Author Archives: andrew

Availability entrepreneurs ruin everything

Posted on May 5, 2021 by andrew

Andrew L. Urban An availability cascade is a self-reinforcing process of collective belief formation that triggers a self-perpetuating chain reaction: the more attention a danger gets, the more worried people become, leading to more news coverage and greater alarm. Because slowly increasing … Continue reading →

Posted in Quotidian | Leave a comment

The Deep Rig and the Sharpie switcheroo

Posted on April 26, 2021 by andrew

Andrew L. Urban Working with what he calls ‘white hat hackers’ – cyber forensics specialists aka ‘cyber-ninjas, geeks, dolphin-speakers’ – Patrick Byrne* documents ‘How Election Fraud cost Donald J. Trump the White House – by a man who did not … Continue reading →

Posted in Organisations And Groups | Leave a comment

Who’s got the ticker?

Posted on April 25, 2021 by andrew

Andrew L. Urban A recent survey (Skeptic Research Centre) in the US showed that 44% of liberals (lefties) believe that white police killed 1,000 or more unarmed black men in 2019. The factual figure is 25. In 2020 it was … Continue reading →

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How we fool ourselves: scientific consensus building

Posted on April 11, 2021 by andrew

Judith Curry* “Like a magnetic field that pulls iron filings into alignment, a powerful cultural belief is aligning multiple sources of scientific bias in the same direction,” says policy scientist Daniel Sarewitz. Statistician Regina Nuzzo summarizes the problem. “This is … Continue reading →

Posted in Democracy and global warming policies | Leave a comment

Biden does a Merkel … oooops

Posted on March 25, 2021 by andrew

Andrew L. Urban In 2015, Angela Merkel opened her heart – and Europe’s borders – to all comers wanting refuge and/or a better life from effectively anyone living East/South East of Germany. Over a million surged towards the country that … Continue reading →

Posted in Democracy And Refugees | Leave a comment

Democracy needs the power of truth

Posted on February 24, 2021 by andrew

Andrew L. Urban Information is power – and democracy needs the power of truth to fight the onslaught of authoritarian urges and ruling orthodoxies, such as the fanatical global warming aka climate change movement. Media has collectively failed democracies in … Continue reading →

Posted in Democracy and global warming policies | Leave a comment

Stream of consciousness & a mysterious rejection

Posted on February 22, 2021 by andrew

One of the advantages of the digital age is the ability of newspaper readers to interact with the medium and the journalist by way of moderated comments. I do this a lot. But the other day, a comment was mysteriously … Continue reading →

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Obama’s Coup

Posted on February 21, 2021 by andrew

Andrew L. Urban In his riveting but deeply disturbing new book, The Permanent Coup: How Enemies Foreign and Domestic Targeted the American President (Center Street Hachette) investigative journalist and author Lee Smith reveals everything you didn’t know, couldn’t know but … Continue reading →

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Japan tells Myanmar junta to restore democracy

Posted on February 20, 2021 by andrew

Japan has issued its strongest condemnation of the Myanmar military coup, urging the military to “swiftly restore the country’s democratic political system”, as Canada and the UK joined the US in announcing targeted sanctions against the coup leaders. Japanese Foreign … Continue reading →

Posted in Regimes | Leave a comment

Poland to outlaw Big Tech’s ideological censorship

Posted on February 20, 2021 by andrew

New laws proposed by Poland could implement massive fines for tech giants who censor users or remove posts for ideological reasons, according to the country’s Deputy Minister of Justice Sebastian Kaleta, the architect of the new law.  Kaleta said on Fox News … Continue reading →

Posted in Democracy and Justice | Leave a comment