Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'd strongly disagree. Occupy didn't result in direct action or changes. However, it popularized the notion of the One Percent vs. Ninety-Nine Percent, and got people to think about class in a nation very averse to even acknowledging the existence of economic classes. Probably had a positive impact in terms of helping Obama get re-elected, since Obama was lucky enough to get a seemingly clueless one-percenter as an o…
> Occupy didn't result in direct action or changes. That was my point. It had as goals to limit the influence of corporations on politics, more balanced distribution of income, more and better jobs, bank reforms. I can see maybe the secondary effects of electing Obama, so agree with that. Interestingly did Obama do much in regard to those issues. There was student dept forgiveness thing, that might be a claim. ACA mi…
FBI Is Building a Watchlist That Gives Companies Real Time Updates on Employees
181–190 of 321 posts
Re: FBI Is Building a Watchlist That Gives Companies Real Time Updates on Employees
#182Earlier quoted context omitted.
For the life of me, I can't find any mention of social security, health care, or taxes in GP's comment.
"Shrink the State" is code for "I want to pay less taxes". And with less taxes, things like SSI and Medicare can't exist.
> "Shrink the State" is code for "I want to pay less taxes".
Or maybe it's code for "I don't want the kind of totalitarian programs mentioned in the OP".
Re: FBI Is Building a Watchlist That Gives Companies Real Time Updates on Employees
#183Earlier quoted context omitted.
There was one a couple of days ago at Berkeley where 150 or so masked people smashed windows and set things on fire in an attempt to block a conservative from speaking there. Causing $100k in damage to private property in order to curtail other's free speech isn't something that should be glossed over or minimized by calling it protesting. There's the riot at NYU where more violent agitators showed up to prevent Gavi…
Does Milo Yiannopoulos really match any definition of 'a conservative'? ( In an attempt to block a conservative... )
Yes, I would say that. There are a lot of people who apply different labels to the man because of what he agrees with and disagrees with. I would imagine you already have your opinion on that. It is a small fraction of the argument I just presented and I don't think it should be the focus.
Re: FBI Is Building a Watchlist That Gives Companies Real Time Updates on Employees
#184There is a group who have proposed a solution to this problem for decades: Shrink the state. Until people stop believing that any effort to do so will result in everyone literally dying in the street, the state will grow. Until people's first impulse towards someone doing something they don't like ceases to be "there ought to be a law", the state will grow. Until people stop demanding that laws must affect the entire…
Shrink the state = let rich & corporations get loose. You want to replace kind of power that you got influence on and some expectations about public information access with totally "private" power that you got no control about. That is special kind of stupid. Thank you but no thank you.
> Shrink the state = let rich & corporations get loose.
Ah, of course, 40% of GDP is a necessary expenditure to keep Scrooge McDuck from taking over. A penny less and we'd all be lifelong indentured servants.
Re: FBI Is Building a Watchlist That Gives Companies Real Time Updates on Employees
#185Earlier quoted context omitted.
You've watched a lot of them, but you've never seen or heard of "kettling"? Odd. I have seen it and experienced it. (I'm also curious what instances of protests-turned-riot you're referring to. The US hasn't had many riots, in any meaningful sense, recently. Do you mean someone smashing a window?)
There was one a couple of days ago at Berkeley where 150 or so masked people smashed windows and set things on fire in an attempt to block a conservative from speaking there. Causing $100k in damage to private property in order to curtail other's free speech isn't something that should be glossed over or minimized by calling it protesting. There's the riot at NYU where more violent agitators showed up to prevent Gavi…
>in order to curtail other's free speech ... by calling it protesting
It's not about free speech. He incites harassment.
Re: FBI Is Building a Watchlist That Gives Companies Real Time Updates on Employees
#186Earlier quoted context omitted.
> let rich & corporations get loose This belief only causes the state to grow. It inflates politicians to the point where they are worth buying, so they are bought. They then make laws that hurt their competition and help their corporation. They make laws that make it extremely difficult to ever start a business to compete to begin with. So the corporations get bigger, and have more to buy the politicians with. And t…
At least in the USA, people didn't wake up one day and say "Gee, bigger government would be awesome". The growth of government is a direct response to constant abuses at the hands of smaller local government, corporations, and wealthy individuals. I have never heard a proposal for "shrink the state" that manages to address that underlying truth. If there isn't an existing avenue to achieve power then power-hungry peo…
> The growth of government is a direct response to constant abuses at the hands of smaller local government, corporations, and wealthy individuals.
Or maybe it's a direct response to the fact that the people who have the power to grow the government also work for the government and are therefore incentivized to grow the government.
Which idiot is going around saying "wow, this one level of government sucks, I'd better give more money and power to a slightly different level of government"?
I think you're also wrong that local governments are frequently committing abuses; the federal government seems to do that much more frequently (possibly by nature of its tremendous scope), and has an approval rating to match.
Re: FBI Is Building a Watchlist That Gives Companies Real Time Updates on Employees
#187There is a group who have proposed a solution to this problem for decades: Shrink the state. Until people stop believing that any effort to do so will result in everyone literally dying in the street, the state will grow. Until people's first impulse towards someone doing something they don't like ceases to be "there ought to be a law", the state will grow. Until people stop demanding that laws must affect the entire…
Shrink the state = let rich & corporations get loose. You want to replace kind of power that you got influence on and some expectations about public information access with totally "private" power that you got no control about. That is special kind of stupid. Thank you but no thank you.
Direct violation of HN mod policy but it's okay because you're saying the 'right' sort of stuff according to community norms.
Re: FBI Is Building a Watchlist That Gives Companies Real Time Updates on Employees
#188Re: FBI Is Building a Watchlist That Gives Companies Real Time Updates on Employees
#189Earlier quoted context omitted.
I've read it a few times. "It is in solidarity with these latter protesters–along with those who loot–and against politicians and de-escalators everywhere that I offer this critique" As someone who would like to see de-escalation before this all ends in civil war, the author has declared (correctly, I think) themselves against me. It is, more than a mere defense of looting, an attack on capitalism and "white supremac…
> It is, more than a mere defense of looting, an attack on capitalism and "white supremacy" (by which the author means American society in general, not extremist Neo-Nazis). Right. Those are some of the reasons it's plausible that someone would recommend it with a more complex intention than "yay, looting."
I'm sure countless sources could be found that present those arguments without also defending looting.
Perhaps one could even find sources that present a fair criticism of the flaws of other economic systems and the injustices perpetrated by other societies alongside the critique of capitalism and American history.
When a prominent activist like DeRay Mckesson recommends an article like In Defense of Looting, it's likely to encourage looting by some of his followers.
Re: FBI Is Building a Watchlist That Gives Companies Real Time Updates on Employees
#190am I the only one who doesn't get people who write stupid titles ?
let's read this again:
"FBI Is Building a Watchlist"
ok they're spending time and money to make a surveillance system.
"That Gives Companies Real Time Updates on Employees."
and they give that system to "companies" so they can track their own employees ?! ?! WTF