Dept. Of Education is unconstitiutional (see Amendment 10.) It's just a lobbying group for teachers' unions. the EPA is quasi-constitutional (stretching interstate commerce to a sliver), same with Transportation.

To claim that _this_ administration has the trappings of Obama's "God Government" complex is a bit of a stretch. If I had a time machine, I'd go back and prevent Wilson from being elected. Maybe, just maybe, we'd have stopped (or at least slowed) the imperial presidency and remained attatched to Federalism like our Founders intended. :)

Nope. Opinions are speech. Speech is free.

women are paid less for equal work

Nope.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/t...
https://www.wsj.com/articles/S...

And we haven't had a female president because a qualified one hasn't come forward. Comparing the United States to Saudi Arabia in terms of "patriarchy" is a disingenuous ploy to prop up your failed narrative.

I blame the actual feminists who are letting a TINY minority of their ranks become the Stasi. I blame anyone who thinks that cancel culture isn't real and practices burning down someone's life over speech. I blame anyone who cannot see this as nothing but a power grab by grievance-mongers who spend a majority of their lives being the PMRC of the rest of society. I blame anyone who thinks an accusation is the defacto standard of justice in America. It isn't... not yet at least.

It used to be the "Religious Right" that was the censorious assholes of America. Now it's the "woke leftist". Their end cannot come soon enough. Due Process is a right. Being "free" from being offended is NOT.

I agree #2 should be fixed regardless of #1, because some of (or is it all?) his other high scores were done in person with the Twin Galaxies folks in attendance. I recall watching videos explaining the technical aspects of Mitchell's DK score shenanigans, but I do remember Billy spent an insane amount of time saying the documentary made him look bad. I take most documentaries with HUGE grains of salt mainly because 99% of them have an axe to grind. The truth always lies somewhere in the middle.

I don't think they need to investigate every other score, simply because he complied with the Twin Galaxies rules at the time. Whether or not he "cheated" back then never came up, oddly.

Why not say, not mention gender at all in a "genderless" event? The GDC is SocJus, just not on steroids like most of the idiots who spend all their time fretting about pronouns (which, the English language has he/she. THAT IS ALL. They is friggin' plural.)

My problem is they pervert the language for their own delusions, and they try to shame people who don't buy into their claptrap, even going so far as to try to get them fired, banned, and de-platformed. That's what really upsets those of us who remember there are only two genders and that the idiots infesting every stinking aspect of culture with their nonsense ARE the problem.

I've wondered how the taxes on e-cigarettes compares to regular ones, not to mention the Tobacco Industry has a huge stake in either co-opting the vaping companies by purchase or attrition (through suits and government pressure).

My guess is somewhere in the middle. All new technology is met with huge resistance from established industries, and those established industries will fight tooth and nail (and use government coercion) to keep their market. (See: automobiles, radio, cassettes, VCRs, etc. etc. etc.) People who think this is cut-and-dried (no pun intended) aren't paying attention to the details....

Your argument falls apart in the face of counterfeit goods. Do your research, select your item, and then what? What if you're getting a widget labeled "Made by XYZ" but it's not?

A good barometer of that sort of thing is price. If it's too good to be true, it probably is. Now if there are counterfeit goods being sold at the same price as the original then we've got a dilemma that the FTC should be looking into. (It just seems unlikely to find counterfeit goods at the same price, because you'd just go buy the original.. the purpose of counterfeit goods generally is to undercut the "real" product on price, but I grant you there are exceptions.) I'll say it again, If the price is just too good to be true, then it most likely is. And I would say to that, caveat emptor indeed.

I agree that Amazon is a piss-poor eBay knockoff. (no irony there...heh) and most people aren't viewing it that way, but there are people who spend $50 for a Rolex and are "shocked" when it isn't. Those people are the ones that need education.

I buy my music from there, if there isn't a more attractive offer from the label itself (Sometimes Nuclear Blast has a killer offer of limited edtition vinyl in superb colors.... I can't ever pass that up...)

I've had no troubles buying LEGO sets (nothing overly fancy... the low-end "city" stuff), and I sometimes buy used books from third party sellers there as well. But I am realistic. Seeing something that otherwise costs $500 for $99 is part of my job as a savvy customer to avoid, even if it says "Amazon Choice". (It's a marketing label, not a UL seal of safety.)

It's all in how you shop, really. If there are people out there who think because Amazon is on the Internet that it's somehow magically safer and policed properly (a worldwide retailer, to boot)... they should really do their homework. If they don't, then they deserve what they get indeed. Wal Mart has been caught selling counterfeit goods before, and sometimes unsafe things. It's all about awareness...

To me, boycotting a giant corporate behemoth because they can (and do) sell counterfeit and possibly unsafe Chinese knockoff goods is like cutting off your nose to spite your face. But to each his own.... I don't begrudge people's principles... I just don't find boycotts very effective.

I've always looked at Valve's Linux efforts with a bit of skepticism, but as a for-profit motive. I have a few games I bought when I had Windows installed on a machine, but for the most part, my library is Linux games (if I can't find them on GOG.com) Funny bit is, GOG is easier to let me (without running "beta" software) run my Windows games (which coincidentally aren't cutting edge because I'm an old fart) through WINE with little or no trouble. Sometimes it takes a bit of tweaking... but that's part of the fun.

I've not been on the cutting edge of PC gaming for many years (if I ever was), but Valve has been the least evil of the DRM-laden game rental spaces. :) Your point about using Google's playbook is an intriguing one, however. And given Google's hyper-partisan manpiulation of late (search, etc.) I have to pay more attention to Valve's underlying motives. Gabe did lull me into a false sense of security with his large selection of Linux games... the bastard. :)

Because it's called PERSONAL responsibility. I said in a reply to you earlier... it's ultimately up to you. The fact that they lie to tell you X makes you Y doesn't make them responsible when YOU buy into the bullshit. Why should it be permissible to claim anything in marketing? By your logic advertising is all bad and nothing but 100% honest, peer-reviewed, studied, unsubsidised, and non-profit claims should be allowed on the air.

Are you stupid enough to believe that if you drink Corona you'll be hanging with hot chicks on a beach? (Of course you aren't) Do you believe that pill X will make you more manly by releasing your manliest juices? The key is YOU. Not them. If people buy into that stuff because they are too stupid or too lazy to think for themselves, it shouldn't be anyone's problem but the lazy dumbasses. That's the beauty of freedom over servitude.

Your family doctor telling you that Orangutan anus cures cancer is another matter. It's not marketing when a trusted source says that... and that is a whole other can of worms, to be sure (just in case the exception comes up about personal responsibility.) Of course you should ALWAYS get a 2nd opinion. :)

There isn't any merit. #1. Look at the beautiful people drinking beer. Young, vibrant, hot.. Same for any other item sold to adults. #2. e-cig ads are like beer ads.

There isn't a "e-cig man and Scooby Doo Hour" making a cape-clad superhero out of e-cigs. Even if there was, the responsibility lies with the parents to teach their idiot children not to do stupid stuff, and the retailers to only sell to verifiable ages... but as we've seen with beer, it's not always successful, but it certainly isn't the beer makers' fault. It's the stupid people who break the law. Personal responsibility. The planet needs to STOP passing the buck.

And in the decades of data about the addictiveness of nicotine (not to mention there are vaping choices without nicotine), they made the choice to vape anyway... and now they blame "marketing" for their inability to make decisions? I grew up in the 1970's where smoking was marketed on TV and in print... yet I didn't pick up a cigarette, nor have I ever smoked. Fast forward to now, which is an era where NO advertising exists for smoking traditional cigarettes, we still have people buying cigarettes and new smokers starting. E-Cigs were supposed to remove the stench of 2nd hand smoke and allow smokers their nicotine without impacting others. *shrug* Beats me how it became this shitshow. It's not just smoking. Everything is now "someone else's fault." I blame participation-trophy culture for the milquetoasts we have now.

People who lack the desire to take personal responsibility for their own actions are the reason ambulance-chasing lawyers can afford Bentleys and advertise how much they get for their clients "in their pockets." No one from the tobacco company put that e-cig in his mouth. He did. Yet, here we are... blaming others for our own personal piss-poor decisions.

Or like where I live, have competition that isn't DSL or Cable. (Having two cable providers in my city makes caps non-existent.) I've said before (perhaps even on this site) that competition is the key to preventing the draconian measures government-sanctioned monopolies enact when "there's nowhere else to go."

It's sad that there aren't more multiple-provider cities...

Now that your coffee table actually runs Linux. :)