Reminding police to prevent crime rather than baiting children into committing it

I really don’t understand why it’s so difficult for police to think of ideas that don’t seem calculated to punish poor people for being poor and living in poor areas. In this case, police literally targeted poor children by parking fake Nike trucks with shoes in them near places like basketball courts, and leaving the doors open. ‘Cause we all know that children always fully understand the ramifications of their actions, and are known for their self control, so only the really bad ones will take something they want when it’s just sitting there!

Fortunately, people caught on and organized a “counter-sting”:

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By the hoarders, for the hoarders: Billionaires are incompatible with a democratic society

I spent most of the last six years or so helping conduct experiments in science education. To get funding, we had to show evidence supporting our techniques and expectations. During the work we had oversight from both our company and experts at the NSF. This wasn’t just making sure that the grant money wasn’t being misused, it was also to ensure that the children on whose classrooms we were experimenting were not harmed by our experiments. These students are real people, and their schooling, good or bad, has ripple effects that will last for their entire lives. [Read more…]

Natural Gas is Immoral: Fracking destroys potable water

Ending the use of fossil fuels isn’t just about slowing climate change. It’s also about surviving climate change. The extraction, processing, and use of fossil fuels all present hazards to human health that will only grow as the temperature rises.

From the dawn of fracking technology, there have been serious concerns about contamination of our water supply. These concerns were largely waved away, and in the years that followed, fracking became just another means for the fossil fuel industry to poison their surroundings for profit. Now, even as we hear about companies like Nestle hoarding access to fresh water, a new study has outlined the degree to which the fossil fuel industry is destroying the American water supply. Farron Cousins from Ring of Fire Radio has more: [Read more…]