News You Can Use

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Student penalized for using word 'man' on his essay - The College Fix

At the University of Florida, a student was recently penalized for writing “man” instead of “humankind” in a class paper.

History major Martin Poirier wrote “Water is a thing prior to man” on a paper for a history class called “History of Water.”

“Thoughtful paper, although the writing-mechanics errors are killing you,” Professor Jack Davis wrote at the bottom of the paper. He gave the student a B minus, according to a copy of the essay published in the student news outlet the Daily Nerv.

Davis circled “man” and referenced his Writing Mechanics Exercise #20, which draws a distinction between “mankind” and “humankind.”

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Sent to Prison by a Software Program’s Secret Algorithms - The New York Times

When Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. visited Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute last month, he was asked a startling question, one with overtones of science fiction.

“Can you foresee a day,” asked Shirley Ann Jackson, president of the college in upstate New York, “when smart machines, driven with artificial intelligences, will assist with courtroom fact-finding or, more controversially even, judicial decision-making?”

The chief justice’s answer was more surprising than the question. “It’s a day that’s here,” he said, “and it’s putting a significant strain on how the judiciary goes about doing things.”

He may have been thinking about the case of a Wisconsin man, Eric L. Loomis, who was sentenced to six years in prison based in part on a private company’s proprietary software. Mr. Loomis says his right to due process was violated by a judge’s consideration of a report generated by the software’s secret algorithm, one Mr. Loomis was unable to inspect or challenge.

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Mayor Asking FBI For Help With Investigating City Crime « CBS Baltimore

BALTIMORE (WJZ) — Baltimore’s mayor is asking for help from the FBI as the city struggles to contain a soaring murder rate. But will bringing in the feds stop the killings?

Catherine Pugh pulled no punches earlier this week when she said the violence is out of control.

“I’m calling on all the assistance we can possibly get because I can’t imagine going into our summer months with our crime rate where it is today, what that’s going to look like by the end of the summer,” Mayor Pugh said. “… Murder is out of control.”

Some people are skeptical that the FBI will be able to help matters.

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1,665 Pages: GOP Spending Bill Longer Than Obama’s Stimulus

(CNSNews.com) - The new federal spending bill proposed in the Republican-controlled Congress to fund the government through the end of September--which is now posted on the House Rules Committee website--is 1,665 pages long and includes an average of approximately 210 words per page.

That makes this bill approximately 350,000 words long—or about twice as long as the stimulus law (the “American Recovery and Reinvestment Act”) that President Barack Obama signed less than a month after his inauguration in 2009.

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Synthetic DNA scientist says it could be inside humans within 5 years

The Human Genome Project (HGP) took 13 years and $3 billion to complete.
Scientists planning to synthesize human DNA think it is as little as 5 years away.
They are seeking $100 million, and believe it will in total cost less than HGP.
Their aim is to get the cost of making a DNA base pair down to one cent.

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These things come out in clusters. There are news stories clusters every week. Pay attention. What news clusters do you notice?

Japan's 'peace constitution' under pressure at 70

Tokyo (AFP) - Japan's American-written "peace constitution" has survived unchanged for 70 years, but nationalists seeking an overhaul are gearing up for a major new push as concerns grow over North Korean belligerence.

Conservatives have long called for the document they see as a national humiliation to be amended, but current political alignments and growing security concerns suggest they now have their best chance of success.

"The time is ripe," Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Monday in a speech to supporters of change. "We will take a historic step towards the major goal of revising the constitution in this milestone year."

Nicolás Maduro Calls for New Venezuelan Constitution - WSJ

CARACAS—Venezuela President Nicolás Maduro on Monday signed an order to convene a special assembly to redraft the country’s constitution, the latest in a string of efforts to retain power in the face of mounting protests and civil unrest.

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Trump budget plans fade, conservatives protest | McClatchy Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON
Look out, Republicans up for re-election in 2018. Look out, House Speaker Paul Ryan.

The fiery, never-give-in ultra-conservative wing of the GOP is highly displeased with the budget agreement reached this week.

“Instead of fighting for President Trump’s conservative budget priorities, they have surrendered to the Democrats once again,” Ken Cuccinelli, a former Virginia attorney general who heads the Senate Conservatives Fund, said of congressional Republican leaders

Democrats are elated over the $1.07 trillion budget deal, which reads almost like an Obama administration blueprint.

“Early on in this debate, Democrats clearly laid out our principles,” said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. “At the end of the day, this is an agreement that reflects those principles.”

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Kansas archbishop announces split from Girl Scouts

"We prefer to partner with youth organizations that share our values and vision for youth ministry, not ones that we have to monitor constantly to protect our children from being misled and misinformed," the archbishop wrote.

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Apple has more money than the UK and Canada combined | Daily Mail Online

Set to report quarterly financial results, which is double from 4 years ago
Likely has $246.09 billion total cash, cash equivalents and securities off shore
Keeping money off shore has allowed Apple to avoid the 35% US corporate tax

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SOCOM wants drugs to turn its K9s into super dogs | We Are The Mighty

Officials in charge of equipping America’s top commando units are looking for some high-tech drugs to help boost the performance if their 150 “multi-purpose canines.”

According to news reports, U.S. Special Operations Command wants to find pharmaceutical products or nutritional supplements that will enhance canine hearing, eyesight and other senses.

Think of it as a “Q” for America’s four-legged special operators.

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DARPA Is Planning to Hack the Human Brain to Let Us "Upload" Skills

In March 2016, DARPA — the U.S. military’s “mad science” branch — announced their Targeted Neuroplasticity Training (TNT) program. The TNT program aims to explore various safe neurostimulation methods for activating synaptic plasticity, which is the brain’s ability to alter the connecting points between neurons — a requirement for learning. DARPA hopes that building up that ability by subjecting the nervous system to a kind of workout regimen will enable the brain to learn more quickly.

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Trump to sign order lifting ban on political activity by churches | Reuters

President Donald Trump is expected to take executive action on Thursday to effectively lift a ban on political activity by churches and other tax-exempt institutions, a senior White House official said on Wednesday.

Trump will mark the National Day of Prayer by issuing guidance to federal agencies like the Treasury Department on how to interpret a law that says churches and religious organizations risk losing their tax-exempt status if they participate in political campaigns.

The order is expected to give the Treasury Department guidance on how strictly to enforce the 1954 law known as the Johnson Amendment, the White House official said, speaking on condition of anonymity as details of the action were still being worked out.

Trump frequently complained about the amendment during his campaign for the presidency, bolstering his support among religious conservatives who contend it violates free speech and religious freedom rights.

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Puerto Rico turns to courts for debt protection | McClatchy Washington Bureau

SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO
Puerto Rico's governor turned to the courts Wednesday to protect the U.S. territory from a crushing $73 billion debt in the largest effort ever made by a U.S. government to shield itself from creditors.

Gov. Ricardo Rossello made the announcement after negotiations with Puerto Rico's bondholders failed. Rossello said a federal control board overseeing the island's finances agreed with his request to put certain debts before a federal bankruptcy court.

The outcome of the case could have implications for financially troubled U.S. cities or states.

"We're going to protect our people," the governor said hours after the territory was hit with multiple lawsuits from creditors seeking to recuperate the millions of dollars they invested in bonds issued by Puerto Rico's government, which has declared several defaults amid a 10-year recession.

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Why the Retail Crisis Could Be Coming to American Groceries - Bloomberg

These five forces are going to shake up the American supermarket.

It Looked As Though There Was Safety Selling Food
Now Groceries Are Everywhere
Grocery Prices Are Falling Fast
Food Shopping Isn't a Weekly Behavior Any More
Amazon Is Hungry for Groceries

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Political talk is causing problems at work, survey finds - CBS News

Last fall, before the presidential election in November, a survey of U.S. employees found many were stressed out by political conversations happening in the workplace. So have stress levels died down now that the election is history? Just the opposite, it seems. A new post-election survey indicates that the political climate for workers has only gotten worse.

"We did the survey last fall in the lead-up to the election and found, indeed, all these discussions swirling around at work were affecting people on the job. So, on the heels of the election, we were curious about how that might have changed," Dr. David Ballard, director of the American Psychological Association's Center for Organizational Excellence, told CBS News.

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New San Francisco policy could let city agencies launch drones - San Francisco Chronicle

Five San Francisco agencies, including the fire, port and parks departments, could start flying drones under a set of rules that a city committee is expected to approve Friday.

Preventing drones from infringing on privacy rights is a key provision of the Committee on Information Technology’s new policy. The rules spell out how any city agency or employee can use a drone, even for seemingly benign purposes like search and rescue missions or pier inspections.

The committee began studying the issue two years ago after one of the Recreation and Park Department’s nine drones was stolen from a city vehicle after just one test flight.

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Cartoonists 'first victims' of crackdowns on press

Paris (AFP) - Ten countries including Russia, Turkey and India have been condemned for censoring, locking up or threatening cartoonists in a new report published Friday.

The Cartooning for Peace group said cartoonists were increasingly becoming the victims of repressive crackdowns on free speech.

The watchdog's first annual global report also documents attacks on freedom of expression in Kenya, Venezuela, Egypt, Malaysia, Jordan, Ecuador and Burkina Faso.

Its founder, the French cartoonist Plantu -- who set up the group a decade ago with former United Nations chief Kofi Annan -- told AFP that his peers were in danger across the globe.

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Long-time Iowa farm cartoonist fired after creating this cartoon

The cartoon features two farmers talking about farming profits.

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Circa asks President Trump to declassify data on NSA spying on Americans | Circa News - Learn. Think. Do.

Circa has formally requested that the Trump administration declassify records showing how often government officials have searched National Security Agency intercepts for intelligence on U.S. presidential candidates, members of Congress, journalists, clergy, lawyers, federal judges and doctors and how often such Americans had their identities unmasked by the intelligence community after Barack Obama made it easier to do so in 2011.

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$84,000 a year now qualifies as low income in high-cost Orange County – Orange County Register

A family of four with an annual income of $84,450 or less now qualifies as low income in Orange County.

A single person living alone qualifies as low income if he or she earns $58,450 or less a year.

Orange County has the fifth-highest income threshold in the nation, according to new income limits released last month by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

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California Must Provide Trans Prisoners With Compression Underwear

A U.S. district judge last week ordered California state prison officials to provide free chest-flattening underwear, also known as compression tops, to transgender inmates at women's prisons and feminine accessories to transgender inmates at men's prisons.

Requiring inmates to buy compression tops "effectively" denies those items to individuals who cannot afford them, according to U.S. District Judge Jon Tigar, who issued the order on Friday. Taxpayers, therefore, must foot the bill.

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Drinking Alcohol Makes Straight Men More Sexually Fluid: 'Beer Goggles' Boost Physical Attraction To Same Sex

Many of us are all too familiar with the "beer goggles" effect: friends and strangers alike become more attractive after a drink or two. Undoubtedly, drinking alcohol lowers our inhibitions and makes us more open to experimentation with the same sex. In a new study, published in The Journal of Social Psychology, straight men were found to be more physically attracted to other men after a few drinks.

"Most notably, alcohol intake was related to increased sexual willingness of men with a same-sex partner, suggesting a potential shift in normative casual sexual behavior among heterosexual men," wrote the authors in the study.

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Venezuela Is Starving - WSJ

Once Latin America’s richest country, Venezuela can no longer feed its people, hobbled by the nationalization of farms as well as price and currency controls

YARE, Venezuela—Jean Pierre Planchart, a year old, has the drawn face of an old man and a cry that is little more than a whimper. His ribs show through his skin. He weighs just 11 pounds.

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Fake Facebook accounts prompt USA TODAY to seek FBI probe

SAN FRANCISCO – The parent company of USA TODAY said it had asked the FBI to investigate a wave of fake Facebook accounts so large it accounted for half of the newspaper’s following on the social media platform.

Facebook purged millions of those fake accounts from USA TODAY and other publishers three weeks ago, the latest salvo in the social giant’s battle against scammers and spammers seeking access to its platform and its 1.94 billion users.

Those axed accounts included more than a third of USA TODAY’s approximately 15.2 million Facebook "likes" at the time. Executives of Gannett Co., parent of USA TODAY and 109 local news properties, said Thursday millions of its remaining followers also were fake, and it continued to accumulate a thousand phony followers a day.