Liberty Union students, parents feel sidelined by district over cheer program – East Bay Times

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BRENTWOOD Cheer squads and parents of Liberty Union High School Districts cheerleaders are up in arms over an upcoming vote that could keep cheer teams on the sidelines.

Word got out last week afterSuperintendent Eric Volta recommended to the school board not to offer traditional competitive cheering next year, when the California Interscholastic Federation is due to officially recognize it as a sport.

In 2015, the state legislature passed a bill thatclassified competition cheer as a sport. Now, schools are rushing to figure out the costs and requirements associated withthe federations bylaws.

On Feb. 22, the Liberty Union High School district discussed whether to add the two types of cheer,traditional competitive cheer and competitive sport cheer, also known as stunting.

A major difference between the two is that traditional competitive cheer has timed routines that many people would recognize and competes throughout the year. Competitive sport cheeris focused on stunts, such as tosses and tumbling, and competes in the spring.

We are looking at expense, equity and opportunity and whats the best we can give to our students, whether its competitive sport cheer or traditional competitive cheer, said Pauline Allred, president of the LUHSD school board. Cheer becoming a CIF-sanctioned sport would add expenses to our sports program.

Students and parents have spoken out and have launched a campaign to convince the school district to include competitive cheer as a sport.

The girls have worked so hard for cheer to be finally recognized as a sport and to give their athleticism some credibility, saidTiffani Hom, whose daughter is a freshman on the Heritage High School varsity cheer team. Its kind of like a slap in the face to the girls.

Gil Lemmon, the commissioner of athletics for the North Coast Section of the CIF, said that the sport is notequally protected under anti-discrimination laws, known as Title IX, yet. However, its inclusion as a sport under the CIF adds protections and requirements for the 26,000 student athletes currently competing in cheer.

Some people are putting the cart before the horse here, Lemmon said. This is an opportunity for the school to list the activity as a CIF-approved sport. This is no different than when we added lacrosse. It means that schools, if they offer that activity, would have to comply with all the other CIF rules and regulations.

The cheer community in the Liberty Union High School District is strong. Heritage High Schools varsity cheer team made it to the semi-finals and placed 10th at the Universal Cheerleaders Association Nationals in Orlando, Fla. The stunt group made it to the finals and placed 10th as well.

If you want to cheer in college, youll need that competition piece, said Deborah Hinds, whose daughter Desiree is also on the Heritage High School varsity cheer team. The Heritage and Freedom High teamsare the bestin the Bay area.

While the majority of cheer athletes are in traditional competitive cheering, competitive sport cheeringhas been gaining ground in recent years.

What were hoping is that over time, we would see the competitive sport cheer grow, Lemmon said. It has a season of sport and theres an opportunity for the student athletes to compete against other schools.

Antioch Unified School District is leaning toward offering both programs, but Pittsburg Unified is hinting that it might go the same route as Liberty Union, by only offering competitive sport cheer.

Greg Strom, coordinator of athletics for Pittsburg Unified, said that the decision mainly concerns expenses. Traditional competitive cheer requires more travel and fundraising.

Thisassessment was confirmed by LUHSD board member Raymond Valverde, who said that the district superintendent, Eric Volta, had cited funding as a concern when recommending that only competitive sport cheer be offered. Valverde supported keeping traditional competitive cheer and said that the district will be discussing the issue further at their March 8 meeting.

Whatever the outcome, the district has committed to keeping sideline cheer, which is a club, rather than a competitive sport.

LUHSD Superintendent Eric Volta could not be reached for comment.

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Liberty Union students, parents feel sidelined by district over cheer program - East Bay Times

Daily traffic restrictions announced for Liberty Tunnel and Liberty … – WTAE Pittsburgh

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PITTSBURGH

PennDOT District 11 is announcing lane restrictions on the Liberty Bridge, Liberty Tunnel (Route 3069) Second Avenue, the Boulevard of the Allies and I-376 (Parkway East) in the City of Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, will continue Wednesday, March 1, weather permitting.

Single-lane restrictions for survey work and material delivery will occur through Friday, March 17 on the Liberty Bridge, Liberty Tunnel and Second Avenue. Restrictions will occur according to the following schedule:

Liberty Bridge

Liberty Tunnel

Second Avenue

I-376 Parkway East

Boulevard of the Allies

Lane restrictions on the Liberty Bridge will be coordinated with events at PPG Paints Arena.

Motorists can check conditions on major roadways by visiting http://www.511PA.com. 511PA, which is free and available 24 hours a day, provides traffic delay warnings, weather forecasts, traffic speed information and access to more than 770 traffic cameras. 511PA is also available through a smartphone application for iPhone and Android devices, by calling 511, or by following regional Twitter alerts accessible on the 511PA website.

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Daily traffic restrictions announced for Liberty Tunnel and Liberty ... - WTAE Pittsburgh

The Isolation of College Libertarians – New York Times

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New York Times
The Isolation of College Libertarians
New York Times
Leftists, in an effort to make campuses welcoming ostensibly, for everyone end up frequently silencing conservative and libertarian students. They paint any argument that isn't progressive as immoral, so conservative students can find themselves ...

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The Isolation of College Libertarians - New York Times

What does freedom actually mean? Self-indulgent Libertarian hypocrisy knows no bounds – Salon

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This article originally appeared on AlterNet.

I once had a conversation with a Libertarian friend who insisted that freedom was the answer to everything ironic since he was getting married the following week.

Freedom to have sex with others while married? I asked.

Of course not, he said.

Freedom for your children to do whatever they want?

No, thats different, he said.

Freedom for everyone to have a nuclear bomb?

No, that wouldnt be good.

Freedom for people to steal?

No, that has to be controlled.

You dont really think that freedom is the answer to everything, I said. The real question is what to constrain and what to let go free. The question in social engineering is the question in all engineering. Its a question of tolerances: What to constrain with tight tolerances and what to let run free with loose tolerances. That question is built right into the paradoxical declarations that we should all, be intolerant of all intolerance, or tolerate all intolerance.

Sorry, thats not my question, he said.

But why? I asked.

Because its hard and I dont want to bother with it.

I applauded his honesty. If you want to know why its not obvious to everyone by now that the question is what to tolerate and not tolerate, its simply this: The question is difficult.

Its so much easier to be a hypocrite, to claim that total freedom or total constraint are the only possibilities and that you favor one and oppose the other. Its easier to pretend that youre crusading for absolute freedom against absolute control or vice versa than it is to deal with the messy complexity of trying to sort out what to free and what to constrain.

Hypocrisy is the alternative to praying for the wisdom to know the difference between what to constrain and what to let run free. Just pretend that you already have theperfect wisdom to know the obvious difference. Pretend that theres no question, control is always bad, freedom is always good. Or vice versa.

And with hypocrisy, you can even have it both ways depending on your momentary needs and whims. You can claim that you always favor one as you can switch back and forth.

I dont like that this constrains me. We should all be free always.

Always?!

Yes, judgment is always bad. People should never be judgmental.

But isnt should a judgment?

No. And why do you always have to disagree with me?

I dont always and anyway, didnt you just say that people should be free always? Doesnt that apply to me too? Shouldnt I be free to disagree with you?

No. People should always do the right thing. People should always be controlled by the moral principles I know and espouse.

But, but, you just said . . .

Theres a difference between being and feeling consistent. To be consistent you have to tame the tendency to extrapolate to universal principles from whatever youre feeling in the moment. You have to be able to notice your inconsistencies.

Since thats difficult and self-compromising, its easier to just feel consistent. For that you need only hold one idea constant. Just always chant, Im consistent. I have integrity. Im not like all of the other people around me. Other people are inconsistent hypocrisy. Im not.

If you hold that one thought with all your heart then you dont have to pay attention to your flip-flopping. You can have all your cakes and eat them too.

You wont live by your inconsistent standards, but if youre insistent enough, youll be able to convince yourself that you do, and maybe youll be able to convince others too. There are lots of hypocrisy cults you can join, mutual admiration societies that claim some absolute truth, thereby liberating themselves to follow their whims, confident that theyre consistent.

These days, libertarianism is one such cult, growing in popularity, in large part through sponsorship by the Koch brothers network of donors, spending billions through private charities to achieve a cabal of about 400 billionaires ultimate aim, to be unconstrained in everything they do. The cabal was inspired by a self-serving misreading of the Soviet Union. Fred Koch, the Koch brothers father was a key provider to Stalin as he built the Soviet Unions oil industry. When Fred saw the devastation wrought by his client Stalin he wrote that, What I saw in Russia convinced me of the utterly evil nature of communism. . . . What I saw there convinced me that communism was the most evil force the world has ever seen and I must do everything in my power to fight it, whichI have done since that time.

Rather than bite Stalins hand that fed him he conveniently focused on the rationalization that Stalin employed to justify his dictatorship. Fred went on to say in 1938 that Although nobody agrees with me, I am of the opinion that the only sound countries in the world are Germany, Italy, and Japan, simply because they are all working and working hard. He loved fascism; he hated communism.

Thus was born the hypocritical Koch campaign, control for freedom; constrain for liberty, dictate anarchy. It was easy to get other wealthy donors enthusiastic about the movement, donors like our new education secretary Betsy Devos, a self-declared Libertarian who donated over $200 million to hypocritical campaigns for state-imposed religious education in the name of Libertarianism. And its been easy to find politicians who will mouth and defend the hypocrisy for the money.

Thats what happened to what once was the Republican party. The Republicans who embraced American traditions bent to the Kochs will or were chased out by Koch-funded candidates from the Tea Party. If youre wondering whatever happened to our country, what explains the weird jack-knifing lurch toward libertarianism, the Koch brothers are a good place to find answers. The Tea Party wouldnt have lasted any longer than the Occupy movement if it werent orchestrated and funded by the Kochs.

Do I sound like a conspiracy theorist? If the alternative to conspiracy theory is the assumption that there are never any conspiracies, were in real trouble. There are conspiracies. The difference between conspiracy theorists and people who reveal real conspiracies is in whether the eagerness to find oneor the evidence leads one to the conclusion that there is one. If you read the facts on the Koch brothers, I think youll find that the evidence stacks up pretty conclusively.

But no matter how much money you pour into selling something, it wont sell if theres no latent appetite. With Libertarianism as a rationalization, theres plenty of appetite, the appetite for some alternative to having to think about whats worth and not worth constraining.

Libertarians have bought themselves the ultimate freedom, paid in full with a commitment to hypocrisy, the freedom to never have to wonder about or learn from anything ever again, the freedom to feel consistent without having to trouble themselves with the hard question that shows up everywhere since sometimes freedom turns out well and sometimes it turns out badly:

In engineering:There are bolts and there are ball bearings. We bolt some things down and we let other things run free.

Computer engineering:Algorithms are constraints that enable you to input a free range of variables and get reliably constrained results.

Social engineering:We want people to have freedom to do what they want so long as it doesnt cause more damage than their freedom is worth. Laws, at their best, are constraints that maximize freedom.

Liberty and justice for all:Justice constrains us, liberty frees us. Justice is security. Government at its best seeks the best mix.

Freedom and responsibility:Youre free on the dance floor, but unless youre special (P.S., youre not) your freedom comes with responsibility for not constraining other peoples freedom. You dont get to crowd everyone into the corner by dancing wildly with your eyes shut shouting I believe in freedom!

Social movements:The best and worst movements in human history have all had the same rallying cry, a proud We demand more! Thats the cry of those crowded out but also those who already have more than their fair share. Its the cry of the womens and civil rights movement but alsoof the Nazis. So whats the difference between the good and bad versions of that rallying cry? Hypocrisy, demand for more dance floor when youre already taking up plenty of it.

Player vs. married:A player is free to date whomever but the freedom comes with a loss of security, no reliable partner to come home to. A married person is more constrained but in the bargain gains some security.

Freelance vs. salaried:Salaried workers are more constrained than freelancers, but in exchange, they get a bit more security.

Evolution:Life is a trial and error process and we are the trials. This makes us ambivalent, rooting for ourselves as trials and rooting for the trial and error process. In our hearts, we cry let the best man win and it damned well better be me!

Sore losers:Sore losers smash the game board if they lose. Libertarians are like that. They think that if they dont win, the game is rigged against them and must be destroyed so that they always win.

Free willvs. determinism:We claim that free will as better than determinism but actually were ambivalent. What wed really like is the freedom to advance and the determinism that locks in the advances weve already made. What we really want is a ratchet, freedom to climb, constraint against falling.

We can have that ratchet if we shut our eyes, dance impulsively and shout freedom is the only answer! while crowding everyone else into the corners by meaning only our personal freedom, the hell with theirs.

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What does freedom actually mean? Self-indulgent Libertarian hypocrisy knows no bounds - Salon

Conservative and libertarian law professors demand more politically balanced faculties – The College Fix

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Conservative and libertarian law professors demand more politically balanced faculties

February 28, 2017

Law schools are notoriously one-sided when it comes to the political leanings of their faculty, and conservative and libertarian academics are tiredof seeking change behind the scenes.

More than two dozen law professors, many familiar to College Fix readers, sent an open letter to the executive committee of the Association of American Law Schools.

It lays bare their grievances against AALSs failure to take concrete preliminary steps to promote viewpoint diversity among law faculties, in the words of the professor who shared it, libertarian luminary Randy Barnett of Georgetown.

Drafted by Case Western Reserve Law Prof. George Dent, who has led a yearslong effort in the association to promote diversity beyond skin color and sex, the letter says conservatives and libertarians are grossly underrepresented on law faculties:

For several years now a number of legal scholars have asked the AALS to support the commitment to viewpoint diversity stated in its by-laws.

While the new executive director seems also to take us seriously, and this years AALS annual meeting seemed to have better balanced panels, the association refuses to go further, the letter says.

At last years annual meeting, several professors met with the executive committee to ask for creation of a Political Diversity Task Force; for viewpoint diversity to be made a regular element of the sabbatical reviews for member schools; and for access to the associations Faculty Appointments Register, to help them track viewpoint diversity in hiring.

Its been a year since AALSsaid it would create subcommittees to examinethese requests, and nothing has happened, says the letter:

We fear that the Executive Committee does not take our concerns seriously and intends to take no action to address them. Both scholarship and teaching suffer when law schools are echo chambers in which only one side of current debates is given a voice.

The signatories include Case Western Reserves Jonathan Adler, University of San Diegos Gail Heriot (a potential Trump administration pick), George Masons Ilya Somin and UCLAs Eugene Volokh.

Read the letter.

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Conservative and libertarian law professors demand more politically balanced faculties - The College Fix

Realism or Idealism: Why Not Both? – Being Libertarian

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Idealists, or purists, can be frustratingly impractical with their ideology. Some will consider any form of political action an endorsement of state power and others will only support political activists that adhere strictly to impractical or impossible standards. Meanwhile, realists have a tendency to dismiss any extreme ideas, including those of ancaps (anarcho-capitalists), as completely worthless if they deviate too far from the current schematic of civilization.

I am not suggesting that all libertarians fit neatly into these two categories, but those who do are prevalent. Im asserting that these libertarians are needlessly in opposition, when in fact these sides are complementary, not antagonistic. Is it a contradiction for one person to be on both sides of the spectrum simultaneously? Not if we view idealism as the goal and realism as the means to achieve it.

The purpose of idealism is to provide the end goal. Idealisms only constraint is that it must account for human behavior. In libertarian ideology, anarcho-capitalism is typically considered idealism. No reasonable thinker expects anarcho-capitalism to become mainstream anytime soon. It is only an ethical standard for which to aim. The inability to apply it to the immediate present does not negate the moral arguments for it.

In the past, when slavery was globally accepted and relied upon, the concept of abolition would have been viewed as having catastrophic consequences. When slave labor was the standard means for large-scale production, the idea of automated machinery or any other replacement was impossible to fathom. Today, these concepts are reversed. Blatantly advocating slavery is nearly unheard of, and automated machinery is casually accepted as the go-to method of large-scale production. This is why idealism is not to be easily dismissed. However, what purpose is a goal without means to achieve it?

The purpose of realism is to provide the means to achieve these goals. Realism is pragmatic and practical, focusing only on what can be accomplished in the world we are given today. Realists focus on using methods that bring about change, even if the change is minor or involves compromise.

Having a realistic path is necessary to achieve any goal. As weve all heard numerous times, if we want to accomplish a goal, we must break this goal up into smaller, simpler, easily achievable goals. No entrepreneur can succeed with a great idea, but no business plan to implement. In this same manner, no anarchist can eliminate the state solely by preaching Rothbard. Nor can a minarchist limit state power only by reading Adam Smith.

It cannot be considered a sacrifice of principles to compromise so long as its a net benefit for liberty.

Those such as Senator Rand Paul (R-KY), Congressman Thomas Massie (R-KY 4th), and Congressman Justin Amash (R-MI 3rd) can all be considered realists. While the extent of their impact is debatable, it is difficult to argue that they have achieved nothing.

But why are both idealism and realism necessary?

Say youre unhappy with your current environment, so you decide to move. The role of the idealist is to decide your destination while the realist charts your path. On the way, you notice the road isnt perfectly straight. At some points, you may actually be increasing the distance between you and your destination. At other times, you might be traveling north when your destination is northwest. These times are not inefficient, but necessary for progress. This explains the complications of realists. The path to the goal is not always obvious, and idealists can benefit from a realistic approach.

Since both the realists and the idealists are necessary, why not be both? Instead of choosing a side, why not hold a realist position and an idealist position on each issue?

Sometimes these positions are the same, and other times different. For example, is it hypocritical to believe in open borders and to actively support extreme vetting? I argue no.

A welfare/warfare state can complicate things. A policy that works for Japan may not work for South Africa and, in a similar sense, a policy that works for America in 2017 may not for Ancapistan in 2517.

There are already a few that could be considered both realistic and idealistic. In fact, an entire branch of anarchism is devoted to a form of practical activism: Agorism.

Agorists advocate withdrawing from government and living as an anarchist through a black or grey market.

As for specific examples, there are three that stand out. Judge Andrew Napolitano considers himself an anarchist, yet is obviously part of the system as a judge. Tom Woods, another ancap, has advocated for political involvement as well. Perhaps the most controversial example is Stefan Molyneux, an activist that has written two books on anarchy and yet routinely advocates against open borders in present day America.

Despite these examples, a majority of libertarians appear bonded to either realism or idealism, reluctant to see the viability of the another. Perhaps collaboration between the two can be a solution to the frequent infighting within the libertarian scope.

* Nathan A. Kreider is the Fall 2015 Spring 2017 president of the Young Americans for Liberty chapter at Lock Haven University of Pennsylvania. He runs nkreider.com and tweets from @LibertyNAK regularly.

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Libertarian Ballot Access Fight against Two-Party Duopoly Grows Stronger – IVN News

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The Libertarian Party continues to bask in a historic election year, gaining party status and ballot access in more states in 2016. The general platform of fiscal conservatism and social liberalism/tolerance/openness is striking a cord with many voters looking for alternatives outside the two-party political structure.

In some states, like Iowa, the local Libertarian Party is celebrating major party status. However, other Libertarian Parties must fight Republican and Democratic forces to gain the party status or ballot access they believe they rightfully earned after the 2016 elections.

In Tennessee, the state Libertarian Party asked the secretary of state to declare it a qualified political party, according to Ballot Access News. Current law requires minor parties to get at least 5 percent of the vote in the previous gubernatorial election.

The last gubernatorial election was in 2014, when 5% of the vote was 67,687. The partyscase for qualified party status is that Gary Johnson received70,397 votes. I reached out to the chairman of the Libertarian Party of Tennessee for comment, and will update the article with the chairmans comments.

The Libertarian Parties in Ohio and Washington stateare also fighting state officials on being denied major party status, despite Johnsons success in 2016. In Washington, the secretary of state added the total number of write-in votes to the total presidential count to drop the Libertarian Party below the required number (5% of the vote total) to obtain major party status.

The Ohio Libertarian Party has long been locked in conflict and litigation with the states Republican secretary of state, Jon Husted, over candidates being denied access to the ballot and denying the party recognized status. Multiple lawsuits have been filed by the Libertarian Party against Husted, which have had no success before the Supreme Court.

Husted denied the Libertarian Party of Ohio recognized party status because Gary Johnson had to run in the state as an independent, even though he was the Libertarians presidential nominee. The party had been previously stripped of its party status and the state would not let Johnson run under the Libertarian label.

These are just a fewexamples of the struggles the Libertarian Party and other minor parties experience just to get on the ballot. In many states, the petition requirements to appear on the general election ballot area deterrent. And even if a minor party believes it can get the signatures necessary, many fear legal challenges from the major parties that could potentially cripple theirparty financially.

The Libertarian Party of Illinoischallenged a law before the Seventh Circuit Court of Appealsthatmakes it harder for third parties to gain ballot access. An update from the Courthouse News Serviceindicates that the court may be poised to rule in the Libertarian Partys favor. It would be a big win for Libertarians not only in Illinois, but across the country.

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Libertarian Ballot Access Fight against Two-Party Duopoly Grows Stronger - IVN News

Islands visits Liberty County, Jenkins at Calhoun in 3A quarterfinals tonight – Savannah Morning News

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The Islands boys basketball team has travelled more than 1,000 miles in the first two rounds of the state playoffs as the Sharks beat Worth County and East Hall for the first postseason victories in school history.

So the 40-mile trip today to Liberty County for a GHSA Class 3A Elite Eight matchup almost seems like a home game for coach Karl DeMasi and his Sharks.

But its going to be tough to beat the Panthers (21-5) on their home court, where they havent lost all season. Islands (19-9) and the Panthers tip off at 6:30 p.m. Doors open at 5 p.m., and a big crowd is expected, so fans should arrive early.

Liberty County moved down an enrollment classification after winning the 4A state crown last season.

Liberty County is very good, they are very athletic, DeMasi said. They have one guard (Davion) Mitchell, who is going to Auburn. And that junior (Will) Richardson is considered one of the best in the country. Were going to have to try to slow those two down, but that has been a tough task for a lot of teams this year. We need to take care of things on our end of the court and hope things work out.

Islands has been getting things down behind their talented trio of guards. Sophomore Trae Broadnax had 20 points and 10 rebounds in the 78-60 win over Worth County and had 27 points and eight assists against East Hall last Thursday. Senior Justin Cave had a triple double against Worth County with 12 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists and followed with 16 points, 12 rebounds and four assists against East Hall. Sharp-shooting senior guard Hugh Durham has added 17 points and nine assists in the two games.

Islands is battle-tested, having faced 19 playoff teams in its 29 games. If the Sharks get hot from the outside, they present problems for any team they face.

Liberty County is stacked with talent. When Mitchell, the Savannah Morning News player of the year last season, was hurt early on, Richardson took over. He has scored over 40 points in four games this year, including a 55-point outburst in a win over Bradwell Institute. Richardson is averaging 31.1 points, 8.7 rebounds and 5.3 assists per game. Mitchell missed six games but has been strong since his return, averaging 23.7 ppg, 5.2 rpg and 5.2 apg.

Other key contributors include Tyreon Freeman (11.9 ppg) and Jaalon Frazier, who has signed to play football at Georgia Southern as a quarterback. He averages 6.4 ppg and 8.3 rpg.

Ive seen film of Islands and they can shoot the basketball very well, Mitchell said. But we have very good man-to-man defense, and were going to try to slow them down with that. Were pretty confidence having won in 4A last year. We know what we have to do.

Mitchell said he expects the atmosphere to be electric.

Its going to be crazy in our gym, Mitchell said. Im sure there will be people lined up out the door like always.

Jenkins (22-7) at Calhoun (22-4), 6 p.m.

This is a rematch of last years Class 3A quarterfinal, won by Jenkins 84-78 at Augusta State. The Warriors lost a coin flip, and were boarding a bus Tuesday afternoon for an overnight trip to western Georgia to take on the Yellow Jackets.

We wanted to play at home, but once we lost the coin flip, we put that behind us quickly, said Jenkins coach Bakari Bryant, who is looking to lead the Warriors to their fourth straight Final Four appearance. Thats why we always play in those tough holiday tournaments on the road early in the season. Thats helps us get used to this type of atmosphere and prepares us for playoff situations like this.

Bryant said Calhoun lost a lot of talent to graduation, but it has a quality player in senior Chapin Rierson. The 6-foot-5 guard/forward has a versatile game and does everything for the Yellow Jackets.

The Warriors counter with one of the most versatile players in the state in 6-foot-5 senior Trevion Lamar, who averages 20.1 points, 9.4 rebounds and 3.3 assists per game. Senior Zion Williams is one of the top point guards in the state, averaging 15.6 points and 4.9 assists. Tyrone Scott is an athletic junior averaging 12.3 points and 7.2 rebounds. Junior Tre Mays is an excellent perimeter shooter averaging 10.4 points a game, and senior Myles Walker is another solid contributor, averaging 8.6 points a game.

I feel like we have more athletes than they do, and you cant key on one or two guys with us, because the others will step up and hurt you. Weve been playing consistent basketball since we lost to Langston Hughes (Jenkins has won 10 in a row since the setback), and we feel like the only team that can beat Jenkins is Jenkins. All of our losses have been on us.

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Islands visits Liberty County, Jenkins at Calhoun in 3A quarterfinals tonight - Savannah Morning News

Islands commissioner renews push for building moratorium – The News (subscription)

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The Glynn County Commission is scheduled to hear a proposal Thursday that would restrict certain plans and permits from going before the county planning commissions.

Commissioner for St. Simons, Sea and Jekyll islands Peter Murphy is backing the motion, saying that the planning and zoning department of the Community Development Department is so swamped with work and shorthanded that director Pamela Thompson cant effectively look for replacements for staff that left last year. As such, he would like a moratorium to temporarily stop site plans, conditional use permits and preliminary plat proposals from being heard by the planning commissions.

Currently, three positions in planning and zoning remain unfilled. Two planner slots have been empty since July of 2016, leaving one full-time planner to work on roughly 180 applications per month. Cayce Dagenhart was the only person in the office until Thompson and Savannah urban planning consultant Denise Grabowski was brought on late last year and in January, respectively.

The motivation is the lack of adequate staffing in the community development office. As we both know, full staffing is a community development director, who also has other divisions underneath her, three planning staffers and a planning manager, Murphy said. We have a part time planning expert that is here one day a week from Savannah, but our staffing is very much below what the standard should be for the work that they have, and my fear is that errors will be made and have been made that will affect the planning process, especially here on (St. Simons Island).

While he wants to stop large-scale development, he doesnt want to get in the way of individual citizens and projects that are already underway.

Basically, the ask is going to be for a 45-day moratorium for site plan applications, preliminary plats, rezonings, conditional use and special use permits, but I dont want to interfere with building permits, expedited subdivision permits, single family residential permits and land disturbance activity permits, Murphy said.

Murphy cited issues with an application that the Islands Planning Commission was unable to come to a consensus on at its Feb. 21 meeting. Among those issues was the failure to indicate culturally significant fixtures on the map, including a centuries-old family cemetery plot.

(The) facts are, errors and incomplete and inaccurate reports are going up to the level of the IPC, and the only way to right that course is to staff that office at the level it deserves to have, to guarantee the work is of the highest quality possible, Murphy said.

Lack of staffing has been an issue in the planning and zoning office for almost six months now, and Murphy thinks that getting all positions filled should be of the utmost concern to Glynn County.

Either get Ms. Thompson to get out in the state and go meet people or using most of her work day making calls and meeting people that can right this ship, Murphy said. Thats why I want the moratorium so we can be sure the work product coming out of that office is of the quality and nature that we deserve.

The planner and planning manager positions are still empty, and the county entered into a $30,000 contract with Grabowski for another four months in January. According to county manager Alan Ours, Thompson has received applications for the planning manager position and is going through them now, but none for the two planner positions.

Murphy backed a similar initiative when he was commissioner-elect in October. Commissioner Bob Coleman pushed for a 90-day moratorium on all applications to the department, but the effort died due to lack of support from the rest of the commission.

In other business, the commission is scheduled to consider adopting a new strategic plan that will inform policy and development decisions over the next three years, authorize staff to enact a new initiative to combat litter and an amendment to the litter ordinance.

These items are on the agenda for consideration at the Glynn County Commissions meeting at 6 p.m. Thursday in the Old Glynn County Courthouse, 701 G St. in Brunswick.

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Islands commissioner renews push for building moratorium - The News (subscription)

Your own private island for 7000: Seven of the most luxurious new private island resorts across the world – The Independent

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For some, a good book, a rectangle of sand to lay a beach towel onand a few days to bask in the sun like a lizard and gorge on local food is enough for a relaxing holiday. For others (namely those with deep pockets), a destination wont do unless it is a private island with access to a yacht, a spa, cigar humidor and a wine cellar.

Below, The Independent roundsup the newest luxury private island resorts from across the globe.

This five-acre stretch of land in the crystal blue waters of the Maldives is a record-breaker. Opened in late 2016, it is not only Four Seasonsfirst private island resort but also currently the only exclusive-use hideaway in the 463 square mile Baa Atoll UnescoWorld Biosphere Reserve, which is made up of 75 islands. Its exclusive use, so rented to single groups, with a maximum of 22 holiday-makers serviced by a full staff.

Guests can both relax and explore the natural beauty surrounding the island. There is access to three villas, a beach house complete with an open-air living room, kitchen, pool deck, library, gym anda spa. The 62ft yacht parked in the lagoon is all yours, whether it's to explore the biosphere reserve or simply snorkel with manta rays and sea turtles.

From 36,700 per night for 22 people

Butlers service every single one of the 77 villas at St. Regis first private island escape, which opened last year. While some rooms are nestled between the dense tropical plants, others are situated slightly off the lagoon of the 23-acre island. Their silver shingle roofs were designed by Singapore-based Wow architects to look like manta rays skimming across the water.

The outdoor infinity pool, spa and library caters to guests yearning for relaxation, while more active holiday-makers can visit the fitness centre, diving and sports centre, and tennis court. Want to get rid of the kids for a bit? Make for the childrens club.

From 1400 per night

Only 10 guests in total can stay on this island, a 45-minute helicopter ride north of Auckland. In 2010, before it was developed (it opened last year), the island was rated second on National Geographic Travelers list of 99 Worlds Top Rated Islands, Coastlines and Beachesin 2010. Its owner discovered it during his round-the-world super-yacht trip (of course).

As temperatures on the island hover between 22-26C in the summer and 14-17C in the winter, this isnt so much a resort for sunning yourself, but rather for wildlife watching. Each of the five suites on the purpose-built 29m property has a balcony overlooking Helena Bay and the South Pacific Ocean, and comes with a pair of Leica binoculars. The nearby Poor Knights Island is home to the worlds largest sea cave and is a habitat for orca, dolphins and hundreds of species of fish. The rugged landscape means its also perfect for hiking, biking and fishing.

The estate also features a gym, a 25m heated swimming pool, a library, and an outdoor fire pit for guests more into relaxing than hiking, and there's also a spa inspired by a Russian banya, over 1000 bottles of New Zealand and international wines in the cellar, and an offshoot of the Amalfi Coast's two Michelin-starred Ristorante Don Alfonso 1890.

Doubles from 1020, half board

This resort, which opened last year, is located on Flicit, among the 115 islands of the Seychelles archipelago. As a satellite of the nearby La Digue, Grande Soeur, Petite Soeur, Coco and Marianne islands, it means its ideal for Greek-style island hopping.

Its 30 one-bed villas,each shrouded by tropical plants,are a 20-minute helicopter ride from Seychelles International Airport on the main island of Mah, and look out onto the Indian Ocean. Each has a 20m infinity pool and access to the rock-edged pools and three private white sand beaches.

In a push for sustainability, the resort has a reverse osmosis plant and crystal water refinery removing the need for plastic bottles. As for food, the resort currently has a chicken farm and organic garden.

Doubles from 1,075

Set to open in April, this luxury lodge is on Nosy Ankao, on of the biggest of five islands off the north-eastern coast of Madagascar.

Miavana, by the team behind the award-winning North Island lodge in the Seychelles and Chinzombo in Zambia, is a resort for those hungry to experience Madagascars wildlife, 90 per cent of which is endemic. Its 14 villas are set across 5km of white beaches, with views across the ocean which stress to mainland Madagascar to the west. When you want to venture out, marine safari guides head explorations of the archipelagos beaches, lagoons and channels and aquamarine bays.

Villas from 3,360 per night

The winner of the Worlds Leading Exclusive Private Islandat theWorld Travel Awards 2016, this is the ultimate in luxury:atropical island withjust one villa.

Positioned in the Indian Ocean off the east coast of Tanzania, Thanda, which opened last year, is in the middle of a coral reef, and is home to two species of turtle, with afurther three in the surrounding waters. Those headed to the island for an autumn or winter break might also spot whale sharks, which pass through the waters between October and February. Dugongs, an endangered sea mammal, also sometimes make an appearance.

Guests stay in the villa, which has five en-suite bedrooms as well as outr extras like an indoor aquarium, Steinway piano and cigar humidor. There is, of course, aninfinity pool. When that gets tiresome, you can move tothe two traditional Tanzanian banda tents, or head to the spa.

From 7,000 per night

Withexplorers wanted as its tagline, guests at this resort have access to six islands situated to the north-east of Singapore.

At Bawah, which is a 150 nautical-mile plane ride from the mainland, a maximum of 70 guests will be allowed to visit at any given time (it opens this year). Thats more than some other private island resorts. Still, it's set across 300 hectares of land and the destination offers nature-lovers access to a jungle canopy for trekking, three lagoons, and 13 white-sand beaches.

Aimed atcouples, the accommodation comes in the form of 35 tented villas. 21 of the have a view of the lagoons, three are surrounded by vegetation, while the remaining 11 are designed for watching the sun rise and set.

Price to be announced

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Your own private island for 7000: Seven of the most luxurious new private island resorts across the world - The Independent

All islands under flash flood watch; snow blankets Big Isle summits – Honolulu Star-Advertiser

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Top News| Weather

By Star-Advertiser staff

Posted February 28, 2017

February 27, 2017

Updated February 28, 2017 11:49pm

COURTESY NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE

Radar showed heavy rain over parts of Oahu tonight.

MAUNA KEA WEATHER CENTER

The view this morning from the webcam aimed north-northeast toward the Keck Telescope.

NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE

Forecasters at the National Weather Service expect high clouds to spread over portions of the islands today and linger through Wednesday.

The National Weather Service issued a flash flood warning for Oahu late Tuesday night.

The Oahu warning is in effect until 2 a.m. Wednesday and may be extended if heavy rain continues.

At 11:03 p.m., radar indicated heavy rain across most of Oahu with more on the way. Rainfall rates are between 2 to 4 inches an hour with a strong potential for flash flooding and high risk for the loss of life and property, forecasters said. The Oahu warning covers the entire island.

Honolulu police said that Kamehameha Highway was closed in both directions from Sunset Beach Elementary to the Sunset Beach Chevron gas station after 8 p.m. because of flooding.

An earlier flash flood warning for Maui expired before midnight as rain over the Valley Island abated.

Kauai was under a flood advisory until 1:30 a.m. as heavy showers moved over windward Kauai late Tuesday. Rain was falling at a rate of 2 to 3 inches an hour, the weather service said.

Big Island summits remained under a winter storm warning until 6 p.m. Wednesday with up to a foot of snow possible above 11,000-feet elevation.

The entire state remains under a flash flood watch through Wednesday afternoon.

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All islands under flash flood watch; snow blankets Big Isle summits - Honolulu Star-Advertiser

Is Russia’s Military Deploying 10000 Additional Troops on Kuril Islands? – The Diplomat

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Russias defense minister intends to station a new Russian army division on the disputed Kuril Islands in 2017.

Russias Minister of Defense Sergei Shoigu told the Russian parliament on February 22 that the defense ministry will deploy an army division on the disputed Kuril Islands in 2017, according to Russian media reports. We expect tocomplete the deployment ofthree divisions onthe western and southwestern border. Active work continues toprotect the Kurils; a division should also be deployed there this year, Shoigu said.

The Kuril Islands known in Japan as the Northern Territories consist of the islands of Shikotan, Kunashiri, and Etorofu, as well as the tiny Habomai islets. The disputed archipelago is located in the Sea of Okhotsk in the Northwest Pacific. The islandswere seized by the Soviet Union in 1945 and have been the subject of a territorial dispute between Russia and Japan ever since.

Following Shoigus announcement, Japans ambassador to Russia, Toyohisa Kozuki, openly expressed his displeasure over the military deployment on the Kuril archipelago. Furthermore, Japans chief cabinet secretary, Yoshihide Suga,said during a press conference on February 23 that reinforcing the Russian militarys build-up on the Northern Territories is regrettable and would conflict with the position of our country.

Japan Minister of Defense Tomomi Inada announced her intention to discuss Russias military plans with her Russian counterpart during a meeting onthe sidelines ofthe G20 summit involving the defense and foreign ministers of both countries inTokyo onMarch 20. If the opportunity arises, I will hold negotiations withMr. Shoigu fora frank discussion ofa number ofissues,she told reporters on February 24.

Over the last two years, Russia has slowly been building up its military presence on the islands claimed by Japan including the stationing of new coastal missile systems as well as missile defense systems. In March 2016, I described two of these new systems: The Bal-E modern coastal missile system fires the subsonic H-35 anti-ship missile with depending on the variant an operational range of about 130 to 300 kilometers (80-186 miles). K-300 Bastion-P standard batteries fire the over-the-horizon supersonic P-800 Oniks anti-ship missile with an approximate maximum range of 600 kilometers (372 miles).

The Russian Navy is also considering establishing a permanent naval base for its Pacific Fleeton one of the islands. However, the fear that Russia will deploy thousands of additional troops on the islands is perhaps unwarranted.

First, as an analysis by the Jamestown Foundation explains, the new divisions mentioned by the Russian defense minister could be Soviet-style paper skeleton divisions, in which around 500officers command about 100soldiers in peacetime, rather than a full division with 10,000 troops. In fact, Russia only added a little over 10,000 soldiers to its armed forces in 2016 in total.

Second, Shoigus comment could also only refer to increasing the size of Russias 18th Machine Gun Artillery Division tasked with the defense of the islands. According to Russian media reports, the division is currently being upgraded with new equipment including new air defense systems and anti-ship missiles. The majority of the division is currently stationed in the island of Iturup, the largest and northernmost island in the southern Kurils.

Third, while there have been unconfirmed reports that Russia intends to dispatch additional brigades to the Kurils to form an entire army corps the basic building block of the Russian Ground Forces remains the brigade, consisting of about 4,000-5,000 troops Russias current manpower shortage and focus on its Western borders makes the deployment of combat-ready brigades at full strength rather unlikely.

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Is Russia's Military Deploying 10000 Additional Troops on Kuril Islands? - The Diplomat

Sir Cosmo Haskard, popular Governor of the Falkland Islands obituary – Telegraph.co.uk

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Sir Cosmo Haskard,who has died aged 100, was Governor of the Falkland Islands in the late 1960s when the Labour government of Harold Wilson was attempting to persuade the 2,000 islanders to cede sovereignty to Argentina, which had long claimed the islands.

When he was appointed governor in 1964, he was delighted at being posted to a quiet colony whose austere charms reminded him of his home in Co Cork. But even while he was sailing out with his wife and two-year-old son, a lone Argentine pilot landed at Port Stanley to plant his countrys flag, while Panorama, an Argentine magazine, carried a picture of him with the caption El ultimo gobernador ingles? (The last English governor?).

On settling in, Haskard recommended that a platoon of Royal Marines remain on the islands and personally visited farms by float plane or on horseback. He revived the annual horticultural show, started a winter...

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Sir Cosmo Haskard, popular Governor of the Falkland Islands obituary - Telegraph.co.uk

The Science and Ethics of Editing Human Embryos – Chicago Tonight | WTTW

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Chicago Tonight | WTTW
The Science and Ethics of Editing Human Embryos
Chicago Tonight | WTTW
The idea of using this technology to edit human embryos to remove genetic mutations so that embryo can be free of disease is a positive thing, he said. The concern and problem is that if you now do research in that setting and you perfect the ...

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The Science and Ethics of Editing Human Embryos - Chicago Tonight | WTTW

Race, Science, and Razib Khan – Undark Magazine

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On March 18, 2015, The New York Times announced that Razib Khan would become a contributing opinion writer. A day later, The Times terminated the contract.

Khans career exemplifies the sometimes-murky line between mainstream science and scientific racism.

At the time, Khan was a Ph.D. student in genetics at the University of California, Davis and a popular science blogger. He had written about science for The Times, Slate, The Guardian, and other mainstream publications. For years, Discover had hosted his genetics blog. The famed Harvard psychologist Steven Pinker had even called him an insightful commentator on all things genetic.

I have been made aware that Breitbart News has used photos of me in an article about [the] alt-right,' Razib Khan wrote on Twitter last year. To be clear, Im not alt-right.'

Khan had also spent more than a decade hanging around the white nationalist fringe. When The Times hired him, he was blogging at The Unz Review, an alternative media selection that would soon emerge as a platform for the alt-right, the loose movement of white nationalists and right-wing extremists that has come to new prominence with the presidency of Donald J. Trump. Khans fellow science blogger at The Unz Review was Steve Sailer, a right-wing journalist and the author of a biography of Barack Obama titled Americas Half-Blood Prince.

Fragments from that part of Khans life started circulating online almost immediately after the news of his appointment at The Times was announced. Those fragments included a letter he had written in 2000 to VDare, a white-nationalist website, suggesting among other things that black people are innately less intelligent than white people. Later that week, a spokeswoman for The Times issued a statement saying after reviewing the full body of Razib Khans work, we are no longer comfortable using him as a regular, periodic contributor.

Almost two years later, the alt-right and its obsessions with race are ascendant and scientific arguments are central to the movements ideological claims. Not surprisingly, Khans story has stuck around. Two prominent writers for Breitbart, the alt-right news outlet whose former executive chairman, Stephen Bannon, now serves as chief strategist in Trumps White House, mentioned Khan sympathetically in a widely-read manifesto published last spring. Those writers Milo Yiannopoulos, who resigned from Breitbart last week, and Allum Bokhari lamented that Khan had lost an opportunity at The New York Times over his views on human biodiversity.

Yiannopoulos, who has been banned from Twitter for inciting harassment, and who was shouted down by protesting students before a scheduled appearance at UC Davis last month, has since used Khans story in his public speeches.

For all of this, dismissing Khan as a crank would be a mistake. While his associations are extremist, his science is not, and very little of what he writes about human genetics falls outside the pale of ordinary scientific discourse. Khan is also not alone in bridging the worlds of scientific racism and mainstream science and science writing. The Times dropped Khan in 2015, less than a year after one of its own science journalists, Nicholas Wade, published a book that made more sustained, incendiary arguments about race, with far more blowback from scientists.

Still, Khans career exemplifies the sometimes-murky line between mainstream science and scientific racism, and it illustrates how difficult it can be to define the boundaries between acceptable and unacceptable speech about race and to understand what, if anything, science has to do with it.

This issue isnt going away. Researchers are getting better at quantifying minute differences among individuals and among groups, and their findings will almost certainly be used, as they have long been, by people willing to ascribe a sort of racial destiny to all manner of human virtues and faults. Most scientists will object to this application of their work, but the illiberal challenges to scientific scholarship, perhaps now more than ever, seem destined to come not just from creationists and neo-skinheads, but from self-styled hyper-rationalists, too from people who adhere to what they consider a science-first worldview, who often ignore history and social context, and who are predisposed to drawing troubling, and sometimes patently racist conclusions based on otherwise dispassionate science.

In other words, theyll come from people who sound a lot like Razib Khan.

Seventeen years ago, when scientists announced the first full sequencing of the human genome, it was heralded as a breakthrough that would quash scientific racism. At a White House press conference, Craig Venter, the head of Celera Genomics, announced that one goal of the work was to help illustrate that the concept of race has no genetic or scientific basis. In the five genomes they sequenced, Venter said, there is no way to tell one ethnicity from the other.

We just have to understand that these categories are ones that human beings make, said Ann Morning, a sociologist at New York University who studies racial classification.

Scientific racists people who argue that their ideas about racial hierarchies are rooted in biological facts about human difference have been peddling their ideas for more than a century. But Venter and others were betting that the sequencing of the human genome would show that race is mostly a social construct.

This idea is easy to caricature. Everyone recognizes that human traits, like height and skin color, are variable. But the particular way we choose to sort people into buckets based on that variation is far more arbitrary and largely unscientific. We just have to understand that these categories are ones that human beings make, said Ann Morning, a sociologist at New York University who studies racial classification. They are not rules which are handed down to us by Mother Nature. In that sense, racial categories are like astrological categories: These are both systems for classifying people to help make sense of why they act the way they do.

In fact, from a genes-eye point of view, racial groupings dont make much sense at all. People from different regions in Africa can as genetically distant from each other than as a Greek is from an ethnic Korean. People who are considered black in the United States may get the majority of their genetic material from Europe.

Researchers are getting better at quantifying minute differences among individuals and among groups, and their findings will almost certainly be used by people willing to ascribe a sort of racial destiny to all manner of human virtues and faults.

Visual by Undark/iStock.com

Personal genetics provides a good way to map human similarities. But it also provides new opportunities to quantify human difference. Today, white nationalists buy 23andMe tests to prove their whiteness. Alt-right thinkers argue that genetics shows that racial differences do have a biological basis. Scientific racists look for evidence that there are deep, innate differences between racial groups, especially with respect to intelligence.

Behind every racist joke is a scientific fact, Milo Yiannopoulos told Bloomberg last year. Richard Spencer, the young neo-Nazi who coined the term alt-right and who became famous recently for receiving an enthusiastic punch to the head in video that quickly went viral publishes a journal that often includes articles about human evolution and genetics. Steve Sailer has also helped rebrand scientific racism as human biodiversity.

The entire Alt Right is united in contempt for the idea that race is only a social construct, the Yale-educated white nationalist Jared Taylor wrote last fall. Race is a biological fact.

Few writers have moved more comfortably between the worlds of mainstream science writing and the alt-right than Razib Khan. A fast-talking autodidact with right-wing political views, Khan writes about everything from foreign policy to CRISPR. A recurring theme of his work is that racial differences are real, and that they have a biological underpinning that theyre both social constructs and biological truths.

Khan was raised by Bangladeshi immigrants in eastern Oregon, an atheist brown kid in a highly religious, conservative, Republican area, as he puts it now. In the late 1990s, he started exploring the nascent right-wing blogosphere. Around 2000, he joined a private email discussion group about human biodiversity organized by Sailer. (More mainstream academics, including Steven Pinker, were also in the group).

Not long after that, Khan helped a geneticist friend start a blog about science. They called it Gene Expression GNXP, for short. Its writers discussed technical topics, as well as issues with a more political edge, like gender and racial differences.

A few years later, Khan went on the payroll of Ron Unz, a libertarian who ran for governor of California in 1994. Unz, who made a fortune in software development, offered Khan something that Unz describes as a sort of fellowship or junior fellowship to further his scientific career. Both Khan and Unz are vague about the reasons for the fellowship, but the gift was contingent on Khan leaving his job in software to focus on a scientific career. It was a big part of why he got on a graduate school track and ended up at UC Davis.

Khan says that he was caught off guard by the sudden rise of the alt-right, and by the extremist turn of Unzs website.

Unzs grants reflect the diversity of his interests, which include Israel, non-interventionist foreign policy, and human evolution. In 2009, for example, according to Unz Foundation tax documents, Unz gave $24,000 to Sailer; $500,000 to the University of Utah evolutionary anthropologist Gregory Cochran, known for his controversial research on recent human evolution and Ashkenazi Jewish intelligence; and $108,000 to Khan, to be paid out over three years.

Unz was not Khans only link to the emerging alt-right fringe. In 2009, Khan spent a year blogging for Takis Magazine, a white-supremacist site, at the invitation of Richard Spencer. There, Khan wrote posts about everything from genes to Freud to Jewish intelligence. In one back-and-forth, he and Spencer analyzed the resemblance between Jews and the Vulcans in Star Trek.

This fall Spencer made national news after he organized a rally in Washington, D.C. that featured Hitler salutes and cries of Hail Trump! But Spencer was not a white nationalist then, Khan told me. (Recent reporting on Spencer documents him pivoting toward open support for white nationalism around the beginning of 2009, the same time that Khan joined Takis.)

At Discover Magazine, Khan once wondered why African bushmen are considered human, but bonobos are not.

Meanwhile, Khans mainstream science writing career was flourishing. He moved GNXP to ScienceBlogs, and then, in 2010, to the website of the very mainstream Discover Magazine. There, he wrote long posts about why race was biologically real. In one, he asked why African Bushmen are classified as human, and bonobos are not. In another post, he linked his science to his politics using language thats reminiscent of white nationalist arguments: The ultimate root of my conservatism is a fact, not a value, Khan wrote. That fact is that human cognitive and behavioral variation is real and important. We are not uniform.

(I dont agree with that anymore, I guess, Khan told me more recently.)

When Unz started his own site in 2013, Khan signed on as his first writer. Soon, a rotating cast of bloggers joined him. While he was at The Unz Review, Khan continued with his genetics program at UC, Davis (he recently went on leave to join a biotech startup in Austin), wrote op-eds for The New York Times, and co-authored a piece for USA Today arguing that race is biologically real.

The way Khan tells the story, he was caught off guard by the sudden rise of the alt-right, and by the extremist turn of Unzs website. The day before I contacted him to request an interview, Khan announced that he was leaving The Unz Review. His new standalone blog, still called Gene Expression, launched in January. Over the phone, he told me that the move was partly because he wanted to be an independent blogger again, and partly because he had grown uncomfortable with some of the material on Unzs site. He framed the issue as an image problem, not a moral one. I wasnt comfortable with some of the co-branding, he said.

Hadnt Sailer and other Unz contributors been writing things like this for years? Khan said that he used to be more tolerant of those perspectives. Obviously, I dont condone it, he said. When I observed that standing by silently and even linking to Sailers work seemed like the definition of condone, Khan hesitated. In terms of being at Unz, I was probably there too long, he said.

Still, Khan insisted that his writing about the biology of race was sound. Its not socially acceptable to say that there might be group differences in an endophenotype in their behavior, intelligence, anything that might have any genetic component, Khan said. You cannot say that, okay? If someones going to ask me, Im going say, It could be true.

Other scientists, he insisted, believe the same things. They just wont admit it. Im sick of being the only fucking person that says anything, said Khan. I know I make people uncomfortable, but a lot of times I say what theyre thinking.

In terms of being at Unz, I was probably there too long, Khan said.

Visual by Undark/iStock.com

Many prominent geneticists familiar with Khans work do take him seriously. I dont agree with everything that Razib writes, but I think that he does write about population genetics very clearly, said Graham Coop, a population geneticist at UC Davis who serves on Khans dissertation committee, and who has taken a high-profile stance against scientific racism.

Michael Eisen, a biologist at UC Berkeley, described Khan as a very, very bright geneticist who understands modern human population genetics as well as almost anybody. Eisen disagrees with many of Khans conclusions, and he said that Khan had allied himself, in one way or another, with people whose views are not just repugnant theyre just wrong. But, Eisen added, I think many of the things Razib writes highlight the implications of modern genetic research in ways that people find upsetting, but arent necessarily wrong.

What does this say about the post-racial genetics that Craig Venter imagined nearly two decades ago?

It depends on how you parse it. Sarah Tishkoff, a geneticist at the University of Pennsylvania, helped write a 2016 Science paper recommending that researchers stop using the concept of race in human genetics research. Still, she told me, population clusters exist. We can see that there are differences, Tishkoff said. But then you have to ask the question, What do those differences mean? Do they correlate with so-called racial classifications? No, actually they dont.

Joseph Graves, Jr., an evolutionary biologist who writes about the biology of race, was more skeptical about clustering. Instead of distinct human groups, he said, one population grades into another, forming continua called clines. Theres no unambiguous way to cluster individuals and say where one cluster begins and another one ends. Its dependent upon the dataset you have. Its dependent upon the genetic markers you look at. But the best models of human population show that were a continuous cline.

Eisen made a similar point about the difficulty of making categories. But he cautioned against saying that everything is clines. It also is not true that were a uniformly mixing population.

The bigger question, of course, is why any of this matters to these scientists. Heres one potential reason: Geneticists will soon get much better at understanding how genes contribute to complex, elusive traits like intelligence. Inevitably, some people will try to connect the dots and show that the genes influencing trait like intelligence differ between these population groups.

Im sick of being the only fucking person that says anything, said Khan. I know I make people uncomfortable, but a lot of times I say what theyre thinking.

Khan is blunt about those implications. Honestly, I would just sit on my hands for now, Khan recently responded to a GNXP commenter who was curious about the relationship between race and IQ. In the next < 5 years, he wrote, the genomic components of traits like intelligence will finally be characterized.

Simply pondering such issues will strike many people as racist. Asking a question, even skeptically, can offer an implicit endorsement of its premises. But while its possible to fire Khan from The Times or act as if the alt-right is a marginal movement, these questions are not necessarily fringe. And theres no agreement about when, if ever, it is appropriate to ask them.

Little illustrates those inconsistencies better than the case of Nicholas Wade, who was working at The Times as a science reporter when Khan was hired, and then dropped, from the op-ed page.

Wades 2014 book, A Troublesome Inheritance, marshals genetic evidence to argue that racial differences are real and have deep biological roots. Then Wade argues that these differences explain global disparities, such as why Haiti is more impoverished than Iceland, or why political structures in Europe are different than those in East Asia where, Wade argues, people are genetically predisposed to be more docile.

Graham Coop, Khans dissertation adviser, helped gather more than one hundred biologists to sign a letter to The Times denouncing the book. Even Khan described it as not a very good book. Graves told me that Wade is a die-hard racist.

After The Times dropped Khan, Eisen went on Twitter to point out the contradiction. The thing that galled me in particular, and that led to that tweet, is theyve been giving large amounts of print space to Nicholas Wade, who is unambiguously and unintelligently a racist in his writing, Eisen told me. Wade has been pushing these basically sort of facile, eugenicist views of the world for 20 years.

A Troublesome Inheritance remains very popular on the alt-right, and Wade has done little to discourage this. After the book came out, he did a long, warm podcast interview with white nationalist Taylor.

I cant control how people use the book, said Wade, who retired from The Times last year but still regularly contributes freelance articles to its science section and who was himself interviewed by Khan back in 2010. Wade insisted that the book was not racist, but in an phone call, he also did not take an opportunity to disavow the white nationalists who have embraced it. He was dismissive of the controversy that surrounded A Troublesome Inheritance, and of the biologists letter to The Times. It was an attempt to suppress a discussion of race, Wade said. Almost everything in the book you can find in The New York Times in my articles, and none of these guys objected at the time.

It is true that many of the ideas expressed in the book are not exactly new. Other books most notably The Bell Curve, a 1994 bestseller that infamously argued that black people are innately less intelligent than white people have argued that racial groups are real, that there are substantial behavioral differences among them, and that those differences may explain political realities. And sociological studies of the public suggest that white Americans are likelier to ascribe a genetic cause to the behavior of black people than they are of white people.

Does that mean that uncomfortable scientific findings should be censored? Wade, Khan, and others often argue that their voices are suppressed by a politically correct academic left. In one recent Unz Review post about an academic who received blowback for speculating about racial difference, Khan wrote that the extremely vehement reactions on this topic reveal an aspect of how ideas are policed in our society.

I ran that notion by Graves, who in 1988 was the first African-American to receive a Ph.D. in evolutionary biology. Graves studies the evolution of aging, but, after the publication of The Bell Curve, he started writing about race, too. I went through an educational system, from kindergarten through my Ph.D., that was profoundly racist and that threw roadblocks against my progression at every step of my career. I had no desire to start writing about racism in genetics and evolution. That wasnt my interest. But I couldnt avoid it, because those theories were being directed against me, against my family, against my friends, Graves said.

When I showed Graves the passage about policing ideas, he sounded incredulous at the thought that these such views were being suppressed. I dont know what society he lives in, Graves said. In the societies Ive lived in, racism has been the norm.

The belief in perfect hyper-rationality, divorced from any kind of bias or preconception, can be its own kind of political fantasy.

A few years ago, Jacob Tennessen, an evolutionary geneticist at Oregon State University, joined Twitter. He expected to deal with creationists. Instead, he says, the aggressive pseudoscience came from racists and, specifically, people within the human biodiversity movement, who kept arguing that traits like intelligence had clearly been subject to recent, sharp evolutionary shifts that left some racial groups smarter than others.

The people he encounters online are pro-science and pro-evolution, but what theyre doing is not science at all, Tennessen told me. Its a really dangerous pseudoscience.

For all the attention that creationists receive, Tennessens kind of experience may be more typical and more important. How, though, should geneticists respond to people who draw racist conclusions from their work? That question is only going to become more pressing. Genes continue to play an outsize role in popular understandings of human nature. Personal genetic testing services are making discussions about ancestry, race, and genes more accessible and more commercialized than ever before. And the internet is lending a platform to a whole new generation of tech-savvy scientific racists.

Faced with that challenge, Khan may be a textbook example of what geneticists should not do: namely, focus on the science alone, and act as if the context doesnt matter. The science is always prior to everything else, Khan told me. Everything else is just commentary. If the commentary comes before science, thats a problem, but thats how a lot of discourse works. I understand. Im not trying to be naive about it. But the reality is thats not how I work.

Can science be severed quite so easily from politics? Khans own story, which includes financial and ideological entanglements with the alt-right, seems like evidence that it cannot. The belief in perfect hyper-rationality, divorced from any kind of bias or preconception, can be its own kind of political fantasy.

For better or for worse, science does have a way of working itself into political ideologies, just as political ideologies can shape the choices that scientists and others make. Historically, thats often been the case with the study of race. Morning, the NYU sociologist, points out that new generations using new technologies often seem to circle back to old prejudices.

Theres a long history in the West of trying to use biological data to claim that there are such things as a handful of discrete races, she said. But whether the ostensibly impartial data are blood types, like they would have been a century ago, or genes today, or skull sizes, the results are familiar: Its always about reproducing the same hierarchy.

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Race, Science, and Razib Khan - Undark Magazine

Trump Says Nobody Knew Health Care Could Be So Complicated – Slate Magazine (blog)

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TFW you realize that HSAs wont solve the problem of outrageously high health care deductibles.

Andrew HarrerPool/Getty Images

Here is a thing that Donald Trump said about health care reform during a press conference Monday.

I have to tell you, it's an unbelievably complex subject, he told the reporters. Nobody knew that health care could be so complicated.

Nobody? Nobody! Of course, everybody knows that health care reform is complicated. This is something that almost every single politician in Washington understands. Republicans know it. Democrats especially know it, having tried to enact a byzantine private-public kludge known as Obamacare that, given the political constraints of 2010, may have been the only possible compromise with a hope of passing. You could can together a whole sizzle reel of Obama saying this stuff is hard, like this one, from Politico.

But this is how new information is refracted through the prism of our president's ego. Trump evidently did not know how complicated health care policy was. Therefore, nobody must have known.

But as easy as it is to crack jokes, I take this as a good thing for conservatives looking to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. Trump's lack of engagement and guidance on this issue has been one of the chief complaints from Capitol Hill Republicans, who are struggling to unite behind a single plan. The fact that Trump now understands that health care policy is complicated means he is now paying attention, at least minimally, and may offer the GOP some semblance of direction. He even told a group of insurance executives Monday that a new plan was imminent. This time he may not even be imagining it.

Plus, during the press conference Trump said that Congress can't get to tax reform until health care is done. Given how badly Trump would like to cut taxes for Mar-a-Lago Club members, we can only assume he's finally motivated to get this repeal-and-replace thing squared away.

Update, Feb. 28., 2017: Or maybe Trump's health care proposal was imaginary after. CNN is out with a piece this week about the meetings taking place between Hill and Trump staffers about the GOP policy agenda, which contains this nugget:

Perhaps when Trump says he has a plan, we should assume he means Paul Ryan has a plan.

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Trump Says Nobody Knew Health Care Could Be So Complicated - Slate Magazine (blog)

Health Care Is Front and Center in Democrats’ Response to Trump Address – New York Times

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New York Times
Health Care Is Front and Center in Democrats' Response to Trump Address
New York Times
But Democratic leaders are determined to make health care particularly Medicare and the Affordable Care Act the centerpiece of their attacks against Republicans leading into next year's midterm elections. And as Mr. Beshear alluded to, he has a ...
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Health Care Is Front and Center in Democrats' Response to Trump Address - New York Times

Bill Gates on AI, healthcare, and the universal basic income – American Enterprise Institute

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Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton.

Bill Gates hosted aQ&A session on Reddityesterday. A number of the questions related to technology, innovation, and other important economic issues. Here are some of the Microsoft co-founders most interesting replies:

What kind of technological advancement do you wish to see in your lifetime?

The big milestone is when computers can read and understand information like humans do. There is a lot of work going on in this field Google, Microsoft, Facebook, academia, Right now computers dont know how to represent knowledge so they cant read a text book and pass a test.

Another whole area is vaccines. We need a vaccine for HIV, Malaria and TB and I hope we have them in the next 10-15 years.

What are the limits of money when it comes to philanthropy?

Philanthropy is small as a part of the overall economy so it cant do things like fund health care or education for everyone. Government and the private sector are the big players so philanthropy has to be more innovative and fund pilot programs to help the other sectors. A good example is funding new medicines or charter schools where non-obvious approaches might provide the best solution.

One thing that is a challenge for our Foundation is that poor countries often have weak governance small budgets, and the people in the ministries dont have much training. This makes it harder to get things done.

If we had more money we could do more good things even though we are the biggest foundation we are still resource limited.

We discuss this in our annual letter this year: http://www.gatesletter.com

If you could create a new IP and business with Elon Musk, what would you make happen?

We need clean, reliable cheap energy which we dont have. It is too bad the sun doesnt shine all the time and the wind doesnt blow all the time. The Economist had a good piece on this this week. So we need some invention perhaps miracle batteries or super safe nuclear or making sun into gasoline directly.

(Hereis The Economist article he refers to.)

Why do you think our healthcare systems have such a hard time leveraging the revolutionary changes in scalability that weve seen in software?

It is super important to improve our healthcare system both to reduce chronic disease but if we dont do better health costs will squeeze out spending on all other government functions.

I agree it is surprising how tough it has been to get digital medical records right and to learn from looking at those records.

Still there are some very promising things going on. For example the idea of looking at a blood sample to find cancer very early so it can be treated. We will be able to use genomic data to tune treatments.

There are a few big problems like diabetes, obesity and neurological conditions including Alzheimers that we really need to solve.

Id like to ask, apart from a killswitch, which other precautionary measures we could take to ensure that AI behaves well and doesnt wipe us out?

One thing to make sure the people who create the first strong AI have the right values and ideally that it isnt just one group way out in front of others. I am glad to see this question being discussed. Google and others are taking it seriously.

What do you think about Universal Basic Income?

Over time countries will be rich enough to do this. However we still have a lot of work that should be done helping older people, helping kids with special needs, having more adults helping in education. Even the US isnt rich enough to allow people not to work. Some day we will be but until then things like the Earned Income Tax Credit will help increase the demand for labor.

Any thoughts on the current state of the U.S.?

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Bill Gates on AI, healthcare, and the universal basic income - American Enterprise Institute

Bernie Sanders laughs at president saying that ‘nobody knew healthcare could be so complicated’ – SFGate

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By Alix Martichoux, San Francisco Chronicle

Photo: Screenshot Via CNN

Click through this slideshow to read more about President Trump's first 100 days in office.

Click through this slideshow to read more about

Click through this slideshow to see the executive orders and some other actions President Donald Trump took during his first 100 days in office.

Click through this slideshow to see the executive orders and some other actions President Donald Trump took during his first 100 days in office.

President Trump signed an executive order calling for the chairman of the White House Council on Environmental Quality to

President Trump signed a presidential memorandum directing the Commerce Secretary to "ensure" that all pipelines built or repaired in the United States aremade with American-made steel.

Pictured: In this Dec. 5, 2012 file photo, foreman Javier Garcia works with his crew as they lower a section of pipe into the ground with cradles, along the TransCanada Keystone XL Pipeline section two near Winona, Texas.

President Trump signed a presidential memorandum directing the Commerce Secretary to "ensure" that all pipelines built or repaired in the United States ... more

Pictured: In this Oct. 21, 2016 file photo, Susan Stacy moves a tube to sort recycled plastic bottle chips being processed at the Repreve Bottle Processing Center, part of the Unifi textile company in Yadkinville, N.C. less

President Trump signed an executive order that calls for the hiring of 10,000 more Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. Also included in the order is a mandate for federal agencies to "step up" and deport undocumented immigrants who have been convicted of a crime, charged with a crime, committed a chargeable offense, misrepresented themselves to the government, abused a welfare program, are under deportation order and who may in the judgment of an immigration officer, otherwise pose a risk to public safety or national security." The order also calls for the U.S Attorney General and Secretary of Homeland Security to block federal grants to "sanctuary cities" that do not follow federal immigration laws.

Pictured: In this Aug. 17, 2015 file photo, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers arrest a man in San Antonio, Texas.

President Trump signed an executive order that calls for the hiring of 10,000 more Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. ... more

New sanctions on Iran - Feb. 3

New sanctions on Iran - Feb. 3

Bernie Sanders laughs at president saying that 'nobody knew healthcare could be so complicated'

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., burst into laughter during an interview when asked about President Donald Trump's recent claim that "nobody knew that health care could be so complicated."

Trump made the comment in a White House meeting with dozens of governors Monday. While discussing his promise to completely overhaul the Affordable Care Act, the president told the governors, "It's an unbelievably complex subject. Nobody knew that health care could be so complicated."

In an interview with CNN Monday night, Sen. Sanders did not hide the fact that he strongly disagrees.

When asked about the comment, Sanders started laughing before saying, "Some of us who were sitting on the health education committee who went to meeting, after meeting, after meeting, who heard from dozens of people, who stayed up night after night trying to figure out this thing yeah, we got a clue. When you provide healthcare in a nation of 320 million people, yeah it is very complicated."

Sanders went on to say he is "stunned every day" by Donald Trump's presidency.

Sen. Sanders told Anderson Cooper, "I mean this is the president of the United States. We have been debating healthcare in this country for 30 years. And he says, 'Gee, who knew how complicated it was?' He is maybe the only person in this country who doesn't know how complicated it is to provide healthcare for the American people."

Watch the interview in the video below:

Sen. Bernie Sanders has long been an advocate of universal healthcare and campaigned on expanding the Affordable Care Act during his run for president. Sanders told CNN he is willing to work with Republicans to improve the healthcare law, but will not help repeal it.

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Bernie Sanders laughs at president saying that 'nobody knew healthcare could be so complicated' - SFGate

Donald Trump Asks Congress to Unite Behind Health Care, Tax Overhauls – Wall Street Journal (subscription)

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Donald Trump Asks Congress to Unite Behind Health Care, Tax Overhauls
Wall Street Journal (subscription)
WASHINGTONPresident Donald Trump turned from the ominous language that characterized his major campaign speeches as he delivered Tuesday an impassioned plea for Congress to capitalize on a political uprising and unite behind major overhauls of ...

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Donald Trump Asks Congress to Unite Behind Health Care, Tax Overhauls - Wall Street Journal (subscription)