Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.
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Oregon Standoff: Isolated Event or Sign of Things to Come?
The nation’s attention turned to Oregon this week when a group calling itself Citizens for Constitutional Freedom seized control of part of a federal wildlife refuge. The citizens were protesting the harsh sentences given to members of the Hammond ranching family. The Hammonds were accused of allowing fires set on their property to spread onto…
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Are We A Nation of Wimps?
We now live in a society where safety and security are to be sought at all costs. The sacrifice of liberty is not a concern for most Americans today. This is not something new and it has been characteristic of most people throughout history but it has gotten especially bad in America since 9/11. In…
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Shouldn’t we send a ‘thank you’ note?
Iran Fighting ISIS – Is it Really a Problem? As Iran continues to take an active role in helping Iraq fight ISIS, many US neocons are upset that the US military is not over there on the ground doing the fighting. They want Americans believe that only another US invasion of Iraq – and of…
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All I Want for Christmas is a (Real) Government Shutdown
The political class breathed a sigh of relief Saturday when the US Senate averted a government shutdown by passing the $1.1 trillion omnibus spending bill. This year’s omnibus resembles omnibuses of Christmas past in that it was drafted in secret, was full of special interest deals and disguised spending increases, and was voted on before…
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Am I The Only Techie Against Net Neutrality?
by Joshua Steimle As near as I can gather, just about anyone who is steeped in technology is in favor of “Net Neutrality” legislation. I am no fan of Comcast or any other ISP I’ve ever had the pleasure of dealing with and I’m skeptical of large businesses generally and dislike being on their side,…
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FDA Caught Protecting Big Pharma from Whistleblowers
By Lisa Rein and Ellen Nakashima [youtube]http://youtu.be/Vo1Nh_2m6F8[/youtube] The Food and Drug Administration may have violated the federal law protecting whistleblowers by monitoring the personal e-mail of its own scientists, congressional investigators conclude in a report that calls the two-year spying operation “excessively intrusive.” The findings, scheduled for release Wednesday by two top Republicans, suggest that the employees were monitored as part…
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The US government has betrayed the internet. We need to take it back.
The NSA has undermined a fundamental social contract. We engineers built the internet – and now we have to fix it Government and industry have betrayed the internet, and us. By subverting the internet at every level to make it a vast, multi-layered and robust surveillance platform, the NSA has undermined a fundamental social contract.…
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Transparent Hoax Could Lead to War
Phony “poison gas” attack spurs calls for intervention by Justin Raimondo, August 26, 2013 Those rollicking jihadists, the Syrian rebels, love a joke: although they can be deadly serious – such as when they’re eating the internal organs of their enemies – what they enjoy more than anything is a really good prank. There was…
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What if Psychiatrists are the Crazy Ones!
By Shane Ellison MS I may be a perfect candidate for psychiatry. I ask questions with period marks to shorten conversations. I avoid eye contact with strangers in fear (maybe it’s anxiety) that I might learn too much about them. I secretly think that Metallica would be making better music if they went back to…
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