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John McAfee On Why He's Running For President

Velcroman1 writes: Our government is in a dysfunctional state. It is also illiterate when it comes to technology. Technology is not a tool that should be used for a government to invade our privacy. Technology should not be the scapegoat when we fail to protect our digital assets and tools of commerce. These are matters of priorities." So says John McAfee, offering up a brief explanation into why he's running for president. As noted earlier on slashdot, McAfee has filed paperwork already (PDF) to found a new party.

29 of 242 comments (clear)

  1. Who cares? by Captain+Splendid · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Really, who cares? Trump's in it to win it and popcorn futures are tapped out. This idiot's got less chance than Palin at winning the Golden Ticket.

    --
    Linux, you magnificent bastard, I read the fucking manual!
    1. Re:Who cares? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      Go Trump!

    2. Re:Who cares? by JackieBrown · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Or like Obama ran his companies, or Hilary, or Sanders, or...

      Wait, do any of the democrats actually have experience creating private sector jobs?

    3. Re:Who cares? by aardvarkjoe · · Score: 2

      My vote goes to the person that I would most like to see elected, not the person that everyone says is going to win.

      --

      How can we continue to believe in a just universe and freedom to eat crackers if we have no ale?
    4. Re:Who cares? by FranTaylor · · Score: 2, Informative

      Section. 8.

      The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States

    5. Re:Who cares? by Coren22 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Unfortunately, they are part time minimum wage jobs replacing full time salaried positions, so it is a net negative.

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      APK likes to ask for responses to the same things over and over. Maybe he just likes the responses?
    6. Re:Who cares? by CanHasDIY · · Score: 3, Insightful

      "Job growth" sounds great and all... until you realize all that growth was at minimum wage corporate subsidy farms like McDonalds and WalMart.

      "Jobs" != sustainable wages

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      An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
    7. Re:Who cares? by CanHasDIY · · Score: 2

      Aw, cmon, they work together all the time! On the PATRIOT Act, on drones, on the TPP, on indefinite detention of Americans without charges... lots of stuff!

      The illusion of the parties not working together exists for the explicit purpose of making us more accepting of the bullshit that gets passed when they do "reach across the aisle."

      --
      An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
    8. Re:Who cares? by FranTaylor · · Score: 2

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]

      yeah that's pretty funny

      "took place on March 16, 1988, during the closing days of the Iran–Iraq War"

      wrong war, silly. maybe you should blame angela merkel for the nazis

    9. Re:Who cares? by FlyHelicopters · · Score: 2

      these are the exact same people who fell for the lies of the last republican president and went to war

      Actually, I don't believe that Bush lied, I think he had a combination of bad intel and people within the CIA and DoD who wanted war.

      He should have been listening to Colin Powell and Condi Rice, not Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfield.

      Frankly, if I were Commander in Chief, I'd listen to Colin Powell LONG before I'd listen to Dick Cheney. Colin Powell was a General, he served our nation and understood the military and military issues. Cheney is a businessman who doesn't know squat about military stuff.

      As President, I would pay far more attention to uniformed service members who had spent decades in the military over civies in suits, at least when it comes to war stuff.

    10. Re:Who cares? by fustakrakich · · Score: 2

      I do that, and then get accused of *not participating*. Following the herd is throwing away your vote, or selling it to the highest bidder.

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      “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
    11. Re:Who cares? by Immerman · · Score: 2

      Unfortunately GDP has essentially nothing to do with median income - especially in a country where the top 0.1% own more wealth than the bottom 90% combined.

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      --- Most topics have many sides worth arguing, allow me to take one opposite you.
    12. Re:Who cares? by ultranova · · Score: 2

      The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States

      Which does not translate to the Government being responsible for creating jobs. It translates to not interfering with jobs and protecting the public from racketeers and similar criminals.

      "General welfare" is consistent with both courses of action. If one of them is against your personal political beliefs, then lobby for the Constitution to be amended. Don't "translate" English into English to get around what it actually says because that risks other people with conflicting beliefs doing the same.

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      Forget magic. Any technology distinguishable from divine power is insufficiently advanced.

    13. Re:Who cares? by fustakrakich · · Score: 2

      No, it's just a couple of friends here who say that when I tell them I won't vote for a major party candidate. They expect me to play along like the rest. You know, the 'lesser evil' types who insist that failure to vote for a democrat is a vote for a republican, and they blame Nader for Bush's victory, etc. I guess they're still sore over that.

      --
      “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
  2. Well,one thing we can expect by fustakrakich · · Score: 5, Funny

    He will slow down the government...

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    “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
  3. Lottery by Lab+Rat+Jason · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Being president is sort of like winning the lottery, but in reverse. You accept the blame for everything that happens during the next 4 years, and sometimes you get to take credit for a few things... then you ride the gravy train down to your grave. Anyone who believes that the president alone can fix "Our government is in a dysfunctional state. It is also illiterate when it comes to technology." is already drinking the cool-aid. It takes a president, a congress, and state politicians working together to effect change, and nobody's been able to round up that crowd in a few decades now.

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    Which has more power: the hammer, or the anvil?
    1. Re:Lottery by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

      It wasn't a disaster until Obama and Valarie fucked it up along with Afghanistan, Poland, Ukraine, Turkey, and now Iran. These clowns could fuck up a wet dream...

  4. Super Peak Slashdot 64 by American+AC+in+Paris · · Score: 2

    Again: this is a front page story.

    Minor point releases of Amiga OS have an order of magnitude more business being front page articles than this inanity.

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    Obliteracy: Words with explosions

  5. well by ThatsDrDangerToYou · · Score: 3, Interesting

    At least politics is no longer boring...

  6. Re:I'll vote for him by HornWumpus · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Be fair. When he was running the company it was pretty good. That was 20+ years ago.

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    John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
  7. Bath salts orgies murder and anti-virus software by nickweller · · Score: 2

    "If there is one thing society can learn from the soap opera now engulfing tech zillionaire John McAfee, it is that rectal shelving is the best way to take the psychoactive drug MDPV, marketed and known colloquially as bath salts." ref

  8. Crazy is our Last Hope by draftmonkey2016 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It's easy and predictable to sit back and call John McAfee crazy. It is also unhelpful.

    Some of the nice, responsible people that do this actually believe that the system of government in place in the US is fully functional and healthy. I can't say much to these people except: see you at the finish line.

    The remaining people with functioning brains realize that many, many things are going horribly wrong with the US system of government. In fact a majority of Americans believe this today. Trust in government is at an all time low. For these people, even if they disagree on the specifics, clearly things are not going well. Many even doubt for any future at all if we continue down the same course.

    And yet many of these people will also stand up and say McAfee is crazy. Well so what? Beyond that, will anything be done in the absence of a crazy person to attempt it? To win one would have to usurp the Political Machine by defeating both the Republicans and Democrats in the election, the whole time thwarting their joint efforts to protect their system. They will literally be walking around with a target on their back. Who but a crazy person would attempt it?

    It also shouldn't be forgotten that crazy often comes part and parcel with a whole host of other traits and characteristics that are very desirable. That Mr. McAfee has at least some spark of these is evident in the success that he has met with in the past. To dismiss him as a gibbering loon would not only be a mistake, it would be completely in error.

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    In 2016 Let's Put Career Politicians on the Unemployment Line
    1. Re:Crazy is our Last Hope by FranTaylor · · Score: 2

      Some of the nice, responsible people that do this actually believe that the system of government in place in the US is fully functional and healthy.

      ha ha ha, is that your imaginary friend who is saying that? maybe you need to take a serious thrashing to your straw man

      To win one would have to usurp the Political Machine

      yeah that's great, how will a president get anything done if he does not have the trust of his fellow lawmakers?

  9. Re:Is he even eligible? by myowntrueself · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Yes, you can. You can also renounce it. But that's irrelevant to my point. I'm not talking about citizenship, nor questioning his status as a natural born citizen.

    But, rather the last part of Article II, Section 1, Clause 5: ...neither shall any Person be eligible to that Office who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty five Years, and been fourteen Years a Resident within the United States.

    The "been fourteen Years a Resident" part.

    And they won't let you renounce your US citizenship if they think its because you want to avoid paying taxes on overseas earnings!

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    In the free world the media isn't government run; the government is media run.
  10. Bernie Sanders, obviously by Ionized · · Score: 2

    that dude is awesome.

    1. Re:Bernie Sanders, obviously by FlyHelicopters · · Score: 2

      He makes a heck of a pitch anyway... Shame he isn't running for King. Then he could do some of it.

      https://berniesanders.com/issu...

      AS PRESIDENT, SENATOR BERNIE SANDERS WILL REDUCE INCOME AND WEALTH INEQUALITY BY:

      1. Demanding that the wealthy and large corporations pay their fair share in taxes.

      That sounds wonderful, except... what is their "fair share" of taxes? There has to be a number attached to that, not just a slogan. And you can't just demand they pay more in taxes, you have to change the tax code, which is another mess.

      As president, Sen. Sanders will stop corporations from shifting their profits and jobs overseas to avoid paying U.S. income taxes.

      How is he doing to do that? By just telling them to and waving his finger at them? That isn't how it works. By asking Congress to pass a law saying, "you can't shift your profits and jobs overseas"? That is too vague and wouldn't stand up in the courts, it has to be more specific.

      It is a wonderful sounding campaign slogan that means nothing.

      He will create a progressive estate tax on the top 0.3 percent of Americans who inherit more than $3.5 million

      Ahh, double taxation, tax it when you earn it, tax it when you die. Estate taxes are evil, but putting that issue aside, the really wealthy people don't pay them anyway, they put their money in trusts and corporations and "non-profits", and those don't "die" to be taxed in that way.

      2. Increasing the federal minimum wage from $7.25 to $15 an hour by 2020. In the year 2015, no one who works 40 hours a week should be living in poverty.

      That sounds great, sure, why not... of course, it will just cause stuff to cost more, but it helps in the short run, so sure...

      Of course, what is NOT SPOKEN there is that while people who work 40 hours a week might not live in poverty, far more people WON'T BE WORKING AT ALL, so there is that.

      Raise the wages and I have far more incentive to bring in robots or offshore my work or figure out how to get more work out of existing employees.

      Don't be shocked if 10 years from now there are only two employees in your average McDonalds, both paid over $15/hr, because robots are doing all the work.

      Raising min wage doesn't actually solve anything, it just makes the numbers bigger. The real trick is to make people's work worth more, but that doesn't fit neatly into a 15 second sound bite so they don't talk about that.

  11. Try using REAL DATA by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Daily Kos is not a valid source; it's on par with Bozo the Clown or Big Bird. It's a site set up by hard-left activists to advance hard-left politics and is no better than Politifact, which is run by Democrats.

    Try THIS CHART from the St Louis Fed which shows that the NET gain in jobs for all of the Obama years is only about 1 million, and THIS CHART which shows NET gain in jobs for foreign-born workers over the same span of the Obama years as nearly 2 million.

    All the political candidates (on BOTH SIDES) and their paid hacks, activist mouthpieces, and corporate and/or union shills play with numbers to mislead people in various ways; some compare data from different time spans, some (usually Obama supporters) cite all the increases but ignore the losses (same trick they use with Obamacare coverage) some cite all the monthly gains (hoping the reader will misunderstand the data and mentally add them all up and see tens of millions on new jobs). Incidentally, the GOP is just as guilty when they are in power of citing a list of monthly gains and knowing they are tricking the average user into misleading himself. The problems with summing the monthlies are: [a] they do not include the monthly losses, [b] they include very temporary and seasonal jobs.

  12. Just makin' the best of a bad situation: by Hartree · · Score: 4, Funny

    "Our government is in a dysfunctional state."

    So, John's saying he wants to be president so he can put the fun back in dysfunctional?

  13. Re:Charlie Sheen by savuporo · · Score: 2

    You'll really actually want President Camacho

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