this much attention and overall public scrutiny had been given to the Equifax and OPM breaches. Those were actually serious breaches impacting a ton of people if very real financial ways (~143M people for the Equifax, and most of the DoD Personal for the OPM). Those blew over quickly with no changes at all.

Versus information that people voluntary put up on FB and only seems to be an issue because targeted ads to support someone they don't like.

I would disagree those topics are covered at all in the US public school system (or in any real or useful depth...especially complex libel/slander laws). However that wasn't my point which I was trying to make and I should have clarified my response better.

The argument as I understand is that one must ask the government permission (in this case via government approved training) to exercise their 2nd amendment right.

I cannot agree to any position that requires an adult US citizen in good standing to pass a government test (especially one the citizen pays for either via fees, taxes, missing work, and/or giving up time) to exercise their constitutional rights.

Now there should always be consequences when those citizens exercise their rights in evil and bad ways (yelling fire in a theater where no fire exists, inciting violence, libel/slander, shooting people, keeping people as slaves, etc. etc.).

Actually I CAN yell fire in the theater. I can yell it as loud as I want too. Even if there is no fire I CAN yell it. Now there are consequences for said action but there is nothing stopping me from yelling fire in a theater.

Which seems like a stupid nit picky point right? Well no. There are no barriers (yet) to me speaking. How about we make every take a free course outlining speaking safety, libel/slander laws, basic decency before being able to speak and/or exercising the use of the first amendment along with recurrent training covering the same topics?

Given how much our government has shredded the bill of rights anyway let's not allow them to shred it further.

And in that defense alliance, as the absolute numbers show, Norway contributions are low.. absolute troops (17th), supplies, and money.

So if the US said to NATO, or a specific country, we will no longer offer our money/troops in your defense how would that countries spending have to change to ensure it it had the right size military to defend itself? The military spending would have to increase and therefore either the taxes of that country will go up even more or a lot of the social services would have to shrink.

So again Norway benefits greatly in this alliance that it doesn't contribute much too. Essentially externalizing its defense.

As for the US and all its 800 bases, wars, etc. You won't hear any argument from me.

That would be true if the share of the cost and the amount of military resources provided were equal. Which is not the case.

The US pays the largest part of the NATO budget (source: CNSNEWS) and supplies the largest amount of troops, tanks, planes, etc. (source: wikipedia).

So yes Norway's defense is basically externalized.

Add to that, like a lot of other countries, they externalize their military costs to other countries (i.e USA). What would Norway's social spending be like if they had to also spend money to ensure a proper defense against say Russia?

I feel like either I am way behind on what people in general want or the PR marketing from Google, Apple, Samsung, etc. has infiltrated my brain and turned it to mush.

I don’t want smart anything in my house (lights, thermostats, speakers, etc.). The only thing I want connected is my alarm system for obvious reasons. I don’t know anymore if I am in the minority or majority on this.

I have been house hunting lately and a lot of new construction has all this smart technology and while it does have that cool factor it also has that creepy/security issue factor.

EA doesn't make their numbers. Else all PR is good PR. Look at GTA V and its micro transactions. Has made rockstar more money than they ever dreamed. Think they will change this approach in the future? Not likely.

Also I believe things will get worse for gaming and not better in the short term. Just wait till major AAA games are only subscription based only which EA has indicated on their sports franchises.

We pay for the privilege of using our facial recognition detecting phones and giving it to the government directly :-)

Maybe instead of focusing on a new chip every year they (apple, samsung, etc) could focus on, ya know, making the phone actual do something new that is actually useful and solves problems? I have an iPhone 6. If I compare it to iPhone X or Samsung S8 what is really different. And by different I mean actual valuable differences that solve real world issues vs. just saying I have the latest shiny thing?

3D touch - didn't solve any issues other than caused a lot (i.e. the technical failures)
Facial recognition - doesn't solve any problems.
Wireless charging - doesn't solve any problems (save 2 seconds at night? ya not impressed. And to use it you need to spend more money)
apple pay - didn't solve any problems (maybe save a few seconds vs pulling out a CC? ya not impressed)
better screen, battery, etc. for sure but none of that addresses any real issues.
No headphone jack – I won’t even touch this.


Sure if your phone dies or is stolen buying the latest and greatest usually makes sense. But a large population of smart phone owners will get no real benefits and will pay a lot! A lot of people I have talked to agree with this and will wait until their phone dies to upgrade.

Right now smart phones are in a real functionality rut. Doesn’t mean it won’t change next year but for now everything is pretty much a gimmick or very minor improvements. I can easily see real functionality that would be useful but Apple won’t do it because it would cannibalize their computer market. A full OS X and the phone could be plugged into a docking station and boom full computer as one example.

But I know I am not the cool target market and Apple/Samsung with continue to see a butt load of their phones.

And to add on to everything you have said none of these new products actually do anything magically better, nor do they somehow improve life by using it. While electronic gadgets might get a little faster, a little more storage space, they are hitting a peak on useful functionality. May be a few years before we see anything actually new that will really impact day to day life.

Someone on UBI won't be able afford to live somewhere and their children are suffering and only if the government would just give a little bit more...and the UBI (taxes) will be increased in a never ending cycle or they will add back in welfare (assuming it even goes away) or some other government program. And the taxes will keep going up. And if you are suggest we stop this you are racist/sexist/hate the kids/whatever.

There isn't an alternative IMHO. That's the point. You can discuss whatever you want as long as you realize what you read isn't 100% true, has biases in it, and probably outright lies.

The US MSM has been proven over and over to have lied, misrepresent the truth, or just been 100% government propaganda and yes people still believe what they say. I don't get it.

I discount all news whether it supports my biases or not.

Maybe back in the day there was but today it isn't news, it is entertainment, They all lie. They are all biased. None of them can hold a consistent logical position.

Or they use polling like it is some hard scientific fact that should dictate policy.

Or refuse to criticize their team.

When people discuss "Facts" I always ask how do you those "facts" are real and aren't manipulated. The answer (regardless of party) is always the same because a) my news source doesnt lie or b) it came from some government website (BLS, FBI stats, etc). And then I know they are brainwashed.

Which I think a lot of companies are forgetting especially cable. I pay $70/month for internet only (300down/20up), Netflix ($20/month), Music ($15/m), Kindle unlimited ($10/M). So $115/M for more entertainment than I can consume in a lifetime plus all the endless free stuff on the web. I can get focused entertainment which I find good and on demand. I am already considering downgrading my netflix package and even my cable speeds because they aren't giving me as much value as I am willing to pay for.

Why would I want to pay for shows that I don’t find valuable (or can get elsewhere), pay for a cable box, pay for DVR service, etc. that I don’t find valuable? This same applies to an earlier topic of Hollywood that was on Slashdot. They don’t produce things I find valuable so why would I pay for it?

And when I do have to call the cable company cause they raised my rates and I have to do the song & dance with them to get it back down they try to upsell you on everything. No I don’t want package XYZ, I don’t watch sports at all (that blows their minds), I don’t need your VoIP I have cell phone service, etc.