Umm... I disagree to the extent that a cat picture might have been considered odd, but not alarming. I could imagine other things that would caught someone's attention.

maybe even drive up the black market prices up enough that poor minorities do not have them

FTFY. This is what happened when specific gun laws banning "Saturday night specials" went into effect in the USA. They made sure the poor, especially blacks and hispanics, didn't have any cheap guns to protect themselves.

"Fair" means the government has to prove you shouldn't have one. But that's because in the USA, we have this quaint notion that government's powers are derived from the consent of the governed, not the other way around.

Disarmament also did a good job of making it a more subservient place, free of liberty.

So maybe what happens is we need to work out a way to have the population meaningfully own the government

That's how democracy is supposed to work.

Not sure I agree on the dress shirt comfort, but dress slacks are definitely more comfortable than stupid khakis or other casual slacks.

I thought of that one myself, but he was actually laid off so it's more like the job (and every other poor sucker he ran into that day) shoved HIM.

What the hell are you talking about?

The suspect was unarmed and the only warrant on him was for unpaid child support. I'm sure some neo-feminists think that calls for the death penalty, but here in my world that's only worthy of reasonable less-than-lethal measures to apprehend. He could have let the perp go and picked him up later. Think about it-- now that man's children get no more support. It's a loss for everyone.

4. There are a handful of people in law enforcement who have no business being in law enforcement, or any other field that requires them to interact with human beings as a matter of course. They have chips on their shoulders, the stereotype is the kid that got bullied a lot in high school, now he has a badge and a gun, so don't you dare fuck with him.

Actually, it's the BULLIES who seem to keep slipping through the vetting processes we allegedly have in place. Now their aggressive behavior is backed up by authority.

"Law enforcement is a customer service orientated business; unfortunately, all of the customers are assholes."

That's what you call a self-fulfilling prophecy.

You know the Atari 400/800 and Commodore VIC20/64 used the 6502 as well, right? Not exactly a limited or niche processor.

You need to read more foreign press. In Mexico is usual to call my metropolitan area, Guadalajara, as the "Mexican Silicon Valley" for all the IT and comms related companies that settled here. We used to have delivered to our Sun shop every year the "Silicon Valley xxxx year" calendar, so clearly, at least for publicity purposes, the term "Silicon Valley" was a metonym for the IT industry. In fact, your post and the one from the great grandparent are the first ones I have seen nitpicking about the term in 22 years.

The same Carly that almost destroyed singlehandedly the legacy of 3 of the greatest legends of Silicon Valley: Compaq, Hewlett-Packard and Digital Equipment Corporation. She better should shut up.

Then in the 80s they picked up the so-called "Christian" evangelicals and rode that horse until a black guy got elected and suddenly the Tea Party popped up because they were "Taxed Enough Already" which was amazing considering we had been at the lowest tax brackets in US history at the time.

Not only are you race baiting, but you are incredibly incorrect. First of all, when the income tax was implemented it maxed out at something like 5%. Second, in RECENT history, 1989, there were only three brackets and the top one was 25%. Maybe in your world, 35% is less than 25%...

"Give honest and sincere appreciation" is not something weasels do.

Being a good listener is not something weasels do.

"Make the other person feel important and do it sincerely" is not something weasels do.

The book is about changing oneself. Treating people the way they expect-- even want-- to be treated is not manipulation. People want to hear their name, have your undivided attention, and be praised-- sincerely. If you don't like this, well, that's reality. You can treat people like shit, or treat them randomly, and see how many friends YOU have. You can argue with colleagues and customers, and see how many you end up with. I do imagine, on the bright side, that any friends you manage to retain will be true friends, indeed.