Random Thoughts (Political Edition)

Additionally, the concept of cultural relativism, no matter which merits it may or may not have, has nothing to do with the challenge at hand: German anchestry in US citizens has no plausible link at all to evolution denial due to the following facts:

1. German immigrants have a strong culturally imprinted bond to Lutheranism, not Anglicanism. But Evangelical Protestantism is rooted in Anglicanism.
2. Evangelical Protestantism as we know it evolved over 150 years after the last big wave of German immigration to the US. That's easily six to seven generations in which the German cultural heritage mixed with other (mostly white, European) cultural heritages to evolve into mainstream post-civil war American culture.
3. But mostly, only 30% of all Christians in the US indentify themselves as Evangelical. At the same time, 17 percent of all Americans (not only Christians) are of German anchestry. Not all German immigrants were Christians.
After deducting non-white, WASP and other non-German Evangelicals from the 30% Evangelical Christians, that leaves only a small percentage of Christian descendents of German immigrants that could possibly be Evangelical.
4. More than a third of white Evangelicals do not deny evolution. If we assume that evolution denial is spread evenly among the different anchestrys of white Evangelicals, the number of possible evolution deniers among the German-Americans dwindles further.
 
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Not all immigrants keep strong links to their heritage either. My father's side of the family immigrated to the U.S. in the early 20th century from Greece and Croatia. He and my uncles are about as midwest as you can get. My grandmother's family in fact converted from Greek Orthodox to Catholic when they moved to the U.S.

My mother who was born and raised in Australia is, outside of her accent, almost completely assimilated into U.S. culture.

Not everyone keeps their culture after immigrating.
 
http://news.yahoo.com/norwegians-be...es-oil-saving-landmark-172511178--sector.html

All Norwegians become crown millionaires (theoretically)

Everyone in Norway became a theoretical crown millionaire on Wednesday in a milestone for the world's biggest sovereign wealth fund that has ballooned thanks to high oil and gas prices.

Set up in 1990, the fund owns around 1 percent of the world's stocks, as well as bonds and real estate from London to Boston, making the Nordic nation an exception when others are struggling under a mountain of debts.

A preliminary counter on the website of the central bank, which manages the fund, rose to 5.11 trillion crowns ($828.66 billion), fractionally more than a million times Norway's most recent official population estimate of 5,096,300.

It was the first time it reached the equivalent of a million crowns each, central bank spokesman Thomas Sevang said.
 

Sweet! However don't ever read the comments on Yahoo or you'll feel your intelligence insulted for every scroll down. So many stupid people. Speaking about stupid people in other Norwegian news, the new US ambassador to Norway doesn't know a thing about the country.

Norway demands Obama apology for envoy gaffe
Norway's Progress Party has demanded a personal apology from US President Barack Obama after his nomination for Norway's new ambassador described its members as "fringe elements" who "spew out their hatred".

"I think this is unacceptable and a provocation," Jan Arild Ellingsen, the party's justice spokesman, told Norway's TV2 television channel. "I expect the US president to apologise to both Norway and the Progress Party".

George Tsunis, a Greek American property millionaire who was one of Obama's biggest individual campaign donors, displayed only the scantiest knowledge of Norway at a senate hearing this week ahead of his appointment, describing the Progress Party, which has seven ministers in the government, as if it were a fringe far-right group.

He then referred to the country's 'president', apparently under the impression that the country is a republic rather than a constitutional monarchy.
http://www.thelocal.no/20140124/norway-party-demands-obama-apology-for-envoy-gaffe
Quality ambassador material :lol:
 
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Do you know what would happen to a non-U.S. citizen if he gets caught driving under the influence with an expired license, while underage, doing 30mph over the limit, resisting arrest, and his name wasn't Justin Bieber?

A DUI by itself is not a felony, but combined with the other factors, and if he has had any prior offenses (I haven't checked), then it would become a felony and that person would get detained without bail and eventually deported, often without the option to choose his own attorney at the trial (if he even goes to trial)!
 
As your resident celeb expert, I can inform you that the Bieb has no priors. The LAPD tries to pin something on him for months, but so far, nothing did stick. Sadly, despite the fact that Bieber has been witnessed during numorous illegal activities like reckless driving, speeding, DUI, hit and run, use of illegal and prescription drugs, the first thing the LAPD seems to have hard evidence for is a bogus charge of felony property damage resulting from him and his buddies egging his neighbor's house (apparantly, a damage of above $400 makes it a felony in California). But as he is still under investigation for that as well, he has no priors.
And from what I understood, the combination of DIU, street racing, an expired license and resisting arrest won't be enough to get him deported. According to the guys at TMZ, even a felony conviction will not get him deported, because only a subset of felonies will lead to deportation.
 
As your resident celeb expert, I can inform you that the Bieb has no priors. The LAPD tries to pin something on him for months, but so far, nothing did stick. Sadly, despite the fact that Bieber has been witnessed during numorous illegal activities like reckless driving, speeding, DUI, hit and run, use of illegal and prescription drugs, the first thing the LAPD seems to have hard evidence for is a bogus charge of felony property damage resulting from him and his buddies egging his neighbor's house (apparantly, a damage of above $400 makes it a felony in California). But as he is still under investigation for that as well, he has no priors.
And from what I understood, the combination of DIU, street racing, an expired license and resisting arrest won't be enough to get him deported. According to the guys at TMZ, even a felony conviction will not get him deported, because only a subset of felonies will lead to deportation.

I'm sure you are right, however that's not what universities and local police enforcement tells international students - they warn people that even just a DUI can put your legal status in jeopardy.

As a matter of fact, they tell students that they can be detained if they travel in the country without their passport, even if they have a valid U.S. drivers license or ID card on them, which is bullshit but I've actually heard of such things happening.

I wonder if Bieber's case (once finished) could be used as a precedent for all other cases in which international students (or non-citizens in general) could defend themselves in court in similar cases.
ell
 
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I'm sure you are right, however that's not what universities and local police enforcement tells international students - they warn people that even just a DUI can put your legal status in jeopardy.
I actually don't know shit. I just repeated what I read on tmz. But of course, universities want to err on the side of caution: It's easier to tell your students that "any felony will get you deported" than "there is a list of felonies that will get you deported, these include X, Y and Z".

And there are two more things to keep in mind: First, I don't know if there are any bilateral agreements between the US and Canada regarding residency status. And second, I can imagine that different kinds of Visa are treated differently when it comes to deportation: If you got a full residency status, a green card and everything, there might be some more leeway before you get kicked out of the country than if you are on a student's visa that runs out in sixteen months, anyways.

Regarding the "passport" thingy: The only time I ever was asked to show my passport during three months in the US, excluding customs, was when I got carded at a bar in Cambridge, MA.
 
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When it comes to gettting entry in the US, an arrest record can become a barrier. I've heard that a DUI is generally ok and there is an exception to overlook crimes that carry a penalty of less that a year.

However there is a zero tolerance policy for drugs. I know someone that was arrested in 2007 for possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia (a glass pipe and only enough marijuana to fit in the bowl). He plead no contest to the paraphernalia as part of a plea and the possession charge was dropped. When he tried to enter the US again a few years later, he was denied entry. It took a couple of years to overcome that barrier.

I read som real horror stories about people with 20 year old arrest records for marijuana have been denied entry as well
 
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Dear US,

Don't deport Bieber. We don't want him either.

Sincerely,
Canada
 
Anyone following the protests in the Ukraine?

I was born there, still have family there, been following it all quite closely. It's a really messy situation, the country is balls-deep in corruption. I'm still wondering how it might possibly end. Russia has a vested interest in having some control over Ukraine (Black Sea Fleet is based there, possibly some trade-related reasons as well), so they want a leader like Yanukovich who will give them what they want. If you tune into Russian news channels, they've all been claiming that the protesters are a minority of militants who want to overthrow the government - which is a load of BS. On the other hand, Yanukovich can't possibly stay in power for much longer at this rate - practically the whole of the civilized world has condemned him, and if the protesters want to get rid of corruption in the country, I don't think they're going to let him stick around.
 
I was born there, still have family there, been following it all quite closely. It's a really messy situation, the country is balls-deep in corruption. I'm still wondering how it might possibly end. Russia has a vested interest in having some control over Ukraine (Black Sea Fleet is based there, possibly some trade-related reasons as well), so they want a leader like Yanukovich who will give them what they want. If you tune into Russian news channels, they've all been claiming that the protesters are a minority of militants who want to overthrow the government - which is a load of BS. On the other hand, Yanukovich can't possibly stay in power for much longer at this rate - practically the whole of the civilized world has condemned him, and if the protesters want to get rid of corruption in the country, I don't think they're going to let him stick around.
What do the protesters want, apart from getting rid of Yanucovich and stopping corruption? Do they have shared goals or is it a coalition of groups with differing, even conflicting interests that is only united by their opposition to Yanucovich?
 
What do the protesters want, apart from getting rid of Yanucovich and stopping corruption? Do they have shared goals or is it a coalition of groups with differing, even conflicting interests that is only united by their opposition to Yanucovich?

The protests are being led primarily by three of the opposition parties in parliament. So, they do definitely have some conflicting interests - only one can lead the country after all, and their political beliefs differ as well. However, they do have a couple more things in common:

-Anti-Russian sentiment: Ukraine has a very, very long history of being bullied by Russia and the Soviet Union. As such, most people (excluding parts of the east, where Russia is so close that the people are more accepting of it, and even speak Russian) don't want to be associated with Russia. Frankly, I'm surprised Yanukovich didn't predict the backlash it would cause to turn away from the EU and straight to Russia. Yanukovich's party is only one of two in the country that is pro-Russian, the other being the Communist Party (which doesn't seem to have involved itself in the protests).
-An election: All 3 want the president to call an election, and considering the kind of sentiment running through the country, chances are all 3 of them would gain quite a lot of power from it, even if only one is ultimately in charge.

If they got an election, the hope is that Yanukovich's party wouldn't win (after this, I don't see how they could without some serious vote-rigging) and that the opposition would take charge of the country. Many of the actual protesters themselves don't care what party ends up in charge, so long as Yanukovich is never to be seen again. All 3 parties seem to be promising exactly what they want - an end to the corruption, and a move away from Russia to the EU. But the last thing Russia wants to see is an anti-Russian leader in charge of Ukraine.
 
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You are aware that "Top Right News" is a channel dedicated to anti-immigration propaganda?

To reply to your rhetoric questions: Cause you don't have the balls for a life of crime. And don't want to go to jail.
 
How is drug testing before getting food stamps related to a drug trafficker getting food stamps? If he's any good, a drug test isn't going to be positive.
 
How is drug testing before getting food stamps related to a drug trafficker getting food stamps? If he's any good, a drug test isn't going to be positive.

It also doesn't work.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/18/us/no-savings-found-in-florida-welfare-drug-tests.html?ref=us

The Florida civil liberties group sued the state last year, arguing that the law constituted an ?unreasonable search? by the government, a violation of the Fourth Amendment. In issuing a temporary injunction in October, Judge Mary S. Scriven of Federal District Court scolded lawmakers and said the law ?appears likely to be deemed a constitutional infringement.?

From July through October in Florida ? the four months when testing took place before Judge Scriven?s order ? 2.6 percent of the state?s cash assistance applicants failed the drug test, or 108 of 4,086, according to the figures from the state obtained by the group. The most common reason was marijuana use. An additional 40 people canceled the tests without taking them.

Because the Florida law requires that applicants who pass the test be reimbursed for the cost, an average of $30, the cost to the state was $118,140. This is more than would have been paid out in benefits to the people who failed the test, Mr. Newton said.

As a result, the testing cost the government an extra $45,780, he said.

If you want to protect kids from being in homes that have a drug user and are on public assistance then the better idea would be to pay for drug counseling or treatment.


And Fuck yeah 900 a month you can totally live off that in Boston right? RIGHT?
 
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