Miscellaneous And Off Topic Subjects

[Da Geezer]

No, but I do recall a time when you read links about Saudi and Iran and came to the complete opposite conclusion. Those were good times.

I've never come to a conclusion that Iran was anything but a terrorist state, and IMO, the most likely country to nuke Israel. But the Wahabbi- Saudi connection and the madrassas graduating Islamic extremists was a real eye-opener. I've got you to thank for that, I I believe I did. I also can see the logic behind trying to turn Iran. Problem is, that didn't work at all.

I think the Global Center for Combating Extremist Ideology that the Saudis and the US have come up with has potential. But, I doubt anything will come of it. Evidently, there is a 31-year-old prince who wants to modernize the Saudi treatment of women.

Do you have any idea whether Obama was raised Shiite or Sunni? I'm not saying he was a Muslim as an adult, I'm just wondering which sect he belonged to when he was growing up. I've always figured he was Sunni, but that was just playing the odds, and I don't recall anything from his book(s). I heard over the weekend that Egypt was the most populist Sunni country, but I also know Indonesia has a greater population than Egypt. Hence the question.

[iam416]

The 8-0 decision was b/c NC said it was trying to create a majority AA district. You can rarely use race as a basis for any governmental action. It should be never, but alas, it's rarely.

The 5-3 decision there was no such concession. NC is allowed to gerrymander for political reasons, but not racial. The dispute was how do you actual sort out this intent when AAs are guaranteed D votes? NC said it was trying to create a D-heavy district; the Ct said it was trying to create an AA-heavy district.

As I've noted before, in D states, AA leaders will push for majority AA districts to get get AA Reps. I suspect that practice is now DOA. As well as basically any other oddly-shaped district that creates some sort clear racial imbalance -- white or black. Or, at least it should be. I mean, it ought to do away with crazy rural districts, too (even if clearly politically motivated, they still pack white voters).

[Dr. Strangelove]

I've never come to a conclusion that Iran was anything but a terrorist state, and IMO, the most likely country to nuke Israel. But the Wahabbi- Saudi connection and the madrassas graduating Islamic extremists was a real eye-opener. I've got you to thank for that, I I believe I did. I also can see the logic behind trying to turn Iran. Problem is, that didn't work at all.

I think the Global Center for Combating Extremist Ideology that the Saudis and the US have come up with has potential. But, I doubt anything will come of it. Evidently, there is a 31-year-old prince who wants to modernize the Saudi treatment of women.

Do you have any idea whether Obama was raised Shiite or Sunni? I'm not saying he was a Muslim as an adult, I'm just wondering which sect he belonged to when he was growing up. I've always figured he was Sunni, but that was just playing the odds, and I don't recall anything from his book(s). I heard over the weekend that Egypt was the most populist Sunni country, but I also know Indonesia has a greater population than Egypt. Hence the question.

Iran & Iraq are the only major countries that are majority Shia. Lebanon and Azerbaijan are two smaller ones. Just about every other Muslim country on earth is majority Sunni and outside of the Middle East (e.g. North Africa and SE Asia) Shias exist in only small minorites

[The Oracle]

Oracle - I've been to Havana before and it was incredible but I have a hard time giving specific places to go. I think that the best advice I have is to pick up a Lonely Planet book on Cuba. Gives really good advice, even holes in the wall, with a lot on Havana specifically. Also, if you can, stay in a casa particulares, it's kind of like a bed and breakfast. You end up living in their homes. Really get to know the locals that way. Make sure you drink lots of coffee....it's so good there. All other food and drink is pretty poor. Museum of the Revolution is an obvious but pretty interesting spot. We didn't do this but I think renting a car would be worthwhile and driving the country.

And to get you in the mood of Cuba, this is probably one of the more accurate ways of talking about Cuba that I've ever come across...really good piece:

https://thewalrus.ca/on-tipping-in-cuba

Sent from my SM-G930W8 using Tapatalk

Thanks man, much appreciated.

[hack]

Sounds like good advice on casa particulares.

Bradt travel guides are also worth taking a look. They tend to do off-the-beaten-path destinations. I think they are the only one to publish a Nigeria travel guide, and my favorite blurb quote in praise of the Nigeria Bradt guide, which they printed on the back of one of the versions, was ``the author does not seek to oversell the destination". So if they do a Cuba book, that probably would do a good job complementing Lonely Planet by finding lesser-known things to do. It may have changed in the last few years but nobody nails the logistics like Lonely Planet. So reliable.

Could also hit the Lonely Planet forum: https://www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntree/welcome. You can imagine what the travel-forum equivalent of Kstat and Wiz might be like, but, still, if you do some digging around there you still can get a feel for what else is out there.

[WingsFan]

Jim Hackett now CEO of Ford.

You know what his means Froot Loops - Harbaugh to the Lions!!

[froot loops]

Maybe, I didn't even make the connection

[The Oracle]

Sounds like good advice on casa particulares.

Bradt travel guides are also worth taking a look. They tend to do off-the-beaten-path destinations. I think they are the only one to publish a Nigeria travel guide, and my favorite blurb quote in praise of the Nigeria Bradt guide, which they printed on the back of one of the versions, was ``the author does not seek to oversell the destination". So if they do a Cuba book, that probably would do a good job complementing Lonely Planet by finding lesser-known things to do. It may have changed in the last few years but nobody nails the logistics like Lonely Planet. So reliable.

Could also hit the Lonely Planet forum: https://www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntree/welcome. You can imagine what the travel-forum equivalent of Kstat and Wiz might be like, but, still, if you do some digging around there you still can get a feel for what else is out there.

Another thanks. We do have the lonely planet for central America, I'll see what we can dig up for Cuba.

[WingsFan]

Ford stock is a steal right now... time to buy even more

[THE_WIZARD_]

shaddup

[iam416]

DSL:

To add on to the Supreme Court case on NC, the district with the 5-3 split has been before the Supreme Court several times. The first couple times were a result of the Ds drawing the district. The Ds, of course, wanted a "black district." The Supreme Court upheld those districts because race could be a proxy for political party and required a showing that it was actually motivated by race. That's now out the window.

In the other district, the Justice Department, for awhile, has been pushing "Majority Minority" districts. NC did that and expressly stated that as it's motive for district 1. But, that's on the basis of race and, IMO, should be thrown out.

Pretty interesting stuff: http://electionlawblog.org/?p=92675 (very liberal election law guy happy with outcome):

Holy cow this is a big deal. It means that race and party are not really discrete categories and that discriminating on the basis of party in places of conjoined polarization is equivalent, at least sometimes, to making race the predominant factor in redistricting. This will lead to many more successful racial gerrymandering cases in the American South and elsewhere, and allow these cases to substitute for (so far unsuccessful) partisan gerrymandering claims involving some of these districts.

Kudos to Justice Thomas whose position on the EPC is steadfast.

In short, the decision provides an end-run challenge to gerrymandering. If there's sufficient racial imbalance then district is in trouble even if drawn for political purposes. As this is the case for almost every oddly drawn district...

They also issued an important patent law decision today. Far less interesting, but perhaps more important?

[hack]

Another thanks. We do have the lonely planet for central America, I'll see what we can dig up for Cuba.

If you have that, then I would just use that as long as its not too old, and get a specialist guide like Bradt.

[Dr. Strangelove]

DSL:

To add on to the Supreme Court case on NC, the district with the 5-3 split has been before the Supreme Court several times. The first couple times were a result of the Ds drawing the district. The Ds, of course, wanted a "black district." The Supreme Court upheld those districts because race could be a proxy for political party and required a showing that it was actually motivated by race. That's now out the window.

In the other district, the Justice Department, for awhile, has been pushing "Majority Minority" districts. NC did that and expressly stated that as it's motive for district 1. But, that's on the basis of race and, IMO, should be thrown out.

Pretty interesting stuff: http://electionlawblog.org/?p=92675 (very liberal election law guy happy with outcome):



Kudos to Justice Thomas whose position on the EPC is steadfast.

In short, the decision provides an end-run challenge to gerrymandering. If there's sufficient racial imbalance then district is in trouble even if drawn for political purposes. As this is the case for almost every oddly drawn district...

They also issued an important patent law decision today. Far less interesting, but perhaps more important?

Interesting read, thanks

As for patent law: correct, Definitely less interesting. Heh

[Dr. Strangelove]

Trump wanted Mike Rogers (Head of the NSA) and Daniel Coats (Director of National Intelligence) to publicly deny the existence of any evidence supporting collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia. Both refused to do so, as they deemd it inappropriate

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/trump-asked-intelligence-chiefs-to-push-back-against-fbi-collusion-probe-after-comey-revealed-its-existence/2017/05/22/394933bc-3f10-11e7-9869-bac8b446820a_story.html?utm_term=.6b3fbb7b9436

[froot loops]

He is not very good at covering up these things.