The Goat Pen

As seen in Figure 1, wages are indeed flat. In fact, they have risen just 0.89 percent since January 2017—less than 1 percent real wage growth. For starters, this means that workers are not seeing the gains that they should. Despite the fact that the country is experiencing positive GDP growth, the benefits are not trickling down the way Trump predicted they would. In other words, the system in which the economy functions has not fairly nor equitably distributed wage gains to workers. This is hardly a new trend, but it is one that deserves more attention as the results of policies that move further in this direction emerge.

"Can you imagine going to a government-run emergency room with severe chest pains, and relying on people like THAT to save your life?"

I enjoy imagining you with severe chest pains...

I was chosen to attend active shooter training for my office.

I have a window on the ground floor..

My training is I'm going out that fucking window. I don't need a class for that.

How you gonna break it?

Jungle Rat wrote:How you gonna break it?

I have a 25 lb dumbbell in my cube. That would be a start

By throwing an intern out first.

Even the Washington Post says you economic naysayers are full of shit.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/factchec ... spartandhp

"I have a 25 lb dumbbell in my cube."

[youtube]SiX_QTWbFMQ[/youtube]

that's me

Yeah, but my (admittedly horrific) image of you bellowing "it's a deep burn!" is you in the bathroom after eating a ghost pepper burrito...

The wildest part of this story is - its not white people that are displacing African Americans - its Asians. Makes it hard for anyone to claim its racist when the true minority is taking all the spots




Only a tiny number of black students were offered admission to the highly selective public high schools in New York City on Monday, raising the pressure on officials to confront the decades-old challenge of integrating New York’s elite public schools.

At Stuyvesant High School, out of 895 slots in the freshman class, only seven were offered to black students. And the number of black students is shrinking: There were 10 black students admitted into Stuyvesant last year, and 13 the year before.

Another highly selective specialized school, the Bronx High School of Science, made 12 offers to black students this year, down from 25 last year.

These numbers come despite Mayor Bill de Blasio’s vow to diversify the specialized high schools, which have long been seen as a ticket for low-income and immigrant students to enter the nation’s best colleges and embark on successful careers.

But Mr. de Blasio’s proposal to scrap the entrance exam for the schools and overhaul the admissions process has proved so divisive that the state’s most prominent politicians, from Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo to Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, have mostly avoided taking a definitive position — even as black and Hispanic students are grappling with increasingly steep odds of admission into the city’s eight most selective public schools.


.........


Though black and Hispanic students make up nearly 70 percent of New York City’s public school system as a whole, just over 10 percent of students admitted into the city’s eight specialized high schools were black or Hispanic, according to statistics released Monday by the city. That percentage is flat compared to last year.

Of the nearly 4,800 students admitted into the specialized schools, 190 are black — compared to 207 black students admitted last year out of just over 5,000 offers. About 5,500 black students took the admissions exam this year out of a total of about 27,500 applicants. Of the five specialized schools that were added under former Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s administration, only one, the Brooklyn Latin School, has a larger percentage of black applicants who were offered seats: 57 out of 540.

Stuyvesant made 33 offers to Hispanic students, up slightly from 27 seats last year. Asian-American students received 587 offers, and white students were offered 194 seats. Asian-American and white students make up about 15 percent each of the total public school system. The percentage of black students at Stuyvesant has been declining for two decades.

The number of Hispanic students who gained admission to Bronx Science also dropped from 65 last year to 43 today.

The numbers are a stark reminder that the exam tends to produce specialized schools with classes that do not reflect the school system as a whole.

The specialized school admissions process has been protected by state law since 1971, but last summer, Mr. de Blasio asked for Albany’s approval to scrap the exam and replace it with a system that admits the top performers from every city middle school.

Though the city has acknowledged that it could implement that system at five of the eight schools — not including Stuyvesant, Bronx Science or Brooklyn Tech, whose admission system is controlled by state law — Mr. de Blasio has argued that such action would create a confusing two-tiered system that would fail to diversify the schools with the fewest black and Hispanic students.

A recent report found that offers to Asian-American students, who now make up about 60 percent of the specialized schools, would drop by about half under the mayor’s plan, while offers to black students would increase fivefold if that plan is approved.

Gun-maker Remington can be sued over how it marketed the rifle used to kill 20 children and six educators at Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012, a divided Connecticut Supreme Court ruled Thursday.

Gun control advocates touted the ruling as providing a possible roadmap for victims of other mass shootings to circumvent a long-criticized federal law that shields gun manufacturers from liability in most cases when their products are used in crimes. Gun rights supporters bashed the decision as judicial activism and overreach.

In a 4-3 decision, justices reinstated a wrongful death lawsuit against Remington and overturned the ruling of a lower court judge, who said the entire lawsuit was prohibited by the 2005 federal law. The majority said that while most of the lawsuit's claims were barred by the federal law, Remington could still be sued for alleged wrongful marketing under Connecticut law.

"The regulation of advertising that threatens the public's health, safety, and morals has long been considered a core exercise of the states' police powers," Justice Richard Palmer wrote for the majority, adding he didn't believe Congress envisioned complete immunity for gun-makers.
Several lawsuits over mass shootings in other states have been rejected because of the federal law.

The plaintiffs in Connecticut include a survivor and relatives of nine people killed in the massacre. They argue the Bushmaster AR-15-style rifle used by Newtown shooter Adam Lanza is too dangerous for the public and Remington glorified the weapon in marketing it to young people, including those with mental illness.

Remington, based in Madison, North Carolina, has denied wrongdoing and previously insisted it can't be sued because of the 2005 law, called the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act. A Remington spokesman said Thursday the company had no comment on the court ruling.

"We have no timeline for any comments to be made on the subject," spokesman Eric Suarez wrote in an email to The Associated Press.

James Vogts, a lawyer for Remington, has cited the 2005 federal law and previously said the Bushmaster rifle is a legal firearm used by millions of people for hunting, self-defense and target shooting.

Lanza, 20, shot his way into the locked school in Newtown on Dec. 14, 2012, and killed 20 first-graders and six educators with a Bushmaster XM15-E2S rifle, similar to an AR-15. He shot his mother to death in their Newtown home beforehand, and killed himself as police arrived at the school.

Connecticut's child advocate said Lanza's severe and deteriorating mental health problems, his preoccupation with violence and access to his mother's legal weapons "proved a recipe for mass murder."

Nicole Hockley, whose 6-year-old son Dylan died in the shooting, said Thursday that a main goal of the lawsuit is to stop Remington and other gun makers from gearing their advertising toward troubled young men.

"We have always said our case is about reckless sales and marketing to disturbed youth," Hockley said. "We wanted our day in court. This is a step forward to ensure that manufacturers like Remington are not allowed to keep targeting people who are at risk."

A gun industry group, the National Shooting Sports Foundation, which happens to be based in Newtown, said the state Supreme Court ruling was an "overly broad interpretation" of an exception to the 2005 federal law.

"The majority's decision today is at odds with all other state and federal appellate courts that have interpreted the scope of the exception," the group said in a statement, adding it "respectfully disagrees with and is disappointed by the court's majority decision."

Connecticut Chief Justice Richard Robinson focused much of the dissenting opinion on the intent of Congress to limit gun-makers' liability.

"Because the distastefulness of a federal law does not diminish its preemptive effect, I would affirm the judgment of the trial court striking the plaintiff's complaint in its entirety," Robinson wrote.

U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a Connecticut Democrat, called the ruling a victory for gun violence victims that gives moment to an effort by him and other federal legislators to repeal the 2005 law.
"It's a wow moment in American legal history," he said. "It will change the legal landscape for this industry, potentially all across the country."

Blumenthal said the ruling reminded him of early court victories against tobacco companies that led them to disclose damaging internal documents and later agree to billions of dollars in legal settlements over sickened smokers.

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if his Mom bought the gun, wouldn't the advertisements be geared toward irresponsible women?

Irresponsible advertising? Lanza didnt buy the gun.

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aTm wrote:[youtube]bpAi70WWBlw[/youtube]

18 out of 100 police reports end up conviction

That first one is clearly marketed to crazy young adult males who feel inadequate because they still live with Mom. Checkmate!

Seattle is dying, but the economy is doing great!

Listening to the Rogan/Wang interview, this guy is way too smart to ever get elected president...