NYT, denies he accepted Ukraine cash payments.
It’s unclear if Manafort actually received payments, but prosecutors told the Times that Manafort “must have realized the implications of his financial dealings.”
But Manafort strongly denied that he ever received off-the-books payments or has done work with the governments of Ukraine or Russia.
“My work in Ukraine ceased following the country’s parliamentary elections in October 2014,” Manafort says. “In addition, as the article points out hesitantly, every government official interviewed states I have done nothing wrong.”
The Times story was retweeted by Corey Lewandowski, the former Trump campaign manager and Manafort rival who was fired in June.
Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman, Robby Mook, called the alleged connections between Manafort and members of pro-Russian factions troubling.
Oh really?
BORROW, SPEND, STAGNATE, REPEAT. Japan’s economy stalls in April-June, casts doubts on Abe’s policies.
“Overall it looks like the economy is stagnating. Consumer spending is weak, and the reason is low wage gains. There is a lot of uncertainty about overseas economies, and this is holding back capital expenditure,” said Norio Miyagawa, senior economist at Mizuho Securities.
“The government has already announced a big stimulus package, so the next question is how the Bank of Japan will respond after its comprehensive policy review, which is sure to lead to a delay in its price target.”
This time stimulus will work, honest.
CORN, POPPED: Democrats Brace for More Leaks From Hackers.
Some computer experts and Democrats in Congress believe both websites—the Guccifer 2.0 WordPress page and DCLeaks.com—have ties to Russian intelligence services and that the sites are using hacked information to try to influence the November elections.
The precise motives of the entities controlling these webpages cannot be learned because their identities are unclear.
U.S. officials are now debating whether to publicly accuse the Russian government of conducting the attacks, two people familiar with the deliberations said, though no final decision about how to proceed has been made.
“I certainly believe that this is a coordinated Russian effort against the U.S. political process,” said Rep. Jim Himes (D., Conn.), a member of the House Intelligence Committee, in an interview Sunday. “It’s an act of hostility by a foreign power.”
The 1980s called and they want their foreign policy back.
EMAILS REVEAL: The Clintons’ Crumbling Foundations.
The implication in these email communications is that those with close connections to the Clinton Foundation had easy access to the Secretary of State’s office, and received quick and unusual assistance in their queries—some of which appear to be employment-related. If proven, that would be a clear violation of an ethics agreement signed by Clinton Foundation chairman (then CEO) Bruce Linsey and senior advisor to President Barack Obama, Valerie Jarrett, in 2009 as a precondition for Clinton’s appointment to serve as Secretary of State.
You would think the Obama Administration would have an interest in enforcing an ethics agreement made with its own Secretary of State. Unless of course the agreement was merely for show.
August 12, 2016
SMALL BEER: Would Weaker Beer Help Reduce Alcohol’s Harms?
I’ll take my chances.
AGING: What can killer whales teach us about the menopause?
Darwinian evolutionary theory says that any characteristic reducing an animal’s chance of passing on its genes to the next generation will be edged out – the process of natural selection.
That has led some to argue that menopause in humans is a result of longer life, better health and better medical care. But, as well as painting a rather depressing image that post-menopausal women are simply alive beyond their evolutionarily prescribed time, that theory has been largely debunked – thanks, in part, to these orcas.
Obviously, medical care is not increasing their lifespan.
“So studying them in the wild could help us reveal some of the mystery of why menopause evolved,” Croft says.
It’s conceivable that there might have once been a genetic advantage in stopping the production of children before they would be in competition for scarce resources with your grandchildren.
But those days are over, so — faster, please.
FIRE BAD: The New York Times takes a stand.
THAT’S NOT FUNNY! Trump Now Calls ‘Founder of ISIS’ Comments ‘SARCASM’
It’s only funny when George Bush is Hitler and Mitt Romney gives women cancer for kicks.