Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.
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Highest Gun Sales States
The Daily Beast has some interesting data on which states have the highest rate of gun sales per 100k folks. It’s safe to say that Illinois is not on the list.
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Illinois lags in science, tech, engineering, math grads
Bad News: Illinois is producing fewer graduates with degrees in science, technology, engineering and math than the national average, according to the June release of the Illinois Innovation Index. … According to the Illinois Innovation Index, the number of STEM degrees granted to Illinois graduates hit a high-water mark of 20,248 in 2003 before dropping…
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Google and the Merchandise Mart
Good News!! Crain’s Chicago Business reports: Google is in talks to lease some 500,000 square feet in the Merchandise Mart, sources say. The deal would include a rooftop deck. The Internet search giant, looking to move employees from the Libertyville headquarters of its recently acquired Motorola Mobility, has an office for tech workers near the…
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Chicago’s Unreported Race War
We’ve gone national! According to a statement in the Chicago Tribune, reporting on the race of individuals involved in news events, such as mobs attacking, robbing and vandalizing, is irrelevant. A news anchor at the ABC affiliate in Chicago goes even further: Anyone who reads or writes about the epidemic of racial violence in Chicago…
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Illinois’ Pensions are the Worst
A new report being issued today — see the bottom of this post — from the Pew Center on the States says that Illinois once again ranks 50th of the 50 states in assets relative to liabilities. But while Illinois’ absolute position did not sink — a mathematical impossibility — its relative position did erode,…
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JP Morgan: Public Employee Pension’s Set to Explode
But they wanted to keep the story to themselves: JPMorgan recently circulated a “strictly confidential” report among leaders at the bank and with trusted hedge fund allies outside of the bank which details an impending public pension crisis. And we mean big time nastiness. Massive cuts in services will have to happen, or massive tax…
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Gun Ownership Up, Crime Down
Gun-control advocates are noticeably silent when crime rates decline. Their multimillion-dollar lobbying efforts are designed to manufacture mass anxiety that every gun owner is a potential killer. The statistics show otherwise. Last week, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) announced that violent crime decreased 4 percent in 2011. The number of murders, rapes, robberies and…
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Gun Turn-In Weekend in Chicago
Using the lure of $100 gift cards, the Chicago Police Department is encouraging people to get guns out of their homes and turn them in this Saturday, during the annual gun turn-in program. … First Deputy Supt. Alfonza Wysinger says anyone who turns in a real gun will get a $100 gift card. Replicas and…
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Obama’s Policy Strategy: Ignore Laws I Don’t Like
“In many ways, President Obama has fulfilled the dream of an imperial presidency that Richard Nixon strived for. On everything from [DOMA] to the gaming laws, this is a president who is now functioning as a super legislator. He is effectively negating parts of the criminal code because he disagrees with them. That does go…
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Spanish Miners Fire Rockets at Police
In a scene that looks more like Gaza than Spain, striking coal miners armed with homemade rockets and slingshots clashed with police Friday, leaving seven people injured– two of them seriously– the Interior Ministry said. The strike is the latest and the most violent of many in Spain in reaction to harsh austerity measures aimed…
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