30 September, 2017

Erick Erickson: How to Find Common Ground - The New York Times

Erick Erickson: How to Find Common Ground - The New York Times:

Even as the internet provides us great advances, it also segments us. We have social-media tribes and our self-esteem is based on likes and retweets. We have hundreds of television channels and even more video choices online where Hollywood no longer has to worry about broad appeal. There is a channel for everyone, and everyone in the tribe will get the inside jokes. Social-media interactions have replaced the value of character.
The truth, though, is that our Facebook friends are probably not going to water our flowers while we are on vacation and our Twitter followers will not bring us a meal if we are sick. But the actual human being next door might do both if we meet him.


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Speaking Ill of Hugh Hefner - The New York Times

Speaking Ill of Hugh Hefner - The New York Times: "His success as a businessman showed the rotten side of capitalism — the side that exploits appetites for money, that feeds leech-like on our vices, that dissolves family and religion while promising that consumption will fill the void they leave behind.

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kerouacrimbaud comments on The Secret History Of ISIS (2016) - Recently released top secret files from the early 2000's expose the lies told to the American people by senior US government in this PBS documentary, which outlines the real creators of ISIS.

kerouacrimbaud comments on The Secret History Of ISIS (2016) - Recently released top secret files from the early 2000's expose the lies told to the American people by senior US government in this PBS documentary, which outlines the real creators of ISIS.:


Rich people are attracted to defense industries because it is something that will never decrease in demand. No country can ever be secure completely. You may have superiority on the battlefield, but you may not have superiority in cyberwar. You may have superiority in conventional strength, but not unconventional strength. The ancient Greeks were able to reliably defeat the Achaemenid Persians on the battlefield, but because the Persians were superior in every other capacity, Greece eventually became a tributary region of the Persian Empire. The United States was superior to the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese in funds and conventional strength, but its enemy had the upper hand in unconventional strength and in its ability to use time to its advantage.
Security will never be something that is not intensely desired. Weaker states submit to larger ones in exchange for security. This has been the way of the world since time immemorial.



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kerouacrimbaud comments on The Secret History Of ISIS (2016) - Recently released top secret files from the early 2000's expose the lies told to the American people by senior US government in this PBS documentary, which outlines the real creators of ISIS.

kerouacrimbaud comments on The Secret History Of ISIS (2016) - Recently released top secret files from the early 2000's expose the lies told to the American people by senior US government in this PBS documentary, which outlines the real creators of ISIS.:


Rich people are attracted to defense industries because it is something that will never decrease in demand. No country can ever be secure completely. You may have superiority on the battlefield, but you may not have superiority in cyberwar. You may have superiority in conventional strength, but not unconventional strength. The ancient Greeks were able to reliably defeat the Achaemenid Persians on the battlefield, but because the Persians were superior in every other capacity, Greece eventually became a tributary region of the Persian Empire. The United States was superior to the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese in funds and conventional strength, but its enemy had the upper hand in unconventional strength and in its ability to use time to its advantage.
Security will never be something that is not intensely desired. Weaker states submit to larger ones in exchange for security. This has been the way of the world since time immemorial.



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Roy Moore: Politics & Entertainment | National Review

Roy Moore: Politics & Entertainment | National Review: "And this explains something that will undoubtedly be lost on every MSNBC host and New York Times editor. Most of the people who voted for Moore don’t actually agree with him. They find him entertaining.

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29 September, 2017

Searching for Blame in Puerto Rico—And Coming Up Short | New Republic

Searching for Blame in Puerto Rico—And Coming Up Short | New Republic: "In the face of unthinkable tragedy, it’s human nature to find someone to blame, a target for our justifiable outrage. And make no mistake: It is almost certain that we will unearth colossal failures and identify villains, particularly in the coming weeks as Congress attempts to propose and pass a relief package. But at the moment, the blame can only be pointed at the U.S. government as a whole, which despite repeated warnings, neither imagined nor prepared for this worst-case scenario fueled by global warming. And unfortunately, that outrage does nothing to help Puerto Ricans right now.

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The Media Really Has Neglected Puerto Rico | FiveThirtyEight

The Media Really Has Neglected Puerto Rico | FiveThirtyEight: "TV news coverage reveals a similar trend. Data we collected from the TV News Archive shows that people on TV news shows spoke significantly fewer sentences about Hurricane Maria than about Hurricanes Harvey and Irma.2 The spike in conversation about Puerto Rico right as the hurricane hit was also much smaller than the spike in mentions of Texas and Florida on television as each of those states was hit by a hurricane.

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putsch80 comments on Louisiana high school will kick students off team if they don’t stand for national anthem

putsch80 comments on Louisiana high school will kick students off team if they don’t stand for national anthem: "As governmental pressure toward unity becomes greater, so strife becomes more bitter as to whose unity it shall be. Probably no deeper division of our people could proceed from any provocation than from finding it necessary to choose what doctrine and whose program public educational officials shall compel youth to unite in embracing. Ultimate futility of such attempts to compel coherence is the lesson of every such effort from the Roman drive to stamp out Christianity as a disturber of its pagan unity, the Inquisition, as a means to religious and dynastic unity, the Siberian exiles as a means to Russian unity, down to the fast failing efforts of our present totalitarian enemies. Those who begin coercive elimination of dissent soon find themselves exterminating dissenters. Compulsory unification of opinion achieves only the unanimity of the graveyard.
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theinfamousj comments on What mistake do many parents do that end up messing up their kid?

theinfamousj comments on What mistake do many parents do that end up messing up their kid?: "Having prop kids. And by this I mean having kids because that is what everyone is doing and you need some to show off in Christmas cards so that you can successfully check them off on the checklist of having kept up with the Joneses. That's where nannies like me come in. We are hired to deal with the kids in between occasions when they are trotted out for show. So damaging. Don't do this. I cry for those children, and they cry for themselves as well. (NB: I only worked for one family in my career who had prop kids, and refuse to do it any more because I cannot handle the emotional strain of it. But every one of my professional buddies can point to one or more families they have worked for that have prop kids. It happens a lot.)
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28 September, 2017

In praise of those who serve. Yes, even under Donald Trump. Especially under Trump. - Recode

In praise of those who serve. Yes, even under Donald Trump. Especially under Trump. - Recode: "But sometimes that choice is a luxury. The veteran to whom we’ve promised benefits after she served our country does not have the luxury of choosing to opt out of the federal government; she needs processes to work for her to access benefits. About 75 million people in our country rely on Medicaid; they don’t have the luxury of opting out, either. If the people who administer these and other services walk away and others don’t come to replace them, that choice will be made for them, with devastating consequences.

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Holly Madison Reveals The Hell That Is Playboy Mansion Life

Holly Madison Reveals The Hell That Is Playboy Mansion Life:

"I call myself a born-again feminist," she said. "I can't call myself a feminist, or people are going to attack me for that, like, How can you be a feminist, you lived with Hugh Hefner! But I feel like there comes a time in every woman's life when you have to become a feminist."
Madison paused, and said, "You can play dumb as long as you want. It's not going to last, and it's not going to be fulfilling."


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27 September, 2017

Hugh Hefner Dies: 'Playboy' Founder Was 91 : NPR

Hugh Hefner Dies: 'Playboy' Founder Was 91 : NPR: "Sex was handed to us by the powers that be, but romance is something that we invented, that is unique to humankind. And what's interesting about the Western romantic tradition, of course, is that some of the classics are, you know, Romeo and Juliet, where everybody dies. ... In the fairy tales it's pursuit, and then 'they lived happily ever after.' But we never really deal with "they lived happily ever after."
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The Coming Software Apocalypse - The Atlantic

The Coming Software Apocalypse - The Atlantic:

"Computing is fundamentally invisible,” Gerard Berry said in his talk. “When your tires are flat, you look at your tires, they are flat. When your software is broken, you look at your software, you see nothing.”
“So that’s a big problem.”


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Senator says Russian internet trolls stoked NFL debate

Senator says Russian internet trolls stoked NFL debate: "”We watched, even this weekend, the Russians and their troll farms, their internet folks, start hashtagging out #TakeAKnee and also hashtagging out #BoycottNFL,” Lankford, who sits on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said during a hearing on threats faced by the United States.

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Walmart and Nestle push for change to food expiration dates - Business Insider

Walmart and Nestle push for change to food expiration dates - Business Insider: "To clear that up, 50 of the world’s biggest food and retail companies — including Campbell, Walmart, Kellogg, and NestlĂ© — are changing their expiration labels exclusively to "Use by" by 2020. The food retailers, which are part of the Consumer Goods Forum Board (CGFB), voted unanimously on the change September 20.

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JMMonsoon

JMMonsoon:


Monsoon

(Con Thien, Fall '67)

Rain.
Rain like you've never seen.
In fact, it's raining so hard you can't see.

It's been raining like this for nearly three weeks.
Your skin is drawn, puckered and white.
Your feet are swollen, rotten and bleeding
from emersion foot, inside your jungle boots.




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Trump’s Empty Culture Wars - The New York Times

Trump’s Empty Culture Wars - The New York Times: "The N.F.L.-national anthem controversy, the latest Trump-stoked social conflagration, is a quintessential bad culture war. It was trending that way already before Trump, because the act of protest Colin Kaepernick chose to call attention to police shootings of unarmed black men — sitting and then kneeling for “The Star-Spangled Banner” — was clearer in the calculated offense it gave than in the specific cause it sought to further, clearer in its swipe at a Racist America than its prescription for redress. (That Kaepernick sported Fidel Castro T-shirts and socks depicting cops as pigs did not exactly help.)

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weil_futbol comments on [serious] Abortion on Down syndrome fetus to be banned under Ohio bills. => You can have Down babies. But why must I? Who is needing this?

weil_futbol comments on [serious] Abortion on Down syndrome fetus to be banned under Ohio bills. => You can have Down babies. But why must I? Who is needing this?:

I've posted my experience before about growing up with a younger brother diagnosed as severely retarded and with Dubowitz syndrome. There are not enough resources for handicapped children or for their parents :
My brother was severely retarded and had Dubowitz syndrome. All his life he never got past being a two year old mentally, he couldn't speak, could barely understand words, had terrible balance when he walked, cried horribly when he was bored (which was often - we either had to have Barney on constantly or I would to dance with him to loud music until I was exhausted). If we didn't watch him, He would go to the bathroom, turn on the hot water water and put his hand underneath it (I used to wonder if there was a sentient person trapped in his brain and this was his only method of communicating). He pulled my hair in the morning because he'd wake up at 6am because he naturally woke up that early and I, being a kid, didn't and my mom, exhausted from taking care of him all the time, didn't either. He'd smear corn infused poop everywhere if he wasn't changed right away (he always wore diapers) and when you're a single mom of a brat (me) and a mentally handicapped kid and your job is already exhausting because you're on your feet all day, you can't come home and relax you have to take care of him, but there's a point where you break and you can't do it anymore and you sit in your chair, depressed and alone and overwhelmed, and there are not enough resources for these families.
He got into a group home before I went into fifth grade. That was after a many years long waiting list. The guilt my mom experienced for "abandoning" him... For not being able to care properly for her child.. It destroyed her. To this day. He died a week before his 21st birthday and I hadn't seen him for 5 years before then.
I wouldn't wish that existence on anyone. Not what my mother went through, not what he went through. There was no point to his life. I would never want that for any child I bore. I would never want that life for any other children I bore who would become their sibling.
You have to be STRONG to survive raising a child like that. Not everyone has that strength. Not everyone with that strength may last. It is hard. Harder than any one who hasn't experienced it could know. And I don't wish anyone to experience it if they don't want to.


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Confessions of a Failed Female Coder – Caroline McCarthy – Medium

Confessions of a Failed Female Coder – Caroline McCarthy – Medium:

  1. When someone takes valid facts and observations and distorts (or appears to distort) them in a way that reaches a flawed conclusion — especially one that was perhaps informed by the agenda-driven pseudoscience that permeates the deepest dregs of Reddit and 4chan — shouting them down and exaggerating the negative impact of the opinion is rarely effective. Damore’s memo was not a “screed,” as headlines claimed it was. His words were not “violence” as some critics claimed they were, nor was he advocating for female engineers to be fired or suggesting that they were biologically unsuited to a career in computer science (he suggested that they were perhaps less interested in pursuing it, which is very different and which I’ll address shortly). I’m no advocate of engaging with attention-seeking nutjobs (or in popular parlance, “feeding the trolls”), but Damore’s memo was underpinned by tones of curiosity and a desire to engage in dialogue. The backlash to it, however, pushed him squarely toward the camp of the crazies, adding fuel to the fringe of alt-right and men’s-rights-activist arguments. Dissent can be productive; it became clear that this dissent became unproductive.


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No Man Left Behind : MilitaryStories

No Man Left Behind : MilitaryStories:

Once you pledge your life to something, to someone, to a unit, you are not free to destroy yourself. There is NO such freedom - suicide is NOT a choice. It’s a failure. You can die, but you have to try. You can only forget that if you’re alone. That’s one of the reasons suicides isolate themselves.
Don’t let that happen. Don’t leave a man behind, just because he tells you it’s all right, he’ll be along shortly. He won’t. You don’t want to live with that.
I don’t anyway. I’m glad I didn’t. Ted... well, Ted never thanked me for my service. I don’t mind. Just watching him walk out of that loony bin with no idea of what we did for him, back to his frightened wife, and frightened, but proud, sons - that wasn’t something I want to be thanked for. It was an accomplishment for me and his other roommates. A kind of gift. Wasn’t expecting that.
I was getting better. Hard to believe that was even possible. But I was. Some thanks to Ted. I didn’t tell him that because he was leaving and he wouldn’t have understood anyway. I’ll tell him now. Thanks, Ted. Proud to have served with you. You helped me out. You helped us all. You were the most likely to get left behind, and we didn’t let that happen. We did that. In there.
Makes me believe that we’d do that anywhere. Maybe not, but I choose to believe it anyway. It’s a good thing to believe. No man left behind.


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What to do when the war is over, and you meet the emeny : MilitaryStories

What to do when the war is over, and you meet the emeny : MilitaryStories:


As what happens with vets who meet each other, they quickly fell into conversation. What battles had you been in, where had you served, what unit were you with. And it turned out they'd been on opposite sides a couple times in North Africa, Grampa working a radio and the German working in ordinance supply. They laughed over the coincidence.
But Grampa noted the time, he needed to be at the station soon. So he paid for his meal, returned to the German man, stuck out his hand, and said, "The war is over. No hard feelings, right?" The German man smiled, grasped Grampa's hand, and said, "Ja, no hard feelings. We both did our jobs. That's all that was expected of us."
Grampa never saw the man again. But he told me that story numerous times before his death, because he wanted to impart a lesson on me: WHEN THE WAR IS OVER, IT'S OVER. DON'T HOLD ON TO THE HATE.


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26 September, 2017

Week 4 D/ST Scoring, 2017 : fantasyfootball

Week 4 D/ST Scoring, 2017 : fantasyfootball:


Read Dr. King’s words again. Think over how many times you’ve heard criticism of Colin Kaepernick, telling the world how much they agree with his message but just wish he would protest differently. Think about how many people, rather than addressing the issues he has raised, have shrouded themselves in the American flag and expressed disapproval about him “disgracing the troops.” Short of actual substantive discussions about the issue of law enforcement in communities of color, we are left with arguments over military support and over freedom of speech. Maybe you have been one of those voices yourself. If you have been – please ask yourself if you are the “white moderate” that Dr. King wrote about, and if so, what can be done to change that.
Know, too, that there are many millions who have watched this all unfold without saying a word in support of Kaepernick’s message to their friends or family; without so much as lifting a finger or raising a fist or taking a step forward; without doing a single thing in support of Colin and his message - they too are Dr. King’s “white moderates.”
We can only claim ignorance for so long. At some point, it becomes time for all of us to take a stand, and for most of us that time has long since passed. Go look at photos of the Little Rock Nine from 1957 as we reach the 60th anniversary of integration. Just as (I hope) none of us want to be remembered as the sneering racists who spit on and abused those black teenagers on their way to school, none of us should want to be remembered as the nameless faces in the crowd that watched it all unfold and did nothing to stop it.


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(1) Andrelton Simmons Defensive Highlights 2017 (LAA) - YouTube

(1) Andrelton Simmons Defensive Highlights 2017 (LAA) - YouTube: ""



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US Marines get first female infantry officer - BBC News

US Marines get first female infantry officer - BBC News:

A female US Marine has made history by becoming the first woman to complete the Corps' famously gruelling infantry officer training.
The lieutenant, who wants to keep her identity private, graduated in Quantico, Virginia, on Monday.
She will soon be assigned to lead a 40-strong platoon.


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Memories of an Anti-Semitic State Department - The New York Times

Memories of an Anti-Semitic State Department - The New York Times: "Just like Ms. Wilson tweeting that Jews are pushing for a new war. It is the definition of prejudice. How can it not be when you label a whole group and ascribe to all those who are a part of it a particular negative trait or threatening behavior? It is the same today with those who single out all Muslims as dangerous extremists. It is just as unacceptable.

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A study has been following 'gifted' kids for 45 years. Here's what we've learned.

A study has been following 'gifted' kids for 45 years. Here's what we've learned.:

Measuring a student's aptitude, their natural abilities, is only one part of the equation when it comes to determining how successful they'll be in life. Aptitude scores can identify a particularly strong natural skill set but tell us very little about how hard that person might work to excel in that field.
Effort, Lubinski says, is a critical factor in determining how far someone's going to go in life. "If you look at exceptional performers in politics, science, music, and literature, they're working many, many hours," he say


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The Tyranny of Stuctureless

The Tyranny of Stuctureless: "Contrary to what we would like to believe, there is no such thing as a structureless group. Any group of people of whatever nature that comes together for any length of time for any purpose will inevitably structure itself in some fashion. The structure may be flexible; it may vary over time; it may evenly or unevenly distribute tasks, power and resources over the members of the group. But it will be formed regardless of the abilities, personalities, or intentions of the people involved. The very fact that we are individuals, with different talents, predispositions, and backgrounds makes this inevitable. Only if we refused to relate or interact on any basis whatsoever could we approximate structurelessness -- and that is not the nature of a human group.
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25 September, 2017

(1) Will & Grace Cast Performs Their Theme Song with Lyrics - YouTube

(1) Will & Grace Cast Performs Their Theme Song with Lyrics - YouTube: "The cast of Will & Grace joins Jimmy to perform the Will & Grace theme song for the first time with lyrics.
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Alejandro Villanueva 'Embarrassed' by Standing for Anthem | Time.com

Alejandro Villanueva 'Embarrassed' by Standing for Anthem | Time.com:

The rest of the team stayed off the field during the national anthem because head coach Mike Tomlin said he did not want players to feel forced to take sides after President Trump called for players to be fired for kneeling during the anthem to protest racism. Villanueva stood alone near the tunnel with his hand over his heart, and on Monday, his jersey became the top-selling jersey in the NFL.
“I made coach Tomlin look bad, and that is my fault and my fault only,” he said, adding that he is supportive of teammates who decide to kneel or sit during the national anthem.
“People that are taking a knee are not saying anything negative about the military, they’re not saying anything negative about the flag, they’re just trying to protest that there are some injustices in America," he said, according to CBS Pittsburgh.


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That Army veteran who wouldn't sit during the national anthem is now the NFL's top-selling player in jersey sales : Military

That Army veteran who wouldn't sit during the national anthem is now the NFL's top-selling player in jersey sales : Military: "What I dont get is suddenly everyone, especially service members, acting like it's suddenly disrespectful to them or the country, when everyone I've known has at one point or more in their careers ran indoors or sat in their cars to avoid colors purely out of laziness
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Falcons explain why they knelt during national anthem | WSB-TV

Falcons explain why they knelt during national anthem | WSB-TV: "“I felt like me, myself, Grady Jarrett is the son of a Queen and that’s my message,” Jarrett said after the game. 

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NFL Protests Donald Trump, & I Understand Why | National Review

NFL Protests Donald Trump, & I Understand Why | National Review: "He told his political opponents on the football field — men who have defined their lives and careers by their mental and physical toughness — to essentially, “Do what I say or lose your job.” In so doing, he put them in straits far more difficult to navigate than anything Colin Kaepernick has wrought: Stand and they are seen to obey a man who just abused his office, and millions of Americans will view them as a sellout not just to the political cause they love but also to the Constitution itself; kneel and they defy a rogue president, but millions of Americans will view them as disrespecting the nation itself to score political points against a president those Americans happen to like.
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The large parts of America left behind by today's economy - Axios

The large parts of America left behind by today's economy - Axios:

  • New jobs are clustered in the economy's best-off places, leaving one of every four new jobs for the bottom 60 percent of zip codes.
  • 57% of the national rise in business establishments and 52% of employment growth from 2011-2015 were in prosperous areas.
  • Most of today's distressed communities have seen zero net gains in employment and business establishment since 2000. In fact, more than half have seen net losses on both fronts.
  • Half of adults living in distressed zip codes are attempting to find gainful employment in the modern economy armed with only a high school education at best.
  • The healthier the economy, the healthier the person: People in distressed communities die five years earlier.


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2017 Distressed Communities Index - Economic Innovation Group

2017 Distressed Communities Index - Economic Innovation Group: "As you’ll see below, the U.S. economy contains a diverse and fragmented landscape of economic well-being—one in which many communities are flourishing, while far too many are left behind.
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24 September, 2017

A Black Physician Pulled a 26-hour Shift Helping People and Saving Lives. But On His Way To His Car This Happened.

A Black Physician Pulled a 26-hour Shift Helping People and Saving Lives. But On His Way To His Car This Happened.:

But instead, I walked to my car. The man called me the N-word about five more times, laughing so hard I thought it was certain he would lose consciousness.
I sat behind the wheel for a very long time, maybe ten minutes, processing. I was angry at the man, but also at the people that didn’t say anything. I was angry at myself for not saying anything.
Sometimes, I just feel alone. Who I am, simply the color of my skin, makes me the target of hate from people that I will never even know. I truly try to love and understand everyone, so when one person returns that with malice and ill-will, it’s a lot to take in.


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Imposter Syndrome - 22 years and still faking it. - The Geek Speaks

Imposter Syndrome - 22 years and still faking it. - The Geek Speaks: "One of the main reasons I wanted to speak about imposter syndrome, is that over the years when I spoke to technologists new and old across all industries and events, and I was often told the same thing; but you can’t have imposter syndrome. I have been struggling with imposter syndrome since before I left college, I was a computer science major who was sure he wasn’t smart enough to become a programmer. In the last few years as I have pivoted to more management and mentoring in my jobs and the technology communities of which I am a member, apparently age, longevity and sounding confident have convinced folks I knew what I was talking about. The one person that I failed to impress was me, I can always find a way to question my skills and qualifications.

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23 September, 2017

A Michigan woman chose to die so she could give birth. Now her newborn is dead, too. – The Denver Post

A Michigan woman chose to die so she could give birth. Now her newborn is dead, too. – The Denver Post: "“She gave up her life for the baby,” he said, adding later: “I just want people to know that my wife loved the Lord. She loved her kids. She put anybody in front of her needs. . . . She put my daughter above herself.”

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Why the Scariest Nuclear Threat May Be Coming from Inside the White House | Vanity Fair

Why the Scariest Nuclear Threat May Be Coming from Inside the White House | Vanity Fair: "There is another way to think of John MacWilliams’s fifth risk: the risk a society runs when it falls into the habit of responding to long-term risks with short-term solutions. Program management is not just program management. Program management is all the “less detectable, systemic risks.” Some of the things any incoming president should worry about are fast-moving: natural disasters, terrorist attacks. But most are not. Most are like bombs with very long fuses that, in the distant future, when the fuse reaches the bomb, might or might not explode. It is delaying repairs to a tunnel filled with lethal waste until, one day, it collapses. It is the aging workforce of the D.O.E.—which is no longer attracting young people as it once did—that one day loses track of a nuclear bomb. It is the ceding of technical and scientific leadership to China. It is the innovation that never occurs, and the knowledge that is never created, because you have ceased to lay the groundwork for it. It is what you never learned that might have saved you.

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22 September, 2017

InsurmountableLosses comments on [WP] The four horsemen: Pestilence, War, Famine, and Death are the harbingers of the apocalypse, serving forth chaos and destruction on all humanity. The Bible forgot to mention the fifth horseman: Kyle, whom the other four can't seem to ditch.

InsurmountableLosses comments on [WP] The four horsemen: Pestilence, War, Famine, and Death are the harbingers of the apocalypse, serving forth chaos and destruction on all humanity. The Bible forgot to mention the fifth horseman: Kyle, whom the other four can't seem to ditch.:

Humans defeated disease with miracle cures. Now some fear that those cures are harmful to them. Let them face Pestilence's wrath.
Humans defeated Famine through piling resources and modifying crop. Now they hoard but never give. They let their breathren starve. Now they feel that excess of food is sin. They willing starve themselves of their source of strength to meet society's whims. Let them suffer by Famine's hand.
Humans defeated War through tolerance, diplomacy and restraint. Now they turn intolerant and unleash violence against those not of their own group. They justify their "Holy Wars" with the blood of innocents. Violence begets violence, vengeance for innocent blood spilled is carried out by the sword. Let them spiral down to oblivion, guided by War.
Narrow are the minds of humans. They do not think before they act. They believe what they want to believe and ignore what they don't.
I am Ignorance. Until mankind is capable of defeating me, they can never truly destroy the Horsemen.


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trivialdeliquent comments on Racist church shooter can't fire Jewish and Indian lawyers

trivialdeliquent comments on Racist church shooter can't fire Jewish and Indian lawyers:

The most powerful part of the Charleston Mother Emanuel Massacre was that the victim’s families forgave Dylan Roof during his bond hearing in the days after the shooting. They stood in the magistrate’s courtroom and forgave him. It was the damndest thing. In doing so, they took all of Roof’s power away when they chose not to let him haunt them. They chose to love him instead of letting his hate affect them. After that, he was just a disturbed little boy. That was the miracle.



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AMERICAN THEATRE | The Top 20 Most-Produced Playwrights of the 2017-18 Season

AMERICAN THEATRE | The Top 20 Most-Produced Playwrights of the 2017-18 Season:

For the third year in a row, Lauren Gunderson is on our Top 20 list. Last season she was No. 2, behind August Wilson. Now she’s leapt to No. 1, despite having only two major New York City stagings (and no plays in wide circulation this season). It’s Gunderson’s America; we just live in it. “This is a breathtaking landmark for me, because it is a testament to long-standing friendships and creative partnerships throughout our diverse and inspiring national theatre community,” said Gunderson. “I hope this is another encouraging and motivating moment for women in theatre as well. Stories by and about women can and must be produced across the country to complete the deep generational narrative that our art form so uniquely puts forth. Stories by and about women aren’t just for women but for all of us.”



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Benny Hinn Is My Uncle, but Prosperity Preaching Isn’t for Me | Christianity Today

Benny Hinn Is My Uncle, but Prosperity Preaching Isn’t for Me | Christianity Today: "Other doubts would surface. What about unsuccessful healing attempts? I learned that it was the sick person’s fault for doubting God. Why would we speak in tongues without interpretation? “Don’t quench the Spirit,” I was told. “He can do what he wants.” Why did many of our prophecies contradict the Bible? “Don’t put God in a box.” Despite the questions, I trusted my family because we were so successful. Tens of thousands of people followed us, millions packed stadiums annually to hear my uncle. We healed the sick, performed miracles, rubbed elbows with celebrities, and got incredibly wealthy. God must be on our side!

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21 September, 2017

brain injury is awful

I_POOP_IN_MY_MOUTH comments on TIL 550 motorcyclists participated in a ride to protest New York State's mandatory helmet law. During the ride, One of the rider's breaks failed and was sent over the handlebars and hit his head on the pavement, killing him. Medical experts said he would have survived if he had worn his helmet.: "I didn't understand what a brain injury means until she started working with those affected and it's awful. It's not a normal injury where you might have to deal with some physical impairment for the rest of your life that you can sort of manage. A TBI can/will change you on a much deeper level. Your personality will likely be radically different. You might have random bouts of anger and frustration and won't really know why. You might have trouble forming new memories and can only live in the present, forgetting people you've met and places you've been. You may not be able to read and if you can it will be really difficult. You might feel lost and confused in new environments. You won't be able to navigate your local Walmart because you'll be lost and have to wait for someone to find you. Since the injury isn't visible people won't understand that you have a disability and treat you poorly. You might lose your peripheral vision and forever feel claustrophobic. Your body might lose the ability to self-regulate temperature so you will constantly be too hot or too cold. You will probably lose most of your personal relationships because people don't understand why you seem to be a completely different person. Be prepared to say goodbye to getting married if you're single or say goodbye to your wife/husband if you aren't cause they won't recognize you anymore, you are a completely different person. There are a lot more possible issues and TBI's have an extremely broad range of effects that are completely unpredictable but these are some of the most common ones I saw. And none of that touches on any of the physical aspects of a TBI that may leave you partially paralyzed, not because you broke your spine but because your brain cant communicate with parts of your body."



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Studies help explain link between autism, severe infection during pregnancy | MIT News

Studies help explain link between autism, severe infection during pregnancy | MIT News: "The researchers found that the patches are most common in a part of the brain known as S1DZ. Part of the somatosensory cortex, this region is believed to be responsible for proprioception, or sensing where the body is in space. In these patches, populations of cells called interneurons, which express a protein called parvalbumin, are reduced. Interneurons are responsible for controlling the balance of excitation and inhibition in the brain, and the researchers found that the changes they found in the cortical patches were associated with overexcitement in S1DZ.
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Was George Washington actually a good general? : AskHistorians

Was George Washington actually a good general? : AskHistorians:

He was undoubtedly a skilled commander, but his true skill was in reliably keeping the army together through every hardship possible for an 18th century army. It was his ability to embody the virtues he sought to instill in his men and to turn even the most bookish concerns into a stage for which to perform his role as commander in chief.
This kind of leadership was echoed and regurgitated throughout the period by men of similar charms, and attempted by men without the kind of blunt charisma that Washington had possessed. Washington was the kind of guy that, even when he underwent severe personal criticism, was able to shut it down and focus on the task at hand.
So yes, he was a terrific general. He proved it at every moment of crisis suffered by the continental army during the war, and at every challenge to his authority.


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GTFErinyes comments on CMV: The military budget of the US is unnecessarily large, and the militaristic goals of the US can be achieved with less funding

GTFErinyes comments on CMV: The military budget of the US is unnecessarily large, and the militaristic goals of the US can be achieved with less funding:

The US is the only Western nation with the demographics (population size and age), political will, technological capacity, and economic ability to challenge a surging China or resurgent Russia (which inherited the might of the Soviet Union to build off of) on the world stage.
How many Americans would change their tone on military spending if China or Russia were calling the shots on world issues? On spreading their views on governance or human rights? Or if the balance of power shifted so much that more nations decided it was time for them to get nuclear weapons too (imagine Saudi Arabia getting nukes...)?
Out of those top 3 nations, I can damn well tell you who we want to be the clear #1.



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20 September, 2017

War : pics

War : pics: "“War is young men dying and old men talking”
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19 September, 2017

Type Writing: An Interview with Jim Shepard

Type Writing: An Interview with Jim Shepard: "A Western hero embodies all sorts of fundamental paradoxes without giving it a second thought, right? Like, I’m fundamentally antisocial, but I guess I’m here to defend community. Or, I really don’t want to employ violence, but violence is pretty much my only tool. And maybe ever more worrisomely, he models a way of being in the world, a way of acting, that’s all about refusing to think about why you’re doing what you’re doing.

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18 September, 2017

Houseguests by Kate Garklavs « apt – a literary magazine

Houseguests by Kate Garklavs « apt – a literary magazine: "“Just getting some water,” I’ll say, picking my way downstairs. Place my feet on the loosest boards—ostensible warning to the houseguests, whose passion cannot be contained by strange walls or the propriety exacted by another person’s dwelling. They will not hear me as I hover beside the shut door of the guest room, or they will, but their laughter and heaving and linen-light sighs will carry along their preordained course until finally, blessedly, real silence resumes. Once it does, I’ll shift my weight to incur a final creak. Enough: goodnight.

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Ken Burns ‘The Vietnam War’ episode 1 recap: Why Vietnam? - The Washington Post

Ken Burns ‘The Vietnam War’ episode 1 recap: Why Vietnam? - The Washington Post:

Ho Chi Minh for a long time believed that the Americans would be there for him in the end. That he would be able to count on the United States. And he believed that not only because of what Franklin Roosevelt said during World War Two about you know colonialism being a thing of the past and how we have to support self-determination. But he also believed that, Ho, because of America’s historical experience. Which is that the United States had been a colonial had fought a war against the colonial overlord in the British. Knew, in other words, what he was trying to do in Vietnam and had gone through a revolution successfully. So, ergo, the U.S. should be there for me.
So he struggled with this. Didn’t want to believe in the hypocrisy. Didn’t believe that the United States could say one thing and then do something else. And it took him a long time to shed this idea that ultimately the Americans will come to my assistance. It was only I think in 1948/49, so deep into his war with France, that he finally said, “Okay, I guess I should give up on the Americans.” It’s a tragic part of the story as far as I’m concerned.


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Dan Ariely Takes on 'Irrational' Economic Impulses : NPR

Dan Ariely Takes on 'Irrational' Economic Impulses : NPR:



A few years ago, they studied a day care center in Israel to determine whether imposing a fine on parents who arrived late to pick up their children was a useful deterrent. Uri and Aldo concluded that the fine didn't work well, and in fact it had long-term negative effects. Why? Before the fine was introduced, the teachers and parents had a social contract, with social norms about being late. Thus, if parents were late — as they occasionally were — they felt guilty about it — and their guilt compelled them to be more prompt in picking up their kids in the future. (In Israel, guilt seems to be an effective way to get compliance.) But once the fine was imposed, the day care center had inadvertently replaced the social norms with market norms. Now that the parents were paying for their tardiness, they interpreted the situation in terms of market norms. In other words, since they were being fined, they could decide for themselves whether to be late or not, and they frequently chose to be late. Needless to say, this was not what the day care center intended.

But the real story only started here. The most interesting part occurred a few weeks later, when the day care center removed the fine. Now the center was back to the social norm. Would the parents also return to the social norm? Would their guilt return as well? Not at all. Once the fine was removed, the behavior of the parents didn't change. They continued to pick up their kids late. In fact, when the fine was removed, there was a slight increase in the number of tardy pickups (after all, both the social norms and the fine had been removed).

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17 September, 2017

Our Graduates Are Rubes - The Chronicle of Higher Education

Our Graduates Are Rubes - The Chronicle of Higher Education: ""I was a straight-A student at a university" no longer means what it did in 1960 or even 1980. A study of 200 colleges and universities through 2009 found that A was the most commonly given grade, an increase of nearly 30 percent since 1960 and more than 10 percent just since 1988.

"



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The German schoolboy jailed for writing to the BBC - BBC News

The German schoolboy jailed for writing to the BBC - BBC News: "The East German secret police went to extraordinary lengths to track down people who wrote letters to the BBC during the Cold War. One of those arrested and jailed was a teenager who longed to express himself freely - and paid a high price.
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Hold the Egg Sandwich: Egyptian TV Is Calling - The New York Times

Hold the Egg Sandwich: Egyptian TV Is Calling - The New York Times:

Hatem El-Gamasy often appears as a pundit for Egyptian television news programs. His viewers don’t know his day job: He owns a bodega in Queens.


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16 September, 2017

The Juggalo March on Washington D.C. Is Not a Joke - CityLab

The Juggalo March on Washington D.C. Is Not a Joke - CityLab: "In a year of weird American politics, this weekend’s Juggalo March in Washington, D.C., offers a fresh opportunity to marvel at the rich pageant of surrealism that has become life in the nation’s capital. On Saturday, thousands of followers of the Detroit-area rap-rock duo Insane Clown Posse are gathering on the National Mall to protest the classification of ICP fans, known as Juggalos, as a criminal gang, according to a now-infamous FBI threat assessment from 2011. The band has been waging a legal war against the FBI, with the help of the American Civil Liberties Union, ever since.

"



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The Week My Husband Left And My House Was Burgled I Secured A Grant To Begin The Project That Became BRCA1 | HuffPost UK

The Week My Husband Left And My House Was Burgled I Secured A Grant To Begin The Project That Became BRCA1 | HuffPost UK:

So Emily and my mother and I were standing in the line, and I said, “Mom, can you make it down to your plane on your own?” Bear in mind, there were no checkpoints in those days, but there were, of course, very long corridors.
She said, “No.”
So I said to Emily, “I’m going to need to go with Grandmom down to her plane.”
And my mother shrieked, “You can’t leave that child here alone!” (Fair enough.)
Suddenly this unmistakable voice above and behind me said, “Emily and I will be fine.”
I turned around to the man standing behind us, and I said, “Thank you.”
My mother looked at me and said, “You can’t leave Emily with a total stranger.”
And I said, “Mom, if you can’t trust Joe DiMaggio, who can you trust?”


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Seven Days of Heroin - Cincinnati.com

Seven Days of Heroin - Cincinnati.com:

Kacie Rolfes walks into the conference room at the psychiatric hospital and takes a seat across the table from a 7-year-old girl.
The girl is wearing pink shorts and a bright blue T-shirt that reads, “I’m a Dream Believer.”
“Do you know why you’re in this situation?” Rolfes asks.
“Because my mom and dad did drugs,” the girl says.
Rolfes is a Hamilton County social worker. She made the five-hour drive today to the Belmont Pines psychiatric hospital in Youngstown to check on the girl, who suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder and other psychiatric problems.
The girl is from Colerain Township, but she hasn’t been home since she found her mother slumped over the toilet last year, high on heroin and barely conscious. Her father died of an overdose earlier this year.
Children’s services placed the girl with a foster family, but that ended when she tried to drown her foster sister in a YMCA swimming pool. After that, the girl’s doctors sent her here for more intensive treatment.


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15 September, 2017

The Cassini spacecraft crashed into Saturn, ending a successful 20-year mission - The Washington Post

The Cassini spacecraft crashed into Saturn, ending a successful 20-year mission - The Washington Post:

Thanks to its scientific successes, stunning images, and the sad circumstances of its demise, Cassini is viewed with deep affection by NASA researchers and space enthusiasts alike. Some of the features in Saturn's rings are named for team members' pets; one of the engineers named his daughter Phoebe for one of Saturn's moons.
Many members of the Cassini team refer to the spacecraft as a “she” and they ascribe “her” human traits: curiosity, intelligence, determination, valor.
“It's like the loss of a friend,” said Spilker, who has worked on the mission since its inception in the late 1980s.


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(1) Farewell to Saturn: Highlights from the End of NASA's Cassini Mission - YouTube

(1) Farewell to Saturn: Highlights from the End of NASA's Cassini Mission - YouTube: "On Sept. 15, 2017, Cassini plunged into Saturn, ending its 20-year mission of discovery. "



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Review: Ken Burns’s ‘Vietnam War’ Will Break Your Heart and Win Your Mind - The New York Times

Review: Ken Burns’s ‘Vietnam War’ Will Break Your Heart and Win Your Mind - The New York Times:

Mr. Burns is willing to risk obviousness because his project is not to find surprising twists on American history. It’s to create a historical canon in the most broadly acceptable terms.
This might in part be public-TV centrism, but it’s also an ideology. Mr. Burns’s films assume that it’s still possible for Americans to have an agreed-on baseline — on government, war, race and culture — from which to go forward.
In relatively peaceful times, this approach could seem banal, as if the films are arguing for pieties that everyone already agrees on. In — well, times like now — it can seem naĂŻve to think that there’s any fact so unobjectionable it can’t be litigated by opposed camps. In the divides the war rended, you can see the swellings of today’s impenetrable political bubbles.
The saddest thing about this elegiac documentary may be the credit it extends its audience. “The Vietnam War” still holds out hope that we might learn from history, after presenting 18 hours of evidence to the contrary.


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Stop the Cap! Verizon Wireless' Great Rural Purge: Tens of Thousands Losing Cell Service ·

Stop the Cap! Verizon Wireless' Great Rural Purge: Tens of Thousands Losing Cell Service ·: "Nearly 20,000 rural Verizon Wireless customers in states like Maine, Michigan, North Dakota, and Montana are being notified their cell service is being terminated because they spend too much time roaming outside of a Verizon Wireless coverage area.

"



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12-day timelapse of Hurricane Irma captured by NOAA's GOES-16 satellite : WeatherGifs

12-day timelapse of Hurricane Irma captured by NOAA's GOES-16 satellite : WeatherGifs: "12-day timelapse of Hurricane Irma captured by NOAA's GOES-16 satellite"



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14 September, 2017

florinandrei comments on I watched my patients die of poverty for 40 years. It’s time for single-payer

florinandrei comments on I watched my patients die of poverty for 40 years. It’s time for single-payer: "So that's how we see things. A lot of that is the outcome of the harsh lessons that Reality administered us all these millennia, culminating in the early 20th century. Postmodernism was a powerful cultural influence around the same time, and it helped push against dogmatic thinking of any kind - political ideas that took shape in that era turned out, as a consequence, far more open, fluid, and tolerant. America never truly absorbed postmodern thinking, except in the fields of business and propaganda, or manipulation, which is probably the worst way to do it - hence its dogmatic, hardened, set in stone politics, and its unholy alliance between money and political power.
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13 September, 2017

Congress Wants to Change the Americans With Disabilities Act and Undermine the Civil Rights of People With Disabilities | American Civil Liberties Union

Congress Wants to Change the Americans With Disabilities Act and Undermine the Civil Rights of People With Disabilities | American Civil Liberties Union: "H.R. 620 would completely change the way in which a business is required to comply with the ADA. Instead of requiring that a business comply proactively, the bill would place the burden on the individual who is being denied access. This bill proposes that after an individual with a disability is denied access she must first notify the business owner, with exacting specificity, that her civil rights were violated, and then wait for six months to see if the business will make “substantial progress” toward access, before going to a court to order compliance.
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I am white. That's all you know about me. Am I privileged based on that alone and assuming I am, should I feel guilt and what should I do about it? - Quora

I am white. That's all you know about me. Am I privileged based on that alone and assuming I am, should I feel guilt and what should I do about it? - Quora:

Absolutely.
Consider it this way. All I know about you is you’re tall.
Do you have any advantages?
Yes.
Does that mean you don’t deserve the can of tuna on the higher shelf? No. Nobody is saying that. Eat away mighty giant.


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12 September, 2017

10 September, 2017

College student who lied about getting raped begs to dodge jail | New York Post

College student who lied about getting raped begs to dodge jail | New York Post:

Yovino’s admittedly false rape claim — made earlier this year, when she was 18 — led to two Sacred Heart University football players losing their sports scholarships and getting suspended from their team.
Pressed by authorities about inconsistencies in her account, Yovino eventually admitted that she’d had consensual sex with the two football players in a bathroom during a football club party, then lied about it in hopes of winning the sympathy of a third male student whom she wanted to date.
Other witnesses confirmed that she’d gone willingly into the bathroom with the two players.


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09 September, 2017

bulbasauuuur comments on Y'all must be on that new Jesus ����

bulbasauuuur comments on Y'all must be on that new Jesus ����: "91% of people who get welfare are elderly, disabled, or "part of a working household" which often means children (or two adults not working 1000 hours each). They simply cannot work.
"



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07 September, 2017

Pastor Amy Butler - Posts

Pastor Amy Butler - Posts: "“The Lord your God is the God of all gods and Lord of all lords, the great, mighty, and awesome God who doesn’t play favorites and doesn’t take bribes. He enacts justice for orphans and widows, and he loves immigrants, giving them food and clothing. That means you must also love immigrants because you were immigrants in Egypt” (Deuteronomy 10:17-19)"



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Cadfan17 comments on White Christians are now a minority of the U.S. population, survey says

Cadfan17 comments on White Christians are now a minority of the U.S. population, survey says:

So... the thing Job did that was telling the truth about God was stating that God sends good and evil to us without respect to our righteousness. And the thing that Job's friends did that was telling lies about God was claiming that God sends wealth and easy living to the righteous, and misery to the unrighteous.
In other words, the moral of Job is that if you believe in the prosperity gospel God will straight up ice you unless Job asks him to chill.


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06 September, 2017

How We Killed Expertise - POLITICO Magazine

How We Killed Expertise - POLITICO Magazine:

Voters say they reject expertise because experts—whom they think of as indistinguishable from governing elites—have failed them. “Americans might look back on the last 50 years and say, ‘What have experts done for us lately?’” one USA Today columnist recently wrote, without irony. Somehow, such critics missed the successful conclusion of the Cold War, the abundance of food to the point that we subsidize farmers, the creation of medicines that have extended human life, automobiles that are safer and more efficient than ever, and even the expert-driven victories of the previously hopeless Boston Red Sox and the Chicago Cubs. Experts, in this distorted telling, have managed only to impoverish and exploit ordinary Americans; anything that has benefited others apparently happened only by mere chance.



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Steve Harvey Interview: "I'm Not Going to Apologize" for That Leaked Memo | Hollywood Reporter

Steve Harvey Interview: "I'm Not Going to Apologize" for That Leaked Memo | Hollywood Reporter:

It's, "Look, I'm OK with you loving the Confederate flag. I'm OK with you loving them statues. Maybe people had great grandfathers who fought in the Civil War and they want to continue to honor them. Well, that's great. But see, I pay taxes, and I don't want to pay taxes to raise the flag every morning and then cut the grass around it and wipe the pigeon poop off the statue. So take all them statues and that flag and put it in your own museum. Then all the hillbillies can go there and cry in front of the flag at the feet of General Lee and howl and just have a great time. But it can't be at the park. You can't have the Confederate flag waving when I'm outside trying to have a picnic." And you handle it that way because I'm OK with people preserving history, for whatever their reason. It may not be the right reason for me, but if it's right for them, cool. But put it in a museum. Black people got museums. Jewish people got a museum. Get your ass a museum.



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05 September, 2017

John Locke: Natural Rights to Life, Liberty, and Property - Foundation for Economic Education - Working for a free and prosperous world

John Locke: Natural Rights to Life, Liberty, and Property - Foundation for Economic Education - Working for a free and prosperous world: "A number of times throughout history, tyranny has stimulated breakthrough thinking about liberty. This was certainly the case in England with the mid-seventeenth-century era of repression, rebellion, and civil war. There was a tremendous outpouring of political pamphlets and tracts. By far the most influential writings emerged from the pen of scholar John Locke.



 He expressed the radical view that government is morally obliged to serve people, namely by protecting life, liberty, and property. He explained the principle of checks and balances to limit government power. He favored representative government and a rule of law. He denounced tyranny. He insisted that when government violates individual rights, people may legitimately rebel."



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In city with no water, two men get Coca-Cola's permission to steal it

In city with no water, two men get Coca-Cola's permission to steal it:

In a city with no water, here is a list of items required to break into a warehouse and steal 14 cases of bottled water:
  • One (1) hand saw
  • One (1) hammer
  • One (1) hovercraft, capable of zinging over the flooded streets of Beaumont, Texas, at 60 miles an hour.
  • Oh, and permission from the Coca-Cola Company.
Fortunately, Bill Zang recently found himself equipped with all four things.


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04 September, 2017

Grace Pettis - Award Winning Texas Songwriter | Blog

Grace Pettis - Award Winning Texas Songwriter | Blog:





And of all the insults exchanged, nothing was even in the same universe of curses as THE word that the man used. It was beyond a “bad word” or an insult. As somebody who happens to love words, who believes that for the most parts words themselves are not good or evil but rather that they are tools which should be wielded with respect to context and intent, I found myself overcome by how evil that word was in that moment. It was dehumanizing. When this man used it, he was attempting to negate everything about this woman’s humanity. There is no word equivalent that she could have used in response. She was tough- she didn’t back down from his aggression and matched him verbally, blow for blow. But there is no word equivalent for a black woman to use in defense against a white man that can dehumanize in quite the same way. We don’t actually have a word like that in the English language. Which seemed like a pity in the moment, because “asshole” and “bigot” didn’t seem to cut it.


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