Random Politics & Religion #01

In fact Raev +1ed me FOUR times on one page the other day

In fact Raev +1ed me FOUR times on one page the other day

I didn't ask what qualifies him over Obama... I said that people have criticized Obama for a lack of experience saying that he was nothing more than a community planner and that should make unqualified to be president. It was an argument that was made against Obama that applies to Cruz... He has little to no real experience that would prepare him for the job so why wouldn't the same people make the same argument against him?

Cruz graduated from Princeton University in 1992, and from Harvard Law School in 1995. Between 1999 and 2003, he was the Director of the Office of Policy Planning at the Federal Trade Commission, an Associate Deputy Attorney General at the United States Department of Justice, and domestic policy advisor to George W. Bush on the 2000 George W. Bush presidential campaign. He served as Solicitor General of Texas, from 2003 to 2008, appointed by Texas Attorney General, Greg Abbott. He was the first Hispanic, and the longest-serving, Solicitor General in Texas history. From 2004 to 2009, Cruz was also an adjunct professor at the University of Texas School of Law in Austin, where he taught U.S. Supreme Court litigation.

LANSING — Former state Reps. Todd Courser and Cindy Gamrat have filed a notice with the Michigan Court of Claims that they could sue the state and others to recoup more than $500,000 for lost wages and compensatory damages for psychological and emotional distress related to their removal from office.

The notice isn’t an actual lawsuit against the state and individuals associated with the proceedings that led to the Republican lawmakers leaving office on Sept. 11 — Courser of Lapeer resigned and Gamrat of Plainwell was expelled. . But the notice came last month to comply with the six-month statute of limitations on lawsuits against the state.

“The claim will be filed in federal court,” the notice stated, adding that the actions taken that led to them leaving office were unconstitutional.

Courser and Gamrat were caught in a sex scandal and bizarre cover-up in which Courser sent an anonymous e-mail last year claiming that he was a sexual deviant who paid for sex with men outside bars in Lansing. The intent was to make it appear that the pair were victims of a smear campaign and to make it so that any news of their affair would pale in comparison to the manufactured tale in the e-mail.

As a result of the affair and the lawmakers’ attempt to use staffers to help cover-up the indiscretion, the House of Representatives held hearings and voted to expel Gamrat. Courser resigned before a vote to expel him could be taken.

In the notice of intent to sue, Courser and Gamrat said they intend to file suit against the Michigan House of Representatives; Speaker of the House Kevin Cotter, R-Mt. Pleasant; three of their former staffers, Keith Allard, Ben Graham and Joshua Cline; Tim Bowlin, the director of the House Business Office; Brock Swartzle, legal counsel to House Republicans; Norm Saari, former chief of staff to Cotter; David Horr, a person who investigators have identified as the sender of anonymous text messages calling on Courser to resign his seat, and Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette.

“These actions occurred in violation of claimants’ civil rights under the United States Constitution and the Michigan Constitution,” the notice reads, citing alleged violations of due process, equal protection, double jeopardy, unlawful search and seizure and deprivation of salary.

The notice said that Courser and Gamrat were never given their Miranda rights, allowed to subpoena witnesses, testimony or to examine witnesses during the hearings that led to them leaving office and that they were the victims of illegal wiretapping and eavesdropping.

Those actions were politically motivated, the notice said, because the Republican leadership wanted to kick them out of office before they voted on a roads package that they both opposed.

It’s just the latest legal action in the tangled case of the former lawmakers. Allard and Graham have file lawsuits against Courser and Gamrat in state and federal courts, claiming that they were unlawfully fired after they blew the whistle on their bosses.

And Schuette has filed felony criminal charges against both Courser and Gamrat for lying under oath, misconduct in office and asking staffers to forge their signatures on official “blue backs,” the documents filed when proposed legislation is introduced.

Messages were left for Courser. Gamrat referred questions to her attorney. Her attorney, Robert Baker, told the Free Press late Wednesday that his client will definitely file a federal lawsuit in U.S. District Court.

the automaker expects to deploy self-driving cars within a few years through a partnership with the ride-sharing service Lyft. Google, a pioneer in the development of self-driving cars, is pushing Congress to give NHTSA new powers to grant it special, expedited permission to sell cars without steering wheels or pedals.

But many of those who addressed the meeting, the first of two the agency has scheduled as it works on the guidelines, described a host of situations that self-driving cars still can't handle:

-Poorly marked pavement, including parking lots and driveways, could foil the technology, which relies on clear lane markings.

-Bad weather can interfere with vehicle sensors.

-Self-driving cars can't take directions from a policeman.

-Inconsistent traffic-control devices - horizontal versus lateral traffic lights, for example.

Until the technology has advanced beyond the point where ordinary conditions are problematic, "it is dangerous, impractical and a major threat to the public health, safety and welfare to deploy them," said Mark Golden, executive director of the National Society of Professional Engineers.

There have been thousands of "disengagements" reported in road tests of self-driving cars in which the vehicles automatically turned control over to a human being, said John Simpson, privacy project director of Consumer Watchdog.

"Self-driving cars simply aren't ready to safely manage too many routine traffic situations without human intervention, he said.

Rosekind said automakers are learning from the unanticipated situations the vehicles encounter and adapting their software. At the same time, he acknowledged that self-driving cars, like other systems that rely on wireless technology, can be vulnerable to hacking.

people had the same fears when airplane autopilots first came out. But eventually trust in technology took over and no one whines about potential autopilot accidents anymore.

The technology will speak for itself, and has; given how many hours google has on the road versus how many serious or light accidents they've had.

Once one of these cars causes a 5-100 car pile up on an interstate where people are diving 75mph-100mph. How many lawsuits until they are scrapped? It's not like it is the drivers fault and until now it would have been nonsensical to sue ford or dodge when one of their vehicles got in an accident. But with something like Google software of w/e the AI comes from they are the ones responsible now and are going to be liable for literally millions if not billions of dollars in lawsuits.

The driver behind the wheel is still liable. So it is not like the car makers are going to get sued out of existence.

Your issue is a nonissue

Self driving vehicles don't exist yet in any finished state, but they will, and we can't judge what is obviously the future in such naive ways.

Airplane is vastly different than a car.

For the love of some god somewhere or something. Please stop being silly. -_-

What answer do you want? I will just tell you what you want to hear at this point.
No idea why you raised the topic again. Sure it won't be the last time. We know where you stand though. I mean you did say some '12 year old Carola with no brakes' belongs on the road more than an autonomous car. So there is NO reason to have a discussion with you.

All I have to do is wait and enjoy.

It is not an autonomous car.

For all you know, when a sensor goes down a backup sensor takes over and the car just sends an email to you and to your dealership telling you both about the sensor that needs to be replaced.