May 8 and 9, 2016


News and Views


http://www.cbsnews.com/news/ivy-league-professor-dubbed-plane-terrorist-for-math-equation/

Ivy League professor dubbed plane terrorist for math equation
CBS/AP
May 8, 2016, 8:16 AM

Photograph -- Guido Menzio CBS PHILADELPHIA


PHILADELPHIA - An Ivy League professor said his flight was delayed because a fellow passenger thought the math equations he was writing might be a sign he was a terrorist.

American Airlines confirms that the woman expressed suspicions about University of Pennsylvania economics professor Guido Menzio. She said she was too ill to take the Air Wisconsin-operated flight.

CBS Philadelphia reports the woman was sitting right next to Menzio and became alarmed when she looked over and saw him trying to relax by doing math.

Menzio said he was flying from Philadelphia to Syracuse on Thursday night and was solving a differential equation related to a speech he was set to give at Queen's University in Ontario, Canada. He said the woman sitting next to him passed a note to a flight attendant and the plane headed back to the gate. Menzio, who is Italian and has curly, dark hair, said the pilot then asked for a word and he was questioned by an official.

"I thought they were trying to get clues about her illness," he told The Associated Press in an email. "Instead, they tell me that the woman was concerned that I was a terrorist because I was writing strage [sic] things on a pad of paper."

Menzio said he explained what he had been doing and the flight took off soon afterward. He was treated respectfully throughout, he added. But, he said, he was concerned about a delay that a brief conversation or an Internet search could have resolved.

"Not seeking additional information after reports of 'suspicious activity' ... is going to create a lot of problems, especially as xenophobic attitudes may be emerging," he said.

American spokesman Casey Norton said the Air Wisconsin crew followed protocol to take care of an ill passenger and then to investigate her allegations. Norton wouldn't specify the details of the allegations, but said officials determined them to be non-credible. The woman was rebooked on a later flight.



About “sic” -- In case you ever wondered, to echo the wonderfully funny Henry Higgins, “what sort of word is that?” here’s what Wikipedia says:

“The Latin adverb sic ("thus"; in full: sic erat scriptum, "thus was it written")[1] inserted after a quoted word or passage, indicates that the quoted matter has been transcribed exactly as found in the source text, complete with any erroneous or archaic spelling, surprising assertion, faulty reasoning, or other matter that might otherwise be taken as an error of transcription.

The notation's usual purpose is to inform the reader that any errors or apparent errors in quoted material do not arise from errors in the course of the transcription, but are intentionally reproduced, exactly as they appear in the source text. It is generally placed inside brackets to signal that it is not part of the quoted matter.

Sic may also be used derisively, to call attention to the original writer's spelling mistakes or erroneous logic.[2]”



EXCERPT – CBS NEWS -- “An Ivy League professor said his flight was delayed because a fellow passenger thought the math equations he was writing might be a sign he was a terrorist. American Airlines confirms that the woman expressed suspicions about University of Pennsylvania economics professor Guido Menzio. She said she was too ill to take the Air Wisconsin-operated flight. …. He said the woman sitting next to him passed a note to a flight attendant and the plane headed back to the gate. Menzio, who is Italian and has curly, dark hair, said the pilot then asked for a word and he was questioned by an official. "I thought they were trying to get clues about her illness," he told The Associated Press in an email. "Instead, they tell me that the woman was concerned that I was a terrorist because I was writing strage [sic] things on a pad of paper." Menzio said he explained what he had been doing and the flight took off soon afterward. He was treated respectfully throughout, he added. But, he said, he was concerned about a delay that a brief conversation or an Internet search could have resolved. "Not seeking additional information after reports of 'suspicious activity' ... is going to create a lot of problems, especially as xenophobic attitudes may be emerging," he said.”


“American spokesman Casey Norton said the Air Wisconsin crew followed protocol to take care of an ill passenger and then to investigate her allegations.” Apparently the airline did correctly decide that the woman was hysterical or worse, and did not try to harshly interrogate the poor professor. There have been cases in the news about less intelligent actions on the part of airline personnel, however, and I agree with Menzio that the problem is increasing. Xenophobia is an inaccurate thinking pattern brought on by the ultimate “group-think” forms – fear and hatred of the “other” and group hysteria. This was probably a survival characteristic back in the early days of mankind, but it seems to me we can group together against a true and dangerous enemy without all that.

Remember the panic in the early 1950s when the supposed flying saucer landed at “Area 51?” It’s still a favorite topic of late night radio talk show hosts and insomniacs. Supermarket tabloids still mention it. That got my attention even at the age of 7 or so. It wasn’t just on the news. One of my neighbors asked Daddy about it in my presence and he pooh-poohed it. Lots of ordinary people around the country was frightened and talking about it. Those people were of the same types who exist to this day, largely because they are STILL poorly educated and possibly not even as intelligent as we Americans think ourselves to be.

In my opinion, though, the main problem, is that our high schools don’t teach much science, math, analysis or logic, and the result is an extreme form of gullibility which I both hate and fear. Many high schools, especially in ultraconservative parts of the country, actually teach doctrinaire religiously and politically fostered views that are highly antithetical to scientific and logical thought. They are actually destroying our native intelligence one person at a time. It is just my opinion, but I think this is because there has always been a cynical effort by very vocal and activist political radicals to produce citizens who are easily led and who will march with joy to the next war that comes up. Patriotism is our second most important religion in this country.

In addition, it has never been a majority of humans who have had very strong reasoning patterns, which really are required for scientific achievement. There have been and are today intellectual leaders, which is good. I can never forget, however, how men who reasoned independently and productively about the nature of how the world works (the world isn’t flat) were in some cases punished severely because their views openly disputed church doctrine. Humans are very intelligent about physical things like creating tools or atomic bombs, but only a (fairly large) minority can go very far beyond that. Of course another thing that is not being taught much in high school is philosophy. If every citizen were to go on to college coursework the situation wouldn’t be so bad, but they most frequently can’t afford it financially and can’t pass the entrance exams anyway. There are still a large minority who drop out of high school and end up looking for work with few qualifications to land well-paid jobs, hence the ongoing cycle of poverty and crime.

That isn’t just the fate of “poor” or racially “inferior” people, either. Poverty has nothing to do with innate IQ unless it involves things like the ingestion of lead paint, general lack of healthcare, poor nutrition and harsh/unloving parenting. Kids don’t learn logic, self-confidence, etc. from a parent whose only demand is that they “don’t talk back.” If we upgrade our PUBLIC schools and work harder to improve the home lives of the poor, it will really help. Unfortunately, that isn’t in sight right now. I do hope Hillary or Bernie will push for those things and Democratically inclined voters will elect better leaders at all levels of government. A good president is very, very important, but good legislators are probably even more so. Somehow we need to teach our citizens to buy more than “bling” with their money and support laws that promote societal progress. Nobody needs more than two cars. We as a people don’t value the right things to produce real social progress. I hope for better in the future.




http://www.cbsnews.com/news/philippines-presidential-election-candidate-rodrigo-duterte-donald-trump-style/

Philippines' own "Donald Trump" poised for election victory
AP May 9, 2016, 5:26 AM

Photograph -- Presidential candidate Rodrigo Duterte talks to the media before casting his vote at a polling precinct for national elections at a school in Davao city, southern Philippines, May 9, 2016. REUTERS
Play VIDEO -- Filipino families worry as China expands island territory
Photograph -- Philippine presidential candidate and Davao city mayor Rodrigo Duterte kisses the Philippine flag during a political campaign rally before the national elections at Rizal park in Manila, Philippines, May 7, 2016. REUTERS



MANILA, Philippines -- Millions of Filipinos lined up Monday in blazing heat to vote for a president that opinion polls show will likely be a foul-mouthed mayor who gained huge popularity with his pledges to kill criminals and end corruption within six months.

Weary of poverty, corruption and insurgencies in the hinterlands, voters are looking for a radical change at the top, and hope the man to lead it is Rodrigo Duterte, the 71-year-old mayor of the southern Davao city.

An ex-prosecutor, Duterte has peppered his campaign speeches with boasts about his Viagra-fueled sexual prowess and jokes about rape. But Duterte has successfully tapped into discontent and voters appear willing to overlook his foul language.

"All of you who are into drugs, you sons of bitches, I will really kill you," Duterte told a huge cheering crowd Saturday in his final campaign rally in Manila. "I have no patience, I have no middle ground, either you kill me or I will kill you idiots."

The brash Duterte, who has been compared to U.S. Republican presumptive nominee Donald Trump, has threatened to close down Congress and form a revolutionary government if legislators stonewall his government.

This has alarmed the political establishment, which fears that Duterte will squander the hard-won economic progress under outgoing President Benigno Aquino III. Aquino has called Duterte a threat to democracy, and likened him to Adolf Hitler.

Besides Duterte, former Interior Secretary Mar Roxas, backed by Aquino, and three other candidates are vying to lead one of Asia's liveliest democracies. More than 45,000 candidates are contesting 18,000 national, congressional and local positions in elections that have traditionally been tainted by violence and accusations of cheating, especially in far-flung rural areas. The results are not expected for at least 24 hours, perhaps longer.

At least 15 people have been killed in elections-related violence and more than 4,000 arrested for violating a gun ban, according to police.

"Let us show the world that despite our deep passion and support for our candidates, we can hold elections that are peaceful and orderly and reflect the spirit of democracy," said Aquino, who cast his ballot after standing in line for more than an hour with other voters in a Manila constituency.

Commission on Elections Chairman Andres Bautista said no major glitches were expected in the voting despite the massive logistical challenges. About 55 million Filipinos have registered to vote in 36,000 voting centers across the archipelago of more than 7,100 islands, including in a small fishing village in a Philippine-occupied island in the disputed South China Sea.

In final campaigning Saturday, Aquino warned voters that Duterte could be a dictator in the making and urged them not to support him. He cited the rise of Nazi leader Adolf Hitler as an example of how a despotic leader can gain power and hold on to it without public resistance.

Filipinos have been hypersensitive to potential threats to democracy since they rose in a 1986 "people power" revolt that ousted dictator Ferdinand Marcos, who faced allegations of plundering the poor country and condoning widespread human rights violations by state forces. In 2001, a similar uprising forced Joseph Estrada from the presidency over alleged large-scale corruption.

On the campaign trail, Duterte offered radical promises, including his bold anti-crime pledge and a plan to sail to China's new artificial islands in the disputed South China Sea and plant the Philippine flag there. The other candidates stuck to less audacious reforms.

Duterte's opponents - Roxas, Sen. Grace Poe, Vice President Jejomar Binay and Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago - have all criticized him for remarks that threaten the rule of law and the Philippines' hard-won democracy.

"Duterte is completely out of the system, he's out of the box," said political science Prof. Richard Heydarian of De La Salle University in Manila, adding that in the mayor's portrayal of social problems, "there is a gap between the rhetoric and reality but it's working, it's creating panic among a lot of people and rallying them behind Duterte."

Duterte built a political name with his iron-fist approach to fighting crime in Davao city, where he has served as mayor for 22 years. During the campaigning he joked about wanting to be the one to first rape an Australian missionary who was sexually abused and killed by inmates in a 1989 prison riot.

Despite his devil-may-care way with expletives, obscene remarks and allegations of corruption hurled against him, Duterte has led in election polls by more than 10 percentage points over Roxas and Poe. While it may be difficult for rivals to catch up, analysts say the race remains too close to call.

Aquino had a mixed record during his six-year term that ends in June. He presided over an accelerating economy, which had recorded one of the highest growth rates in Asia at an average of 6.2 percent between 2010 and 2015. He also introduced new taxes, more accountability and reforms, including in the judiciary, and cracked down on tax evaders.

But more than a quarter of the country's 100 million people remain mired in poverty, inequality is rampant and an immediate solution to decades-long Muslim and communist insurgencies in the south remains elusive.

Annual debt payments, some dating back to the Marcos years, and limited funds stymie infrastructure improvements and public services, including law enforcement, fueling frequent complaints.



“An ex-prosecutor, Duterte has peppered his campaign speeches with boasts about his Viagra-fueled sexual prowess and jokes about rape. But Duterte has successfully tapped into discontent and voters appear willing to overlook his foul language. "All of you who are into drugs, you sons of bitches, I will really kill you," Duterte told a huge cheering crowd Saturday in his final campaign rally in Manila. "I have no patience, I have no middle ground, either you kill me or I will kill you idiots." …. This has alarmed the political establishment, which fears that Duterte will squander the hard-won economic progress under outgoing President Benigno Aquino III. Aquino has called Duterte a threat to democracy, and likened him to Adolf Hitler. Besides Duterte, former Interior Secretary Mar Roxas, backed by Aquino, and three other candidates are vying to lead one of Asia's liveliest democracies. More than 45,000 candidates are contesting 18,000 national, congressional and local positions in elections that have traditionally been tainted by violence and accusations of cheating, especially in far-flung rural areas. The results are not expected for at least 24 hours, perhaps longer.”


This article is striking because this guy is NOT like Trump – he’s several times worse. It’s also interesting that they apparently have no way of narrowing down the number of delegates in the running by post, party, or locality; but vote for ALL candidates at once on the same day. No wonder it takes days to figure out who won. “Aquino has called Duterte a threat to democracy, and likened him to Adolf Hitler.” It’s a shame that Aquino is apparently not running this time.



http://www.cbsnews.com/news/earthquake-capital-of-continental-u-s-oklahoma/

Earthquake capital of continental U.S.: Oklahoma
May 06, 2016

Bill Whitaker reports on the high incidence of earthquakes in Oklahoma, where oil and gas production is injecting vast amounts of waste water into the earth.


Oklahomans are getting tired of the ground shaking under their feet. Last year, the state set a record for earthquakes with 907 registering a magnitude of 3 or more. It's causing anxiety, damage and residents to rethink one of the state's biggest industries -- oil and gas production -- which scientists say is causing nearly all the quakes. Bill Whitaker goes to Oklahoma, now the capital of earthquake activity in the continental U.S., to report the story for the next edition of 60 Minutes, Sunday, May 8 at 7 p.m. ET/PT.

"I woke up scared to death, praying that the house wouldn't fall down. I couldn't believe that the windows didn't shatter," says Melinda Olbert of a 4.3 quake in Edmund, Oklahoma, in December. She and Kathy Matthews, a friend and Edmund resident, are using smartphone apps to monitor the size and location of quakes around the state. "Cherokee, Enid, Fairview, Medford, Stillwater. All in one 24-hour period; one hour ago, one hour ago, two," Matthews tells Whitaker, who asks whether she is nervous. "It's no way to live. It's no way to live," she says.

Most of the quakes occurring on a daily basis are not as large as the one Olbert felt, but they can cause minor damage. The U.S. Geological Survey says earthquakes in Oklahoma have been rising steadily since 2009 with more than 2,000 of a magnitude of 3 or greater.

Mark Zoback, a professor of geophysics at Stanford University, says the seismic activity is a consequence of oil and gas industry production -- Oklahoma's biggest economic engine. "What we've learned in Oklahoma is that the earthquakes that are occurring in enormous numbers are the result of waste water injection," he says. Wells drilled for the commodities bring up waste water along with the oil and gas that must be disposed of. Well operators send it back down into the earth, deep below freshwater aquifers to a zone that sits on top of the granite basement that is rife with earthquake faults.

"The water pressure is seeping into the faults," explains Zoback. "The fault is clamped shut and the water pressure sort of pushes the two sides of the fault apart and allows the slippage to occur today, when it might not occur for thousands of years into the future." He tells Whitaker the earthquakes will subside only if less water is injected into that deep layer of earth.

Oklahoma is responding to the issue with an earthquake council that contains scientists, including Zoback, and Kim Hatfield of the Oklahoma Independent Petroleum Association. Hatfield says water injection has been going on for decades and is only part of the puzzle. "We need to understand this issue. It's not as simple as saying-- "Well, let's just stop injecting water," says Hatfield. "The energy industry is-- very important to the state."



There’s nothing like Big Business unfettered, to do their dangerous and disgusting things that foul up our environment – fracking, mountain top removal, severe deforestation, and more – and then cause massive economic failure on the local level by pulling up roots and moving their business to the Philippines. That’s the Free Market way!

Add to this same comment the article below on Big Pharma. Anything to make a buck, including causing more people to become addicted. I hate to be really cynical, but that would inevitably be a source of better profits – at least until the Federal government charges them criminally. As for the 12 to 24 hour megadoses, I have known for years that the effect just doesn’t last that long, especially with allergy and sinus products. That’s why I look for the old fashioned 4 to 6 hour pills.

As for doctors, I think they often automatically go for whatever drug is NEW. There have been news stories stating that doctors COMMONLY are offered fees for speaking engagements in which they agree to praise the product to the hilt. Just as Big Pharma is allowed to get away with what they are doing, likewise the doctors are also. The rule on who gets prosecuted and punished is clearly based on who has the most money already. That’s one of the reasons that when some (Republican) touts the fact that he is not “a politician” but “a businessman” that makes me very certain that I wouldn’t ever vote for him.



http://www.cbsnews.com/news/report-alleges-profit-motivated-oxycontins-12-hour-claim/

Report alleges profit motivated OxyContin's 12-hour claim
By AIMEE PICCHI MONEYWATCH
May 6, 2016, 2:04 PM

Play VIDEO -- No place immune to America's opioid epidemic


OxyContin has been praised and blamed for many things, ranging from helping people to endure pain to exacerbating the country's opioid addiction problem. But it's coming under scrutiny for yet another allegation: misleading marketing.

The drug's claim to fame was its 12-hour window of pain relief, a benefit that helped the medication rack up sales of more than $35 billion since its introduction in the 1990s by Purdue Pharma. The drug's success propelled the family behind Purdue into the Forbes 2015 list of America's Richest Families, with the magazine pegging their net worth "at a conservative $14 billion."

While the drug undoubtedly has helped many people struggling with pain, it's also become a lightening rod in the country's fight against opioid abuse, with the medication tied to instances of overdoses and addiction. But one problem with the medication may have both increased the likelihood of addiction while padding Purdue's bottom line, according to a new investigation by The Los Angeles Times. The company marketed the drug as relieving pain for 12 hours, even though the report alleges that Purdue's internal documents reveal the company was aware the drug wore off before that in many patients.

When the drug's effects wear off before 12 hours, patients face "the beginning stages of acute withdrawal," Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis researcher Theodore J. Cicero told the publication. "That becomes a very powerful motivator for people to take more drugs."

OxyContin was developed as a pain treatment that would last longer than other drugs on the market, such as Percocet, and it became popular largely on the basis of its promise to deliver long-duration pain relief. But early on there were signs that the drug didn't deliver the same benefits for everyone, such as clinical trials conducted by Purdue that found many patients asked for more OxyContin before the 12-hour window was up.

In an FDA analysis cited by The Times, one-third of 164 cancer patients taking OxyContin dropped out because the medication was "ineffective." Once it hit the market, patients also questioned whether the drug really lasted for 12 hours, with messages posted with subjects such as, "Is it just me, or does oxycontin not even last 8 hours?"

Even though some doctors recommended dosing every 8 hours, Purdue continued to market the drug as a 12-hour medication, the report notes. Why? Partly to grow the drug's sales, given that 12-hour duration provided a marketing edge over rival drugs with shorter durations, the report alleges.

In an email to CBS MoneyWatch, Purdue Pharma said it "rejects the claims made by The Los Angeles Times."

"In an attempt to resurrect a long-discredited theory, the paper ignores the clinical and regulatory data that directly contradicts their story," the company said. "Over the course of two years, Purdue Pharma provided the LAT with more than a dozen hours of briefings and discussions regarding the clinical evidence supporting OxyContin's 12-hour dosing and the regulatory requirement that we promote the product as such."

It added, "Unfortunately, the paper disregarded this information, instead publishing a story that's long on anecdote and short on facts."

Questions about OxyContin's duration have been raised before, including among lawsuits a decade ago, although the cases never reached a jury, The Times noted. In December, Purdue settled a lawsuit from the state of Kentucky, which charged the company misled the public about the addictiveness of the drug.

Because some insurance companies were refusing to cover prescriptions for more than 2 pills a day, Purdue was incentivized to market the drug as a 12-hour product, The Times alleged. Rather than lose sales, the company reportedly told its sales reps to recommend increasing the dose.

"$$$$$$$$$$$$$ It's Bonus Time in the Neighborhood!" one manager wrote in a 1996 memo that told reps that raising doses was a way to win bigger bonuses, according to the report. Referring to the biggest dose available then, the manager wrote, "He who sells 40mg will win the battle."

Larger doses, though, doesn't mean the medication will last longer, and it also raises the risk of overdose.

In the meantime, OxyContin remains popular, with 5.4 million prescriptions written in 2014. More than half of the patients taking the drug for more than three months in 2014 were given doses of at least 60 milligrams, which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said doctors should "avoid" or "carefully justify."

Purdue said that the report "risks creating more confusion around our national opioid epidemic."

It added, "For more than a decade, Purdue Pharma has sought to play a constructive role in the fight against opioid abuse, including by reformulating OxyContin with abuse-deterrent properties and leading our industry in this area of innovation."



http://www.cbsnews.com/news/justice-department-sues-north-carolina-bathroom-law/

DOJ sues N.C. for "legislating identity" with bathroom bill
CBS/AP
May 9, 2016, 4:15 PM

Photograph -- People protest outside the North Carolina Executive Mansion in Raleigh, N.C., Thursday, March 24, 2016. AP PHOTO/EMERY P. DALESIO
Play VIDEO -- N.C. gov sues Dept. Of Justice over bathroom law


The U.S. Justice Department filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against North Carolina over its law restricting the use of public restrooms by transgender people, just hours after the state did the same in return.

The Justice Department lawsuit seeks a court order declaring that the law's provisions that apply to multiple-occupancy bathrooms or changing facilities "discriminate on the basis of sex."

In a press conference, Attorney General Loretta Lynch said her office believes the law is "impermissibly discriminatory." Additionally, she pointed out that even before the issue hits the courts, the feds have full discretion over what to do with billions in federal funds owed North Carolina's Department of Safety as well as the state's university system.

"This is about a great deal more than bathrooms," Lynch said. "This about the dignity and respect we afford our citizens."

The attorney general slammed what she described as the state's attempt to get into the business of "legislating identity." She said that state leaders have taken "a problem that does not exist" as basis for discrimination.

"It inflicts further indignity on a population that has already suffered its fair share," Lynch said.

Gov. Pat McCrory had filed his state's lawsuit over the law -- known as House Bill 2 -- in response to a Justice Department deadline issued last week to report whether he would refuse to enforce the last that took effect in March. McCrory wants the sweeping law, which limits protections for gay, lesbian, transgender and bisexual people, kept in place.

McCrory's lawsuit, filed in federal court in North Carolina, asks a judge to block Justice Department action that could threaten billions of dollars in federal money flowing to the state.

"I do not agree with their interpretation of federal law. That is why this morning I have asked a federal court to clarify what the law actually is," McCrory said at a news conference.

He said he hopes other states will join North Carolina in court as it fights the Justice Department's position that the Civil Rights Act requires that transgender people be allowed to access facilities matching their gender identities.

"This is not a North Carolina issue. It is now a national issue," McCrory said.



“The U.S. Justice Department filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against North Carolina over its law restricting the use of public restrooms by transgender people, just hours after the state did the same in return. The Justice Department lawsuit seeks a court order declaring that the law's provisions that apply to multiple-occupancy bathrooms or changing facilities "discriminate on the basis of sex." In a press conference, Attorney General Loretta Lynch said her office believes the law is "impermissibly discriminatory." Additionally, she pointed out that even before the issue hits the courts, the feds have full discretion over what to do with billions in federal funds owed North Carolina's Department of Safety as well as the state's university system. …. Gov. Pat McCrory had filed his state's lawsuit over the law -- known as House Bill 2 -- in response to a Justice Department deadline issued last week to report whether he would refuse to enforce the last that took effect in March. McCrory wants the sweeping law, which limits protections for gay, lesbian, transgender and bisexual people, kept in place. …. He said he hopes other states will join North Carolina in court as it fights the Justice Department's position that the Civil Rights Act requires that transgender people be allowed to access facilities matching their gender identities.”


I have never understood how any person who is of physically unambiguous gender could really ask the question of whether he is male or female. I fully understand not LIKING ones’ own sex, as the personality often doesn’t suit the body. I think that’s how a lot of guys end up as gays. In addition, some babies actually are born with conflicting signs, a penis with no testicles or such a small penis that it will be ineffective for sexual activity, or a clitoris so large that it does look like a penis. Like those highly unusual tails that a few babies have when they come into the world, the doctor and surgeon – at least in the past – would surgically remove the offending item and the child doesn’t grow up with an embarrassing condition. Technically, they are called hermaphrodites derived from Hermes and Aphrodite.

In addition, there are unfortunate hormonal conditions – very frail men who do not grow tall and heavy as they should, and women who really are so husky and masculine looking that they are hard to distinguish from an effeminate man. None of that, though, should be grounds for discrimination. It’s not something they choose, nor a mental health issue in general. There is a psychological condition called body dysmorphic disorder. In that the person thinks that they are “fat” when they are thin, or “ugly” when they are normally attractive, or other conditions.

If a person of what appears to be the one sex walks into a bathroom dressed and groomed as another gender, we nowadays not only won’t arrest him for cross dressing, but will allow him to claim his preferred sex. Plus, there are the transgender people who actually are no longer of the original sex biologically. I can understand the worry over a man in drag, as it used to be called, entering a women’s room, but if the “man” has been transformed medically into a woman, he can’t “rape” anyone in the classic sense.

I have a simple solution, though – every public facility must supply a neuter gender restroom along with the male and female, as many already do, especially when there are large numbers of people trying to get in and out in five minutes, as with movie theaters, stadiums, etc. Perhaps it would be easier for the state governments in question to simply require that such transgender one stall bathrooms be constructed. If we can have white and colored, we should be able to have a transgender facility.



http://www.cbsnews.com/news/report-trending-on-facebook-not-what-you-think-curators-manipulate-news/

Report: Facebook manipulates what's "trending"
By SHANIKA GUNARATNA CBS NEWS
May 9, 2016, 4:03 PM

Photograph -- screen-shot-2016-05-09-at-1-07-09-pm.png, A new report sheds light on how Facebook produces its highly influential "trending" section. FACEBOOK/CBS NEWS
Related -- A new report sheds light on how Facebook produces its highly influential "trending" section. FACEBOOK/CBS NEWS


On the right-hand side of your Facebook feed, the site's "trending" module looks like a straightforward, data-driven snapshot of what users are talking about at any given moment on the social media network.

But a new report on the technology website Gizmodo suggests that the list of top trending topics is not quite as objective as it appears to be. Idiosyncrasies, institutional rules, and personal biases may all come into play in determining what makes the list.

Facebook's team of news "curators" routinely exclude trending stories from conservative media sites from the trending section, a source told Gizmodo.

The source, a former Facebook curator who identifies as politically conservative, said the team shied away from featuring conservative-interest stories even when they qualified as "trending" using Facebook's internal algorithm, unless they were picked up by another mainstream news organization. Subjects that did not make the cut included Mitt Romney, Rand Paul, CPAC, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, the Drudge Report, and former Navy SEAL Chris Kyle, according to Gizmodo. "I believe it had a chilling effect on conservative news," the ex-curator told the website.

The omissions were the result of curators' personal news judgment, not any mandated policy from Facebook, the source told Gizmodo. Last week, Gizmodo reported that Facebook's trending news team is primarily run by 20- and 30-somethings who graduated from Ivy League and private East Coast schools.

Beyond red versus blue, curators were trained to "inject" select stories into the trending module even when they weren't trending, according to sources quoted by Gizmodo. Sometimes, after a non-trending story was "injected" into the trending module, it eventually became the number one trending news topic on Facebook -- a startling reminder of Facebook employees' power to shape public consciousness.

Topics that were artificially injected into Facebook's trending section included the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, the Charlie Hebdo attacks, and Black Lives Matter, according to Gizmodo -- apparently in an attempt by Facebook to highlight breaking news events in real-time.

Former employees say they were instructed not to include news about Facebook into the trending section even when Facebook itself was trending, Gizmodo reported. "When it was a story about the company, we were told not to touch it," Gizmodo quoted a source as saying. "It had to be cleared through several channels, even if it was being shared quite a bit. We were told that we should not be putting it on the trending tool."

This account challenges the perception of Facebook's trending section as an objective, algorithm-powered pipeline for information. "In other words, Facebook's news section operates like a traditional newsroom, reflecting the biases of its workers and the institutional imperatives of the corporation," Gizmodo wrote.

According to Facebook, the highly visible trending module simply reflects "topics that have recently become popular on Facebook," based on factors like "engagement, timeliness, Pages you've liked and your location."

As of March 2016, Facebook had an average of 1.09 billion daily active users. In its mission statement, the company prides itself on helping users "discover what's going on in the world."



“But a new report on the technology website Gizmodo suggests that the list of top trending topics is not quite as objective as it appears to be. Idiosyncrasies, institutional rules, and personal biases may all come into play in determining what makes the list. …. Facebook's team of news "curators" routinely exclude trending stories from conservative media sites from the trending section, a source told Gizmodo. The source, a former Facebook curator who identifies as politically conservative, said the team shied away from featuring conservative-interest stories even when they qualified as "trending" using Facebook's internal algorithm, unless they were picked up by another mainstream news organization. …. The omissions were the result of curators' personal news judgment, not any mandated policy from Facebook, the source told Gizmodo. Last week, Gizmodo reported that Facebook's trending news team is primarily run by 20- and 30-somethings who graduated from Ivy League and private East Coast schools. …. Beyond red versus blue, curators were trained to "inject" select stories into the trending module even when they weren't trending, according to sources quoted by Gizmodo. Sometimes, after a non-trending story was "injected" into the trending module, it eventually became the number one trending news topic on Facebook -- a startling reminder of Facebook employees' power to shape public consciousness. …. Topics that were artificially injected into Facebook's trending section included the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, the Charlie Hebdo attacks, and Black Lives Matter, according to Gizmodo -- apparently in an attempt by Facebook to highlight breaking news events in real-time. Former employees say they were instructed not to include news about Facebook into the trending section even when Facebook itself was trending, Gizmodo reported. …. This account challenges the perception of Facebook's trending section as an objective, algorithm-powered pipeline for information. "In other words, Facebook's news section operates like a traditional newsroom, reflecting the biases of its workers and the institutional imperatives of the corporation," Gizmodo wrote.”


My complaint with Facebook is that they asked quite a lot of nosy questions in the signup procedure, and they USE that information to select which annoying ads to show me. I never click on ads, or almost never, because they are known to carry viruses in lots of cases. As for a trending section, I had never noticed one. I never go to Facebook to get news, per se, though I do often forward posts from friends that I find on there if I like them. Overall, though, I don’t like sneaky tricks and other underhanded business practices, and I think this fits into that category. It’s sad to see that even Liberals can be dishonest business owners. It’s all about profits and losses. I respect the need for business, but I think it should NOT be essentially unregulated.




http://www.cbsnews.com/news/60-minutes-exposing-the-isis-killing-machine/

Exposing the ISIS killing machine
Lara Logan accompanies a French Catholic priest on a mission to expose a genocide perpetrated by ISIS that has taken the lives of at least 5,000 Yezidi in Iraq
Lara Logan, CORRESPONDENT
May 08, 2016

Photograph -- desbois.jpg, Father Patrick Desbois CBS NEWS
Photograph -- yezidismain.jpg, Displaced Yezidis flee violence in Sinjar REUTERS
Video 60 MINUTES OVERTIME, WHY DID ISIS ATTACK THE YEZIDI PEOPLE?
Photograph -- brothers.jpg, Brothers who say ISIS kept them alive to train them as terrorists CBS NEWS
Video – 60 Minutes, Exposing the ISIS killing machine


American soldiers have been drawn deeper into the war against ISIS and this past week a third U.S. serviceman was killed in northern Iraq. It's a fight that began more than a year and a half ago when ISIS was expanding it's territory and it's been hard to shed light on the areas under its control because most reporters can't go there. But there have been some places where ISIS has been run off, and Sinjar is one of them.

It's a small city that lies on a highway connecting ISIS territory in Syria to its territory inside Iraq and when ISIS fighters took control they began to systematically wipe out the Yezidi people who lived there.

After Sinjar was liberated, we went there with Father Patrick Desbois, a French Catholic Priest, who is one of the world's leading voices on genocide. He spent 15 years documenting the mass murder of Jews by Hitler's mobile death squads. Now he says he's on a mission to expose what he calls the ISIS killing machine.

This is what is left of the ancient Yezidi city of Sinjar. We put a camera on a drone to try to capture the enormity of the devastation. ISIS sees the Yezidis as devil worshippers and their policy here was total annihilation. What you're looking at is a thousand years of civilization reduced to rubble in 15 months of terror.

Last November, some 7,000 Kurdish Peshmerga soldiers backed by heavy U.S. airpower, pushed the Islamic State out of here. The Kurds said they killed around 300 terrorists in the two day offensive.

This is what it takes to claim a city back from the Islamic State. There is nothing left. Any direction you walk, all you find is more destruction. One street after another, an entire city literally in ruins.

We walked the shattered streets of the Yezidi heartland with Father Patrick Desbois, who was on his fourth trip to Iraq. He told us what ISIS didn't destroy, Kurdish forces leveled as they fought their way in.

Father Desbois: I asked the Peshmerga, they told me it was the only way to make ISIS go, the only way to make them go is to destroy the city.

Lara Logan: The only way to defeat them?

Father Desbois: Yea, it's terrible.

Father Desbois has been studying the minds and methods of mass murderers like Hitler most of his life and he'd come here to investigate the genocide of the Yezidis by ISIS, an organization more sophisticated than he expected.

Father Desbois: It's not easy to manage your war, to manage international terrorism and to manage a genocide in same territory. Hitler, it took for him a long time before doing all that. And ISIS they did it so quickly.

Lara Logan: Does that speed frighten you?

Father Desbois: Yeah, it's frightening because it means actually there is a kind of science of terrorist, war and genocide. They developed a science.

The Islamic State stormed into Sinjar in August 2014. They murdered at least 5,000 and kidnapped thousands of others as they cleansed the land of Yezidis.

Father Desbois said their strategy here was unlike anywhere else. Those who could fled to Sinjar Mountain, where images of their desperation reached the world, in part prompting the first U.S. airstrikes of the war.

Evidence of the ISIS killing machine lies, Father Desbois said, in the city's remains.

Lara Logan: Which building is this?

Father Desbois: It's where they put the Yezidis - (all the Yezidis of Shingal)

That's why he brought us to what's left of the main Administration building.

Father Desbois: That is the beginning of genocide, it's the first step for me.

Lara Logan: In this building.

Father Desbois: Yea.

Here, ISIS rounded up Yezidi men, women and children.

Father Debois: They say to people, "Don't worry, we'll bring you to a nice building." It's why they accept.

Lara Logan: And they don't think that they're going to die?

Father Debois: No.

Lara Logan: That's why they come?

Father Debois: Yeah, that's why they come. And here begins the selection. And so this system is system of permanent, permanent selection.

Father Desbois said they're registered, separated and ordered to hand over money, jewelry, cellphones. ISIS had a plan for everyone.

Father Desbois: They see a boy who is 10 years old, he can carry a bomb, he will carry bombs. They see a girl, she's beautiful. Oh, she will be sold to an Emir to be a sex slave. They have the sense of utility. A person is only to be used for something.

Lara Logan: So each person has a purpose?

Father Desbois: Each person has a purpose.

Lara Logan: And if they have no purpose, what happens?

Father Desbois: They kill them.

Wherever we went in Sinjar, Kurdish soldiers came with us. They said there were still hidden bombs all over the city and Father Desbois used them as a guide.

Lara Logan: So where are you/they taking us? The tunnels?

Father Desbois: Over to one of the tunnels. Yea.

ISIS owned this ground for 15 months, transforming Sinjar into a fortress with tunnels underneath the city. The entrance to one was inside this house.

With ISIS still around two miles from here, the soldiers were tense. What we found, surprised us...

Lara Logan: That's incredible. I mean it just looks like a normal house.

There were mountains of dirt in every room. Whatever they took from the ground, they kept inside these walls, so American drones wouldn't see a tunnel being built.

This particular tunnel goes to the home of the Islamic State emir of the city, basically the top guy in charge here when the Islamic State was in control. And we're told that he and his inner circle - his bodyguards, his men - would hide underground here with him during the bombings.

Out on the street, Father Desbois was approached by survivors, desperate for answers about family members still missing.

[Father Desbois: What was the name of his father?]

There are mass graves across Sinjar and we had been to some of them. At this one east of the city where Kurdish officials had marked off the site, there were human bones still scattered in the dirt. It's believed Yezidis fleeing to Sinjar Mountain were caught by ISIS and killed here.

Lara Logan: It's impossible to know how long it's been here?

Father Desbois: No, we don't know. Only a doctor can say.

And in this mass grave on the outskirts of Sinjar, he was told some 80 Yezidi women were executed.

Lara Logan: They shot them right here?

Father Desbois: Yeah.

Lara Logan: And how do they know this?

Father Desbois: We know this because-- we can find bones and everything underground.

Lara Logan: There's half a skull there and two skulls there?

Father Desbois: Yeah. And here you half of the head. And here, too. It's really a shooting, extermination site.

At every site we visited, his team photographed and filmed the evidence and recorded GPS coordinates so they could come back. His lead investigator, Nastasie Costel, has been at his side helping to locate killing fields like these for years.

As they carry out their investigation in Yezidi towns and villages, Father Desbois is not asking eyewitnesses to recall what they saw more than 70 years ago, like he did with the Holocaust.

Father Desbois: How many people are buried here?

This time, he's interviewing survivors with the horror still fresh in their minds.

Lara Logan: So how does that change your investigation?

Father Desbois: It's completely different because the challenge now is to stop the genocide, is to try to save people, is to try to carry the voice of the victim, to make people conscious. The killing machine is alive.

Lara Logan: So, do you feel a sense of urgency then?

Father Desbois: Urgency and the immense tragedy also to have the conscience that the world doesn't wake up more now than '42.

For the Yezidis, there is no holier place than the temple of Lalish, about a hundred miles from Sinjar. They believe in one god and seven angels, an ancient religion that over time has adopted elements of many faiths.

Lara Logan: As long as they have been on earth, the Yezidis have been persecuted. Why do you think that is? They are peaceful people.

Father Desbois: Yeah, it's a people who, as I understand refuse to assimilate and so it was like a pocket of resistance inside the Islamic world.

Their faith is passed orally from generation to generation. So they have no sacred written book like the Bible or the Koran, which is one of the reasons ISIS has condemned them to death or sexual slavery. When Yezidi women are rescued or escape from the Islamic State they come here to the spring that flows under the temple to be cleansed.

Now the Yezidis are landless in their own land. There are nearly 200,000 living in refugee camps about 120 miles northeast of Sinjar in Kurdistan, where Father Desbois spends most of his time...piecing together a picture of what happened to the Yezidis of Sinjar.

He's recorded over 400 hours of testimony so far more than 80 men and women, much of which we caution you is disturbing to see and difficult to hear.

[Testimony: They burned him completely from his feet until to his head.]

And he allowed us to sit in with him on his second interview with Nasreen, who is 21. Still terrified of ISIS after more than a year under their control, she covered her face.

The wife would hold down my hands as the husband raped me, she told Father Desbois. She said at one point, she was tied to a bed, naked for three months, and raped...day and night.

Father Desbois: It was many men every night?

Nasreen: Everyday there would be ten men and they were from all countries.

Maha is 28. She had recently arrived in the camp, held by ISIS or Daesh as they're known here, for almost a year and a half. She gave these photographs to Father Desbois, which she said ISIS had taken. They showed three of her children dead, poisoned, she claimed, by the man who was raping her. He killed them because we tried to escape, she said.

But for Father Desbois, the heart of the ISIS war machine is not only the suffering of the Yezidi girls.

Father Desbois: If we show only the girls I think in one way, the Daesh, they don't care. It's not very secret. Very secret is the long-term machine they are preparing. I'm afraid that they use the image we give of them, rapists, it's like if you say Hitler was a rapist. Say, yes, they raped a lot of girls. But unfortunately it was a much larger machine and ISIS is the same category of machine.

Lara Logan: Very little is known about that.

Father Desbois: Very little. Very little. And for me, that's the secret of Daesh.

A secret that lies with boys like these two brothers who for their safety asked us not to use their names. They said ISIS kept them alive to train them as terrorists.

"Everything they did was to try to make us like them," he said. "They ordered us to plant hundreds of bombs and taught us how to detonate them."

Father Desbois: It seems a person received a bullet in the head...

Forensic specialists are finally beginning to exhume these mass graves and the number of dead -- already around 5,000 -- is expected to rise. As the Yezidi genocide enters its 21st month, there are still about 3,000 Yezidis being held by ISIS today.

Lara Logan: How do you stop the machine?

Father Desbois: It can be stopped only military.

Lara Logan: Militarily.

Father Desbois: Only military. I-- how-- how could be-- be stopped Hitler?

Lara Logan: You had to defeat him on the battlefield.

Father Desbois: In one way or another.

Lara Logan: And kill the idea.

Father Desbois: And kill the people who carry them.



“Father Desbois: Yeah, it's frightening because it means actually there is a kind of science of terrorist, war and genocide. They developed a science. The Islamic State stormed into Sinjar in August 2014. They murdered at least 5,000 and kidnapped thousands of others as they cleansed the land of Yezidis. Father Desbois said their strategy here was unlike anywhere else. Those who could fled to Sinjar Mountain, where images of their desperation reached the world, in part prompting the first U.S. airstrikes of the war. …. Lara Logan: How do you stop the machine? Father Desbois: It can be stopped only military. Lara Logan: Militarily. Father Desbois: Only military. I-- how-- how could be-- be stopped Hitler? Lara Logan: You had to defeat him on the battlefield. Father Desbois: In one way or another. Lara Logan: And kill the idea. Father Desbois: And kill the people who carry them.”


I am so sorry to see that the Yazidi people are being destroyed, or nearly so, because they carry an ancient set of ideas. I believe historically important people and structures should be protected rather than the reverse. ISIS was in the news at least twice for destroying culturally important worship sites because they were not approved by their religious standards. I’ve seen no redeeming value to all the news about ISIS, and I personally hope someone, even the US and allies, will bomb or otherwise assault them in a way that destroys their all too efficient organization. It isn’t inaccurate at all for ISIS to be compared with Hitler and the Nazi ideas. Those dangerous ideas are being espoused now worldwide as the were in the 1900s leading up to WWII. I wouldn’t oppose a full out declaration of war rather than merely some skimpy drone attacks, etc. Above all, I believe that if we would simply send in much more in the way of manpower onto the field, especially special forces under orders to fight rather than merely train, we could make real headway against them. (Oh, yes, for GOODNESS SAKE, give the Kurds all the heavy weapons and vehicles that they need.) I hope something good happens in this situation. I also hope that the remaining Yazidis will be protected, either by offering sanctuary in the US or Europe, or by moving them en masse to a safer location within the Middle East. Of course the specifics of their religious belief may engender the same distrust in other places also that is happening now. They need some special protection.