APA- Call for Nominations: 2019 Prize for Excellence in Philosophy Teaching.

Dear DAVID, We are pleased to open the call for nominations for the 2019 Prize for Excellence in Philosophy Teaching. This annual prize recognizes a philosophy teacher who has had a profound impact on the student learning of philosophy in undergraduate and/or pre-college settings. The winner will be awarded $1,000 and a plaque. Eligibility is open to any APA member. The prize is sponsored by the American Philosophical Association (APA), the American Association of Philosophy Teachers (AAPT), and the Teaching Philosophy Association (TPA). Nomination letters should be no more than 2,000 words and should address the selection criteria detailed below. Only APA members may submit nominations; self-nominations are welcome. Criteria to Include in the Nomination Letter Excellence in undergraduate and/or pre-college philosophy teaching, established, in part, by the nominee’s attention to student learning Creative and effective use of high-quality pedagogies Broader impact on the quality of philosophy education through service and/or research The nomination deadline is August 1, 2019. To submit a nomination, fill out the nomination form. After reviewing the nomination letters, the APA committee on the teaching of philosophy will invite selected finalists to submit detailed information. We look forward to receiving your nominations for the 2019 Prize for Excellence in Philosophy Teaching. David Concepción Chair, APA Committee on the Teaching of Philosophy

eSKEPTIC: How Science Will Explain & Fix Fake News. by David Cowan

Fake news, crafted to exploit us, wreaks havoc on our health, finances and politics. VeriSign founder David Cowan avers that science is the key to combatting the spread of disinformation.

How Science Will Explain & Fix Fake News

by David Cowan

The instant, global spread of information through the Internet clearly benefits us as individuals and as a civilization. But the Internet can also be wielded to spread disinformation, a formidable downside of the technology that we’ve recently labeled “fake news.” Simple web publishing tools enable anyone to fabricate stories that appear identical to legitimate journalism, which prompts social media users—both human and robotic—to share them as easily as real news. Fake news, crafted to exploit us, wreaks havoc on our health, finances and politics.

Reality constrains the quantity of real news stories, but our boundless imaginations unleash a torrent of fake stories that now overwhelm our news feeds. Not only does fake news deceive us, it undermines our trust in legitimate news sources. This is the real catastrophe and, many believe, the objective of Russia’s fake news campaign leading up to the 2016 U.S. elections. Fake news threatens the institution of democracy itself, because an uninformed public cannot make sound governance decisions.

Fake news, crafted to exploit us, wreaks havoc on our health, finances and politics.

Many groups have tried to stem fake news through various fact-checking initiatives that have all failed, because they fundamentally misunderstand the problem. Some employ human editors, who cannot possibly keep up in any useful timeframe. More scalable schemes crowd-source the work, as though the public could possibly know what is happening elsewhere in the world. Others employ machine learning, as though reality follows some recognizable pattern. Others use automated reference-checking to verify facts elsewhere online, defying the very definition of “news.” Some internet media platforms necessarily publish “both sides of the story” side by side, serving up contradictory facts that guarantee misinformation and confusion. Some find the problem so intractable that their only remedy is to “educate the public” that news sources simply cannot be trusted, and that truth is a matter of opinion always “worthy of respect.” […]

Read the complete article

BREAKING DOWN THE MUELLER REPORT...EXONERATES NO ONE, ANSWERS NOTHING.

The introduction addresses the nature of the RUSSIAN INVOLVEMENT, AND POSSIBLE "COLLUSION" WITH THE TRUMP CAMPAIGN.

TEXT FROM THE REPORT:
"As set forth in detail in this report, the Special Counsel's investigation established that Russia interfere~ in the 2016 presidential election principally through two operations. First, a Russian entity carried out a social media campaign that favored presidential candidate Donald J. Trump and disparaged presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. Second, a Russian intelligence service conducted computer-intrusion operations against entities, employees, and volunteers working on the Clinton Campaign and then released stolen documents. The investigation also identified numerous links between the Russian government and the Trump Campaign. Although the investigation established that the Russian government perceived it would benefit from a Trump presidency and worked to secure that outcome, and that the Campaign expected it would benefit electorally from information stolen and released through Russian efforts, the investigation did not establish that members of the Trump Campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities."
END TEXT.

How can we make sense of this? At one point, the report comments about the contacts between the TRUMP CAMPAIGN, AND THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT: "The investigation also identified numerous links between the Russian government and the Trump Campaign."
Yet, at another point, it seems to exonerate the TRUMP CAMPAIGN with the following: "...the investigation did not establish that members of the Trump Campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities."

Further Down, we see the reasoning used in evaluating any CRIMINAL LIABILITY THE TRUMP CAMPAIGN MAY HAVE, INVOLVING THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENTS ACTIVITIES TO INFLUENCE THE OUTCOME OF THE 2016 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION. IT IS HERE THAT WE FIND OUT HOW MUCH OF A "WITCH HUNT" THIS INVESTIGATION HAS BEEN. THE TRUTH MAY SUPRISE YOU. 

TEXT FROM THE REPORT.
1) "In evaluating whether evidence about collective action of multiple individuals constituted a crime, we applied the framework of conspiracy law, not the concept of "collusion." In so doing, the Office recognized that the word "collud[ e ]" was used in communications with the Acting Attorney General confirming certain aspects of the investigation's scope and that the term has frequently been invoked in public reporting about the investigation. 2) But collusion is not a specific offense or theory of liability found in the United States Code, nor is it a term of art in federal criminal law. For those reasons, the Office's focus in analyzing questions of joint criminal liability was on conspiracy as defined in federal law. In connection with that analysis, 3) we addressed the factual question whether members of the Trump Campaign "coordinat[ ed]"-a term that appears in the appointment order-with Russian election interference activities. Like collusion,4) "coordination" does not have a settled definition in federal criminal law. We understood "coordination" to require an agreement-tacit or express- between the Trump Campaign and the Russian government on election interference. 
5) That requires more than the two parties taking actions that were informed by or responsive to the other's actions or interests. We applied the term coordination in that sense when stating in the report that the investigation did not establish that the Trump Campaign coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities." 

END TEXT.

THE NUMBERS 1-5 ABOVE CORRESPOND WITH THOSE BELOW, IN GIVING A BASIC INTERPRETATION OF THE MEANING OF THE ABOVE TEXT.

1) THE POPULAR TERM "COLLUSION" HAS NO BASIS IN LAW, THE LAW REGARDING "CONSPIRACY" WAS USED.

 2) JOINT CRIMINAL LIABILITY WAS DETERMINED BY THE FEDERAL LAW REGARDING "CONSPIRACY."

3) DETERMINED WHETHER OR NOT MEMBERS OF THE TRUMP CAMPAIGN "COORDINATED" WITH THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENTS INTERFERENCE ACTIVITIES.

4) THE OFFICE OF THE SPECIAL COUNCEL DECIDED THAT TO ACCUSE THE TRUMP CAMPAIGN OF "COORDINATING" WITH THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT, THERE WOULD HAVE TO BE AN AGREEMENT BETWEEN BOTH BODIES, "TACIT OR EXPRESS." 

5)"That requires more than the two parties taking actions that were informed by or responsive to the other's actions or interests."

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN? A MEMBER OF THE TRUMP CAMPAIGN COULD HAVE ENGAGED IN "CONSPIRITORIAL CONDUCT" WITH THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT AND/OR AFFILIATED INDIVIDUALS OR GROUPS, BUT IF IT WAS NOT DONE AT THE EXPRESS ORDER OF THE CAMPAIGN ITSELF, with the approval of the Russian Government, NO CRIME WAS COMMITTED.

CUTTING THROUGH THE NOISE, HERE IS WHAT IT MEANS: THAT NO ONE IN THE TRUMP CAMPAIGN IS EXONERATED. BY THIS VERY NARROW DEFINITION, ANY INDIVIDUAL OR GROUP IN THE TRUMP CAMPAIGN COULD HAVE "CONSPIRED" WITH THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT, OR ANYONE WORKING ON BEHALF OF THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT, AND AS LONG AS THERE WAS NO EXPRESS AGREEMENT AMONG BOTH THE TRUMP CAMPAIGN AND THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT, THE FINDING WOULD BE THAT OF NO "COLLUSION" OR NO "CONSPIRACY."

THIS IS A TRAVESTY. IT LITERALLY GIVES
INDIVIDUALS AND GROUPS A FREE PASS TO HAVE COMMITTED ELECTION FRAUD, AS LONG AS THE "LEADERSHIP" DID NOT FORMALLY APPROVE IT.

THE EXISTENTIAL THREAT WE FACE. BETO O'ROURKE.

David, The greatest threat we face — which will test our country, our democracy, every single one of us — is climate change. The planet has warmed more than 1-degree Celsius just since 1980 — helping to cause historic fires, floods, hurricanes and droughts seen throughout the world and in the U.S. This warming is caused by our own excesses, our emissions and our own inaction in the face of the facts and the science. But we have 12 years to shift course and avert the deadliest impacts that will follow warming of 3 or 4 degrees, or even more. The next president must ensure that we unleash the ingenuity and political will of hundreds of millions of Americans to meet this moment before it's too late. That’s why today I want to share our plan to fight climate change. The action steps enclosed begin on day one. But given the gravity of the work that lies ahead, we know that this fight will require much more than a president signing a handful of executive orders. We will need a full mobilization of our democracy and economy — every single one of us, joining together — to defeat the gravest of threats to humanity. Take a moment now to read more about our plan on our campaign website. Then forward this email to your friends and family — we need everyone all-in on this. We begin by cutting pollution on day one, reentering the Paris Climate Agreement and curbing fossil fuel production on public lands. We continue by making a historic investment in infrastructure, innovation, and people that mobilizes $5 trillion over the next 10 years to confront climate change head on. And we will leave nothing to chance: our administration will establish legally enforceable standards to guarantee that we achieve net-zero emissions by the year 2050 and get halfway there by 2030. In all of this, we will be there for and lift up the people and communities most affected by the dangers and destruction of global warming. Our administration will increase funding ten-fold to help vulnerable communities prepare for extreme weather. And we will be there for these communities when disasters do strike. Much as The Greatest Generation met the existential threat to the western democracies nearly 80 years ago, and at the same time helped to lift millions of Americans into the middle class, we have an opportunity now to meet an existential threat to this planet by ensuring that public health policy, economic policy, and the engine of a far more conscientious capitalism is put to work in service of our ability to meet this challenge. There’s much more in the plan to read, so I would encourage you to take a look at our website. But I also want you to know that this is just the beginning. As we travel across the country and hear more great ideas from the American people in their communities, we will be adding more policy proposals along the way. Today, our campaign is traveling throughout the Central Valley of California to discuss our plan. This is a region that has borne many of the most devastating consequences of climate change but also exemplifies the innovation and ingenuity necessary to take on this challenge. This moment of maximum peril may also be our moment of maximum potential. Let us show ourselves, our children, and the world that when we come together, there is no limit to what we can achieve. Beto Donate   Paid for by Beto for America