Category: Forums

Category for all Forum posts.

Race, Police, and Prisons: The American Gulag

Dr. Sharat G. Lin

11 a.m., September 13, 2020

Because of the coronavirus situation, this Forum will be held online.

If you don’t intend to ask any questions or make any comments during this Forum, then please click the below link on Sunday around 11 a.m. in order to view the Forum as it occurs (in real time):

https://www.echoplexmedia.com/humanist

If you may want to ask a question or make a comment during this Forum, then please click the below link on Sunday around 11 a.m. in order to view, and possibly take part in, the Forum as it occurs (in real time):

https://us04web.zoom.us/j/314247393

Note: If you don’t have the Zoom app installed on your desktop computer, then joining the meeting via the above link will download and install the Zoom app on your desktop computer, and then take you to the meeting. You can also install the Zoom app on your smart phone, and then enter 314247393 as the “meeting number” that you want to “join”.

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This online Forum will be on the topic of:

“Race, Police, and Prisons: The American Gulag”

The mass protests in response to the police killing of George Floyd are the culmination of years of police killings of unarmed black and brown people caught on video progressively etching new levels of consciousness about the problems of institutionalized racism, militarized policing, punitive incarceration, and the immigration detention system. This is the U.S. norm, but it is not normal around the world. Dr. Sharat G. Lin discusses other models of criminal justice, how we got here, what needs to change, and his own arrest.

Dr. Lin is with the San José Peace and Justice Center, Human Agenda, Initiative for Equality, and the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Legacy Committee. He writes and lectures on global political economy, labor migration, social movements, and public health. He was responsible for successfully pressuring the San José Police Department to abolish its arbitrary checkpoints solely during Cinco de Mayo. He has observed different police practices around the world.

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Race, Police, and Prisons: The American Gulag – Dr. Sharat G. Lin from Humanist Community-SiliconValley on Vimeo.

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To help our Forum series continue, please consider making a donation or becoming a member (http://www.humanists.org/blog/membership/) of the Humanist Community.

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Note: If you would like to speak at a Forum, or know of someone who you think might be willing to speak at a Forum, please send an email about your idea to the HCSV Program Committee.

The European Mortality Monitoring System

Jeff Justice

11 a.m., September 6, 2020

Because of the coronavirus situation, this Forum will be held online.

If you don’t intend to ask any questions or make any comments during this Forum, then please click the below link on Sunday around 11 a.m. in order to view the Forum as it occurs (in real time):

https://www.echoplexmedia.com/humanist

If you may want to ask a question or make a comment during this Forum, then please click the below link on Sunday around 11 a.m. in order to view, and possibly take part in, the Forum as it occurs (in real time):

https://us04web.zoom.us/j/314247393

Note: If you don’t have the Zoom app installed on your desktop computer, then joining the meeting via the above link will download and install the Zoom app on your desktop computer, and then take you to the meeting. You can also install the Zoom app on your smart phone, and then enter 314247393 as the “meeting number” that you want to “join”.

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This online Forum will be on the topic of:

“The European Mortality Monitoring System”

After the Swine flu pandemic of 2009/2010, Europeans realized how centralized collection of mortality data can save lives. Over the next five years, the European Mortality Monitoring system was organized and funded by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. Twenty-three countries in Europe now submit mortality data daily to the organization, which they publish on the website EuroMoMo.eu. Health professionals around the world use the data to detect and monitor epidemics.

In this talk, Humanist Community member Jeff Justice will show you how to use EuroMoMo and compare it to our CDC website. We will use the data to compare how the COVID-19 epidemic has played out in the various European countries.

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The European Mortality Monitoring System – Jeff Justice from Humanist Community-SiliconValley on Vimeo.

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See videos of our past Forums here.
To help our Forum series continue, please consider making a donation or becoming a member (http://www.humanists.org/blog/membership/) of the Humanist Community.

Do your online shopping at https://smile.amazon.com/ch/94-6173979, and Amazon donates to the Humanist Community every time you do.

Note: If you would like to speak at a Forum, or know of someone who you think might be willing to speak at a Forum, please send an email about your idea to the HCSV Program Committee.

An Introduction to Modern Monetary Theory

Carl Angotti and Greg Alexander

11 a.m., August 30, 2020

Because of the coronavirus situation, this Forum will be held online.

If you don’t intend to ask any questions or make any comments during this Forum, then please click the below link on Sunday around 11 a.m. in order to view the Forum as it occurs (in real time):

https://www.echoplexmedia.com/humanist

If you may want to ask a question or make a comment during this Forum, then please click the below link on Sunday around 11 a.m. in order to view, and possibly take part in, the Forum as it occurs (in real time):

https://us04web.zoom.us/j/314247393

Note: If you don’t have the Zoom app installed on your desktop computer, then joining the meeting via the above link will download and install the Zoom app on your desktop computer, and then take you to the meeting. You can also install the Zoom app on your smart phone, and then enter 314247393 as the “meeting number” that you want to “join”.

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This online Forum will be on the topic of:

“An Introduction to Modern Monetary Theory”

and will be presented by longtime HCSV members Carl Angotti and Greg Alexander.

This presentation is based on the concepts discussed in the book “The Deficit Myth: Modern Monetary Theory and the Birth of the People’s Economy” by Stepanie Kelton, several of her online videos and another video that explains the concept of money – “Modern Money Theory for Beginners”, by L. Randall Wray. It is important for Progressives to understand this concept that is becoming more mainstream in the recent past.

In Stephanie Kelton’s book she describes 8 myths about deficient spending by the Federal Government. During this presentation, we will touch on a few of the most important of these myths.

For Example:

Does the Federal Government Need to Balance Its Budget?
Does increased Government Spending always lead to inflation?
How important is the National Debt?

Some of the other areas we will also cover are:

What money is, how it comes into being.
What is a “Fiat” currency?
Are there restraints on “printing money”?
Are there counter opinions to the theory?

As such, this presentation introduces these important questions and concepts to our Humanist Community and the general public.

Bios:

Carl Angotti is a longtime member of the Humanist Community. He is trained and worked as an Electronic Engineering Product Development Consultant in Silicon Valley for many years. He holds an BS from Carnegie-Mellon University and MS from USC in Electrical Engineering, and an MBA in Business from SJSU. His interest in Monetary Theory stems from his interest in the Stock Market and how it is impacted by Economics.

He is intrigued by the concept of Modern Monetary Theory and how it operates in the real world.

Greg Alexander is a longtime member of the Humanist Community, a member of the board since 2015, and our current Treasurer. He has a BS in Chemical Engineering and an MS in Chemical Engineering Practice from MIT, a PhD in Chemical Engineering from UC Berkeley, and a Certificate in Object Oriented Programming from UC Santa Cruz Extension. He became enthusiastic about Modern Monetary Theory upon reading “The Deficit Myth” and discovering how MMT challenges myths about federal fiscal policies and removes some of the barriers to meeting the needs of the American people.

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An Introduction to Modern Monetary Theory – Carl Angotti and Greg Alexander from Humanist Community-SiliconValley on Vimeo.

RSVP on Meetup here.
Like us on Facebook here.
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See videos of our past Forums here.
To help our Forum series continue, please consider making a donation or becoming a member (http://www.humanists.org/blog/membership/) of the Humanist Community.

Do your online shopping at https://smile.amazon.com/ch/94-6173979, and Amazon donates to the Humanist Community every time you do.

Note: If you would like to speak at a Forum, or know of someone who you think might be willing to speak at a Forum, please send an email about your idea to the HCSV Program Committee.

Braver Angels

Michael Abramson

11 a.m., August 23, 2020

Because of the coronavirus situation, this Forum will be held online.

If you don’t intend to ask any questions or make any comments during this Forum, then please click the below link on Sunday around 11 a.m. in order to view the Forum as it occurs (in real time):

https://www.echoplexmedia.com/humanist

If you may want to ask a question or make a comment during this Forum, then please click the below link on Sunday around 11 a.m. in order to view, and possibly take part in, the Forum as it occurs (in real time):

https://us04web.zoom.us/j/314247393

Note: If you don’t have the Zoom app installed on your desktop computer, then joining the meeting via the above link will download and install the Zoom app on your desktop computer, and then take you to the meeting. You can also install the Zoom app on your smart phone, and then enter 314247393 as the “meeting number” that you want to “join”.

———-

This online Forum will be on the topic of:

“Braver Angels”

Michael Abramson will discuss “Braver Angels”, which is a gathering of people on opposite sides of controversial issues to learn how to talk to each other.

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The Braver Angels of Our Nature – Michael Abramson from Humanist Community-SiliconValley on Vimeo.

Like us on Facebook here.
Follow us on Twitter here.
See videos of our past Forums here.
To help our Forum series continue, please consider making a donation or becoming a member (http://www.humanists.org/blog/membership/) of the Humanist Community.

Do your online shopping at https://smile.amazon.com/ch/94-6173979, and Amazon donates to the Humanist Community every time you do.

Note: If you would like to speak at a Forum, or know of someone who you think might be willing to speak at a Forum, please send an email about your idea to the HCSV Program Committee.

Supreme Court 2020 Review of Major Cases, A Humanist’s View

Professor Leland Chan

11 a.m., August 16, 2020

Because of the coronavirus situation, this Forum will be held online.

If you don’t intend to ask any questions or make any comments during this Forum, then please click the below link on Sunday around 11 a.m. in order to view the Forum as it occurs (in real time):

https://www.echoplexmedia.com/humanist

If you may want to ask a question or make a comment during this Forum, then please click the below link on Sunday around 11 a.m. in order to view, and possibly take part in, the Forum as it occurs (in real time):

https://us04web.zoom.us/j/314247393

Note: If you don’t have the Zoom app installed on your desktop computer, then joining the meeting via the above link will download and install the Zoom app on your desktop computer, and then take you to the meeting. You can also install the Zoom app on your smart phone, and then enter 314247393 as the “meeting number” that you want to “join”.

———-

This online Forum will be on the topic of:

“Mini-Law School: Supreme Court 2020 Review of Major Cases, A Humanist’s View”

Professor Leland Chan will look at the Supreme Court’s major decisions during the 2019-2020 term, which involved DACA, discrimination against LGBTQ persons in employment, expansion of religious liberty rights, abortion, and much more. Professor Chan will try to put the decisions into legal context for non-lawyers, and for this audience, offer a humanist perspective of the justices and how they decide.

Professor Chan is an attorney who teaches constitutional law at Golden Gate University. He also teaches classes to the general public who have an interest in the constitution and the decisions of the Supreme Court.

To see Prof. Chan’s slides for this talk, please click here.

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Supreme Court 2020 Review of Major Cases: A Humanist’s View – Prof. Leland Chan from Humanist Community-SiliconValley on Vimeo.

RSVP on Meetup here.
Like us on Facebook here.
Follow us on Twitter here.
See videos of our past Forums here.
To help our Forum series continue, please consider making a donation or becoming a member (http://www.humanists.org/blog/membership/) of the Humanist Community.

Do your online shopping at https://smile.amazon.com/ch/94-6173979, and Amazon donates to the Humanist Community every time you do.

Note: If you would like to speak at a Forum, or know of someone who you think might be willing to speak at a Forum, please send an email about your idea to the HCSV Program Committee.