retortio

6 ms·

1.
by retortio 6y ago
I'm sorry but I don't take your anecdotes seriously. I've seen too many legitimate uses of police force described as "police brutality" recently to take accusations of police brutality at face value. It seems that p
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by retortio 6y ago
This is false. Socio-economically disadvantaged areas genuinely have more crime than elsewhere. They require more policing as a result. Without more policing, the crime problems get worse not better. Your sort of thinking has been tried out
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by retortio 6y ago
And if they accurately predict where crime will occur, they will reduce crime in those neighborhoods. It's likely that they would be able to get good results.
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by retortio 6y ago
That's like telling someone planning on getting their driver's license to watch The Fast and the Furious as if it has any relation to actual driving anyone encounters.
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by retortio 6y ago
GP's really should go away. We need specialists and technicians to perform tests when necessary. Medical training for everyone but surgeons should not take more than 5 total years including undergrad. Arbitrary number, but it should be
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by retortio 6y ago
In the same genre, I recommend "Countdown to Zero Day" which looks at Stuxnet and Flame and the events surrounding their creation, deployment and aftermath.
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by retortio 6y ago
Not astroturfing. Technically underpaying is illegal but there are ways around paying an H1-B worker what a US citizen might receive. Title reduction, etc. Even if the total paid is the same, consulting companies that help sponsor workers g
8.
by retortio 6y ago
One thing to remember is that in many cases H1-B workers are brought over by sponsoring companies which take a huge cut (I know cases of 40% or more) out of their salaries for the service of securing them the Visa. So those salaries might a
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by retortio 6y ago
H1-B was intended for highly skilled workers that the US had a real shortage of. But now it's just being abused to bring in captive workers that are willing to accept lower wages and worse working conditions than otherwise while crowdi
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by retortio 6y ago
What you're referring to is the codified freedom of speech protection in the Constitution. That's not what I'm referring to. My post is about the ideal of freedom of speech. There is a debate to be had about the level to whic
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by retortio 6y ago
There was a time when the Left was opposed on principle to our lives being controlled by the whims of huge corporations. Ironically when this monopolistic control extends to our speech and information, the Left has suddenly forgotten its pr
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Parler: Free Speech Social Network(parler.com)
1 points by retortio 6y ago|4 comments
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by retortio 6y ago
Exactly. Not just that, when the Obama used social media targeted advertising to its advantage it was fawned over in the media. Cambridge Analytica was targeted purely because they were on the wrong political side, it's as simple as th
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by retortio 6y ago
Are conservative statements on, say, ending illegal immigration really any more controversial than leftist statements on encouraging illegal immigration? Far more than half of America is against illegal immigration yet the AP, newsrooms acr
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by retortio 6y ago
Monopolies are able to exist precisely because it's hard to challenge them. That's why people saying "the free market will sort things out" with regard to free speech are deluding themselves. I'm not willing to wait
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by retortio 6y ago
> "On the recent protests, ZeroHedge published an article claiming that protests were fake, while The Federalist published an article claiming the media had been lying about looting and violence during the protests, which were both
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by retortio 6y ago
Yes.
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by retortio 6y ago
What's harder: gaining admission to a prestigious private high school that costs $50,000 a year or getting a few cheap SAT test books, watching some free YouTube videos and practicing for a few weeks? The point is that the SAT can be p
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by retortio 6y ago
Ah, those pesky standardized tests. Sure they're the hardest part of admissions to game and are a major part of establishing an even intellectual playing field for applicants, but it just looks so bad when we discard a much higher prop
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by retortio 6y ago
I would expect legacies to have a higher admission rate. They are a subpopulation coming from homes with intelligent parents, likely grew up in intellectually stimulating environments, and were probably focused on the Ivy League before many
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by retortio 6y ago
Exactly. First of all a distinction must be made between legacies and big donors. Legacies are often dismissed as getting in only because of their legacy status, but I'd wager that their grades, test scores and other accomplishments pu