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- Yeah, in a Minute... is the personal dumping grounds of Paul Landry:
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News Gathering vs. Confirmation Bias
- Remember, if you do not have at least one source of news that you turn to regularly, with which you routinely disagree, then you are not practicing news gathering! You are practicing [confirmation bias].
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Science
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[S]cience is more than a body of knowledge; it is a way of thinking. I have a foreboding of an America in my children's or grandchildren's time – when the United States is a service and information economy; when nearly all the key manufacturing industries have slipped away to other countries; when awesome technological powers are in the hands of a very few, and no one representing the public interest can even grasp the issues; when the people have lost the ability to set their own agendas or knowledgeably question those in authority; when, clutching our crystals and nervously consulting our horoscopes, our critical faculties in decline, unable to distinguish between what feels good and what's true, we slide, almost without noticing, back into superstition and darkness.
The dumbing down of America is most evident in the slow decay of substantive content in the enormously influential media, the 30-second sound bites (now down to 10 seconds or less), lowest common denominator programming, credulous presentations on pseudoscience and superstition, but especially a kind of celebration of ignorance.
— Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark (New York: Ballantine Books, 1996) at p.32.
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[S]cience is more than a body of knowledge; it is a way of thinking. I have a foreboding of an America in my children's or grandchildren's time – when the United States is a service and information economy; when nearly all the key manufacturing industries have slipped away to other countries; when awesome technological powers are in the hands of a very few, and no one representing the public interest can even grasp the issues; when the people have lost the ability to set their own agendas or knowledgeably question those in authority; when, clutching our crystals and nervously consulting our horoscopes, our critical faculties in decline, unable to distinguish between what feels good and what's true, we slide, almost without noticing, back into superstition and darkness.
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Tag Archives: government
Vox: The fatal beating of Tyre Nichols, explained
Nicole Narea, Sean Collins, and Ellen Ioanes reporting for Vox: As Lauren Bonds, the executive director of the National Police Accountability Project, told Vox in an interview Friday, “so many of the high-profile police killings that we’ve seen in recent years have started out as a traffic stop — started out as an expired tag, […]
Also tagged bullshit, law enforcement
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Nearly Half of All Sheriffs in Louisiana Are Violating Public Records Laws
Richard A. Webster reporting for Verite News and ProPublica: Nearly half of Louisiana sheriffs are in violation of a state law regulating the preservation and destruction of public records, according to documents provided by state officials. The disclosure follows an article this month by Verite, also published by ProPublica, on accusations that the Jefferson Parish […]
Also tagged law enforcement, law/legal, politics
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Brutal.
The City of Memphis, Tennessee has released four videos on Vimeo depicting the police stop and beating of Tyre Nichols: Video 1 Video 2 Video 3 Video 4 These videos are absolutely fucking brutal. Heartbreaking.
Also tagged bullshit, law enforcement
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U.S. Insurrection +2 years
On this day in 2020, the U.S. Capitol was attacked by Trump-supporting domestic terrorists*. Full stop. Peter Wehner writing at The Atlantic: Two years ago today, a pro-Trump mob stormed the U.S. Capitol to stop the certification of the 2020 presidential election. Seven people died as a result of that attempt. More than […]
Election Deniers Were Among the Biggest Losers of the 2022 Midterms
Halle–fucking–lujah. Charlotte Alter, reporting for Time: The stakes could not have been higher. Across the country, Republican candidates who falsely say Donald Trump won the 2020 race ran for offices this year that would have put them in position to oversee elections in 2024. If an election-denier won an election-oversight job in a battleground state, […]
Also tagged politics, rational thought / critical thinking, reason
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Don’t Blame Migrants and ‘Open Borders’ for Fentanyl Entering the Country
Fiona Harrigan, writing at Reason.com: When politicians and pundits on the right call for the U.S.-Mexico border to be secured, they often point to rising fentanyl overdose deaths among Americans as justification. […] Despite the idea’s sticking power in certain circles, it’s inaccurate to say that undocumented immigrants crossing an open border are chiefly responsible […]
Remembering the ‘Faith-based Initiative’ we call 9/11 (2022)
I essentially re-post this every year: Those in authority should take appropriate precautions to protect our citizens. But we will not allow this enemy to win the war by changing our way of life or restricting our freedoms. (emphasis added) –George W. Bush, 43rd President of the United States, remarks made during press conference/photo opportunity […]
FRONTLINE: The Power of Big Oil
In an epic three-part documentary series, FRONTLINE investigates the decades-long failure to confront the threat of climate change and the role of the fossil fuel industry. Part One charts the fossil fuel industry’s early research on climate change and investigates industry efforts to sow seeds of doubt about the science. Part Two explores the industry’s […]
Also tagged environment/environmental, investigative journalism, news, politics, science
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Some States Could Tax Recipients of Student Loan Relief
Danielle Douglas-Gabriel reporting for the Washington Post: People in line to benefit from President Biden’s plan to cancel up to $20,000 in student loans could be taxed on the one-time relief depending on where they live. Mississippi, North Carolina and Indiana plan to levy state taxes on federal student loan forgiveness, while decisions in Wisconsin, […]
Slavery By Another Name
“[In the Spring of 1921, John S.] Williams [became] the first Southern white man since 1877 to be indicted for the first degree murder of an African American; it would not happen again until 1966.” — Slavery By Another Name (PBS 2012). PBS: Slavery by Another Name “resets” our national clock with a singular […]
Also tagged history, law/legal, politics, race/racism, tv
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