Octopus Overlords

Defiant wrote:A New Parchment Declaration of Independence Surfaces. Head-Scratching Ensues.

But now, in a bit of real-life archival drama, a pair of scholars are announcing a surprising discovery: a previously unknown early handwritten parchment of the Declaration, buried in a provincial archive in Britain.

The document is the only other 18th-century handwritten parchment Declaration known to exist besides the one from 1776 now displayed at the National Archives in Washington. It isn’t an official government document, like the 1776 parchment, but a display copy created in the mid-1780s, the researchers argue, by someone who wanted to influence debate over the Constitution.

Holman wrote:

Unagi wrote:Is there some scandal behind/in front of him? (is that what you are saying?)

Everyone wants it to the first of many Russia-related indictments, but he probably just murdered a prostitute.

Max Peck wrote:So what is the power-couple name for Ivanka and Jared, anyway? Ivanred? Jarvanka?

I'm pretty sure that Steve's would have to be Satannon.

1. I desperately want Obama to congratulate Trump on taking almost as many days off as he has in the last three months. I know he won't, though.
2. I'm surprised that Trump hasn't tried to blame more of his problems on Obama. Maybe when he's not on vacation anymore, Trump will take more jabs at him?

Paingod wrote:I've read that Obama is wrapping up his long overdue 3-month long vacation and may have a speaking engagement soon. I had two thoughts.

1. I desperately want Obama to congratulate Trump on taking almost as many days off as he has in the last three months. I know he won't, though.
2. I'm surprised that Trump hasn't tried to blame more of his problems on Obama. Maybe when he's not on vacation anymore, Trump will take more jabs at him?

pr0ner wrote:If you're pro-life, there's no longer room for you in the Democratic Party.

Politically, this may not be the smartest move. The hardcore abortion supporters I know love it, though, so I guess there's that?

El Guapo wrote:

pr0ner wrote:If you're pro-life, there's no longer room for you in the Democratic Party.

Politically, this may not be the smartest move. The hardcore abortion supporters I know love it, though, so I guess there's that?

Yeah, I don't really get it. It's especially confusing since Sanders was just campaigning with the pro-life democratic candidate for mayor of Omaha and defending his decision to do so. I get how pro-choice groups want to agitate about it, but if this isn't coming from either the centrists or the progressive wing of the party, what exactly is the constituency for this announcement?

Of course, there are several democrats who basically are personally pro-life but whom support abortion rights as a matter of policy (Joe Biden, for example). I assume / hope that's ok under this.

Semi-related, I can't wait for the inevitable primary challenge to Manchin causing democrats to fail to retake the Senate.

“Kudos to Chair Tom Perez and the DNC for recognizing that we are a stronger party when we stand for our core values,” she said in a statement to The Huffington Post. “Women across the country who are, and have always been, the heart and soul of the Party, are breathing a sigh of relief to know that the DNC has our backs, and we look forward to a day when we don’t have to fight this fight again.”

Paingod wrote:What would it take to strip out the completely broken "Party" system we have and just put "People" on the ballet and make the voters decide without special color-coding?

Paingod wrote:What would it take to strip out the completely broken "Party" system we have and just put "People" on the ballet and make the voters decide without special color-coding?

Donald Trump's daughter Ivanka was met with groans as she defended her father's attitude towards women at the G20 women's summit in Berlin.

The First Daughter was taking part in a panel discussion about female entrepreneurs alongside German chancellor, Angela Merkel, and IMF chief Christine Lagarde.

But the audience bristled at her praise for the US president.

The event is part of the G20 women's summit.

An audible groan went up as she told the room her father was a "tremendous champion of supporting families and enabling them to thrive".

Holman wrote:

Paingod wrote:What would it take to strip out the completely broken "Party" system we have and just put "People" on the ballet and make the voters decide without special color-coding?

Wouldn't parties spontaneously regenerate as it became clear which candidates supported which other candidates?

Max Peck wrote:Apparently not everyone loves Ivanka as much as Rip and China do.

Groans as Ivanka defends Trump in Berlin

Donald Trump's daughter Ivanka was met with groans as she defended her father's attitude towards women at the G20 women's summit in Berlin.

The First Daughter was taking part in a panel discussion about female entrepreneurs alongside German chancellor, Angela Merkel, and IMF chief Christine Lagarde.

But the audience bristled at her praise for the US president.

The event is part of the G20 women's summit.

An audible groan went up as she told the room her father was a "tremendous champion of supporting families and enabling them to thrive".

El Guapo wrote: Yup. Our constitutional system was designed with the idea that people would just vote for individuals and that there would not be tightly knit political parties, but of course such parties sprang up anyway. Because of course that's inevitable - it takes a lot of organization to campaign for people, policies, etc., nationwide, so people need to band together to accomplish that effectively (in addition to the screening functions for voters). So if the parties disappeared tomorrow, as you say they would quickly re-form.

In fact, that's one of the ways our political system is (over the long run) pretty borked - it's not really built to function well in a partisan environment without certain semi-irrational political norms which are steadily breaking down over time.

Defiant wrote:Obama will earn $400K for one of his first paid speeches: report

Good lord, we better hope he never becomes President.

It all started when Mats’s wife received a red-light camera ticket, which sparked Mats’s interest in how exactly yellow lights are timed.

He did a little Googling and found the formula used to set traffic-light times. The length of time a traffic light stays yellow is based on a relatively straightforward mathematical formula, originally drafted in 1959. Mats realized that the formula is incomplete, because it fails to capture the behavior of drivers making right turns. After developing a modified formula and even corresponding with one of the formula’s original creators, Mats started to reach out to others in the scientific community, government officials, and the media.

Mats’s work was generally met with interest and praise, but when Mats e-mailed the Oregon State Board of Examiners for Engineering and Land Surveying, things took an abrupt illegal U-turn. The Board told Mats they had no interest in hearing about his ideas. Fair enough. But the Board didn’t stop there. They launched a full-blown investigation, alleging that he’d engaged in the unlicensed “practice of engineering.”

After a two-year-long investigation, the Board fined him $500. According to the Board, “critiquing” the length of yellow lights and talking about his ideas with “members of the public” made Mats a lawbreaker because he’s not an Oregon-licensed professional engineer.

Now, Mats is fighting back, with a civil-rights challenge in federal court. He is asking the courts to hold that Oregon’s engineering laws violate the First Amendment in two ways.

First, however complex a topic may be, the government can’t give to state-licensed experts a monopoly on exchanging ideas. Yet Oregon law does just that. Mats, for example, cares about the fairness of traffic-light timing, a topic that has fueled nationwide debate. But unless he spends years qualifying as a state-licensed professional engineer, “critiquing” the math behind traffic lights will expose him to civil and even criminal penalties.[10]

That’s unconstitutional. The state can require someone to get a license before they design a bridge, or a skyscraper, or a traffic circle. But Oregon’s engineering board has warped that unremarkable power beyond recognition by taking aim at ordinary people, like Mats, who care about their communities and want to speak freely about issues that matter to them.

...

Second, Oregon’s regulation of the word “engineer” is unconstitutional as well. To most English-speakers, the noun “engineer” might signify any number of jobs, skills, credentials, degrees, or accomplishments, from someone with an engineering degree to someone who operates a locomotive.

For everyday Oregonians, however, it is illegal to describe yourself as an “engineer” unless you’re a state-licensed professional engineer. This ban on ordinary human discourse cannot be squared with the First Amendment.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is warning Democrats not to push for the inclusion of "poison pills" in a must-pass funding bill, with only days left to avoid a government shutdown.

"Our friends on the other side of the aisle sent me a letter asking for this bill to reject poison pill riders. I would suggest that if they take their own advice, we can finish this negotiation and produce a good agreement that both sides can support," McConnell said from the Senate floor.

Enough wrote:This will have a huge financial hit on colleges across the country. When public funding for higher ed started drying up (my alma matter receives 95% less funding from the state than when I was in school in the 90s) many turned to bolstering their international student population as a funding mechanism to make up for lost dollars. I guess we had better bone up on attracting out of state students if we have any desire for remaining a public university.

An information system manager can make $258,000 with UC, but $150,000 with other state agencies.

The audit said: “10 executives in the Office of the President whose compensation we analyzed were paid a total of $3.7 million in fiscal year 2014-15 — over $700,000 more than the combined salaries of their highest paid state employee counterparts.”

On benefits, the Office of the President provided a regular retirement plan but also offered its executives a retirement savings account into which the office contributes up to 5% of the executives’ salaries—about $2.5 million over the past five years, the audit found.

“The Office of the President also spent more than $2 million for its staff’s business meetings and entertainment expenses over the past five years—a benefit that the State does not offer to its employees except in limited circumstances,” the audit said..

The audit also said the Office of the President reimbursed questionable travel expenses, including a ticket for a theater performance and limousine services. One person spent $350 per night on hotel rooms, which is above the allowable standard for other state agencies.

Moliere wrote:Or stop paying administrators lavish salaries with sweet perks.

malchior wrote:

Moliere wrote:Or stop paying administrators lavish salaries with sweet perks.

So what you are saying is one University which is in one of the most expensive markets for labor in the country is a good approximation of hundreds of post-secondary learning institutions all across the country. Sounds legit.

Moliere wrote:

malchior wrote:

Moliere wrote:Or stop paying administrators lavish salaries with sweet perks.

So what you are saying is one University which is in one of the most expensive markets for labor in the country is a good approximation of hundreds of post-secondary learning institutions all across the country. Sounds legit.

This is the entire UC CA system, not just one University. How many anecdotes shall I provide before we call it a trend that college administrators are over compensated handing out degrees of questionable value?

Moliere wrote:

malchior wrote:

Moliere wrote:Or stop paying administrators lavish salaries with sweet perks.

So what you are saying is one University which is in one of the most expensive markets for labor in the country is a good approximation of hundreds of post-secondary learning institutions all across the country. Sounds legit.

This is the entire UC CA system, not just one University. How many anecdotes shall I provide before we call it a trend that college administrators are over compensated handing out degrees of questionable value?

El Guapo wrote:I stole $10,000 from the University of California

Moliere wrote:

El Guapo wrote:I stole $10,000 from the University of California

Saving in case the police need the evidence for later.

Moliere wrote:

malchior wrote:

Moliere wrote:Or stop paying administrators lavish salaries with sweet perks.

So what you are saying is one University which is in one of the most expensive markets for labor in the country is a good approximation of hundreds of post-secondary learning institutions all across the country. Sounds legit.

This is the entire UC CA system, not just one University. How many anecdotes shall I provide before we call it a trend that college administrators are over compensated handing out degrees of questionable value?

Enough wrote:Oh and our IT people don't make that kind of scratch here at all.

Moliere wrote:The UC example compared salaries for similar jobs between the UC and other state employees, not the private sector.

Enough wrote:I just realized that I sometimes get confused with malchior and Moliere, am I the only one?