For the uninitiated, if there are any, when you download Uber's app and get into a car summoned on-demand via a smart phone reservation system, by default you agree to a litany of terms and conditions.
The moment you tick the "agree" button to these very stringent terms, you basically sign your life away. So then, what happens when your driver abuses or assaults you, or fatally knocks down a six-year-old girl, as was the case in California?
Uber is a so-called ride-sharing service that puts potential drivers through their own customised background check so that they can become an impromptu "taxi driver" using their own car and Uber's tech and taximeter. The truth is, most people, including myself never bother to read the terms and conditions, and in this case, people don't know...
Politics
Dear Mr. Neel Kashkari,
As a real homeless person I find your little homeless man publicity stunt to be a slap in the face of real homeless people. For one thing, I don't know any homeless people who worked for Goldman Sachs nor do I know anyone who headed the bank bailouts of 2008 but I do know that for all the homeless people that exist in this country, homelessness is not a publicity stunt or a temporary adventure. What exactly have the bank bailouts done for those living in poverty and entering into poverty daily as we speak?
Anyone who can read has probably already seen the myriad of news articles and television documentaries on American poverty so your claim to me out on Twitter that you will use any tactic to bring forward the issue is misleading. I strongly suspect you'll do...
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Dear Fellow Voters:
I've been watching all the presidential candidates with great interest--and deep concern. Concern for us. Concern for the fate of our country. Concern for our world.
As a narcissism expert, I'm not especially worried that narcissists might make it to the White House. According to research, they've always been there. And that shouldn't scare us anyway, because just to be clear: narcissist is not a diagnosis. It never has been. Narcissists are people higher in narcissistic traits than the average person, and while they may or may not be disordered, they all share one thing in common: they feel special. Some feel special enough to lead a nation, in fact.
So what we should be far more concerned about is not whether or not politicians are narcissists--most are--but...
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Dear Governor Snyder,
As the father of someone who struggled with addiction for seven years before getting clean, I think people who distribute and sell illegal drugs like heroin and cocaine are the scum of the earth. Making your living by ruining people's lives -- and destroying entire families -- is about as low as you can get.
That said, I also believe in second chances, especially when it comes to young people making mistakes. And I believe in fair and just punishment for young people who commit crimes, especially when those crimes are non-violent.
This is why the case of Richard Wershe Jr. troubles me so much.
As a lifelong Detroiter, I remember hearing about the "notorious" drug dealer with the nickname "White Boy Rick" back in the 1980s. In the spring of 1987, at the...
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Dear Senator Sanders,
We are educators and supporters of yours, from across the country. Many of your positions on the issues that are the most significant facing the American populace resonate with us, inclusive of but not limited to economic inequality and the plutocratic maldistribution of political power.
In addition to being supporters and organizers for your campaign and the issues above, we are also some of the educators who are fighting against the privatization of public education and the test and punish philosophy that has become pervasive with far too many politicians. We champion this fight because our students, our profession, and the future of this country depend upon our changing the conditions that exist today under the failed No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top...
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Last week, you told professors at the University of Wisconsin that they needed to “work harder.” You were making a case that the Wisconsin state budget crisis could be ameliorated by increasing employee efficiency, and you suggested having faculty teach at least one more class. I’m not going to talk about whether or not the budget crisis is manufactured (some have argued it could be solved by accepting federal funds for the state’s Badger Care health program), or whether your real goal is really partisan politics, and not fiscal responsibility.
Instead, I want to talk about the myth of the lazy professor, a stereotype that you’ve reinforced with your comment. I spent 2005 to 2012 at the University of Wisconsin, where I obtained a PhD in the Department of Geography; I am now an assistant...
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Dear Tony,
As we all know, earlier this year you decided that Australian families must vaccinate their children, or else lose government benefits.
And then you also decided that all vaccine exemptions would be cancelled, except the rare medical one.
Well, Tony, something just happened in Washington DC that leaves you hanging out on a very dangerous limb, unless you can suppress all mention of it in the Australian press.
US Congressman Bill Posey, speaking on the House floor (July 29), read a statement from a senior scientist at the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). The scientist’s name is William Thompson, and he is a whistleblower.
In 2004, Thompson and several other CDC scientists authored a study on the MMR vaccine and its potential connection to autism. The study was...
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Straight to the point, you are a dead-man-walking, Mr. Vice President! The current ZANU-PF shenanigans that involve the deadly purges, witch hunting and name-calling are obvious pointers.
Never think that because Robert Mugabe gave you the Vice Presidency post he likes you, he is actually afraid of you! "To kill them, tame them," goes the saying.
Much said, it is my belief that you should not be intimidated into extinction without challenging the evil dictator and his wife.
Right now many Zimbabweans are shocked with the way the adulterous Grace Mugabe carries herself, as well as being used as a tool by the nonagenarian to silence those that are perceived as threats to his dictatorship and misrule.
Now let's go personal: Dambudzo, please tell me you are happy being in the...
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Dear Mr. Trump,
I have been closely following your campaign since you announced your intention to run for President of the United States. Like millions of Americans of all political stripes, I greatly appreciate your frankness, your honesty, and your candor. The criticisms you are leveling against the mainstream political and media establishment in America – the corrupt, superficial nature of electoral politics, the disastrous and poorly negotiated international trade deals our "leaders" have pushed on this country, the dishonest, malicious behavior of the "journalists" and "political pundits" covering politics today, etc. – are resonating very deeply across this once great nation for very obvious reasons.
Most Americans I know and deal with feel alienated from the political...
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Dear Donald Trump Supporters:
You’re fed up. This much I understand. You’re fed up with politicians who say one thing on the campaign trail, like that they’re going to stop illegal immigration, and then do another in Washington; you’re fed up with insiders who rig the system for their benefit at your expense; and you’re fed up with coastal media elites and their insular subculture.
On some level I sympathize. In the last presidential election, I couldn’t bring myself to vote for any of the candidates. I just left it blank. I wanted nothing to do with my awful options.
What I don’t understand is why you think a President Trump would treat us better. If you elect the billionaire, what makes you think that he will use whatever talents that he possesses to address your grievances...
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