You forgot to mention that the vote to impeach Dilma was very questionable to start with. The grounds for impeachment were dubious to start with (accounting tricks that had been used by at least both her immediate predecessors, although admittedly on a much smaller scale). Then add the fact that most of the people who voted yes did not even mention the impeachment charges as the reason for their vote. Finally, add the fact that most of the people who voted to impeach her are provably more corrupt than she is. Most are either indicted or under investigation for various crimes.
As unpopular as Dilma may be (and she is, certainly), this process still stinks (of a coup d'etat - it doesn't always have to be executed through violence) and casts an even heavier shadow over Brazilian democracy, government, and its various institutions than the one that had long been there.
Agreed, and guess what? We have mostly the Clintons to thank for initiating this move to the center(-right) of the Democrats. They were (in)famous for "triangulating", i.e. adopting conservative ideas to win elections (ex: death penalty, incarceration, welfare, deregulation, etc). It's one of the reasons that conservatives hated them right away when they came into power (stole their thunder), and it's one of the reasons why any self-respecting liberal should not vote for Hillary. The Clintons started the Democrats (back) down the slippery slope to the right.
CNN, Fox, and MSNBC can hardly be called "news" outlets anymore. This was one of the top stories on NPR this morning though, and also on Marketplace, a national business/money-oriented public radio show.
You shouldn't be depressed about those things because: 1. Police officers are much more likely than a private citizen to have frequent, recent training in handling the gun, as well as dealing with dangerous scenarios where they would need to use them. 2. There is no way to tell if the person you spotted carrying the concealed weapon is a criminal or a law-abiding citizen, so it is wise to be afraid whenever you see someone with a concealed weapon (also see #3). 3. Being near any person carrying a gun makes you statistically more likely to be seriously injured or killed.
It never ceases to amaze me that whenever the price of gas goes down for a while Americans assume that the price will stay low for a long time. Then they run out and make long-term decisions, like buying cars, based on that assumption.
However, I would add that the poll doesn't seem to prove or even really suggest that the cause for the decrease in support for nuclear energy has anything to do with the price of gas. The article only appears to assume that that is the case, so it's no better.
Interestingly, what you described couldn't happen in California since 1978 because there is a state law that limits property tax rate amounts and increases, and also only allows reevaluation of the property value when the property is transferred.
It's not BS. Perhaps you haven't been watching very closely, but these voter ID laws are indeed being actively used to disenfranchise many mostly poor, minority voters. Alabama, for instance, passed its voter ID law then promptly closed the DMV offices in most of its majority poor, black counties.
Just how many hoops do you want people to jump through to be able to exercise their right to vote, especially when voter fraud is by all accounts minimal? A lot more people are being disenfranchised than alleged voter fraud is being prevented. But that kind of egregious distortion of the electoral system suits those who don't like that poor and minority voters can vote, such as yourself (because you disapprove of which way they vote), just fine, doesn't it?
Are you sure that it even takes a public information request? There are sites on the internet that aggregate public employee salary data and make it available through a simple google search. My salary and my co-workers' salaries are available for anyone to see through such a search because we work for a public state university. It even includes previous years' salary data. In fact, a google search for just my name brings a link to my salary on findthedata.com within the first page of results!
I agree with most of what you say, except I don't quite understand your point about respect for polite behavior. It seems to me that several countries that are more advanced and civilized and less violent than the US accept less polite behavior. Can you explain what you mean?
Yeah, I'm also voting for the second option (America failing as a civilization).
Yes, there are many terrible cops should not be cops in the US, but the majority of them are actually not terrible. You have to realize that cops are thrown into an environment where they might be genuinely in fear for their lives a good part of the time.
Think about the current situation in the US:
1. Almost no gun control, which means that virtually anyone anywhere may be armed to the teeth.
2. Poor access to education for large segments of the population, which means that the population at large and the cops don't generally have a very good or high-level of education, which, in turn can lead to elevated levels of violence. For instance, there was a recent study that demonstrated a pattern that cops with only a high-school education are more likely to use force than cops with a college degree, and most cops don't have a college degree.
3. There's a dangerously low amount of social services, and a particularly egregious lack of certain services like public psychiatric wards (I understand that this was thanks to Saint Reagan). This means that there are many honestly, completely crazy people roaming the streets. I have personally seen many, many, many schizophrenic people running around yelling at themselves, or making other crazy noises and gestures on the streets. It's very, very sad.
4. Historic racial, and class tensions in the US, which means that people already come into this with pre-conceived notions about the other.
5. America has a LOT of poverty. This amplifies every problem listed above.
Put all these factors together and you have a recipe for disaster, which is exactly what we have been seeing. I don't blame the cops in general - like I said, there are some bad apples, but they are generally in a very, very tough situation
I find that Prius drivers in my area seem to be some of the most aggressive, pedal to the medal drivers around. I imagine that they're probably getting nowhere near the advertised gas mileage out of them.
If they could have predicted this poll, they probably would have just said "fuck it", packed up, and gone home, instead of fighting for independence from England.
While I agree that any toddler who shoots a gun accidentally should be automatically taken away from their parents, there are some flaws with your argument:
1. If guns are similar to hazardous chemicals, why don't guns require gun locks like hazardous chemicals do (child-proof lids)? Hint: gun lobby fights any effort in this direction.
2. Guns are many, many times deadlier than kitchen knives, electrical outlets, heavy objects, or hard floors.
It sounds like they went way beyond that. A comment on Jalopnik says:
According to the report from the EPA, it used figures such as steering wheel input, barometric pressure, engine run-time, wheel speed, etc, to determine it was being tested on a dyno.
I think VW is going to be in a world of hurt over this. Apparently their 2016 models are already being held at the port and cannot be delivered to dealers.
I wouldn't even say that 110V hurts a lot either. It just feels really weird, and makes your muscles clench on their own. I've been shocked by 110V several times.
That may be true for top college football teams, but I have a hard time believing that a third-class football team at Podunk State is anything but a drain on the school's finances.
It's very sad to hear that your parents tried to steer you away from your natural interests that way. I hope that you were able to work past their influence and get some fulfillment of your interests. Since you're posting to Slashdot, I figure that you probably did one way or another.
RedSteve's reply above mine is right: Vector Calculus and and (intro) Art History classes are in no way equivalent. The College Algebra or Intro Statistics that Liberal Arts majors are required to take IS roughly equivalent to the Art History (or other Liberal Arts GE classes) that STEM majors are required to take.
TV shows cost a LOT more money to make than books, so they have a much, much higher threshold of money that they need to generate to be viable. Consequently, that means that the market can bear a lot fewer TV shows than books.
Yes, I had a classic case of misremembering some details of the story and not double-checking before posting! Sorry. I just wanted you to read the original post since it touched some of the points that you were making, but went into a lot of detailed analysis.
I noticed after posting that someone had already posted the same story further down and been modded +5 too.
Slashdot Mirror
You forgot to mention that the vote to impeach Dilma was very questionable to start with. The grounds for impeachment were dubious to start with (accounting tricks that had been used by at least both her immediate predecessors, although admittedly on a much smaller scale). Then add the fact that most of the people who voted yes did not even mention the impeachment charges as the reason for their vote. Finally, add the fact that most of the people who voted to impeach her are provably more corrupt than she is. Most are either indicted or under investigation for various crimes.
As unpopular as Dilma may be (and she is, certainly), this process still stinks (of a coup d'etat - it doesn't always have to be executed through violence) and casts an even heavier shadow over Brazilian democracy, government, and its various institutions than the one that had long been there.
Agreed, and guess what? We have mostly the Clintons to thank for initiating this move to the center(-right) of the Democrats. They were (in)famous for "triangulating", i.e. adopting conservative ideas to win elections (ex: death penalty, incarceration, welfare, deregulation, etc). It's one of the reasons that conservatives hated them right away when they came into power (stole their thunder), and it's one of the reasons why any self-respecting liberal should not vote for Hillary. The Clintons started the Democrats (back) down the slippery slope to the right.
Examples, please, with links, if possible. Also, are you saying that Bernie supporters are tweeting more "misconceptions" than Hillary supporters are?
CNN, Fox, and MSNBC can hardly be called "news" outlets anymore. This was one of the top stories on NPR this morning though, and also on Marketplace, a national business/money-oriented public radio show.
You shouldn't be depressed about those things because:
1. Police officers are much more likely than a private citizen to have frequent, recent training in handling the gun, as well as dealing with dangerous scenarios where they would need to use them.
2. There is no way to tell if the person you spotted carrying the concealed weapon is a criminal or a law-abiding citizen, so it is wise to be afraid whenever you see someone with a concealed weapon (also see #3).
3. Being near any person carrying a gun makes you statistically more likely to be seriously injured or killed.
It never ceases to amaze me that whenever the price of gas goes down for a while Americans assume that the price will stay low for a long time. Then they run out and make long-term decisions, like buying cars, based on that assumption.
However, I would add that the poll doesn't seem to prove or even really suggest that the cause for the decrease in support for nuclear energy has anything to do with the price of gas. The article only appears to assume that that is the case, so it's no better.
Interestingly, what you described couldn't happen in California since 1978 because there is a state law that limits property tax rate amounts and increases, and also only allows reevaluation of the property value when the property is transferred.
Reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
A new take on his classic, Taxi Driver.
I would love to learn more about this. Do you have any links or other references that you can send my way?
It's not BS. Perhaps you haven't been watching very closely, but these voter ID laws are indeed being actively used to disenfranchise many mostly poor, minority voters. Alabama, for instance, passed its voter ID law then promptly closed the DMV offices in most of its majority poor, black counties.
http://www.theguardian.com/us-...
Just how many hoops do you want people to jump through to be able to exercise their right to vote, especially when voter fraud is by all accounts minimal? A lot more people are being disenfranchised than alleged voter fraud is being prevented. But that kind of egregious distortion of the electoral system suits those who don't like that poor and minority voters can vote, such as yourself (because you disapprove of which way they vote), just fine, doesn't it?
Good point!
Are you sure that it even takes a public information request? There are sites on the internet that aggregate public employee salary data and make it available through a simple google search. My salary and my co-workers' salaries are available for anyone to see through such a search because we work for a public state university. It even includes previous years' salary data. In fact, a google search for just my name brings a link to my salary on findthedata.com within the first page of results!
Let me guess: do you live in Chicago? Remember that some places are a lot worse with this than others.
I agree with most of what you say, except I don't quite understand your point about respect for polite behavior. It seems to me that several countries that are more advanced and civilized and less violent than the US accept less polite behavior. Can you explain what you mean?
Yeah, I'm also voting for the second option (America failing as a civilization).
Yes, there are many terrible cops should not be cops in the US, but the majority of them are actually not terrible. You have to realize that cops are thrown into an environment where they might be genuinely in fear for their lives a good part of the time.
Think about the current situation in the US:
1. Almost no gun control, which means that virtually anyone anywhere may be armed to the teeth.
2. Poor access to education for large segments of the population, which means that the population at large and the cops don't generally have a very good or high-level of education, which, in turn can lead to elevated levels of violence. For instance, there was a recent study that demonstrated a pattern that cops with only a high-school education are more likely to use force than cops with a college degree, and most cops don't have a college degree.
3. There's a dangerously low amount of social services, and a particularly egregious lack of certain services like public psychiatric wards (I understand that this was thanks to Saint Reagan). This means that there are many honestly, completely crazy people roaming the streets. I have personally seen many, many, many schizophrenic people running around yelling at themselves, or making other crazy noises and gestures on the streets. It's very, very sad.
4. Historic racial, and class tensions in the US, which means that people already come into this with pre-conceived notions about the other.
5. America has a LOT of poverty. This amplifies every problem listed above.
Put all these factors together and you have a recipe for disaster, which is exactly what we have been seeing. I don't blame the cops in general - like I said, there are some bad apples, but they are generally in a very, very tough situation
I find that Prius drivers in my area seem to be some of the most aggressive, pedal to the medal drivers around. I imagine that they're probably getting nowhere near the advertised gas mileage out of them.
If they could have predicted this poll, they probably would have just said "fuck it", packed up, and gone home, instead of fighting for independence from England.
While I agree that any toddler who shoots a gun accidentally should be automatically taken away from their parents, there are some flaws with your argument:
1. If guns are similar to hazardous chemicals, why don't guns require gun locks like hazardous chemicals do (child-proof lids)? Hint: gun lobby fights any effort in this direction.
2. Guns are many, many times deadlier than kitchen knives, electrical outlets, heavy objects, or hard floors.
It sounds like they went way beyond that. A comment on Jalopnik says:
According to the report from the EPA, it used figures such as steering wheel input, barometric pressure, engine run-time, wheel speed, etc, to determine it was being tested on a dyno.
I think VW is going to be in a world of hurt over this. Apparently their 2016 models are already being held at the port and cannot be delivered to dealers.
I wouldn't even say that 110V hurts a lot either. It just feels really weird, and makes your muscles clench on their own. I've been shocked by 110V several times.
That may be true for top college football teams, but I have a hard time believing that a third-class football team at Podunk State is anything but a drain on the school's finances.
It's very sad to hear that your parents tried to steer you away from your natural interests that way. I hope that you were able to work past their influence and get some fulfillment of your interests. Since you're posting to Slashdot, I figure that you probably did one way or another.
RedSteve's reply above mine is right: Vector Calculus and and (intro) Art History classes are in no way equivalent. The College Algebra or Intro Statistics that Liberal Arts majors are required to take IS roughly equivalent to the Art History (or other Liberal Arts GE classes) that STEM majors are required to take.
TV shows cost a LOT more money to make than books, so they have a much, much higher threshold of money that they need to generate to be viable. Consequently, that means that the market can bear a lot fewer TV shows than books.
Yes, I had a classic case of misremembering some details of the story and not double-checking before posting! Sorry. I just wanted you to read the original post since it touched some of the points that you were making, but went into a lot of detailed analysis.
I noticed after posting that someone had already posted the same story further down and been modded +5 too.