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She may have a slightly higher IQ than Tony and her incredible medical skills to boot it up, but does that really makes a difference in front of the ENTIRE BEING who is Anthony Edward Stark?Just wanna say before you all probably hate on me (first time I post a long comment on any sites, I don't wanna fight okay?) I just wanna share my knowledge as a true Iron Man fan. Too many people are forgetting what he is, what he did, what he was and what he has managed to become.MIT's degrees, read his WIKI PAGE I'm not gonna repeat it all over again.One of the biggest super heroes among Captain America, Spider-Man, Thor and so many others... She may be the number one brain but she won't be anything more if she doesn't go out and meet people outside her country. I love her cocky personality, though I didn't like how she treated Bruce Banner in IW, a living legend in the field of medical science with seven PhDs and who only got access to regular technology (before The Age of Ultron of course where he got to work with Tony on the mind stone, again, without Vibranium) he is also one of the smartest btw I love that dork ;))Anyway, let’s just stick to the title of the post. I like that all the fans aren’t that totally biased by the success of Black Panther (which was a very good movie but I really don’t get the unique hype around it) and I know a lot of people already know that Tony can’t be compared to any other character. The dude’s on his own level, he sees a different world even when it’s not the best.I don't understand the too many hyped fans who just got to barely know her and who also don't even know 20% of Tony's story (did you know he was adopted btw? so not Howard's real son, but the real question ain't that, right fellow fans?;))We're talking about the competences and skills in ENGINEERING, that's the real question and the Russos Brothers in an interview said she was the best; THAT I can’t accept. She is NOT (ask Stan Lee himself he knows better they actually don't know their stuff that well hihi on this one) a BETTER ENGINEER than Anthony Edward Stark regarding the fact that she has probably never left Wakanda more than a couple of times (her first time in America was with her brother at the end of BP), her age, the fact that she solely focuses on her tech and hobby, was still a child when Tony was getting through some serious shit and decided to become a better man and a super hero, for Pepper's sake, Rhodey's, his own and his country's. (“Nuclear detergent”) They were born with a silver spoon in their mouths BOTH but she is a princess and Tony was an unloved child by his father, he didn't feel his father's love, as Tony himself says (bless RDJ in the movies) his father never told him he loved him, even liked him, while she is royalty and was probably spoiled like any regular rich child and has the infinite care of her family.Howard was abusive towards him and Tony would have probably gone berserk if he hadn't his mother and Obadiah Stane (who betrayed him in the most brutal way in IM 1 btw.)Spread love guys, no hate, only here to lay some REAL MARVEL FACTS (you don't believe me then you go google it) and get things straight, at least for my peace of mind as a Marvel fan.YOU ALL, stop saying you're a FAN of a character when you don't know shit about his/her true Oirignal Comic background please. Doesn't mean you don't love them for what they are in the movies (Shuri is a loving sister and a modern teenager in the middle of an ancient tribe which must be very hard as she must not have any friends, at least her age), but it shows you just don't care who shows up if they please you, you will sing their praises in spite of the other characters that we all know as Legends today, even if you don't feel this way. Viewers can be cruel to actors because of this when they are separate from their charas (the two girls who insulted Sebastian Stan, a pure cinnamon roll, just because he didn't know Tom's dog for example, completely outrageous).They put Shuri in the I'M-NOT-THE MAIN-CHARACTER-BUT-I-STOLE-THE-SHOW squad (and I find it absolutely adorable) with Loki and Bucky but she is so far away from them person don't even comparing her to them as they do not have the same personality or past or anything in common at all. Yet she is smarter than them. So what? Can you elaborate from there? Does it make her any better? Again, does that make her a better character? A better person? A better hero? She is mainly motivated by of course her overflowing talent but also by the fact that she must be bored as hell in her country and has no choice but to tinker to pass the time. But we can see that she only wants to protect her brother, family, and country making her a good-hearted girl.THE ONLY THING OFF THE CHARTS ABOUT HER IS HER IQ. She was born into this amazing technologic world made of vibranium so it would be just normal to her to know how to use it! Nothing more or less. Wakanda's tech and history isn't entirely due to her, she only took it back from where it was probably only two or three years ago regarding her age in BP and the indignation M'Baku showed when he said that “they entrusted their ancient and sacred tech to a kid who mocks tradition” during official ceremonies, but we don't know much about her so we can't say nothing more.Some people say she created more tech than Tony: to those guys in particular go get yourself some reading glasses and READ, I'm being really polite here even though I don't wanna. Seriously, we’ve only seen her in BP, a little bit in IW, and you’re saying she has created more things than Tony? Guys, we don’t even logically know if she created anything apart the things we saw in BP, the wakandan tech existed for so much longer than the time where she is becomes the Head scientist of the country. Aren’t you giving her too much credit because of your love for her? Please be impartial and fair.By the way how can we know she built the wakandan train system? She is too young to have designed it don't worry that there is other geniuses in Wakanda and that brains are not what makes a hero, actually it’s is the thing that distances him or her the most from his humanity. Look at Tony; he was a complete jackass at first, "cursed with knowledge" to take back Thanos' words.The real issue isn't to decide WHO IS SMARTER THAN WHO because if we go that path, I'll be forced to talk about how THE complete genius of this Universe is Peter Benjamin Parker, also smarter than Tony Stark by a tiny bit, and it will take hours for me to get you all to understand that Peter is the most complex and tortured character in the whole Marvel Universe but I know real fans will understand what I'm talking about: His IQ IS OFF the roofs guys, over 250 go read The Amazing Spider-man if you don’t believe me, it freakin' blew my mind!!The only people smarter than him are Dr Reed Richards, Dr Hank Pym as well as (not sure but probably) Dr Doom. It is my genuine opinion that he is smarter than Tony AND Bruce, but AGAIN! please don't mix the specialities: Tony is not a doctor (even though he has PhD's as well and deserves to be called Dr Stark,) he is mainly an engineer, and has more time to spare for his passion... oopsie daisy I meant LIFE AND JOB AND MAIN REASON TO LIVE, that he wasn't fully enjoying until he quitted from his job as the CEO of Stark Industries.I'll let my inner fangirl rage a little so please forgive me: Tony’s and Shuri’s pasts can't be compared and Tony is way more aware of the world than her. She is only 17 for gosh's sake (it’s not even fair to compare her to him) we don’t even know what she is fully capable of but if we're basing ourselves on the tiny bit of her in IW she isn't suited to be a real warrior like Okoye for example, as she totally panics in crisis, but again she is an intellectual and a princess and has bodyguards, so why would she need to physically train to defend herself? And heck guys did you forget something? Tony's dependence to alcohol! He stood up again with the help of his few friends, but did you know he was once drunk for a whole month, which terribly hindered his health, so much that his suits were taken from him? Not mentioning Afghanistan... raaah! I will not be telling what you all know as I'm going to take for granted that you ALL know Tony's pedigree (The guy created a NEW ELEMENT. Does it ring a bell?) Read the comics or encyclopedias or the personal Wikies on each character if you don’t have much time to spare, if you do, you will all understand that she is slightly smarter than him but that's it. TONY IS THE KEYSTONE IN THIS UNIVERSE AND I GENUINELY BELIEVE (WITHOUT AN OUNCE OF HATE) THAT SHE WILL NOT BE A PART OF THE AVENGERS OR ANY SORT OF GROUP WHATSOEVER IF SHE DOESN'T GET HER FACE OUT OF HER SHINY LAB WHERE SHE MAY BE A PRINCESS AND THE MOST EMINENT SCIENTIST BUT FACTS ARE THE FACTS: NOBODY BARELY KNOWS HER AS WAKANDA IS VERY SECRETIVE.I seriously don't understand how people loved her so much immediately when she is, emotionally speaking, a regular kid. I know the excitation around African culture this movie brought but it isn’t remotely realist, believe me I’m French with Algerian origins so I understand it to a certain extent.And heck guys did you forget something? Tony's dependence to alcohol! She doesn't have any personal issues to deal on her own as far as we are concerned and she can solely work on her gadgets and tech and enjoy herself genuinely.Unlike Tony who got up from rock bottom with the help of his few friends and is daily struggling against his inner demons.SMARTER DOESN’T MEAN BETTER and she is only a teenager so please just cool it down. She is not any more special than any other characters and she has a long, lonnnnng wayyyyy to go to catch up to geniuses like Peter, Reed or Bruce and Tony. Just she waits they all catch up to her regarding Vibranium tech, she won't last too long I think, on the contrary she will learn from them and become a better scientist,’cause there is always room for improvement even for a genius I think.We don't know for sure if she produced all the tech in her country either, I personally think she just took it from there and made it more precise and modern, but only a small part of Wakanda's tech comes genuinely from her brains. She was born with everything she needed to be a genius; talent, money, education, loving family, a ROYAL family, attached to tradition; I can say that family is everyone’s number one priority in the comics and in real life. You saw how everyone is protective of her? She is loved that’s for sure.The fact that she is a genius princess who thinks she can easily outsmart men that are intentionally renowned who dedicated their lives and put their safety and that of their loved ones for their jobs in order to save COUNTLESS PEOPLE is what pisses me of a little too, but again no hate on the characters because Shuri genuinely doesn’t know them that good. Not even sure she knows Tony in fact.All the comics are available online, old and new so just don't deny everything I said and get interested to Tony's real story and background, only shown at 40% (I'll say) in the movies. We'll see what they will do with her own comic that’s getting talked about recently though I think it's purely motivated by the hype around her, only brought by Black Panther itself. I would like to see an Okoye comic personally."Earth Best Defender", Captain Steve Rogers himself about Tony.I WANT TO THINK SHE WILL BE A CRUCIAL HELP TO THE OTHERS TO SAVE EVERYONE IN IW PART 2 AND DEVELOPP TECH THOUGH I WANNA BELIEVE IN THE FACT THAT TONY WILL LEARN HOW TO USE VIBRANIUM AS HE ALREADY GOT THE CHANCE TO WORK A LITTLE WITH IT (cap's shield) and prove everyone he will always be the number one engineer (alongside Peter Parker as he grew up to develop his own industry, Parker Industries, in a fashion that doesn’t go without the huge influence Tony had on him).Therefore to conclude;Shuri is smarter than Tony.But Tony is a Superhero with a capital S and the key-stone to this Marvel Universe, a leader which she is not and will probably never be as she will stay a princess and Nakia will certainly be the next Queen.Without Anthony Edward Stark, we wouldn't have been able to even pronounce the name Shuri.Please educate yourself before you start talking or people won't take you for a real fan as real ones trust COMICS before MOVIES, as the opinion of the directors change varies from their own points of views and favourites characters.On these (I believe) wise words, I wish you will all only consider what I said.I don’t want to convince you I just want people to understand that there is more to take into account.Don't let yourself be convinced by only the characters’ bios and numbers and statistics. Take into account everything else.And honestly, even after all this, if you don't believe me seriously go read and it will be crystal clear that Tony is a better engineer that Shuri isThank you for reading.

Original question:What is the goal of Trump's voter fraud task force?The presidential election integrity commission was established by executive order in May to investigate Trump’s claims of rampant voter fraud. As this item starts to occupy more and more headlines - I find it all very confusing, what is the goal and are they going about it the right way?The main goals, based on the past and present behavior and actions of Trump, seem to be:Voter intimidation.Voter suppression & voter restriction.Disenfranchising Voters.To ice his bruised ego (he lost the popular vote).Examples that back up the above goals I listed:Intimidation:Trump asked his base to be “election observers”: [1]Go down to certain areas and watch and study and make sure other people don’t come in and vote five times……The only way they can beat it in my opinion, and I mean this 100 percent, is if in certain sections of the state they cheat, okay? So I hope you people can sort of not just vote on the 8th — go around and look and watch other polling places and make sure that it’s 100 percent fine.Trump’s campaign website also added a “sign up” page for “election observers”:Appeal to motive in the below tweet:Numerous states are refusing to give information to the very distinguished VOTER FRAUD PANEL. What are they trying to hide?— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 1, 2017Voter Suppression & Restriction: [2]Voter purges:The letter doesn’t ask whether states are complying with the parts of the law that expand opportunities to register. Instead it focuses on the sections related to maintaining the lists. That’s a prelude to voter purging.Usually the Justice Department would ask only a single state for data if it had evidence the state wasn’t complying with Motor-Voter. But a blanket request to every state covered under that law is virtually unprecedented...These parallel efforts show us exactly how the Trump administration will undertake its enormous voter suppression campaign: through voter purges. The voter rolls are the key. Registration is one of the main gateways to political participation. It is the difference between a small base of voters pursuing a narrow agenda and an electorate that looks like America.Will affect minority voters disproportionately:Here’s how the government will use voters’ data. It will create a national database to try to find things like double-voters. But the commission won’t be able to tell two people with the same name and birthday apart. Such errors will hit communities of color the hardest. Census data shows that minorities are overrepresented in 85 of the 100 most common last names.Purging voters is part of a larger malicious pattern that states have employed across the country. Georgia and Ohio are being sued for carrying out early versions of what we can expect from the Trump administration.Disenfranchising Voters: [3]The Voter Commission’s data request resulted in some people withdrawing their voter registration:Three thousand, three hundred and ninety-four Coloradans have withdrawn their voter registrations as of July 13, following the Trump administration’s request for voter data as part of the Commission on Election Integrity. An additional 182 citizens in the state have filed as confidential voters.Several other states have reported a similar uptick in citizens moving to keep their information out of the federal government’s hands.Bruised Ego:Trump cannot accept that he lost the popular vote:In addition to winning the Electoral College in a landslide, I won the popular vote if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 27, 2016Quick look at “voter fraud” claims: [4]The 1960 presidential election:…reports of deceased and other unregistered voters in largely African American districts in Illinois or cases of malfeasance throughout Texas were believed to have rigged John F. Kennedy’s victory over Richard Nixon.Former Attorney General John Ashcroft:Formed the “Ballot Access and Voting Integrity Initiative” under George W. Bush’s presidencyDespite his coordination of the U.S. attorney offices with local election officials, only 24 people were convicted of improper or illegal voting and 14 non-citizens were found to be illegally voting in federal elections between 2002 and 2005.Claims of Voter Fraud in New Jersey:There were reports in 2004 that 4,755 deceased voters cast ballots in New Jersey. After careful comparison between voter rolls and death records, there were no official accounts of voter fraud.Claims of voter fraud in New York:In New York in both 2002 and 2004, 2,600 deceased voters allegedly voted, only to be removed from the register after an investigation revealed clerical errors and not malfeasance.Paranoia over “voter fraud” leads to voter suppression.North Carolina:Supreme Court rejected an appeal to reinstate North Carolina’s stringent voter identification laws that were found to discriminate against African Americans “with almost surgical precision.”Within days following this ruling, the court also found that two of North Carolina’s congressional redistricting maps resulted from unconstitutional racial gerrymandering. The decision—even supported by the more conservative Justice Clarence Thomas—found that African Americans were unfairly packed in two concentrated black districts, thereby minimizing their political influence in major elections.Wisconsin:Wisconsin’s efforts mirrored those in North Carolina where advocates purported that nearly 300,000 people lacked the proper ID to participate in the 2016 presidential election, even after parts of the state’s law were deemed unconstitutional upon appeal.Florida:In Florida, 1.5 million people were disenfranchised by a law that disqualifies ex-felons from voting, resulting in one in every four African American residents unable to vote in 2016.The 10 members in Trump’s “Commission on Election Integrity”:The above chart is based on information from a Washington Post article. [5]Mike Pence said that the “Commission on Election Integrity” will: [6]…Initiate a full evaluation of voting rolls in the country and the overall integrity of our voting system in the wake of this past election.Closer look into Kris Kobach:On November 9th, 2016, Kobach emailed a Trump transition team member about amending the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA): [7] [8]Kobach wants to amend the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA). Passed in 1993, the NVRA aims to increase voter registration: Its provisions include requiring that motor vehicle and public assistance agencies provide voter registration opportunities, and allows for registration by mail.“Interstate Crosscheck System”: [9]The “Interstate Crosscheck System” is faulty at stopping voter fraud and is conducted by Kansas election authorities:States participating in the program, known as the Interstate Crosscheck System, send their voter registration files to Kansas…Each participating state receives back a list of their voter registrations that match the first name, last name and date of birth of a voter in another state. Crosscheck provides some guidelines for purging voter registrations from the rolls.The “Interstate Crosscheck Program” is inherently flawed:In theory, the program is supposed to detect possible cases of people voting in multiple locations. But academics and states that use the program have found that its results are overrun with false positives, creating a high risk of disenfranchising legal voters…For every one illegitimate vote, “Interstate Crosscheck Program” would eliminate 200 legitimate votes:A statistical analysis of the program published earlier this year by researchers at Stanford, Harvard, University of Pennsylvania and Microsoft, for instance, found that Crosscheck “would eliminate about 200 registrations used to cast legitimate votes for every one registration used to cast a double vote.”Why the “Interstate Crosscheck Program” gets it so wrong:Factors for “matches” - birthdays and names:Crosscheck bases its “matches” primarily on just two factors: people's first and last names and their birth date. But in a country of 139 million voters, you're guaranteed to have tens of thousands of individuals who share both names and birthdays.For instance, in a 2007 paper, elections experts Michael McDonald and Justin Levitt examined voter files from New Jersey's 2014 elections. In those elections, the most common names — William Smith, Maria Rodriguez, etc. — showed up hundreds of times, reflecting their prevalence in the general population.Shared birthdays are even more common — statistically speaking if you have a group of just 23 people, there's a greater than 50 percent chance that at least two of them will share the same birthday.At 180 people, according to McDonald and Levitt, there's a 50 percent chance that two of them will share the same birth date — month, day and year.So if you have 282 William Smiths, as in New Jersey's voter rolls in 2004, you'd expect four of them to share the exact same birthday. Those four William Smiths would be flagged as potentially fraudulent voters by Kobach's Crosscheck system.Disorganized Voter files:…Voter files are notoriously messy and often incomplete. Among the 3.6 million New Jersey voters McDonnell and Levitt analyzed, for instance, nearly 1 million were missing a birth date completely. Ten thousand were listed with a birth date of Jan. 1, 1753, and another 20,000 listed as Jan. 1, 1800 — likely placeholder values that were never updated.Multiply those figures up to the national level, and you can see how a system that naively matches names and birth dates is going to return a lot of noise — and very, very little in the way of people actually trying to game the voting system.There's no question that incomplete voter data is a problem. But comparing incomplete data sets against each other isn't likely to solve that problem.Data on someone registering and voting in two states:Boiling it all down, out of the 240,000 paired registrations that Crosscheck sent to Iowa, there were only six cases where it appeared that the same person registered and voted in two different states.In other words, well over 99 percent of the 'matches' sent to Iowa were unlikely to have anything to do with even attempted voter fraud.Incidentally, that's in line with Kobach's prosecution record on Crosscheck cases: a grand total of nine successful convictions so far, “mostly older Republican males,” according to local media reports.Crosscheck’s “User Guide”:…Crosscheck's user guide recommends purging older voter registrations when the name and partial Social Security number match the name and SSN of a more recent registration.…Harvard, Stanford, University of Pennsylvania and Microsoft team estimate that following this guideline would result in 200 deletions of legitimate voter registrations for each real-world case of double voting it prevented.Kobach loves the “Interstate Crosscheck Program” and wants to take it to a national level - that’s concerning:Kobach's championing of Crosscheck is one reason many voting rights advocates are concerned that President Trump's voter fraud commission may be a vehicle for recommending mass voter purges……In his opening remarks before the election commission he said the Crosscheck program “illustrates how a successful multi-state effort can be in enhancing the integrity of our elections and in keeping our voter rolls accurate. I'm confident that this commission will be equally successful on the national level.”…If the system is primarily a vehicle for false positives, why bother using it at all?…the naming of Kobach to President Trump's voter fraud commission ensures that Crosscheck will continue to have a role in the spotlight this year. And if the Republican Party has its way, Crosscheck will expand — the 2016 GOP party platform called for “every state to join the Interstate Voter Registration Crosscheck Program to keep voter rolls accurate and to prevent people from voting in more than one state in the same election.”Kris Kobach sent a letter to all 50 states (June 28th, 2016), requesting information on voters: [10]This letter asked for: [11]The information requested includes the names, addresses, birthdates, political party (if recorded), last four digits of the voter's Social Security Number and which elections the voter has participated in since 2006, for every registered voter in the country.It would seem that Kobach desires to use “Interstate Crosscheck System” on all the information sent in regarding the information he requested.The ACLU said this about the request from Kobach:As a part of Donald Trump’s Election Integrity Commission, Kris Kobach sent letters across the country, asking state representatives for details on every registered voter in the country. This is an unprecedented government request for information on American voters, including names, addresses, birthdates, political affiliation, last four digits of Social Security numbers, and voting history.Here is a chart from the ACLU regarding where each state stands on these requests:After Kobach’s letter, there are currently seven federal lawsuits that have been filed in July (2017) against Trump’s “Commission on Election Integrity”: [12]The NAACP Legal Defense Fund filed a lawsuit on July 18th, 2017. The lawsuit alleged that the “Commission on Election Integrity”: [13]“was formed with the intent to discriminate against voters of color in violation of the Constitution…to reaffirm President Trump’s false allegations of millions of ‘illegal’ votesto provide a basis for actions that will target African-American and Latino voters…rather than objectively analyze an issue of national significance.”It went on further, saying:“Statements by President Trump, his spokespersons and surrogates…as well as the work of the Commission as described by its co-chairs, are grounded on the false premise that Black and Latino voters are more likely to perpetrate voter fraud…”The suit points to the below evidence:Trump’s repeated lies that “millions of illegals” voted in the electionPence repeating Trump’s claim/defending it [14]Kobach repeating Trump’s claim: [15]“I think the president-elect is absolutely correct when he says the number of illegal votes cast exceeds the popular vote margin between him and Hillary Clinton at this point.”Hans von Spakovsky’s ties to the “Public Interest Legal Foundation”The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) filed a lawsuit against the Commission on July 3, 2017, alleging that: [16]“the Commission’s demand for detailed voter histories also violates millions of Americans’ constitutional right to privacy.”The “Commission on Election Integrity” asked states to stop sending voter information until this lawsuit was resolved [17]The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a lawsuit on July 10th, 2017, alleging that the Commission was not following proper transparency laws: [18]The lawsuit charges the commission with failing to comply with the Federal Advisory Committee Act, which is designed to ensure public accountability of all advisory committees.The ACLU said that the Commission was not making any of the topics discussed available to the publicThree days later, the White House had a page added to its website which contained some documents regarding the meetings [19]The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law filed a lawsuit similar to the ACLU’s on July 10th, 2017, citing the Commission’s failure to comply with transparency laws [20]The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law also filed a Hatch Act Complaint against Kobach, saying that he improperly used his role on the Commission to promote his upcoming run for Governor in Kansas [21]The Florida ACLU filed a lawsuit on July 10th, 2017 (separate from the other ACLU lawsuit) against the Commission, alleging that the collection efforts were: [22]“…an unjustified invasion of privacy not authorized under the Constitution and laws of the United States or the individual states.”Public Citizen filed a lawsuit on July 10, 2017, similar to the lawsuit from ACLU Florida, alleging that the Commission: [23]“collection and dissemination of [voter] information violates the Privacy Act, which prohibits the collection, use, maintenance or distribution of any ‘record describing how any individual exercises rights guaranteed by the First Amendment.’ ”Public Citizen is requesting a temporary restraining order on the Commission’s request regarding voter informationCommon Cause also filed a lawsuit regarding Privacy Act violations on July 14, 2017, against the Commission: [24]“Common Cause asks the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to order the commission, [the Department of Homeland Security], and [the Social Security Administration] to stop seeking and using the voter history and party affiliation of voters, and return any such data it has already obtained from any state.”How Kobach’s request could be unconstitutional: [25]Kobach’s goal seems to be collecting personal information on people to put in a national voter file [26]The files would collect information not limited to:NameAddressPolitical party affiliationVoting HistorySome states include even more information: [27]Date of birthTelephone numbersEmail addressesInformation about minors (some states “pre-register” minors so that they can automatically vote when they turn 18)“Publicly Available” is not a cut and dry definition: [28]In some states, voter files are widely accessible, but not to everyoneSome states restrict “why” one can have access to voter filesFor example, Texas prohibits access to voter information used for commercial profitsVoter information is sometimes limited to: [29]Political partiesCandidatesNonprofitsAny state that have these types of restrictions are automatically breaking their own laws by sending information to back to KobachNo one knows what the Commission’s security protocols will be (or if they even have any)Asking for this information via email is suspectMakes it appear that the Commission has no security protocolsAnd/or doesn’t care about securityNo one knows exactly what the Commission will do with the infoWhat laws could this data request be breaking? Here are some of them: [30]The Privacy Act:We’ve long had privacy and security concerns about government recordkeeping in this country. Back in 1974, Congress passed the Privacy Act, regulating how federal government entities keep records. There are a number of substantive requirements for a body like the Kobach commission. Those actually include specific limits on data that Kobach has asked for, like voting history and party affiliation.The Paperwork Reduction Law:The Paperwork Reduction Act, a law with a longstanding pedigree (if an uninspiring name), governs agencies that want to issue potentially burdensome information requests. The statute covers requests that are mandatory or voluntary, aimed at individuals or organizations. The guiding idea behind the PRA is simple: before the federal government enlists individuals, companies, organizations, or state governments into potentially burdensome fact-finding, it should have a good justification and a well thought out plan.Procedural requirements found within the PRA:PRA requires federal agencies to satisfy procedural requirements designed to ensure a deliberative approach informed by the people who will feel the effects of federal action. Much of it is basic stuff. Before sending out an information request to more than ten people, a federal agency must articulate a justification for doing so. It must weigh any potential benefits to the government against the burdens that its requests will impose on recipients. It must have a plan for conducting the request and managing the information it receives. Perhaps most importantly, it must engage the public through two rounds of detailed public notification, coupled with opportunities for the public to weigh in. Only then may the agency seek final approval from the White House’s budget office, which oversees compliance with the PRA, to go forward.The election commission didn’t do any of those things. It simply ignored the statute’s requirements. In other words, its request to every Secretary of State in the country violated federal law.…In other words, the Commission’s failure to adhere to the PRA isn’t a matter of mere technical non-compliance; it flouted a legal framework whose provisions would have offered a safeguard against a misguided, and potentially quite harmful, national fishing expedition for voter data.…For state officials on the fence about whether to provide the data, the PRA should weigh significantly in their decisions. The Kobach letter was, after all, an unlawful request. State officials should pause long and hard before turning over such sensitive data – data that is foundational to the democratic process…And on top of all of that, the letter from Kobach also creates a major target for hackers: [31]Digital security experts say the commission’s request would centralize and lay bare a valuable cache of information that cyber criminals could use for identity theft scams — or that foreign spies could leverage for disinformation schemes.Quick facts on voter fraud:Justin Levitt, Loyola Law School professor, found: [32]2000 - 2014 = 35 cases of voter impersonation out of ~800 million ballots that were cast in primary, municipal, special, and other elections.News21 journalism looked into voter impersonation as well as people voting twice, vote buying, absentee fraud, etc from 2000 - 2012. [33]For voter impersonation: 10For other alleged fraud cases: 2,068~50% of those votes ended with acquittals or charges being droppedThe State Board of Elections in North Carolina found: [34]1 case of voter fraud out of 4.8 million votes in the 2016 General ElectionThere were 500 ineligible votesAlmost all of those 500 were people voting who genuinely thought they couldIn 2007, the NYT found that there were: [35]86 convictions of voter fraud from 2002–2007Quick background on voter ID laws (hint, its voter suppression): [36]Voter ID laws disproportionately affect minorities:These laws have a disproportionate effect on minorities, which is exactly what you would expect given that members of racial and ethnic minorities are less apt to have valid photo ID.States that do have strict voter ID laws tend to vote more conservative:Because minority voters tend to be Democrats, strict voter ID laws tilt the primary electorate dramatically.All else equal, when strict ID laws are instituted, the turnout gap between Republicans and Democrats in primary contests more than doubles from 4.3 points to 9.8 points.Likewise, the turnout gap between conservative and liberal voters more than doubles from 7.7 to 20.4 points.States that pass strict Voter ID laws tend to have GOP legislatures:By instituting strict voter ID laws, states can alter the electorate and shift outcomes toward those on the right:Where these laws are enacted, the influence of Democrats and liberals wanes and the power of Republicans grows.Strict ID laws are passed almost exclusively by Republican legislatures.Quick look at what States have Voter ID laws: [37]Some states seem energized by Trump’s voter fraud conspiracies, many pushing for more Voter ID laws in 2017:At least 99 bills to restrict access to the polls have been introduced (or have been carried over from previous sessions) in 31 states this year; that's already more than double the number last year, according to data compiled by the Brennan Center.Voter ID — requiring voters to prove who they are with identifying documents — is the most common requirement, but changes to the voter registration process, such as asking people to prove their U.S. citizenship, are a close second.Why obtaining a government issued ID tends to be more challenging for minority demographics, collectively as well as some of the reasons that these laws are discriminatory: [38]Cost:Obtaining ID Costs Money.Even if ID is offered for free, voters must incur numerous costs (such as paying for birth certificates) to apply for a government-issued ID.Underlying documents required to obtain ID cost money, a significant expense for lower-income Americans. The combined cost of document fees, travel expenses and waiting time are estimated to range from $75 to $175.Travel:The travel required is often a major burden on people with disabilities, the elderly, or those in rural areas without access to a car or public transportation.In Texas, some people in rural areas must travel approximately 170 miles to reach the nearest ID office.Voter ID laws are discriminatory:Minority voters disproportionately lack ID.Nationally, up to 25% of African-American citizens of voting age lack government-issued photo ID, compared to only 8% of whites.Some Voter ID laws exclude forms of ID in a discriminatory way:Texas:allows concealed weapons permits for voting, but does not accept student ID cards.North Carolina:Until its voter ID law was struck down, North Carolina prohibited public assistance IDs and state employee ID cards, which are disproportionately held by Black voters.Wisconsin:Until recently, Wisconsin permitted active duty military ID cards, but prohibited Veterans Affairs ID cards for voting.Enforcement of Voter ID laws shows a trend of discriminatory behavior:A Caltech/MIT study found that minority voters are more frequently questioned about ID than are white voters.Voter ID laws reduces the turnout of minority voters:Several studies, including a 2014 GAO study, have found that photo ID laws have a particularly depressive effect on turnout among racial minorities and other vulnerable groups, worsening the participation gap between voters of color and whites.The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) is a right wing group that is funded by corporations like Exxon Mobile and the Koch brothers, is the culprit behind most of the voter ID laws: [39]Lawmakers proposed 62 photo ID bills in 37 states in the 2011 and 2012 sessions, with multiple bills introduced in some states.Ten states have passed strict photo ID laws since 2008, though several may not be in effect in November because of legal challenges.…More than half of the 62 bills were sponsored by members or conference attendees of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a Washington, D.C.-based, tax-exempt organization.At ALEC’s annual conferences, legislators, nonprofits and corporations work together without direct public input to develop bills that promote smaller government…The group’s Public Safety and Elections Task Force at the 2009 Atlanta meeting approved the “Voter ID Act,” a photo ID bill modeled on Indiana and Georgia laws.…Arkansas state Rep. Dan Greenberg, Arizona state Sen. Russell Pearce and Indiana state Rep. Bill Ruppel (three Republicans now out of office) led drafting and discussion of the Voter ID Act.Critics of photo voter ID laws…say voters without a driver’s license or the means (a birth certificate or Social Security card) to obtain free ID cards at a state motor vehicles office could be disenfranchised.They claim that ALEC pushed for photo ID laws because poor Americans without ID are likely to vote against conservative interestsThe White House asked for feedback on the “Election Integrity Commission” on the White House website, which didn’t go so well. For example: [40]There was a lot of swearing:People called out Kobach and Pence specifically:Others questioned the integrity of the Commission:There were comparisons to Big Brother:Others demanded that the commissioners explain themselves:And my personal favorite:So, in conclusion, Trump’s “Commission on Election Integrity” is a waste of taxpayer money. The goal of the Commission is to create a “solution” that is looking for problems that don’t exist as well as creating problems.Are they going about it the right way? No.The premise of this Commission is based on lies.How the Commission is going about collecting the information based on a false premise is wrong.The data the Commission is wanting is likely a violation of privacy laws.Footnotes[1] Trump Asks Supporters to Prevent ‘Rigged’ Election by Becoming ‘Observers’[2] Opinion | The Voter Purges Are Coming[3] Some voters unregistering after Trump administration's data requests[4] Trump’s election integrity commission needs to redress voter suppression, not fraud[5] Analysis | Here are the first 10 members of Trump’s voting commission[6] Trump's election commission meets as critics condemn president's 'biggest lie'[7] Kris Kobach Email [8] This Trump administration official wants to make it more difficult to vote[9] https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/07/20/this-anti-voter-fraud-program-gets-it-wrong-over-99-of-the-time-the-gop-wants-to-take-it-nationwide/?utm_term=.b08bbbc38661[10] https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/3881818/SOS-Letter.pdf[11] Election Integrity Commission - State Responses[12] Trump’s voter commission is now facing at least 7 federal lawsuits[13] http://www.naacpldf.org/files/about-us/EIC%20Complaint.pdf[14] Watch Mike Pence try to defend Trump’s false claim that ‘millions’ voted illegally[15] Kris Kobach agrees with Donald Trump that ‘millions’ voted illegally but offers no evidence[16] EPIC v. Presidential Election Commission[17] https://epic.org/privacy/litigation/voter/epic-v-commission/EPIC-v-Commission-government-filing-on-DOD-database.pdf[18] American Civil Liberties Union v. Donald Trump[19] Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity[20] Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law Files Lawsuit To Halt Commission Hearing for Failure to Comply With Federal Law | Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law[21] Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law Files Hatch Act Complaint Against Kris Kobach | Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law[22] https://www.aclufl.org/2017/07/10/coalition-of-voting-rights-leaders-and-florida-voters-sue-presidential-commission-over-request-for-voter-information/[23] https://www.citizen.org/media/press-releases/public-citizen-sues-trump-administration-prevent-government’s-collection-voter[24] http://www.commoncause.org/press/press-releases/PenceKobachLawsuit.html?referrer=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/07/18/trumps-voter-fraud-commission-is-now-facing-at-least-7-federal-lawsuits/?utm_term=.696f889ac706?referrer=http://www.denverpost.com/2017/07/18/trumps-voter-commission-facing-several-federal-lawsuits/[25] All Your Voter Data Are Belong To Us | Take Care[26] http://www.ncsl.org/Documents/Elections/The_Canvass_February_2016_66.pdf[27] Full List Facts and Info - Voter List Information[28] States - Voter List Information[29] ELECTION CODE CHAPTER 18. PROCEDURES FOR IDENTIFYING REGISTERED VOTERS[30] President Trump’s Election Commission Has Already Violated Federal Law | Take Care[31] Trump voter-fraud panel’s data request a gold mine for hackers, experts warn[32] Voter Turnout Data - United States Elections Project[33] A News21 2012 National Project[34] https://s3.amazonaws.com/dl.ncsbe.gov/sboe/Post-Election%20Audit%20Report_2016%20General%20Election/Post-Election_Audit_Report.pdf[35] In 5-Year Effort, Scant Evidence of Voter Fraud[36] Analysis | Do voter identification laws suppress minority voting? Yes. We did the research.[37] States push new voter requirements, fueled by Trump[38] Oppose Voter ID Legislation - Fact Sheet[39] Oppose Voter ID Legislation - Fact Sheet[40] https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/whitehouse.gov/files/docs/comments-received-june-29-through-july-11-2017.pdf

How did dinosaurs have feathers if they were lizards?Well, dinosaurs aren’t lizards, or squamates as they’re known in the technical literature.Confused?Let’s explain.The best way to explain this is to first explain what an amniote is, then what a diapsid is, then what an archosaur is, and finally, what a dinosaur is.Why is this the best way in my opinion? Because it dispels common misconceptions about dinosaurs in one fell swoop.One of the most common misconceptions is people thinking dinosaurs are related to lizards, or overgrown lizards.Secondly, I feel this gives you a plain as day, common sense way to determine what a dinosaur is.So let’s do this.PROBLEMS WITH THE WORD “REPTILE”:Let’s take a minute to discuss the phylogenetic meaning of the word “reptile” as I tend to find it a rather ambiguous term that isn’t based on anything tangible like morphology, genetics, evident ancestry, anatomy, and so on.Because organisms adapt to their environments due to natural selection, classifying animals without considering ancestry, morphology, genetics, anatomy, and so on, I feel is, ultimately, an exercise in futility.Meaning, that reptile is paraphyletic, and the problem with paraphyletic classifications is that they’re arbitrary. Why should we call one thing as belonging to a group when another thing has those same characteristics, yet aren’t part of that group?Reptile is actually a rather tough word to nail down, as many different early tetrapods and amniotes are only distantly related to each other, yet look superficially similar.For example…This restoration of Milleretta:This restoration of Petrolacosaurus:And this restoration of Eothyris:Are all animals that people would be comfortable calling lizards, but here’s a problem.Only Petrolacosaurus is more closely related to true lizards or squamates, Eothyris is more closely related to mammals, and if I recall correctly (any tetrapod/amniote experts, please correct me) Milleretta is more closely related to turtles.This shows why we can’t rely on the word, “reptile” solely as a way to classify animals.But these three tetrapods all belong under one family, amniotes, which are animals that develop in amniotic fluid.Also, we have genetic evidence that shows that turtles aren’t as closely related to lizards and snakes as we initially thought, and further, genetic evidence demonstrates that lizards and snakes should really be grouped together under one group, Squamata, as they not only are genetically similar, they have a unique type of scale not shared by any other amniote or tetrapod.See, I would urge to discard the word “reptile,” or, if you insist on keeping it around, use it as a synonym for diapsid.If we use reptile to mean diapsid, then that means we have snakes, lizards, crocodylians, dinosaurs, pterosaurs, and ultimately birds all under one family, as they all, in addition to being tetrapods and amniotes, have two temporal holes in the skull either showing up when they’re embryos, or they have them all throughout their lives.This, I find is more clear cut.We aren’t concerned so much with the name we decide to give something, nor are we concerned with the superficial characteristics these animals have.We’re more concerned with their ancestry, the shape of their bones, organs, their anatomy, and their genetics if we have them.In other words, just because the name Dinosaur means, from the Greek, “Terrible Lizard,” don’t let that fool you into thinking they are lizards. No. Lizards and snakes are unique, and we would be doing a disservice to dinosaurs and lizards by classifying them incorrectly.So it doesn’t matter what the animal superficially looks like, what matters is its development, ancestry, genetics, morphology, and anatomy.This is why snakes are still considered tetrapods, because their ancestors were tetrapods.After all, you can’t outgrow your pedigree. That’s not how evolution works.AMNIOTES AND TETRAPODS:When I say amniotes, what do I mean? What is an amniote and why are they relevant?Any animal belonging to clade Amniota, is an amniote by definition.But what is an amniote?Simple.Look at the word itself. It comes from the Greek word, “Amnion” which means membranes or fluid surrounding the fetus.In common scientific parlance, an amniote is a tetrapod that develops in amniotic fluid.“Okay, I was good until you said tetrapod. What’s a tetrapod?”Oh that’s easy. Again, we look at the Greek. Tetrapod is a contraction of the words “tetra” which means “four” as in the number four, and “poda” which means “feet.”So a tetrapod is literally an animal with four limbs.“Okay, that implies that there are animals with less, or more than four limbs.”Well, yeah. Arthropods, or arachnids and insects have 6 or 8 segmented limbs.Fishes don’t quite have limbs as such, their fins are made of rays, not bony hands or arms.So at this point, we’re picturing an animal that is somewhat akin to this:May look like a lizard, but remember, this is from before the dawn of lizards and snakes.So while they superficially look like lizards, they aren’t lizards.DIAPSIDS:So now we have an idea that any four limbed animal that develops in amniotic fluid is an amniote, we have to further define diapsids.Amniotes split up in various different ways, based largely on how many temporal holes in the skull that they had.Synapsids, like us, have one temporal hole. You can confirm this for yourself. Put a finger in your temple, and then your thumb behind your cheekbone, and squeeze.You’ll feel a ridge of bone there, and that’s your synapse.Anapsids, meanwhile, have no temporal holes in their skull.Diapsids, however, are the group most relevant to us. Diapsids instead, have two temporal holes in their skull, which serves to make their skulls lighter.Now, obviously, these holes have closed over in some lineages, but these always show up when they’re embryos.Why are we concerned with diapsids?Simple, everything we colloquially consider to be reptiles are all diapsids, everything from lizards, snakes, tuataras, and turtles.But, as it happens, dinosaurs belong here too.Therefore, dinosaurs are diapsids, by definition.At this point, we’re picturing a creature much like this:Again, very lizard like, but still, this is before lizards ever existed.EVIDENT PHYOLOGENY OF LIZARDS AND SNAKES:Evident ancestry and anatomy shows that dinosaurs are closely related to crocodiles, and are the ancestors of all birds.Further, genetic evidence corroborates this, as crocodilians are more closely related to birds than they are lizards and snakes.In fact, let’s discuss lizard and snake phylogeny, as that’s now a big misconception that’s coming under fire in light of evidence via molecular biology.Historically, squamates have been divided into three main groups:The true lizards, including the skinks, geckos, bearded dragons and so forth.The serpents, comprising all the snakes.And the amphisbaenids, or worm lizards. Essentially, lizards without legs.However, evidence via molecular biology shows that there may indeed be several lineages of squamates. Here’s the study in question:Resolving the phylogeny of lizards and snakes (Squamata) with extensive sampling of genes and speciesAnd this makes sense considering the diversity and success of squamates, which comprise over 10,000 species, occupying various niches in the environment, both extant and extinct.So I understand why when someone says “reptile” you automatically think of snakes and lizards, because they are so successful.The diversity of the group is so large that it includes the swimming Cretaceous giant, Mosasaurus:In case you were wondering, yes, mosasaurs are true lizards, being closely related to…Varanids, or monitor lizards like the Komodo dragon:Which itself is also a true lizard being closely related to this adorable Leopard gecko:Which itself is genetically related to this Burmese python:And this Diamondback rattlesnake:And those two snakes are closely related to the previous lizards I listed.This is the power of evolution working in populations of animals. Changes happen, they’re initially superficial or innocuous, and they accumulate over time, creating various species of animals.However, all of these previous squamates I showed all belong to a larger order of Lepidosauria, which refers to any diapsid that has overlapping scales.So we classify lizards and snakes, which are under one family, Squamata. Squamata means, from the Greek “Having Scales.”The basic classification of an animal in the order Squamata specifically means that we’re talking about an animal that is a tetrapod, develops in amniotic fluid, has two temporal holes in its skull, which what a diapsid is, has a specific kind of overlapping scale unique to the group, and evidence via molecular biology demonstrates their ancestry going back millions of years to the dawn of Lepidosauria, a group of diapsids that have overlapping scales.In other words, lizards and snakes are quite distantly related to any archosaur, let alone dinosaurs, as there’s 300 million years of evolution to account for.That’s as distantly related as it gets.ARCHOSAURS:Now, people get caught up is the word “reptile” itself.But the word “reptile” has certain connotations that constrain people’s thinking to only one group of animals, squamates, which are the lizards and snakes.It’s understandable to a degree, since snakes and lizards comprise over 10,000 species filling basically every niche and environment out there.But understand that the word “reptile” itself can only be regarded as a synonym for the word “diapsid” meaning an amniote with two temporal holes in its skull.That gets annoying to say all the time, so we use diapsid or reptile, as it conveys the same thing.So no, not all reptiles are lizards and snakes, and we should be cognizant of this.One group of diapsids are archosaurs, which from the Greek means “Ruling reptiles” and it refers to diapsids that have:Teeth set in deep socketsAntorbital and mandibular holes in the skull.And a pronounced and prominent ridge on the femur, called a fourth trochanter.These aren’t traits that lizards and snakes share at all, so even at a most basic skeletal level, dinosaurs aren’t even closely related to lizards, but merely very distantly related, in that they’re both diapsids.What makes these adaptations far removed from lizards and snakes?Simple.The teeth being set in deep sockets means that the teeth were less likely to be torn loose during feeding.Just look at T. rex teeth. Here’s a tooth from the specimen Stan:Big teeth, for sure.Let’s highlight the crown as compared to the root:Set in deep sockets, indeed.The antorbital and mandibular fenestrae really lightened the skull, making them more efficiently built and active.And finally, that fourth trochanter enabled archosaurs to have more upright gaits as compared to more basal diapsids.You can even see this today with modern crocodiles when they gallop.What? You didn’t know that crocodiles can gallop?Anyhow, we’re now picturing an animal much like this:With all this talk of locomotion, this brings us to dinosaurs.DINOSAURS:There is a simple, common sense definition of a dinosaur.One definition is defining dinosaur in terms of ancestry. That is, a dinosaur is any animal that shares a common ancestry with birds and Triceratops.Which I find is a bit lazy, if nevertheless accurate.A more common sense definition would be that a dinosaur is an archosaur that holds its legs erect underneath its body. Further, evidence of endothermy is present in the group, and this leads to more highly active lifestyles than their ancestors.Thus, we now know a simple definition for a dinosaur, after we know what archosaurs are.Dinosaurs are archosaurs, and a specific subset of active archosaurs that are endothermic, and hold their legs erect underneath their bodies, making them more efficiently built.Now that we know what dinosaurs are, and they aren’t lizards, the question still remains, what about those feathers?That’s quite a tricky thing to answer.FEATHER EVOLUTION:The evolution of feathers is quite a complicated subject, as embryological development (evo-devo for short) shows us that feathers are actually modified scales built off the same protein, keratin.In fact, that discovery has demonstrated that the scales that feathers likely evolved from were more similar to crocodile and alligator scales, as demonstrated by this paper.Beta-keratin localization in developing alligator scales and feathers in relation to the development and evolution of feathers - PubMedThey looked at beta-keratin localization in developing alligator scales and feathers and found that they are homologous, suggesting that they both had a common ancestor.On top of this, another study went a bit further and looked at alpha-keratin localization, and saw a similar trend.The molecular evolution of feathers with direct evidence from fossilsNow, we really can’t continue discussing the evolution of feathers, without discussing the embryological development of feathers.Why is this important?Because similar trends in the fossil record also are demonstrated in the embryological development of animals.We know from embryological development, feathers are a complex structure, comprising multiple stages of development that we have learned by studying bird embryos, as outlined in this paper.Flight feather development: its early specialization during embryogenesisTo summarize the study, feathers start off as a tubular bud of skin. Inside of the bud, ridges begin to form, and a pattern begins wherein barb ridges on one side moves the other barbs to combine into a central shaft. Additional ridges fuse to the shaft beginning the first branching fronds of a true feather.So in summary, feathers start off as a hollow spiky tube, then downy feather tufts as the tube divides, then we have barbs growing off the central shaft, then barbules form to zipper the fronds together to make a true double-veined flight feather.Each stage has been accounted for in embryological development in birds, as well as the fossil record.For example, what if the hollow spiky tube didn’t divide, and just got bigger?That would explain these odd filaments on the tail of the ceratopsid, Psittacosaurus:And considering this animal is considered the most recent common ancestor to all ceratopsids, then it makes some sense that Triceratops might have looked like this:What if the feather development stopped at stage two, and we just have downy fluff covering the whole animal?That would explain the funny hair like structure on the small theropod Sinosauropteryx:This color has been confirmed to be factual for Sinosauropteryx, but we’ll deal with coloration when we get there.What if instead of feathers, scales formed? It’s perfectly reasonable in dinosaurs.That would explain these scale impressions of large tyrannosaurids including T. rex:And the location of these scales aren’t just located in one spot, mind you, but in several spots throughout the body, as outlined in Bell, et al’s. paper.Tyrannosauroid integument reveals conflicting patterns of gigantism and feather evolutionAnd for where exactly these impressions were located, here’s this handy chart:What if the feathers just stopped at stage 3 and didn’t develop barbules?That would explain this fossil of a dinosaur tail encased in amber:That fossil was reported in this paper.A Feathered Dinosaur Tail with Primitive Plumage Trapped in Mid-Cretaceous AmberIf you look closely at the structure of the feathers, they have a central shaft, and barbs, but no barbules.And of course, advanced feather integument is demonstrated with Microraptor.Here’s some reconstructions of Microraptor for visual’s sake:So dinosaur integument demonstrates scales, basal feathers, advanced feathers, and everything in between.Now why did these structures evolve, and when?That’s a much more difficult question to answer.While feathers have a number of reasons for why they came about in dinosaurs, all of which could be true at the same time, including but not limited to:Wing Assisted Incline Running, using their feathers to help them up steep inclines, as demonstrated by this paper, https://science.sciencemag.org/content/299/5605/402.Heating clutches of eggs, as demonstrated in Oviraptor.Display, as I’ve mentioned.Thermoregulation.All of these could be true at the same time, and it demonstrates the strong selective pressure that dinosaurs were under to survive.The prevailing hypothesis is that feathers evolved for purposes of thermoregulation.This also makes common sense.Think about it, eagles fly at quite high altitudes, typically at a height of 3048 meters, or 10000 feet.At that high of an altitude, the air is quite cold, as the air temperature drops off every 5.4 degrees Fahrenheit per 1000 feet.Meaning, at an altitude of 10000 feet, the air can get quite cold, and yet the body temperature of an eagle, being a true endothermic animal with a high metabolism, is around 106 degrees Fahrenheit.Feathers play a significant role in maintaining body heat.On top of this, feathers are also useful for another thing.That’s right, display.While I am using the peacock (which is a dinosaur) as an extreme example, it demonstrates sexual selection rather perfectly.For some animals, display structures indicate to a potential mate your health, how virile you are, and how strong you are.In the case of peafowl, the males evolved such colorful plumage because the females consistently select the male that has the most radiant plumage, as it signifies to the female how big, strong, and virile their potential mate will be.This is a trait of sexual selection, and this isn’t unique just to birds, as many tetrapods have similar display structures for largely the same reasons.Because of this, it really isn’t a huge leap in logic to say this is true of dinosaurs as well.In fact, with the discovery of fossilized melanosomes, we actually now can predict with a good degree of precision what color some dinosaurs were.In fact, recent studies demonstrate that dinosaurs may have been much different colors than we originally surmised.When I was a kid, coloration in dinosaurs was a fact that we just plain didn’t know, and always was prone to speculation.We went with what made sense, in that dinosaurs like T. rex probably had more drab, browns and greens to blend in with its environment, as that would provide a strong selective pressure making it a more efficient hunter.While it certainly could be the case that some dinosaurs were drab colors, recent studies examining fossilized melanosomes, however, can give us a tantalizing look into the actual coloration of dinosaurs.http://oro.open.ac.uk/22432/2/41064696.pdfhttp://doc.rero.ch/record/210394/files/PAL_E4402.pdfThe colour of fossil feathersCountershading and Stripes in the Theropod Dinosaur Sinosauropteryx Reveal Heterogeneous Habitats in the Early Cretaceous Jehol BiotaNew evidence on the colour and nature of the isolated Archaeopteryx featherReconstruction of Microraptor and the Evolution of Iridescent PlumageWhat are melanosomes?Melanosomes are organelles found in the cells of animals that serve as the sites for synthesis, storage and transport of the protein melanin.Melanin, as we learned in our biology class from school (or should have) is the protein that gives an organism its color.Of course, the actual formation of this molecule is rather complex and is better served for an answer all its own by a biochemist.All animals have melanosomes, even you, dear reader, and is the reason you have the skin, eye, and hair color that you do, which in humans is mostly a brown pigment, just a fun fact. :)Anyhow, it stands to reason that dinosaurs have them too, and for a long time we either didn’t have the technology, methods, or thought to examine well preserved dinosaur fossils to determine what color they might have been.Those six studies I cited were looking at a few dinosaurs, the troodontid Anchiornis, the small theropod Sinosauropteryx, the dromaeosaurid Microraptor, and the avialan Archaeopteryx.Now what did these studies conclude?Well, Archaeopteryx was actually black in color, but they found no evidence as of yet if its feathers were iridescent like a crow.So Archaeopteryx might have well looked like this in reality:If you saw this in reality, like say they were miraculously brought out of extinction, you wouldn’t have said that this looks like a dinosaur, (even though it totally is), you would say it looks like a funny crow with a mouth full of teeth.For Microraptor, one of the above studies demonstrates that it was also black in color, and have found evidence that its feathers are iridescent like a crow’s.So Microraptor might have well looked like this in reality:Again, just like in the case of Archaeopteryx, if these animals were brought back from extinction, and you saw one, you would say it looks like a funny crow with a long tail and a mouth full of teeth.The troodontid, Anchiornis, is actually rather fascinating. The above papers discuss that Anchiornis actually had a mottling of black and white feathers, mostly grey on the body, with a crest of red feathers.So Anchiornis, might have looked like this:Again, if you were to have seen one if they were brought out of extinction, you’d say that’s a beautiful, if strange bird with a long tail and a maw full of teeth.And finally, let’s look at the small theropod, Sinosauropteryx. One of the above studies says that this one had patterns over its eyes, stripes on its tail, and countershading.The colors they determined?Orange and white!So Sinosauropteryx would have looked like this:You would, if they were brought out of extinction and saw them, would call this a strange, bird-like raccoon.This provides tantalizing insights into why dinosaurs evolved such colorful plumage.There’s several reasons, but the one I think that explains the coloration the best is display and competition for mates.Essentially, these are dinosaurs saying, “Look at how healthy and grown I am, please mate with me!”Not unlike what you see with peafowl, just a distinctly, non-avian variant.So feathers aren’t just useful for flight. We think of feathers and instantly think of birds, because birds are so common that we think feathers originally evolved because of flight.But, as it turns out, feathers play a number of rather important roles, like displays, sexual selection, thermoregulation, and locomotion.EXPLAINING WHY BIRDS ARE DINOSAURS:The weight of the evidence linking dinosaurs and birds is so overwhelming that you cannot deny it, except on pain of irrationality.Bird Classification:We now know, for certain, that all birds are descended from maniraptoran theropod dinosaurs.What does that classification mean?To answer that, we have to define our terms.We start with dinosaurs, and dinosaurs in general are split into two major groups based entirely on the form of the pelvis and pelvic girdle.Saurischians (“Reptile Hipped”):Ornithischians (“Bird Hipped”):Now, if we took the road of the ornithischians, we wouldn’t run into any dinosaurs related to birds, we’d run into things likeStegosaurus:Triceratops:Parasaurolophus:And such.Thus, even though it goes against the name, we take the road of the saurischians, the “Lizard Hips.”Theropoda (“Beast Feet”):The next group we’re concerned with are the theropods. Theropods are saurischians that have three toed limbs and hollow bones.Thus, we reach our next signpost, the theropods.Tetanurae (“Stiff Tails”):Within theropods, the next group we’re concerned with are the tetanurans, which are theropods characterized by:A ribcage indicating a sophisticated air-sac-ventilated lung system similar to that in modern birds. This character likely would have been accompanied by an advanced circulatory system.Absence of the fourth digit of the hand.Placement of the maxillary teeth anterior to the orbit.Strap-like scapula.Maxillary fenestrae.And true to their namesake, all tetanurans have stiffened tails.To better understand why we call this group “Stiff Tails” all tetanurans have articular processes along their tail, creating what’s called facet joints all the way from the base to the tip.This stiffens the tail, but don’t think stiff as, stiff like a board, but moreso that they have more control in the tail.Thus, we reach our next signpost, Tetanurae, the “Stiff Tails.”Avetheropoda (“Birdlike Beast Footed”):Within the tetanurans, the next group we’re concerned with are the avetheropods, which are theropods more closely related to birds, than the other theropods.Coelurosauria (“Hollow Tailed Reptiles”):There’s two major splits in the avetheropods, the carnosaurs, which would include the spinosaurs, megalosaurs, and allosaurs, and the coelurosaurs which include compsognathids, tyrannosauroids, ornithomimosaurs, and maniraptors.Since all dromaeosaurids share the features of coelurosaurs, which are:A sacrum longer than in other dinosaurs.A tail stiffened towards the tip.A bowed ulna.A tibia longer than the femur.Then we reach our next signpost, the Coelurosaurs, or “Hollow Tailed Reptiles.”Within the coelurosaurs, we have compsognathids, tyrannosauroids, ornithomimosaurs, and the maniraptors.Thus we reach our next signpost, the Maniraptors, or “Hand Thieves.”Maniraptora (“Hand Thieves”):Maniraptorans are characterized by long arms and three-fingered hands (though reduced or fused in some lineages), as well as a "half-moon shaped" or semi-lunate bone in the wrist, as well as showing highly derived feather integument.You can easily see with the above diagram, that the defining characteristic is the semi-lunate bone in the wrist. This bone allows for greater wrist angle movements, and is the bone that allows birds to fold their wings next to their bodies.Within the maniraptorans, we have four major groups.AVIALANS (“BIRD WINGS”):These would be maniraptorans that have feathered wings used in flapping flight, and all of the birds that descended from them.Thus, by scientific definition, birds would be Avialans, maniraptoran theropod dinosaurs that have feathered wings used in flapping flight.THERIZINOSAURIANS (“SCYTHE REPTILES”):These would be maniraptorans that possess long necks, are tetradactyl, meaning they have four toes that they walk on, have wide torsos, unique hip bones, which pointed backwards and were partially fused together giving them more upright postures than is typical of theropods, and their defining characteristic are those massive scythe like claws on their hands.Definitely a strange group, being the only herbivorous theropods, but they are maniraptorans nonetheless.Therizinosaurus, pictured above, is the most popular and well known of this group.OVIRAPTORSAURIANS (“EGG THIEVING REPTILES”):These are generally described as any maniraptor sharing a most recent common ancestor with Ningyuansaurus.But, in terms of physical descriptions, you can spot an oviraptorosaurian by a few characteristics.They are distinct for their characteristically short, beaked, parrot-like skulls, with or without bony crests atop the head.So if you see a short, beaked, parrot-like skull on a maniraptor that isn’t a true bird, you’ve probably got yourself an oviraptorosaurian of some description.Oviraptor, pictured above, is the most well known member of the group.And finally…DEINONYCHOSAURIANS (“TERRIBLE CLAWED REPTILES”):As the name suggests, this refers to any maniraptor that has a hyper-extended second toe claw.This group is generally split between two main groups.The dromaeosaurids, colloquially known as raptors which contains Velociraptor and its closely related kin.And the troodontids, which are very closely related, but show more encephalization, and are lighter and more gracile in build.Thus, I have described, in relatively simplistic, easy to understand terms that describes birds.Problem is, since we can show that the basic body plan started quite early in theropods, got more specialized in the coelurosaurs, and blossomed in the maniraptorans, all of which are dinosaurs, just now we have nested birds in the subset of maniraptorans, thus we can’t describe a bird without also describing a dinosaur.You may be scratching your head as to what I’m getting at, say no more!The more you delve into this, the more suspicious coincidences you start noticing.Even by comparing extant birds to extinct dinosaurs, things get rather suspicious…Well, how about comparing a dromeaosaurid to a modern raptor?First, here’s an accurate reconstruction of a Velociraptor:Now, here’s a golden eagle:With the exception of the Velociraptor having teeth, unfused wing fingers, and a long, stiff tail, it’s almost identical to a golden eagle.And if you think I’m pulling your leg about the feathers on Velociraptor, several of Velociraptor’s closely related cousins show feather impressions on their fossils.Here’s a few fossils just to demonstrate:Each of those fossils show clear feather impressions.Fortunately, I’m not done.Scientists have found evidence of quill knobs on the ulnas of Velociraptor, specifically, in the exact same place as modern birds, serving as the anchor point for the quills of the feather.Here’s the source for that, right here:Feather Quill Knobs in the Dinosaur VelociraptorMicroraptor is interesting, as it’s a small, tree climbing dromaeosaurid, and I showed two fossils of it above.Defining birds, as we have so far, fundamentally means that they are maniraptors, the question now lies on what separates the Paravians, that is, dinosaurs more closely related to birds, and the Avians, dinosaurs that are most definitely birds.And the answer?It’s complicated.Things get so blurry here that we’re now discussing things that are more bird like than we did previously.To demonstrate, within Maniraptorans, we have basically Dromaeosaurids:Which are colloquially known as the raptors, and the Troodontids:That are like dromaeosaurids, but more bird-like and more lithe in build, and both are placed within one group called, Deinonychosauria, or Eumaniraptora, which is the sister group to the birds, and has been called Paravians, by me, because I believe it makes more sense.And then you have birds, which all modern birds have feathered tails and bodies, unfused shoulder bones, toothless beaks and forelimbs that are longer than their hind limbs. They also have a bony plate near their tails called a pygostyle.Other types of extinct theropods had one or more of these features, but only modern birds have all of them, according to Takuya Imai, an assistant professor with the Dinosaur Research Institute at Fukui Prefectural University in Fukui, Japan.And this is why the classification of birds gets tricky. They are so close to dinosaurs, that we determine the differences between them based on specific measurements of these bones, as evidently their ancestors had these features too.So, we define true avians as dinosaurs that have all of the previous traits described by Takuya Imai, and those are technical and specific, and of no use to the layman trying to determine the difference.Which is why I’m largely going towards the idea that we should eschew the word bird, and use it to mean maniraptor, as that would make far more sense.To demonstrate this, the above cladogram shows just how similar the animals we are discussing are, and this is much more representative of the whole group.Make no mistake, birds are so similar to dinosaurs, that they may as well be dinosaurs.SUMMARY:In short, dinosaurs aren’t true squamates, and are, in fact, quite distantly related to them.Squamates are in fact lepidosaurs, a subset of diapsids with overlapping scales.Dinosaurs, along with crocodilians, pterosaurs, and birds, on the other hand, aren’t squamates. They aren’t even lepidosaurs.They’re in fact archosaurs, a subset of diapsids with unique morphological structures not shared by any other diapsid.Dinosaurs, and ultimately birds are a specific subset of archosaurs that hold their legs erect underneath their bodies, and show evidence of endothermy leading to more active lifestyles.As far as the evolution of feathers, it’s quite complicated, and I only just barely summarized it. What specific lineages and when and why becomes a very tricky question to answer.One thing we do know for sure though, is that filamentous structures appeared in the Avemetatarsalians, and were inherited by their descendants, the dinosaurs, and ultimately the birds.Since such structures don’t appear outside of this group, we can only conclude that this only evolved once and is only unique to them.As for why such structures evolved in the first place, again, it’s a tricky question to answer, as the prevailing hypotheses could all be true at once, and we just plain aren’t sure what exactly the selective pressure was for these animals.We can only look at the fossils, and make inferences based on extant animals to try and fill in the gaps.But, make no mistake. Dinosaurs aren’t and weren’t lizards, never have been, and are separated by lizards by 300 million years of evolution.That’s as distantly related as it gets.