Quote of the Day: Wrong Questions

 "Mystery exists in the mind, not in reality....  Unanswerable questions do not mark places where magic enters the universe.  They mark places where your mind runs skew to reality." -- Eliezer Yudkowsky, "Wrong Questions"

This Despicable DA Would Rather Coerce a False Confession Than Admit a Wrongful Conviction

This information was shared by the Innocence Project.

Help free Ron after 30-year wrongful incarceration

https://www.mightycause.com/story/Ronjacobsen

Krystal and Saagar: Maddow, Lincoln Project Caught Being "Useful Idiots" For Iranian Propaganda Scheme

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6kDF-9UOiw

This reminds me of a rumor I heard once in junior high. I was told that on the last day of school, the scary Lex Street Gang was going to "come around and beat everybody up." I'd like to think I didn't need my high IQ to realize how ridiculous this was. I knew Lex Street wasn't in my neighborhood or anywhere close to it. So why would they single my school out to beat everybody up? For that matter, even if they did, how could they realistically beat up everyone at the school? And if they weren't singling my school out, it was even more ridiculous to think they could beat up everyone at every school in the city with its millions of inhabitants. So I paid no heed to the rumor, which needless to say didn't come true.

The suggestion that a group of modest size like the Proud Boys could realistically threaten every Democratic voter in the country should elicit the same kind of skepticism.

Mark A. Davis, Mental Health Advocate, Dies at 64

I've been participating in the Pink and Blues for the past few years, and will miss him.

https://epgn.com/2020/10/20/mark-a-davis-mental-health-advocate-dies-at-64/

Labor Notes: Unions Are Beginning to Talk About Staving Off a Possible Coup

https://labornotes.org/2020/10/unions-are-beginning-talk-about-staving-possible-coup

In addition to preparing for a possible general strike, let's hope unions are advising members of the advantages of voting in person for staving off even an attempt at a coup, as discussed here among other places: https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/a34124703/vote-in-person-trump-attacks-vote-by-mail/ If it's already apparent by the end of Election Day who's won, legal interference with the vote will be preempted. And, despite what the Esquire article says, the health risk isn't great for most people, as it's no different from spending a few minutes in a supermarket.

Upcoming Event: Root Roundtable

"Root Roundtable: A Talkback with RQ featured artist Nicole Michaud and an Ask-the-Editor Virtual Social Hour," Thursday, October 22, 2020, 8:00 PM-9:30 PM

I expect this will be just as stimulating as the magazine's content.

https://www.rootquarterly.com/new-events/2020/10/22/rq-update-and-talkback-with-nicole-michaud

Support the Election Fraud Protection Act!

The ends-justify-means attitude is all too common in electoral politics. An example: during the '88 campaign, a coworker told me how he witnessed a man filling out a voter registration form at a table set up by Democrats, in the course of which he mentioned that he thought he would be voting for Bush (that would be G.H.W.). After he'd left, the guy manning the table tore up his application.

Stop Ballot Harvesting Before it Threatens the 2020 Election | Opinion https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/stop-ballot-harvesting-before-it-threatens-the-2020-election-opinion/ar-BB19HXzr

Moralizers as Projectors

It's particularly ironic that these campaigners will describe BDSM as "culty" when it's they who deny submissives' agency and in effect invalidate their experience -- an example of Doctrine Over Person, part of Robert Lifton's eight-point description of ideological totalism. 

https://reprobatepress.com/2019/11/25/exploiting-the-dead/

"Pray for the ERA"

The requisite number of states have ratified the Equal Rights Amendment, which would prohibit sex discrimination by government such as batterer intervention programs based on the anti-male "Duluth model." And its advocates have a strong case for finding the supposed 1982 ratification deadline illegal and unenforceable. SCOTUS may take up the question shortly.

"Please note that this is a non-denominational event, all faiths and belief systems are welcome – we use the word “pray” [precari-Latin] as it was originally defined: to ask earnestly; address a solemn request; or to wish or hope strongly for a particular outcome or situation." Of course the time isn't really 5pm PST/8pm EST; it's 5pm PDT/8pm EDT. Daylight Saving Time doesn't end until November 1.