So, wait. I thought the super-secret surveillance was the bit that was betraying democracy? huh.

If you're going to Krapina, you may as well Krapina bucket

First-world problems.

EVs are only going to be a novelty so long as they're only viable if you own two cars.

We are not about to step into a post-scarcity society, so that's really irrelevant.

Well, long term, the sun's gonna turn into a bigger badder ball of red and eat the Earth, and if we haven't found somewhere outside the asteroid belt to live by then.. well, then all of human history will be forever gone (except voyager probes and whatnot!).

The things you say are true, but I still want to go to Mars. Even if being the first man on Mars means being the first man to die on Mars, that's totally fine.

We've gotta get off this rock eventually, let's go now.

I don't care. Put me on that rock. Hell, I'll go tonight. Let's do this.

Get me there, let me walk on Mars. The rest is details, nothing that happens after taking a step on another planet could possibly ever matter to me ever again, and whatever was done, whatever was sacrificed, whatever the cost, it would be worth it. I don't care. Let's go.

This is Italy we're talking about. Are you sure you want to keep the example of having sex with a minor, or is that only OK in Italy if you've paid for it and the girl was foreign?

It exactly is that black and white, though.
Keep in mind -- this is *ITALY*. Their legal system is not the jewel of the world.
If content was reported and Facebook gave it the A-OK, that might make them liable.
If it was just shit going on that Facebook didn't see? They're not liable, but you can bet Italy is going to try hard as they can to make bank off this.

Facebook didn't publish the videos or comments, common carrier blah blah blah -- if I post some hateful speech right now, slashdot is not liable (in any sane world, keeping in mind this case is in Italy so the opposite would be true).

They don't... I.. no. No, that's not what happens. The case down around Baltimore/DC, where their workers were caught dumping trash bags of ex-pet-corpses into dumpsters (that they didnt even own)?

Yeah came to be that most of the pets that PETA's shelter got in only managed to survive a scant few weeks before being killed. And then thrown in dumpsters illegally, because RESPECT FOR ANIMALS! And also RESPECT FOR NO-DUMPING LAWS!

the particular problem i'm referring to has to deal with the cali low-emissions vehicle standards, it might be different now tbh, but at least at one point it was impossible for a diesel to qualify due to particulate matter in exhaust (that is, even a diesel with less emissions than a gasoline engine had to meet a higher standard which was basically impossible to meet).

it may have changed though.. these days i just try to learn as little about that state as possible, it's just really a mess. the land's great, the people aren't bad, but the rest? ugh

That's actually shockingly bad for an American car, but it's a Nissan, which isn't an American car company. They're just putting a really shitty engine in the American version (the Europeans get a diesel that gets 54mpg, but thanks to California's fucked up emissions laws, diesels aren't something that can be called eco-friendly here).

Except Bloomberg actually HAS broken the law, he headed up an illegal gun-running operation (he called it an undercover sting, but as far as I am aware you really can't form up a private law enforcement club and wantonly break laws just because you say it's OK to do). Never been charged or arrested, never will.

What laws have the Kochs demonstrably violated?

Maybe it's a rumor, but the thing is -- I'm pretty sure it's not. That's Bloomberg. Right there. That's how he is.

Do you forget this was the guy who headed up an illegal gun running operation under the guise of an undercover sting, despite having no jurisdiction or legal authority to run a sting, let alone a sting taking place across STATE lines? His little operation actually ruined the investigative work of REAL law enforcement.

He's King Asshat, that's why NYC seems to keep re-electing him.

Ted was talked to be Secret Service.

what's your next talking point hombre. Secret service takes their job seriously and will, yes, investigate any threat against the president that comes to their attention. Usually that means they determine it was hyperbole, exaggeration, hot air - and not an actual threat. Sometimes it means that the person may have meant it, but was/is mentally ill and needs treatment rather than jail time. Sometimes they arrest a guy who's driving to DC with guns in their trunk.