Politics

Seems it is when we are silent and waiting when tolerant people will be killed. Do terrorist attacks in Belgium prove that European politics of toleration is mistake?

"Since at least 2004, a significant goal of the group has been the foundation of a Sunni Islamic state. Specifically, ISIL has sought to establish itself as a caliphate, an Islamic state led by a group of religious authorities under a supreme leader—the caliph—who is believed to be the successor to Prophet Muhammad. In June 2014, ISIL published a document in which it claimed to have traced the lineage of its leader al-Baghdadi back to Muhammad, and upon proclaiming a new caliphate on 29 June, the group appointed al-Baghdadi as its caliph. As caliph, he demands the allegiance of all devout Muslims worldwide, according to Islamic jurisprudence. ISIL has detailed its…

I read an interesting article yesterday. Forget about Godwining your discussions by equating Trump with Hitler. The better analogy is George Wallace. Which suddenly spotlights how history is rhyming, not repeating itself, and the 2016 election is rhyming with the 1968 election. Trump is George Wallace, with all his hateful racist rhetoric, and ability to grab free press coverage based solely on sensationalism rather than merit. Clinton is Hubert Humphrey, burdened with the Johnson/Vietnam legacy and party lines he wanted to deviate from, but didn't want to enough to fight the party. Bernie Sanders (white-haired liberal anti-war candidate beloved by college students) …

I am not an American, and I struggle to fully understand the cause of the riots in Ferguson, Missouri (link to theguardian.com). Obviously, the shooting of an unarmed black man living in Ferguson was for many people in at town the final straw. But there is surely a deeper problem than that. Is it that black people feel discriminated? Is it that the police are scared shitless patrolling the poor areas, and shoot much too quickly because of that? Is it because there is no good communication between law enforcement and local inhabitants (no understanding)? Can one even point out a single problem that is the major issue? I'd like to hear some input about this, because I j…

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-35571868 News coming in that Scalia has died http://www.theguardian.com/law/2016/feb/13/supreme-court-justice-antonin-scalia-dead-at-79

Day to day, I watch TV and surf the internet, and I see Americans, embarrassing themselves. Commenting that if the president their voting for, doesn't win, they'll leave the country. They're acting like children, acting butt-hurt. They're making protests, sure it's their right, but it doesn't feel right, the way their doing so. When someone runs for president, they are suppose to run for the benefit for the country, not to run for the job itself, because of greed. The Runners go out of their way, to find dirt on each other, they forgot the fundamentals. This country is splitting. Why, for two centuries, no matter how many new views people develop, we are stuck in traditio…

Is the right to peaceful protest under the First Amendment being violated at Trump rallies? In recent days, there are increasing reports of peaceful protesters being removed for wrongful reasons. It seems T-shirts get under the skin of Trump supporters. In a piece I just read, there were a couple of you girls wearing Bernie and Hillary shirts. They were friendly with those sitting next to them even though they were Trump supporters, often exchanging comments in a civil, respectful manner. However, a group of rabble rousers were not content with these shirts in their midst. After numerous cat calls and threats, the befriended Trump supporters intervened and chastis…

Alrite so. I am 34 year old man and have never been able to fully grasp politics. I get the endgame, (at least in this country) that it does matter who runs the show and how that can affect your everyday life. But what i have had trouble grasping for years, is how do smart people get so passionate about these topics. Am i the idiot for not understanding politics, or have i mentally skipped that step in my brain to move onto bigger and better things (again, in my brain). I only bring this up as ive recently been introduced to a show labeled the young turks who do a youtube podcast about the most relevant and popular political videos. These people aren't dumb, t…

This isn't nearly as exciting as the Iowa caucuses. It's kind of stable with Sanders having ~56% and Clinton having ~40%. Though, at this point, only 9% of votes are in, so it might change. It's fairly static, so I doubt it, but it might.

The best statistic I have found for quick and dirty comparison is not lifespan, which varies by many factors, but length of survival after diagnosis with one of the few dozen major diseases that can kill you. It works for me because it incorporates, summarizes the net effects of, and corrects for, a whole lot of factors difficult to measure individually, including preventive care (early diagnosis), ability to afford therapy (such as drugs, better food, etc), quality of diagnosis and treatment (too early hospital release, home care etc), tendency to impose worthless or more expensive treatments and therapies for whatever reasons, poverty leading to increased disease…

This is where I chuck a hand grenade amongst the SFN milieu and scarper. Past and present, ignoring personal affiliation, who do you consider to have, or had, the intelligence, knowledge, pragmatism and integrity to steer the good ship America through a term or two but aren't or weren't President. I nominate Condaleeza Rice and Colin Powell. They strike me as having all the prior qualities. Bear in mind I'm not American, so I could be way off in assessment but long-distance they looked good. Like I said earlier, political leadership is about steering ones country through ensuing events; political ideology and dreams for ones party very rarely realise... thi…

The UK will be deciding, via referendum, whether to remain an integral part of the European community or to go it alone. What will be the pros and cons of either path? I've always had an 'island' mindset but, in the last few years, have come realise that the UK is probably one of the top four countries that carry the most international weight in the democratic world. I now don't think it would be responsible for us to withdraw back into our collectively island self. The world is, inexorably, becoming a global village and we would be in grave error to ignore this integration.

With the declining middle class, increasing corruption in politics, and a militarized police state, the USA isn't the nation of freedom it claims to be. Over the past couple years, access to clean water has become more of an issue. Poverty levels are high, and health care is not available to everyone. http://www.nationsonline.org/oneworld/third_world_countries.htm Water issues. Not Flynt this time.

"Good" kill, movie good to watch by americans especially.... http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3297330/ Wiki link https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Good_Kill ps The all "secrets".. It'll all be revealed sooner or later.. At the time you're all dead.. The sooner you think, the sooner you expect.. Regardless of faith..

This post was inspired by the death of Antonin Scalia and the apparent overt political leanings of his profession in the US which can ultimately decide policy. I'd like to focus on the weight the judiciary carries in political policy via test cases. I found this UK article about the appointment of a then-new UK Supreme Court judge in 2011. He had a lot to say about the importance of the judiciary's influence on government policy. Do you think that this approach that government should make policy and not by judges? Here's the thrust of what I'm on about. It's worth reading the page for more detail: Note the difference (bolded) between the required political i…

A nice summary of the data was published today over at fivethirtyeight.com, the site launched by Nate Silver of freakishly accurate election predicting fame. http://fivethirtyeight.com/datalab/heres-what-the-gender-pay-gap-looks-like-by-income-level/ A few relevant tidbits: * The average woman would have had to work all last year and into April this year to earn as much as the average man did in 2014 alone. * The gap is largest at the 95th percentile, with women earning only 79 percent of what men earn in the same income level. The narrowing of the wage gap for low-income earners is largely due to the minimum wage, which is the same for men and …

Im sorry if this could be a pathetic idea, and please correct me if there's a problem. If we hide the identities of presidential runners, would people double think on who their voting for. People wouldn't think of race or gender, so their forced to listen to the presidential runners words, skills, abilitys, etc. Viewed Equality. Also this way, the runners can't play their gender and or race, as a playing card.

The Iowa caucuses started. Who do you think will be the winners in each party? For those that don't know, a caucus isn't a voting situation. It's not a five minute thing where you go in and write your name on a piece of paper. It's more like in cartoons when someone really draws a line in the sand and everyone picks a side. The doors close at 7pm. At 7, everyone goes off to their candidate's corner (if they're not undecided). A preliminary count is done. If a candidate doesn't get a certain percentage of the people, they aren't qualified to caucus and their people enter the undecided group. At this point, the debating begins. Everyone tries to get the undecide…

That's the number of people killed so far this year by police in the USA - well it was when the original Guardian article was written. In the intervening days it has gone up to 519 The Counted http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/jun/18/us-states-police-use-of-force-standards-amnesty The full report is here http://www.amnesty.org.uk/webfm_send/1515 http://www.amnesty.org.uk/deadly-force-police-violence-usa#.VYLBrflVhBd

It now appears that the perpetrators of several co-ordinated attacks in the French capital were indeed Islamic fundamental terrorists. My deepest sympathies for the French people. I was almost hoping the violence was due to wacky global warmers ( yes there are some of those ) ahead of the global climate summit in two weeks. These actions will just ratchet up fear in Europe, and the people who suffer most will be Muslims trying to flee Syria and ISIS. I can see a lot of borders being shut in Europe at a time when these refugees need help. Charlie is crying again.

Which country do you think is the most serious geopolitical and military rival of U.S. and who will be in 20 or more years? Which country should be the main concern of U.S. strategic institutions?

Today, SCOTUS announced that they're leaving the assault weapon ban in place. Do you think having more mass shootings than days this year had any influence in their decision?

Turkey has shot down a Russian war plane that violated it's territory airspace. Turkey has called for an emergency meeting of NATO over this issue and Russia is of course screaming innocence and reportedly Putin is somewhat less than happy. Any thoughts on how this is going to play out ? Personally I think the situation is quite dangerous and could prompt armed conflict with NATO and of course the US as well. Thoughts?

There is a world-wide religious tyranny going on without most people aware of it. Atheists and agnostics must keep quiet while the religious spectacle is played out, over and over. People are forced into religion at birth. I remember Ronald Reagan saying "Freedom of religion does not mean freedom FROM religion." Sounds like everybody should join some religion or not be a good person. Let me explain using my own experience with the religion of my birth, Catholicism. I was raised by good, devout Catholic parents who stayed together for 50 years until my mom passed away at age 86. In grammar school we learned the Catholic prayers. Among these prayers are the…

Thread, "China claims most of the South China Sea, through which more than $5 trillion of world trade transits every year. Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, the Philippines and Taiwan have rival claims.​" Was from an article on U.S planned missions to fly within 12 miles of the islands China is building in the South China Sea. All the talk is political in nature, in terms of who has sovereignty over the area. I am wondering what the biologists think about island building. How is it done? It seems China would have to mine the close to the surface coral from nearby areas to gain the material with which to build up a target area. Would this not kil…