Yes. Too many people have too much invested in milking grievances and hunting witches for such a thing to be excused.
If people started accepting apologies and being tolerant and magnanimous and kind and understanding, we'd all live happier, more peaceful lives.
And then what would community organizers do to become rich and powerful? Who would pay professional protestors? What would diversity coordinators do at colleges? How would you get out the racial vote to elect the same old politicians to continue to fail to solve any problems?
So much this.
In gaming lingo, all the people who get triggered over a word (or image, flag, symbol, etc etc) are being *farmed* by the professional shit-stirrers like those mentioned in your post, who are only looking to gain wealth and political power from all the the hatred, division, and strife they incite, to the greater misery of everyone.
Holy crap, people! This is kindergarten stuff! Here's a little milk-and-graham-crackers quiet-time story.
"Little kindergartner Johnny pulls Sally's hair whenever the teacher isn't looking, and she screams and cries. He keeps pulling her hair and laughing at her screaming and crying. Then, Sally decides to *not* scream and cry. Little Johnny isn't enjoying pulling Sally's hair any more and stops doing it."
The End
Take the power to offend away and the offender loses interest when he isn't rewarded with the reaction he wants.
Now, go finger-paint something and stop empowering haters!
I've been saying the models have been unable to even relatively accurately recreate *past* climate changes with all the data available.
Unless you've been saying that in a peer-reviewed paper in a journal of good standing, it matters naught. As your last sentence demonstrates your respect for the scientific method, you might want to apply it to your own criticism of the findings. To not do so is incredibly hypocritical, and only serves to make you look like someone wishing their conclusions are correct, which I'm sure you're not.
Then I'm sure you can cite the climate models that accurately track past climate change without massive adjustments to the raw data.
So there it is. Fully quantified at 9% for your enjoyment.
And ribbed for her pleasure?
Sorry, couldn't resist such a wide-open straight-line.:D
I've been saying the models have been unable to even relatively accurately recreate *past* climate changes with all the data available. What the hell makes anyone think using those models' predictions on future climate as the basis for making massive changes to society that *will* cost many, many lives is even sane, never mind being a 'good idea'?
Humans do not yet have even a significant fraction of the computing power required to model the Earth's climate. It's a massively-chaotic system with more significant variables than we even know about to attempt to measure and include in said models. It would be a much simpler problem to predict the future individual movements of every single fish in the Great Lakes over the next century.
This is all about ideologies, politics, agendas, money, and power. Science takes a distant back seat.
So, instead of a year or three of depression and then a return to a healthier market
If anyone seriously believed that would be the case, they wouldn't have voted for the bailouts.
LOLwut? These were bought-and-paid-for politicians doing what their masters wanted, which was a bailout at taxpayer expense and with little change to how they do business, which was enabled by the same corrupt politicians to begin with.
This is where in the past private charity stepped in
Citation needed because people are still dying because they can't afford medication.
It used to be that churches, benevolent organizations, and private charities filled the role of healthcare safety net before the massive expansion of government entitlement programs as regular people could afford to give to charities because they were not being taxed to the edge of insolvency to pay for bloated, corrupt, and hugely wasteful government entitlement programs and the massive bureaucracy that goes hand-in hand with them.
Yeah, it was terrible in Houston with all those people who brought boats from across the US demanding cash payments up front and abandoning those who couldn't pay to die...oh, wait....
Exactly my point, the free-market ideology wasn't there.
People voluntarily & freely gave of their money, time, and resources. It was the most "free market" possible.
People give more when they aren't forced under threat of deadly force or imprisonment as government "charity" is.
Yeah, those roving bands of private-prison guards snatching people off the street and throwing them in prison must stop...oh, wait....
Congratulation on knowing jack shit about the problem.
The basic idea of privatization is sound from an economic standpoint, the problem is with trying to implement such a system within a bloated, corrupt government that has grown far too large & powerful as the US government has.
You're confusing and/or conflating capitalism with crony corruption,
I believe the words you meant to write was crony capitalism. Why do you think the free-market ideology is somehow independent?
I wrote what I meant. Crony corruption occurs in every form of government. There is 'crony-capitalism', 'crony-communism', 'crony-socialism', etc etc etc. As I stated in my previous post, it occurs when any government becomes too large & powerful. It is not endemic to capitalism, it is endemic to governments which have grown too large & powerful. "Free market" or not is irrelevant.
It's just that at least with capitalism, there probably aren't automated machine gun turrets, concrete walls, moats, and barbed wire to prevent leaving.
Nobody has those, so what's your point?
Well, not too long ago East Germany had this little tourist attraction called the "Berlin Wall". Maybe you've heard of it? I don't recall East Germany building it while they were a capitalist nation.
* The 2008 collapse: according to the free-market ideology, we should have allowed all the banks to fail. The fallout from this would have been an actual depression.
So, instead of a year or three of depression and then a return to a healthier market, we get close to a decade (and still counting) of bitter recession. Plus, we are still set to repeat the collapse again and again, just in different industries/financial institutions as little of real relevance has changed because they weren't forced to and instead got bailouts at taxpayer expense.
* Healthcare: according to the free-market ideology, if you don't like what they are charging for medications or surgeries, you just don't buy it. This has resulted in the untimely death of sick people.
This is where in the past private charity stepped in, but those have mostly been replaced by government programs that are horribly inefficient, often fail to provide adequate care, and hold back medical care advances with government red tape.
* Disaster events: according to the free-market ideology, we shouldn't help those who are now homeless because they did not pay for the proper insurance.
Yeah, it was terrible in Houston with all those people who brought boats from across the US demanding cash payments up front and abandoning those who couldn't pay to die...oh, wait....
* The prison system: according to the free-market ideology, private prisons should be attempting to maximize the number of inmates by any means. This results in a higher prison population with longer sentences. This is actually happening.
Yeah, those roving bands of private-prison guards snatching people off the street and throwing them in prison must stop...oh, wait....
I'm not touting marxism, I'm just pointing out that capitalism isn't good everywhere like you seem to think it is.
You're confusing and/or conflating capitalism with crony corruption, which is not unique to capitalism at all. Any sufficiently-large government based on any of the major ideologies (socialism, communism, fascism, capitalism) fall victim to the same corruption and 'good old boy'-ism. It's just that at least with capitalism, there probably aren't automated machine gun turrets, concrete walls, moats, and barbed wire to prevent leaving.
California doesn't seem to have a problem defying Federal jurisdiction and Federal laws regarding "sanctuary cities" that shield illegal aliens from the consequences of violating Federal immigration laws.
It's not on individual states to enforce federal laws. The federal government has a pretty limited set of enumerated powers and commandeering state and local police to enforce federal laws isn't one of them. Historically they've cooperated, but they are not obligated to. See, for example, the Texas law enjoining state agencies from enforcing certain federal firearms laws [volokh.com]. In general states can't obstruct, but aren't obligated to help either.
The stick the feds use is generally tying federal aid to compliance with certain directives. Want federal school funding? Comply with no child left behind. Want highway funds? Enforce the national speed limit, and so on.
Quite true regarding enforcement, but you did not address jurisdiction, which Arizona fell afoul of with their proposed laws around determining immigration status. It is arguable those California policies/laws violate Federal jurisdiction.
"Making sure there is a large underclass of workers they can avoid paying minimum wages to and forego health coverage and workplace protections for is far, far more important to those California politicians who claim to be so worried about the welfare of illegal aliens, than in not prosecuting/incarcerating people who use medical marijuana."
Sure would be nice if Slashdot advanced beyond the '90s and added an 'edit' feature like nearly every other forum on the interwebs.
> Transportation may not be done by aircraft, watercraft, rail
Note that railways, being interstate in nature, are the domain of federal jurisdiction, thus California can not touch them. I think the same is true for aircraft or at least airlines, which are even protected by international treaties (i.e. pay no VAT and fuel tax). Don't even get started on ships, which may well travel in international waters and even the 12mi territorial waters of California are the domain of federal Coast Guard / Navy jurisdiction, not the state.
California doesn't seem to have a problem defying Federal jurisdiction and Federal laws regarding "sanctuary cities" that shield illegal aliens from the consequences of violating Federal immigration laws.
I guess it's a matter of priorities for California politicians. Making sure there is a large underclass of workers they can avoid paying minimum wages to and forego health coverage and workplace protections for is far, far more important to those California politicians who claim to be so worried about the welfare of illegal aliens, than they are in not prosecuting/incarcerating people who use medical marijuana.
Big Agro-biz, Big Pharma, and the illegal drug cartels are who California politicians 'represent', not Californians. If there were any justice, they would be beaten to death with their own turds.
So if you leave your front door unlocked and I come in and remove some items, you're saying that that's ok, because you didn't make an effort to deter me?
It's more like among all the pretty much identical open storefronts in a mall, walking into one random open store gets you a Federal felony illegal entry charge and prison time.
What this really is all about is government bureaucrats and officials covering their asses because they allowed a server with sensitive data they were responsible for to be wide open on the intertubes.
It's the same psychology at work here as with punishing individuals who report vulnerabilities/bugs.
"Kill the messenger!"
Notice that no government officials nor bureaucrats have been hauled into court and prosecuted for placing sensitive materials on an open server. Everyone is distracted by the Kabuki theater around Mr. Love, and Mr. McKinney before him. These government criminals think nothing of hanging innocent people to cover for their own incompetence, criminality, and corruption.
Thanks, Strat. We have since moved to the lovely Central Coast in the People's Republic of California. I liked Houston, but the weather there is not really fit for humans. If I were younger and looking to make a bunch of money quick, Houston might be more appealing. Fortunately, we got out safely and with most of our belongings intact. The people there are great and the food is out of this world. But for now, a cool, dry, beautiful place near the ocean with all the other snowflakes is just what the doctor ordered. I may even learn to surf, get a medical marijuana card and join the senior auxiliary of Antifa.
Hah! Glad you've found a place to relocate to. Please don't take it personally if I still occasionally wish for CA to slide into the Pacific.:P
And we definitely have more in common than what separates us. I've even owned a blue strat at one point in my life, (though now, I have a tobacco burst '64 with a white pickguard).
Nice! My 'go-tos' I reach for first these days are a 2004 G&L Tribute Legacy strat and an original (though I did upgrade the stop-tailpiece/bridge saddle plate & kept the original) '05 Squier "'51" (funky-looking, but a real 'sleeper' tone machine!). Between those two instruments, a minimalist pedalboard, and a good tube amp I designed & built myself, there's not many iconic guitar sounds I can't cover.
By the way, the "blue" doesn't refer to a color. Any guitar I pick up is "blue" regardless of the finish.;)
Guess I'll go read my copy of Mein Kampf and polish my brass swastikas, you have a great day! LOL!
I don't care one way or the other about Google, but they did one thing nice: My mobile phone is with Project Fi. The service is great and the price is right, but it's basically like any other mobile provider.
Anyway, after Hurricane Harvey, I got an email from Google noting that my billing address was in Houston and so they gave me a $20 credit and unlimited data for the month. I mean it's not a lot of money but it gave me a positive feeling about the company. Several other companies sent me special deals and other little goodies for having lived through a hurricane, but Google was the only one who actually dropped cash directly on me.
I agree, that was a very good response from Google. Above and beyond anything I'd heard about from other ISPs/telcos/cablecos.
I'm glad to hear you made it through the storm. I hope any damages to your property were minimal.
You and I may have very different ideological/political views, but we are people and fellow-countrymen before politics. We have far more in common than those things which separate us. Best wishes for the post-storm recovery.
I can't be bound be a judgement entered against a third party? Nothing stops me from helping out sci hub and this order is pretty much illegal. Courts can't bind non-parties except in an in rem action and that's clearly not what this is.
Tell that to the men with guns & badges that will come to lock you up if you anger the wrong politically-connected entity in the US. Of course, you'll have a trial. In a few months with discovery. If the docket has room.
If the judge allows it and if you're lucky enough to have/obtain the money, you might bail out until your trial. If you actually go to trial that is, rather than take a plea deal to avoid the raft of charges amounting to pretty much the remainder of your life if convicted, which practically any US DA/AG is sure to threaten to hammer you with unless you plea out.
Then there's the thousands in legal costs. Maybe more if appeals stretch out the case. And of course your job is gone and who will hire a guy with serious legal troubles and all that bad press? And, any family you may have will suffer. Perhaps a divorce and custody battles will be in your near future.
But, hey! On the bright side, if you *do* go to trial with a competent attorney, you'll likely be found innocent of that initial charge. However, there are far more pitfalls and associated charges involved (remember Martha Stewart and Scooter Libby?) so you may well still find your self being convicted of *something*. Gotta keep those conviction rates up for that possible future election campaign!
It's all fun & games until somebody gets their eye put out with an antler.
It's like that 'The Gods Of The Copybook Headings' Kipling poem; Society can only ignore and/or deny reality and human nature just so much for so long until it's faced with stark and unavoidable negative consequences usually costing obscene numbers of innocent lives and unspeakable human suffering.
And yet, here we are as a society playing out; "the bandaged fool's finger goes wobbling back to the fire" once again. It's rather disheartening to watch your society seemingly dead-set on destroying itself.
Right before the telescreen interrupts with the tune calling for morning calisthenics.
Haven't you been following tech news?
They're working on a direct brain-computer interface.
You won't have a choice. Your body will simply do calisthenics as the exercise/health program running on your dry/wetware processor schedules & initiates.
You'll simply be a passenger. And you'll pay for the privilege. Automatically. Without your consent.
Because that's what is best for society/the collective as determined by your betters.
The US government are the ultimate sluts. They'll do anyone, anytime, anywhere, for any reason that strikes their fancy at any given time. The US government is worse than STDs as you don't even get the brief sexual enjoyment, yet you're still screwed.
Slashdot Mirror
OK, yeah I can't be lazy and punch the UPDATE button (and who in their right mind does that without putting the box in a lab first?)
Equifax?
[ducks]
Strat :)
Yes. Too many people have too much invested in milking grievances and hunting witches for such a thing to be excused.
If people started accepting apologies and being tolerant and magnanimous and kind and understanding, we'd all live happier, more peaceful lives.
And then what would community organizers do to become rich and powerful? Who would pay professional protestors? What would diversity coordinators do at colleges? How would you get out the racial vote to elect the same old politicians to continue to fail to solve any problems?
So much this.
In gaming lingo, all the people who get triggered over a word (or image, flag, symbol, etc etc) are being *farmed* by the professional shit-stirrers like those mentioned in your post, who are only looking to gain wealth and political power from all the the hatred, division, and strife they incite, to the greater misery of everyone.
Holy crap, people! This is kindergarten stuff! Here's a little milk-and-graham-crackers quiet-time story.
"Little kindergartner Johnny pulls Sally's hair whenever the teacher isn't looking, and she screams and cries. He keeps pulling her hair and laughing at her screaming and crying. Then, Sally decides to *not* scream and cry. Little Johnny isn't enjoying pulling Sally's hair any more and stops doing it."
The End
Take the power to offend away and the offender loses interest when he isn't rewarded with the reaction he wants.
Now, go finger-paint something and stop empowering haters!
Strat
Then I'm sure you can cite the climate models that accurately track past climate change without massive adjustments to the raw data.
[crickets]
Strat
So there it is. Fully quantified at 9% for your enjoyment.
And ribbed for her pleasure?
Sorry, couldn't resist such a wide-open straight-line. :D
I've been saying the models have been unable to even relatively accurately recreate *past* climate changes with all the data available. What the hell makes anyone think using those models' predictions on future climate as the basis for making massive changes to society that *will* cost many, many lives is even sane, never mind being a 'good idea'?
Humans do not yet have even a significant fraction of the computing power required to model the Earth's climate. It's a massively-chaotic system with more significant variables than we even know about to attempt to measure and include in said models. It would be a much simpler problem to predict the future individual movements of every single fish in the Great Lakes over the next century.
This is all about ideologies, politics, agendas, money, and power. Science takes a distant back seat.
Strat
LOLwut? These were bought-and-paid-for politicians doing what their masters wanted, which was a bailout at taxpayer expense and with little change to how they do business, which was enabled by the same corrupt politicians to begin with.
It used to be that churches, benevolent organizations, and private charities filled the role of healthcare safety net before the massive expansion of government entitlement programs as regular people could afford to give to charities because they were not being taxed to the edge of insolvency to pay for bloated, corrupt, and hugely wasteful government entitlement programs and the massive bureaucracy that goes hand-in hand with them.
People voluntarily & freely gave of their money, time, and resources. It was the most "free market" possible.
People give more when they aren't forced under threat of deadly force or imprisonment as government "charity" is.
The basic idea of privatization is sound from an economic standpoint, the problem is with trying to implement such a system within a bloated, corrupt government that has grown far too large & powerful as the US government has.
I wrote what I meant. Crony corruption occurs in every form of government. There is 'crony-capitalism', 'crony-communism', 'crony-socialism', etc etc etc. As I stated in my previous post, it occurs when any government becomes too large & powerful. It is not endemic to capitalism, it is endemic to governments which have grown too large & powerful. "Free market" or not is irrelevant.
Well, not too long ago East Germany had this little tourist attraction called the "Berlin Wall". Maybe you've heard of it? I don't recall East Germany building it while they were a capitalist nation.
Selective memory, much?
Strat
* The 2008 collapse: according to the free-market ideology, we should have allowed all the banks to fail. The fallout from this would have been an actual depression.
So, instead of a year or three of depression and then a return to a healthier market, we get close to a decade (and still counting) of bitter recession. Plus, we are still set to repeat the collapse again and again, just in different industries/financial institutions as little of real relevance has changed because they weren't forced to and instead got bailouts at taxpayer expense.
* Healthcare: according to the free-market ideology, if you don't like what they are charging for medications or surgeries, you just don't buy it. This has resulted in the untimely death of sick people.
This is where in the past private charity stepped in, but those have mostly been replaced by government programs that are horribly inefficient, often fail to provide adequate care, and hold back medical care advances with government red tape.
* Disaster events: according to the free-market ideology, we shouldn't help those who are now homeless because they did not pay for the proper insurance.
Yeah, it was terrible in Houston with all those people who brought boats from across the US demanding cash payments up front and abandoning those who couldn't pay to die...oh, wait....
* The prison system: according to the free-market ideology, private prisons should be attempting to maximize the number of inmates by any means. This results in a higher prison population with longer sentences. This is actually happening.
Yeah, those roving bands of private-prison guards snatching people off the street and throwing them in prison must stop...oh, wait....
I'm not touting marxism, I'm just pointing out that capitalism isn't good everywhere like you seem to think it is.
You're confusing and/or conflating capitalism with crony corruption, which is not unique to capitalism at all. Any sufficiently-large government based on any of the major ideologies (socialism, communism, fascism, capitalism) fall victim to the same corruption and 'good old boy'-ism. It's just that at least with capitalism, there probably aren't automated machine gun turrets, concrete walls, moats, and barbed wire to prevent leaving.
Strat
Quite true regarding enforcement, but you did not address jurisdiction, which Arizona fell afoul of with their proposed laws around determining immigration status. It is arguable those California policies/laws violate Federal jurisdiction.
Strat
Gah!
"Making sure there is a large underclass of workers they can avoid paying minimum wages to and forego health coverage and workplace protections for is far, far more important to those California politicians who claim to be so worried about the welfare of illegal aliens, than in not prosecuting/incarcerating people who use medical marijuana."
Sure would be nice if Slashdot advanced beyond the '90s and added an 'edit' feature like nearly every other forum on the interwebs.
Strat
> Transportation may not be done by aircraft, watercraft, rail
Note that railways, being interstate in nature, are the domain of federal jurisdiction, thus California can not touch them. I think the same is true for aircraft or at least airlines, which are even protected by international treaties (i.e. pay no VAT and fuel tax). Don't even get started on ships, which may well travel in international waters and even the 12mi territorial waters of California are the domain of federal Coast Guard / Navy jurisdiction, not the state.
California doesn't seem to have a problem defying Federal jurisdiction and Federal laws regarding "sanctuary cities" that shield illegal aliens from the consequences of violating Federal immigration laws.
I guess it's a matter of priorities for California politicians. Making sure there is a large underclass of workers they can avoid paying minimum wages to and forego health coverage and workplace protections for is far, far more important to those California politicians who claim to be so worried about the welfare of illegal aliens, than they are in not prosecuting/incarcerating people who use medical marijuana.
Big Agro-biz, Big Pharma, and the illegal drug cartels are who California politicians 'represent', not Californians. If there were any justice, they would be beaten to death with their own turds.
Strat
So if you leave your front door unlocked and I come in and remove some items, you're saying that that's ok, because you didn't make an effort to deter me?
It's more like among all the pretty much identical open storefronts in a mall, walking into one random open store gets you a Federal felony illegal entry charge and prison time.
What this really is all about is government bureaucrats and officials covering their asses because they allowed a server with sensitive data they were responsible for to be wide open on the intertubes.
It's the same psychology at work here as with punishing individuals who report vulnerabilities/bugs.
"Kill the messenger!"
Notice that no government officials nor bureaucrats have been hauled into court and prosecuted for placing sensitive materials on an open server. Everyone is distracted by the Kabuki theater around Mr. Love, and Mr. McKinney before him. These government criminals think nothing of hanging innocent people to cover for their own incompetence, criminality, and corruption.
Strat
What about the egyptians, then?
Silly! Ancient Egyptians didn't use floppies!
They used punch-cards!
Strat
[makes popcorn]
This is funny stuff!
I wonder what I'll say next? XD
Strat
To be fair, it's probably a lot more people than those copying a cart full of stone tablets :)
Strat
What's next? California falling into the Ocean or Mexico City sinking into the ground?
Maybe, but TFS/TFA refer to disaster and destruction not miracles!
Strat
Thanks, Strat. We have since moved to the lovely Central Coast in the People's Republic of California. I liked Houston, but the weather there is not really fit for humans. If I were younger and looking to make a bunch of money quick, Houston might be more appealing. Fortunately, we got out safely and with most of our belongings intact. The people there are great and the food is out of this world. But for now, a cool, dry, beautiful place near the ocean with all the other snowflakes is just what the doctor ordered. I may even learn to surf, get a medical marijuana card and join the senior auxiliary of Antifa.
Hah! Glad you've found a place to relocate to. Please don't take it personally if I still occasionally wish for CA to slide into the Pacific. :P
And we definitely have more in common than what separates us. I've even owned a blue strat at one point in my life, (though now, I have a tobacco burst '64 with a white pickguard).
Nice! My 'go-tos' I reach for first these days are a 2004 G&L Tribute Legacy strat and an original (though I did upgrade the stop-tailpiece/bridge saddle plate & kept the original) '05 Squier "'51" (funky-looking, but a real 'sleeper' tone machine!). Between those two instruments, a minimalist pedalboard, and a good tube amp I designed & built myself, there's not many iconic guitar sounds I can't cover.
By the way, the "blue" doesn't refer to a color. Any guitar I pick up is "blue" regardless of the finish. ;)
Guess I'll go read my copy of Mein Kampf and polish my brass swastikas, you have a great day! LOL!
Strat
I don't care one way or the other about Google, but they did one thing nice: My mobile phone is with Project Fi. The service is great and the price is right, but it's basically like any other mobile provider.
Anyway, after Hurricane Harvey, I got an email from Google noting that my billing address was in Houston and so they gave me a $20 credit and unlimited data for the month. I mean it's not a lot of money but it gave me a positive feeling about the company. Several other companies sent me special deals and other little goodies for having lived through a hurricane, but Google was the only one who actually dropped cash directly on me.
I agree, that was a very good response from Google. Above and beyond anything I'd heard about from other ISPs/telcos/cablecos.
I'm glad to hear you made it through the storm. I hope any damages to your property were minimal.
You and I may have very different ideological/political views, but we are people and fellow-countrymen before politics. We have far more in common than those things which separate us. Best wishes for the post-storm recovery.
Strat
Well, a google number of years from now, naturally!
Strat
I can't be bound be a judgement entered against a third party? Nothing stops me from helping out sci hub and this order is pretty much illegal. Courts can't bind non-parties except in an in rem action and that's clearly not what this is.
Tell that to the men with guns & badges that will come to lock you up if you anger the wrong politically-connected entity in the US. Of course, you'll have a trial. In a few months with discovery. If the docket has room.
If the judge allows it and if you're lucky enough to have/obtain the money, you might bail out until your trial. If you actually go to trial that is, rather than take a plea deal to avoid the raft of charges amounting to pretty much the remainder of your life if convicted, which practically any US DA/AG is sure to threaten to hammer you with unless you plea out.
Then there's the thousands in legal costs. Maybe more if appeals stretch out the case. And of course your job is gone and who will hire a guy with serious legal troubles and all that bad press? And, any family you may have will suffer. Perhaps a divorce and custody battles will be in your near future.
But, hey! On the bright side, if you *do* go to trial with a competent attorney, you'll likely be found innocent of that initial charge. However, there are far more pitfalls and associated charges involved (remember Martha Stewart and Scooter Libby?) so you may well still find your self being convicted of *something*. Gotta keep those conviction rates up for that possible future election campaign!
"For great justice!" eh?
Strat
Point to a deer and call it a horse.
It's all fun & games until somebody gets their eye put out with an antler.
It's like that 'The Gods Of The Copybook Headings' Kipling poem; Society can only ignore and/or deny reality and human nature just so much for so long until it's faced with stark and unavoidable negative consequences usually costing obscene numbers of innocent lives and unspeakable human suffering.
And yet, here we are as a society playing out; "the bandaged fool's finger goes wobbling back to the fire" once again. It's rather disheartening to watch your society seemingly dead-set on destroying itself.
Strat
And we can finally get the Sixth World started properly with megacorps and a dystopian cyberpunk economy-stratified society.
Since they're putting all these different entities under one name, I'm shocked they didn't simply drop all the pretense and name it:
Umbrella(TM) Corp.
An umbrella by any other name...?
Strat
Perhaps you don't understand unemployment rates.
I understand they are political fiction with little basis in reality.
Perhaps you don't understand lies, damned lies, and statistics.
Strat
Chamberlain says that with unemployment so low...
Yup, that's where I stopped reading.
This person is not dealing in reality.
I can come up with my own random hypotheticals and 'what-ifs' so I don't need to hear about his, thanks all the same.
Strat
Thanks! I'll be here all week.
Please remember to tip the fish and try the waitresses!
Strat
Right before the telescreen interrupts with the tune calling for morning calisthenics.
Haven't you been following tech news?
They're working on a direct brain-computer interface.
You won't have a choice. Your body will simply do calisthenics as the exercise/health program running on your dry/wetware processor schedules & initiates.
You'll simply be a passenger. And you'll pay for the privilege. Automatically. Without your consent.
Because that's what is best for society/the collective as determined by your betters.
Strat
And I don't do the US Government.
Not even with rubber.
Oh, but they're "doing" *you*!
And me. And any- and everyone else they can.
The US government are the ultimate sluts. They'll do anyone, anytime, anywhere, for any reason that strikes their fancy at any given time. The US government is worse than STDs as you don't even get the brief sexual enjoyment, yet you're still screwed.
Strat