AMERICAblog

I've opted out every time I've ever ended up in a scanner line, but the millimeter wave stuff is absolutely significantly more safe than the backscatter, specifically because it doesn't use ionizing radiation. Of course, it's also easily defeated[1][2] by anyone that knows what they're doing, so it's not like it's keeping us particularly safe. [1] http://tsaoutofourpants.wordpress.com/2012/03/06/1b-of-nude-body-scann… [2] http://americablog.com/2010/01/german-tv-highlights-failings-of-body-s…

Regarding C corps, that's why I noted diversifying the ownership of the company and "he's a lawyer, he'd know better than I." Exchange-created co-ops bit the dust elsewhere as well. In Illinois it was Land of Lincoln Health, which was closed by the state because it was going to be unable to make a required payment into the program designed to help keep the newly-created companies stable. I believe whatever remains of LLH may actually still be suing the Federal government, because part of what drove them under was not getting ~$70m that they should have received through those same cost-sharing systems. (caveat: Not an insurance industry person and I didn't watch it that closely). Still, I'm sure that there were a lot of amateurs who got involved. I'm also sure there were a lot of professionals and investors who got involved and in many cases lost money because even minor fixes became impossible after the law was passed. NOTHING that was going to make the ACA's implementation better was going to make it through Congress, particularly the Senate. The problem is that when you dig down into the rules you may find a recipe for disaster, but you also found the only way it could possibly work. There are minor nuances, but when you really dig down you find that the "liberal dream of Obamacare" is really "Romneycare" is really at its core a design created by the Heritage Foundation[1]. That's not to say that it's great or terrible or doomed because it was championed by Democrats or…

From the article: "Accountability means that those who break the law, lie to Congress or deceive the American people are held accountable. The NSA has gone rogue, and while it's probably not possible to prosecute people for what they did under the enormous veil of secrecy it currently enjoys, we need to make it clear that this behavior will not be tolerated in the future. Accountability also means voting, which means voters need to know what our leaders are doing in our name." We should pay attention to the last sentence especially. Look at how your elected representatives voted on, for example, the Amash amendment[1]. If your representative voted against the amendment, let them know that you are not going to vote for them in the next election, and follow through. If they voted for the amendment, send them a letter thanking them for standing up for their citizens' civil rights, and encourage them to continue. [1] http://americablog.com/2013/07/amash-conyers-anti-nsa-amendment-lost-b…

Related: http://americablog.com/2013/03/facebook-might-know-youre-gay-before-yo… One nice point raised in that article is the feeling of encroachment on personal space. Going somewhat OT, sorry no concrete examples for you... Like other's have said the thought that you are being watched is like being in a panopticon, or having God looking over your shoulder. Which might of course curb some people from doing wrong, but could stifle exploration and expression of our multiple personas on the web. Some laws are easy to get on board with, others are not. You could kill your career with something like the exposure of drug taking. There's the possibility of smear campaigns (if the data falls into the wrong hands). Did anyone hear about the news of the world police bribing scandal in the UK? You might loose your job, if you are found to have certain political or organisational leanings. You could find yourself the target of ethnic cleansing. Those that have nothing to hide, probably feel right now that they are on the right side of the law. Perhaps you could identify 'criminals' by asking for a show of hands for those that 'have nothing to hide', and lock up the rest. We all have a few skeletons in our closet, it might be nice to get these out there and seek repentence, but sadly some people are just not so tolerant, forgiving, or able to not pass judgment. And sometimes it's best to just bury these things.

A little searching casts doubt on that conclusion. "NATO currently holds security dominance in Estonia, but according to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s former top economic adviser, Andrey Illarionov, “Putin has his eyes on eventually reclaiming Estonia”. John Aravosis, “Putin wants Finland, Baltic States, says former top adviser,” http://americablog.com/2014/03/putin-wants-finland-baltic-states-says-…

The post Google used as justification is http://americablog.com/2014/02/ny-city-state-pension-plans-linked-russ…

This comes up on the first page of a Google search... It's almost like you didn't search for anything yourself... http://americablog.com/2013/02/tea-party-obama-is-hitler.html or there is this: https://kristiann1.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/hitler-t-4-obamacare-na…

There are people trying to spread the idea of cooperatives to "sharing economy" tech platforms.[1][2] [1] http://platformcoop.net/video-stream [2] http://americablog.com/2015/11/meet-the-activists-who-would-co-opt-the… Hopefully some discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10615241

I think Doug Engelbart deserves credit for introducing the chord keyboard, which he demonstrated in "The Mother of All Demos", not a fictional book written by that homophobic anti-American bigoted foaming at the mouth lunatic Mormon cult member who sits on the board of directors of the National Organization for Marriage. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chorded_keyboard http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JfIgzSoTMOs http://americablog.com/2009/04/mormon-leader-of-nom-appears-to-advocat… I own an original Enbelbart chord keyboard and mouse set. It was given to me by a friend who worked at SRI, who maintained Doug's PDP-10 that he used to give demos of his work. Some day I hope to hook them up to an Arduino, so I can use them on a more portable computer that a PDP-10!

Obamacare's individual mandate comes from the Heritage Foundation - that's right, the organization now run by the Tea Party. http://americablog.com/2013/10/original-1989-document-heritage-foundat… It was essentially a bipartisan reform bill. Had Bush proposed the bill, Republicans would likely have voted en masse for it. As for the Constitutionality of it, the Supreme Court disagrees.

The lack of self-awareness was hilarious: http://americablog.com/2013/07/frances-gayest-homophobes-strike-again.…

If they built a Star Trek bridge replica to sell the idea of the NSA to the congress, they can do this too http://americablog.com/2013/09/nsa-outrage-star-trek-bridge.html

This is obviously an extreme example, but it's valid nonetheless. nazi germany had to build the database (thanks IBM) they needed, a future nazi, fascists or the like government wouldn't have to, those databases already exists in much more details nazi germany would have dreamed of (facebook seems to know you're gay before you do or your family does [1]). But this nazi example is one everybody can relate to because we're all familiar with it. But if this is too strong we could go a bit further in history and talked about richelieu "If one would give me six lines written by the hand of the most honest man, I would find something in them to have him hanged." and the current state of us law [2]. [1]: http://americablog.com/2013/03/facebook-might-know-youre-gay-before-yo… [2]: http://www.harveysilverglate.com/Books/ThreeFeloniesaDay.aspx

Nope, that would be us, Latin American countries :-D http://americablog.com/2012/12/poll-latin-americans-the-happiest-peopl… Not sure why though.

$100k puts you in the top 15%. Maybe that doesn't fit your definition of successful, but I'd argue that having a good, stable, professional job was not only successful, but being, in the majority of cases, off the back of a decent education, pretty fortunate too. Source: http://www.americablog.com/2011/01/us-income-distribution-2010-edition…

$200MM payout to top 3 MLCO exec? Seems like found money that ought to be taxed at something other than cap gains rate to me... http://www.americablog.com/2008/09/top-3-merrill-lynch-execs-to-receiv…

Read that comment again: the guy is seriously considering going on a shooting spree with a train full of commuters and robbers. What do you think the chances are of that working out? Do you think this upstanding citizen and class-A marksman will be able to place '10 to 15 rounds' (his words, not mine) with the precision required not to injure anybody else? http://americablog.com/2013/02/vigilante-walmart-shopper-opens-fire-on… http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3252074/Police-looking-vigilan… (uk) http://www.deathandtaxesmag.com/264755/carjacking-gone-wrong-houston-t… http://www.masslive.com/opinion/index.ssf/2015/10/vigilantes_worry_eve… How many links do you want? Those were much less complex situations. And you think putting all that in a crowded subway car is going to improve matters?

> Is it the act of calling a homosexual person, gay instead of fag? Using the term 'homosexual person' is not PC. Are you a homophobe or what? :P http://americablog.com/2007/07/dear-washington-post-please-stop-callin… https://www.quora.com/Which-is-more-appropriate-homosexual-or-gay-%E2%… If I was on the left, I could make a big deal out of your incorrect use of the word homosexual, and I could make it look like you are as bad as someone calling someone a fag in an intentionally derogative way. > Is it referring to black people as african-americans and not niggers? Black people is not PC. Dude, are you a racist or what? The correct term is person-of-color. But do not say "colored person" or you will receive a massive social media outcry. "But I am not a racist you say?". Doesn't matter, once you say the wrong word, you are already one of them. > Is it referring to Muslim people as muslim people and not ragheads? > Is it referring to people of east asian heritage as Asian and not chinks? 2017 PC is not about using derrogatory terms. > In 2017...its not much to ask for. It seems like it is for you, because in your post you have used the incorrect terms. Now, are you a racist and a homophobe? The right would assume you are not. The left will be keeping their eye on you, and now have material to take you down in the future if they want to.

It's not that you cannot play for Blackhawks for a few seasons, and then sign up with Rangers. As the revolving door metaphor suggests, the movement is both more frequent and continuous. Glenn Greenwald goes even further in With Liberty and Justice For Some, suggesting the government and the industry have in practice become two departments of the same organization, with employees being reassigned, but never actually leaving: "People like [the Democratic appointees] Rubin, Summers, Patterson, and Gensler shuffle back and forth between the public and private sectors, taking turns as needed with their GOP counterparts. When in government, they ensure that laws and regulations are written to redound directly to the benefit of a handful of Wall Street firms, abolishing most regulatory safeguards that keep those behemoths in check. When the electoral tide turns against them, they return to those very firms and collect millions upon millions of dollars, profits made possible by the laws and regulations they implemented (or failed to implement) when they were in charge. Then, when their party returns to power, back they go into government, where they use their influence to ensure that the cycle keeps on going." And if you don't care for a 9–5 back at your old bank, or your party holds the presidency for too long and you're kinda strapped for dineros, you just ask for a reassignment with a short period of unemployment. During the sabbatical, you visit your Wall Street office for a…

Countries involved: Japan, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, United States, Mexico, Peru, Chile. http://americablog.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/TPP_map.png Discussion on Bill Moyers A US-led trade deal is currently being negotiated that could increase the price of prescription drugs, weaken financial regulations and even allow partner countries to challenge American laws. But few know its substance. The pact, the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), is deliberately shrouded in secrecy, a trade deal powerful people, including President Obama, don’t want you to know about. Over 130 Members of Congress have asked the White House for more transparency about the negotiations and were essentially told to go fly a kite. While most of us are in the dark about the contents of the deal, which Obama aims to seal by year end, corporate lobbyists are in the know about what it contains. And some vigilant independent watchdogs are tracking the negotiations with sources they trust, including Dean Baker and Yves Smith, who join Moyers & Company this week. Both have written extensively about the TPP and tell Bill the pact actually has very little to do with free trade. Instead, says Dean Baker, co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, “This really is a deal that’s being negotiated by corporations for corporations and any benefit it provides to the bulk of the population of this country will be purely incidental.” Yves Smith, an…

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/19/magazine/shopping-habits.html?pagewa… http://www.forbes.com/sites/kashmirhill/2012/02/16/how-target-figured-… http://www.forbes.com/sites/robertlenzner/2013/09/23/attverizonsprint-… http://gawker.com/5669316/is-facebook-outing-gay-users-to-advertisers http://americablog.com/2013/03/facebook-might-know-youre-gay-before-yo… http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2016/01/why-google-quit-… https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parallel_construction http://bgr.com/2014/01/23/apple-targeted-ads-mood-based/ http://arstechnica.com/business/2013/10/denied-for-that-loan-soon-you-… http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB1000142405274870464860457562075099807298…