I've been in a courtroom just one time, as a witness to a minor car accident. Before the hearing the prosecutor confirmed with me what I put on the police report. And then proceeded to tell the judge the exact opposite.
People falsely think America is some kind of Democracy. It is not, it is a Constitutional Republic.
Oh, spare us that crackpot myth. The US is indeed a democracy. It is also a republic. The two are not mutually exclusive. "Republic" just means that it's not a monarchy.
Sure, the President is elected indirectly (but still democratically.) The same goes for the Prime Minister of Canada (a Parliamentary Democracy) and most other leaders of democracies.
Re: Re: Re: Re: Sure, there is. It's called "training the slaves to obey authority without question". Been written down and practiced since at least ancient Rome.
Well, that's what the invisible magic sky fairy says.
Nonsense. I was around in the early '70s. An interracial kiss was still a big deal even years later. Putting a Russian - in the age of anti-Soviet fears - on the bridge was a big deal. Let alone a black woman and an Asian as senior bridge crew.
Even Spock being interracial got pushback from the studio. I recall an interview with Gene Roddenberry where he described a studio exec telling him that having an alien on the show was expected, "but you wouldn't want your sister to marry one." Roddenberry realized that "he had created a whole new form of intolerance."
20 years later in 1986, Star Trek: The Voyage Home showing an east Indian starship captain was a big deal. It seems silly now, but back then a visible minority shown in in a command position - science fiction or otherwise - was a milestone for Hollywood.
By that standard you'd also have to include the US. Like the others it has constitutional protections that can't be overridden by government. And like the others those rights are nevertheless often overridden. Often based on the scare topic of the day.
(Just this morning I read a story about cartoonist Mike Diana, the first artist in the US to receive a criminal conviction for artistic obscenity. Among other punishments the court barred him from drawing for three years.)
Re: Sure, there is. It's called "training the slaves to obey authority without question". Been written down and practiced since at least ancient Rome.
Don't know where you get the notion that "scientific" must mean good
That'd come from a proper high-school science class. Where you're taught how to properly put a claim or theory to the test, with control groups and whatnot to avoid false conclusions and bias. Taught how to rule out - or acknowledge - other possible explanations. Taught to make your test repeatable by other independent testers to further rule out mistakes, deception and bias.
That includes the TSA methods described above. There's no scientific backing for it. Nazis, "legalizing state actions" and corporatocracy have nothing to do with science. Technology is only vaguely related.
You complain of "training the slaves to obey authority without question." Science class is all about teaching kids to question everything. Add a method for uncovering the truth and debunking garbage claims, and yes, it's a good thing.
I still don't see how ASIMIL8 is offensive or racist.
Think of the term "White Pride." An outsider with no awareness of its history would question why it's offensive when "Black Pride" isn't. Fill them in on the history of the term and those who tend it use it, and its a different matter.
The same goes for "All Lives Matter." True, and a commendable attitude. But it looks damned ugly when you look at the folks using it in denial of the well-documented added risks black people face from police.
In Canada, for the aboriginal population, "assimilation" is much the same. For them the term is about a century of children being seized and shipped off to residential schools to force them to assimilate into European culture. Kept away from their parent for years and forbidden to use their native language or practice their native culture. Often backed by physical and sexual abuse.
If a TV show popularized "White Pride" in a science fiction context and someone put it on their vehicle, sure, they should have every right to. But it's understandable that someone might object.
As far as I can make out, the understanding is that it's being portrayed as telling immigrants to 'assimilate to the local culture'.
Nope. It's about the forced assimilation of the aboriginal population. The residential school system was a big part of it. Created by the Department of Indian Affairs and administered by Christian churches for the purpose of removing children from the influence of their own culture and assimilating them into Canadian culture.
Being church-run, today those schools are known for their common sexual and physical assault.
More prison than school, the kids suffered from malnourishment and harsh discipline that would not have been tolerated in any other school system. Parents were often not allowed to visit, or were required to communicate with their children in English, which the parents often didn't know.
It was all about assimilation - that was the word often used - with physical violence for speaking their own languages or for practicing their own faith or culture.
The proposed law specifies an *aftermarket* concealed storage space. If it originally came with the car, it's OK.
Of course if your DieselGate vehicle is repaired with urea-based selective catalytic reduction - and they hide the diesel exhaust fluid tank rather than have it take up your trunk - that's aftermarket concealed storage. Massachusetts will have access to a database of cars with this modification.
Massachusetts Police gonna get themselves some Volkswagens!
Perhaps, but this is different. Trump is complaining about Sessions recusing himself and not shutting down the Russia investigations. Sessions is just trying to re-establish his delusional half-wit street cred required to be part of the Trump team.
It could've been worse. They could have had a Trump spokesman Stephen Miller look-and-sound-alike telling the press that "Our opponents, the media and the whole world will soon see as we begin to take further actions, that the powers of the [company] are very substantial and will not be questioned."
If you refer to tracking torrent downloads, how is it "a clear invasion of your privacy?" When you download a movie, you're publishing your IP address and saying "Send the file here!" and by default "Here's some other parts of the file for you!"
Reading the IP address you sent is no more an invasion of your privacy than reading the post you made above. And with that evidence in hand, in America at least, it's legal for the copyright enforce to demand the account holder of that IP address.
(Yes, after that it breaks down even without Prenda and Rightscorp style scams. Proving the user is impossible and even proving the account holder at that moment is unreliable.)
On the post: Exaggerated Claims And Out Of Context Tweets Used By Political Hopeful To Slap Restraining Order On Critic
Re:
I was not called as a witness.
On the post: Judge Tosses Vexatious Litigant Brett Kimberlin's Lawsuit Against Conservative Blogger
Re: Re: America
Oh, spare us that crackpot myth. The US is indeed a democracy. It is also a republic. The two are not mutually exclusive. "Republic" just means that it's not a monarchy.
Sure, the President is elected indirectly (but still democratically.) The same goes for the Prime Minister of Canada (a Parliamentary Democracy) and most other leaders of democracies.
On the post: There Is Simply No Scientific Backing For TSA's Behavioral Detection Program
Re: Re: Re: Re: Sure, there is. It's called "training the slaves to obey authority without question". Been written down and practiced since at least ancient Rome.
On the post: Winnipeg Man Has Vanity Plate Referencing Star Trek Recalled Over Complaints Of How Racist It Is
Re: Re: trek is dead
Nonsense. I was around in the early '70s. An interracial kiss was still a big deal even years later. Putting a Russian - in the age of anti-Soviet fears - on the bridge was a big deal. Let alone a black woman and an Asian as senior bridge crew.
Even Spock being interracial got pushback from the studio. I recall an interview with Gene Roddenberry where he described a studio exec telling him that having an alien on the show was expected, "but you wouldn't want your sister to marry one." Roddenberry realized that "he had created a whole new form of intolerance."
20 years later in 1986, Star Trek: The Voyage Home showing an east Indian starship captain was a big deal. It seems silly now, but back then a visible minority shown in in a command position - science fiction or otherwise - was a milestone for Hollywood.
On the post: Winnipeg Man Has Vanity Plate Referencing Star Trek Recalled Over Complaints Of How Racist It Is
Re: Re: So Friendly...
By that standard you'd also have to include the US. Like the others it has constitutional protections that can't be overridden by government. And like the others those rights are nevertheless often overridden. Often based on the scare topic of the day.
(Just this morning I read a story about cartoonist Mike Diana, the first artist in the US to receive a criminal conviction for artistic obscenity. Among other punishments the court barred him from drawing for three years.)
On the post: There Is Simply No Scientific Backing For TSA's Behavioral Detection Program
Re: Sure, there is. It's called "training the slaves to obey authority without question". Been written down and practiced since at least ancient Rome.
That'd come from a proper high-school science class. Where you're taught how to properly put a claim or theory to the test, with control groups and whatnot to avoid false conclusions and bias. Taught how to rule out - or acknowledge - other possible explanations. Taught to make your test repeatable by other independent testers to further rule out mistakes, deception and bias.
That includes the TSA methods described above. There's no scientific backing for it. Nazis, "legalizing state actions" and corporatocracy have nothing to do with science. Technology is only vaguely related.
You complain of "training the slaves to obey authority without question." Science class is all about teaching kids to question everything. Add a method for uncovering the truth and debunking garbage claims, and yes, it's a good thing.
On the post: Winnipeg Man Has Vanity Plate Referencing Star Trek Recalled Over Complaints Of How Racist It Is
Re: makes sense
Think of the term "White Pride." An outsider with no awareness of its history would question why it's offensive when "Black Pride" isn't. Fill them in on the history of the term and those who tend it use it, and its a different matter.
The same goes for "All Lives Matter." True, and a commendable attitude. But it looks damned ugly when you look at the folks using it in denial of the well-documented added risks black people face from police.
In Canada, for the aboriginal population, "assimilation" is much the same. For them the term is about a century of children being seized and shipped off to residential schools to force them to assimilate into European culture. Kept away from their parent for years and forbidden to use their native language or practice their native culture. Often backed by physical and sexual abuse.
If a TV show popularized "White Pride" in a science fiction context and someone put it on their vehicle, sure, they should have every right to. But it's understandable that someone might object.
On the post: Winnipeg Man Has Vanity Plate Referencing Star Trek Recalled Over Complaints Of How Racist It Is
Re: Re:
Nope. It's about the forced assimilation of the aboriginal population. The residential school system was a big part of it. Created by the Department of Indian Affairs and administered by Christian churches for the purpose of removing children from the influence of their own culture and assimilating them into Canadian culture.
Being church-run, today those schools are known for their common sexual and physical assault.
More prison than school, the kids suffered from malnourishment and harsh discipline that would not have been tolerated in any other school system. Parents were often not allowed to visit, or were required to communicate with their children in English, which the parents often didn't know.
It was all about assimilation - that was the word often used - with physical violence for speaking their own languages or for practicing their own faith or culture.
On the post: Winnipeg Man Has Vanity Plate Referencing Star Trek Recalled Over Complaints Of How Racist It Is
Re: So Friendly...
Hey, "Friendly Manitoba" fits on the plates. "Where the Industrial Despair of the East Meets the Agricultural Despair of the West", doesn't.
On the post: Your Robot Vacuum Cleaner Will Soon Collect And Sell Data About You And Your Home
iRobot CEO Colin Angle
On the post: Your Robot Vacuum Cleaner Will Soon Collect And Sell Data About You And Your Home
So I guess it'll still be doing its job.
On the post: $89 Billion AT&T, Time Warner Merger Approval Looking Likely Despite Trump Pledge To Block Deal
Re: Re:
On the post: $89 Billion AT&T, Time Warner Merger Approval Looking Likely Despite Trump Pledge To Block Deal
Re: Re:
Q: What's the difference between a used car salesman and a computer salesman?
A: The used car salesman at least knows when he's lying.
Granted, the same goes for a lot of old jokes.
A lawyer, a spy, a mob boss, and a money launderer walk into a bar. The bartender says: "You guys must be here to talk about adoption."
On the post: United Says TSA Wants All Comic Con Comic Books Searched; TSA Says 'Not Us'
The Only Valid Explanation
Anyone who says "It's not a comic book; it's a graphic novel" gets put on the no-fly list.
On the post: Verizon Throttles Netflix Subscribers In 'Test' It Doesn't Inform Customers About
Re: Can you hear me now?
They've stopped.
On the post: Massachusetts Lawmaker Wants To Make It A Felony To Have Secret Compartments In Your Car
Re: Spare Tire compartment
On the post: Massachusetts Lawmaker Wants To Make It A Felony To Have Secret Compartments In Your Car
Re:
Of course if your DieselGate vehicle is repaired with urea-based selective catalytic reduction - and they hide the diesel exhaust fluid tank rather than have it take up your trunk - that's aftermarket concealed storage. Massachusetts will have access to a database of cars with this modification.
Massachusetts Police gonna get themselves some Volkswagens!
On the post: DOJ Boss Promises The Return Of Everything That Didn't Work During The Last 40 Years Of Drug Warring
Re:
Perhaps, but this is different. Trump is complaining about Sessions recusing himself and not shutting down the Russia investigations. Sessions is just trying to re-establish his delusional half-wit street cred required to be part of the Trump team.
On the post: Moonton Responds To Copyright Infringement Suit From Riot Games By Threatening The Press With Lawsuits
Re:
It could've been worse. They could have had a Trump spokesman Stephen Miller look-and-sound-alike telling the press that "Our opponents, the media and the whole world will soon see as we begin to take further actions, that the powers of the [company] are very substantial and will not be questioned."
On the post: DHS Confirms There Will Be More And Greater Intrusiveness During Border Searches
Re: Re:
Reading the IP address you sent is no more an invasion of your privacy than reading the post you made above. And with that evidence in hand, in America at least, it's legal for the copyright enforce to demand the account holder of that IP address.
(Yes, after that it breaks down even without Prenda and Rightscorp style scams. Proving the user is impossible and even proving the account holder at that moment is unreliable.)
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