All posts by nedhamson

Activist, writer, researcher, addicted to sharing information and facts.

The World’s Tightest Cluster of People | DQ-en

With the help of Ken Teoh, a remarkable SEAC Summer intern (a Wharton School student at the time) I this month showed that Ken Myers’s guess turned out to be remarkably close to the 2015 optimum. Of course, populations in different parts of our planet shift over time but in 2015, using population data with 100 km resolution on Earth’s surface, the smallest circle on our planet containing a majority of the world turns out to be that circle centred near Mong Khet, in Myanmar, with great-circle distance 3,300km.That’s the conclusion. Details and code will be made available presently. But to see the result a little more clearly, here’s a 3-d interactive animation of where, if the world were a democracy, it would make decisions of global significance.

Source: The World’s Tightest Cluster of People | DQ-en

Special Tribunal for Lebanon finds journalist guilty of contempt – Reporters Without Borders

In its 18 September verdict, the STL acquitted Al Jadeed of corporate responsibility. It also acquitted both the journalist and the station on a separate charge of endangering supposedly confidential witnesses by filming them for a series of reports broadcast from 6 to 10 August 2012. The trial began in April.The STL, which is investigating Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri’s 2005 assassination, convicted Khayat on the contempt charge for failing to comply with orders to remove the reports from the station’s website and YouTube page after they had been broadcast.Al-Jadeed’s deputy news editor and vice-president of its board, Khayat is facing a possible seven years jail sentence or fine of 100,000 euros, or both. The tribunal is scheduled to pass sentence on 28 September. Khayat plans to appeal.According to Khayat, the reports just aimed to highlight the leak of confidential information from the STL and did not expose witnesses, who were readily available to the media.

Source: Special Tribunal for Lebanon finds journalist guilty of contempt – Reporters Without Borders

School Wanted to Send Seven-Year-Old Seneca Student Home because of His Mohawk-style Haircut

jakobe-sandenPublished September 20, 2015

SANTA CLARA, UTAH— Even though Jakobe Sanden is only seven-years-old, the second-grader takes pride in his Seneca heritage. At seven, he decided he wanted to get a Mohawk-style haircut last weekend. His parents did not have a problem with it, but the school officials at Arrowhead Elementary School, in Santa Clara, Utah, that operates with the motto, “we pledge to do our best, be our best and better those around us,” sure did.

After he arrived for his studies last Monday, September 14, 2015, the Jakobe’s mother received a phone call from Sarah Harrah, principal at Arrowhead Elementary telling her to pick Jakobe up so he could get rid of the Mohawk because it is not allowed at the school.

Gary Sanden, Jackobe’s father, contacted the school to inform the principal he had no intention of getting rid of the Mohawk his son was sporting. Ms. Harrah referred Sanden to the Washington County School District’s administration offices.

Sanden was informed he had to get a letter from an American Indian tribe stating that it is a Native tradition to wear a Mohawk-style haircut. In the meantime, Jakobe had to remain in the school office so he would not “disrupt” his classroom.

The Mohawk was “possibly in violation of the school district student grooming policy” and “the student’s parents were notified of the possible violation,” stated Washington County School District’s Rex Wilkey, assistant superintendent for primary education.

Sanden reached out to his tribe, the Seneca Nation of Indians based in New York, to provide the documentation that American Indians, in fact, wear Mohawk-style haircuts.

“It is common for Seneca boys to wear a Mohawk because after years of discrimination and oppression, they are proud to share who they are,” stated William Canella, Seneca Nation Tribal Councilor, in a letter to the school district.

The letter arrived within three hours of Jakobe being sent to the office.

“It is ironic that a school named Arrowhead was so naïve about our heritage,” Canella told Native News Online. “Our boys have worn Mohawks as because it is a sign of being a warrior. This has been true generations.”

The letter proved to be sufficient for the school district. Jakobe was allowed to keep his stylish Mohawk and remain in enrolled in the school with the motto to “be our best.”

“It is about being true to who you are. I appreciate the Seneca Nation coming to my son’s defense, ” commented Gary Sanden to Native News Online on Sunday evening. “It is time for us to show our youth to take pride in who they are.”

The post School Wanted to Send Seven-Year-Old Seneca Student Home because of His Mohawk-style Haircut appeared first on Native News Online.

Professor says U.S.-Mexico wall is ‘nonsense’

Latina Lista: News from the Latino perspective Latina Lista: News from the Latino perspective – News from the Latino perspective. Professor says U.S.-Mexico wall is ‘nonsense’ by Latina Lista

By Jim Patterson

Futurity

 

Calling the proposal for an immense wall between Mexico and the United States nonsense, the author of a new book suggests a better option would be to open the border between the two countries.

“The people who are standing with the loudspeakers screaming in our ears come and go and we’re used to them,” says Robert F. Barsky, professor of French, English, and Jewish studies at Vanderbilt University, who wrote the book Undocumented Immigrants in an Era of Arbitrary Law: The Flight and the Plight of People Deemed Illegal (Routledge).

“It’s part of our political culture. The reasoned careful discussions are unfortunately few and far between.”

Barsky uses insights gained from a decade interviewing lawyers, interpreters, public defenders, police officers, jail guards, and migrants themselves to break down the issues that influence people to fear undocumented immigrants because of their supposed effect on crime and the economy.

Barsky discussed the idea of open borders with university writer Jim Patterson.

WOULD THE UNITED STATES BE OVERRUN WITH MEXICANS IF THERE WEREN’T LIMITS TO THE NUMBER OF PEOPLE WHO TRAVELED BACK AND FORTH OVER THE MEXICAN-UNITED STATES BORDER?

No. People are attached to their countries. Their families are there. Their language is there. Their lives are there. It isn’t that much fun to come from Guatemala or Mexico and live in the states. You don’t make much money and you’re not treated well, probably because of racism. You do it out of necessity or adventurism.”

HOW ABOUT THE CHARGE THAT THE UNITED STATES IS THE DUMPING GROUND FOR MEXICO’S CRIMINALS?

There’s never been any evidence that suggests that immigrants are the source of more domestic crime than the domestic population. The reality is that crossing the border is very risky and your chances of being caught are relatively high. If you have a criminal background, you’re running enormous risks.

Opening borders (would) actually make them easier to police. That’s because people would enter the country legally, rather than with the help of smugglers or human traffickers. We are seeing the effects of human trafficking in Europe, and they are tragic.

WHAT ABOUT SAFETY?

It’s immigration laws that keep undocumented immigrants living in the shadows and cause safety risks. What are the chances (undocumented immigrants) will call the police if they see something happening? The police are potentially their enemy. The grocer down the street is potentially their enemy. Everybody is potentially their enemy. Is that the society we want to live in?

IS EUROPE AN EXAMPLE FOR THE WAY THE U.S. AND MEXICO COULD MANAGE THEIR COMMON BORDER?

Who could have possibly imagined that just 75 years after World War II there would be free movement, and people in France would legally work in Germany and people in Germany would legally work in France?

Millions of people would go across the Mexican border regularly if they could, and then go back to their home country. We never address the fact that a lot of people want to be here temporarily and then they can’t get out. They run as much risk returning home as they do coming over in the first place.

ARE OPEN BORDERS GOOD FOR BUSINESS?

Large corporations don’t want to have their trucks sitting there endlessly at the borders. They don’t want their employees to suddenly disappear because they happened to be driving a car with a busted taillight. A mobile workforce is part of free trade.

WHAT’S THE MORAL ARGUMENT?

What kind of a country do we want to live in? Open borders mean no ripping apart of families, so children can stay with their parents. It means children can be educated in the host country legally. It means social services. It means bringing people out of the shadows.

HEAR MORE FROM BARSKY IN THIS VIDEO:

Source: Vanderbilt University