ApostleO @ ApostleO @startrek.website

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Joined

2 yr. ago

As disappointing as it is to see it end, 5 seasons is a decent run, and I'd rather it end before they "jump the shark" or just fizzle out.

Billionaires now control 1 out of every 25 dollars of American wealth.

1/25=4%

According to Google, there are 735 billionaires in the US, and the US population is 336,269,260. That makes Billionaires about 0.000002% of the population.

And they control 4% of the wealth. (And that's probably not counting money they have hidden and sheltered.)

For reference, 4% of the population would be 13,450,770.

So 735 people have as much wealth as would be held by about 13.5 million people, if all wealth was distributed evenly. So each billionaire would be worth about 18,000 people.

But, it's even worse in our current distribution:

Due to this influx to the very top, these 800 individuals now collectively control 1.5 times more wealth than the entire bottom 50 percent of American households, who share $3.7 trillion between 65 million households.

And, since money is free speech, that means these 735 billionaires have 1.5 times the voice of 65 million people, the majority of Americans, combined.

We've gone full oligarchy.

And apparently since 2001, there have been fewer than 100 cases (I think somewhere in the area of 50-60 cases) where a non-citizen attempted to vote.

Less than 100 cases. In over 20 years.

It's an obvious, bald-faced smokescreen, covering their plans to rig the election or commit a coup should they lose.

Yeah, as a leftist who likes guns for fun, survival, self defense, and theoretical political unrest... I still think it's ridiculous we don't have gun licenses in the US. Or a gun ownership registry.

Bans restrict freedom for everyone.

License and registration lets you maintain that freedom for most, but still restrict it where necessary (e.g. crime, mental health), and more easily track and punish those who misuse firearms.

I'm with the above commenter. I've worked at many companies of various sizes, from small local shops up to international corporations, including at least one contractor for the US military.

Every one of them had rules and policies and training on security, to varying degrees. But at every one of them, I'd find some vulnerability, or instance where someone was neglecting security. Each time, I'd bring it to the attention of someone in management. Each time (with one company as exception), those warnings would be "heard" and "passed up the chain", and then nothing would happen. Only one company in 20 years of work actually fixed a security issue I found. And no company I've ever worked for was leak proof.

In my experience, until it threatens to cost a company much more money in losses than it would cost to fix the problem, but said problem will not get fixed. That's profit motive. And often it seems they'd rather roll the dice until a loss occurs, and then (maybe) fix the issue.

I have used warranties many times, but rarely bothered to register at time of purchase. In my experience, if you go to use a warranty, they'll just ask for proof of purchase (if they ask for anything at all). I think the point of warranty registration is in case you need to use the warranty later, but you lose your receipt.

I don't know much about advertising, but paying nearly $900 for just under 700 clicks seems like a bad return on investment to me. But I guess that depends on what you're advertising, how much it costs, and how many of those clicks actually resulted in purchases.

Also not a lawyer, but as I understand it: impeachment isn't a criminal prosecution. It's a political tool to remove a president from office, regardless of reason.

Whenever a Republican is president, GOP acts like Impeachment is a murder trial, requiring proof beyond a reasonable doubt of a crime. When a Democrat is president, GOP acts like Impeachment is just a chance to undermine (and possibly even remove) a powerful political opponent.

It's the same as their view of the budget deficit/national debt. It's all performative and entirely disconnected from law or reality.

Holy crap, look at the old cell phone in the dirt, bottom middle.

I think the problem is inflation and stagnant wages. When you get paid a living wage, but a teacher is making peanuts, it feels wrong.

It's not that you are getting paid too much. It's that most people are being paid too little.

Eww! No I don't! Take it back!

Prediction: Starbucks resolves the issue by raising all "milk" product prices to match the most expensive option.

I'm here to collect.

Exactly.

This whole discussion feels like nobody watched ENT.

The Federation exists because Archer was such a fantastic mediator. Add in his rapport with T'Pol and Shran, and his willingness to die in the place of a Tellarite ambassador, and it's little wonder he was able to knit the beginnings of this alliance together.

I really got an Archer vibe from Pike in "Spock Amok" (SNW S01E05), when he dealt with the R'ongovians.

Yeah, that's pretty true.

Why would you post any possible incentive to vote for Trump?

The implication is that if Trump wins, he won't be leaving in 4 years. He won't be leaving until death. Because that's what dictators do.

Sounds like a Rick and Morty alien species.

Maybe this is the larva of the Cerritos Warp Moth, named after the ship which discovered it.

I can see the argument from a certain perspective of the language, outside of context.

But remember when this amendment was passed. Right after the Civil War.

So, they wanted an amendment to bar traitors from federal office. Then they put in a section saying Congress has to actually make laws enforcing that rule, or it does nothing. And then, they didn't make any such laws?!

So, what, they went through all the work to make a constitutional amendment, and then it does nothing?

No, they clearly felt that the rule was clear enough as it was, and section 5 is there to allow Congress to make supporting laws built upon that to help enforce that rule. But that rule should have teeth on its own.