A leading anthropologist suggests that protohumans became domesticated by killing off violent males

Book review by Melvin Konner @ TheAtlantic.com, March 2019 issue, online now

Review of The Goodness Paradox: The Strange Relationship Between Virtue and Violence in Human Evolution by Richard Wrangham.

@ BBCNews, Feb. 8

Sierra Leone has declared a national emergency over sexual and gender-based violence after recorded cases of rape and assault doubled over the last year. President Julius Maada Bio announced the emergency on Thursday amid a public outcry over the issue, triggered by a series of high-profile attacks.

Mr Bio said attacks on minors - which account for a third of all cases - would be punished with a life sentence. Activists say many assaults are not punished under current laws.

More than 8,500 cases were recorded last year - a rise of nearly 4,000 on the figure from the previous year - in a country of 7.5 million people. The factors behind the spike are not yet clear.

What did the president say? [....]

By Noam Scheiber @ NYTimes.com, Feb. 2

Last September, a group of academics and activists gathered at Princeton University to discuss the limits of artificial intelligence in public policy.

The longest debate concerned some of the most sensitive decisions in the justice system, like whether to release a person on bail or parole. Many in attendance were queasy about using algorithms to determine prison stays — not least because crime data tends to reflect racial bias. But one conference goer in particular stood out for his skepticism.

His name was Bruce Reilly. The deputy director of a New Orleans organization called VOTE, which advocates for the formerly incarcerated, Mr. Reilly is a minor celebrity in the field. He was a sounding board for the leader of the recent Florida ballot campaign that restored voting rights to up to 1.4 million former felons, and helped lead similar initiatives in Rhode Island and Louisiana.

Mr. Reilly, 45, has playful eyes, weathered skin and a boyish voice, and at Princeton, he wore a dark blazer that did not appear to be his natural uniform. Though it was barely midmorning, his shirt was already threatening to decamp from his pants as he turned to address a Princeton postdoctoral student sitting next to him.

“Statistically,” Mr. Reilly told her, “the safest person to let out of prison is a murderer.” The academic, Madelyn Sanfilippo, screwed up her face in apparent disbelief. [....]

@ BBC News, 2 hrs. ago

The US envoy for North Korea has returned from Pyongyang, where he held talks to prepare for a second US-North Korean leadership summit. Stephen Biegun spent three days in discussions, and US officials said he would meet his counterpart again.

US President Donald Trump confirmed he would meet North Korea's Kim Jong-un in Hanoi, Vietnam, on 27-28 February. Mr Trump said his representatives had a "productive meeting" and that he was looking forward to advancing peace [....]

By Robert Barnes @ WashingtonPost.com, Feb. 7, 10:36 pm

Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. joined with the Supreme Court’s liberals Thursday night to block a Louisiana law that opponents say would close most of the state’s abortion clinics and leave it with only one doctor eligible to perform the procedure.

The justices may yet consider whether the 2014 law — requiring doctors at abortion clinics to have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals — unduly burdens women’s access to abortion. The Louisiana law has never been enforced, and the Supreme Court in 2016 found a nearly identical Texas law to be unconstitutional.

“The Supreme Court has stepped in under the wire to protect the rights of Louisiana women,” said Nancy Northup, president and CEO of the Center for Reproductive Rights, which represented the law’s challengers. “The three clinics left in Louisiana can stay open while we ask the Supreme Court to hear our case. This should be an easy case — all that’s needed is a straightforward application of the court’s own precedent.” [....]

I know this is an issue that matters much more to me than others here. But this is an interesting article that explains with clear evidence one of the ways music has become more banal.