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Georgetown Law Professors Say Students Are “Traumatized” by Criticisms of Scalia, Demand “Remedies”

On the day the death of Justice Antonin Scalia was announced, Georgetown Law School issued an official statement and press release headlined “Georgetown Law Mourns the Loss of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia.” It quoted the school’s dean, William M. Treanor, heaping unqualified praise on the highly controversial justice.

“Scalia was a giant in the history of the law, a brilliant jurist whose opinions and scholarship profoundly transformed the law,” Dean Treanor pronounced. “Like countless academics, I learned a great deal from his opinions and his scholarship. In the history of the Court, few justices have had such influence on the way in which the law is understood.” Moreover, “he cared passionately about the profession, about the law and about the future. … We will all miss him.” It went on and on in that vein.

[...] Two Georgetown law professors, Mike Seidman and Gary Peller, disagreed with Dean Treanor’s glowing assessment of Scalia and said so. That night, Seidman posted a brief email to the dean and faculty noting: “Our norms of civility preclude criticizing public figures immediately after their death.” As a result, said Seidman, “all I’ll say is that I disagree with these sentiments and that expressions attributed to the ‘Georgetown Community’ in the press release issued this evening do not reflect the views of the entire community.”

A full two days after Scalia’s death, Professor Peller wrote an email — first to the dean and the faculty, and thereafter to the entire law school — explaining his dissent from the dean’s praise. Like a huge number of Americans generally, and legal professionals particularly, Professor Peller viewed Scalia’s role on the Supreme Court as toxic in the extreme, and he explained why.

Professor Peller wrote that he was “put off” by the official statement praising Scalia, and that he “imagine[s] many other faculty, students, and staff, particularly people of color, women, and sexual minorities, cringed at [the] headline and at the unmitigated praise with which the press release described a jurist that many of us believe was a defender of privilege, oppression, and bigotry, one whose intellectual positions were not brilliant but simplistic and formalistic.” He added that Scalia “was not a legal figure to be lionized or emulated by our students. He bullied lawyers, trafficked in personal humiliation of advocates, and openly sided with the party of intolerance in the ‘culture wars’ he often invoked. In my mind, he was not a ‘giant’ in any good sense.”

So far, so good: right? The Georgetown dean lionized Scalia as a “brilliant jurist” from whom we all learned so very much and whom we will “all miss,” while a law professor objected to that view and argued that Scalia was actually a destructive presence on the Court. That sounds to me like exactly the sort of debate that one should find at a major U.S. law school, the sort of debate thinking adults have on a daily basis. Vehement criticisms of Scalia have long been, and still are, commonplace; The New Yorker’s Jeffrey Toobin this week wrote that Scalia “devoted his professional life to making the United States a less fair, less tolerant, and less admirable democracy.”

But two conservative law professors on the Georgetown faculty are indignant that this debate took place at all. The right-wing duo, Randy Barnett and Nick Rosenkranz (a senior Rubio adviser), sent their own email denouncing Peller’s anti-Scalia statement: not on substantive grounds that he was wrong on the merits about Scalia, but insisting that he had no right to criticize Scalia at all.

They began with an incredibly petty accusation that Professor Peller broke the law school’s rules in posting his statement; it was, they said, “in violation of the stated policies governing such emails.” By contrast, the two professors boasted, they “sought and received permission to post this response in an attempt to remedy the harm caused by the initial breach of our norms.”

After they each recounted fond personal memories they shared with Justice Scalia (“We had lunch together at his favorite pizza place, AV Ristorante. … We once sang a song together, believe it or not: Oh, Danny Boy”), they jointly moved to the crux of their grievance: It was “simply cruel beyond words” to subject these two professors to criticisms of their beloved hero. They literally said that:

To hear from one’s colleagues, within hours of the death of a hero, mentor, and friend, that they resent any implication that they might mourn his death — that, in effect, they are glad he is dead — is simply cruel beyond words.

They added, “But, though the insult and cruelty of our colleagues was grievous, at least only two of us had to bear it.” We had to bear it.

[...] For some reason, national pundits who love to denounce “PC” campus censorship and parade around as free speech crusaders obsessively focus on left-wing censorship while ignoring other kinds of campus viewpoint-suppression that are far more common. As I’ve documented repeatedly, the most common form of campus censorship — punishment and other official limitations imposed on activists working against Israeli occupation of Palestine — is almost always completely ignored in this pundit debate.

Indeed, it’s common for those seeking to suppress left-wing views on college campuses to invoke exactly the same “safe space” rhetoric. As we noted last week in reporting on the growing criminalization of the BDS movement, the University of Illinois student who led the campaign to have Steven Salaita fired for his pro-Gaza tweets, himself a former AIPAC intern, told the New York Times when justifying this campaign: “Hate speech is never acceptable for those applying for a tenured position; incitement to violence is never acceptable. … There must be a relationship between free speech and civility.” Another “pro-Israel” student demanding Salaita’s firing said, “It’s about feeling safe on campus.” This is seen over and over: “PC” censorship is almost always depicted as a left-wing phenomenon even though it is directed at least as commonly at the Left as it is wielded by them.

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Medical Marijuana Users in Canada Can Legally Grow Their Own Weed Now

Medical marijuana patients in Canada are free to grow their own plants after a Federal Court judge ruled the current laws forbidding that are unconstitutional.

Under former prime minister Stephen Harper, the Conservative government banned cannabis patients from growing their own supply, forcing them to purchase weed from licensed producers. Previously, patients were permitted to grow under the Marihuana Medical Access Regulations (MMAR) program.

The restrictions were challenged by four British Columbia residents, who claimed they were a violation of Charter rights. On Wednesday, Judge Michael Phelan sided with the plaintiffs in a Vancouver courtroom. He has suspended his decision for six months to give the Liberal government time to create new legislation. In the meantime, Canadians with licenses to produce marijuana under the MMAR can continue to do so.

Ontario patient Kyle Morrison, 36, who suffers from arthritis and herniated discs stemming from a workplace injury, told VICE he's relieved to hear the news. Morrison has had an MMAR license for the last five years allowing him to be in possession of 15 plants. He wants to continue to grow his own pot. "I [raise] my own poultry... I hunt. I basically don't buy meat from a grocery store, and I don't want to smoke grocery store cannabis," he said. Morrison, who also suffers from mental health issues, said he wanted his children to be free to grow medical marijuana should they require it in the future.

Longtime pot activist and patient Tracy Curley told VICE the news was "really, really good," but she suspects the Crown prosecutor will appeal the decision.

http://deadline.com/2016/02/deadpool-risen-the-witch-race-weekend-box-office-1201705730/

“It’s a Deadpool world and we’re just living in it,” beamed 20th Century Fox distribution chief Chris Aronson this morning. The Marvel anti-hero movie hasn’t calmed down with weekend 2 of $55M and a 10-day total of $235.4M, with a big assist from star Ryan Reynolds, who continues promoting. Yesterday, his satirical Deadpool Kanye-esque rant against Saturday Night Live exec producer Lorne Michaels went viral, clocking 2.4M YouTube views.

[...] Could Deadpool topple The Passion Of The Christ ($370.8M) to become the top-grossing R-rated film of all-time? The Tim Miller-directed superhero movie thru Sunday will be running 11% ahead of Mel Gibson’s New Testament title through its second weekend. Yeah, it’s an apples to oranges comparison given the discrepancy between the two titles’ crowds. Passion reaped seven weekends of double-digit million dollar grosses from the Lenten faithful back in 2004. A Friday Imax matinee at Edwards Valencia Cinema, 30 minutes north of Hollywood, drew mostly couples to the raunchy Marvel film. But there’s a lot of back-to-back franchise competition this spring. Just look at what’s standing in Deadpool‘s way: London Has Fallen, 10 Cloverfield Lane, The Divergent Series: Allegiant and Batman v. Superman. With all these brand titles, you’d think it was summer. Many in the business feel $350M is within reach for Deadpool, which would put it nose-to-nose with American Sniper, the second highest grossing R-rated film at the domestic B.O.

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    tempbutton.setAttribute("onclick","addOrdlist(document.getElementsByTagName('textarea')["+x+"]);");
    toolbar.appendChild(tempbutton);

    // Unordered list button
    var tempbutton = document.createElement("input");
    tempbutton.setAttribute("type","button");
    tempbutton.setAttribute("value","\u2022 List");
    tempbutton.setAttribute("title","Insert an unordered list or convert newline-separated text into an unordered list.");
    tempbutton.setAttribute("onclick","addUnordlist(document.getElementsByTagName('textarea')["+x+"]);");
    toolbar.appendChild(tempbutton);

    toolbar.appendChild(document.createElement("br")); // Divider

    // Create 7 macro buttons
    for (var i=1; i<=7; i++)
    {
        // Create macros if they don't exist
        if(!localStorage.getItem("soymacro"+i))
        {
            localStorage.setItem("soymacro"+i,JSON.stringify(["M"+i,"string","Sample Text"]));
            //localStorage.setItem("soymacro"+i,JSON.stringify(["M"+i,"regexp","/a/gi","b"]));
        }
        var tempbutton = document.createElement("input");
        tempbutton.setAttribute("type","button");
        tempbutton.setAttribute("id","soymacros"+x+"button"+i);
        tempbutton.setAttribute("value",JSON.parse(localStorage.getItem("soymacro"+i))[0]);
        if (JSON.parse(localStorage.getItem("soymacro"+i))[1]=="string")
        {
            if (JSON.parse(localStorage.getItem("soymacro"+i))[2].length < 40)
            {
                tempbutton.setAttribute("title","Insert or replace selected text with: " + JSON.parse(localStorage.getItem("soymacro"+i))[2]);
            }
            else
            {
                tempbutton.setAttribute("title","Insert or replace selected text with: " + JSON.parse(localStorage.getItem("soymacro"+i))[2].substring(0,40)+"...");
            }
            tempbutton.setAttribute("onclick","macroChoose(document.getElementsByTagName('textarea')["+x+"],"+i+");");
        }
        else
        {
            tempbutton.setAttribute("title","Replace text matched by the regular expression: " + JSON.parse(localStorage.getItem("soymacro"+i))[2] + " with: " + JSON.parse(localStorage.getItem("soymacro"+i))[3]);
            tempbutton.setAttribute("onclick","macroChoose(document.getElementsByTagName('textarea')["+x+"],"+i+");");
        }
        toolbar.appendChild(tempbutton);
    }
    // Create macros edit button
    var tempbutton = document.createElement("input");
    tempbutton.setAttribute("type","button");
    tempbutton.setAttribute("value","Edit");
    tempbutton.setAttribute("title","Configure user macros or discard changes.");
    tempbutton.setAttribute("onclick","if (document.getElementById('macrobar"+x+"').style.display == 'none') {document.getElementById('macrobar"+x+"').style.display = 'block'; macrobarInit("+x+");} else {document.getElementById('macrobar"+x+"').style.display = 'none'; if (p = document.getElementById('postercomment')) { var x = p.offsetTop; while (p = p.offsetParent) {x += p.offsetLeft;} window.scrollTo(0,x-75);}}");
    toolbar.appendChild(tempbutton);

    toolbar.appendChild(document.createElement("br")); // Divider

    // Despace button
    var tempbutton = document.createElement("input");
    tempbutton.setAttribute("type","button");
    tempbutton.setAttribute("value","Despace");
    tempbutton.setAttribute("title","Delete newlines within the selection.");
    tempbutton.setAttribute("onclick","despace(document.getElementsByTagName('textarea')["+x+"]);");
    toolbar.appendChild(tempbutton);

    // Symbol button
    var tempbutton = document.createElement("input");
    tempbutton.setAttribute("type","button");
    tempbutton.setAttribute("value",":-)");
    tempbutton.setAttribute("title","Insert a symbol.");
    tempbutton.setAttribute("onclick","if (document.getElementById('smilebar"+x+"').style.display == 'none') {document.getElementById('smilebar"+x+"').style.display = 'block'} else {document.getElementById('smilebar"+x+"').style.display = 'none'; if (p = document.getElementById('postercomment')) { var x = p.offsetTop; while (p = p.offsetParent) {x += p.offsetLeft;} window.scrollTo(0,x-75); } }");
    toolbar.appendChild(tempbutton);
    boxes[x].parentNode.insertBefore(toolbar, boxes[x].nextSibling);

    // Symbol list
    var smilebar = document.createElement("div");
    smilebar.setAttribute("style","-moz-user-select:none; -webkit-user-select:none; display:none; font-size:16pt; max-height:240px; overflow:auto; padding:0.5em;");
    smilebar.setAttribute("id","smilebar"+x);
    var smiles = ["\u0026amp;","\u0026lt;","\u0026gt;"];

    var codes = [[161,169],[171,172],[174],[176,177],[180,183],[187,191],[215],[224,255],[402],[629],[632],[916],[920],[931],[934],[937],[945,946],[956],[960],[963],[8216,8221],[8226],[8230],[8251],[8364],[8478],[8482],[8528,8542],[8585],[8592,8652],[8712,8716],[8721],[8730],[8733,8734],[8736],[8743,8749],[8756,8757],[8773],[8776],[8800,8805],[8834,8837],[8984],[9760],[9762,9765],[9770],[9773,9775],[9784,9794],[9812,9831],[9833,9842],[9850],[9855,9861],[9874,9877],[9882,9885],[9888,9893],[9913],[9940],[9962],[9971],[9981],[9992,10087],[65533],[127744,127756],[127759],[127775,127776],[127797],[127801],[127804,127812],[127817],[127820,127822],[127828,127831],[127838,127839],[127843],[127849],[127855],[127860,127867],[127891],[127904,127911],[127918],[127939],[127942],[127977],[128025],[128074,128078],[128123,128131],[128137,128142],[128148,128150],[128152],[128158],[128161,128164],[128168,128170],[128172],[128176,128177],[128187],[128189,128190],[128193,128194],[128197],[128203,128204],[128206],[128214],[128225,128227],[128231,128233],[128241],[128244],[128246],[128250,128252],[128259],[128266,128270],[128273,128276],[128278,128280],[128286],[128293,128299],[128302,128303],[128509,128565],[128659],[128684,128685]];

    for (var i=0; i<codes.length; i++) { if (codes[i].length > 1) { for (var j=codes[i][0]; j<=codes[i][1]; j++) { smiles[smiles.length] = String.fromCodePoint(j); } } else { smiles[smiles.length] = String.fromCodePoint(codes[i][0]); } } // Populate smiles array with code ranges converted to individual characters

    smiles = smiles.concat(["xD",":-)",":^)","(^_^;)","(\u00A0\u0361\u00B0\u00A0\u035C\u0296\u00A0\u0361\u00B0)","(\u00A0\u0361\u007E\u00A0\u035C\u0296\u00A0\u0361\u00B0)\uFEFF","\u00AF\u005C\u005F(\u30C4)\u005F\u002F\u00AF","(\u256F\u00B0\u25A1\u00B0\uFF09\u256F\uFE35\u00A0\u253B\u2501\u253B","(\u30CE\u0CA0\u76CA\u0CA0)\u30CE\u5F61\u253B\u2501\u253B","(\u0060\uFF65\u03C9\uFF65\u00B4)","\u0CA0_\u0CA0","\u0295\u2022\u1D25\u2022\u0294","(\u3065\uFFE3\u00A0\u00B3\uFFE3)\u3065","\u0669(\u204E\u275B\u1D17\u275B\u204E)\u06F6","\u30FD\u0F3C\u0E88\u0644\u035C\u0E88\u0F3D\uFF89","(\uB208\u2038\uB208)","\u006F(\u3003\uFF3E\u25BD\uFF3E\u3003)\u006F","\u0028\u0028\u30FE\u0028\u2267\u76BF\u2266\uFF1B\u0029\u30CE\uFF3F\u0029\u0029","\u30FD\u0028\u002A\u2312\u2207\u2312\u002A\u0029\uFF89","\u0028\u2267\u2207\u2266\u0029\u002F"]); // Add in arbitrary emoticons

    for (var i=0; i<smiles.length; i++)
    {
        var smile = document.createElement("span");
        smile.setAttribute("style","cursor:pointer; padding:2px; white-space:nowrap;");
        smile.setAttribute("onclick","addSmile(document.getElementsByTagName('textarea')["+x+"],'"+smiles[i].replace("\u005C","\u005C\u005C")+"');");
        smile.appendChild(document.createTextNode(smiles[i]));
        smilebar.appendChild(smile);
        if (i+1<smiles.length)
        {
            smilebar.appendChild(document.createTextNode(" "));
        }
    }
    toolbar.parentNode.insertBefore(smilebar, toolbar.nextSibling);

    // Create macro configuration interface
    var macrobar = document.createElement("div");
    macrobar.setAttribute("style","display:none; padding:0.5em;");
    macrobar.setAttribute("id","macrobar"+x);
    var table = document.createElement("table");
    var tr = document.createElement("tr");
    var th = document.createElement("th");
    th.appendChild(document.createTextNode("Name"));
    tr.appendChild(th);
    var th = document.createElement("th");
    th.appendChild(document.createTextNode("Type"));
    tr.appendChild(th);
    var th = document.createElement("th");
    th.appendChild(document.createTextNode("String | Expression"));
    tr.appendChild(th);
    var th = document.createElement("th");
    th.setAttribute("title","Only used with expressions. Parenthesized substring matches (e.g. '$1') can be used.");
    th.setAttribute("style","cursor:help;");
    th.appendChild(document.createTextNode("Expression Replace"));
    tr.appendChild(th);
    table.appendChild(tr);
    for (var i=1; i<=7; i++)
    {
        var tr = document.createElement("tr");

        // Macro name
        var td = document.createElement("td");
        var name = document.createElement("input");
        name.setAttribute("type","text");
        name.setAttribute("id","soymacros"+x+"name"+i);
        td.appendChild(name);
        tr.appendChild(td);

        // Macro type
        var td = document.createElement("td");
        var rad = document.createElement("input");
        rad.setAttribute("type","radio");
        rad.setAttribute("name","soymacros"+x+"type"+i);
        rad.setAttribute("id","soymacros"+x+"type"+i+"S");
        td.appendChild(rad);
        td.appendChild(document.createTextNode(" String "));
        var rad = document.createElement("input");
        rad.setAttribute("type","radio");
        rad.setAttribute("name","soymacros"+x+"type"+i);
        rad.setAttribute("id","soymacros"+x+"type"+i+"E");
        td.appendChild(rad);
        td.appendChild(document.createTextNode(" Expression "));
        tr.appendChild(td);

        // Field A
        var td = document.createElement("td");
        var f1 = document.createElement("input");
        f1.setAttribute("type","text");
        f1.setAttribute("id","soymacros"+x+"fieldA"+i);
        td.appendChild(f1);
        tr.appendChild(td);

        // Field B
        var td = document.createElement("td");
        var f1 = document.createElement("input");
        f1.setAttribute("type","text");
        f1.setAttribute("id","soymacros"+x+"fieldB"+i);
        td.appendChild(f1);
        tr.appendChild(td);

        table.appendChild(tr);
    }
    macrobar.appendChild(table);

    var p = document.createElement("p");
    var save = document.createElement("input");
    save.setAttribute("type","button");
    save.setAttribute("value","Save");
    save.setAttribute("title","Save any edits to the macro configuration.");
    save.setAttribute("onclick","macrobarSave("+x+");");
    p.appendChild(save);
    p.appendChild(document.createTextNode(" "));
    var guide = document.createElement("a");
    guide.setAttribute("href","https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Guide/Regular_Expressions");
    guide.setAttribute("target","_blank");
    guide.appendChild(document.createTextNode("Regexp Guide"));
    p.appendChild(guide);
    macrobar.appendChild(p);

    toolbar.parentNode.insertBefore(macrobar, toolbar.nextSibling);
}

var temp = document.createElement("script");

// Add selection handling function
temp.appendChild(document.createTextNode("function getSelection(textarea) { if ('selectionStart' in textarea) { if (textarea.selectionStart != textarea.selectionEnd) { return [textarea.selectionStart,textarea.selectionEnd]; } } } "));

// Add comment formatting buttons
temp.appendChild(document.createTextNode("function addBlockquote(area) { var sel = getSelection(area); if (!(sel[0] == 0 && sel[1] == 0)) { area.value = area.value.substring(0,sel[0]) + '<blockquote>'+area.value.substring(sel[0],sel[1])+'<\/blockquote>' + area.value.substring(sel[1]); } } function addPara(area) { var sel = getSelection(area); if (!(sel[0] == 0 && sel[1] == 0)) { area.value = area.value.substring(0,sel[0]) + '<p>'+area.value.substring(sel[0],sel[1])+'<\/p>' + area.value.substring(sel[1]); } } function addBreak(area) { if ('selectionStart' in area) { var pos = area.selectionStart; area.value = area.value.substring(0,area.selectionStart) + '<br>' + area.value.substring(pos); area.focus(); area.setSelectionRange(pos+4,pos+4) } } function addHRule(area) { if ('selectionStart' in area) { var pos = area.selectionStart; area.value = area.value.substring(0,area.selectionStart) + '<hr>' + area.value.substring(pos); area.focus(); area.setSelectionRange(pos+4,pos+4) } } function addHyperlink(area) { var sel = getSelection(area); if (!(sel[0] == 0 && sel[1] == 0)) { url = prompt('URL:', 'https://'); area.value = area.value.substring(0,sel[0]) + '<a href=\"'+url+'\">'+area.value.substring(sel[0],sel[1])+'<\/a>' + area.value.substring(sel[1]); } } function addBold(area) { var sel = getSelection(area); if (!(sel[0] == 0 && sel[1] == 0)) { area.value = area.value.substring(0,sel[0]) + '<b>'+area.value.substring(sel[0],sel[1])+'<\/b>' + area.value.substring(sel[1]); } } function addItalic(area) { var sel = getSelection(area); if (!(sel[0] == 0 && sel[1] == 0)) { area.value = area.value.substring(0,sel[0]) + '<em>'+area.value.substring(sel[0],sel[1])+'<\/em>' + area.value.substring(sel[1]); } } function addStrike(area) { var sel = getSelection(area); if (!(sel[0] == 0 && sel[1] == 0)) { area.value = area.value.substring(0,sel[0]) + '<strike>'+area.value.substring(sel[0],sel[1])+'<\/strike>' + area.value.substring(sel[1]); } } function addEcode(area) { var sel = getSelection(area); if (!(sel[0] == 0 && sel[1] == 0)) { area.value = area.value.substring(0,sel[0]) + '<ecode>'+area.value.substring(sel[0],sel[1])+'<\/ecode>' + area.value.substring(sel[1]); } } function addTT(area) { var sel = getSelection(area); if (!(sel[0] == 0 && sel[1] == 0)) { area.value = area.value.substring(0,sel[0]) + '<tt>'+area.value.substring(sel[0],sel[1])+'<\/tt>' + area.value.substring(sel[1]); } } function addSmall(area) { var sel = getSelection(area); if (!(sel[0] == 0 && sel[1] == 0)) { area.value = area.value.substring(0,sel[0]) + '<small>'+area.value.substring(sel[0],sel[1])+'<\/small>' + area.value.substring(sel[1]); } } function addSuper(area) { var sel = getSelection(area); if (!(sel[0] == 0 && sel[1] == 0)) { area.value = area.value.substring(0,sel[0]) + '<sup>'+area.value.substring(sel[0],sel[1])+'<\/sup>' + area.value.substring(sel[1]); } } function addSubsc(area) { var sel = getSelection(area); if (!(sel[0] == 0 && sel[1] == 0)) { area.value = area.value.substring(0,sel[0]) + '<sub>'+area.value.substring(sel[0],sel[1])+'<\/sub>' + area.value.substring(sel[1]); } } "));

// Add list creation functions
temp.appendChild(document.createTextNode("function addOrdlist(area) { if ('selectionStart' in area) { if (area.selectionStart != area.selectionEnd) { area.value = area.value.substring(0,area.selectionStart) + '<ol><li>' + area.value.substring(area.selectionStart,area.selectionEnd).replace(/\\n/g,'<\/li>\\n<li>').replace(/\\n<li><\\/li>/g,'') + '<\/li><\/ol>' + area.value.substring(area.selectionEnd); } else { temp = '<ol>'; while(listitem = prompt('Enter a list item. Leave the box empty or press Cancel to complete the list:', '')) { temp += '<li>' + listitem + '<\/li>\\n'; } area.value = area.value.substring(0,area.selectionStart) + temp.substring(0,temp.length-1) + '<\/ol>' + area.value.substring(area.selectionStart); } } } function addUnordlist(area) { if ('selectionStart' in area) { if (area.selectionStart != area.selectionEnd) { area.value = area.value.substring(0,area.selectionStart) + '<ul><li>' + area.value.substring(area.selectionStart,area.selectionEnd).replace(/\\n/g,'<\/li>\\n<li>').replace(/\\n<li><\\/li>/g,'') + '<\/li><\/ul>' + area.value.substring(area.selectionEnd); } else { temp = '<ul>'; while(listitem = prompt('Enter a list item. Leave the box empty or press Cancel to complete the list:', '')) { temp += '<li>' + listitem + '<\/li>\\n'; } area.value = area.value.substring(0,area.selectionStart) + temp.substring(0,temp.length-1) + '<\/ul>' + area.value.substring(area.selectionStart); } } }"));

// Add macro functions
temp.appendChild(document.createTextNode("function macroChoose(area,x) { if (JSON.parse(localStorage.getItem('soymacro'+x))[1]=='string') { macroString(area,x); } else { macroRegexp(area,x); } }"));
temp.appendChild(document.createTextNode("function macroString(area,x) { var sel = getSelection(area); if (sel && sel[0] != sel[1]) { area.value = area.value.substring(0,sel[0]) + JSON.parse(localStorage.getItem('soymacro'+x))[2] + area.value.substring(sel[1]); } else if ('selectionStart' in area) { var pos = area.selectionStart; area.value = area.value.substring(0,area.selectionStart) + JSON.parse(localStorage.getItem('soymacro'+x))[2] + area.value.substring(pos); area.focus(); area.setSelectionRange(pos+JSON.parse(localStorage.getItem('soymacro'+x))[2].length,pos+JSON.parse(localStorage.getItem('soymacro'+x))[2].length); } }"));
temp.appendChild(document.createTextNode("function macroRegexp(area,x) { var sel = getSelection(area); if (sel && sel[0] != sel[1]) { var reg = JSON.parse(localStorage.getItem('soymacro'+x))[2]; area.value = area.value.substring(0,sel[0]) + area.value.substring(sel[0],sel[1]).replace(new RegExp(reg.substring(reg.indexOf('/')+1,reg.lastIndexOf('/')), reg.substring(reg.lastIndexOf('/')+1)),JSON.parse(localStorage.getItem('soymacro'+x))[3]) + area.value.substring(sel[1]); } }"));
temp.appendChild(document.createTextNode("function macrobarInit(x) { for (var y=1; y<=7; y++) { document.getElementById('soymacros'+x+'name'+y).value = JSON.parse(localStorage.getItem('soymacro'+y))[0]; if (JSON.parse(localStorage.getItem('soymacro'+y))[1]=='string') { document.getElementById('soymacros'+x+'type'+y+'S').checked = true; } else { document.getElementById('soymacros'+x+'type'+y+'E').checked = true; } document.getElementById('soymacros'+x+'fieldA'+y).value = JSON.parse(localStorage.getItem('soymacro'+y))[2]; if (JSON.parse(localStorage.getItem('soymacro'+y))[1]!='string') { document.getElementById('soymacros'+x+'fieldB'+y).value = JSON.parse(localStorage.getItem('soymacro'+y))[3]; } else { document.getElementById('soymacros'+x+'fieldB'+y).value = ''; } } }"));
temp.appendChild(document.createTextNode("function macrobarSave(x) { for (var y=1; y<=7; y++) { if (document.getElementById('soymacros'+x+'type'+y+'S').checked == true) { localStorage.setItem('soymacro'+y,JSON.stringify([document.getElementById('soymacros'+x+'name'+y).value,'string',document.getElementById('soymacros'+x+'fieldA'+y).value])); } else { localStorage.setItem('soymacro'+y,JSON.stringify([document.getElementById('soymacros'+x+'name'+y).value,'regexp',document.getElementById('soymacros'+x+'fieldA'+y).value,document.getElementById('soymacros'+x+'fieldB'+y).value])); } } document.getElementById('macrobar'+x).style.display = 'none'; var boxes = document.getElementsByTagName('textarea'); for (var z=0; z<boxes.length; z++) { for (var y=1; y<=7; y++) { document.getElementById('soymacros'+z+'button'+y).value = JSON.parse(localStorage.getItem('soymacro'+y))[0]; if (JSON.parse(localStorage.getItem('soymacro'+y))[1]=='string') { if (JSON.parse(localStorage.getItem('soymacro'+y))[2].length < 40) { document.getElementById('soymacros'+z+'button'+y).title = 'Insert or replace selected text with: ' + JSON.parse(localStorage.getItem('soymacro'+y))[2]; } else { document.getElementById('soymacros'+z+'button'+y).title = 'Insert or replace selected text with: ' + JSON.parse(localStorage.getItem('soymacro'+y))[2].substring(0,40)+'...'; } } else { document.getElementById('soymacros'+z+'button'+y).title = 'Replace text matched by the regular expression: ' + JSON.parse(localStorage.getItem('soymacro'+y))[2] + ' with: ' + JSON.parse(localStorage.getItem('soymacro'+y))[3]; } } } }"));

// Add despace function
temp.appendChild(document.createTextNode("function despace(area) { var sel = getSelection(area); if (!(sel[0] == 0 && sel[1] == 0)) { area.value = area.value.substring(0,sel[0]) + area.value.substring(sel[0],sel[1]).replace(/\\r/g,' ').replace(/\\n/g,' ').replace(/\\s\\s/g,' ').replace(/\\s\\s/g,' ').replace(/\\s\\s/g,' ').replace(/\\s\\s/g,' ').replace(/\\s\\s/g,' ') + area.value.substring(sel[1]); } }"));

// Add unicode insertion function
temp.appendChild(document.createTextNode("function addSmile(area, smile) { if ('selectionStart' in area) { var pos = area.selectionStart; area.value = area.value.substring(0,pos) + smile + area.value.substring(pos); area.focus(); area.setSelectionRange(pos+smile.length,pos+smile.length) } }"));

document.getElementsByTagName('head')[0].appendChild(temp); // Add script to page

Besides voting, I'm not sure what I can do to change the Australian government's horrific, inhumane, disgusting way of dealing with asylum seekers. However, this article made me think about the fact that one day this will be a shameful period taught in history class:

http://www.smh.com.au/comment/nauru-detention-centre-clock-ticks-on-our-addiction-to-fictions-of-asylumseeker-policy-20160203-gml6or.html

So for the record I want to say this, which seems too obvious to need saying, but apparently escapes the attention of everyone involved in deciding our refugee policy:

1 - Sending people offshore to send the message that they won't be settled in australia if they try to come by boat, doesn't mean we have no duty of care to those people once they're locked up in the detention centres we organised for them in Nauru or Manus Island.

We (our government) arranged, paid for, and sent people to these detention centres. They're in other countries but that's our choice, a service we're paying for, and so it's our responsibility to make sure we're getting the service we want. If we don't require level of safety, health, and dignity that would be required by law in any refugee centre on our soil, then we're paying to have people mistreated.

2 - Deterring people from trying to come by boat, with the justifcation that we're trying to stop deaths at sea, does not mean any and all levels of danger, abuse, psychological scarring, or disease are worth accepting for this end.

If the government is really just trying to tell refugees that they shouldn't pay illegal people smugglers to bring them to australia, then removing them from australia when they get here is enough. Anything beyond that is cruel and unusual punishment.

3 - If conditions are ok, acceptable, humane and secure on these off-shore detention centres then doctors need not be gagged, and humanitarian organisations and journalists need not be banned.

Whatever excuses are provided for this cone of silence fail to answer the question: How we do know if the conditions are legally and humanely valid, if all we have to go on is the word of the minister? That's no way to demonstrate competence or honesty, and this is supposed to be a representative democracy.

I'm fairly confident this post will make no difference. But I felt the need to say something, because I'm going to be lumped in historically will all the people who let this happen.

Kanye West wants $1 billion from Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg

He’s “this generation’s Disney” and technology leaders like Mark Zuckerberg would be doing the world a favor by investing a cool $1 billion in his musical ambitions.

That was the gist of an early Monday tweetstorm by rapper Kanye West, hours after he raised questions about his personal finances with this tweet that hinted he has $53 million worth of debt:

I write this to you my brothers while still 53 million dollars in personal debt... Please pray we overcome... This is my true heart...
— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) February 14, 2016

In a fresh crop of posts, West made direct pleas to Zuckerberg, chief executive of Facebook Inc., and Larry Page, Alphabet Inc.’s CEO and the co-founder of Google, asking that they funnel some cash into his ideas:

Mark Zuckerberg invest 1 billion dollars into Kanye West ideas
— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) February 14, 2016

Mark Zuckerberg I know it’s your bday but can you please call me by 2mrw…
— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) February 15, 2016

World, please tweet, FaceTime, Facebook, instagram, whatever you gotta do to get Mark to support me…
— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) February 15, 2016

Mark, I am publicly asking you for help…
— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) February 15, 2016

hey Larry Page I’m down for your help too …
— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) February 15, 2016

West insinuated that Silicon Valley was full of hypocrites — executives who want to look cool listening to rap, yet never did anything to further growth in the music industry:

All you dudes in San Fran play rap music in your homes but never help the real artists…
— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) February 15, 2016

The rapper made a thinly veiled reference to Zuckerberg’s education philanthropy — he is part of an investment group that aims to bring cheap, private education to millions of children across Africa and Asia. Frankly, said West, the money could be better spent helping him with his creative efforts, as he claimed to be the “Jordan and Steph Curry of music, meaning I’m the best of 2 generations”

There is an abundance of media and content available online, and in meatspace. This website contributes, and everyone on this site is a part of that. There are 15 stories this site will publish today, none I have touched. We will likely see several hundred comments and dozens of discussions. Many comments will be insightful or interesting, others will be funny, some will be less well received. There will be a small handful of journals like this one.

I try to contribute positively to this site. Perhaps not as much as I could or should, but I would rather do it well and have a constructive experience. When editing stories, I genuinely try to keep a wide scope of interests considered and choose quality submissions. These may not be the most commented on, but my intention is to publish content that is informative or interesting regardless of my own perspective on the subject.

However, most of the content I see and consume is certainly more of the entertainment variety. This is very different from the attitude I have on this site.

I would love to create content that is entertaining, having been in various bands and musical projects for many years in my teens and early 20's. I don't have any concern really over the number of people that would or have seen and enjoyed the music or other content. Some of my favorite musicians have extremely small audiences and short 'careers', it's about the art and expression, creating something from the imagination. It's still sad to see quality music being ignored regardless.

This is the problem. I'd much rather make serious content, to borrow a phrase 'stuff that matters'. People can and do make art and entertaining content far better than I could.

The state of journalism in the entire world is a shambles. There are so many events that need reviewing, context is always missing, contradictory reports are ignored. Every outlet with any reach with full-time 'journalists' are under the control of commercial interests and/or an incoherent bureaucratic mess of government oversight, perhaps wrapped in the guise of independence from government. There are people, by themselves and working with others to improve the situation. The work of people like Tom Secker[1] and Pearse Redmond[2] are quite outstanding examples of independent research and journalism on very important events. The community here seems to be trying. We don't have a big community though, much like Tom and Pearse, the shared perspectives rarely travel beyond a small community.

Options are available to even make a living from writing, I could do it tomorrow. But, I would be writing press releases and other commercial content generation for 'mainstream' consumption. It's not impossible to get work reporting on and for the public sector or political institutions. I can interpret the data, word things however you want to misrepresent it, or direct emphasis to the irrelevant, but that doesn't mean it's a worthwhile or constructive way to spend time and other resources.

Thankfully i've found myself in the situation where my employment is quite flexible, it's very hard work often, but I am not beholden to an employer. I have my morals and ethics and do business a certain way, which is honesty, there is no game. Working for multinationals and smaller companies who are staffed by people with no moral compass, intentionally or by process, i've been there. It's something I can't tolerate or be involved in anymore. A cog in the machine is not the place for me.

There are so many people now, more than ever creating art and writing for a living or as a major part of their lives. Perhaps now just the human experience. I don't feel like I really need to be a part of it, i'd like to spend my energy on the more tangible. It could be amazing, doing something i'm passionate about on a more spiritual sense, being able to focus on the creativity or reporting on current events.

In an ideal world, i'd love to do it all. Entertain, inform and build, be productive. Now though, I don't feel like i'm doing any of that.

The opportunities are numerous, but the downsides are immense. None of the opportunities, which would keep food on my plate, are actually positively contributing to society. Forgetting the aforementioned issues with 'writing' for a living. I can build more houses through subcontracting based on debt [public/private/foreign], for people to buy with more debt, to make sure house prices keep going up so the average home in London costs £1,000,000 by 2020 but the average wage stays around the £25,000 mark. Or it's build a broker/service company, with long winded service contracts and subcontractor agreements to extract as much money as possible from clients and contractors with as minimal obligation, none of it direct, all wrapped up in a nice advertising campaign of bullshit.

It's not about government regulation, it's about systemic corruption of government and the quarterly report obsessed private sector distorting any sense of fair trade and any semblance of actual investigative journalism or reporting. The regulations on smaller businesses don't actually matter as much. The access to discretionary enforcement of the regulations, minimal/zero risk access to multi-million funding, government grants and tailored projects for the 'big' everything. That's before we get onto the just straight up misinformation people in marketing and sales tell as part of their jobs. That's getting closer to the core of the problem.

Back a little more on topic before this hits a thousand words… Bearing all this in mind, I'm lost as to what to do. I'd love to contribute more to this site, it would be a dream to write every day. But really, shouldn't I be building homes for people, not houses for a bank? Shouldn't I be growing food for myself and my neighbors rather than installing some ambient lighting systems in a Michelin star restaurant?

The opportunity is there to make a positive contribution to society, but how can I find a direction?

[1] Tom Secker's work can be found at:
Spy Culture
Investigating the Terror
Boiling Frogs Post
[2] Pearse Redmond's work can be found at:
Porkins Policy Review

Wait, what?

Alex Jones: Banning order for fan who tweeted he loved presenter

A fan who bombarded the BBC's Alex Jones with tweets declaring he was in love with her has been banned from any contact with the Welsh TV presenter.

Shane Goldsmith sent the 38-year-old One Show star a string of messages for 17 months and waited outside the BBC's headquarters to tell her he loved her.

A judge imposed a restraining order which also bars him from the BBC's New Broadcasting House in central London.

Mr Goldsmith, 44, was formally cleared of a single charge of harassment.

'Armani Communist' divides China

When Liu Bo attended a regional communist party event as the official ambassador of local students it wasn't his youthful demeanour which made the biggest impression.

Nor was it the remarks which the 14-year-old made to the Shenzhen People's Political Consultative Conference, calling for the greater use of non-exam based assessments in the Chinese education system.
What made people stare, and what rapidly become a major topic of conversation as photos of Liu spread across Chinese social media this week, was what he was wearing.

Around his neck was a red scarf of the type worn by Chairman Mao's Red Guards during the Cultural Revolution and now standard issue wear for the Communist Party Youth League. But Liu had paired that with what was taken to be an Armani suit, because of the lapel badge he was wearing with the distinctive logo of the Italian luxury brand.

In the eyes of many Chinese observers this was not so much a wardrobe malfunction as a clash of ideologies in a single outfit. Some on China's micro blogging platform Weibo dubbed Liu the "Armani Youngster" and attacked his choice of clothing.

PM left red nosed by censorship protest

When Malaysian police warned activist and graphic designer Fahmi Reza that his Twitter account was under surveillance after he posted an image of the prime minister, Najib Razak, as a clown, they probably hoped such behaviour would stop.

But then members of an art collective, Grupa posted even more clownish images of the premier to express their solidarity with him and to champion the ideal of free speech.

The pictures have spread across social media with the hashtag #KitaSemuaPenghasut which translates as "we are all seditious".

Fahmi's mockery of the prime minister was part of a wider reaction to news last week, when the country's attorney-general cleared Mr Najib of any corruption relating to a long-running financial scandal.

too-lazy-to-sub dept.

James Reinders: Parallelism Has Crossed a Threshold

Is the parallel everything era here? What happens when you can assume parallel cores? In the second half of our in-depth interview, Intel’s James Reinders discusses the fading out of single-core machines and the ramifications of the democratization of parallel computing, remarking “we don’t need to worry about single-core processors anymore and that’s pretty significant in the world of programming for this next decade.” Other topics covered include the intentions behind OpenHPC and trends to watch in 2016.

First half: A Conversation with James Reinders