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Comment Re: Paved with good intentions... (Score 1) 245

Your fantasy would still not be appropriate even if it was true. If you need the kid to talk the last thing you should do is torture him. Torture will not make him talk, it will make him lie and it will affirm his bad views so certainly that he will grow up to be a suicide bomber or worse.

Comment Re: Sanders (Score 1) 488

I know that "socialized systems" is a meaningless term and has nothing to do with socialism either.

Check a dictionary. Socialism is defined as a system of economics where the workers own the means of production.

That's the ENTIRE definition, within Marxist philosophy it gets a rider attached - which basically comes down to "not good enough".

But that, broad, definition is all of it.
Please note that NOWHERE in the definition of socialism does the word "state" or "government" occur, it has nothing to do with them. And thus you get, for example, anarchist forms of socialism which has no government - yet make perfect logical sense (and, unlike libertarianism, an anarcho-socialist industrialized society HAS in fact existed, Andalusia in the early 20th century was exactly that).

So the following things which are commonly called "Socialist" in the USA are clearly NOT in fact socialist: public libraries, welfare states and entitlements, government services, the civil service and beaurocracies, taxation, universal healthcare -even Canadian style, big government or authoritarianism.

None of those things bear any resemblance to the definition of socialism -and neither does any significant European country today.

Now here are some things which *are* in fact socialist - and which no American would ever call that: cab drivers who own their cabs, that worker-owned, democratically managed robotics factory in Texas (coincidentally - the largest robotics factory in the USA). Co-ops, Mutual Funds, Fair Deal coffee suppliers, lawyers and doctors with their own practice, most plumbers, most electricians - in fact absolutely every one-man-business, and every partnership too (at least, until they hire staff - but if they make the staff partners then they are back to being socialist).

It rather affects your perspective on things, when you use words to mean what they ACTUALLY mean don't you ?
This is also why I say that, as much as I respect Sanders he is decidedly NOT a socialist, his policies are not in any way intended to make more businesses be owned by workers and no other policies except ONLY such policies can fairly be called "socialist" policies. And I know the man is smart enough to know that, so I presume that in calling himself a socialist he is, in fact, actively trolling the American people and their inability to open dictionaries and swallow propaganda even when that propaganda completely redefines words.
To quote Sir Terry Pratchett: If you want to find snakes, look for them behind the words that have changed their meanings.

Allowing politicians to define your terms for you is basically ASKING to get deceived.

Comment Re:Click-bait title, Kudos to HP & Carly (Score 1) 488

>I think that it was just a business decision that anyone in the same position would have made.
That was my assessment as well - right up until the moment she bragged about it, and bragged about what it was used for.
I'm not so concerned with what she did, I am very justifiably concerned with how she feels about it now.

Comment Re:Misleading Summary (Score 1) 488

> Think of it as truth serum that never fails.

Actually... it's more like guaranteed-lie serum.
Many people will tell you that torture does not yield good intel - that people will say ANYTHING if they think it will make you stop, but studies have actually found more than that - the one thing it absolutely guarantees they will NOT tell you is the truth.
When being tortured for information - that information becomes their single most valuable thing, they will cling to it for dear life and never, ever reveal it - because they always fear that tomorrow may be worse, and tomorrow they may need it more. It is saved for a rainy day, and the harder it rains - the more they save it out of fear that tomorrow it will rain even worse.

Comment Re: Like any other customer? (Score 1) 488

How about because she bought compaq despite every industry expert telling her that is was an insane move ? How about because she figured the best way to up the stock price was to fire all the great (but expensive) engineers, which, to be fair, did make the next quarterly earnings report look fantastic because she was selling all those awesome things they designed and not having to pay them - but then discovered (to her apparent shock) that you can't keep selling the same things for every and without good engineers it's really hard to design a good next generation of products and it's ESPECIALLY hard to maintain profitability when you have only shitty products to sell.

The fundamental flaw Fiorina made at HP is one many a CEO has made at many an American company - she confused the wage bill with an expense, instead of realizing it's her single most important profit-generating asset. Lay-offs can only ever cost you more than it saves.

Comment Re: Sanders (Score 1) 488

If you think the socialism Bernie Sanders supports was not EXACTLY what your Founding Fathers ACTUALLY had in mind, you don't know jack shit about your founding fathers.
Practically every policy proposal Bernie Sanders has on anything economics related can be found in Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith - who basically wrote the textbook for the founding father's economic ideas.

It's only in America that his ideas would be deemed "socialist" anyway, every else on earth it would be center-left welfare state capitalism.

Comment Re:Rand ALREADY gave them LOTS of pushback. (Score 1) 488

What did you expect from him ? He's following in Daddy's footsteps with the greatest political scam ever invented: getting elected to serve on a government where literally the only thing you EVER do is give long speeches about how the government shouldn't be allowed to do anything. Think about that... you' get employed by the people, then spend all your time convincing the people that they should never ever allow you t do your job.
It's brilliant... and sad.

Comment Re: Big Surprise (Score 1) 488

And in the latest polls Sanders is only 9 points behind her (though, in fairness, he drops lower if you ask people what they would do if Biden ran).

It's early days yet, but do not count him out of the nomination. If he gets it though, he could even win - that would boost the republican chances though because he dares use the term "socialist" (why does the media always leave out the word that goes before that which is "democratic" or the fact that his actual policies really are not socialist, they do however meet that weird definition of "socialist" which American use and which literally doesn't have a single thing in common with socialism whatsoever), if the reps don't choose their candidate perfectly though - it's in the bag. Sanders would trounce either Trump or Fiorina, and probably any religious-right candidate with ease. Rubio would be a stretch, Rand Paul would be a very close-run thing.

Comment Re:Big Surprise (Score 1) 488

>the democrats suck like the republicans. they simply suck slightly less

I would put it a little harsher... the democrats a horrible center-right corrupt politicians, nobody should vote for them under any delusions that they even remotely resemble a good party. You should vote for them because the alternative is fucking batshit insane !
