Prison Debate Team Beats Harvard Debate Team in National Competition: Now You Know Why Innocent...

"Inmates are prohibited from using the internet for research in preparation for such debates, and the Harvard team was stunned by how well-prepared the inmate team was." "Judge Mary Nugent took special note of the inmate team’s performance. She said it might seem tempting to favor the prisoners’ team, but the three judges have to justify their votes to each other based on specific rules and standards. “We’re all human,” Nugent said. “I don’t think we can ever judge devoid of context or where we are, but the idea they would win out of sympathy is playing into pretty misguided ideas about inmates. Their academic ability is impressive.”
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Prison Debate Team Beats Harvard Debate Team in National Competition: Now You Know Why Innocent...
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Three members of the Harvard University debate team competed against three inmates who were convicted of violent crimes. The inmates won the debate, proof that prison isn’t always the end of the line for some people.

Guns killed more Americans in 12 years than AIDS, war, and illegal drug overdoses combined

I responded to a comment on this post. The comment said that perhaps the numbers are skewed because they include gang and criminal stats (implying illegal guns, I think). I wrote: I'm a little confused. I would think that all applicable death stats count in the gun violence tally. Criminals or people with intent would be idiots to legally buy and register their weapons. Legal v. Illegal should not be a factor in this context. I do know that statistically the large majority women killed by guns have been murdered with the household gun, by a partner rather than a criminal. Accidental deaths also with household guns. Those are huge problems but relative to criminal gun violence in numbers they don't compare. So I don't think including crimes is skewing the numbers, it highlights the issue: we as a nation are saturated with guns.
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Guns killed more Americans in 12 years than AIDS, war, and illegal drug overdoses combined
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Seriously.

The Photos That Helped End Child Labor in the United States

I did a blog post about this - save for update?
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The Photos That Helped End Child Labor in the United States
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Lewis Hine sometimes went undercover to capture images of kids at work.

The Disruptive Transistor – And Where It Came From

Great video!!! Want a quick, easy, basic understanding of binary, semiconductors, and the almighty transistor? You should!! They rule your world. And it's interesting. John you know this stuff, you were the first/only person I thought about while watching. With you in mind I thought the rock dis was funny. "The only regret I have about the transistor is that it is used for rock and roll.", Co-inventor of the transistor.
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The Disruptive Transistor – And Where It Came From
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You're a multi-millionaire! You personally own at least 10 million transistors. But do you know how they work? Know who invented them? Or why? Dave Brody reports the back-story of this – most disruptive – technology.

Gun Ownership Is Declining, So Why Is the Gun Lobby So Powerful? | BillMoyers.com

Now we are talking about things that matter in the gun control debate. Bet it's money. When the NRA membership hat arrived, I grabbed it immediately. (To mock) I checked the label, MADE IN CHINA. Done, cancel. What bullshitting lame wads. Couldn't support an American company to produce your gear. Incredible. Liberty, prosperity, patriotism, and freedom don't matter when it comes to spending money. I hate them.
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Gun Ownership Is Declining, So Why Is the Gun Lobby So Powerful? | BillMoyers.com
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About half of all American households owned at least one gun in the 1970s. In 2014, only 31 percent had a firearm.

Say No to 'The New Normal' -- Five Things You Can Do About Gun Violence | BillMoyers.com

Haven't read it yet.
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Say No to 'The New Normal' -- Five Things You Can Do About Gun Violence | BillMoyers.com
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Take action now to require sane and responsible gun ownership.

The White House

Read all the way to the end gun people. Don't immediately wave around the Constitution and freak out.
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The White House
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"This is a political choice that we make to allow this to happen every few months in America. We collectively are answerable to those families who lose their loves ones because of our inaction. When Americans are killed in mine disasters, we work to make mines safer. When Americans are killed in floods and hurricanes, we make communities safer. When roads are unsafe, we fix them to reduce auto fatalities. We have seatbelt laws because we know it safes lives. The notion that gun violence is somehow different—that our freedom and our Constitution prohibits any modest regulation of how we use a deadly weapon, when there are law-abiding gun owners all across the country who could hunt, and protect their families, and do everything they do under such regulations—doesn't make sense." —President Obama on the shooting in Roseburg, Oregon: http://go.wh.gov/7Gk8Eh #UCCShooting