American Nationals vs Citizens

Federal judge rules American Samoans are US citizens by birth
https://www.cnn.com/2019/12/12/polit...hip/index.html

Quote:

"This court is not imposing 'citizenship by judicial fiat.' The action is required by the mandate of the Fourteenth Amendment as construed and applied by Supreme Court precedent," wrote Judge Clark Waddoups in the US District Court for the District of Utah.

Read more; https://www.cnn.com/2019/12/12/polit...ans/index.html

Quote:

American Samoans living in Utah brought the suit in 2018, arguing that being "non-citizen nationals," instead of US citizens closed the door to some employment opportunities and didn't allow them to vote, among other rights afforded to US citizens. Their passports also include a disclaimer that reads: "The bearer is a United States national and not a United States citizen." "It doesn't feel very good when the federal government says you're American, but not quite the same as other Americans, just a little bit different. Just being able to say they're real American citizens, I think that goes a long way, in addition to being able to vote," Weare said.

Sounds reasonable.

Were many Hong Kong residents were able to obtain Brithish citizenship prior to the handover in 1997?

Ranb

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Next up Scotxit...

If Johnson tries to deny a second referendum on Indepdence to Scotland, it could get ugly...very ugly.

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California Psychic Takes the Money and Runs

Cops hunt for 'psychic', 29, who disappeared after 'scamming clients out of $100,000 by promising to take their cash and bless it before returning double the amount'

Quote:

Originally Posted by Daily Mail A 29-year-old woman in California claiming she was a 'psychic', duped clients out of $100,000 after she accepted the cash with the promise of blessing and doubling the amount, police said. Perlita Afancio-Balles landed on the 'most wanted' list at the Sacramento Police Department Tuesday for the alleged scheme. Clients who said they handed over the money to Afancio-Balles, said she asked them to return to her home days later to get double a return on their investment, but when she did, the alleged psychic was gone. The victims said her residence was vacated and she and their money had disappeared, according to an online account from cops...

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...double-it.html

Some other psychic should be able to locate her.

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US to sanction Turkey, Germany, Lothlórien over black energy deals with Mordor

Kidding about Lothlórien of course. If they need energy they just do some voodoo tricks on their trees. No need to buy from Mordor.

But Turkey has been unruly and is not only building a pipeline, but also has been buying weapons from Mordor, so the alleged representatives of the Yankistanis have passed a bill to pave the way to sanctions, which of course the Turks are furious about:

Ankara says US bill a 'disrespect' to Turkey's sovereign decisions

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hürriyet [...] Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu earlier on Dec. 11 said Turkey will retaliate if the United States takes negative steps against it, when asked about the prospect of Washington imposing sanctions over Ankara’s purchase of the S-400s. “Members of the U.S. Congress need to understand that they cannot achieve anything by imposition. If the U.S. approaches positively, we will approach positively too,” he said in an interview with Turkish broadcaster A Haber. Asked if Turkey will consider closing the İncirlik Airbase in southern Turkey to U.S. aircraft in the event of any sanctions by the U.S. administration against Ankara, he said Ankara will decide upon its assessments in the worst-case scenario and İncirlik Airbase and Kürecik radar system of NATO could be among those retaliation plans. [...]

The second tube of the gas pipeline Germany builds with Mordor is in its last steps before finishing, and all pressure Yankistan has put on the Merkel regime has so far made no impact. So sanctions are prepared again, and it takes looking a bit deeper to see some outrage:

German Business in Russia Urged Germany to Impose Sanctions on the US

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stalkerzone German businesses in Russia criticised the sanctions planned in the United States against companies involved in the construction of the “Nord Stream-2” gas pipeline, calling them a blow to Europe’s energy security, and called on the German government to retaliate. “We must respond with countermeasures to sanctions that harm Europe,” said Matthias Schepp, head of the German-Russian Chamber of Foreign Trade (AHK), in an interview with the “dpa” agency on December 12th. In doing so, Schepp responded to a resolution of the House of Representatives of the United States Congress calling for sanctions against “Nord Stream-2”. “It is time for Berlin and Brussels to take a clear political position and respond with targeted countermeasures,” he said, noting that Europe’s energy security is at stake. According to Schepp, “Nord Stream-2” strengthens Europe’s energy security by guaranteeing low energy prices compared to more expensive American liquefied gas. “The US wants to increase the supply of its liquefied gas to Europe through sanctions. Meanwhile, Germany needs low energy prices to allow its energy-intensive industry to survive in the global competition,” explained the head of AHK. [...]

So, I checked the map of Middle-earth again and Yankistan is nowhere to be seen. Will it end up sanctioning all of the continent in its feverish lust for full-spectrum dominance and be isolated after having driven everybody into Mordor's hands? Or will there be a happy end?

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Too good to be true

I found this discussion of overwhelming evidence accidentally while searching for material on another topic and thought it looked interesting.

"The paper shows, for instance, that a police line-up where victims all agree on the identity of an attacker is actually less likely to be correct than one where there is some disagreement between witnesses. Similarly, a set of DNA samples that are all in perfect agreement could be evidence of an underlying systemic error."

The original paper is available. It's not about criminal trials specifically but includes the example of police identification line-ups. Because evidence suggests high rates of identification error in normal practice, unanimity amongst witnesses can, counterintuitively, imply a problem with the evidence. A correctly conducted and unbiased procedure would not produce that result.

The paper uses Bayesian analysis and depends on certain assumptions to be valid. It reminded me of other cases where Bayesian analysis turns up counterintuitive predictions (e.g. a Bayesian analysis where it was shown that a convicted person having a previous conviction can make them more likely to have been wrongly convicted, as prior convictions can cause police and prosecutor bias).

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89-year-old woman gets (last?) wish

BBC News: Woman, 89, granted 'big biceps' stripper care home wish

"An 89-year-old woman's Christmas wish came true when she received a visit from a stripper with "a large chest and big biceps" at her care home.

Joan was given the almost "full Monty" after she placed her request on a "wishing tree" at the Suffolk home.

Managers said most residents ask for a beach trip or a nice afternoon tea but Joan got what she wanted when the "fireman" arrived and stripped off.

The Ho-ho-hose rang out and Joan said it made her feel "young again".

Joan, who did not want to give her last name, had requested an attractive man with "a large chest and big biceps".

Her somewhat unorthodox wish was granted when the stripper, dressed as a fireman, turned up at the Glastonbury Court care home in Bury St Edmunds two weeks ago and began swinging his belt around wildly before stripping down to his underpants."

Presumably the care home will be similarly accommodating with male residents' requests along similar lines...?

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Science & Religion

Mother in Law is coming over for the weekend, and she is a preacher. This isn't a big issue, as she isn't a nutter, and generally has some interest in science and real social issues. She usually perfectly rational about most things outside of religion.

However, she has also been to a couple of talks about faith and science. It sounds like the Faraday Institute, as it questions how order came from chaos and it must have involved a higher power (god) in the formation of the universe/solar system, and how life may be god derived (ID in all but name). This would be perfectly fine, but she brought it up with our youngest. She claimed it came from a Cambridge scientist (appeal to authority).

Are there any sources, or counter-arguments for such things? A bit tricky, as its all a bit vague, but the chaos issue is one of the things that she brought up, and could do with help with countering.

Faraday Institute detail here:
https://www.faraday-institute.org/index.php

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