http://www.wwltv.com/news/local/report-t.../275260120

Quote:Police have closed streets between Baton Rouge Police Headquarters and I-12 where at least three law enforcement officers have been shot.

According to our partners at WBRZ, shots were fired around 9 a.m. Sunday morning kicking off a manhunt for the shooter or shooters...



http://www.wwltv.com/news/local/report-t.../275260120

These Olympic games in Rio de Janeiro have already been  snake-bit (well, technically mosquito-bit with the Zika virus, which uses mosquitoes as the vector). 

The Russian track and field team has been banned due to pervasive doping, and in view of allegations of athlete doping elsewhere, the entire Russian contingent could be banned.

From the New York Times:

Quote:Antidoping officials from at least 10 nations and 20 athlete groups are preparing the extraordinary step of requesting that the entire Russian delegation be barred from the Summer Olympics over allegations of a state-sponsored doping program, according to email correspondence obtained by The New York Times.

The antidoping officials and athletes were expected to pressure Olympic leaders on the matter as soon as Monday — less than three weeks before the opening ceremony in Rio. They were waiting for the results of an investigation into claims published in The Times of a state-sponsored doping program conducted by Russian officials at the 2014 Sochi Olympics.

Grigory Rodchenkov, Russia’s former antidoping lab director, told The Times in May that he followed government orders to cover up the widespread use of performance-enhancing drugs by dozens of Russian Olympians at the Sochi Games. At least 15 of them won medals, he said.

Russian officials have dismissed allegations of a state-run doping program as a Western conspiracy intended to smear Russia. The country’s track and field team has already been barred from the Rio Games for doping violations; calls for sanctions against Russian athletes in every sport would be unprecedented and would likely escalate the geopolitical debate.

At least 10 national antidoping organizations — including those in the United States, Germany, Spain, Japan, Switzerland and Canada — and more than 20 athlete groups representing Olympians from around the world have banded together as they anticipate validation of Dr. Rodchenkov’s claims.

http://peterturchin.com/blog/2016/07/15/...ami-wages/

Quote:We all have heard the phrase: “There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics” (for its origin, see the entry in Wikipedia). This phrase is a damned lie.


You cannot lie with statistics if they are properly done; that is, if you show both the data and the method you used to analyze the data. Only the innumerate can be lied to with statistics. “Innumeracy” is inability to deal with numbers and quantitative reasoning, just as “illiteracy” is the inability to read. Unfortunately, although only 30 percent of Americans are functionally illiterate, a much, much higher percent are functionally innumerate. However, for important issues, you will always find numerate people on both sides, and thus when one side attempts to lie with statistics, the other side will point out the problems and perform alternative analyses. Numerate public, by spending a little effort to follow the logic of both sides, will immediately see who is right and who is wrong. And that’s why statistics are very different from “damned lies.”


Here’s a good example of how this works in practice, with me a numerate bystander in one very important debate: does massive immigration depress wages of native workers..


http://peterturchin.com/blog/2016/07/15/...ami-wages/

Taking bets on Kremlin involvement / instigation / support.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/16/world/....html?_r=0

http://abcnews.go.com/International/nice...d=40590537

Quote: The southern French city of Nice was on lockdown amid fears of a terror attack after a truck drove into a large crowd during Bastille Day celebrations, officials said.
A local official told French TV there were "about 30 dead."
About 100 others were injured, a local official said.
The driver has been killed, a local official told French TV. 
 The local government said it fears a terror attack. The city is on lockdown.
Jimmy Ghazal, 39, a Lebanese man visiting Nice with his family, told ABC News that after the fireworks concluded, he heard people screaming and heard what sounded like gunshots. He saw people run to shelter.
Ghazal said he saw a big truck drive "through all the security.”
“The kids thought it was part of the fireworks," he told ABC News. "We just told them it was part of the fireworks.”
Video showed crowds of screaming people running through the streets in panic. 



http://abcnews.go.com/International/nice...d=40590537

Here’s a chart showing how the percentage of pre-marital conception changed in the 18th and 19th centuries.

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What was the #1 hit on the day you were born (or on some other day?)

My birthday (December 14, 1955):






...I have never been in a coal mine.

It could have been something better than this on the day that Neil Armstrong set foot on the Moon (one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for Mankind):





Don't bother. Gimmick song by a one-hit wonder, and not very good.

It might celebrate something else, like Satan Incarnate blowing his brains out as the Soviet Army closed in on his lair (April 30, 1945):





Much more listenable.

The first one wasn't so great (January 1, 1900):

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/07/tr...ces-225509

Quote:Hours after suggesting that Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg resign from the high court, Donald Trump on Wednesday vowed to swarm her on the high court with “real judges and real legal opinions!”
The presumptive Republican presidential nominee tweeted shortly before 1 a.m. Wednesday that Ginsburg “has embarrassed all” by publicly criticizing the real estate mogul and signaled that she should resign because “[h]er mind is shot...

Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2016/07/trump-ginsburg-justices-225509#ixzz4ELCZY4cM
Follow us: @politico on Twitter | Politico on Facebook



http://www.politico.com/story/2016/07/tr...ces-225509

http://www.gallup.com/poll/193670/hispan...tcome.aspx

Quote:Despite Donald Trump's harsh anti-immigration rhetoric throughout this year's presidential campaign, Hispanics are less likely than either whites or blacks to "strongly agree" that they are afraid of what will happen if their candidate loses. Hispanics also are less likely to agree that the stakes in this year's presidential election are higher than usual...




http://www.gallup.com/poll/193670/hispan...tcome.aspx