321–330 of 347 posts
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IANAL, IIRC: SCOTUS has very narrowly defined bribery as explicit quid pro quo. And sometimes not even then.
You recall correctly. And they did so, so they could take bribes with no consequences as long as they take them the right way.
Yep. cf. Snyder v. United States[0]
[0] https://www.scotusblog.com/2024/06/supreme-court-limits-scop...
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Yes, but it's not just personal moral failings, the system itself is corrupt. Rich people aren't supposed to be constantly living on the precipice and forced to double down on evil to keep their wealth. It shouldn't be all-or nothing. This is the result of our debt-based system. This is deeply abnormal. Rich people should be comfortable in every way and should have the surplus to take a moral stance without risking t…
Rich people aren't supposed to be constantly living on the precipice and forced to double down on evil to keep their wealth. That does resonate to some extent, when I see people of actual merit (or at least, people who have done things with actual merit) like Jeff Bezos and Jensen Huang, lining up to suck meritless people like Trump off. The problem is, once the rich people have secured their fortunes through self-ab…
It's because the government can print money. The government is the ultimate fallback, if interest rates increase and money becomes scarce, these big corporations need the government to provide big contracts to back them up to get through that tough period.
This is what I mean by all-or-nothing situation. These big corporations NEED huge, constant inflows of cash to stay solvent. The system is always full of debt; the liquidity is always under threat of being sucked out rapidly... So all these big companies are terrified of such event. They need to know that if money gets scarce, they've got a reliable stream they can draw from and the only reliable source of money in times of monetary scarcity is the government.
> but after Brockman had donated 25M to Trump’s PAC > In capitalism, the market decides. > In oligarchy, connections and donations decide. Author is confused about what Capitalism is. It worked exactly as expected, Capital used itself to advance it's own needs - maximizing (own) growth. Capitalism is not about markets, it's about Capital. There is a reason why lobbying is an accepted practice in one of the most Capit…
Which prominent economist has argued that bribes are an essential part of Capitalism?
This style tends to increase the likelihood of others responding in kind. The end result is often a less substantive conversation.
This is only a surprise to HN, because all the other threads about the corrupt US regime have been flagged before. I guess now is a good time as any to start paying attention. Who would've thought that attention is all you need?
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> You know those people have existed since practically forever, right? Yes. > You learn to tune it out and then you never notice if they start being less wrong. Speak for yourself. I have not tuned them out, I notice them a lot.
I don't speak for myself because I don't tune it out either.
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> To get through to these people you have to validate their deep fears. Not just say - shut up, you are stupid, vote for me. Everyone says this kind of stuff, but honestly I don't think I agree. Everyone says that you have to be nice to these people to attract them, but that doesn't seem to have been the case for people like Trump or any of the other demagogues that have popped up in the last decade or so. These peop…
One fictional character that I think is helpful to bring is Luke Skywalker. It’s not about politeness, but about genuinely knowing why people behave the way they are and then offering them alternative other than QAnon. Listening to QAnon is a desperate attempt to understand the world after every other mainstream figure of authority failed that person. What I am talking about is not politeness. Politeness is tone mana…
The oligarchic system is not only poisonous to economic growth but also incredibly hard to dislodge. Most of you are American and likely thinking that this is an aberration that will be rectified come next election cycle but I believe you are going to get disappointed. People who scaled the government buildings in a coup attempt are not going to give up power willingly. And now they have coerced your oligarchs to com…
To summarize all nepotism indicators posted here by various people: - The Kushner family has invested in OpenAI. - OpenAI uses Oracle cloud. Ellison is close to Trump. - Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan (the “spy sheikh") has invested $500 million in World Liberty and is also invested in OpenAI. - Altman is a protege of Thiel, whose Palantir integrates the external AI at the Pentagon. - The scam occurs right before…
It feels like everyone is desperate to hate on Sam all the time. He’s made his mistakes but it feels way beyond what’s called for. There is this constant boogeyman narrative with him I find very disingenuous
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At least in my case, I have just cut off contact with her. My parents are pretty decent people so I still talk to them a lot, but I can't deal with my grandmother anymore. If she thinks my wife (who was evidently on a Green Card at the time she said that) doesn't deserve to be here, she's allowed to think that, but she's not entitled to me being nice to her. I weighed my options and it came down these three choices:…
To whoever downvoted this: you're an ass for downvoting this without at least explaining why you disagree. It's perfectly valid to give up on people, there is only so much time and energy to go around. You could lean into the negativity or you could choose to spend your time and energy on other people instead.
This 'drive-by downvoting' is becoming endemic on HN. Downvoting should be reserved for comments that do not contribute to the conversation, not as a lazy way of signalling disagreement because you can't be arsed writing a rebuttal.
Such downvoting leads to groupthink and unpopular ideas being hidden. It's turning this place into another Reddit (a statement of truth, no matter what the HN guidelines say).