Apr 17, 2014
Posted by AAfterwit on Apr 17, 2014 | 0 comments
There are reports coming out of the Ukraine that Jewish residents were given a flyer demanding that Jews register with the government, list all property they own and pay a registration fee.
A leaflet distributed in Donetsk, Ukraine calling for all Jews over 16 years old to register as Jews marred the Jewish community’s Passover festivities Monday (Passover eve), replacing them with feelings of concern.
The leaflet demanded the city’s Jews supply a detailed list of all the property they own, or else have their citizenship revoked, face deportion and see their assets confiscated.
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The leaflet, signed by Chairman of Donetsk’s temporary government Denis Pushilin, was distrbiuted to Jews near the Donetsk synagogue and later in other areas of the city where pro-Russians activists have declared Donetsk as an independent “people’s republic”, defying an ultimatum from Kiev to surrender.
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The leaflet was written in Russian and had Russia’s national symbol on it, as well as the Donetsk People’s Republic insignia.
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Apr 17, 2014
Posted by AAfterwit on Apr 17, 2014 | 2 comments
Like him or hate him, Donald Rumsfeld had a long, distinguished career in government service:
Rumsfeld served as the 13th Secretary of Defense from 1975 to 1977 under President Gerald Ford, and as the 21st Secretary of Defense from 2001 to 2006 under President George W. Bush. He is both the youngest and the oldest person to have served as Secretary of Defense. Additionally, Rumsfeld was a four-term U.S. Congressman from Illinois (1962–1969), Director of the Office of Economic Opportunity (1969–1970), Counsellor to the President (1969–1973), the United States Permanent Representative to NATO (1973–1974), and White House Chief of Staff (1974–1975).
Rumsfeld sent a letter to the IRS along with his tax return. Rumsfeld posted the letter on his Facebook account on “Tax Day,” April 15th. The letter is a summation of what many people in the country feel.
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Apr 16, 2014
Posted by AAfterwit on Apr 16, 2014 | 2 comments
The Satellite Beach City Council meets again tonight at 7:00 PM.
The agenda for the meeting can be found here and the agenda support packet can be found here.
Hope to see you there.
Apr 16, 2014
Posted by AAfterwit on Apr 16, 2014 | 0 comments
2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower court ruling in which a man challenged his exclusion from being hired by the City of New London, Connecticut.
The reason the man was not hired was that he tested too high on the city’s intelligence test.
The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York upheld a lower court’s decision that the city did not discriminate against Robert Jordan because the same standards were applied to everyone who took the test.
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But New London police interviewed only candidates who scored 20 to 27, on the theory that those who scored too
high could get bored with police work and leave soon after undergoing costly training.
Most Cops Just Above Normal The average score nationally for police officers is 21 to 22, the equivalent of an IQ of 104, or just a little above average.
Jordan alleged his rejection from the police force was discrimination. He sued the city, saying his civil rights were violated because he was denied equal protection under the law.
But the U.S. District Court found that New London had “shown a rational basis for the policy.” In a ruling dated Aug. 23, the 2nd Circuit agreed. The court said the policy might be unwise but was a rational way to reduce job turnover.
Maybe that same lack of intelligence is what caused five Chicago police officers to lie while testifying in a drug case:
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Apr 15, 2014
Posted by AAfterwit on Apr 15, 2014 | 0 comments
In her book “Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln,” Doris Kearns Goodwin gives another one of Abraham Lincoln’s favorite stories. We can see why he liked it. One hundred and 60 plus years later, it still gets a good laugh.
Another story, relayed years later by John Usher, centered on a man “who had a great veneration for Revolutionary relics.” Learning that an old woman still possessed a dress that “she had worn in the Revolutionary War,” he traveled to her house and asked to see it. She took the dress from a bureaus and handed it to him. He was so excited that he brought the dress to his lips and kissed it. “The practical old lady rather resented such foolishness over an old piece of wearing apparel and she said: ‘Stranger if you want to kiss something old you had better kiss my ass. It is sixteen years older than that dress.’”
Apr 14, 2014
Posted by AAfterwit on Apr 14, 2014 | 0 comments
A short video on the who, what, where and when of the internet.
Who was the genius who came up with all of that? The internet is such a crucial tool in our daily lives today that we hardly remember that it hasn’t been here forever. But yeah, it is actually not that old. We still have fuzzy memories about the time before the first thing in the morning was to check email and browse our favorite blogs and youtube channels. Well, let’s explore how the internet came into existence and why.
Apr 13, 2014
Posted by AAfterwit on Apr 13, 2014 | 0 comments
Kaplan Higher Education Corporation had a problem.
The company had experienced a series of thefts of financial payments from students as well as executives hiring relatives as vendors and needed to figure out a way to stop or diminish the illegal and non-ethical activities.
Kaplan University did what any reasonable employer might do in similar circumstances: it instituted heightened screening procedures for new hires. This process included credit checks to filter out potential employees at greater risk of committing theft.
It is important to note that Kaplan has access to not only physical things such as money, office supplies, etc, but perhaps even more importantly, Kaplan keeps data on students as part of their enrollment process. Such data includes social security numbers, addresses, personnel information, etc.
In instituting the heightened screening procedures, Kaplan was looking to protect the data as well as protect itself from liability if that data were stolen by a nefarious individual.
These checks made no mention of any applicant’s race and Kaplan didn’t collect any race information from applicants, thus making the hiring process both race-neutral and race-ignorant.
Sounds good, right?
Not according to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC.)
The EEOC sued Kaplan under the theory that their screenings would affect minorities in a disparate manner.
The theory of “disparate impact” is one where a company or entity can have a race neutral policy, but if that policy affects minorities more than non-minorities, the policy must either be abandoned or the company must prove they need the policy in place.
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Apr 12, 2014
Posted by AAfterwit on Apr 12, 2014 | 0 comments
Alvin Holmes (D) is a Representative to the Alabama legislature and represents the people of people of Montgomery.
In a speech on the House floor, Holmes made this statement how Republicans would be for abortion if their white daughters were going to have a child fathered by a black man:
“You ain’t gonna have no little black babies….uh..uh..she got two other little white children and then she is going to have a little black baby riding around in the living room or in the den with the rest of them. They not going to let that happen. You know that and I know that.”
Holmes went onto say that he would offer $100,000 to anyone who could show him that a “whole bunch of whites” had adopted black children.
This past week, a “whole bunch” of people of all races showed up at the capital to show Holmes he was wrong:
Holmes immediately apologized and paid the $100,000.
Well, not exactly.
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