A Brief History of the Future

Jim Henley has a very interesting post describing future trends tied in with Science Fiction.

Racial Discrimination: #5

Kieran Healy links to a study focussing on the effects of a criminal record on job prospects. Pager found a similar race effect to the study Kreuger writes about, but because she also looked at incarceration it brings it into sharper focus. She found that blacks “are less than half as likely to receive consideration… Continue reading Racial Discrimination: #5

Security: Pros and Cons: Part Deux

While we are on the subject of security policies, I should mention the FBI interviews of people from Middle Eastern and Muslim countries. I was also one of the people interviewed by US government agencies early this year. My interview was harmless. The time and date of the interview was set at my convenience. The… Continue reading Security: Pros and Cons: Part Deux

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Categorized as Immigration

Hindu Extremists Gain

The Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has won by a landslide in elections in the province of Gujarat. In an election that was widely viewed as a referendum on India’s secular character, Hindu nationalists won a landslide re-election victory today in the western state of Gujarat, which was convulsed by Hindu-Muslim riots early this… Continue reading Hindu Extremists Gain

Military Punishment

Can the military punish killers among its soldiers? Specifically killers of innocent civilians on the side of the enemy. Obviously, we cannot look at the record of illiberal and fascist countries for guidance in this matter. However, looking back at US history, I don’t find a good record either (obviously, the record is much better… Continue reading Military Punishment

Security: Pros and Cons

More countries are being added to the special registration requirement by INS (see here.) Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen & Loewy has just received an advance copy of a Federal Register notice, scheduled to be published on December 18, that adds the following groups to the “call-in” registration requirement: males born on or before January 13,… Continue reading Security: Pros and Cons

States’ Rights and Slavery

Patrick Nielsen Hayden notes how the South in the 19th century paid only lip service to states’ rights when it came to fugitive slaves: But claiming to be coerced while actually practicing coercion is a dark art that Southern racists have refined on for over 150 years. The Confederacy’s central claim was that the North… Continue reading States’ Rights and Slavery

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Categorized as Politics

Racial Discrimination: #4

I like the data organized this way. For each want ad, four resumes were sent, two Whites and two Blacks. Equal Treatment 87.37% No Call-back 82.56% 1W+1B 3.46% 2W+2B 1.35% Whites Favored 8.87% 1W+0B 5.93% 2W+0B 1.50% 2W+1B 1.43% Blacks Favored 3.76% 1B+0W 2.78% 2B+0W 0.45% 2B+1W 0.53% Another interesting breakdown is by occupation and… Continue reading Racial Discrimination: #4

Racial Discrimination: Post 3

Looking at the data for the different names from the previous post, a few things come to mind. There is a great variation even within a category. What is the reason for that? Do people like Kristen so much better than Emily? Ebony over Aisha? What’s wrong with Neil? What is Brad doing right (other… Continue reading Racial Discrimination: Post 3

Racial Discrimination: Expanded

Continuing on an earlier post, here is the data about the first names used, their prevalence in the specific group (black/white male/female) and the percentage who received calls for interviews in the study: White-Sounding Black-sounding Name Frequency Mean Call-back Name Frequency Mean Call-back Females Emily 4.7% 8.3% Aisha 3.6% 2.2% Anne 5.0% 9.0% Keisha 3.7%… Continue reading Racial Discrimination: Expanded