In “Negrotown,” main characters Jordan Peele and Keegan-Michael Key imagine a utopia for black people where “you can walk the street without getting stopped, harassed or beat.” …
Mashable – Pointed ‘Key & Peele’ sketch slams police brutality
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
1971 Richard Nixon fired the first shot in what became known as the “war on drugs” by declaring them “public enemy number one”.
In America and the other rich countries that fought by its side, the campaign meant strict laws and harsh sentences for small-time dealers and addicts. In the poor, chaotic countries that supplied their cocaine and heroin, it meant uprooting and spraying coca and poppy crops, and arming and training security forces.
Billions of wasted dollars and many destroyed lives later, illegal drugs are still available, and the anti-drug warriors are wearying. In America and western Europe addiction is increasingly seen as an illness. Marijuana has been legalised in a few places. Several countries may follow Portugal, which no longer treats drug use as a crime.
But even as one drug war begins to wind down, another is cranking up across Asia, Russia and the Middle East …
As always, follow the money. Who profits from a War on Drugs?
Carl, an imperial wizard of a Southern-based Ku Klux Klan realm (or state-level group), takes aim with a pellet gun at a large cockroach (on the piece of paper just below the clock), while his wife and goddaughter try to avoid getting struck by a possible ricochet. …
see more crazy photos by Anthony S. Karen – A Day in the Life of the Ku Klux Klan, Uncensored
Any racist who does no harm, breaks no laws, should be encouraged to put on a goofy costume. It’s a free country.
But if they do break laws, they should be prosecuted severely.
… the Klan’s numbers are steadily dropping. This decline has been attributed to the Klan’s lack of competence in the use of the Internet, their history of violence, a proliferation of competing hate groups, and a decline in the number of young racist activists who are willing to join groups at all. …
David Hemenway, professor at the Harvard School of Public Health:
… to qualify for the survey the researcher should have published on firearms in a peer-reviewed scientific journal, and that he or she should be an active scientist — someone who had published an article in the last four years. I was interested in social science and policy issues, so I wanted the articles to be directly relevant. …
So,for example, one survey asked whether having a gun in the home increased the risk of suicide. An overwhelming share of the 150 people who responded, 84%, said yes. …
I also found widespread confidence that a gun in the home increases the risk that a woman living in the home will be a victim of homicide (72% agree, 11% disagree) and that a gun in the home makes it a more dangerous place to be (64%) rather than a safer place (5%). There is consensus that guns are not used in self-defense far more often than they are used in crime (73% vs. 8%) and that the change to more permissive gun carrying laws has not reduced crime rates (62% vs. 9%). Finally, there is consensus that strong gun laws reduce homicide (71% vs. 12%). …
LA Times – There’s scientific consensus on guns — and the NRA won’t like it
That all said, if you still want to own firearms, please handle them responsibly.
Neither myself or Obama is coming for your guns. 🙂
Gross Domestic Product has become the yardstick by which we measure a country’s success. But, says Michael Green, GDP isn’t the best way to measure a good society.
His alternative? The Social Progress Index, which measures things like basic human needs and opportunity. …
The Social Progress Index determines what it means to be a good society according to three dimensions: Basic Human Needs (food, water, shelter, safety); Foundations of Wellbeing (basic education, information, health and a sustainable environment); and Opportunity (do people have rights, freedom of choice, freedom from discrimination, and access to higher education?) …
Some countries over-perform on social progress relative to their GDP per capita. Costa Rica is the biggest aggregate over-performer, showing strength across all the dimensions. The key lesson here is that building social progress takes persistence. Costa Rica has had strong education, health and welfare systems for a long time, as well as a long democratic tradition. SPI measures outcomes — life expectancy, literacy rate — not inputs, like laws passed or money spent. There are no cheats or quick fixes
Saudi Arabia is the biggest underachiever. I’ve just arrived … Actually I’m scheduled to get to San Jose, Costa Rica May 1st, my first visit.
And many, in the past, were able to get away with it. It’s getting tougher now due to an increase in fact checking.
Bachmann was a fact-checker’s dream because she was prominent, she got lots of attention, and she didn’t mind throwing out easily disprovable statistics. …
Gov. Scott Walker is a leading candidate, right now, for the title of the candidate who lies most.
“More than eight in ten Americans (84%) say they have a favorable view of fact-checking …”
Rapid Growth
A second study found that fact-checking stories increased by 300 percent in the four years between the 2008 presidential election year and 2012. …
factcheck.org – Fact-Checking Is More Popular than Politicians
Here are three of the best sites:
• Washington Post Fact Checker
FactCheck.org is my favourite.
Nonsense perpetuated by the rich. 😦
“Trickle-down economics“, also referred to as “trickle-down theory”, chiefly and originally in United States politics, is the idea that economic benefits provided to businesses and upper income levels, or money appropriated by government via taxation, will indirectly benefit poorer members of society when the resources inevitably “trickle down” to them.
The term has been attributed to humorist Will Rogers, who said during the Great Depression that “money was all appropriated for the top in hopes that it would trickle down to the needy.
In more recent history, the theory is most closely identified with critics of the economic policies known as “Reaganomics” or laissez-faire. David Stockman, who as Reagan’s budget director championed these cuts at first but then became skeptical of them …
See this cartoon on Facebook.
Some children grow up in poverty, lacking food and sanitation, while others are born in countries where basic necessities are taken for granted. Photographer James Mollison came up with the project when he thought about his own childhood bedroom and how it reflected who he was. Where Children Sleep – a collection of stories about children from around the world told through portraits of their bedrooms – stemmed from his ideas.
16 Powerful Photos Of Children And Their Bedrooms From Across The World
I’m most worried for Joey, age-11, from Kentucky.
What could go wrong for this kid? 😦
Robin Wright was excellent again this year. As she always is. Directed two of the episodes.
Lars Mikkelsen is superb as Russian President Viktor Petrov (More evil than Putin!)
Michael Kelly as Doug Stamper should win any and all supporting actor awards this year.
Mahershala Ali is very believable as Remy Danton. Derek Cecil is superb too as Seth Grayson.
Spacey? Well. You love ‘im or you hate ‘im. I guess that’s great acting. It’s a very good role.
Even with the fairly unbelievable plot lines, House of Cards is must viewing.
