141–150 of 187 posts
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I like your optimism, bully for you, and that's a great idea. But I fear that the ISP/"rightsholder" conglomerates, like Comcast/NBC, will only let very select, RIAA and MPAA owned content through.
There's a Reddit thread about possible TPP censorship which describes a variety of techniques for influencing the visibility of posts, https://www.reddit.com/r/undelete/comments/3azxth/are_reddit...
To me, code is much more of a long term threat to the power structure than intellectual property theft is. I'm wondering how long before we have government-sanctioned libraries, languages, and chipsets that we may develop for. I see this TPP as power consolidating ahead of any looming citizen revolt in order to chop it off at the knees. It's very weird and awesome to watch. I do chuckle about all this though because…
The thing I find most galling about this is not merely what it contains. It is an awful document, with horrible policy, yes. But, what is most disgusting is that we had to learn of how bad it is from leaked documents . The leadership in many nations (not just in one nation, this is effectively a conspiracy at the highest levels of several nations, most egregiously the US) supported the TPP, lobbied for the TPP on beh…
I completely agree. This is a conspiracy by definition: "a secret plan by a group to do something unlawful or harmful." The unlawful thing being the laws they are trying to pass (as they are not yet laws, and not determined by lawful structures: judicial system). Its all going from executive to legislative, and we are fucked. The administration is attempting to weaken our sovereignty and globalize [overthrow] our gov…
The only solution here is campaign finance reform. Suggesting that it's a my party vs your party issue is laughable.
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That implies the whole concept of developing nations is bad and we should try to prevent it. All of them have worker exploitation to some extent. Don't forget even exploited workers still choose where to work. They're not slaves. Furthermore, tariffs aren't introduced to protect foreign workers. That really isn't the reason for tariffs.
> Don't forget even exploited workers still choose where to work. We're not talking about long hours or low pay here - although those alone should be cause for concern, but about working conditions that cause death and permanent injury. They're not slaves, but they don't have that much choice about where to work. And they don't have any power within their place of work. Why do you think women "choose" to work in a cl…
Workers in China absolutely do have choice. Even the least skilled laborer often has the option of going back to his family's farm and doing harder work for lower pay. And that's what he would do if he's forced out of all other kinds of work.
Most workers aren't so desperate though. There isn't a serious surplus of labor in China anymore. Factory workers often earn more than university graduates.
Here's a quick test that could help decide the matter. If you met such a worker personally and got to know him. Then you had the power to choose to fire him and prevent him ever finding similarly hazardous work again in his life, or leave him alone. Which would you choose?
Beware that believing you know the best way to direct somebody else's life is a risky area to step into.
Actually, this whole working conditions argument is a complete red herring. The people who promote it are really the people who are nationalistic protectionists and need an excuse to justify tariffs. But this isn't the reason the government imposes tariffs. There isn't a "foreign workers health and safety" lobby pressuring the government to apply taxes to imported products.
But wait, there's more. Health risks are relative. We all accept them to some extent. Is there an absolute level of acceptable danger? Is it OK for a US construction worker to sometimes die but not OK for a Chinese factory work to die slightly more often? Who's to say another culture won't deem our western safety standards to be inhumane and try to prevent us driving all those cars and building all those buildings because of all he fatalities they cause?
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I personally draw a distinction between the gigantic-sized stuff the US federal government does (military and wars, fiscal and monetary policy, taxes, transfer payment programs) and the medium-sized stuff (HUD, EPA, FCC, etc.) The medium sized stuff can be steered by the adminstration in power. The people you elect can exert influence in those areas, I mean. But the huge stuff is out of their control. The military es…
I'm a Brit, first time I've heard about Jade Helm. a quick DDG search showed multiple hits for "conspiracy theories". Ultimately people want to think they are living in the most critical important times of the world ever. But this is a fallacy of how we live, in the present. Everyone has thought that their time then was the most critical. Look to history to get perspective and the pinch of salt we need.
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It means people are so tired of listening to self-interested politicians toe the party line that they're willing to elect a candidate solely based on how crazy his ideas are and how much he won't backpedal on them, even in the face of adversity. In terms of fearless leaders, he definitely is one. Of course, I also think his ideas are mostly inane and that within fifteen minutes of his inauguration he would have alrea…
Excuse my ignorance as I'm not American and perhaps miss all the nuances. - Wants to stop illegal immigration. Not immigration. Only illegal. i.e. people not paying taxes but living there undocumented - Non-citizens giving birth in USA and then automatically the baby is USA's problem until it dies - Tax reform that wants to stop corporate inversion and bring money back to USA (Google, Apple, etc.) - Wants a more comp…
It's not some incidental issue. Resolving it would mean completely overhauling what American identity is.
The thing I find most galling about this is not merely what it contains. It is an awful document, with horrible policy, yes. But, what is most disgusting is that we had to learn of how bad it is from leaked documents . The leadership in many nations (not just in one nation, this is effectively a conspiracy at the highest levels of several nations, most egregiously the US) supported the TPP, lobbied for the TPP on beh…
I completely agree. This is a conspiracy by definition: "a secret plan by a group to do something unlawful or harmful." The unlawful thing being the laws they are trying to pass (as they are not yet laws, and not determined by lawful structures: judicial system). Its all going from executive to legislative, and we are fucked. The administration is attempting to weaken our sovereignty and globalize [overthrow] our gov…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
It means people are so tired of listening to self-interested politicians toe the party line that they're willing to elect a candidate solely based on how crazy his ideas are and how much he won't backpedal on them, even in the face of adversity. In terms of fearless leaders, he definitely is one. Of course, I also think his ideas are mostly inane and that within fifteen minutes of his inauguration he would have alrea…
Excuse my ignorance as I'm not American and perhaps miss all the nuances. - Wants to stop illegal immigration. Not immigration. Only illegal. i.e. people not paying taxes but living there undocumented - Non-citizens giving birth in USA and then automatically the baby is USA's problem until it dies - Tax reform that wants to stop corporate inversion and bring money back to USA (Google, Apple, etc.) - Wants a more comp…
It's crazy because you've just given the entire substance of his campaign. He hasn't actually given any more details than that, and the points are ostensibly chosen because they're easily latched onto by people who can't be bothered to pay very much attention. Also the wall thing.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I completely agree. This is a conspiracy by definition: "a secret plan by a group to do something unlawful or harmful." The unlawful thing being the laws they are trying to pass (as they are not yet laws, and not determined by lawful structures: judicial system). Its all going from executive to legislative, and we are fucked. The administration is attempting to weaken our sovereignty and globalize [overthrow] our gov…
Plutocrats doing their policy making has nothing to do with who the proles voted for.
There are the Cheneys of the world who seem to emit darkness and there are the Obamas of the world who offer an alternative but then do the same thing. Which one is worse?
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They'll make fraudulent take-down notices a serious crime, and make a few high profile examples. That'll stop the vast majority of it (more sophisticated people will continue the trolling). Studios might also choose to push for an authenticated scheme instead. Their account gets certified (eg on YouTube), and content on that certified account becomes exempted. There are relatively few hollywood houses that would need…
It's not just individual links, it's also entire sites, http://motherboard.vice.com/read/internet-providers-would-be... "Under the agreement, it appears that internet service providers could be forced to block websites hosting content that infringes copyright ... if a US court were to, say, find that a popular filesharing website was distributing copyrighted Hollywood movies, ISPs in all TPP countries would be compel…