Taxpayers Fund Studies To Learn Who Are Terrorists

Psychiatrists make predictions in courts when  they are in session. Why not employ them to tell who will commit a terrorist act? If they know the future and judges say they are experts? Well?

[From article]
How’d you like to be running a presidential campaign dependent on Muslims not acting up again between now and Nov. 8? It’s getting awfully hard for the media to keep being indignant about Trump’s proposed Muslim ban, as long as Muslims keep blowing things up and shooting people.
I’m assuming here that The Washington Post has not already ruled the Muslims who blew up the Istanbul Airport to be self-hating gays infected by America’s culture of homophobia.
It turns out, Omar Mateen, the Orlando nightclub shooter, also wasn’t a self-hating gay, despite media excitement over that rumor. The FBI has now run down every alleged gay partner of Omar’s, searched his phone and computers, and the alleged gay lovers either had the wrong guy or were lying, and there’s no evidence he was on any gay websites or apps.
As a Muslim immigrant explained in a curbside interview videotaped by Tony Vera at the Los Angeles International Airport recently — before she was arrested — “that’s what we do, we bomb people.”
With impeccable timing, three days before the Istanbul bombing, the liberal Guardian (UK) ran an article sneering at Brexit supporters for wanting out of the European Union before Turkey became a member and the door was thrown open to unlimited migration from this Muslim country that shares a border with Syria, Iraq and Iran.
The article by Liz Cookman was titled, “Turkey, the Brexit bogeyman, is not so different from the UK.”



Liz had a lot of fun with the Brexit-supporting ninnies, so relieved that “the Turks are no longer coming.” She referred to Turkey as “the country whose people Britons are apparently petrified of,” despite the fact that “it turns out Britain and Turkey are not so different after all.”
[. . .]
As with the British media, the American media keep telling us that all these Muslim terrorist attacks have nothing to do with Muslims, and Donald Trump’s suggestion that we impose a temporary moratorium on Muslim immigration is madness, bigoted, racist.
Thank God Hitler didn’t claim “Mein Kampf” was a holy book and the Fuhrerbunker a mosque.
Western governments have devoted incalculable resources to developing some diagnostic test other than “Muslim” to predict terrorism. As the New York Times reported earlier this year:
[. . .]
Despite millions of dollars of government-sponsored research, and a much-publicized White House pledge to find answers, there is still nothing close to a consensus on why someone becomes a terrorist.”
I have a possible indicator! M-U-S-L- …
After the July 7, 2005, London subway bombing by Muslim terrorists that killed 52 people, the British MI5 undertook its own highly sophisticated study, examining hundreds of cases. But the UK’s security agency discovered that terrorists are a wildly diverse lot. They worshipped at a variety of different mosques, for example.
Some terrorists were very religious Muslims and some barely practicing. Most were men, but some were women. There were young and old terrorists, highly educated as well as uneducated, some loners and some married with children.
So, according to MI5, the predictive power of every factor is very low — other than: Is a Muslim.
[. . .]



Republicans who are furious with Trump for proposing that we hit the pause button on this one category of Third World mass immigration have nothing at all to say about the census report this week showing Teddy Kennedy’s 1965 immigration act has so transformed the country that a majority of babies born in the United States today are not white.
The only thing Republicans can do is denounce Obama for not using the words “radical Islamic terrorism.” (As long as they brought up Words Politicians Refuse to Use, when will the eunuchs work up the nerve to say “illegal alien,” “anchor baby” and “amnesty”?)
Obama is a hapless fool, but what is so special about the words “radical Islam”? Maybe it’s not radical Islam. Maybe it’s just “Islam.”
The reason Republicans obsess over Obama’s language is that they can’t go on TV and say nothing, and no one but Trump will say anything useful. To wit: Let’s stop dumping a million Muslim immigrants on the country every year, some percentage of whom we know will commit mass murder.

http://humanevents.com/2016/06/29/this-hidden-fact-predicts-terrorism/?utm_source=coulterdaily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nl

This Hidden Fact Predicts Terrorism

Ann Coulter

Wednesday Jun 29, 2016 3:24 PM

University of Michigan and Microsoft Recognize Study Showing Flawed Security For Smart Homes

But new findings suggest these systems could hold hidden opportunities for hackers to break inside without being noticed. The University of Michigan used malicious apps to hack Samsung's SmartThings in four successful attacks that opened electric doors, changed devices to vacation mode and set off fire alarms.

[From article]
Transforming a home into an 'intelligent agent' allows users to monitor, control and secure it via apps and a smartphone.
But new findings suggest these systems also give hackers the tools needed to operate smart locks, change access codes and set off Wi-Fi enabled smoke detectors.
The University of Michigan hacked Samsung's SmartThings in four successful attacks and used the systems own SmartApps to carry each one out.
'It’s important to note that all the vulnerabilities are hypothetical and haven’t affected SmartThings customers’ because of the approval and review processes they have in place, but they have still worked with the researchers to further secure the platform based on their findings,' a SmartThings spokesperson told DailyMail.com in an email.
The University of Michigan, in collaboration with Microsoft, says this study is 'the first in-depth empirical security analysis of a popular emerging smart home programming platform'.
By evaluating the platform's security design and investigating the 499 SmartThings third-party apps (SmartApps), researchers found the biggest problem is that 40 percent of the apps are 'over-privileged'.
The idea that an app is over-privileged means it can gain access to more operations on the device than it needs to perform its function.
'The access SmartThings grants by default is at a full device level, rather than any narrower,' Atul Prakash said, computer science professor at the University of Michigan.
During the first attack, researcher were able to unlock electric doors by simply sending users a malicious link in a third-party app.
If users clicked on the URL, they were brought to the SmartThings website to login their credentials.
A hacker can then redirect a bug to the app and capture the login data to 'inject' a new code into the electric door lock.
The researchers also found that it is possible for developers to create an authentication method called OAuth incorrectly.
This flaw, in combination with the over-privileged SmartApps, allowed hackers to create their own PIN code into the door lock – without the homeowners knowing.
The team showed that an existing SmartApp could be remotely used to make a spare door key virtually by programming an additional PIN into the electronic lock.
Or another can 'eavesdrop' on someone setting up their PIN code for the lock, which will then text it to the hacker.

The SmartApp, which they called a 'lock-pick malware app' was camouflaged as a battery level monitor and only showed the need for that capability in its code.
Earlence Fernandes, a doctoral student in computer science and engineering who led the study, said that 'letting it control your window shades is probably fine.'
'One way to think about it is if you'd hand over control of the connected devices in your home to someone you don't trust and then imagine the worst they could do with that and consider whether you're okay with someone having that level of control,' he said.
The final attacks were carried out by tricking tricking devices inside the home.

The team was able to inject erroneous events in fire alarms or lights that turned them on or switched them to vacation mode.
These results have implications for all smart home systems, and even the broader Internet of Things, researchers said.

'The bottom line is that it's not easy to secure these systems' Prakash said.
'There are multiple layers in the software stack and we found vulnerabilities across them, making fixes difficult.'
The researchers told SmartThings about these issues in December 2015 and the company is working on fixes.
The researchers rechecked a few weeks ago if a lock's PIN code could still be snooped and reprogrammed by a potential hacker, and it still could.
'Protecting our customers' privacy and data security is fundamental to everything we do at SmartThings,' CEO at SmartThings Alex Hawkinson shared in a recent blog post.
'We are fully aware of the University of Michigan/Microsoft Research report and have been working with the authors of the report for the past several weeks on ways that we can continue to make the smart home more secure as the industry grows.'

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3569789/So-smart-home-Researchers-reveal-major-security-flaws-Samsung-s-SmartThings-let-hackers-unlock-doors-set-alarms.html

So much for the smart home: Researchers reveal major security flaws in Samsung's SmartThings system that let hackers unlock your doors and set off alarms
Researchers found 40% of 499 SmartApps are over-privileged
Hackers can create new PIN code by sending users malicious link in app
Injected erroneous events used to trick devices to turn on or shut down
By STACY LIBERATORE FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
PUBLISHED: 14:06 EST, 2 May 2016 | UPDATED: 14:57 EST, 2 May 2016

Comparing Unemployment Rates, Citizens vs. Illegal Aliens

[From article]
A new study by George Borjas from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University reveals what many have long been concerned about when it comes to illegal immigration into the United States.
According to Borjas' paper, the "employment rate of undocumented men is 86.6%, as compared to 73.9% for natives and 77.8% for legal immigrants," and this gap has been widening since the mid-1990s.
More evidence that illegal immigrants are both taking jobs away from legal Americans and undercutting their wage bargaining power.

http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2016/03/study_employment_rate_of_illegal_immigrant_men_far_higher_than_for_legal_immigrants_and_natives.html

March 26, 2016
Study: Employment rate of illegal immigrant men far higher than for legal immigrants and natives
By Sierra Rayne

Harvard University Studies Sexual Behavior of Students For Federal Government

After studying campus sexual practices, will the federal government issue guidelines for proper behavior? The city of Cambridge appropriates taxpayer funds to rear children just as predicted by George Orwell. Government will control all behavior especially mating and rearing children. Will that end all freedom to be bad and to have fun? Will everyone strive to be conformist and obedient?



http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2016/2/26/gsas-departments-sexual-harassment/

Departments Instruct Graduate Students On Sexual Harassment
By MELISSA C. RODMAN and LUCA F. SCHROEDER

Harvard CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS
February 26, 2016

John Kerry Unsure Mass Murder of Christians By Muslims is Genocide

Under current White House only Muslims can be victims. And anyway saying bad things about Muslims is worse crime against humanity than murdering Christians and Jews. Not like this is something new. See e.g., Act For America founder Brigitte Gabriel whose parents were murdered by Muslims in Lebanon. Kerry is thinking about it.

[Transcript of hearing included]
[From article]
Secretary of State John Kerry told the House Appropriations Subcommittee on the Department of State and Foreign Assistance today that he is having an “additional evaluation” done to help him determine whether the systematic murder of Christians and other religious minorities in the Middle East—at the hands of the Islamic State and others—should be declared “genocide.”
“I will make a decision on it as soon as I have that additional evaluation and we will proceed forward from there,” Kerry said.
Kerry was responding to a question put to him by Rep. Jeff Fortenberry (R.-Neb.), who is the sponsor of a resolution that would declare on behalf of Congress that it is in fact genocide.
[. . .]
Fortenberry told Kerry about a young Syrian man who had been murdered by jihadists after refusing to renounce his Christian faith.
“I had the extraordinary privilege of being in the room with Pope Francis when he, in a very powerful moment, was given a small cross, a Christian crucifix,” said Fortenberry. “That crucifix had belonged to a young Syrian man who had been captured by the jihadists, and he was told to choose: Convert or die. And he chose his ancient faith tradition. He chose Christ, and he was beheaded.”
“His mother was able to recover the body, recover this cross, and bury him,” said Fortenberry. “She fled to Austria, which set the stage for this moment which I witnessed.”
“Mr. Secretary, this is repeating itself over and over and over again against Christians, Yazidis, and other religious minorities in the region,” said Fortenberry.
“What I’m urging here today,” said Fortenberry, “is that you use the authority and power of your office to call this genocide, to help restore the rich tapestry of the ancient faith traditions in the Middle East, to stop this assault on human dignity and civilization itself.”

http://cnsnews.com/news/article/terence-p-jeffrey/kerry-state-doing-additional-evaluation-decide-if-slaughter-mideast

Kerry Having ‘Additional Evaluation’ Done to Decide if Slaughter of Mideast Christians is Genocide
By Terence P. Jeffrey

February 24, 2016 | 3:14 PM EST

MBTA Spends Other People's Money

WCVB reported in February 2015, "In 2014, more than 2,000, or 27 percent, of the 7,400 employees earned more than $100,000 a year." and "Last year total employee earnings were more than $500,000,000 -- an 18 percent jump from 2013" In May 2015, WCVB, "There are 46 MBTA managers enjoying this take-home car perk, which is costing taxpayers and riders more than$1 million. And that doesn't include the cost of free gas, insurance, maintenance and repairs they also receive." Now they report "the MBTA's financial control board voted to spend up to $6 million to study the project [. . .] to try and [. . .] save the $4.7 billion expansion." Are there no taxpayer funded employees (among the estimated 1800) who are able to do the job? How many employees are ranking members of the Spending Other People's Money Society?



[From article]
But Monday, the MBTA's financial control board voted to spend up to $6 million to study the project.
Three firms will come up with a redesign and a new price tag to try and slash costs and save the $4.7 billion expansion.

http://cambridge.wickedlocal.com/article/20160126/NEWS/160127072

Report shows chronic Red Line issues
By WCVB
Posted Jan. 26, 2016 at 10:58 AM
CAMBRIDGE Chronicle

Spending Other People's Money For Academic Studies

Meanwhile, the MBTA wants to spend $6 million to study how to spend $4.7 billion expansion. Cambridge City Council wants to spend taxpayer funds to study how to get $24 million from corporations. Amazing how much money wasted by the Spending Other People's Money Society. 400 people could have homes and lives if the money spent on academic studies were used to house humans. Still wonder why Trump is so popular?



http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2016/1/27/winter-homelessness-y2y/

Cambridge Homeless Prepare for Winter
By MAHNOOR B. ALI and KIER W ZIMMERMAN

Harvard CRIMSON STAFF WRITERS
January 27, 2016

Improving and Maintaining Relationships

Saying thank you and showing appreciation is a gesture that can transform your relationship, says Tracey (Pictured posed by models)

[From article]
We hear lots about the millions of pounds poured into studies on sex and love in a bid to make us happier in our relationships every year.
But here’s some key findings from the last year of research and how to make them work practically for you.
[. . .]
It’s not the amount of money each of you has that predicts the success of a relationship, it’s how you manage it.
A significant study by the Federal Reserve Board in the US found couples who have similar credit scores have a higher chance of making it long term than those who don’t.
The better your score, the better your chances. Which makes sense when you think about it.
Managing finances requires maturity, being able to resist instant gratification and planning for the future: all are also good relationship skills.
[. . .]
No surprises that communicating effectively and regularly once more turned up in research to be integral to relationship satisfaction.
But research by US psychology university professors (Drexel University) found couples who ‘sexted’ each other – sent sexually explicit or suggestive texts or photos – were more sexually satisfied than those who didn’t.
The professors found a ‘robust relationship’ between sexting and relationship happiness which is good news because 82 per cent of us sexted in the last year (though, sadly, not all were sent to our partner!)
[. . .]
Rather than berate your partner for not doing something/thinking something/behaving in a way you wouldn’t, accept that they’re different and allow them to be.
[. . .]
expressing appreciation through every day gestures – like making a cup of tea or actually saying ‘Thanks for doing that’ – meant more than grand declarations or expensive gifts and holidays.
[. . .]
expressing appreciation through every day gestures – like making a cup of tea or actually saying ‘Thanks for doing that’ – meant more than grand declarations or expensive gifts and holidays.
[. . .]
avoid the same old routine and do something fresh and different once a week.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-3396009/Tracey-Cox-make-relationship-happier-10-simple-steps.html

The 10 things guaranteed to make YOUR relationship happier (including having sex once a week, being affectionate and saying thank you)
Tracey Cox says you can do simple things to ensure your relationship lasts
She believes communicating regularly is key for a happy partnership
Going out on dates and not holding grudges can keep the love alive
By TRACEY COX FOR MAILONLINE
PUBLISHED: 02:52 EST, 13 January 2016 | UPDATED: 04:43 EST, 13 January 2016

Study: Why Women Experience Broken-Heart Syndrome

Dr. Harmony Reynolds, a cardiologist at NYU Langone Medical Center, hopes to build on her study of broken-heart syndrome to come up with prevention strategies. 

PHOTO: JOHN ABBOTT

[From article]
Experts say broken-heart syndrome, which most often affects women in their 60s or older, can be brought on by strong emotions, such as grief, anger and anxiety, or by physical stress. A common trigger is a loved one’s illness or death, while for some patients there is no clear-cut cause for an attack. “It is a romantic notion, but you really can get this from heartache,” says Dr. Reynolds, whose study was published online in November in the American Journal of Cardiology.
Roberta Silver, who participated in Dr. Reynolds’s study, recalls driving in Santa Monica, Calif., in 2007 when she suddenly felt her heart pounding. She pulled over to a cafe, where she became intensely ill. An ambulance took her to a hospital, and she was told she had suffered a heart attack. But a series of tests, including an angiogram, all turned up negative, she says.
[. . .]
After several days in the hospital, doctors concluded she had suffered broken-heart syndrome.
[. . .]
Ms. Compagnino started feeling an intense pain in her chest “like an elephant was sitting on me,” she recalled. Yet at the hospital, doctors found nothing on her angiogram that was amiss --- no sign of clogged arteries. She became a patient of Dr. Reynolds, who believes anxiety played a role in bringing on the attack and has tried to guide her in the hope of preventing future episodes.
[. . .]
Broken-heart syndrome was first isolated by Japanese researchers 25 years ago, who named the condition takotsubo cardiomyopathy.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/new-clues-why-women-get-broken-heart-syndrome-1451932640

New Clues Why Women Get Broken-Heart Syndrome
Study comes to surprising conclusion about mysterious malady’s causes, suggests possible remedies
By LUCETTE LAGNADO

Updated Jan. 4, 2016 2:33 p.m. ET

More Reasons For FBI Shunning CAIR

Here's my question concerning the free operation of CAIR as a civil rights organization. Even in this press conference held on December 21, 2015 CAIR spokesmen ignore extremist violent acts by persons who appear to be Muslims, killing Americans. CAIR never condemns those mass murders, and does not mention Muslim violence anywhere. They are only concerned about bias and discrimination against Muslims in America. CAIR never mentions extreme abuses in Muslim dominant countries. CAIR ignores hate speech and actions expressing a desire to kill Americans,  Jews and to destroy western civilization and Israel specifically. They are adept at exploiting freedoms guaranteed by the US Constitution as they protect aggression against the United States. He's a link to UK Prime Minister's report on the Muslim Brotherhood, the press conference by CAIR, followed by an essay about the UK report on Muslim Brotherhood and violence. 

UK Study can be read at this link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/486932/Muslim_Brotherhood_Review_Main_Findings.pdf?utm_medium=email&utm_source=Neptune+Web+E-Blast&utm_content=British+government+concludes+Muslim+Brotherhood+is+Radicalizing+Force&utm_campaign=Muslim+Brotherhood+inquiry+press+release

http://www.c-span.org/video/?402400-1/us-council-muslim-organizations-news-conference

DECEMBER 21, 2015
Muslims in the U.S.

Representatives of the U.S. Council of Muslim Organizations held a year-end news conference at the National Press Club on the organization’s initiatives to combat anti-Muslim attitudes in the U.S. They announced decisions made during their summit the previous day on new educational, outreach, and civil empowerment initiatives to address growing Islamophobia in the U.S. and to enhance national security. New strategies would include a campaign to register one million Muslim-American voters by the 2016 presidential election and a “National Open Mosque Day.” In addition, the council would seek to increase emergency preparedness for Muslim institutions and citizens faciing hate crimes around the country.

[From article]
A recently-published British government report concludes that “membership of, association with, or influence by the Muslim Brotherhood should be considered as a possible indicator of extremism,” according to Prime Minister David Cameron. The report also notes that the British government was mistaken in believing it shared a common agenda with the Muslim Brotherhood against al-Qaeda and militant Salafism in general. Cameron said the government would be more careful in the future not to provide legitimacy or a platform for the Muslim Brotherhood.
[. . .]
CAIR, a widely-quoted organization which poses as a civil-rights group, is a Muslim Brotherhood entity. A federal district court found it to be so, listing it under the heading “The following individuals/entitles who are and/or were members of the U.S. Muslim Brotherhood’s Palestine Committee and/or its organizations.” CAIR is number 11 on the list. CAIR was started with the help of a $5,000 donation from the Holy Land Foundation, a terrorist organization prosecuted by the aforementioned court for aiding the terrorist group Hamas. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, the Muslim Brotherhood is “Hamas’ parent organization.”
[. . .]



The problem is not limited to leaders from long ago: CAIR’s current executive director, Nihad Awad, participated in a Hamas meeting in Philadelphia and has voiced support for the group.
[. . .]
Given CAIR’s record of ties to Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) severed ties with CAIR back in 2009 “until [the FBI] can resolve whether there continues to be a connection between CAIR or its executives and HAMAS.” After the United Arab Emirates designated CAIR a terrorist organization in November 2014, the U.S. State Department said it would investigate. What has it found? Why doesn’t the federal government release the reports?

http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2015/12/has_the_us_government_finished_investigating_cair_for_terror_ties.html

December 19, 2015
Has the U.S. Government Finished Investigating CAIR for Terror Ties?
By Johanna Markind

Astronomers Study Internal Changes In Saturn

Images of the rings taken by Nasa's Cassini spacecraft are helping to reveal patterns within the rings, which are giving scientists clues about what could be going on inside the planet. Saturn's rings captured using an ultraviolet imager by Cassini are shown above.

Perhaps one of Al Gore's many legal climate change experts can file a lawsuit compelling Saturn to behave according to desirable computer modeling.

[From article]
Strange ripples in the rings around Saturn have suggested there may be something moving deep inside the gas giant.
Astronomers have found unusual wave like patterns in the rock and ice that make up Saturn's rings which appear to be travelling towards the centre of the planet.
Most of these 'waves' in Saturn's rings move outwards as a result of the gravitational pull by the planet's 62 moons drawing material in the rings towards them.
[. . .]
Dr Phillip Nicholson, a planetary scientist at Cornell University in New York who has been leading the analysis, told Space.com: 'Even dropping a probe into the atmosphere would not necessarily help a lot, because the probe will only get down to a pressure of five or 10 atmospheres before it gets cooked or squashed.
'We need to go much deeper to understand this.'
They are using data being beamed back by Nasa's Cassini spacecraft which has been carefully measuring the light passing through each of the rings.
This is allowing scientists to build up a picture of their density and look for subtle changes in the waves, which give clues about the oscillations going on inside Saturn.
Similar techniques are used to study distant stars to understand more about their internal structure.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3253680/What-stirring-deep-inside-Saturn-Strange-spiralling-ripples-gas-giant-s-rings-revealing-planet-s-internal-structure.html

What is stirring deep inside Saturn? Strange spiralling ripples in gas giant's rings are revealing the planet's internal structure
Scientists are studying strange waves moving through Saturn's rings
The unusual patterns suggest something is spinning deep inside the planet
They may help to unravel what lies beneath the planet's dense atompshere
By Richard Gray for MailOnline
Published: 10:50 EST, 29 September 2015 | Updated: 11:31 EST, 29 September 2015

Cambridge, MA Conference on Homelessness Determines Problem Needs More Study

Priority of Larry Oaks should be encouraged. Sandler recognizes limiting discussion to Cambridge may be misguided. Other cities have more accessible housing, e.g., Lowell, Lawrence, Fall River, Brockton, Worcester, Springfield, Pittsfield. Cunningham mentions "the voice of the Community." Who speaks better for people without homes, than those people? Only ownership is permanent housing. Even that can be ended by government taking. Councilor McGovern remains focused on delivering taxpayer funded health care to persons without homes. More business for the human services industry. Disappointing conclusion for another review of the findings. How many times must housing persons without homes be studied? How much time and money is wasted studying this problem instead of stopping the waste of taxpayer funds and housing people. Stop the nonsense. Here's an action plan. Get people off the streets.    



[From article]
Larry Oaks, director of Corporation for Supportive Housing, [. . .] said. “Who can address their other issues when they’re living on the street?”
[. . .]
One idea was to offer landlords more incentives for providing affordable housing, possibly through the city’s housing department.
[. . .]
Bill Cunningham expressed a concern that the meetings had not adequately represented “the voice of the community.”
[. . .]
Questions arose as to whether the housing would be transitional or permanent housing; whether there was “flexible funding” for it, so people can get in without waiting for months; and whether there was funding for services to go along with the housing.
[. . .]
“The homeless are mobile, so you need to help people beyond the borders of Cambridge,” said Martha Sandler, executive director of On the Rise,
[. . .]



Another speaker added that suburban towns could be doing more to provide more low-income housing.
[. . .]
Mark McGovern, director of Cambridge-Somerville Health Care for the Homeless, strongly recommended “low-barrier” shelters where homeless individuals can bring their belongings, pets and partners. There, he said, visitors could also access appropriate health services.
[. . .]
“early warning systems” can help in prevention. Something as simple as someone not paying their rent could be a sign. Also assessments are needed of who needs what kind of assistance or intervention, and if it should be short or long term.
“People don’t know who to call or what services to ask for. We need to help them do that,” said Oaks.
Ultimately, though, the goal to is “move people on,” according to Oaks, so they are back in the mainstream.



The next steps in the process of helping the city’s homeless will be to review all the findings from last week and to draft an action plan, according to Shelly Chevalier, planning and development manager for the city’s Human Services Programs.

http://cambridge.wickedlocal.com/article/20150923/NEWS/150928267

Housing challenges take focus at Cambridge Charrette on Homelessness
By Paul Angiolillo
Cambridge (at) wickedlocal.com
Posted Sep. 23, 2015 at 2:10 PM
CAMBRIDGE Chronicle

University of Massachusetts Rape Expert's Research Questioned

Political consultants extended the presidential campaign season to 4 years, 24/7, 365 days each year in order to increase not only their earnings, but also their control over what the candidates say and think. They dictate the policies and positions of the candidates. This should have been clear after the presidential elections of 2008 and 2012. Both times the Republican candidates should have won but for their campaign advisers.
Then there are consultants hired by local, state and federal governments, and even corporations to select leaders, and to create guidelines for programs and public policies.
Many of the consultants are academics, professors, researchers, etc. It is common knowledge that police, FBI agents, politicians, lawyers and doctors are corruptible. Lawyers and journalists are exposed as having intimate financial incentives from crime families or individual criminals. It is more difficult for ordinary civilians to believe that psychiatrists can be employed by the same criminal organizations. So the next question is why not academics? Why are they never employed by criminal organizations? Do any of the above mentioned professionals have access to the law enforcement apparatus? Police, FBI etc? So why not also to the criminal organizations as doctors, lawyers and journalists do?
Thus these "academic" studies, which are cited as the basis for public policy and for congressional committees to write laws, must be scrutinized. The objective of this specific law by the Education Department is to exercise control over student sex lives. The police already have extensive training and resources to prosecute crimes against women. Thwarting due process protections and thinking that college administrators with no experience or training in law no less criminal law will adjudicate criminal complaints in a rational manner raises the question what could go wrong? Here is an example.

[From article]
A college professor’s research on campus sexual assault that was used by the Obama administration to justify sweeping action on college sexual assault has been called into question in a pair of articles published by Reason magazine.
David Lisak, a retired psychology professor who taught at the University of Massachusetts Boston, has for years been regarded as one of the top academic experts on the matter of sexual assault on campus.
[. . .]



The biggest problem with Lisak’s work? While it’s a landmark study in the understanding of campus sexual assault, the data wasn’t actually about campus sexual assault at all. Lisak didn’t gather the data himself, but instead used data collected during four other studies conducted by masters and doctoral students at the school who passed out surveys to male passerby on the campus. The surveys themselves weren’t focused on the matter of sexual assault, and on top of that nothing was done to ensure those taking the survey were college students.
Not only that, but UMass-Boston, where these surveys were handed out, is a commuter school with no on-campus housing and a high proportion of non-traditional and part-time students. The average age of respondents to the surveys Lisak relied upon was 26 years old (one-fifth were over 30), with ages ranging from 18 to 71. According to one former student who helped collect the data, a high proportion of respondents were from working-class backgrounds and many were first-generation college students. The survey asked them about their general behavior, not how they acted on-campus or around other students.
In other words, Lisak’s supposedly systematic research into rape on campus was simply based a series of surveys given to men who happened to be passing around a single atypical college during a certain span of time.
“There is not a single statement in the paper about assaults taking place on or near a campus; there is not a single reference to the campus environment,” LeFauve writes.

 

LeFauve’s own research raised even more questions about Lisak’s methodology. Lisak claimed he conducted follow-up interviews with most of those he classified as serial predators, a claim LeFauve found suspicious because, when Lisak conducted his work in 2002, the data was several years old and much of it had been collected anonymously. When asked how he’d managed to interview these people, Lisak hung up on LeFauve without giving an answer. If Lisak is being at all deceitful about how he conducted his study, it would throw the reliability of the entire paper into doubt.
[. . .]
The Daily Caller News Foundation reached out to Lisak to see if he has a response to Reason’s criticism, and has not received a reply.

http://dailycaller.com/2015/07/28/major-study-on-campus-sex-assault-debunked/

Major Study On Campus Sex Assault Debunked

Blake Neff, Reporter
8:11 PM 07/28/2015

Updated: Cambridge MA Funds Study For Renovation of Harvard Square

Posted July 9, 2015 8:47 PM ET; Last updated July 14, 2015 8:22, PM ET


Out Of Town Newsstand Harvard Square, Cambridge, MA

"a [$600,000] feasibility analysis and preliminary design of potential uses [. . .] before conducting architectural design development. [Then] $4 million" for changes of the Kiosk, the point, etc. Sounds almost like an amendment to a US Congressional appropriation. Who said Wall Street is where the money is? Is this another undercover Republican consulting scam diverting taxpayer money from vulnerable persons and not for profit good intentions? Gasp!

http://cambridge.wickedlocal.com/article/20150714/NEWS/150718429

LETTER: Wise use of $4.6M for small improvements to Harvard Square?
Posted Jul. 14, 2015 at 4:00 PM
Updated at 4:03 PM
To the editor:
Cambridge Chronicle

Richard Dill, Huron Avenue
* * *

http://cambridge.wickedlocal.com/article/20150709/NEWS/150707040/?Start=1

Big plans for Out of Town News in Harvard Square
By Sara Feijo
sfeijo (at) wickedlocal.com
Posted Jul. 9, 2015 at 10:24 AM
CAMBRIDGE Chronicle

More Studies Of Persons Without Homes Planned, Housing Them Will Have To Wait Some More

Enthusiasm is good, how about some focus? Advocates suggest "bringing in experts and the public." What makes an expert? People employed at non profits who provide services to people without homes? Another says, “We need finely-tuned data.” which is collected frequently. Re-inventing the wheel is fun, but wastes time. Another wants to know "which types of homelessness are the most prevalent." Is diversity the issue? Still another asks, what "barriers prohibit the homeless from getting housing." Where are the experts? US Congressional and state legislative committees studied this issue, wrote legislation and provided funding. Every couple of years the Cambridge City Council (and many other city councils) assembles an army to write the ten year plan to end homelessness. University researchers study the issue and write articles and books about it. There are enough plans and studies wasting time, money and good will. Use the money and resources to put people into homes. Put fugitives into their proper places too. Stop stalling. Oh, is the open border contributing to the unending supply of homeless persons?

http://cambridge.wickedlocal.com/article/20150701/NEWS/150709650

Cambridge takes holistic approach in helping the homeless
By Amy Saltzman
asaltzman (at) wickedlocal.com
Posted Jul. 1, 2015 at 7:57 AM
Updated at 12:16 PM
CAMBRIDGE Chronicle

Neil Postman Was Right

Neil Postman, who taught Communications at New York University wrote a book, Amusing Ourselves To Death. He noted that people feared that government would censor information and keep people uninformed. But the opposite happened. People are overwhelmed with information making if difficult as reported here to wade through the flood of papers and information. It is not easy to sort out which information is reliable. Not mentioned in this brief essay is a fact that academics, consultants and researchers earn money doing studies. In view of the elevated status of such professions under the elitists who rule the U.S. there will only be more and more studies. One area in which the government requires studies before taxpayer funding is granted is how to end homelessness. Cities and towns are required to submit their ten year plan to resolve the problem. As long as they submit a paper they get the funds. No need to actually make a dent in the homeless population, only to submit a study. No need for it to be practical. Add that requirement to all areas of study and you see what exacerbates the issue. 

[From article]
It is also noted that the attention decays over time, not only because novelty fades, but also because the human capacity to pay attention to new content is limited,” the study explains.
The conclusion states that due to the exponential growth of these publications scholars “forget” papers more easily now than in the past, sometimes making it harder to isolate the most relevant information.

http://sacramento.cbslocal.com/2015/03/12/study-finds-there-are-too-many-studies/

Study Finds There Are Too Many Studies
March 12, 2015 5:13 PM
CBS News Sacramento CA

Twenty Year Study Shows Marijuana Is Not Harmless

[From article]
A definitive 20-year study into the effects of long-term cannabis use has demolished the argument that the drug is safe.
Cannabis is highly addictive, causes mental health problems and opens the door to hard drugs, the study found.
The paper by Professor Wayne Hall, a drugs advisor to the World Health Organisation, builds a compelling case against those who deny the devastation cannabis wreaks on the brain.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2782906/The-terrible-truth-cannabis-British-expert-s-devastating-20-year-study-finally-demolishes-claims-smoking-pot-harmless.html

The terrible truth about cannabis: Expert's devastating 20-year study finally demolishes claims that smoking pot is harmless
One in six teenagers who regularly smoke the drug become dependent
It doubles risk of developing psychotic disorders, including schizophrenia
Heavy use in adolescence appears to impair intellectual development
Driving after smoking cannabis doubles risk of having a car crash
Study's author said: 'If cannabis is not addictive then neither is heroin'
By BEN SPENCER, SCIENCE REPORTER FOR THE DAILY MAIL
PUBLISHED: 18:02 EST, 6 October 2014 | UPDATED: 02:08 EST, 7 October 2014

Reinventing The Wheel, By Denying It Exists

Marc McGovern, Cambridge City Councilor, Chairman of Spending Other People's Money Committee

Former social worker, vigorous advocate for the psychiatric industry, Cambridge City Councilor McGovern promotes income distribution for poor residents of Cambridge. He does not advocate that public officials contribute part of their taxpayer salaries to help ease poverty. Politicians seldom spend their own money, when they can spend other people's money. McGovern cites statistics as politicians love to do, without explaining what they mean. The City Councilor uses uncertain certitude when he says, "As anyone residing in Cambridge knows, it takes far more to reside in our city." More than what? Where? How much does it cost to live in a homeless shelter, or on the streets? 

He elaborates on the "effects" of poverty, saying they are well documented. But he ignores a well documented fact that politicians refuse to recognize. The fact that single parent families are more likely to live in poverty than two parent families. The rate of single parents of black American families is an outrage in the USA. This is not a new problem. Daniel Patrick Moynihan recognized it many years ago. Thomas Sowell and Walter Williams often write about it. Here's the latest from Williams.

[From Williams' article]
In 1950, female-headed households were 18 percent of the black population. Today it's close to 70 percent. One study of 19th-century slave families found that in up to three-fourths of the families, all the children lived with the biological mother and father. In 1925 New York City, 85 percent of black households were two-parent households. Herbert Gutman, author of "The Black Family in Slavery and Freedom, 1750-1925," reports, "Five in six children under the age of six lived with both parents." Also, both during slavery and as late as 1920, a teenage girl raising a child without a man present was rare among blacks.
[. . .]
The black illegitimacy rate in 1940 was about 14 percent; black illegitimacy today is over 70 percent, and in some cities, it is over 80 percent.
[. . .]
Each year, roughly 7,000 blacks are murdered. Ninety-four percent of the time, the murderer is another black person. Though blacks are 13 percent of the nation's population, they account for more than 50 percent of homicide victims. Nationally, the black homicide victimization rate is six times that of whites, and in some cities, it's 22 times that of whites. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, between 1976 and 2011, there were 279,384 black murder victims. Coupled with being most of the nation's homicide victims, blacks are also major victims of violent personal crimes, such as assault, rape and robbery.
[. . .]
If it is assumed that problems that have a devastating impact on black well-being are a result of racial discrimination and a "legacy of slavery" when they are not, resources spent pursuing a civil rights strategy will yield disappointing results.

http://jewishworldreview.com/cols/williamns082714.php3

Blacks Must Confront Reality

By Walter Williams
Published August 27, 2014

[From McGovern's article]
A recent study completed by the Cambridge Community Development Department indicated that Cambridge has a poverty rate of 14.4 percent for individuals and in certain subgroups, such as black and Latino, the poverty rate is as high as 30 percent. It is important to keep in mind that this study uses the federal standards of poverty. By federal standards, an individual earning less than $11,670 and a family of four earning less than $23,850 in combined income is living in poverty. As anyone residing in Cambridge knows, it takes far more to reside in our city.
[. . .]
The effects of poverty are well documented. Health issues, mental health issues, hunger and poor nutrition, homelessness and housing instability, substance abuse, crime, poor education, are all impacted by poverty. Children living in poverty are more likely to die in infancy, more likely to have hospital stays, more likely to repeat a grade in school, more likely to drop out of school, and more likely to engage in violence or other maladaptive behaviors. A community can be judged on how well it cares for its most vulnerable. In Cambridge, we do a very good job caring for those in need, we have many programs designed to support our neighbors, but we can do better.
[. . .]
The goals of the Income Insecurity Commission are as follows.

http://cambridge.wickedlocal.com/article/20140916/NEWS/140917204

GUEST COLUMN: A tale of two cities – Income insecurity right at home
By Councilor Marc McGovern
Posted Sep. 16, 2014 @ 2:03 pm
CAMBRIDGE Chronicle

Think Tanks Receiving Funds From Foreign Government Sponsors

Borge Brende, the foreign minister of Norway, in June at the Brookings Institution in Washington. 
Photo: CreditStephen Crowley/The New York Times

Is this one more reason to be skeptical of "scientific studies" and academic "experts?"

[From article] The agreement signed last year by the Norway Ministry of Foreign Affairs was explicit: For $5 million, Norway’s partner in Washington would push top officials at the White House, at the Treasury Department and in Congress to double spending on a United States foreign aid program.
But the recipient of the cash was not one of the many Beltway lobbying firms that work every year on behalf of foreign governments.
It was the Center for Global Development, a nonprofit research organization, or think tank, one of many such groups in Washington that lawmakers, government officials and the news media have long relied on to provide independent policy analysis and scholarship.
[. . .]
“It is particularly egregious because with a law firm or lobbying firm, you expect them to be an advocate,” Mr. Sandler added. “Think tanks have this patina of academic neutrality and objectivity, and that is being compromised.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/07/us/politics/foreign-powers-buy-influence-at-think-tanks.html?_r=0

Foreign Powers Buy Influence at Think Tanks
By ERIC LIPTON, BROOKE WILLIAMS and NICHOLAS CONFESSORE
SEPT. 6, 2014
New York Times

High Salaries of CEOs of Non Profits Studied

http://nypost.com/2013/10/14/study-looks-at-nonprofit-groups-with-millionaire-ceos/

Study looks at nonprofit groups with millionaire CEOs
By Jeane MacIntosh
New York Post
October 14, 2013 | 12:04am