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sociologyontherock · 6 months ago

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James Thomas Ernest Baker (1974-2024)

By Stephen Harold Riggins, Victor Satzewich, Chris Martin, Dean Lundrigan, and Debbie Brown

Dr. James Thomas Ernest Baker, age 49, of Paradise, NL, passed away on June 13, 2024 in St. John’s. He taught in the departments of sociology and political science at Memorial University, having completed BA, MA and PhD degrees at MUN. Born in 1974 in Carbonear, Jamie is remembered for his passion for politics, Newfoundland and Labrador history, and student rights. His research about ethnicity, immigrants and refugees, as well as young people, was a testament to his commitment to social justice.

The highlight of his academic career was being awarded a two-year Banting Postdoctoral Fellowship. Banting postdocs are awarded annually in the social sciences to only two dozen recent PhDs and they are very lucrative. Jamie received $140,000. He chose to spend those years at McMaster University, where he was supervised by Victor Satzewich, an internationally-recognized authority on the Ukrainian diaspora.

After completing a BA degree as a double major in political science and history in 2001, he was awarded a MA in political science in 2006. As a graduate student, he was actively involved in student life through the Graduate Student Union. This included being elected VP Academic and serving on several important university committees. In 2003, he was elected to serve as vice-chair of the Senate Committee on Course Evaluations. He was also quite involved in residence life at Memorial, serving as the last President of the Burton’s Pond Student Association and the first President of the Cabot Court Student Association.

He published two articles, based on ideas in his MA thesis, in prestigious academic journals (National Identities and Studies in Ethnicity and Nationalism). Few MA students are able to achieve this. The topic was Newfoundland identity. “As Loved our Fathers: The Strength of Patriotism among young Newfoundlanders” is about the difference between patriotism and nationalism and the difference between a real and a potential ethnic group. It required sensitivity when the public feels they have a stake in these debates. The other article is “A Newfoundland Ethnicity?.” It is indeed strange that Newfoundlanders might constitute an ethnic group when no sociology textbook, to my knowledge, describes them in these terms. The MUN department in its nearly 70-year history has never been successful in retaining come-from-away faculty with long-term interests in race and ethnicity. It is not a surprise that a Newfoundlander successfully raised the issues of what might be learned about ethnic identity in a region which remains dormant in terms of nationalism. Jamie had thought deeply about these topics.

Unlike many professors who do not trust the media, Jamie was not afraid to talk to journalists: CBC news, NTV news, The Independent, and The Telegram. A reporter for The New York Times (June 2, 2017) even contacted him to hear his insights into the meaning of the term “Newfie.” Jamie argued that the term was not always derogatory. The meaning was context dependent because the degree of status attached to the word depended on speaker and audience.

He applied to study for a PhD in sociology in 2007, about a year after he began working at the Association for New Canadians (ANC). He did not want to leave Newfoundland and turned to sociology because Memorial did not then offer a PhD degree in political science. His academic experience as a PhD student was fundamentally shaped by his employment at the ANC. His activity in the bureaucratic apparatus of multiculturalism gave him an unusual background for a Newfoundlander his generation. At the ANC he held the office of Researcher and Assistant Program Development Officer and was a key person writing the grant proposals which were essential to the survival of the ANC. His switch in majors eventually paid off, although it delayed his career by one year.

His PhD dissertation completed in 2014, and which I supervised, was titled “Defending the Indefensible? The Use of Argumentation, Legitimation, and Othering in Debates in the Canadian House of Commons 2010-2022.” The method, which he first learned from my courses, was the kind of critical discourse analysis practiced by socio-linguists such as Teun van Dijk and Norman Fairclough. I will let Jamie explain the politics. “While the Conservative government contends that Bill C-11: The Balanced Refugee Reform Act and Bill C-31: Protecting Canada’s Immigration System Act are aimed at refugee reform and designed to target ‘criminal middlemen,’ I argue that their approach is actually aimed at restricting refugee asylum, despite the fact that it is an internationally recognized treaty right…. While contemporary Canadian political ideologies differ significantly, opposition parties nonetheless unintentionally reproduce the Conservative worldview regarding asylum seekers. The Conservative defense is not only fallacious, untenable, and prejudicial but designed to portray asylum seekers as criminals, fraudsters, and security threats.”

Looking at his publication record in the attached bibliography, a number of things need to be considered. Teaching at MUN and working for the ANC meant that for a significant part of the year – many years – he held down two full-time jobs. He suffered from the disease of obesity which limited his mobility and shortened his life. I remember hearing him say several years ago that he did not expect to live to be old. His dissertation was completed during one of the worst periods since the 1970s for young academics to obtain tenure-stream teaching positions. He applied for permanent employment at universities from St. John’s to Winnipeg. Like many former students of his generation with PhD degrees in hand, his inability to land a tenure-stream position was difficult to accept, but he apparently did not dwell on the problem. Towards the end of his life he made sacrifices to help his mother whose health was declining rather than putting his career first.

Victor Satzewich: I feel privileged to have been able to both work with Jamie on his Banting Post-doctoral Fellowship at McMaster University and to get to know him on an interpersonal level. We talked regularly after he returned to Newfoundland and was devasted to learn of his passing earlier this year.

Jamie’s post-doctoral work involved a comparison of the experiences of refugee youth in Hamilton and St. John’s, with a particular focus on the routine, everyday slights, or microaggressions they experienced in the two cities. His project was not only theoretically and empirically interesting insofar as the two cities have very different immigration histories and community dynamics, but was also very timely given the widespread interest in Canada in irregular border crossers and the various challenges associated with broader refugee resettlement and integration. One of the things that impressed me the most about Jamie and his approach to his research was how he hit the ground running once he found out he was awarded the Banting. He already had strong community connections in St. John’s via his work with the Association for New Canadians, and he immediately began to cultivate relationships with the key gatekeepers in the settlement sector in Hamilton. Shortly after he arrived in Hamilton, we met with members of the Immigrant Services team at the YMCA of Hamilton, Burlington and Brantford. It did not take long for James to bring the Youth Engagement workers on board with his research project to help him identify participants to interview for the project. I think he impressed everyone at the table with his sensitive approach to how he wanted to collect data and interview refugee youth.

While at McMaster, Jamie taught courses dealing with Social Problems where he was particularly interested in encouraging students to connect abstract theoretical and conceptual issues to real world concerns and issues, and to their expressions in popular culture. Jamie took a thoughtful and deliberate approach to how he organized his courses, assignments, and interactions with students. He had high expectations of his students, and was not afraid to explain to students how they could improve on their writing and analysis skills. Jamie was an incredibly kind and conscientious citizen when it came to his work and his colleagues. Always generous with his time, he had his eye on enhancing the collective good of the organization he was part of. To me, this was clearly most evident in his commitment to his work with the Association of New Canadians.

I loved both our in-person and long-distance chats over the phone. With similar senses of humour, we found many opportunities to laugh at the same absurdities about life in general, the immigration system and the academic world. It so happened that our mothers were ill at the same time and so we also shared many moments of grief, despair and worry. But even in those difficult moments, Jamie always found a way to offer comfort and a kind shoulder to lean on. I miss my dear friend and colleague immensely.

Chris Martin and April Lee: We are all going to miss our dear friend Jamie very much. Friends for nearly fifteen years! Jamie gave me one of my first academic jobs doing research through the Association for New Canadians, brought me along on conferences, and helped me to write early publications. He showed the way through completing a PhD by determination, resiliency, and not taking crap from anybody. He worked hard and was proud of his accomplishments. He was funny and kind but saucy and totally sarcastic! He was also thoughtful and never missed a call on big occasions over the years, a reliable friend and someone you felt would always be there.

In the early years we would all get together and play board games on weekends, something which I know he always looked forward to. He was very competitive. During the pandemic, our little group of Ontarians and Newfoundlanders would play Jackbox Games late into the night, relishing in who could say the most outlandish or ridiculous responses to the questions. Jamie was particularly good at being silly when it came to these games! These are times I know we all treasured.

I feel very lucky that Jamie was there for me throughout my own academic journey. In some ways, we were both a bit of the same fish out of water in that world and it made all the difference to have such a big and strong personality to help me through. Love you Jamie.

Dean Lundrigan: Jamie and I were friends for over ten years, meeting through our mutual friend Chris. We quickly became good friends, playing weekly board games and bonding over our “Leafs-Habs” rivalry. Jamie never forgot an important date and was often the first to congratulate you on a major milestone. He was a true beacon of honesty and sincerity, never shying away from the truth, even when it was hard to hear. His candid nature was a gift, reminding us of the value of authenticity in our lives.

I will miss his infectious laugh and larger than life personality. I will especially miss our coffee chats on the rock, where laughter and deep conversations flowed freely. Rest in peace, dear friend. You will be deeply missed.

Debbie Brown: Jamie was my supervisor for two years at the Association for New Canadians. We shared the rush of getting the proposal completed, the submit button clicked, the reports finished, and the joy of seeing the project in full swing. We also shared laughter over animal photos and 80’s rock quotes. His quips and funny email responses sometimes made me laugh out loud in my office. Since leaving the ANC, Jamie and I have been working on a music project which celebrates immigrant musicians who have found home in Newfoundland and Labrador. It is a project that not only creates awareness of the many sounds that weave together to make up the diverse musical tapestry of the province, but also fosters a sense of belonging. Creating a sense of community has always been important to Jamie and me and it was great to stay connected through this passion.

Jamie, I didn’t get the opportunity to play the songs for you. That leaves a heaviness in my chest. When this album is finished, this music will be lifted up so that its vibration meets with the vibration of your energy in the trees and rivers and evening breezes. I hope I will see that for a moment the stars are a little brighter and know you are content. Shanti. Peace, peace, peace, Jamie.

If you are interested in hearing the album (“Global Music: Volume 1”), check it out on streaming platforms like Spotify.

Thanks to Caul’s Funeral Home, St. John’s, which provided some of the information appearing in this article.

Bibliography

Baker, James Thomas Ernest, “Requiem for a Nation: Identity and the Nationalist Question among Young Newfoundlanders,” MA thesis, Memorial University, Department of Political Science, 2006.

-- “‘As Loved our Fathers’: The Strength of Patriotism among Young Newfoundlanders,” National Identities, 2012, 14(4), 367-386.

-- “Building an Inclusive Society: Post-secondary Youth Perspectives on Immigration, Multiculturalism and Racism in Newfoundland and Labrador” (with Amanda Bittner). St. John’s, NL: Leslie Harris Centre of Regional Policy and Development, 2013.

-- “Just Kids? Peer Racism in a Predominantly White City,” Refuge: Canada’s Journal on Refugees, 2013, 29 (1): 75-85.

-- “A Newfoundland Ethnicity? The Political Implications of Post-confederation Nationalism in Newfoundland,” Studies in Ethnicity and Nationalism, 2014, 13(1), 74-100.

-- “Defending the Indefensible? The Use of Argumentation, Legitimation, and Othering in Debates in the Canadian House of Commons 2010-2022.” PhD dissertation, Memorial University, Department of Sociology, 2015.

-- “The Manifestations of Prejudice in Everyday Life: An Examination of Racial Microaggressions, Ethnophaulism, and Integrated Threats as Observed by White Post-secondary Youth in St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador.” St. John’s, NL: Leslie Harris Centre of Regional Policy and Development, 2017.

-- “Beyond the Looking Glass: White Youths’ Observations of Racial Microaggressions.” Sociological Inquiry, 2017, 87 (2): 362-384.

-- “Newfie as Ethnophaulism: The View of White Youth Attending Memorial University,” Sociology on the Rock, issue 14, 2018.

James Baker, Chris William Martin, and Jonathan Price, “Becoming ‘Nagarikharu’: Unsettled Lives and Identity Formation among Bhutanese Refugees,” in After the Flight: The Dynamics of Refugee Settlement and Integration, ed. Morgan Poteet and Shiva Nourpanah, 1–20. Newcastle, UK: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2016.

Baker, James, Jonathan Price and Kenneth Walsh, “Unwelcoming Communities: Youth Observations of Racism in St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada.” Journal of Youth Studies, 2016, 19 (1): 103-116.

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elizabethwarrenmemes · 5 years ago

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A brief story about that time Elizabeth Warren ran against a Republican nude male model and won.

(Buckle up for the cameo from Susan Collins- it’s a doozy)

When Senator Ted Kennedy died unexpectedly in 2009, attorney & former State Sen Scott Brown won a special election for the U.S. Senate seat representing Massachusetts in an upset

Viewed as a moderate Republican, he received support from some prominent Democrats, became popular in the state of Massachusetts & inspired this SNL skit.

One thing that got a lot of attention was his history as a male model. In college he won Cosmo’s “Sexiest Man Alive” contest & won $1,000 to pose naked.

He went on to do various modeling gigs while juggling school & his legal career.

In an interview with The Boston Herald, his former agent Maggie Trichon said he was “gorgeous” and that he had "excellent hands," with "straight fingers, perfect nails" and ability to "hold things correctly."

You know... talent.

Fast FWD to 2012. For the first time he is up for re-election.

Enter: Elizabeth F*@!ing Warren. Fresh off creating the CFPB & predicting the 2008 financial crash, she runs against him.

Expectations were low- there had never been a female U.S. Senator or Governor elected from the state of MA. He was polling 8 points above her.

She did what she does best. Persist.

She campaigned on the message she still does today: the economy is working better & better for the ultra-rich but leaving working class behind.

This election was the first to include a “People’s Pledge” to limit the use of funds from outside groups.

Supporters of Brown broke the pledge two times, and his campaign agreed to donate money to a charity of Warren’s choice in return. She chose The Autism Consortium.

Elizabeth Warren really crushed it at the debates with Brown- facing off attacks about her ancestry, gender, & alleged “elitism.”

When asked how she paid for college, she replied, “Well, I kept my clothes on.”

Brown was widely criticized for later saying in response “thank God.”

That was when GOP Sens. Susan Collins & Kelly Ayote came to his defense... you know just like male Senators would do for a female candidate if she had a history of nude modeling.

Compare that to the treatment of various female candidates that have run for office & were later slut-shamed for risqué photos: Katie Hill, Krystal Ball (not my favorite pundit but still), or Rachel Hundley.

tOTaLlY fAiR amirite?

Once this election was all said and done Elizabeth Warren won by a sizable margin and she was easily re-elected in 2018.

She proved that she could take on a popular, dare I say sexy?, male Republican incumbent and win.

But as for Scott Brown...

After working as a Fox News contributor and board member at a paper company, he moved to New Hampshire so he could run for U.S. Senate again.

He lost to Democrat Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, making him the first man in history to lose Senate races to two different women.

One footnote: I don’t think anyone be they male, female, GNC, or non-binary should be disqualified from a job because of past nudity or sexually oriented work. Just wanted to point out double standards. Plus when he’s propping up a misogynistic system, context is different.

#democratic primary #warren 2020 #2020 election #elizabeth warren #elizabeth warren memes #politics #warren memes #liz warren #persist #democrats #scott brown #senator scott brown #scott brown model #warren beats trump

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acusumano21ahsgov · 5 years ago

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BLOG POST #2: MEDIA ASSESSMENT OF ISSUE

1. Three articles pertaining to your civic action issue:

The Atlantic: Marijuana Reform Should Focus on Inequality

National Review: It’s Time to Decriminalize Marijuana

ABC News: Bill to decriminalize marijuana at federal level up for House vote next month

2. SACAPS each article

The Atlantic: Marijuana Reform Should Focus on Inequality

SUBJECT: Americans of color have wrongfully faced the harshness of the war on drugs. Black people are four times as likely as white people to be arrested for marijuana possession despite similar usage rates. As states move towards legalization, production regulations should be set so that the wealth from the huge potential profit can be spread rather than be exclusive to industries and corporations.

AUTHOR: Sarah Milov is a liberal history professor at the University of Virginia, with a BA from Harvard along with an MA and PhD from Princeton. She specializes in studies of the Modern United States, Political and Social Movements, History of Capitalism and Legal History. A left wing professor, her opinion agrees with the democratic party.

CONTEXT: This article was published on October 5th, 2019 from Virginia. Although still illegal in Virginia, around the time this article was published, laws and legislation came up regarding marijuana usage and were debated and voted on, creating multiple stances to take sides with.

AUDIENCE: Being a left leaning news source, The Atlantic pertains to liberal Americans or those seeking a reliable source. Thus, the source may be selective of information that supports its claim and may contain less objectivity.

PERSPECTIVE: Although mostly objective, the author has a partially biased, liberal perspective. Rather than the market being dominated by huge cannabis corporations, Milov believes the right to cultivate should be reserved to a smaller, human scale to build wealth in communities. I think I agree with the author’s perspective because it would be bad if the marijuana industry got so big that it had so much power like huge drug corporations such as Big Tobacco.

SIGNIFICANCE: Milov uses numbers and facts as evidence. For example, she cites an ACLU study reporting that black people are nearly four times as likely as white people to be arrested for marijuana possession. She also cites other articles from reliable sources such as Forbes, The Washington Post, and The Counter.

National Review: It’s Time to Decriminalize Marijuana

SUBJECT: The time has come for the decriminalization of marijuana on the federal level and to leave the laws to the states. Colorado Republican Senator Cory Gardner is in a position to make this reform, with various arguments to support him. One is that marijuana should be decriminalized to reduce police/person interactions and arrests to reduce the number of incarcerations.

AUTHOR: David French is a Republican author from Kentucky who currently resides in Tennessee as the senior editor of The Dispatch, a conservative fact based reporting and commentary online magazine. He was a senior writer for National Review for five years with a right leaning stance.

CONTEXT: On January 4th, 2018, Attorney General Jeff Sessions rescinded memoranda that made it Justice Department policy not to enforce federal bans on the sale and distribution of marijuana in states that have legalized it. This sparked reaction across varying political views, and gave way for authors like French to write on it.

AUDIENCE: Being a right leaning news source, National Review pertains to conservative Americans or those seeking a reliable source. Thus, the source may be selective of information that supports its claim and may contain less objectivity.

PERSPECTIVE: Although mostly objective, the author has a partially biased, conservative perspective. French claims that more senators need to advocate for legalization, which would decrease police/civilian interactions and lessen government regulation of private behavior as well as make way for the potential benefits of the drug itself on health. I agree with French’s stance because the only way to know for sure is if these government restrictions are lifted.

SIGNIFICANCE: Author David French cites and uses past legislation along with quotes from politicians to support his claim. He also uses facts and statistics, like that National support for legalization is at an all-time high of 64% as of October 2017.

ABC News: Bill to decriminalize marijuana at federal level up for House vote next month

SUBJECT: The House of Representatives is set to vote on a bill that would decriminalize marijuana at the federal level and expunge federal marijuana convictions and arrests. This would be the “greatest federal cannabis reform accomplishment in over 80 years.”

AUTHOR: Meredith Deliso is a current author for ABC News and has been employed there since April of 2020. There is not an author biography available for Deliso as she is likely writing under a pen name to remain private, however she can be trusted because she writes objectively on current political issues for a non-biased news site.

CONTEXT: Published on August 30th, 2020, this article is pertaining to a very current issue. Introduced by New York Representative Jerrold Nadler in 2019, the House of Representatives is voting this September 2020 on the MORE (Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement) Act. This issue has become increasingly urgent because of nationwide protests against racial injustices and can be a way to align cannabis laws with what the majority of Americans support while giving justice to those hurt by preexisting laws.

AUDIENCE: ABC News is an objective, reportative news site. This source was created for people looking for unbiased, fact based information and reports containing both political stances on current events.

PERSPECTIVE: With a goal of staying objective and unbiased, Deliso reports on the upcoming vote on the MORE Act. The democratic stance, as shown from democratic senators and representatives, is more in favor of the bill, whereas republican politicians like Mitch McConnell and even President Trump seem to be less for it although not entirely opposed. I agree with the democratic stance as shown by this article, for the approval of the bill would mean justice for those incarcerated for small marijuana crimes and would open the door for possible health benefits.

SIGNIFICANCE: Deliso uses quotes from Democratic senators and representatives, from both social media posts and public statements. It also includes facts from polls, like Pew Research Center and Gallup that both found that about two-thirds of Americans support legalizing marijuana, with Democrats more supportive of the move than Republicans.

3. What are the similarities and differences between these three accounts of your issue?

Both the left and right wing sources contain a similar pro-legalization stance, however differ slightly in the ways of doing so. Milov, from the Atlantic, believes that the main focus of legality should be on equality, and reducing production rights to a smaller scale to spread the wealth to the community with federal government regulations while giving justice to those incarcerated or mistreated because of preexisting laws. Similarly, French, for the National Review, believes that legalization can be a means for decreasing police/civilian interaction and be more racially just in doing so. However, French believes that the laws and legality should be determined individually by the state and not the federal government, allowing for more variation in the polarized society we live in. The ABC News stance also seems to be pro legalization, however neutral in the policies for doing so.

4. Finally, which source do you identify with most and why?

I identify most with the National Review source because I think the idea of each state having the right to choose its legislation on marijuana while not being under the grasp of federal criminal prosecution makes the most sense. I think that each state should be able to decide individually so that it can conform to the support of its own citizens, whether that be pro or anti legalization.

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kyprelaw · 5 years ago

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Facial Recognition Technology And Law Enforcement

By Brett Goble, Centre College Class of 2022

June 30, 2020

As protests in the wake of the murder of George Floyd continue, a growing number of tech companies, such as IBM and Amazon, are realizing that their respective facial recognition software, which in some cases are being used by police departments to track or arrest protestors, raises many ethical problems on the nature of mass facial recognition. IBM and Amazon and many similar companies have said that they will stop all R&D on facial recognition for one year, or until the federal government can craft stronger laws to deal with facial recognition software being used by the police (1).

The most recent example of these types of arrests is of a black man from Detroit, Robert Williams, who was mistakenly arrested in his home last week after a piece of facial recognition software mistook him for someone else who had shoplifted (2).

This ‘moratorium’ from tech companies has resulted in a bill called the Facial Recognition and Biometric Technology Moratorium Act currently being brought into congress with the hopes creating a metric for how accurate these types of facial recognition programs would need to be to be used by police departments, move to essentially ban facial recognition technology from being used by police departments until congress explicitly allows it, and also force state and local police departments that receive federal funding to ‘proceed with extreme caution’ in regards to using facial recognition technology (3) or risk losing some of their funding from the federal government.Civil rights groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union support the bill and claim that it is a necessary step. Senior legislative counsel, Neema Singh Giuliani, says, “It’s clear that this surveillance technology has been deployed without legislative approval or public debate about whether we should be using it at all (4).”

The last point here is worthy of elaboration. In China, where mass facial recognition has become commonplace for over a year, the ability of the government to monitor its citizens public and private lives has risen several red flags from groups like Amnesty International (5). This reality of surveillance was put on display by the Hong Kong protests last year where the umbrella, used by protestors to hide from cameras, became a symbol of fighting the perceived oppression from the Chinese government (6). There is also evidence that facial recognition technology is shockingly inaccurate when analyzing the faces ofblack and other minority persons. As mentioned earlier, Robert Williams was mistakenly identified by a piece of facial recognition software and arrested. Several studies have shown that what happened to Robert Williams will not be rare, as the computer algorithms behind facial recognition systems can only ‘reliably’ recognize the faces of white men (7). Senator Ed Markey (D-MA), one of the main authors of the bill said, “Facial recognition technology doesn’t just pose a grave threat to our privacy, it physically endangers Black Americans and other minority populations in our country” (8).

Given the national context of the black lives matter protests, large companies pulling their tech from police departments nationwide, and the false arrest of Robert Williams, it is no surprise such a bill is making waves in congress. However, though the bill looks promising to privacy advocates, many city government officials from around the US are taking matters of policing facial recognition into their own hands.Boston and San Francisco have both banned the use of facial recognition tech within their respective cities,Boston being the second largest city in the world to do so (9).

Whether or not the bill to limit the reach of facial recognition passes congress, the ability of facial recognition software to be used by police to hunt down protestors is not a new phenomenon to the current black lives matter movement. During the 2015 black lives matter protests in Baltimore, police used surveillance footage and a piece of facial recognition software called Geofeedia to examine social media feeds and match posts from social media accounts to photos and videos of those who had protested and many were arrested on charges that they were simply around the protests when they happened, not that there was any footage o fthem committing crimes (10).

In summary, those against facial recognition technology would not bat an eye in calling this technology Orwellian and as many groups like Amnesty have observed from places like China, there is much to be feared with facial recognition.

________________________________________________________________

1. Truong, K. (2020, June 25). Congress Introduces Bill to Ban Federal Agencies From Using Facial Recognition. Retrieved June 27, 2020, fromhttps://www.vice.com/en_ca/article/qj4jkx/congress-introduces-bill-to-ban-federal-agencies-from-using-facial-recognition

2. Ibid.

3. Solon, O. (2020, June 25). Facial recognition bill would ban use by federal law enforcement.Retrieved June 27, 2020, from https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/security/2-democratic-senators-propose-ban-use-facial-recognition-federal-law-n1232128

4. Ibid.

5. Jee, C. (2020, June 26). A new US bill would ban the police use of facial recognition. Retrieved June27, 2020, from https://www.technologyreview.com/2020/06/26/1004500/a-new-us-bill-would-ban-the-police-use-of-facial-recognition/

6. Whiteaker, C. (2019, September 20). Hong Kong Protests: Why Umbrellas Are the Most Essential Tool. Retrieved June 27, 2020, from https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2019-hong-kong-protesters-umbrellas/

7. See Citation 5.

8. Kelly, M. (2020, June 25). Feds would be banned from using facial recognition under new bill.Retrieved June 27, 2020, from https://www.theverge.com/2020/6/25/21303355/facial-recognition-ed-markey-ayanna-pressley-ban-federal-agencies-fed-law-enforcement

9. Ibid.

10. Police can track protesters even after the demonstrations end. (n.d.). Retrieved June 27, 2020, fromhttps://www.marketplace.org/shows/marketplace-tech/police-protesters-surveillance-tracking-facial-recognition/

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cksmart-world · 6 years ago

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The Completely Unnecessary News Analysis

By Christopher Smart

Dec. 3, 2019

THE RIGHT TO LIFE & BEAR ARMS

Everybody knows life begins at fertilization. The sperm and egg unite, two cells become four, and voilà — an embryo. This truth is non-negotiable. If a political candidate does not believe in “right to life,” then forget about it. Women do not have the freedom to choose what's going on with their own bodies, even in the case of rape or incest. Every life is precious and we must close all the embryo-killing abortion clinics immediately. And while we're considering morality and patriotism, it's also a truism that the 2nd Amendment guarantees everyone's right to own a gun, whether it be a snub-nosed .38 or an AR-15. “A well regulated Militia being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms shall not be infringed.” (Don't pay any attention to the “well regulated Militia” part). Of course, there are mass shootings going on every day in this country. But all those corpses piling up are just collateral damage — the price of freedom, as Bill O'Reilly likes to say. You see, life in the womb is precious; at Walmart or middle school, not so much.

IMPEACHMENT GLOSSARY

Soon the Senate will conduct the impeachment trial of President Donald J. Trump for alleged bribery, obstruction of justice and abuse of power regarding interactions with Ukraine. In order to help Americans understand the complexities of this historic event, the linguists here at Smart Bomb have assembled a hands-on glossary for political neophytes. To get oriented, we first turn to George Orwell for definitions such as: freedom is slavery; ignorance is strength; and war is peace. As has been reported recently on Fox News Channel For Real Americans, the term “whistleblower” in this context really means “lying sonofabitch.” And according to a forensic analysis of the July 25 phone call between Trump and Ukraine President Zalensky, quid pro quo is Pig-Latin for “Go ahead, make my day.” One subject that is bound to come up is “Burisma,” the name of a Ukrainian energy company. But here, Burisma actually is jargon for, “Joe Biden will sleep with the fishes.” And the phrase, “Check with Rudy,” has been revealed as double-speak for, “nobody fingers the White House or it's curtains.” During the trial, Republican senators are bound to bandy about the term “CrowdStrike” in an effort to indict Ukraine for meddling in the 2016 election. The subtext, however, indicates the real meaning is, “pure bullshit.”

AIR POLLUTION & BRAIN DAMAGE

A new scientific study reveals that air pollution leads to Alzheimer-like brain atrophy. (We are not making this up.) The findings from University of Southern California are the result of a scientific study of 998 women ages to 73 to 87. Alzheimer’s is the fourth-leading cause of death in Utah, according to Deseret News scoop Amy Joi O'Donoghue. Pollution can get so bad along the Wasatch Front that it's rated as some of the filthiest air in the country. Here, at Smart Bomb, we have have determined that air pollution impacts men's mental abilities, as well. Our team of crack researchers came to that conclusion by studying the actions of the male-dominated Utah Legislature. For example, Utah lawmakers recently determined to help low-income workers by imposing a new food tax, clearly indicating some kind of mental impairment. As you may know, the Capitol Building is located near Interstate 15 and the oil refineries — a double-whammy of air pollution. And it's no secret that legislators have been resistant to clean air initiatives, largely because they keep forgetting about them — a Catch 22 or sorts. Actually that explains a whole lot things.

BLACK FRIDAY CAPTURES X-MAS SPIRIT

American shoppers charged bazillions of dollars on their credit cards Nov. 29 — Black Friday. Among other things, Black Friday keeps the economy humming. Not just here, but in every country that imports to the U.S. We are the world's consumers — the bedrock of capitalism. Shopping is our way of celebrating the birth of Jesus of Nazareth, who everyone knows was way into new stuff and consumption. (Actually, Jesus wasn't born on Dec. 25, but Christians usurped the Pagan Winter Solstice celebration. But we digress.) The origins of the term “Black Friday” are up for debate. Most recently, it is believed to be the day that retailers broke into the black, as in black ink — profit. Another story is that the day after Thanksgiving was a traditional time that slave traders put their products — human beings — on sale before winter set in. How American can you get? But the story that rings true is that the term “Black Friday” was coined in Philadelphia in 1961 by cops overwhelmed by all the extra traffic created by hordes of shoppers heading for the city’s downtown stores (remember them?), long before Jeff Bezos was even a twinkle in his mother's eye.

Post Script — Well that's it for another fun-filled week here at Smart Bomb, where we keep track of Michael Bloomberg's election campaign spending so you don't have to. Time flies — the presidential election is now only 11 months away: Think of running a marathon barefoot on a Mojave highway in July with blisters on your feet. Coincidentally, the rate of clinical depression across the country is up sharply and the birthrate is down. No Wilson, we don't know if they've tried marijuana gummy bears. But listen, this is the holiday season and we ought to be focusing on joy, the spirit of giving and eggnog. Think good thoughts, like the Runnin' Utes ranked 5th in NCAA football (pinch yourself, it's real); the New England Patriots losing again; there's snow in the mountains; the lights are on at Temple Square; and nobody's dropping bombs on us from drones flying overhead (a different kind of giving we save for the Middle East).

All right, Wilson, wake up the band and take us into the festive season with something special: We were born before the wind / Also younger than the sun / Ere the bonnie boat was won / As we sailed into the mystic / Hark, now hear the sailors cry / Smell the sea and feel the sky / Let your soul and spirit fly into the mystic...

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worldtopnewsoftheday · 6 years ago

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Win McNamee/GettySen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) made remarks in the Democratic debate Tuesday night that harked back to President Obama’s “You didn’t build that” line, which became fodder for Republican attacks in the 2012 presidential election. “Look, I don’t have a beef with billionaires,” Warren said at the debate, arguing for higher taxes on the ultra-wealthy. “My problem is, you made a fortune in America, you had a great idea, you got out there and worked for it, good for you, but you built that fortune in America, I guarantee you built it in part using workers all of us help pay to educate.” Warren’s debate argument was the latest iteration of a line she pioneered during her 2012 campaign for a Massachusetts Senate seat. But when Obama tried to use Warren’s messaging in his 2012 presidential re-election campaign, he phrased it less clearly, leaving an opening for GOP attack ads that took Obama’s remarks out of context and made it seem as if he was saying business owners “didn’t build” their companies. “If you were successful, somebody along the line gave you some help,” Obama said. “There was a great teacher somewhere in your life. Somebody helped to create this unbelievable American system that we have that allowed you to thrive. Somebody invested in roads and bridges. If you’ve got a business, you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen.”Obama rival Mitt Romney soon brought up the “you didn’t build that” line in a speech, claiming that it was akin to saying that “Steve Jobs didn't build Apple.”Read more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast hereGet our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.

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justsimplylovely · 6 years ago

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orendrasingh · 6 years ago

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Mark Makela/GettyIn seeking the 2020 nomination for the presidency, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) had made overtures that he’d operate more firmly within the Democratic Party as the party adopted procedural reforms to accommodate his concerns. The rapprochement was always delicate. And this week it hit a major snag as the senator’s presidential campaign opened fire at one of the Democratic Party’s leading think tanks over a video that its editorially independent news site posted on Sanders’ personal wealth. That video from ThinkProgress and the senator’s response, in which he accused the Center for American Progress of bias against liberal candidates and veneration for corporate interests, exposed the lingering animus between the Sanders and the Democratic Party’s actual institutions. It also raised alarm and questions as to whether Sanders was running to lead the party or to fundamentally change it. “If you always want to be an aggrieved factional candidate, then you do what they did here,” said a Democratic operative who is a fan of Sanders. “It has nothing to do with the electoral context of Iowa or New Hampshire or Nevada or South Carolina. Let’s go fight that battle. Voters don’t care about CAP.”The root of the latest blow up was a video produced by ThinkProgress noting that Sanders had stopped maligning millionaires—leaving his criticism for billionaires—when he became one himself. The news site is part of the CAP umbrella, which gave the video the veneer of a sanctioned attack. But it also claims editorial independence from the think tank, though the degree of that independence is difficult to define. Sanders’ campaign was initially uncertain of how it should respond to the post. But a day after it had been up—and shared gleefully by Republican operatives—they chose to push back in a way that, Democrats said, redefined disproportionality. Over the weekend, Sanders’ campaign sent a letter to the board of CAP and CAP Action Fund saying that the “counterproductive negative campaigning needs to stop.” The letter referenced content written about Sanders and two close colleagues who are also in the 2020 race: Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Cory Booker (D-NJ). It also explicitly called out CAP president Neera Tanden, an ally of Hillary Clinton, who has been critical of Sanders in the past but has attempted to mend bridges. Among some Democrats, there was a sense of bewilderment that the Sanders campaign had gone—as one operative put it—”nuclear” over a mere web video. One Democratic consultant sympathetic to Sanders described the video as being “like a gnat buzzing around your ear,” one which should not have distracted from the candidate’s Midwest tour. It also raised questions as to whether the senator was ready for the scrutiny that would come from being a frontrunning candidate, after having run as an insurgent against an ideal foil, Hillary Clinton, in 2016. “When you’re leading in the polls of president of your party you should expect investigative stories to hit at least once a week and to be attacked by your opponents every day,” said Ben Labolt, who served as press secretary to Barack Obama during the 2012 campaign. “An attack on something like ThinkProgress is the sign of a super-narrow-minded campaign that isn’t actually thinking of how the election will be won... They have chosen an establishment force that no one outside of the Starbucks at 16th and K would recognize.” But within Sanders’ orbit, the pushback was seen as strategically prudent. Sanders has often bristled at personal questions that he deems irrelevant to the set of beliefs he has espoused for decades. And his attack on CAP effectively set a benchmark for the type of coverage that the his team would countenance and reinforced his brand as someone outside of typical party structures. It also undermined any notion that he was a political pushover—a suggestion that lingered for some after he muted some of his attacks on Clinton in 2016. It didn’t hurt matters that some prominent, though non-establishment, Democratic figures offered Sanders their support. Tom Steyer, the liberal billionaire donor and party activist, who also serves on the board of directors for CAP issued a statement on his own saying he would use his “voice on the Center for American Progress’ Board of Directors to discourage any such attacks on any candidate seeking the Democratic nomination in the future.”Those close to Steyer told The Daily Beast that he released the statement without consulting with others at the organization and that it by no means suggested he was endorsing Sanders. Another CAP board member, Stacey Abrams, declined to comment. But a spokesperson for the former Democratic gubernatorial candidate in Georgia directed The Daily Beast to a conciliatory statement Tanden issued on Monday afternoon, saying the video had been “overly harsh” and did “not reflect our approach to a constructive debate of the issues.”That, for now, seems to have quieted the skirmish with Sanders’ campaign manager Faiz Shakir saying that the campaign looked “forward to working in a more productive manner” with CAP, “if possible.” But within a few hours, Sanders was, once more, putting pressure on the press; this time on an outlet of a highly-different ideological bent than ThinkProgress. In a town hall with Fox News, the senator hit back on the suggestion that his income-inequality message was muddied by his personal wealth by directly challenging the newscasters to ask the president for his own tax rates. “I pay the taxes that I owe,” he declared, “and by the way, why don’t you get Donald Trump up here and ask them how much he pays in taxes?”Read more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast here

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beautytipsfor · 6 years ago

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Bernie Sanders Brings a Gun to a Democratic Primary Knife Fight

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marvhagedorn · 8 years ago

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Last Week's Summary of The Idaho Senate's Efforts to Finish Sine Die... #idpol #idleg. We’ve passed the majority of the budget bills, but there are still a few in the House that the Senate still needs to wait for and consider. The loss of the Transportation bill was also quite a setback from being able to Sine Die on Friday, so we will again meet tomorrow and the rest of the week if that’s what it takes to finalize a tax reduction bill and a transportation package for much needed maintenance and expansion projects required due to population growth. We are working on transferring existing General Funds to our multi-billion dollar transportation infrastructure and also enable a limited level of bonding to be able to build some badly needed projects that are very large and expensive. Some of the highlight bills are as follows: S1142A (The Healthcare Assistance bill I’ve worked on for 6+ months for the Gap population) failed to pass the Senate Floor. The purpose was to provide primary healthcare assistance to 15,000 individuals, many of which are chronically ill. Some thought it would be better to use federal funding as well and have access to $90 million versus $10 million. Some thought it would be best to not use federal funding giving the State of Idaho more authority. Others felt it would be wisest to see what the final outcome of the federal healthcare program was before acting as a state. H250 (Abortion relating Telehealth) passed the Senate Floor. The purpose of this legislation is to terminate the lawsuit between the State of Idaho and the United States District Court. It would repeal certain provision of the law regulating the performance of chemical abortions adopted by the legislature in 2015. Some felt we should continue to fight on principal. Most felt it was highly unlikely to win this particular lawsuit and it would be best to reframe the issue and fight another day. H222 (Secure Facility for Violent Incompetent Individuals) passed the Senate Floor. The purpose of this legislation is to allow for a wing of the facility to have secured features protecting more vulnerable clients and the community from the violent individuals. S1182 (In Regards to Faith Healing) failed to pass the Senate Floor. The purpose of this legislation was to provide a civil avenue to protect the life of the child and not criminalize a parent if they chose prayer or spiritual means of treatment for the child. In the context of treatment by spiritual means, a court could only take action under the Child Protection Act if the child was likely to suffer serious permanent injury or death and then was required to balance the constitutional interests involved. The court would also consider the desires of a child while weighing their age and maturity as in family law custody cases There were a variety of opinions in favor and against this bill. It was heavily yet respectfully debated. S1194 (Appropriations to Permanent Building Fund) passed the Senate Floor. This legislation provided funding in the amount of $71,425,700 for several projects including the Idaho State University Gale Life Sciences Building, Psychiatric Hospital Transformation, Boise State University for Materials Science, Lewis-Clark State College Career-Technical Education Building, and University of Idaho Center for Agriculture. The Senate adopted House Joint Memorial 8. The purpose of this Memorial is to request that the federal government appropriate $8 million of federal matching funding of the authorized $20 million allowed for fiscal year 2018 to the four Northwest States of Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington for the purpose of combating the immediate threat of invasive quagga and zebra mussels. H274aaS (Invasive Species) passed the Senate Floor. It would amend the Idaho Invasive Species Act by establishing in the Office of the Governor, an Administrator of invasive species policy and establish the Idaho Invasive Species Council. This legislation sets up duties of the Administrator and the Department of Agriculture and lays out the coordination of efforts between state agencies. House Bill 67aaS (Grocery Tax) passed the Senate Floor with 25 ayes and 10 nays. This piece of legislation would repeal sales taxs on groceries, and also remove the grocery tax credit given back to taxpayers at income tax filing time. The Governor has indicated he is not a fan of this bill, so it it’s taken up in the House is anyone’s guess. An alternative is a 1/10th of a percent reduction at all levels of the income tax (i.e., reduce the top level of tax from 7.4% to 7.3%) that could be sent from the House to the Senate for consideration. S1188a (Transportation Plan, Relating to GARVEE bonding) failed to pass the Senate Floor with 20 nays and 15 ayes. This legislation provided authorization for selling up to $300 million in GARVEE bonds issued by Idaho Housing and Finance Association for ITD to finance highway transportation projects around the state. Ninety two percent of the repayment amount on Garvee bonds are paid from the federal dollars received by ITD and the state is not liable if it does not receive sufficient federal funds to make the bind payments. This piece of legislation deals directly with I-84 from Nampa to Caldwell as well as many other priority expansion projects around the state. There has been a lot of good, diplomatic debate on both sides of this issue, although this bill failed, we are staying to try put a transportation package together before we Sine Die. H301a (Oil and Gas) passed the Senate Floor unanimously. The purpose of this legislation is to protect private property owners, state endowment lands, and taxpayers. It would do so by updating the Idaho law in accordance with other Rocky Mountain States and it would improve processes, transparency, and reporting of oil and gas development. We were shooting for finishing last Friday, but just couldn’t get consensus to finish some very tough bills. We will come together once again this week and try to finish our work. Again, thank you for allowing me to represent you in the Idaho Senate! file/ma/marvhagedorn.20170327T023003.9zlnwsp.jpeg

#idpol #idleg:: We’ve

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