They've taken your guns, So you have 40x fewer gun deaths per head than the US'
Last time I looked, being alive was a good thing.
they control your healthcare, So at least you have some healthcare and you don't risk being bankrupted if the ambulance takes you to the wrong hospital.
Last time I looked being alive and not bankrupt was a good thing.
they control your money with taxes
Well they have to pay for the healthcare somehow - and it works out 2x cheaper than the US version.
and austerity measures.
OK you got me there - but then I didn't vote for this government - and this last point is their unique contribution.
It goes further than this - what we have is totalitarianism pressed into service to defend a politically correct "moderate middle ground" in which everyone is equally nice, and in which Islamic terrorism has nothing to do with Islam.
When the line you are trying to push is so logically inconsistent then you cannot defend it by argument and you have to resort to this kind of totalitarian nonsense.
And by the way - the totalitarianism wasn't at all lacking - remember the Guildford 4 and the Birmingham 6.
Remember also the republican spokesmen having their words "voiced by an actor" to get round the ban on them speaking on the media - note that that particular limitation on speech has not been applied to muslims - although those who oppose them more honestly than the UK government dares to do have been prevented from speaking in the UK.
Re: Re: "I know, let's give them even /more/ reasons to hate us!"
I know what you mean and I think I know your good intentions in writing a comment like this, but I dislike this argument. For the would-be extremist, it seems pretty clear that little in the way of true terrestrial grievance or geopolitical factors need be applied. After all, there are oppressed peoples the world over, and not all of them react in identical fashions.
Very true, however, although it is unlikely that it will cause anyone to hate us more - it certainly gives their apologists excuses for anything bad they might do - and that is not a good idea.
Ah - you misunderstand the propaganda. This is not Russian propaganda about Russian militiary success - rather it is Russian propaganda that they have now closed the so called "Graphics Gap"*
* When Reagan's SDI (often known as star wars) was being promoted many people noted that the promotional videos demonstrated US superiority in Computer Graphics - if not in actual military hardware.
I'm not denying that it 's done, I'm not even denying that it's quite common,I'm not even denying that has become standard practice in some places from time to time. However I am denying that it is the norm.
The problem with most of the examples that you give is that we know about them because they are newsworthy - and by definition that implies that they are unusual and therefore not the norm.
(I do however think that the US practice of plea bargaining is a terrible incentive for bad behaviour by interrogators and I'm happy that we don't have it here in the UK to anything like the same extent)
That this is common practice and is not just the methods of a few bad players has been the subject of a number of reports already.
Can you provide links for this?
Ahmed Muhammed (the clock kid) was isolated from parents and legal council for hours while his principal and local officers tried to wring from him a confession.
Again - a one off case - hence we know about it - and indicative of how things go wrong when people who are not properly trained for this type of work (although perhaps they should have been) go over the top on the basis of what they have seen on TV.
The incident is exemplary of how we regard people who look like terrorists (as we imagine them to be) as less than people
That is a spin that has been put on the incident by people who are tryng to reinforce a certain political line. The facts don't actually support that aspect of the incident in this case. Given the stupid, over the top, "zero tolerance" approach adopted by some schools I am pretty sure that exactly the same thing would have happened to any pupil, regardless of race, or religious implications of the sound of his name.
Having said that, I do agree with you about the "enemy combatants" thing - it was appalling - but this incident is completely unrelated to it.
fact that Law Enforcement's been beating people up to squeal for centuries now, Well actually, in general, in the real world as opposed to tv/film, they don't do that because it doesn't work - and even if it does it is unlikely that the evidence would be usable in court.
The possibility of secure encryption exists within mathematical logic and ways to achieve it are in the public domain.
Any terrorist organisation capable of being a serious threat has to be presumed to be capable of making use of secure encryption - regardless of whether it is in fact built in to commonly used systems.
Any terrorist or organisation that is not capable of creating its own version of well know secure encryption algorithms and hence only uses the most common public platforms will certainly make enough mistakes to be caught anyway - even if those platforms are secure - (or not be capable of any real threat),
It follows that these protestations from the FBI etc are not really about anything other than budget and feelings of importance/control. With the added bonus of being able to spy on your enemies (in the political sense of the word)
As if small commercially available drones (AKA rc model aircraft) which have no practical offensive purpose and where the worst typical accident is something like this is even remotely comparable to guns - the main purpose of which is to injure or kill, where over 10,000 are killed one way or another each year in the US - including typically 100 children under the age of 15.
I used to listen to music, but these days it just takes too long, so now I just listen to a randomly chosen 5-second clip before moving on to the next song, and the next randomly chosen clip.
You may think it's a joke but I know people who do exactly that with Youtube music videos, TV channels etc.
On the post: UK Goes Full Orwell: Government To Take Children Away From Parents If They Might Become Radicalized
Re: Re: Has anyone in the Family Services see "A Man for all Seasons"?
Margaret More: Father, that man's bad.
Sir Thomas More: There's no law against that.
William Roper: There is: God's law.
Sir Thomas More: Then God can arrest him.
On the post: UK Goes Full Orwell: Government To Take Children Away From Parents If They Might Become Radicalized
Re:
So you have 40x fewer gun deaths per head than the US'
Last time I looked, being alive was a good thing.
they control your healthcare,
So at least you have some healthcare and you don't risk being bankrupted if the ambulance takes you to the wrong hospital.
Last time I looked being alive and not bankrupt was a good thing.
they control your money with taxes
Well they have to pay for the healthcare somehow - and it works out 2x cheaper than the US version.
and austerity measures.
OK you got me there - but then I didn't vote for this government - and this last point is their unique contribution.
On the post: UK Goes Full Orwell: Government To Take Children Away From Parents If They Might Become Radicalized
Re: Has anyone in the Family Services see "A Man for all Seasons"?
Applies again here though.
On the post: UK Goes Full Orwell: Government To Take Children Away From Parents If They Might Become Radicalized
Re:
When the line you are trying to push is so logically inconsistent then you cannot defend it by argument and you have to resort to this kind of totalitarian nonsense.
On the post: UK Goes Full Orwell: Government To Take Children Away From Parents If They Might Become Radicalized
Re: Re: racism
Remember also the republican spokesmen having their words "voiced by an actor" to get round the ban on them speaking on the media - note that that particular limitation on speech has not been applied to muslims - although those who oppose them more honestly than the UK government dares to do have been prevented from speaking in the UK.
On the post: UK Goes Full Orwell: Government To Take Children Away From Parents If They Might Become Radicalized
Re: racism
No - the real difference was that the Irish terrorists were supported by major US politicians
On the post: UK Goes Full Orwell: Government To Take Children Away From Parents If They Might Become Radicalized
Re: Re: "I know, let's give them even /more/ reasons to hate us!"
Very true, however, although it is unlikely that it will cause anyone to hate us more - it certainly gives their apologists excuses for anything bad they might do - and that is not a good idea.
On the post: Reports: Department Of Transportation To Require All Drones Be Registered
Re: There are just too many things wrong with this law
Gliders can fly - and most RC models have come without motor until very recently.
On the post: Reports: Department Of Transportation To Require All Drones Be Registered
Re: Re: They're banning our ... drones
If a drone is a weapon - then it is covered by the constitutional right - if it is not a weapon then why are you bothering to register it?
On the post: Larry Lessig Dumps His Promise To Resign The Presidency In An Attempt To Get People To Take His Campaign Seriously
Re: Shocker - NOT!
Uh - you mean the extreme right / ultra extreme right polarisation of US politics - at lest thats how it looks from Europe.
On the post: Latest FBI Terrorist Bust Shows A Future So 'Dark' Some Eye Protection Might Be Warranted
Re:
See , it works!*
(Just like the elephant repellant I bought a couple of years ago.)
On the post: Egyptian TV News Uses Video Game Footage As Proof Of Russian Precision Strikes Against ISIL
Graphics Gap
Ah - you misunderstand the propaganda. This is not Russian propaganda about Russian militiary success - rather it is Russian propaganda that they have now closed the so called "Graphics Gap"*
* When Reagan's SDI (often known as star wars) was being promoted many people noted that the promotional videos demonstrated US superiority in Computer Graphics - if not in actual military hardware.
On the post: Latest FBI Terrorist Bust Shows A Future So 'Dark' Some Eye Protection Might Be Warranted
Re: Unlawful Enemy Combatants
The problem with most of the examples that you give is that we know about them because they are newsworthy - and by definition that implies that they are unusual and therefore not the norm.
(I do however think that the US practice of plea bargaining is a terrible incentive for bad behaviour by interrogators and I'm happy that we don't have it here in the UK to anything like the same extent)
That this is common practice and is not just the methods of a few bad players has been the subject of a number of reports already.
Can you provide links for this?
Ahmed Muhammed (the clock kid) was isolated from parents and legal council for hours while his principal and local officers tried to wring from him a confession.
Again - a one off case - hence we know about it - and indicative of how things go wrong when people who are not properly trained for this type of work (although perhaps they should have been) go over the top on the basis of what they have seen on TV.
The incident is exemplary of how we regard people who look like terrorists (as we imagine them to be) as less than people
That is a spin that has been put on the incident by people who are tryng to reinforce a certain political line. The facts don't actually support that aspect of the incident in this case. Given the stupid, over the top, "zero tolerance" approach adopted by some schools I am pretty sure that exactly the same thing would have happened to any pupil, regardless of race, or religious implications of the sound of his name.
Having said that, I do agree with you about the "enemy combatants" thing - it was appalling - but this incident is completely unrelated to it.
On the post: Latest FBI Terrorist Bust Shows A Future So 'Dark' Some Eye Protection Might Be Warranted
Re: Re: Re: Torture?
http://www.rense.com/general95/clever.html
On the post: Latest FBI Terrorist Bust Shows A Future So 'Dark' Some Eye Protection Might Be Warranted
Re: Re: Torture?
Well actually, in general, in the real world as opposed to tv/film, they don't do that because it doesn't work - and even if it does it is unlikely that the evidence would be usable in court.
This has been well known in British Intelligence since at least WW2 (http://www.rense.com/general95/clever.html) - and in Britain this is now reinforced by the recording of all interviews for around 40 years. As regards the US - I offer the second half of this well known youtube video: "Don't talk to the Police" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wXkI4t7nuc
and this link http://www.cbsnews.com/news/secret-wwii-camp-interrogators-say-torture-wasnt-needed/
Even the Nazis knew better than to use torture:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanns_Scharff
On the post: Latest FBI Terrorist Bust Shows A Future So 'Dark' Some Eye Protection Might Be Warranted
Torture?
Sounds awfully like you are advocating torture there - I hope your didn't mean it.
On the post: Latest FBI Terrorist Bust Shows A Future So 'Dark' Some Eye Protection Might Be Warranted
The elephant
The possibility of secure encryption exists within mathematical logic and ways to achieve it are in the public domain.
Any terrorist organisation capable of being a serious threat has to be presumed to be capable of making use of secure encryption - regardless of whether it is in fact built in to commonly used systems.
Any terrorist or organisation that is not capable of creating its own version of well know secure encryption algorithms and hence only uses the most common public platforms will certainly make enough mistakes to be caught anyway - even if those platforms are secure - (or not be capable of any real threat),
It follows that these protestations from the FBI etc are not really about anything other than budget and feelings of importance/control. With the added bonus of being able to spy on your enemies (in the political sense of the word)
On the post: Reports: Department Of Transportation To Require All Drones Be Registered
Re: Ok its registered now what?
(Of course these guys are competant loonies who know what they are doing!)
On the post: Reports: Department Of Transportation To Require All Drones Be Registered
Re: They're banning our ... drones
As if small commercially available drones (AKA rc model aircraft) which have no practical offensive purpose and where the worst typical accident is something like this is even remotely comparable to guns - the main purpose of which is to injure or kill, where over 10,000 are killed one way or another each year in the US - including typically 100 children under the age of 15.
On the post: Funniest/Most Insightful Comments Of The Week At Techdirt
You may think it's a joke but
You may think it's a joke but I know people who do exactly that with Youtube music videos, TV channels etc.
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