Every U.S. embassy has CIA staff.

The bank name is Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ...

Ironically, Mitsubishi will probably be building and selling wind turbines as part of this deal.

There's nothing wrong with, though.

People everywhere, for all time, have been hoodwinked, lied to, maimed, killed and manipulated to murder others by "leaders" and politicians.

You do not need leaders. You need some liberty and freedom from "leaders."

But, I'm afraid humans will never be free from the tyranny of leaders.

Here is what's wrong with business today.

How can Groupon lose $81 million every three months and still be in business? Where is the money coming from to pay the bills?

I started a business a year ago and have been profitable, and grown consistently, every month. And yet, not a single bank will talk to me about a loan to expand.

I guess I need to lose some big money before they'll talk to me...

Your computers and other electronic devices can be confiscated without warrants or your "permission" within 100 miles of the U.S. border without cause or suspicion because you have no right to privacy, and the contents of your phone can be examined by a police officer during a traffic stop, but their computers are private and protected by people with guns?

Right. Got it.

In the past, people would never have tolerated this. They'd have risen up against it and the evil bastards who propagated it.

Now, we're just weak little serfs in the new feudalism.

The U.S. government has 'em beat -- they've had the TV, newspaper and movie industries in their back pocket for a generation.

#1 The United States has the highest incarceration rate in the world and the largest total prison population on earth.

#2 The United States has the highest percentage of obese people in the world.

#3 The United States has the highest divorce rate on the globe by a wide margin.

#4 The United States is tied with the U.K. for the most hours of television watched per person each week.

#5 The United States has the highest rate of illegal drug use on the entire planet.

#6 There are more car thefts in the United States each year than anywhere else in the world by far.

#7 There are more reported rapes in the United States each year than anywhere else in the world.

#8 There are more reported murders in the United States each year than anywhere else in the world.

#9 There are more total crimes in the United States each year than anywhere else in the world.

#10 The United States also has more police officers than anywhere else in the world.

#11 The United States spends much more on health care as a percentage of GDP than any other nation on the face of the earth.

#12 The United States has more people on pharmaceutical drugs than any other country on the planet.

#13 The percentage of women taking antidepressants in America is higher than in any other country in the world.

#14 Americans have more student loan debt than anyone else in the world.

#15 More pornography is created in the United States than anywhere else on the entire globe. Eighty nine percent is made in the U.S.A. and only 11 percent is made in the rest of the world.

#16 The United States has the largest trade deficit in the world every single year. Between December 2000 and December 2010, the United States ran a total trade deficit of 6.1 trillion dollars with the rest of the world, and the U.S. has had a negative trade balance every single year since 1976.

#17 The United States spends 7 times more on the military than any other nation on the planet does. In fact, U.S. military spending is greater than the military spending of China, Russia, Japan, India, and the rest of NATO combined.

#18 The United States has far more foreign military bases than any other country does.

#19 The United States has the most complicated tax system in the entire world.

#20 The U.S. has accumulated the biggest national debt that the world has ever seen and it is rapidly getting worse. Right now, U.S. government debt is expanding at a rate of $40,000 per second.

Anyone else think the original post was written by "the writer," who is searching for some help with a story?

It reads like it was written by a woman and there is that troubling character development -- a "professional" writer, "everyone who knows her loves her" stuff.

If it's a real post, I think we all know that nothing says "I love you" more than having the guy whacked. ;-)

confiscate your laptop like the U.S. does at the border.

If the quality is anything like the rest of the crap being made in the USA now, you better stay away from those models.

No one is "winning" the battle against cancer in general.

The cancer rate is increasing, not decreasing, despite all of the money spent and gone over the past 50 years.

Were killing ourselves by consumption and exposure to unnatural and unnecessary chemicals produced by a highly profitable chemical cartel.

Look, even the mammogram industry (doctors, hospitals and manufacturers) has programed the public with the myth that mammograms saves lives.

After ten years of study, it's been shown to not be true.

More people are diagnosed, but no more people die.

Mammograms are painful and a waste of time and money in many cases, but the almighty dollar is mightier than the truth.

And breast cancer rates keep going up, no matter how many ribbons people wear and money they give.

"There is a natural urge to share the things you care about deeply."
Who says? Do you have any proof of this natural urge?

"Its a shame, especially since political discourse is so very essential to a healthy society."
Who says? Do you have any proof of this? The U.S. is obsessed with political discourse to the point of being a dysfunctional society.

I'm an ex-pat who's lived outside the U.S. for twenty years (this year). It's been fascinating to watch the transformation of America from a distance over the past decade.

It's fascinating, like watching a car crash in slow motion is fascinating.

I was working on contract with the dominant Japanese phone manufacturer that supplied NTT DoCoMo. The same concept (pipe dream) was discussed then and we all knew that simultaneous translation of Japanese (insert language) would be here about the same time we all get our flying cars.

Anyone who speaks Japanese knows the Grand Canyon-esque gap in context and meaning between spoken, informal Japanese and slang and idiom-ridden English.

You are leaping to some wrong conclusions.
I do not live in the U.S.
Apple did indeed force me to update.
My iPads froze and the only function available was to download the iOS upgrade.
I had no choice.