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Politics

MaximilianKohler edited this page Apr 24, 2024 · 9 revisions

This stuff is way out of date. My text files are much larger. Maybe when I get time I'll update it.

Table of Contents:

General:

Bias; politics makes people lose their ability to do math: http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/09/new-study-politics-makes-you-innumerate

Bias; Study finds that when people don't like the political implications of the solution to a problem, they are more likely to deny the problem exists at all: http://today.duke.edu/2014/11/solutionaversion

Dunning-Kruger effect: the more incompetent someone is, the less likely they are to realize how incompetent they are: http://theness.com/neurologicablog/index.php/lessons-from-dunning-kruger/

The backfire effect – when your deepest convictions are challenged by contradictory evidence, your beliefs get stronger. Rather than shed their belief and face facts, they rejected science altogether: http://youarenotsosmart.com/2011/06/10/the-backfire-effect/

Facts are increasingly ineffective at convincing people to change their minds and in fact will only root people deeper in their original beliefs: http://archive.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2010/07/11/how_facts_backfire/?page=full

New research suggests that misinformed people rarely change their minds when presented with the facts — and often become even more attached to their beliefs. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128490874

Several studies suggest that individuals widely prefer to remain ignorant about information that would benefit them when it’s painful—and sometimes when it’s pleasurable https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-do-people-avoid-facts-that-could-help-them/

New study has found that people who are more susceptible to bullshit score lower for verbal and fluid intelligence, are more prone to conspiratorial ideation, and more likely to endorse complementary and alternative medicine: http://www.geneticliteracyproject.org/2015/12/01/deepak-chopra-alert-psychologists-assess-bullshit-detecting-senses/http://journal.sjdm.org/15/15923a/jdm15923a.pdf

People who believe in conspiracy theories are also more likely to believe in pseudoscience and paranormal phenomena, according to new research, which indicate that some people appear to have a general susceptibility to believing unsubstantiated claims. (2019) https://www.psypost.org/2019/07/study-conspiracy-theory-believers-tend-to-endorse-other-unsubstantiated-beliefs-as-well-54151

Cognitive Ability and Vulnerability to Fake News: Researchers identify a major risk factor for pernicious effects of misinformation - people who scored low on a test of cognitive ability continued to be influenced by damaging information after they were explicitly told the information was false. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/cognitive-ability-and-vulnerability-to-fake-news/ - (2017) https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0160289617301617

Religious fundamentalists and dogmatic individuals are more likely to believe fake news, finds a new study, which suggests the inability to detect false information is related to a failure to be actively open-minded. https://www.psypost.org/2018/10/study-religious-fundamentalists-and-dogmatic-individuals-are-more-likely-to-believe-fake-news-52426

Facial recognition technology can accurately "read" a person's political affiliation just by looking at their face https://gizmodo.com/ai-can-tell-your-political-affiliation-just-by-looking-1851430714 - https://awspntest.apa.org/fulltext/2024-65164-001.html

Study predicts political beliefs with 83% accuracy using brain scans: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/study-predicts-political-beliefs-with-83-percent-accuracy-17536124/ - https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0052970

Brain scans of people taken while they performed various tasks – and even did nothing – accurately predicted whether they were politically conservative or liberal, according to the largest study of its kind. (Jun 2022, n=174) https://news.osu.edu/brain-scans-remarkably-good-at-predicting-political-ideology/ Functional Connectivity Signatures of Political Ideology.

Disgust response predicts left or right wing with 95% accuracy: http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn26481-left-or-rightwing-brains-disgust-response-tells-all.html

Public opinion has a near zero affect on policy/law, except for the top 10% income earners, who mostly get what they want: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5tu32CCA_Ig

The wealthy turnout to vote at a rate of almost 99% while those making below $10,000 vote at a rate of 49%: http://www.vox.com/2014/10/24/7055091/class-and-turnout

Supporters of a political party change their policy views “immediately and substantially” after that party switches its position on an issue, a sign that political elites could be shaping the opinions of voters. Findings call into question whether democracies genuinely represent the views of voters. (Nov 2020) https://academictimes.com/party-supporters-shift-views-to-match-partisan-stances/


The problems/negatives of low-tax and "small government" policies:

Lower taxes simply changes who pays for stuff. It switches it from the rich to the poor. Tax cuts are essentially a regressive tax: https://old.reddit.com/r/Economics/comments/4a4hzc/nobel_prize_economist_says_american_inequality/d0xmglb

"Early stage capitalism is like the beginning of Monopoly, when everyone can afford to move around the board a couple of times and it seems basically fair because you don't often get completely screwed for landing on the wrong spot. Late stage capitalism is like the end of Monopoly, where no one can afford to move around the board because one guy already owns all the stuff." - This can be counteracted with things like higher taxes on the rich, minimum wage, unions, welfare/social safety nets, etc..

Einstein predicted the inequality we're currently plagued with in his article titled "Why Socialism": https://old.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/3jqwp8/americas_silentbutdeadly_billionaires_how_our/curoths

Lack of mental illness treatment, law services for the poor https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJ4nKLhARqw

Less money to pay for public infrastructure (safety & fuels economy), safety/anti-pollution regulations, education, life-saving research, programs that can end extreme poverty & homelessness and help the disabled and elderly.

Long Run Impacts of Childhood Access to the Safety Net: http://www.nber.org/papers/w18535

Example social services program for low income parents/kids that would never be done without government. Preventing long-term negative affects associated with childhood poverty: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqAhCGW2Bvc&t=44m15s

In 1981 Ronald Reagan cut 1.46B out of the child nutrition budget, forcing schools to get rid of cooking equipment and replace lunches with cheap and simple processed foods. Fast food industries made contracts with schools in order to get children used to eating fast food. This severely negatively impacted public health and obesity. Source: Fed Up (2014) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71j8TPwkTQE

List of studies on the detrimental affects of poverty: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eyEP2H3QsII&t=12m2s

Detriments of economic inequality: http://www.plymouth.gov.uk/plymouth_fairness_inequality.pdf

OECD study; income inequality actually hampers economic growth in some of the world’s wealthiest countries, while the redistribution of wealth via taxes and benefits doesn't: http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/its-official-benefits-and-high-taxes-make-us-all-richer-while-inequality-takes-a-hammer-to-a-9914941.html - http://www.ibtimes.com/tax-cuts-poor-middle-class-not-rich-create-jobs-research-shows-1892251

Political/economic policy is a major cause of economic inequality: http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674430006

Economic benefits from various stimulus: https://i.imgur.com/XEwR4qk.jpg

Consequences of austerity: http://www.alternet.org/economy/paul-krugman-austerity-killing-world-economy - http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/06/opinion/austeritys-grim-legacy.html

Adam Smith criticized austerity in relation to the wealth gap of the 1% getting larger: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4ylSG54i-A&t=1m24s

The notion that the private sector is more efficient generally is simply not empirically supportable: http://www.outsidethebeltway.com/is-government-inefficient/

Privatization Benefits the 1%, While Public Services Benefit Everyone: http://thecontributor.com/public-beats-private-six-reasons-why

The current state of economic inequality in America – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPKKQnijnsMhttps://i.imgur.com/0gqqMmN.png – by age: http://www.demos.org/blog/9/8/14/wealth-distributed-extremely-unevenly-within-every-age-group


Healthcare:

"As happens to many Americans, when he lost his job, he lost his health insurance. He now owes $171,569.44 for the six nights he spent at the hospital." http://old.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/1l5ahk/as_happens_to_many_americans_when_he_lost_his_job/

Prior to ObamaCare 45,000 deaths annually linked to lack of health coverage: http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2009/09/new-study-finds-45000-deaths-annually-linked-to-lack-of-health-coverage/

Preventative care causes over 40% cost reduction: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1079830/

Administrative overhead is 3x less for single payer: http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMsa022033

Insurance companies add at least 40% to the cost of healthcare in the US – http://old.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/22vifz/the_united_states_of_america_ends_up_spending/cgqykwt

Single payer would help address the obesity epidemic: http://www.pnhp.org/news/2015/may/obesity-epidemic-is-another-reason-for-single-payer

US has the worst and most expensive healthcare in the world: http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/Articles/2014/06/16/US-Healthcare-Worst-Bang-Your-Buckhttp://www.forbes.com/sites/danmunro/2014/06/16/u-s-healthcare-ranked-dead-last-compared-to-10-other-countries/#7e9390db1b96

Highest per capita spending with lowest life expectancy: http://www.businessinsider.com/life-expectancy-vs-healthcare-spending-2014-3

France spends half as much as the US and has the best system in the world – http://old.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/1oz3wc/privatization_benefits_the_1_while_public/ccx3ds5 Plus the US already spends as much government money as a percentage of GDP on its healthcare system as most European countries, but without the benefits & coverage of universal healthcare.

CBO says erasing state lines will NOT increase competition and lower prices: http://www.cbo.gov/sites/default/files/cbofiles/ftpdocs/66xx/doc6639/hr2355.pdf

Suicide rate up 30% as government slashes mental health budgets – http://old.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/1owts3/suicide_rate_climbs_by_30_percent_in_kansas_as/

Example of the affects of budget cuts; mental illness: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MG28QlexEDo

After Texas defunded Planned Parenthood, low-income women lost access to highly effective contraception and Medicaid births increased 27%: https://old.reddit.com/r/science/comments/445qql/after_texas_defunded_planned_parenthood_lowincome/

Florida leads U.S. in new HIV cases after years of cuts (from Republican Gov Rick Scott) in public health: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/state/florida/article56192770.html

Free birth control in Colorado dropped teen births by 40% and teen abortions by 42%: http://old.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/2a2qp7/colorado_offered_free_birth_control_and_teen/http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/06/science/colorados-push-against-teenage-pregnancies-is-a-startling-success.html

Free birth control and proper sex ed decrease teen pregnancy and abortion: https://old.reddit.com/r/science/comments/2i16hm/surprise_free_birth_control_and_sex_education/

Offering free birth control is MUCH cheaper than the cost of children to the welfare system.


Housing:

It's cheaper to provide homeless & mentally ill people with housing – http://old.reddit.com/r/TrueReddit/comments/22i81i/housing_is_most_costeffective_treatment_for/http://old.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/26b7gh/stunning_data_proves_yet_again_housing_the/http://mic.com/articles/86251/study-reveals-it-costs-less-to-give-the-homeless-housing-than-to-leave-them-on-the-street - http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2014/05/27/3441772/florida-homeless-financial-study/

Utah ends homelessness by providing housing: http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-utah-housing-first-20150524-story.html

PBS Newshour piece on housing, poverty, eviction, and housing vouchers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzL5A6BIk-Q&t=44m27s

Homeless:

Only 16-20% of people who are homeless suffer from a mental illness. "In the documentary project, most of the people I interviewed became homeless due to medical expenses.": https://old.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3t5t7n/eli5_why_is_it_so_easy_to_take_in_10k_refugees/cx3i9vv

5 myths about the homeless: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/09/AR2010070902357.html

13,000 become homeless every month in Los Angeles County: http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2015/8/25/13000-los-angeles-county-residents-become-homeless-every-month.html

Micro homes for the homeless: http://edition.cnn.com/videos/us/2014/11/13/dnt-ca-mirohomes-for-homeless.kovr


Debunking some welfare myths:

Study: Helping Poor People Doesn't Make Them "Lazy": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUs5NHfmuYEhttp://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/21/business/the-myth-of-welfares-corrupting-influence-on-the-poor.html

In 18 European countries, study finds increasing employment commitment as social spending gets more generous and activating: http://wes.sagepub.com/content/early/2014/11/20/0950017014542499.abstract

Unemployment benefits stimulate economy. Taking away unemployment benefits doesn't make people find jobs: http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2014/05/20/3439561/long-term-unemployment-jobs-illinois/http://old.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/2675pb/no_taking_away_unemployment_benefits_doesnt_make/http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/09/12/1329302/-Republicans-Caught-in-A-Colossal-Lie-About-Unemployment-Benefits

SSDI payments are 99.8% accurate. More people on the program because of baby boomers, increased female work force participation, and state level cuts to worker's comp. Criteria are very strict. 2/3 applicants are denied. 1/5 die within 5 years of receiving benefits: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MkQ04rGpre4&t=1m

Social security attorney debunks demonizing hit piece in comments: http://www.forbes.com/sites/richardfinger/2013/01/14/fraud-and-disability-equal-a-multibillion-dollar-balck-hole-for-taxpayers/?commentId=comment_blogAndPostId/blog/comment/2206-1411-384

Food stamp fraud (lack of) – http://mediamatters.org/blog/2013/08/19/fox-misleadingly-hypes-13-percent-fraud-in-food/195462


Regulation; the need for strong and well funded regulation:

See Upton Sinclair's book "The Jungle".

Most regulation comes as a result from people dying. Example: After children die from fires, Governor announces all daycares must be licensed and inspected.

"A building inspector here. I understand why property owners hate us, but every line of building code was put there because someone somewhere paid with their life for imposed and enforced safety standards." https://old.reddit.com/r/worldnews/comments/3qwc48/at_least_21_dead_80_wounded_in_blast_at_bucharest/cwj3kdl

Costs of regulation; if someone doesn't pay for prevention someone will have to pay for treatment: https://old.reddit.com/r/news/comments/4h4tmi/scientists_say_fracking_wastewater_spills_are/d2nfev7


EPA 28 years behind on chemicals review due to lack of funding: https://old.reddit.com/r/news/comments/29finh/epa_lapses_28_years_on_chemicals_review_hundreds/

An example of the consequences of this:

EPA finds that a chemical that was already banned in Europe 12 years ago is likely harming most species of plants and animals, including mammals, birds, amphibians and reptiles. Atrazine is well known as a hormone disruptor that has been linked to birth defects and cancer in humans and contamination of ground-, surface- and drinking-water supplies. http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/news/press_releases/2016/atrazine-05-03-2016.html


Ban on leaded gasoline linked to reduction in crime: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=16034271

Schools across the country have lead-contaminated water due to lack of regulation: http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2016/03/newark-baltimore-camden-bosteon-flint-public-schools-bottled-water-lead-contaminationhttp://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2016/03/17/drinking-water-lead-schools-day-cares/81220916/

Lead contamination of public water systems across the country: https://old.reddit.com/r/news/comments/4e8azf/an_associated_press_investigation_of/

Lead poisoning is widespread across the country and disproportionately affects the poor: http://act.colorofchange.org/sign/congress-durbin-lead-bill-2016

Companies cannot be trusted to self-regulate, they lie and coverup for profit: http://old.reddit.com/r/news/comments/29finh/epa_lapses_28_years_on_chemicals_review_hundreds/cikmtfc

Companies building dam ignore geologists warnings, 4 years later dam causes 2500 deaths

FRONTLINE | A Dangerous Business (2003) - How the McWane corporation forces workers to operate in an unsafe and illegal manner, whilst simultaneously covering up their systematic flouting of safety regulations, leading to death, dismemberment and pollution, all to pad their bottom line: https://old.reddit.com/r/Documentaries/comments/3t5tf6/frontline_a_dangerous_business_2003_how_the/

Peanut plant linked to deadly outbreak faked salmonella resultshttp://consumerist.com/2014/09/19/former-peanut-butter-moguls-found-guilty-of-knowingly-shipping-contaminated-food/Caused 9 deaths

Company knowingly allows salmonella-contaminated chocolates to be sold

Self-regulation has had disastrous consequences across the New Zealand economy, from mining to electricity to health and safety

Bush deregulation of coal led to deaths: https://old.reddit.com/r/science/comments/2gjvv6/black_lung_making_comeback_among_miners_has/ckk2gov

A month before a major catastrophe (due to lack of regulation – a clear demonstration of the consequences of these types of policies), libertarian senator Paul fought to nerf the EPA: http://old.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/22ngkn/meta_the_state_of_rpolitics_and_developing_as_a/cguzyx4

Lack of regulation results in buildings collapsing: https://old.reddit.com/r/worldnews/comments/2wlq7q/fire_rips_through_torch_skyscraper_in_dubai_one/cos5bv3

NOAA Report: Deepwater Horizon oil spill caused biggest dolphin die-off in Gulf's history: http://www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/noaa-identifies-bp-oil-spill-caused-massive-dolphin-deaths/

Bayer sold HIV and Hepatitis C contaminated blood products that caused up to 10,000 people in U.S.A alone to contract HIV. After they found out they pulled it off the shelves in the U.S. and sold it to countries in Asia and Latin America so they wouldn't lose money from it. https://old.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/2kz9ei/til_bayer_sold_hiv_and_hepatitis_c_contaminated/

Ohio contractor orders illegal dumping of fracking waste and lies about it

GNC, Target, Walmart, Walgreens selling bogus herbal supplements, DNA tests found only 21% of tested supplements contained what the labels promised: https://www.consumeraffairs.com/news/gnc-target-walmart-walgreens-selling-bogus-herbal-supplements-ny-charges-020315.html

Lax regulation caused lake Erie's water supply to become poisoned from over-fertilized fields and lawns, malfunctioning septic systems, and livestock pens: http://old.reddit.com/r/news/comments/2cf8xq/news_broke_overnight_in_toledo_ohio_microcystin/cjevz7h

Lack of regulation allowed Koch industries to put profit margins over safety, falsify maintenance records, cover up spills, and lie about volume of spills. Koch pleaded guilty to felony for covering up the fact that it had disconnected a key pollution-control device. Federal investigators documented both "severe corrosion" and "mechanical damage" in a Koch pipeline that exploded and killed 2 children: http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/inside-the-koch-brothers-toxic-empire-20140924?page=4

25 Images of markets regulating themselves: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/02/03/1271430/-25-Images-of-Markets-Regulating-Themselves

ISPs are constantly trying to skirt net neutrality rules: https://www.battleforthenet.com/

Deregulation's part in the financial crisis

Bank regulation problems; regulatory capture; regulatory system is understaffed – http://old.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/1umycn/why_arent_the_wall_street_criminals_prosecuted/cejxurd


Immigration:

http://openborders.info

Cato Institute says the solution is to deny welfare to non-citizens, rather than denying entry into the country: http://object.cato.org/sites/cato.org/files/serials/files/cato-journal/2012/1/cj32n1-11.pdf

Kerr and Kerr 2011, Harvard & NBER. This paper surveys recent empirical studies on the economic impacts of immigration: https://old.reddit.com/r/Economics/comments/541c5q/immigrants_arent_taking_americans_jobs_new_study/d7y9b44 (see page 26/48 for conclusions).

Negative:

A 10% immigration-induced increase in the supply of workers in a particular skill group reduced the black wage of that group by 2.5%, lowered the employment rate by 5.9 percentage points, and increased the incarceration rate by 1.3 percentage points http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1562148

Latino immigration is positively linked to urban black violence. The link is most prevalent where blacks lost ground to Latinos in low-skill markets. Black violence rises only when jobs in agriculture, manufacturing and construction are in short supply. Latino immigration raises black violence by first increasing black unemployment http://sf.oxfordjournals.org/content/88/3/1393.abstract

Low-educated immigration has negative impact on youth employment: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/662073

In the US immigrants use welfare at higher rates than natives: http://cis.org/immigrant-welfare-use-2011 - http://cis.org/Welfare-Use-Legal-Illegal-Immigrant-Households - http://www.nber.org/papers/w5372 || article disputing CIS's conclusions: https://newrepublic.com/article/122714/immigrants-dont-drain-welfare-they-fund-it

No pattern between a State's wealth and its population growth rate: https://old.reddit.com/r/SandersForPresident/comments/3ewcds/bernie_sanders_explodes_a_rightwing_myth_open/ctjb8lr

Cultural problems with immigration: https://old.reddit.com/r/news/comments/3opmbj/nationwide_child_sex_trafficking_sting_frees_149/cvzd2was

Positive:

[In the US] Immigrants Don't Drain Welfare. They Fund It. The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 cut back on welfare extended to immigrants. Even qualified ones have to live here for 5 years first. https://newrepublic.com/article/122714/immigrants-dont-drain-welfare-they-fund-it

CNN says they pay into SS without collecting benefits. http://money.cnn.com/2014/11/20/news/economy/immigration-myths/

Brookings on economic impact of immigrants: Although many are concerned that immigrants compete against Americans for jobs, the most recent economic evidence suggests that, on average, immigrant workers increase the opportunities and incomes of Americans. But while immigration improves living standards on average, the economic literature is divided about whether immigration reduces wages for certain groups of workers. In particular, some estimates suggest that immigration has reduced the wages of low-skilled workers and college graduates. http://www.brookings.edu/blogs/jobs/posts/2012/05/04-jobs-greenstone-looney

University of Wisconsin-Madison & NBER paper in favor of open borders: http://www.ssc.wisc.edu/~jkennan/research/OpenBorders.pdf

NBER paper studying impact of H1B/STEM immigrants. Increase of these immigrants was associated with significant increases in wages paid to college educated natives. Wage increases for non-college educated natives are smaller but still significant. We do not find significant effects on employment. We also find that STEM workers increased housing rents for college graduates, which eroded part of their wage gains: http://www.fosterglobal.com/policy_papers/2014/NBER_study_on_foreign_STEM_workers.pdf - https://www.nber.org/papers/w20093

Top economists agree the average US citizen would be better off if a larger number of highly educated foreign workers were legally allowed to immigrate to the US each year: http://www.igmchicago.org/igm-economic-experts-panel/poll-results?SurveyID=SV_0JtSLKwzqNSfrAF

NBER paper studies the effects of immigrants on local labor demand, due to the increase in consumer demand for local services created by immigrants. Each immigrant creates 1.2 local jobs for local workers, most of them going to native workers. Immigrants appear to raise local non-tradables sector wages and to attract native-born workers from elsewhere in the country. Overall, it appears that local workers benefit from the arrival of more immigrants. http://www.nber.org/papers/w21123

The big myth about refugees. Refugees do not take the jobs of low-skilled natives. Refugees have a short term cost, but long term economic benefit. Countries that take the longest to process refugees and have the tightest restrictions on them end up paying the most per refugee: http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonkblog/wp/2015/09/10/the-big-myth-about-refugees/

Europe should see refugees as boon, not burden. Immigration benefited local populations in 19 of the 20 industrialized countries they studied. A Congressional Budget Office report in 2013 estimated that giving undocumented workers a path to citizenship and making more employment-based visas available to foreigners would raise G.D.P. by 5.4 percent and lower the federal budget deficit by $897 billion over 20 years: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/19/opinion/europe-should-see-refugees-as-a-boon-not-a-burden.html

Canada proportionally has many more immigrants than the US: https://old.reddit.com/r/science/comments/3swl1a/women_are_twice_as_likely_to_die_from_causes/cx16dsnhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_immigrant_population


Republicans' relationship with facts:

Republican House rep David Brumbaugh: “If we take care of the morality, God will take care of the economy,” http://news.nationalpost.com/news/world/oklahoma-only-needs-a-signature-from-its-governor-to-revoke-licenses-of-doctors-that-perform-abortions

Economist Paul Krugman: "Triumph of the wrong" http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/07/opinion/paul-krugman-triumph-of-the-wrong.html

A plurality of Republicans (43%) believe climate change is not happening at all. Only 18% of republicans see climate change as a very serious issue: http://www.monmouth.edu/assets/0/32212254770/32212254991/32212254992/32212254994/32212254995/30064771087/bbab2f4a-3eef-4772-9b82-8fbdd996452a.pdf

Study Shows Education And Facts Don’t Actually Matter To Republican Climate Deniers: http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2016/02/23/3752548/climate-denial-linked-to-politics/

Only 43% of republicans believe in evolution in 2013: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/republicans-belief-in-evolution-plummets-poll-reveals/

The House science committee is worse than the Benghazi committee: http://www.vox.com/2015/10/26/9616370/science-committee-worse-benghazi-committee

The Anti-Science Climate Denier Caucus: 114th Congress Edition: http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2015/01/08/3608427/climate-denier-caucus-114th-congress/

It's Increasingly Clear Facts Don't Matter in the Republican Presidential Primary: https://news.vice.com/article/its-increasingly-clear-facts-dont-matter-in-the-republican-presidential-primary

Republican Congressman says he doesn't care about the facts while on live TV: http://www.examiner.com/article/republican-congressman-says-he-doesn-t-care-about-the-facts-while-on-live-tv

Hugh Hewitt: For Republicans Strong ‘Personality’ Is Key, Not ‘Facts’ http://www.mediaite.com/online/hugh-hewitt-for-republicans-strong-personality-is-key-not-facts/http://mediamatters.org/video/2016/01/15/hugh-hewitt-fact-checking-doesnt-matter-in-repu/207994

GOP has trained their base to not care about facts: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/21/opinion/the-donald-and-the-decider.html

The Republican Party has an allergy to facts: https://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2015/09/17/the-republican-party-has-allergy-facts/AlbsCuP4e4GobyqCmYImbJ/story.html

Political scientist Norm Ornstein: "the GOP is unpersuaded by facts and science" http://www.vox.com/2016/5/6/11598838/donald-trump-predictions-norm-ornstein

Six studies that show what republicans "believe" is wrong: http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/six-studies-that-show-everything-republicans-believe-is-wrong-20140423

Republicans' latest war on facts; CBO, tax cuts: http://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2014-12-23/republicans-latest-war-on-facts

GOP's defense when getting fact-checked is accusations of "liberal media bias". Dems do not do the same thing when asked hard questions. GOP CNBC debate; "gotcha questions": https://old.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/3qv27d/gop_tells_nbc_next_debate_suspended_over_gotcha/cwim2he

We in the media suck because we have rewarded their [GOP] rampant dishonesty and buffoonery with nonstop news coverage. Which, of course, has encouraged more dishonesty and buffoonery: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/lessons-learned/2015/10/29/7d23d98e-7e78-11e5-b575-d8dcfedb4ea1_story.html

Politifact - Republicans lie more: http://www.politico.com/blogs/media/2013/05/study-politifact-says-republicans-lie-more-164943http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/13/opinion/campaign-stops/all-politicians-lie-some-lie-more-than-others.html

Bill Maher Unloads On Republicans For Not Caring About Reality Or Facts: http://www.politicususa.com/2016/01/30/bill-maher-unloads-republicans-caring-reality-facts.html


22% of Romney voters believe Obama is the anti-christ: http://www.publicpolicypolling.com/main/2013/04/conspiracy-theory-poll-results-.html

Poll: 30 percent of Republicans want to bomb country from ‘Aladdin’: http://thehill.com/blogs/in-the-know/in-the-know/263713-poll-30-percent-of-republicans-want-to-bomb-country-from

More republicans blame Obama for mis-handling Katrina than blame Bush: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/poll-louisiana-gopers-unsure-if-katrina-response-was-obama-s-fault

Glenn Beck attributed the Texas floods to Rick Perry's prayer for rain in 2011: http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/beck-rick-perrys-2011-prayer-proclamation-ended-texas-drought

GOP candidate claims disabled children are God's punishment to women who have abortions. Wants to ban abortion for incest victims because the sex might have been voluntary. – http://old.reddit.com/r/atheism/comments/22s3jf/gop_candidate_claims_disabled_children_are_gods/

GOP lieutenant governor of Texas thinks god speaks to us through Duck Dynasty: https://old.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/2jvnk0/man_who_believes_god_speaks_to_us_through_duck/

Climate Denier Jim Inhofe Says He Could Lead Senate's Top Environment Committee Next Year | Inhofe has also said that humans lack the ability to affect the climate because control is limited to divine powers – http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/03/19/3416539/inhofe-senate-epw-committee/

"Man can't change climate", only God can, proclaims U.S. Senator James Inhofe on the opening session of Senate. Inhofe is the new chair of the U.S. Environment & Public Works Committee. – https://old.reddit.com/r/news/comments/2tzjps/man_cant_change_climate_only_god_can_proclaims_us/

Republican senator throws snowball on senate floor claiming it disproves climate change: https://old.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/2xnyt5/a_stunt_like_inhofe_tossing_a_snowball_on_the/

Rick Santorum Blames EU For Gay Marriage -- "The European Union doesn't have the word God in its Constitution...it is the reason you are seeing this assault [in the US]." Uh, Rick...God isn't in the US Constitution either: http://joemygod.blogspot.com/2015/03/frothy-mix-blames-eu-for-gay-marriage.html

Republican House Candidate Who Said Autism Was the Result of God’s Anger Over Gay Marriage Just Won Her Primary – http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2014/03/18/republican-house-candidate-who-said-autism-was-the-result-of-gods-anger-over-gay-marriage-just-won-her-primary/

Republican Official Says Gays Should Be Purged From GOP, Blames Homosexuality On Satan – http://old.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/1xbpor/republican_official_says_gays_should_be_purged/

Senator Sylvia Allen, AZ chair of education committee believes earth is 6k years old, believes in chem trails, did not attend college, wants to make church mandatory: http://newsletters.getresponse.com/archive/info_791565/LWVAZ-News-You-Need-to-Know-March-2016-361189602.htmlhttp://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2015/03/27/pkg-arizona-senator-church-attendance-mandatory.ktvkhttp://mic.com/articles/131150/creationist-who-believes-in-chemtrails-to-head-arizona-state-senate-education-committee#.eQ3dwHFXG

Alabama hasn't required schools to teach evolution or climate science till 2015: http://www.al.com/news/index.ssf/2015/09/alabama_will_require_students.html

Texas rejects fact-checking of textbooks: http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Education/2015/1119/Texas-We-don-t-need-academics-to-fact-check-our-textbooks-video

Texan who says Obama was a gay prostitute holds commanding lead in Board of Education vote: http://www.chron.com/news/education/article/Texas-teacher-who-says-Obama-was-a-gay-6864825.php

Mississippi's sex-ed classes teach that homosexuality is illegal – http://www.newrepublic.com/article/117290/mississippi-sex-ed-curriculum-homosexual-activity-illegal

"The government didn't help me when I was on food stamps and unemployment" – http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal/2011_07/the_craig_t_nelson_problem030622.php

Zip code with most Obamacare enrollments votes republican: http://www.cnn.com/2015/03/06/politics/obamacare-enrollments-florida-repubican/