Tag: Bill Of Rights

AI Bill Of Rights

The Biden group has issued what is being called a new Bill of Rights….they take on technology…….

The White House rolled out a proposal for an artificial intelligence Bill of Rights Tuesday, saying that while automated systems have “brought about extraordinary benefits,” progress “must not come at the price of civil rights or democratic values.” The blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights from the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy lists five principles that should be built into AI systems to protect the public from discrimination and violations of privacy, Axios reports. The White House warned that automated systems including those used for patient care “have proven unsafe, ineffective, or biased,” and algorithms used in hiring decisions have been found to “reflect and reproduce existing unwanted inequities or embed new harmful bias and discrimination.”

The principles state that Americans should know when automated decision-making is being used and they should be able to opt out. They state that algorithmic bias should be limited and users should be given control of their data. The White House said the document was released after a yearlong consultation with two dozen government departments, as well as tech companies and civil society groups, the AP reports. The proposals are nonbinding and government regulation of artificial intelligence remains “minimal or nonexistent,” Axios notes, though numerous other sets of AI guidelines exist, including EU guidelines released in 2019 and an “algor-ethical” proposal the Vatican released in 2020. Companies including IBM have released their own ethical guidelines.

“This is the White House saying that workers, students, consumers, communities, everyone in this country should expect and demand better from our technologies,” Alondra Nelson, OSTP deputy director for science and society, tells Wired. Nelson says the blueprint is “really just a down payment” on moves to limit harmful AI, though critics say the proposal should have included a framework to hold people and companies responsible for abusive AI practices. The US Chamber of Commerce, meanwhile, warned that if some of the recommendations become law, it will “handcuff America’s ability to compete on the global stage,” reports Reuters.

I support the idea…..but corporations will see that their paid agents in Congress will make this just a fart in the political wind.

But for those interested in the bill and the actions….I have the link for you…..

https://www.whitehouse.gov/ostp/ai-bill-of-rights/

Read it and decide for yourself….

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Rights As A Weapon

The First amendment….the 2nd amendment….seem to the two most cited….probably because those are the only ones that mean anything to most Americans.

It always amuses me when in-bred dumbass stump jumpers start complaining about their rights…..when it comes to their incitement rhetoric or their right to pray to a shopping cart and especially when it is their right to own a 1000 weapons designed for combat…..and now it is their right to infect others with a disease because they do not like the precautions.

Where does all this stupidity end?

Best answer is no time soon….thanx to the lies and bullshit on social media….

I read a article about a book that touches on the situation of rights used as a weapon….

Human rights are generally thought of as defensive in nature. That is, they are held up by certain individuals and groups as a means to protect their dignity from the state or other malevolent actors. Moreover, rights are often viewed as either philosophically grounded in principles of human dignity and/or religiously endowed by a creator. Even absent a philosophical or religious grounding, rights are often regarded as legal concepts and taken as inviolate. These views of human rights treat them as generally positive and used by oppressed groups for liberal ends. In Rights as Weapons: Instruments of Conflict, Tools of Power, Clifford Bob cuts against the hagiography of human rights, and rights in general, to focus on the fundamental political nature of rights and how they are often used strategically, aggressively, and even for “illiberal ends”.

…

Rights as mobilizers. As Bob notes rights are particularly potent motivators of political action. He lists five reasons for this: 1) because rights are perceived as natural in that they have deep roots, 2) rights are also perceived as universal applying across space and time, 3) rights are perceived as absolute in that they are inviolate and can trump other political issues, 4) rights are perceived as apolitical putting them above other petty political squabbles, and finally, 5) rights are violated by one’s foes.

Review – Rights as Weapons: Instruments of Conflict, Tools of Power

Thoughts?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

That Bill Of Rights

Closing Thought–18Dec19

All the talk about the Constitution these days leads me to want to help readers understand the entire document and that includes a portion that was added later…the Bill of Rights.

Many of the rights and liberties Americans cherish—such as freedom of speech, religion, and due process of law—were not enumerated in the original Constitution drafted at the Philadelphia Convention in 1787, but were included in the first ten amendments, known as the Bill of Rights. How much do you know about the Bill of Rights?

Answers to question like why was it added? Where was it written? Who wrote it? And others

Let’s begin with ….What is the Bill of Rights?

The Bill of Rights is the first 10 amendments to the United States Constitution. These amendments guarantee essential rights and civil liberties, such as the right to free speech and the right to bear arms, as well as reserving rights to the people and the states.

The Bill of Rights has its own fascinating story as a distinct historical document, drafted separately from the seven articles that form the body of the Constitution. But ever since the first 10 amendments were ratified in 1791, the Bill of Rights has also been an integral part of the Constitution.

https://constitutioncenter.org/blog/everything-you-ever-wanted-to-know-about-the-bill-of-rights-2

To help my readers understand the Constitution beyond using the word to make some mindless point…..there is an aid to reading the document that ALL Americans should know front and back…….

https://constitutioncenter.org/interactive-constitution/the-constitution

Be Smart!

Learn Stuff!

I Read, I Wrote, You Know

“Lego Ergo Scribo”

The Year Was 1791

1791 was a busy year in American history…..the beginnings of the Whiskey Rebellion and the ratification of the Bill of Rights.

First let’s go to the Whiskey Rebellion……only a few short years after the end of the Revolution and we are at it again……

What started as a tax in 1791 led to the Western Insurrection, or better known as the Whiskey Rebellion of 1794, when protesters used violence and intimidation to prevent federal officials from collecting.

On March 3, 1791, Congress instituted a tax on distilled liquors to help pay off the debt from the American Revolution. Treasury secretary Alexander Hamilton had initiated a program to increase central government power, and the tax was to fund his policy of assuming war debt of those states who failed to pay.

During this time the western part of Pennsylvania was separated from the east by the Allegheny Mountains.  Farmers, the majority of the population, found there was a limited market for their grain locally, and it was difficult to transport the grain to the east for sale. So instead, farmers converted their grain to whiskey, which made it easier to transport and more marketable.

https://www.legendsofamerica.com/ah-whiskeyrebellion/

For those pressed for time or just plain lazy……

Now in my opinion this “rebellion” was part of the reason for the 2nd amendment….you know the amendment that cause people to go blind with rage.

About 5 years ago I wrote my thoughts about the 2nd amendment and why it was included in the Bill of Rights…….(again these were my thoughts)

https://lobotero.com/2013/01/30/why-the-2nd/

It is always a joy for me to share some history with my readers…..hope everyone learned something……

Class Dismissed!

Shredding the Fourth Amendment in Post-Constitutional America – The Unz Review

In this world where many are worried about the first and second amendment rights…………Everybody and I do mean……..EVERYBODY has an opinion on the loss of privacy and such…….but the 4th amendment is being shredded and no matter where you are on the political spectrum………you should be WORRIED!

 

Shredding the Fourth Amendment in Post-Constitutional America – The Unz Review.

U.S. Plummets in Global Press Freedom Rankings | Free Press

If you are reading this then I am still battling lawyers over my father’s estate…..I set this to be published at 1330 hrs….just in case…..

We are so proud of our ‘freedoms’ especially the freedom of press….maybe we should pay closer attention to what is happening or that ‘freedom’ could be lost…..

U.S. Plummets in Global Press Freedom Rankings | Free Press.

Is The 1st Under Attack?

Of course it is!~  Well depends on who you talk to……everyone has a different view of the attacks….there are those that claim it is under religious attack….others see speech as under the gun…..even others see that the freedom of press is being assaulted……no matter what or which section you are concerned about there is situation brewing in the UK that could have wide ranging consequences…..

AS reported in the UK’s Guardian newspaper……..

The seizure of journalists’ notebooks, photographs and digital files could be conducted in secret hearings, owing to a little-publicised clause in a government bill aimed at cutting red tape, media organisations have warned.

Requests for notebooks, computer disks, photographs or videos must currently be made in open court and representatives of news groups can be present.

But the clause – in the deregulation bill, which comes before the Commons on Monday – significantly alters the way courts consider so-called “production orders”, stripping out current safeguards.

The underlying rules governing whether police can have access to material will remain the same but without media groups being present it is feared that judges will be more easily persuaded to authorise police seizures of journalistic material.

You know if this succeeds then it will be looked at closely here….I mean as we lose more and more of our rights to privacy….this would be just the next logical step…….

Thoughts?

Why Was Bill Of Rights Added?

College of Political Knowledge

Subject:  Early American History/Government

Today is the most important day in our history and we observe it not…..17 September 1787……this document gave birth to a nation….

All of us learned about the forming of the US Constitution….all the debate, the convention and then the ratification process…but how many people know that the Bill of Rights were not part of the original Constitution…..it was added in 1791……

The origins of the Bill of Rights…..were they original thoughts?

The Virginia Bill of Rights (proclaimed in 1776, only days before the Declaration of Independence) was the first of ten such declarations by the states during the Revolutionary War period (1775-83). All of these declarations contained provisions that eventually found their way into the national Bill of Rights. Major portions of the First, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, and Eighth amendments, for example, can be traced directly to the Virginia Bill of Rights.

The origins of many of the other rights and liberties contained in the Bill of Rights can be found in the English tradition, dating as far back as Magna Carta (1215), a document that marked the first step toward constitutional law in England. For example, the clause in the Fifth Amendment, which declares that individuals cannot be deprived of their “life, liberty, or property, without due process of law” is rooted in Chapter 39 of Magna Carta.

England’s Petition of Right (1628) and Bill of Rights (1689) further expanded individual liberties and placed increased limitations on the ruler’s powers and authority. English liberties and rights, such as trial by jury and protection against self-incrimination and unreasonable search and seizure, were, in fact, included in the charters establishing the American colonies. They were considered to be the “rights of Englishmen.”

Then we ask, why were they introduced after the ratification of the Constitution?

At the Constitutional Convention of 1787, delegates rejected a motion made by George Mason, author of the Virginia Declaration of Rights (1776), to preface the Constitution of the United States with a bill of rights. The failure to mention basic rights soon became a major issue in the subsequent debates over whether or not the proposed Constitution would be ratified, or approved.

When the Constitutional Convention ended, delegates went back to their respective states to hold their own ratifying conventions. Each state would decide for itself whether or not to approve the new framework for the American government.

The debate over the need for a bill of rights was sparked by a proposal made by a dissenting minority in the Pennsylvania ratifying convention. Some delegates believed that guarantees of certain basic rights and liberties were missing from the proposed Constitution. They called for a number of amendments that would secure a wide range of liberties, such as the free exercise of religion, freedom of speech and press, and protection against unreasonable searches and seizures. Majorities in the ratifying conventions of New Hampshire, Massachusetts, New York, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina also called for numerous amendments to the proposed Constitution. Although the substance of these recommended amendments differed from state to state, most contained provisions that would limit the powers of the new federal (national) government and protect the people from inconsistent and oppressive rule.

The Anti-Federalists (those who were opposed to ratifying the Constitution) argued that the broad powers of the new federal government would threaten the powers of the individual states and the liberties of the people. However, the Federalists (those who supported ratification) argued that a bill of rights was unnecessary. Alexander Hamilton, for example, maintained that because the proposed federal government would possess only specifically assigned and limited powers, it could not endanger the fundamental liberties of the people. “Why,” he asked, “declare that things shall not be done which there is no power to do? Why, for instance, should it be said that the liberty of the press shall not be restrained, when no power is given by which restrictions may be imposed?”

Nevertheless, the Federalists had to pledge their support for the addition of a bill of rights to the Constitution once the new government began operations. Otherwise they would risk endangering the Constitution’s ratification in certain key states and face the possibility of another constitutional convention.

The inclusion of the BoR was part of the compromise between all parties to keep the union together after the country began is young existence…….The Constitution was more about property rights not individual rights…basically, the people demanded a statement of rights to be included……It was an after thought that got its day.

2011 Info Ink Book Review #1

From time to time I am given a book that someone wants my opinion on….usually it is politically motivated or historically motivated……and for the Xmas we all celebrate I was given a book entitled “Revolutionaries” by Jack Rakove….about the beginning of this great country and the events that lead to its establishment……

The official title is….”Revolutionaries:  A New History Of The Invention Of America” by Jack Rakove,  a Pulitzer prize winner…..

We all know the general story of the founding of the country….the Tea Party, Paul’s ride, Concorde, Trenton Valley Forge…on and on…..through the Constitutional battles fought…to the swearing in of our first president……this is all generic and easily taught and more easily understood….but Mr, Rakove goes much further….like any political story or history, if you will, there are always back stories that seldom get talked about….this is where “Revolutionaries” begins….

He takes the reader from the Tea Party (the physical protest, not the political movement) to the ratification of the newly penned Constitution…all the battles fought in the political arena to find and then implement the “perfect” republic.

We all know the generic history of the founding of the United States of America, but Mr. Rakove takes the reader to the back stories of the founding from the firebrand Sam Adams to the snooze fest that was Washington (the man not the city), the intelligence of John Adams and Madison and all the in-betweens, the moderates, if you will.

All in all “Revolutionaries” is an excellent look at the early days of the revolution and the country……an excellent characterization of the players in the founding of the country…the inter-actions, the arguments, the radicals, the moderates and the wimpy…..

I recommend this book to anyone that has a deep desire to learn about the founding of the country, beyone the generic…..well done Mr. Rakove…..