“It comes from a very ancient democracy, you see..."

"You mean, it comes from a world of lizards?"

"No," said Ford, who by this time was a little more rational and coherent than he had been, having finally had the coffee forced down him, "nothing so simple. Nothing anything like so straightforward. On its world, the people are people. The leaders are lizards. The people hate the lizards and the lizards rule the people."

"Odd," said Arthur, "I thought you said it was a democracy."

"I did," said Ford. "It is."

"So," said Arthur, hoping he wasn't sounding ridiculously obtuse, "why don't people get rid of the lizards?"

"It honestly doesn't occur to them," said Ford. "They've all got the vote, so they all pretty much assume that the government they've voted in more or less approximates to the government they want."

"You mean they actually vote for the lizards?"

"Oh yes," said Ford with a shrug, "of course."

"But," said Arthur, going for the big one again, "why?"

"Because if they didn't vote for a lizard," said Ford, "the wrong lizard might get in. Got any gin?"

Check out the murals at the Denver airport.

I'm not saying it's an illurminaty cunspeericy, but it is fucking weird.

I would imagine one would only be performing datamining/statistical analysis on the data warehouse server, not the transactional database server.

Yes, that is the real issue. I think the #1 thing that could help lift people, particularly blacks, out of poverty is an end to the war on drugs. It creates a vicious circle of poverty, violence, lost hope and a tragic waste of human potential.

Young black kid with no father (because he was in jail, or killed) has no positive role model. He gets involved with drugs because he's 18, and 18 year olds are stupid. Because he's black, his neighborhood gets watched by the cops more, and when he gets busted, he gets less representation and harsher punishments than a middle class white kid. Jail -> shitty job with no prospects -> no hope in the system -> back to drugs and harder crime -> felony conviction -> not there to raise his kids rights -> 18 year old kid with no dad mixed up with drugs.

The war on drugs destroyed the black family, and there are definitely writings that indicate that was exactly Nixon's plan. Fuck that guy.

This AC gets it.

It really isn't a race thing. It's a poor thing.

There are institutionally racist systems (like the war on drugs) that keep black people poor, however.

You're pretty much spot-on. I do not like seeing this guy referred to as an MRA. He's not. He's a male supremacist. Red Pillers from Reddit. There are serious issues that effect men and these people instead just want to blame and scam women. Fuck them.

I know it's a no true scotsman issue, but I think it's important to denounce men such as this one. Feminism has this problem where there are many egalitarian women who focus on issues that uniquely effect women because somebody has to, but they get lumped in with the female supremacists (i.e., SJWs) such that "feminist" has become a dirty word. But they don't do themselves any favors by not denouncing the extremists in their midst.

There are serious problems affecting men that someone needs to address. Family law, suicide, educational performance, rape. Somebody has to address the unique way in which these issues affect men, and those are "men's rights activists." This guy is just an asshole and giving him the time of day just dilutes the message of serious men on serious issues.

I can't condone the death penalty. In any case. There's the slightest chance you might be wrong.

I'm a Catholic, so that certainly colors my opinion. I don't believe any man has the authority to deliberately* take the life of another.

I just don't see the purpose of the death penalty. It is no deterrent. If you wrongfully execute someone, there is no chance for recompense. And life in a box sounds horrid; a fate worse than death. If you're an atheist, the murderer is getting off incredibly easy. If you're amongst the faithful, well, there is no escape from God's judgment, anyway.

There's just no point. Let him sit in a box and think about what he did for the next seventy-plus years. "Tax dollars" are hardly an issue.

* By "deliberately" I mean "with time to deliberate about it." I understand the necessity of taking a life to prevent someone from taking the lives of others. But if there's no immediate danger...

"No, no, we'd never ask you to turn over all your call records! That's illegal. But we do need all your call records for area codes that have an even number in them. Oh, and in an unrelated matter, all call records for area codes that have an odd number in them. Thanks!

xoxoxo, NSA"

I'm hoping "phone records" includes phone metadata, like keep-alive packets. That's one of the primary concerns to me: by collecting "phone records" they're effectively tracking the physical location of everyone with a powered cell phone (i.e., the vast bulk of people) all the time.

Actually, that's the entire point of a warrant: it's the state's written grant of immunity for people to do things that would otherwise be illegal. Ordinarily, it's illegal for anyone to forcibly restrain you and hold you against your will. But with an arrest warrant, it's legal.

Yeah, I'm just saying it would have historical significance centuries from now. It'd be a lot more than a mere tape measure.

Story of my life.

That's kind of an interesting point. Let's say 500 years from now humans have warp drive and can zip between stars. Should the Voyagers be collected* and placed in a museum? Should it be left alone as a historical "site?" One could visit it. Get the sense of what ancient man accomplished, sending this tiny thing so far from home. But that would be lost putting it on display at the Smithsonian.

I argue a "traveling" museum should be built next to Voyager, sharing its journey. School kids could warp in on their Space Bus, view Voyager from the observation deck, yawn through holoexhibits that tell the story of ancient space exploration, and then have lunch at the Carl Sagan Cafeteria.

* I used as neutral a word as I could, "collected," rather than something that implies a relationship. "Recover" isn't right, because that implies retrieving something that rightfully belongs elsewhere and was lost, and Voyager is not lost. It's exactly where it should be doing exactly what it was designed to do. "Rescued" is right out. That's recovered + emotion. "Interrupt its mission" or "abduct" are emotionally loaded from the opposite perspective.

That was my thought exactly. I saw the headline and thought "ITT charged for fraud? Great, finally, ugh, ripping off students like that...wait...SEC not...I don't know...I don't think the Department of Education has an enforcement division, so, the FTC? But no, SEC...and yeah, fraud against investors, not students."

The message is loud and clear: "Citizen, fuck thyself."

Wow. Not only have you failed to understand both the substance and nuance of my post, you're also an insufferable faggot*. May God have mercy on your soul.

* In no way do I mean to denigrate homosexuals with this this remark, and I apologize to any I may have offended.