Scattershots – 22nov18 (updated 26nov18)

George Rebane

Forcible female mutilation is again legal in America.  “A federal judge on Tuesday ruled that the U.S. law banning female genital mutilation was unconstitutional and dismissed charges against several doctors in Michigan who carried out the procedure on underage girls as part Muslim sect’s religious practice. … U.S. District Judge Bernard Friedman ruled that Congress had no authority to enact a law that criminalizes female genital mutilation (FGM). “As despicable as [FGM] may be… [Congress] overstepped its bounds” by banning the procedure, the judge said.” (more here)

Two things – imagine, if let stand, the precedence this ruling sets for all kinds of primitive practices if they are claimed in the name of this or that religious practice (and focus on the ‘forcible’ part); also, did anyone notice that it was FN that broke this news, while it was totally eschewed by the likes of lamestream’s MSNBC, CNN, ABC, CBS, NBC, … .  Begrudgingly, 24 hrs late, leftwing outlets such the NYT started reporting on it.  But the news doesn’t fit the Left’s pro-Muslim narrative even though they should all be enraged at the anti-woman implications of this barbarous practice.  It’s tough making such choices when you have a dysfunctional ideology that you must then promote with an incoherent narrative.

Women in world class chess are not very prominent.  Today the unequal and asymmetric roles of women are much in the news and an entire politically correct protocol has emerged about how we should think about women viz men, and how we should speak about such things.  The ongoing world chess championship match between reigning champion Magnus Carlsen and challenger Fabiano Caruana (here) is renewing interest in the questions of ‘where are the women, and why aren’t they represented in such matches?’  Well, there are all kinds of answers.  An interesting one is presented by Alisha Mathewson-Grand who argues (here) that women’s chess needs more coverage than current interest warrants, and that they are not as good as men because an insufficient number of them play the game to create enough right-tail outliers in the game’s skill distribution (admittedly tech talk).  My view is that instead of creating some artificial demand for women chess players, women should just play the men in normal tournaments and beat them to generate broader female interest in the game.  Overall, I think this gender stuff in chess is a non-issue, a nothing-burger if you will.  (I wonder how a transgender woman champion will be viewed by the politically correct population.)

Man vs Machine.  My real interest in human championship chess actually resides in a new class of interests for me.  How should we humans think of continuing to compete in activities in which our abilities are clearly outclassed by machines.  Ever since Kasparov was beaten by IBM’s Deep Blue in 1997, the best chess players on this planet are no longer humans.  Continuing matches like the current Carlsen/Carauna contest are strictly Junior Varsity.  No human chess master today would take the time and make the effort to be publicly humiliated by a better chess-playing machine.  The same dethronement happened recently in the even more complex game of Go.  It all reminds us again of the lore of John Henry, the steel-drivin’ man (here and here), that introduced America to the notion early in the industrial age that bit by piece man would be bettered by machines as time went on.  Is our (waning?) interest in human world chess championships a harbinger of how pre-Singularity humans will continue to compliment themselves in various endeavors in which they have been bettered?  And will they persist in these self-adulatory activities as the daily advance of technology outdoes them in skill after skill that require advanced cognition, sensing, dexterity, speed, and strength?  Can we also start augmenting our own bodies in these pre-Singularity years (jumping the gun in becoming trans-humans) with advanced embedded processing, memory, connectivity, prosthetics for sensing, mobility, and manipulanda, …?

Border security and judicial bias political?  That's what the media claims that President Trump brought up politics in his Thanksgiving calls to our troops.  First, I don't think so.  Border security is a non-partisan issue that the anti-American Left has made political in its opposition.  Judicial bias in the US is blatant and unabashed, and it has been so deemed by all sides in their turn.  Chief Justice Roberts spoke out of the wrong end when he created the latest batch of fake news by bloviating that America's judges, once empaneled, are hardworking, unbiased jurists.  Nothing could be further from the truth, else neither side would so readily sacrifice honesty and honor in opposing the other side's picks.  The president was on the mark and correct in pointing these out during his calls; and BTW, he's their CIC and gets to do that all day long if he wants to.  The last thing he should be guided by is the hate-Trump sentiments of his political enemies.

[26nov18 update]  Why Nevada County indeed?  Russ Steele, NC native and RR contributor, writes a letter to The Union in today’s edition that nails the particulars behind that question.  Here it is in its entirety –

Erika Kosina wrote in Digital disruption: Tech, entrepreneurial ecosystem paves way for growth, "All we need to do is connect the dots."

Yes, let's connect the dots, all the dots.

Dot #1: Lack of affordable housing for young families fleeing urban blight. According to Joel Kotkin, millennials with family are looking for single family homes with a safe yard for their children.

Dot #2: Young families with children are looking for communities with quality schools. Nevada County has the Ghidotti Early College High School with a small number of students, but the recent Common Core testing indicates many Nevada County Schools would not make the competitive cut.

Dot #3: The work-at-home population needs to have high-speed internet access, and broadband in Nevada County has some severe limitations.

Dot #4: The target populations are prolific smartphone users and expect robust cell phone coverage, which can be a challenge in Nevada County.

Given the lack of affordable single-family homes with a yard, a high-speed broadband connection, with robust cell phone service, all near top-rated schools, why would a young family choose to move to Nevada County, when there are more competitive options in other states?

Comments

[scenes]

re: Go

The most interesting thing (to me) is AlphaZero. I don't think that people fully appreciate that one.

[The Estonian Fox]

Re: "Women in world-class acting".
Oh wait, the headline was "Women in world-class chess". Whatever. Let's stay with acting.

Why are there only 2 classes - a Best Actor Award, and a Best Actress Award? That doesn't seem fair to me. Not inclusive enough.

Or - why are there as many as 2 classes, why not just one? We're all equal.

It's a good thing that the Academy Awards are subjective, with no real winner in any measurable sense. But you have to demonstrate superiority in chess by actually beating another person in head-to-head competition.

[Bill Tozer]

Chief Justice Robert’s remarks. What Roberts said is out of touch with reality.

https://www.mediaite.com/online/grassley-responds-to-john-roberts-rebuking-trump-dont-recall-him-attacking-obama-over-sotu-comments/?fbclid=IwAR1tnmrx9D_vKLd3K8sR88rm9WElWoeTETrEL3alNunRN-BqlVRQNYYe08w

[Russ]

Scenes@04:14 PM I agree, people do not grasp the magnitude of this significant achievement. Nor, do they understand that AI is being embedded in the products they are using today, from Google searches, Amazon purchases, to Waze navigation and Siri answering questions to settle an argument. Certainly, the personal assistance Echo and similar devices are AI driven. Nor do they understand the more they are used the more capable they become. We are not well prepared for a world managed by intelligent machines.

[Marko]

You are being incoherent George. What are your thoughts on male circumcision done in the name of paganism? A okay I would imagine.

[Scott O]

Marko needs education. I would suggest learning the difference between the two and then get back to us.

[George Rebane]

Marko 956pm - incoherent, how?? Paganism? Explain please.

[scenes]

"You are being incoherent George. What are your thoughts on male circumcision done in the name of paganism?"

The spread in the West was through Judaism, but that's a quibble.

Quotes:
....male circumcision
Irrespective that circumcision has a number of side effects associated (my note:these are minor), there are many benefits of circumcision. Most of these benefits are health related. They may include:

Lowering the risk of getting HIV
Lowers the risk of sexually transmitted infections
Gets rid of the chances of getting foreskin-related infections
It also helps in maintaining hygiene
Lowers the risk of getting penile cancer.

...female
FGM has many frequent health impacts. They include infection (mainly urinary or vaginal), pain, infertility, hemorrhage and complications during childbirth.7 That was concomitant with the results of the present work, where 87.9% of cases experienced complications.

Thanks for playing.

[scenes]

Russ@8:53

It's also nicely timed with the growth of a total surveillance society. The problem of just who watches/analyzes everyone is being chiseled away at. Ironically, a lot of it is in the interest of selling soap, but people with political/.gov interests can piggyback on the tech.

One brilliant thing, or perhaps just accidental, is that the largest companies in that space are firmly in the camp of the Blue Mob. The KVMR news desk will be rather surprised when the gate gets slammed shut behind them by their good friends. I admit that I have a streak of nihilism that will enjoy watching the squealing even though we are all affected.

[Bill Tozer]

Scenes.
“Circumcised on the eight day of the tribe of Benjamin”——Paul.....the artist formerly known as Saul, the zealot and persecutor of any and all Christians wherever they might be found. Kill them!

I grew up “knowing” there are no cases of penial cancer of the circumcised penis. A search in the wee hours of the morning revealed this not to be the case. Low risk/rate of cancer for that particular appendage.

Fun facts in 38 seconds:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=yKQGT8Qc8Wo

[Bill Tozer]

Pagons? Heathens? The uncircumcised? Or, the circumcised, the Clean

Timeline is about right. Man, talk about fire and brimstone.

“Radiocarbon dating reportedly revealed that mud-brick walls suddenly disappeared in the Middle Ghor city, as only stone foundations remained.”

https://sputniknews.com/science/201811231070070217-sodom-gomora-meteor-blast/

[George Rebane]

Who/what caused that convenient and timely meteor blast?

[***M***]

,,,the court ruled that FGM is a state's rights thing.

Michigan is Republican controlled,,,Governor, Senate, House

It will be fun to see which way they vote on forced genital mutilation given Republican interest in outlawing abortion.

[Bill Tozer]

There are Trump judges and then there are Obama judges.

https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/marc-thiessen-chief-justice-roberts-is-wrong-we-do-have-obama-judges-and-trump-judges

Beware the uncircumcised: pagans, heathens and Greeks .

https://www.facebook.com/fathernathan/photos/a.437326446349966/1175835159165754/?type=3&theater

[Todd Juvinall]

Someone was making the argument in support of the Judge that allows female mutilation (removal of the clitoris) with circumcision. Both in the name of religious freedom. I suppose when Mexicans of Aztec origin start removing the living hearts from people the Judge would allow that too.

[Bill Tozer]

In the 1800’s, the Supreme Court ruled that castration was cruel and unusual punishment. You would figure they would have let the states individually decide on such matters.

['''M''']

How do the local Federalists think about FGM??

"Federalism concerns deprive Congress of the power to enact this statute,” Judge Friedman wrote. He added in the 28-page ruling, “Congress overstepped its bounds by legislating to prohibit FGM” because “FGM is a ‘local criminal activity’ which, in keeping with longstanding tradition and our federal system of government, is for the states to regulate, not Congress.”

[Scott O]

"How do the local Federalists think about FGM??"
I thought the judges decision was correct.
What I think about FGM is another matter entirely. There are now state laws in place to try to stop that barbaric practice. Unfortunately a correct view of federal powers seems to sway back and forth not on Constitutional grounds, but on political ends being met.
Filing federal charges against a gunman because the gun he legally purchased in the state he resided in was manufactured in another state is another fed overstep. But the reality is that overzealous feds love to jump into every case they think they can make political hay on.
And just as guilty are citizens that demand the feds 'do something' every time some odious or criminal action takes place anywhere on earth.

[Gregory]

What was the stated Constitutional power allowing FGM to be banned by Congress? The Interstate Commerce Clause, stretched beyond all recognition.

[scenes]

"I suppose when Mexicans of Aztec origin start removing the living hearts from people the Judge would allow that too."

Well, it is a religious matter. Gotta fill them skull racks.

You do have to wonder about the Aztlan folks. It was a pretty disturbed society, although I think it outranks Christians in the modern ranking of groups.

[Bill Tozer]

As revolting as just the very thought of female mulilation perpetrated upon minor girls is to me (as well as the judge who called the practice “despicable”), I can see the Judge’s ruling on the bigger picture. State laws against such practice was not the issue. Female genital mutilation is not the issue. Mutilation is not the issue. The issue in the Judge’s mind had nothing to do with the 100’s of victims and their life long scaring. Nay, the Judge ruled Congress overstepped their bounds. The case was tried in the wrong court. Wrong jurisdiction. So be it.

This case was of interest to me early on when it was revealed through press accounts that the practice of FGM was more widespread than previously thought. Guess it does not rise to the level of ‘honor killings’, another case tried in our courts that found the father (or was it the father and brother?) of the murdered teen who was doing what teenage girls do. She wore makeup, dated boys, wore clothing not approved by the parents, etc. The religious arguments never hold water when murder is committed.

So be it. I am too sickened by the whole idea of female genital mutilaion that I cannot pursue this ugly topic further or finish reading articles on the topic. I will leave it with “not a cultures are the same” and not all cultures are equal, or even close to being equal.

[Bill Tozer]

@9:00am
“What was the stated Constitutional power allowing FGM to be banned by Congress? The Interstate Commerce Clause, stretched beyond all recognition.”

As one of my respected Constitutional Legal Scholars once said, “ You never know what will happen when it reaches the Courts.” He could lay out the most ironclad Constitutional defense or argument based on the Constitution and numerous case law going back 200 years. In the bag. Not so fast. At the end of the day, “it’s just my opinion. You never know how the Court will rule.”

The Interstate Commerence Clause. Take the opinions leading up to the SCOTUS ruling on Obamacare. While people like me on one side were arguing that the act was unconstitutional because it was forcing people to engage in economic activity for no other reason than being alive (fogging a mirror), the other side was convinced the Affordable Care and Patient Protection Act was legal because of the Commerce Clause. All their experts relied on the Commence Clause and all the experts on my side were saying it was unconstitutional for the Federal Goverment to force folks to engage in economic activity just for being alive.

Well, Obamacare was ruled constitutional on other grounds (Congress’s authority to levy taxes) while the Commerce Clause agrument was rejected. The silver lining at the time for moi was finally....finally, limits were put on the Commerce Clause. Finally.

Bottomline is my Legal Scholar said it best. “It don’t matter what I think, what the experts on TV think, what Constitutional scholars think, what you think; it only matters what the judges think”

Yes, there are Bush judges and Clinton judges and Obama judges and Trump judges.