Americans are bracing for a summer of racial disturbances around the country, such as those that have wracked Baltimore, with African Americans and whites deeply divided about why the urban violence has occurred, a new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll has found.
A resounding 96% of adults surveyed said it was likely there would be additional racial disturbances this summer, a signal that Americans believe Baltimore’s recent problems aren’t a local phenomenon but instead are symptomatic of broader national problems.
When asked to explain recent events in Baltimore and other cities that have seen confrontations between police and members of the African-American community, blacks and whites viewed the situation differently.
Asked to choose between two possible explanations for recent events, 60% of blacks said they reflected “long-standing frustrations about police mistreatment of African Americans.” Some 27% of black respondents said the disturbances were caused by people who used protests over an African American man dying in police custody “as an excused to engage in looting and violence.”
But among whites, the balance of opinion flipped: 58% said people were seizing an excuse to loot, while 32% said the events reflected long-standing frustrations with police. (Read more from “U.S. Split Along Racial Lines on Backlash Against Police, Poll Finds” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2015-05-04 03:56:002015-05-04 03:56:00U.S. Split Along Racial Lines on Backlash Against Police, Poll Finds
While Surgery bots like Da Vinci XI are already letting doctors perform surgery through machines, we could see humans teleoperating robots from greater distances in the future. Say, for example, a doctor in London operating on someone in Mumbai, or a human operating a robot on Mars. But what goes on in your brain when you’re under the illusion of embodying a robot?
In a study published today, researchers at Sweden’s Karolinksa Institute set out to answer that question by creating an out-of-body illusion where volunteers were “teleported” into a foreign body with the help of virtual reality headsets. Brain activity was then measured as they experienced this illusion.
“This experiment is a brain imaging experiment. We’re interested in the brain mechanisms that give rise to the feeling that you’re inside your body,” said co-author of the study and cognitive neuroscientist Henrik Ehrsson over the phone.
In the experiment, 15 volunteers were asked to lie on the bed inside a MRI scanner. They wore VR headsets through which they saw a stranger’s body—also lying in the same room—being stroked by a paintbrush, while the same actions were performed on their own body. This technique was similarly used in an earlier “phantom limb” experiment, where a participant’s real hand was stroked at the same time as adjacent empty space (an “invisible hand”), leading them to feel that the invisible hand was actually part of their body.
According to lead author of the study, Arvid Guterstam, the brain merges the sensation of touch and visual input from the new perspective in a matter of seconds. This results in the illusion of “owning the stranger’s body and being located in that body’s position in the room, outside the participant’s physical body,” he said in a press statement. (Read more from “Scientists Used Virtual Reality to Teleport People Into Different Bodies” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2015-05-04 03:55:422015-05-04 03:55:42Wild Science: Virtual Reality Used to Teleport People Into Different Bodies [+video]
The authors of our Bill of Rights included the Fourth Amendment because they knew that one of the best protections against tyranny is to limit the government’s power to search its citizens.
Specifically, the Framers wanted to ensure that the federal government could not issue broad general warrants that would empower the executive branch to indiscriminately rummage through the private lives of American citizens — in other words, to spy on them. Unfortunately, that is exactly what the National Security Agency is doing today.
No, the NSA is not secretly taping every American’s phone calls. But it is collecting the “metadata” — who called whom and when — for every one of those calls. By themselves, each of these data points may look a lot like a harmless business records. That is why in 1979, before technology made it possible to aggregate those data points, the Supreme Court held in Smith v Maryland that the government could collect them without a warrant.
But when those data points are compiled by the thousands on just one person, or by the trillions on Americans as a whole, it becomes a different question entirely. Last year researchers at Stanford University found that metadata like that collected by the NSA under Section 215 of the Patriot Act could be used to uncover a lot of private information about a person, including his politics, what medications he takes, where he goes to church, and more. In short, this metadata can be used to paint a fairly complete picture of the private lives of every person in this country.
In a perfect world we could trust that the federal government would not abuse this power. But we do not live in that world.
In short, this metadata can be used to paint a fairly complete picture of the private lives of every person in this country.
In 2012, the director of National Intelligence, James Clapper, testified under oath before the United States Senate that the NSA was not collecting data on hundreds of millions of Americans. When it was later revealed that the NSA was doing just that, and had been for over a decade, Clapper admitted to the Senate Intelligence Committee that his earlier testimony was “clearly erroneous.”
If the government’s highest officials are willing to testify falsely under oath about domestic surveillance, we simply cannot trust them with the power to construct a massive database of every American’s telephone and e-mail communications.
That is why I am co-sponsoring the USA Freedom Act with Senate Judiciary Committee ranking member Patrick Leahy (D., Vt.) as well as Senators Dean Heller (R., Nevada), Dick Durbin (D., Ill.), Ted Cruz (R., Texas), Al Franken (D., Minn.), Lisa Murkowski (R., Alaska), Richard Blumenthal (D., Conn.), Steve Daines (R., Mont.), and Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.). House Judiciary Committee chairman Bob Goodlatte (R., Va.), Ranking Member John Conyers (D., Mich.), Representative Jim Sensenbrenner (R., Wisc.), and Representative Jerry Nadler (D., N.Y.) are introducing an identical bill in the House.
Our bill bans the bulk collection of domestic-telephone and e-mail records while still maintaining the government’s ability to collect necessary intelligence in a more targeted and traditional manner. And we need to act fast. (See “It’s Time to End NSA’s Bulk Collection of Americans’ Metadata”, originally posted HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2015-05-04 03:55:002015-05-04 03:55:00It’s Time to End NSA’s Bulk Collection of Americans’ Metadata [+video]
One of the most commonly-prescribed drugs in America is causing severe and painful reactions to hundreds of thousands of people taking it, according to research done by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and medical doctors around the country.
The line of antibiotics is called fluoroquinolones. They are more commonly referred to by their product names or sponsors, which are:
Albuquerque resident Joanne Corwin used Cipro® four years ago for an uncomplicated urinary tract infection. By the 12th pill, Joanne told KOB 4 her body was rejecting it in the most painful and agonizing way . . .
Fluoroquinolones are like the bazookas in the arsenal of antibiotics. They are very strong and often doctors will prescribe them to treat minor infections. But it’s like using a cannon to kill a fly. (Read more from “Common Antibiotic Linked to Serious, Potentially-Deadly Side Effects” HERE)
A Queens ex-con was arraigned on attempted-murder charges Sunday after allegedly shooting a plainclothes NYPD cop in the head, leaving him clinging to life.
Suspect Demetrius Blackwell, who appeared in Queens Criminal Court in a torn prison jumpsuit — his legs shackled and his hands cuffed behind his back — did not enter a plea and was held without bail. His next court date is Friday.
The officer he is accused of shooting, Brian Moore, 25, took a turn for the worse early Sunday after surgery to relieve pressure on his brain, and distraught family members were rushing to his side, sources said.
Moore is the fifth NYPD officer to be shot in as many months.
A four-year department veteran from a police family, Moore was driving with his partner by the intersection of 212th Street and 104th Avenue in Queens Village at around 6:15 p.m. Saturday when the incident occurred. (Read more from “‘Cop Shooter’ Arraigned on Attempted Murder as Officer Clings to Life” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2015-05-04 03:52:442015-05-04 03:52:44‘Cop Shooter’ Arraigned on Attempted Murder as Officer Clings to Life
On Sunday, April 26th, Dr. Jerry Prevo, the pastor at Anchorage Baptist Temple, made the comment that Ethan Berkowitz had once said on his radio show that he ‘would not be opposed to a father marrying his own son.’
Roughly 24 hours later, the fill-in for my radio show on KFQD asked candidate for mayor, Amy Demboski, to comment on Pastor Prevo’s statement.
Laying in bed with a newborn in my arms, my phone began to ring – family, friends and media outlets… ‘Ethan Berkowitz was co- hosting the show with you, you were there. Is it true?’
It was a debate I had preferred not to engage in, but a conversation I remember well and a day I will never forget.
It was Monday, Oct. 13, 2014, Columbus Day. The topic was same-sex marriage. As I sparred with my co–host Ethan Berkowitz, I brought up the topic of incest. If the argument against incest was grounded in reproduction, and if reproduction was not a consideration in a same-sex marriage, then could a father marry his son?
Yes, a father should be able to marry his son, Mr. Berkowitz informed me. Surely, I thought, he could not be serious. Mr. Berkowitz went on to explain that ‘love is love’ and if it is through a marriage that a father felt he could best provide for, and exemplify his love for his son, then who are we to judge?
After more of an explanation than I could possibly wrap my thoughts around, I interrupted him and suggested he was crazy. Not appreciating the interruption or the labeling of his judgment, my co-host, who had been a friend and confidant, got up and walked out of the studio. It was a conversation I remember well and a day I will never forget.
To be clear, we were not talking about pedophilia. We were talking about a hypothetical regarding two grown men.
Individuals will draw their own conclusions and assign motivations. Did Mr. Berkowitz mean it? Did he get too far ahead of himself? Did he choose his words poorly? Those are questions Mr. Berkowitz must answer.
I don’t doubt that the audio file from that day’s radio show has been captured. And if and when it is released, you might just realize, Mr. Berkowitz’s comment, ‘I’m not going to dignify that with a response’, probably says and explains it all right there, perhaps even better than any audio.
The comments that Mr. Berkowitz made on Oct. 13, 2014, belong to him – and only he is in a position to explain them. It is not ‘politics of personal destruction’ nor should it be below him to offer clarity to voters regarding any issue, his values or his thought process.
It’s a given that every Republican presidential candidate will run for president as a strong supporter of gun rights.
But Texas Sen. Ted Cruz is arguing that the Second Amendment includes a right to revolt against government tyranny, a point of emphasis uncommon for mainstream presidential candidates.
“The 2nd Amendment to the Constitution isn’t for just protecting hunting rights, and it’s not only to safeguard your right to target practice. It is a Constitutional right to protect your children, your family, your home, our lives, and to serve as the ultimate check against governmental tyranny — for the protection of liberty,” Cruz wrote to supporters in a fundraising email on Thursday, under the subject line “2nd Amendment against tyranny.”
This “insurrectionist” argument, as Second Amendment expert and UCLA law professor Adam Winkler calls it, is popular among passionate gun owners and members of the National Rifle Association. But major party candidates for president don’t often venture there.
“Most presidential candidates who support Second Amendment rights focus on self defense. In the past many have also emphasized hunting,” said Winkler, author of the 2011 book Gunfight: The Battle over the Right to Bear Arms in America. “It’s pretty rare for a presidential candidate to support the right of the people to revolt against the government.” (Read more from “Ted Cruz: Americans Need Guns Just in Case They Need to Shoot the Government” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2015-05-02 02:45:042015-05-02 02:45:04Ted Cruz: Americans Need Guns Just in Case They Need to Shoot the Government
In a disturbing turn of events, the White House has warned that it will veto a proposed amendment that would demand release of Pastor Saeed Abedini and three other American citizens held prisoners in Iran before any final nuclear deal agreement is reached.
The American Center for Law and Justice called the Obama administration’s admittance “despicable” and “appalling.”
“That is simply unbelievable. Refusing to discuss the Americans being held hostage by Iran at the bargaining table and rejecting any congressional attempt to make any deal with Iran contingent on the release of the Americans is unacceptable. It’s quite frankly appalling,” the law group wrote in an update on Thursday.
“This is despicable. This is outrageous. And it is an insult to the captive Americans and their families,” it added.
White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest made the announcement on Wednesday after an ABC News reporter asked about the Corker Bill and amendments being debated by the U.S. Senate that would require Iran to release the captured U.S. citizens before any sanctions are lifted. (Read more from “Imprisoned Pastor Saeed Abedini Abandoned by President Obama” HERE)
Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee has weighed in on the Supreme Court’s arguments related to whether or not states can ban same-sex marriages. He made his comments in front of a crowd of Hispanic evangelicals . . .
According to Ashley Killough of CNN, Huckabee made his speech at the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, or NHCLC. He has argued that “our country’s in trouble because we lost our landmarks of faith.”
“I respect the courts, but the Supreme Court is only that — the supreme of the courts. It is not the Supreme Being. It cannot overrule God,” Huckabee said. “When it comes to prayer, when it comes to life, and when it comes to the sanctity of marriage, the court cannot change what God has created.”
Killough reported that Huckabee could announce his run on Tuesday for the 2016 presidency in Hope, Ark. He previously won the Iowa caucuses during his presidential run in 2008 thanks to support from Christian conservatives.
“Somebody’s got to be willing to take on the institutions that challenge and threaten our ability to believe as we believe, because when religious liberty is lost, all liberty is lost,” Huckabee said. (Read more from “Mike Huckabee Warns U.S. Supreme Court ‘Cannot Overrule God’ on Same-Sex Marriage” HERE)
By CBS Baltimore. Cheers erupted as City State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby announced that charges were being filed against the six officers involved in the apprehension, arrest and death of Freddie Gray. That feeling of elation reverberated through the streets of Baltimore, and especially the Penn-North neighborhood that was the scene of Monday’s riots, as residents applauded the decision to indict.
The scene of Pennsylvania and North avenues was much different than it was Monday, with crowds gathering in joy as opposed to disgust. There was jubilation at almost all four corners of the street, and at times some of the celebrants have taken over the eastbound roads of North Avenue.
People could be seen giving each other high-fives and hugging, while others simply lined the sidewalks to take in the chorus of car horns that blared repeatedly.
One Baltimore resident named Joe was overcome with his elation as he told WJZ’s Mike Schuh why he came to the intersection at North and Pennsylvania Avenue to celebrate.
“The city is phenomenal right now. Right now, it’s like Baltimore, thank you for listening, thank you for everyone constantly protesting for the betterment of the good. Everyone that’s being negative needs to stop being negative, it’s so simple as smiling at a baby, to let go of the nonsense,” he said. “It’s awesome, it’s super great.” (Read more from “Celebrations Begin in Baltimore as Some React to Officers’ Charges” HERE)
Sharpton Calls for the DOJ to ‘Take Over Policing’
By Ian Hanchett. Rev. Al Sharpton called for the Justice Department to “take over policing in this country” and stated “we’re going to have to fight states’ rights” in comments recorded by the Baltimore Sun on Thursday.
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2015-05-02 02:39:562015-05-02 02:39:56Celebrations Begin in Baltimore as Some React to Officers’ Charges [+video]
On Sunday, April 26th, Dr. Jerry Prevo, the pastor at Anchorage Baptist Temple, made the comment that Ethan Berkowitz had once said on his radio show that he ‘would not be opposed to a father marrying his own son.’
