tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6998089438457175222024-03-13T03:08:58.384-07:00Maxim Lott's WebsiteMaxim Lott's Fox News articles, contact information, and media appearancesMaxim Lotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13606311570484063484noreply@blogger.comBlogger138125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-699808943845717522.post-78901164498679877952019-04-17T07:30:00.000-07:002019-11-07T07:50:13.599-08:00For updates, see...This site is not up to date. For my latest, please see:
<p>
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/maximlott">My media appearances</a>
<p>
<a href="https://www.foxnews.com/person/l/maxim-lott">My articles</a>
<p>
You can also follow me on <a href="https://twitter.com/maximlott">Twitter</a> or <a href="https://www.facebook.com/MaximReport/">Facebook</a>.
<p>
Thank you!Maxim Lotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13606311570484063484noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-699808943845717522.post-67965651370975226992015-08-28T09:00:00.001-07:002015-08-28T09:31:50.739-07:00My latest TV appearanceOn Fox News Live, I discussed prediction markets that the government may not be able to stop with Lauren Green:
<iframe width="370" height="208" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/7F89_2Zoccs" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>Maxim Lotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13606311570484063484noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-699808943845717522.post-27459412075836011122015-08-28T08:58:00.001-07:002015-08-28T09:00:53.164-07:00Fact Check: Which Republican candidates actually cut spending?Every Republican presidential candidate has promised to keep government spending in check -- but which ones actually have a track record of doing that?
<p>
All say they would cut. In the last debate, Jeb Bush said people in Florida called him "Veto-Corleone" because he vetoed so much spending. Mike Huckabee said the federal government "is not too big to shrink." Chris Christie says he "balanced budgets."
<p>
Is it true? There are an almost infinite number of ways that records can be spun. Some focus on cuts in one small program or on small tax cuts. But governors have actual records. So what do they show?
<p>
The "Stossel" show crunched the numbers on that -- adjusting them for inflation and population growth. Here's what the data on governors and ex-governors show:
<p>
FOR THE RESULTS, SEE <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/08/28/fact-check-which-republican-candidates-actually-cut-spending/">THE ARTICLE AT FOXNEWS.COM</a>.
Maxim Lotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13606311570484063484noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-699808943845717522.post-3395876140877712562015-08-20T14:24:00.005-07:002015-08-20T21:29:27.457-07:00New tech promises government-proof prediction marketsA group of developers have come up with a new concept called “Augur”, which they hope will make it nearly impossible for government to regulate “prediction markets.”
<P>
Prediction markets are websites where people bet on events like presidential elections and the Oscars. Such markets have proven popular and studies have found that the betting odds from such sites are even better at predicting election winners than polls are. But they face government regulatory hurdles, and three years ago regulators shut down the world’s largest one, Intrade.com.
<P>
Augur aims to prevent such a shutdown from happening again by being a prediction market that operates as a self-sustaining computer program which would not need a corporation to operate it.
<P>
Governments might then be unable to stop it, because there would be no company to shut down. Instead, the regulators would be up against thousands of copies of a computer program located on personal computers all over the world.
<P>
“Hundreds of thousands of computers would have to be shut down in order for the system to be shut down,” Augur spokesman Tony Sakich told FoxNews.com.
<P>
Augur is expected to launch early in 2016. This week, it launched a crowdfunding campaign that raised $1.6 million by Wednesday.
<P>
<a href="http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2015/08/20/new-tech-promises-government-proof-prediction-markets/?intcmp=hphz04">CONTINUE READING ON FOXNEWS.COM...</a>Maxim Lotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13606311570484063484noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-699808943845717522.post-33103180739928308392015-08-04T17:09:00.000-07:002015-08-04T17:09:09.145-07:00College Board to rewrite US history exam after critics blast anti-America languageThe red, white and blue is going back into the U.S. history being taught to college-bound high schoolers, after critics blasted the curriculum-setting test as biased against America.
<P>
The College Board, which writes the test that much of the nation's advanced placement course lessons are based on, last week issued a new course and exam description that has more focus on the positive role of the framers, America's effort to rid the world of the Nazi threat during World War II and how entrepreneurs transformed the world's most dynamic economy. Those points of emphasis are expected next year to replace the previous test questions, which some historians and teachers say took a negative view of the U.S.
<P>
“The result is a clearer and more balanced approach to the teaching of American history,” the College Board announced Thursday.
<P>
While the College Board can’t directly dictate what is taught in high school Advanced Placement classes, by writing the test that half a million college-bound students take each year it strongly influences the curriculum crafted by teachers. The previous version created an uproar because it focused on racial and cultural divisions in America instead of a collective American identity, and left out unifying figures such as Benjamin Franklin and Martin Luther King. The new version mentions those men and also includes sections on a unified American identity -- plus more focus on America’s founders and founding documents.
<P>
The sections on America’s divisions and problems remain, but now exist alongside positive points about America.
<P>
One historian who led the charge for the revision said the new version is much better, but not perfect.
<P>
“The College Board scrubbed from last year’s document the more obnoxious expressions of bias against America, against capitalism, and against whites,” Peter Wood, president of the National Association of Scholars, told FoxNews.com.
<P>
The old guidelines also previously criticized free markets, noting that they “helped to widen a gap between rich and poor” without mentioning that they had created prosperity. The new version is less one-sided, noting that “entrepreneurs helped to create a market revolution in production and commerce…” and that “workers’ real wages increased… while the gap between rich and poor grew.”
<P>
<a href="http://www.foxnews.com/us/2015/08/04/criticism-prompts-college-board-to-rewrite-us-history-exam-to-put-america-in/?cmpid=cmty_twitter_fn">CONTINUE READING AT FOXNEWS.COM...</a>Maxim Lotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13606311570484063484noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-699808943845717522.post-53114103415458966632015-06-26T17:36:00.000-07:002015-06-26T17:36:18.501-07:00Confederacy purge builds steam, while last century's worst villains sparedAll symbols of the Confederacy are rapidly disappearing from stores, websites and the public square in the wake of last week's racially charged shooting in a Charleston, S.C., church, but the purge of some allegedly hateful icons has spared memorabilia linked to some of history's most infamous mass murderers, some critics are charging.
<p>
Amazon.com has now banned all Confederate battle flag items from being sold on its site, but the massive e-commerce site continues to allow the sale of dozens of apparel items featuring communist mass murderers such as Vladimir Lenin, Joseph Stalin and Che Guevara, prompting some to accuse the site and others banning Confederate imagery of hypocrisy.
<p>
“If Amazon is removing the Confederate flag from its offerings, the logical and principled decision is to stop selling any promotional material, including T-shirts, of Che Guevara or any mass killer,” said Maria Werlau, executive director of the Free Society Project. “It is very painful particularly to the loved ones of Guevara's victims as well as offensive to the Cuban people who continue to suffer repression and abhorrent human rights' abuses by the system he helped create and direct.”
<p>
<a href="http://www.foxnews.com/us/2015/06/26/confederacy-purge-builds-steam-while-last-century-worst-villains-spared/">Read more at FoxNews.com...</a>Maxim Lotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13606311570484063484noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-699808943845717522.post-13313228142605477592015-06-18T17:37:00.000-07:002015-06-26T17:37:33.502-07:00Solar eclipse: Green groups fight sun-powered plant over Bighorn worriesOne might expect environmentalists to fight a new power plant, but a new battle being waged by California green groups against a solar facility shows there may be something new under the sun, after all.
<p>
A solar-powered plant proposed by industrial giant Bechtel on federal Bureau of Land Management property in the Mojave Desert could supply up to 170,000 homes in Los Angeles with electricity from the sun, but it also would make life difficult for about 100 Bighorn Sheep and other critters, according to the Sierra Club and the National Resources Defense Council. Their concerns have convinced the city not to buy electricity from the 350-megawatt Soda Mountain project.
<p>
“The City of Los Angeles spoke with one voice and rejected buying power from the ecologically damaging Soda Mountain Solar project,” the Sierra Club said in a statement. “Given the Bureau of Land Management’s recent decision to approve the project, this leadership from Los Angeles is well-timed and makes a powerful statement.”
<p>
The BLM approval, issued earlier this month, scaled back the size of the plant and established safeguards for the sheep, as well as fish, desert tortoises and other animals that might be affected by the project. The federally-approved version would have supplied 79,000 homes and required Bechtel to hire a “Bighorn Sheep Monitor” who would ensure that no construction take place while sheep are within 1,000 feet of the site. The company would also have to provide water in selected areas in an attempt to coax the herd to use highway underpasses and establish a migration pattern.
<p>
<a href="http://www.foxnews.com/science/2015/06/18/solar-eclipse-green-groups-fight-sun-powered-plant-over-bighorn-worries/">Continue reading at FoxNews.com...</a>Maxim Lotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13606311570484063484noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-699808943845717522.post-80056923302620999752015-06-15T11:45:00.000-07:002015-06-15T11:45:09.889-07:00Calling America 'Land of Opportunity' offensive, University of California warns professorsPhrases such as “America is the land of opportunity” and “America is a melting pot" are "micro-aggressions" that could leave some students feeling discriminated against, according to a new faculty training guide put out by the University of California.
<p>
The guide, which says those phrases and others can be interpreted by minorities as “denying the significance of a person of color’s racial/ethnic experience and history,” or that they “assimilate to the dominant culture,” is used across the vast, 200,000-student University of California system. Specifically, it is for training professors in “faculty leadership seminars” that aim to “enhance department and campus climate toward inclusive excellence.”
<p>
The guide, first exposed by the student-run The College Fix, uses the same argument to condemn a number of seemingly innocuous statements, such as:
<p>
“I believe the most qualified person should get the job.”
“Affirmative action is racist.”
“Everyone can succeed in this society, if they work hard enough.”
“When I look at you, I don’t see color.”
“I don’t believe in race.”
“Gender plays no part in who we hire.”
Many find the training guide absurd.
<p>
<a href="http://www.foxnews.com/us/2015/06/15/calling-america-land-opportunity-offensive-university-california-warns/">Continue reading at FoxNews.com...</a>Maxim Lotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13606311570484063484noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-699808943845717522.post-45460245467789320582015-06-09T17:38:00.002-07:002015-06-09T17:38:49.114-07:00Climate scientists criticize government paper that erases ‘pause’ in warmingUntil last week, government data on climate change indicated that the Earth has warmed over the last century, but that the warming slowed dramatically and even stopped at points over the last 17 years.
<p>
But a paper released May 28 by researchers at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has readjusted the data in a way that makes the reduction in warming disappear, indicating a steady increase in temperature instead. But the study’s readjusted data conflict with many other climate measurements, including data taken by satellites, and some climate scientists aren’t buying the new claim.
<p>
“While I’m sure this latest analysis from NOAA will be regarded as politically useful for the Obama administration, I don’t regard it as a particularly useful contribution to our scientific understanding of what is going on,” Judith Curry, a climate science professor at Georgia Tech, wrote in a response to the study.
<p>
And in an interview, Curry told FoxNews.com that that the adjusted data doesn’t match other independent measures of temperature.
<p>
“The new NOAA dataset disagrees with a UK dataset, which is generally regarded as the gold standard for global sea surface temperature datasets,” she said. “The new dataset also disagrees with ARGO buoys and satellite analyses.”
<p>
The NOAA paper, produced by a team of researchers led by Tom Karl, director of the agency’s National Climatic Data Center, found most of its new warming trend by adjusting past measurements of sea temperatures...
<p>
<a href="http://www.foxnews.com/science/2015/06/09/climate-scientists-criticize-government-paper-that-erases-pause-in-warming/">Continue reading on FoxNews.com...</a>Maxim Lotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13606311570484063484noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-699808943845717522.post-43636147885169952752015-06-04T14:02:00.001-07:002015-06-04T14:02:14.102-07:00Climate change brings needed rain to AfricaBy Maxim Lott | Published June 04, 2015 | FoxNews.com
<p>
Climate change has been going on since the beginning of time, but has been the source of intense debate in recent years. In the case of the Sahel area of Africa, climate change means 4 more inches of desperately-needed rainfall per year than in the past, according to a new study by climatologists in the Journal Nature Climate Change. The main cause of the increase is rising greenhouse gas emissions, it finds.
<p>
The Sahel is an area about four times the size of Texas that stretches across Africa along the southern edge of the Sahara Desert. Past droughts in the area that killed thousands prompted the Live Aid concert in 1985 to fund relief efforts.
<p>
Some climate experts say this and other positive effects of CO2 emissions are too often ignored.
<p>
“[Benefits are] certainly underreported. Scientists have known for 15 years that the Sahel was greening up and desertification was reversing there,” Pat Michaels, former president of the American Association of State Climatologists, and a director at the CATO Institute, told FoxNews.com.
<p>
He also noted that the Sahel area may be getting more tree and plant coverage due in part to the fact that plants have an easier time growing with more CO2 in the atmosphere...
<p>
<a href="http://www.foxnews.com/science/2015/06/04/climate-change-brings-needed-rain-to-africa/?intcmp=trending">Continue reading on FoxNews.com...</a>Maxim Lotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13606311570484063484noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-699808943845717522.post-3332731880583793932015-05-28T20:34:00.000-07:002015-05-28T20:34:12.827-07:00Texas student sues after college bans gun rights signA Texas college student filed suit against her school this week, saying her constitutional rights were violated when she was shooed off the quad for displaying a pro-Second Amendment sign.
<p>
Nicole Sanders, 24, who attends Blinn College, a two-year public college in Brenham, Texas, said she and a classmate at the 18,000-student school were holding signs near the student center in February when they were told to move. Sanders' sign read, “Defend Gun Rights on Campus,” and the other said “LOL,” with President Obama’s logo as the “O.” The pair was trying to attract members for a student group they were forming, a chapter of Young Americans for Liberty.
<p>
Sanders claims a college official accompanied by three armed campus police officers approached and said someone had complained that their display was offensive and that they wouldn’t be allowed to do it again unless they got “special permission.” According to Sanders, the official added that it was unlikely such permission would be granted to advocate for gun rights.
<p>
“When you have to get a permit before you can speak, it shuts down ideas – everything gets censored through the administrators,” Sanders, who is studying political science, told FoxNews.com. "It's unconstitutional for a public university to limit speech to one area of campus. I think that college should be a marketplace of ideas.”
<p>
<a href="http://www.foxnews.com/us/2015/05/28/texas-student-sues-after-college-bans-gun-rights-sign/">Continue reading on FoxNews.com...</a>Maxim Lotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13606311570484063484noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-699808943845717522.post-28584644480949934412015-05-18T14:19:00.001-07:002015-05-19T09:29:48.482-07:00Extended Documentation on Saida Grundy Mocking Rape VictimFrom my FoxNews.com article “<a href="http://www.foxnews.com/us/2015/05/18/boston-university-prof-in-racist-tweet-controversy-accused-ridiculing-white/">Boston University prof in racist tweet flap accused of trolling white rape victim</a>”:
<p>
The above quotes are excerpts from the Feb. 25 exchange. The extended exchange is <a href="http://maximwebsite.tripod.com/Sai_Grundy.png"><b>here</b></a>, and the victim’s remark describing how she is a rape victim is truncated in the screenshot, but an extended post can be viewed <a href="http://maximwebsite.tripod.com/Victim_full_post.png"><b>here</b></a>. Chamberlin gave permission to publish her name.Maxim Lotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13606311570484063484noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-699808943845717522.post-27814507639694590542015-05-18T12:13:00.000-07:002015-05-18T12:24:13.660-07:00Boston University prof in racist tweet flap accused of trolling white rape victimBoston University, which has already condemned the racist Tweets of an incoming faculty member, has now been sent an outrageous Facebook exchange in which a poster who identifies herself as the controversial sociology professor mercilessly ridicules a white rape victim.
<p>
Saida Grundy, a newly hired professor at Boston University who recently said she regrets tweeting that white males are a "problem population," and other racially charged comments, is now accused of Facebook posts in which she appeared to taunt a white rape victim. That victim, Meghan Chamberlin, told FoxNews.com that the posts, an a February public chat, felt “like a kick in the stomach.”
<p>
The woman who identified herself as Grundy posted the comments after Chamberlin took issue with a controversial article on race that the Facebook thread had linked to.
<p>
“I LITERALLY cry and lose sleep over this,” Chamberlin wrote, adding she had been raped as a child and felt that: “what this article did was tell me that I'm not aloud (sic) to ask for help… Because I am a WHITE woman… So when I read this article… you do understand what that does to me, right? It kills me…”
<p>
The woman, who identified herself as Sai Grundy and uses the same photo the professor uses on tweets she acknowledged last week, responded by making fun of the victim’s crying.
<p>
“’I literally cry’…. While we literally die,” she said before adding, “try this article. A white woman explaining this issue to other white women… who manages NOT to cry while doing it!”
<p>
Chamberlin, the rape survivor, responded: “No really. I got it. You can take your claws out, thanks.”
<p>
To which Grundy exploded:
<p>
“^^THIS IS THE S**T I AM TALKING ABOUT. WHY DO YOU GET TO PLAY THE VICTIM EVERY TIME PEOPLE OF COLOR AND OUR ALLIES WANT TO POINT OUT RACISM. my CLAWS?? Do you see how you just took an issue that WASNT about you, MADE it about you, and NOW want to play the victim when I take the time to explain to you some s**t that is literally $82,000 below my pay grade? And then you promote your #whitegirltears like that’s some badge you get to wear… YOU BENEFIT FROM RACISM. WE’RE EXPLAINING THAT TO YOU and you’re vilifying my act of intellectual altruism by saying i stuck my “claws” into you?”
<p>
Chamberlin responded by trying to leave the discussion. “I am choosing to “exit” this conversation,” she wrote.
<p>
But Grundy posted again, finishing with: “go cry somewhere. since that’s what you do.”
<p>
<a href="http://www.foxnews.com/us/2015/05/18/boston-university-prof-in-racist-tweet-controversy-accused-ridiculing-white/">Continue reading at FoxNews.com...</a>Maxim Lotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13606311570484063484noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-699808943845717522.post-56327180577971967522015-05-11T12:51:00.000-07:002015-05-11T12:51:06.688-07:00Boston University condemns prof's racist tweets after Terrier alums barkBoston University had a weekend change of heart about a new professor's angry tweets about white people, after FoxNews.com and others reported on the racially-charged comments -- and Terrier alumni threatened to stop writing checks.
<p>
Saida Grundy, an incoming assistant professor of sociology and African-American studies at the school, tweeted in recent weeks that "white masculinity is THE problem for america’s (sic) colleges," white men are a "problem population,” and that she tries to avoid shopping at white-owned businesses. On Friday, her new employer's spokesman, Colin Riley, told FoxNews.com that the tweets came from Grundy's personal Twitter account and that she was "exercising her right to free speech and we respect her right to do so.”
<p>
Then, amid a deluge of angry emails from former students, the school sought to amend the comment.
<p>
“The University does not condone racism or bigotry in any form and we are deeply saddened when anyone makes such offensive statements,” Riley told FoxNews.com Saturday.
<p>
The tweets were first noticed by a student at University of Massachusetts Amherst, Nick Pappas, who posted them on his website “SoCawlege.com” and questioned how Grundy could teach a diverse classroom given the racial hostility in her tweets.
<p>
“You have to teach college-aged white males eventually, no?... this seems like you are unqualified to grade their work as you clearly demonstrate some kind of special bias against them,” he wrote.
<p>
<a href="http://www.foxnews.com/us/2015/05/11/boston-university-condemns-prof-racist-tweets-after-terrier-alums-bark/">Continue reading at FoxNews.com...
</a>Maxim Lotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13606311570484063484noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-699808943845717522.post-3427482614120962352015-05-08T14:04:00.002-07:002015-05-11T12:51:23.394-07:00Boston University prof under fire for racial tweetsCritics say a newly-hired Boston University professor has crossed the line with recent tweets bashing whites, but the school says it’s simply free speech.
<P>
“White masculinity isn’t a problem for america’s colleges, white masculinity is THE problem for america’s colleges,” Saida Grundy, an incoming assistant professor of sociology and African-American studies at Boston University, tweeted in March.
<P>
In another tweet from January, she wrote: “Every MLK week I commit myself to not spending a dime in white-owned businesses. and every year i find it nearly impossible.”
<P>
In another, she called white males a “problem population.”
<P>
“Why is white America so reluctant to identify white college males as a problem population?” she asked.
<P>
The tweets were first noticed by student Nick Pappas, who posted them on his website “SoCawlege.com” and questioned how Grundy could be able to teach a diverse classroom given the racial hostility in her tweets.
<P>
“You have to teach college aged white males eventually, no?... this seems like you are unqualified to grade their work as you clearly demonstrate some kind of special bias against them,” he wrote.
<P>
<a href="http://www.foxnews.com/us/2015/05/08/boston-university-prof-flunks-white-masculinity-in-controversial-tweets/?intcmp=latestnews">Continue reading on FoxNews.com...</a>Maxim Lotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13606311570484063484noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-699808943845717522.post-79335399198919362522015-05-07T08:39:00.001-07:002015-05-07T08:39:47.129-07:00Canadian judge could free former teen terrorist who killed US Army medicA former teen terrorist who killed a U.S. Army Delta Force medic in Afghanistan in 2002 could go free Thursday, if a Canadian judge rules the former Guantanamo Bay detainee once sentenced to 40 years in prison has changed his jihadist ways.
Omar Khadr, a Canadian citizen who was just 15 when he threw the grenade that killed U.S. Army medic Christopher Speer in Afghanistan during a 2002 firefight, will learn his fate in an Edmonton courtroom. Now 28, Khadr claims to be a different person from the young Al Qaeda follower who killed Speer, but critics say he has not paid the price.
“Omar Khadr is a convicted Al Qaeda terrorist, guilty of war crimes," Ezra Levant, author of “The Enemy Within: Terror, Lies, and the Whitewashing of Omar Khadr,” told FoxNews.com. "He murdered a U.S. medic in cold blood. A jury sentenced him to 40 years in prison, but President Obama offered him a plea deal for just eight years, and now parole will reduce that further. This isn’t sufficient, especially given that Khadr has never publicly renounced terrorism or Al Qaeda, or his own father’s terrorism.”...
<a href="http://www.foxnews.com/world/2015/05/07/canadian-judge-could-spring-former-teen-terrorist-who-killed-us-army-medic/">Continue reading at FoxNews.com...</a>Maxim Lotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13606311570484063484noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-699808943845717522.post-13542346385087558582015-04-29T10:31:00.000-07:002015-04-29T10:31:57.858-07:00Universities under pressure to ‘divest’ from fossil fuelsEnvironmental activists are pressuring universities around the country to “divest” and stop all investment in fossil fuels. Many are taking heed, and more than a dozen universities -- among them Stanford and Syracuse -- have already promised to stop all such investments. But around 50 others, such as Harvard, Yale, and the University of Colorado, have decided not to.
On Thursday, New York University’s faculty senate will vote on whether to strip its $3.5 billion endowment fund of fossil fuel investments. The controversial measure is supported by some environmentalists, but critics say that it would needlessly cost the school money.
An NYU faculty working group studying the issue recommends that the university keep its fossil fuel investments due to financial reasons.
“In order to eliminate the $139 million in fossil fuel investments, NYU would have to [end] relationships with 39 funds… this [is] not financially prudent,” their report concluded....
<a href="http://www.foxnews.com/science/2015/04/29/universities-under-pressure-to-divest-from-fossil-fuels/">Continue reading at FoxNews.com...</a>Maxim Lotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13606311570484063484noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-699808943845717522.post-86794454765776879522015-04-15T14:36:00.001-07:002015-04-15T14:36:37.816-07:00Johns Hopkins reverses ban on detailed pro-life displayOfficials at prestigious Johns Hopkins University on Tuesday reversed a decision banning a pro-life display that had appeared for decades at the school's Spring Fair, after FoxNews.com inquired about the matter.
The display, a fixture at the fair for 30 years, was sponsored by the student group JHU Voice for Life. It shows models of unborn fetuses in various stages of development, but was initially rejected this year on the grounds that it “contains triggering and disturbing images.” The decision to reject the display's presence at the fair, which takes place from April 24-26, was made by a student committee in conjunction with faculty advisers.
“We've reviewed your pictures with our advisers and have determined that your display contains triggering and disturbing images and content,” read an email the committee sent to JHU Voice for Life.
<a href="http://www.foxnews.com/us/2015/04/15/johns-hopkins-reverses-ban-on-disturbing-pro-life-display/">Continue reading at FoxNews.com...</a>Maxim Lotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13606311570484063484noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-699808943845717522.post-40803674751677119902015-03-13T07:49:00.001-07:002015-03-13T07:49:09.593-07:00New Obama Internet regulations mean new taxes and less service, critics sayThe Federal Communications Commission released more than 300 pages of Internet regulations Thursday, which critics say will increase the cost of Internet and slow improvements.
<p>
The regulations, which include “net neutrality” rules, were called for by President Obama and approved by a 3-to-2 vote of FCC commissioners. Opponents say the regulations are an illegal bureaucratic power grab, and that if they are allowed to stand in court they will do harm.
<p>
“The consequences: higher broadband prices, slower speeds… less innovation, and fewer options for American consumers,” Ajit Pai, a commissioner at the FCC, said in his dissent.
<p>
So in plain English, what is in all the 317 pages of new rules?
<p>
Paves the way for new taxes
<p>
The regulations talk about a new tax on Internet providers in a positive light, noting it could add “to the stability of the universal service fund,” which subsidizes building connections in unprofitable areas.
<p>
The new regulations pave the way for new taxes, because they define Internet service providers as “public utilities” – which could subject them to the many taxes levied on phone service companies.
<p>
<a href="http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2015/03/13/new-obama-internet-regulations-mean-new-taxes-and-less-service-critics-say/">Continue reading at FoxNews.com...</a>Maxim Lotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13606311570484063484noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-699808943845717522.post-37556243414587349792015-03-09T12:19:00.002-07:002015-03-09T12:19:31.402-07:00ATF misfire? Guide indicates bullets at center of firestorm already banned; agency blames 'error'It looked like the fix was in. But the ATF says it was just a misfire.
<p>
As the ATF faces a firestorm of controversy for seeking public comment on a proposal to ban a popular type of bullet, critics last week claimed the agency may have decided in advance how it would rule.
<p>
They pointed to the ATF's latest "Firearms Regulation Reference Guide," released in January 2015. The guide, curiously, did not contain an exemption for popular ".223 M855 "green tip" ammunition" that was included in earlier guides. Without that exemption, the ammunition is illegal to sell. (The change in language was first noticed by Fox News contributor Katie Pavlich at Townhall.com.)
<p>
So did the ATF already make up its mind?
<p>
No, the agency claims. The ATF has responded that the reference guide is not legally binding, so the bullets have not actually been banned yet, and has apologized for leaving the exemptions out of the guide. They say it was an innocent mistake. And the proposed ban is apparently still under consideration.
<p>
"[It] was an error which has no legal impact on the validity of the exemptions," ATF public affairs chief Ginger Colbrun told FoxNews.com in an emailed statement, adding that it will be corrected soon.
<p>
"The 2014 Regulation Guide will be corrected in PDF format to include the listing of armor piercing ammunition exemptions and posted shortly... ATF apologizes for any confusion caused by this publishing error."
<p>
As of Monday, the 2014 guide with the error was no longer available on the ATF website.
<p>
Case closed? Perhaps. Gun-rights supporters say that such errors are common for the ATF -- but that it could also have been a tip-of-the-hand that the administration already had reached a decision on banning the bullets.
<p>
"This is either real incompetence or ATF got caught with their pants down. With this administration it could be both," Alan Gottlieb of the Second Amendment Foundation told FoxNews.com.
<p>
<a href="http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/03/09/atf-guide-indicates-bullets-at-center-political-firestorm-already-banned/">Continue reading on FoxNews.com...</a>
<p>
The author, Maxim Lott, can be reached on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/maximlottfoxnews">Facebook </a>or at maxim.lott@foxnews.comMaxim Lotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13606311570484063484noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-699808943845717522.post-39165817167659827112015-03-05T12:44:00.001-08:002015-03-05T12:44:07.243-08:00Google works to rank sites based on ‘truthfulness'In a step that critics worry will inject political bias into search results, a Google research team released a report this month on ranking search results based on how factual websites are. They propose eventually using that to change Google rankings, which are currently based on website popularity.
<p>
The Google researchers give, as an example, websites that say President Obama was born in Kenya; such sites would be penalized in Google rankings, whereas sites that correctly say he was born in the U.S. would get a boost in rankings.
<p>
That fact is not controversial, but critics worry that this is a first step towards Google playing God and effectively censoring content it does not like. They fear that skeptics of things like climate change or more immigration (both subjects that Google founders have expressed strong feelings about) might find their websites buried if this ranking system were adopted.
<p>
<a href="http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2015/03/05/google-works-to-rank-sites-based-on-truthfulness/">Continue reading at FoxNews.com...</a>Maxim Lotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13606311570484063484noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-699808943845717522.post-60394628082888101222015-02-27T10:55:00.002-08:002015-02-27T10:55:51.375-08:00100 Congressmen Oppose Administration Ban on Common Rifle BulletsLawmakers are firing back at a proposal by the Obama administration to ban one of the most common bullets used with the popular AR-15 rifle, with more than 100 members of Congress signing a letter opposing the move on ammo.
<P>
Word of the proposal by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to ban .223 M855 “green tip” ammunition came out on Thursday and prompted an immediate backlash from sportsmen. House members from both parties and some law enforcement officials were not far behind.
<P>
“[The ban] will interfere with Second Amendment rights by disrupting the market for ammunition that law abiding Americans use for sporting and other legitimate purposes,” reads the letter signed by lawmakers and addressed to ATF director Todd Jones.
<P>
The bullets, which can pierce bulletproof vests used by law enforcement, had previously been approved by the ATF in 1986. The agency now says that because handguns have now been designed that can also fire the bullets, police officers are now more likely to encounter them and so they should be banned.
<P>
However, the congressional letter notes that the ATF provides no evidence of the bullet’s danger to law enforcement.
<P>
“ATF has not even alleged – much less offered evidence – that even one such round has ever been fired from a handgun at a police officer,” the letter reads.
<P>
Many police organizations are also not in favor of the ban.
<P>
“The notion that all of a sudden a new pistol requires banning what had long been perfectly legal ammunition doesn’t seem to make a lot of sense to many officers,” William Johnson, executive director of the National Association of Police Organizations, told FoxNews.com
<P>
NAPO represents over 1,000 police units and associations and 241,000 law enforcement officers around the country.
<P>
<a href="http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/02/27/lawmakers-wont-be-silenced-over-obama-administration-proposed-ammo-ban/">Continue reading on FoxNews.com...</a>Maxim Lotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13606311570484063484noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-699808943845717522.post-68653570235663259852015-02-18T15:27:00.001-08:002015-02-18T15:27:13.640-08:00Flintlock from 1700s could land elderly NJ man in prisonA retired teacher is facing 10 years in prison and the loss of his state pension for possessing a flintlock pistol that may not have been fired since George Washington was alive, his attorney told FoxNews.com on Wednesday.
<p>
In a case that underscores the Garden State's strict gun laws, Gordon Van Gilder, a retired English teacher and collector of historical items, has been charged with criminal possession of a handgun and faces up to 10 years in prison. If the 72-year-old is convicted, the charge carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 3.5 years and the pension Van Gilder earned as an educator could be revoked, penalties attorney Evan Nappen called "outrageous."
<p>
“It’s crazy," Nappen told FoxNews.com. "The gun was unloaded and strictly possessed as a historical relic. We’re hoping the prosecutor will exercise discretion and dismiss his case.”
<p>
Van Gilder readily acknowledged the unloaded gun was in his glove compartment and wrapped in cloth when he was pulled over for a traffic violation in Cumberland County in November 2014, according to Nappen. He had recently bought the gun and was planning to add it to his collection of antiques, which includes other old firearms, the lawyer said.
<p>
<a href="http://www.foxnews.com/us/2015/02/18/flintlock-from-1700s-could-land-elderly-nj-man-in-prison/">Continue reading at FoxNews.com...</a>
Maxim Lotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13606311570484063484noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-699808943845717522.post-49758446272526737242015-02-12T14:58:00.000-08:002015-02-12T14:58:14.866-08:00Study: Global warming skeptics know more about climate scienceBy Maxim Lott | February 12, 2015 | FoxNews.com
<p>
Are global warming skeptics simply ignorant about climate science?
<p>
Not so, says a forthcoming paper in the journal Advances in Political Psychology by Yale Professor Dan Kahan. He finds that skeptics score about the same (in fact slightly better) on climate science questions.
<p>
The study asked 2,000 respondents nine questions about where they thought scientists stand on climate science.
<p>
On average, skeptics got about 4.5 questions correct, whereas manmade warming believers got about 4 questions right.
<p>
<a href="http://www.foxnews.com/science/2015/02/12/study-global-warming-skeptics-know-more-about-climate-science/">Continue reading at FoxNews.com...</a>Maxim Lotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13606311570484063484noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-699808943845717522.post-89700694820289678602015-02-10T14:56:00.000-08:002015-02-12T14:56:45.285-08:00Pennsylvania town packs heat, and wants visitors to know itBy Maxim Lott | February 10, 2015 | FoxNews.com
<p>
Drive into tiny Conoy Township, Pa., and you'll see the standard "welcome" sign, but it also comes with a warning: "THIS IS NOT A GUN FREE ZONE."
<p>
The signs are meant to alert criminals to the fact that many people in the rural Pennsylvania town of 3,000 are armed. A dozen have been installed so far and three more are slated to go up, which would cover every major road into the town. Officials hope the signs give would-be criminals second thoughts before causing trouble.
<p>
“I think even those who have bad intentions can read,” Stephen Mohr, one of the township supervisors, told FoxNews.com. He said the town’s five supervisors unanimously decided to put the signs up.
<p>
<a href="http://www.foxnews.com/us/2015/02/10/pa-town-packs-heat-and-wants-visitors-to-know-it/">Continue reading at FoxNews.com...</a>Maxim Lotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13606311570484063484noreply@blogger.com