Gerrymandering is overstated and is held up to be the boogeyman of either party. The reality is much more believable:
Political scientists Jowei Chen of the University of Michigan and Jonathan Rodden of Stanford University’s Hoover Institution conducted an in-depth study in 2013 of legislative-district lines, using computer simulations of precinct-by-precinct voting patterns to map alternative redistricting plans without regard to partisanship or race. What they concluded was that Republicans have a natural advantage conferred by the “human geography” of Democratic voters’ concentrating disproportionately in overwhelmingly liberal urban districts while Republican voters are more evenly distributed in the suburban, exurban, small-town, and rural districts.
Chen and Rodden found that this “unintentional gerrymandering” produced an average Republican bias of five points nationwide, or seven to eight points in such states as Pennsylvania and Georgia.In Florida, their main test case, they used the 50–50 precinct-by-precinct Bush and Gore votes and found, based on random computer simulations of a map of 25 districts (the number of House districts in the 2002 redistricting), that Republicans had an average of 61 percent of the House seats. As Chen and Rodden explained in early 2014: “In the vast majority of states, our nonpartisan simulations produced Republican seat shares that were not much different from the actual numbers in the last election.” That’s before even considering the impact of the VRA.
And while the 241–194 House majority elected in 2016 benefited from a 21-seat advantage (even as House Republicans had 50.6 percent of the two-party national vote), a look at the numbers suggests that most of this advantage was owing to factors other than gerrymandering.
After a two-year investigation, a man working for a Chinese conglomerate was arrested on charges of stealing inbred corn seed from production fields in Iowa and Illinois and trying to smuggle it into China, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Iowa Nicholas Klinefeldt said.
The man, Mo Hailong, director of the international business of the Beijing Dabeinong Technology Group Co, a part of DBN Group, was in the United States legally.
A Chinese national who worked for US agricultural technology firm Monsanto has been charged in St Louis, Missouri, with stealing trade secrets for China, the US Justice Department said.
Haitao Xiang, 42, an employee of Monsanto and its Climate Corp subsidiary from 2008 to 2017, was stopped by federal officials at a US airport before he could board a flight to China carrying proprietary farming software, the department said in a statement on Thursday.
These are just two stories that made it into the news cycles. I have a lot more anecdotal evidence from farmer's I know who have seen the same thing in their fields in North Dakota. It's interesting that its usually the tech secrets they steal that make into the headlines, but the agricultural research Pioneer and Monsanto are doing is just as valuable to the Chinese and they're willing to send people anywhere to walk into these farmer's fields and start digging up experimental seeds? That's a major problem.
>> They always do that, threaten people with insane penalties if they don't accept so shitty plea deal and if you are not super certain that you can win, you will likely accept that one, just because it seems "safer".
Actually they don't.
What they do is tell you the maximum amount of jail time you can get for the crimes for which you are being charged with. If you're good and cooperate with them, then the DA tells the judge that and they work to get you a reduced sentence. Be a prick or attempt to impeded their investigation or fall on the sword for your "homies" and they have the authority to go after the stiffest sentence possible. Even then its up to the presiding judge to ultimately take into account what the DA has told them and what the defense presents for its part and decide sentencing along predefined guidelines.
Your entire comment is completely false and shows a total lack of knowledge of the US criminal justice system.
>> Innocent people plead guilty because they don't have the wealth and resources to win in court. USA is a shithole when it comes to law enforcement. Medieval and sad. Land of the free (as long as you are rich, that is).
You have the opportunity to be represented by a court appointed lawyer if you can't afford one. Depending on your case, if you actually do your homework, its pretty easy to find an attorney who will take your case for free. I've seen many, many low income defendants retain a real defense lawyer to try their case.
Also, you do not "win" in a criminal case, you are either found "guilty" or "not guilty".
> which does real-time volumetric fluid simulations for games and film
With all of the advantages you listed, what do you think the possibility of Odin becoming more widely accepted in other fields who could benefit from using it?
Political scientists Jowei Chen of the University of Michigan and Jonathan Rodden of Stanford University’s Hoover Institution conducted an in-depth study in 2013 of legislative-district lines, using computer simulations of precinct-by-precinct voting patterns to map alternative redistricting plans without regard to partisanship or race. What they concluded was that Republicans have a natural advantage conferred by the “human geography” of Democratic voters’ concentrating disproportionately in overwhelmingly liberal urban districts while Republican voters are more evenly distributed in the suburban, exurban, small-town, and rural districts.
Chen and Rodden found that this “unintentional gerrymandering” produced an average Republican bias of five points nationwide, or seven to eight points in such states as Pennsylvania and Georgia.In Florida, their main test case, they used the 50–50 precinct-by-precinct Bush and Gore votes and found, based on random computer simulations of a map of 25 districts (the number of House districts in the 2002 redistricting), that Republicans had an average of 61 percent of the House seats. As Chen and Rodden explained in early 2014: “In the vast majority of states, our nonpartisan simulations produced Republican seat shares that were not much different from the actual numbers in the last election.” That’s before even considering the impact of the VRA.
And while the 241–194 House majority elected in 2016 benefited from a 21-seat advantage (even as House Republicans had 50.6 percent of the two-party national vote), a look at the numbers suggests that most of this advantage was owing to factors other than gerrymandering.