On Tuesday morning, August 2, 2016, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s speech in Loudoun County, Virginia, was continuously interrupted by a crying baby. Eventually, Trump could ignore it no longer.

“Don’t worry about that baby, I love babies,” Trump said, to the delight of the crowd.

“I love babies!” he repeated. “I hear that baby crying. I like it!”

“I LIKE IT!”

“What a baby!” he continued, a strange sort of grimace passing over his face.

“What a beautiful baby. Don’t worry about it… It’s young and beautiful and healthy.”

Trump then resumed talking of China, who has “ripped us to shreds” by devaluing its currency, but was forced to address the wailing once again. “Actually I was only kidding, you can get the baby out of here,” he said in a low voice, jabbing his thumb toward the door. The crowd laughed.

“That’s all right, don’t worry,” he said to the mother as she made an exit.

“I think she actually believed me that I loved having a baby crying while I’m speaking,” he joked. A smug, disconcerting smile appeared on his lips.

Then, randomly: “People don’t understand.”

Watch the entire video via CNN.

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On Sunday, August 7, 2016, astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson wrote a response to critics of the idea that nations should “base policy on the weight of evidence” — and that citizens of Earth who support the idea should become members of a virtual nation, “Rationalia.” The thought of Rationalia was first conjured by Taylor Milsal, a marketing executive, in casual conversation with Tyson and other scientists like particle physicist Brian Cox.

Tyson tweeted about it in June: “Earth needs a virtual country, Rationalia, with a one-line Constitution: All policy should be based on the weight of evidence.”

Of course, around the web, some were quick to take this one sentence and attempt to tear it to shreds, jumping at the change to “educate” Tyson and let him know science — the gatekeeper of evidence — isn’t always accurate, and can result in terribly immoral policies.

Thus some brought up the eugenics of the Nazis, and of course other crimes against humanity like the pseudo-science that justified black slavery and Jim Crow, conclusions that homosexuality was a sickness, and so on. A contributor for U.S. News & World Report insisted the whole idea was nonsense because if you don’t “subdivide data” you can get the wrong conclusions (here he used batting averages and medical tests as examples), and a writer for New Scientist whined about how “nobody really knows what science means,” how “rationality is subjective,” and that “scientists can’t tell us if it’s right to kill a baby with a developmental disability, despite how well they might marshal evidence about the baby’s life prospects or her capacity to think or move on her own.”

Tyson’s response first pointed out the obvious:

A common critique was the question of where such a country would get its morals, and how other other ethical issues might be established or resolved. The last I reviewed the US Bill of Rights, there was no discussion of morals there either. Nowhere does it say “Thou Shalt Not Kill”. Meanwhile, there’s an entire Amendment — Number 3 — that prevents the military from bunking in your home without your permission.

Across time and culture, morals have evolved, typically by rational analysis of the effects and consequences of a previously held moral, in the light of emergent knowledge, wisdom, and insight.

Tyson explains that “in Rationalia, the Constitution stipulates that a body of convincing evidence needs to exist in support of an idea before any Policy can established based on it.” This does not mean checks and balances must be obliterated, that scientists and politicians will be allowed to implement any old policy that will kill, imprison, experiment on, or otherwise harm “lesser peoples” or “undesirables.” Literally all he is saying is this:

In Rationalia, for example, if you want to introduce capital punishment you’d need to propose a reason for it. If the reason is to deter murder, then an entire research machine would be put into place (if it did not already exist) to see whether, in fact, capital punishment deters murder. If it does not, then your proposed policy fails, and we move on to other proposals. In Rationalia, if you want to fund art in schools, you simply propose a reason why. Does it increase creativity in the citizenry? Is creativity good for culture and society at large? Is creativity good for everyone no matter your chosen profession? These are testable questions. They just require verifiable research to establish answers. And then, the debate ends quickly in the face of evidence, and we move on to other questions.

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During the week of August 15, 2016, 23 people, including clergymen and women from Kansas City, are on trial for civil disobedience. In May 2014, the group refused to leave the capitol building in Jefferson City, Missouri. 300 people, with song and chants, were peacefully protesting, urging the legislature to expand Medicaid — healthcare for the very poor. It is estimated hundreds of Missourians will die without the expansion. The 23 refused to leave when ordered, and were arrested and charged with misdemeanors. They face up to 6 months in jail and $500 in fines.

In solidarity, here are quotes on civil disobedience, one for each of the “Medicaid 23.”

1. HOWARD ZINN

“Civil disobedience…is not our problem. Our problem is civil obedience… Our problem is that people are obedient all over the world in the face of poverty and starvation and stupidity and war and cruelty. Our problem is that people are obedient while the jails are full of petty thieves, and all the while the grand thieves are running the country.”

2. HENRY DAVID THOREAU

“Under a government which imprisons unjustly, the true place for a just man is also a prison.”

3. ROSA PARKS

“You must never be fearful about what you are doing when it is right.”

4. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.

“One has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws.”

5. EDMUND BURKE

“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”

6. GANDHI

“Civil disobedience becomes a sacred duty when the state becomes lawless and corrupt.”

7. THOMAS JEFFERSON

“If a law is unjust, a man is not only right to disobey it, he is obligated to do so.”

8. CESAR CHAVEZ

“The first principle of non-violent action is that of non-cooperation with everything humiliating.”

9. DESMOND TUTU

“If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor.”

10. ORIANA FALLACI

“I have always looked on disobedience toward the oppressive as the only way to use the miracle of having been born.”

11. JUVENAL

“Dare to do things worthy of imprisonment if you mean to be of consequence.”

12. RALPH WALDO EMERSON

“Every actual state is corrupt.  Good men must not obey laws too well.”

13. LEMUEL K. WASHBURN

“It is necessary to distinguish between the virtue and the vice of obedience.”

14. GEORGE BERNARD SHAW

“Disobedience [is] the rarest and most courageous of the virtues.”

15. LOUIS D. BRANDEIS

“If we desire respect for the law, we must first make the law respectable.”

16. CHINESE PROVERB

“Laws control the lesser man.  Right conduct controls the greater one.”

17. JOAN BAEZ

“That’s all nonviolence is — organized love.”

18. EMMELINE PANKHURST

“We are here, not because we are law-breakers; we are here in our efforts to become law-makers.”

19. ELIE WIESEL

“There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest.”

20. ALICE WALKER

“Resistance is the secret of joy!”

21. MARK TWAIN

“Each man must for himself alone decide what is right and what is wrong, which course is patriotic and which isn’t. You cannot shirk this and be a man. To decide against your conviction is to be an unqualified and excusable traitor, both to yourself and to your country, let men label you as they may.”

22. ALBERT EINSTEIN

“Never do anything against conscience even if the state demands it.”

23. BETTY WILLIAMS

“I always say that non-violence is not the weapon of the weak. It is the weapon of the strong.”

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Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein is going to be charged with vandalism and trespassing after joining hundreds of Native Americans in their protest against the Dakota Access Pipeline near Cannon Ball, North Dakota. Stein spray painted words of protest on a bulldozer belonging to the oil company, Energy Transfer Partners, trying to construct the pipeline.

Politico reports:

Morton County Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier said the sheriff’s department is “working up the information through the state’s attorney’s office to pursue charges (against Stein).” It’s unclear if the charges would be felonies or misdemeanors.

On Facebook, Stein boldly publicized her actions, writing, “The state of North Dakota may charge me with vandalism for painting a bulldozer. Will they charge the oil company that bulldozed the sacred burial grounds of the Standing Rock Sioux?”

The Standing Rock Sioux, whose land is threatened by the pipeline’s construction, have been joined by some 200 other tribes in solidarity, reportedly the largest alliance of Native peoples in 150 years. The Great Sioux Nation, the Seven Fires Council, has reunited. Janaya Khan said, “The Seven Fires Council, who last came together in 1867, is together now. When they last united, they defeated American forces in the Battle of Little Big Horn.”

The pipeline would carry crude oil from North Dakota to Illinois, pumping through nearly half a million barrels a day. The oil company’s efforts are being funded by big banks. As Democracy Now! reports, “Bank of America, HSBC, UBS, Goldman Sachs, Wells Fargo, JPMorgan Chase and other financial institutions have, combined, extended a $3.75 billion credit line to Energy Transfer Partners, the parent company of Dakota Access.”

The Standing Rock Sioux say the construction destroyed sacred burial sites, and fear the poisoning of local water should a spill ever occur. There is also a general opposition to the use of fossil fuels and the environmental damage it causes.

Hundreds of protesters put their bodies in the path of oil company machines to halt construction. Some have chained themselves to equipment. Private security forces used attack dogs and pepper spray on some protesters to get them to back down, sparking outrage across the country.

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As reported by IFLScience, North Korea accidentally revealed to the world on Monday, September 19, 2016, that it has but 28 websites.

A top-level server in North Korea was (presumably) mistakenly configured to allow outside access to Korea’s intranet (which end in .kp). The opening was detected by American cyber security personnel, but ended up on — where else? — Reddit. There are sites for news, cooking, insurance, water laws, flights and traveling, charity for the elderly, films, and sports. There is also a Facebook-esque site called “Friend.” Check them out on Reddit.

The communist dictatorship strictly controls television, radio, newspapers, and the internet, which in their limited capacities “pump out a steady stream of propaganda” (BBC). They

…serve up a menu of flattering reports about North Korea’s leader. Economic hardship and famines are not reported. North Korea is one of the hardest countries for foreign media to cover. Ordinary North Koreans caught listening to foreign broadcasts risk harsh punishments, such as forced labour. The authorities attempt to jam foreign-based and dissident radio stations.

North Korean media glorify dictator Kim Jong-un and his late father Kim Jong-Il, praise nuclear tests as a means toward “peace” and “sovereignty,” and criticize “US military threat and economic pressure” (IFLScience).

But North Korean citizens likely don’t have full access to these 28 sites. As BBC notes, “Online access within North Korea is exceedingly rare” and “user activity [is] monitored.”

The websites, to quote one astute observer on the internet, have the sophistication of an “elementary school” website, and take a long time to load. As IFLScience put it, North Korea’s internet is “very, very dull.”

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