@newtboy
i like the 'failing liver" analogy.
appropriate and easily understood.

and i can understand where milkmandan is coming from,but my perspective is more aligned with yours newt.

what consistently baffles me,is how so many people are willing to simply accept this short term strategy from our politicians.

there is no surprise when corporations push for this,they are just focusing on their own interests and bottom line,which is short term profit.

or the politicians who bow to their neoliberal masters to receive those tasty campaign contributions.

or even the banks,who again focus on their short term gains.

these players are all behaving as they always have:for their own self interest.so there should be no shock or surprise when they act exactly as they have always acted.

but when i see everyday,normal people defend the behavior and actions of oliticians,financial institutions and multi-national corporations.it baffles me as to why they would choose to do such a thing.

we can understand why those players seek to retain a system which benefits them,their shareholders and their bottom line,but that system no longer serves the interests of the people,community and society as a whole.

so why make arguments defending it?

it is,quite frankly,killing us slowly as a species.

look at germany.
that country has slowly been recruiting,educating and now poised to corner the market in:new energy,renewable energy and are leading the world in breakthrough technologies in all energy fields.

germany has long played the long game.
they now dominate the entire EU in finance,and are now focusing on dominating the globe with new energy technology.

and what are we doing here in america?
pushing through more and more neoliberal policies that immiserate the working poor,both here and abroad.desperately continuing our destruction of entire ecosystems to exploit our natural resources for:oil and gas.military conflicts,which only make this country less safe,all to exploit other nations and extract THEIR oil and gas,and the cost in human lives is absolutely indefensible.

all of it.
every single bit of it for short term gains for an extremely small minority.

and here we are,with trump opening the flood gates to further exploit and destroy our natural resources with no thought or plan for the future.no investment in our communities,nor our society as a whole.

and for those who wish to make an argument that hillary would be better.i will only concede that on a domestic level this may have been true,but hillary is a neoliberal corporatist,and she would have pushed for even MORE military intervention in the middle east.MORE sanctions against countries unwilling to play ball,in order to politically squeeze them out,and even MORE of this countries policy of "regime change" to exploit and extract from those countries their precious resources.

i strongly suspect Iran would have been next on her agenda.

so when are some of these people going to step up,and realize that both trump AND clinton are (or would have been) disasterous for us as a community,a nation and as a species?

because they both only offer short term solutions to long term problems.and those short term solutions only benefit a minority of the population.

we could turn this ship around TODAY,right now,if we so choose.
we need more politicians like elizabeth warren and tulsi gabbard.we need more integrity in our media and journalists willing to do their job and criticize power,not bow to it just for access.we need the people to become engaged and confront their representatives,and make them uncomfortable,not treat them as celebrities.

and we need to reject the system where rich people choose who we get to vote for,and begin to dismantle this two party duopoly.

because trump vs hillary?
this election cycle has just revealed that both these candidates are not the disease,but rather the symptom of a very broken,and dysfunctional political system.

we need to begin to invest in the future.
and reject the status quo as no longer being viable for the continued existence of the human species.

and with the newly energized american public,who are growing in numbers daily,and is a direct response to the unmitigated disaster that is trump.there may be hope for us yet.

because if we stay on this trajectory,we are fucking doomed.

how did this thread steer into climate change waters?
heh...god i love this site,and i love all you fuckers as well!

i don't really understand the rehashing of the election,trump is president.it is a done deal.

which is probably why i am struggling with the hillary diehards.politics is not a binary equation,so stop acting like it IS,and for the love of god stop with the condescension directed at people who did not vote YOUR way.ya'all are acting like we are your wayward dog who just took a giant dump on your carpet.

just LOOK at what you have done! LOOK at it! bad dog..baaaad dog.

@Stormsinger and @MilkmanDan were kind enough to share who they voted for,but they should not be put in a position to defend their vote.their vote,their choice and their right.

you may disagree,and that is fine,but to place all the blame on them,and their "like-minded compatriots" is arrogant,presumptuous and condescending.the reason hillary lost is not simply due to a few small holdouts.there are a myriad of reasons,and in my opinion,hillary should take most of the blame.

and what is this purity test @bareboards2 ?
do you mean a person standing by their principles?
remaining steadfast in their moral values?
showing us all that they would rather lose,than give up one ounce of integrity?

are you seriously criticizing people for holding to their own standards of morality and decency?

politics is not binary,there a many mitigating factors and political affilliation is only one aspect.

i have seen friends who voted for trump,and were extremely vocal about their support in the run up to election day,only to become eerily silent the further we got into trumps presidency.many of these people had voted for obama..TWICE..they wanted change.were desperate for change,and now they are finding out,that change may not be what they were expecting.

because the trump presidency is going to one helluva horror show,but there are also positives to consider.it is not a total loss.

i have the seen the very same people who have ridiculed and berated fundamentalist christians for being ideologically rigid,and philosophically immovable.turn around and express the exact same rigidity,and binary thought processes when it comes to their girl hillary clinton.

i was talking the other day with a man i highly respect and admire,who flippantly and casually called me a racist.
my crime?
i had the audacity to criticize obama.
which he doubled down and accused me of being sexist for not supporting hillary,and being critical of her as well.

how is this NOT ideological rigidity?
that to critically examine two prominent public figures automatically equates to:racism and sexism.

this is the metric that i see so many hillary supporters use when dealing with someone that they may disagree.this is a cheap,ill thought and ultimately WEAK counter to valid criticisms.

at what point do hillary supporters stop labeling other people the most vile of terms,simply because they did not step into line with THEIR thinking,and begin to examine the very REAL problems that both the hillary campaign,and the DNC,created for themselves?

or is everybody simply a racist and sexist?
that's it..no discussion.

this is akin to the fundamentalist christian labeling anybody who disagrees with their religion,or has brought up solid criticisms,as being an agent of satan.

" i do not like what you are saying about hillary,so therefore you must be a sexist".

the easiest,and most human,thing we do when faced with information and/or criticism that is in direct opposition to our long held beliefs.is to demonize the person making those claims,and therefore silence any further disruption to our own subjective belief system.

so when i talk about "insulated bubbles",and "echo chambers".that right there is what i am referring to,and it is dangerous.

i refuse to judge anybody on how they voted.they had their reasons,and i may even disagree with those reasons,but they have a right to their vote and who am i to judge them?

rehashing the election,or assigning blame based on ideological differences,accomplishes nothing.the REAL work starts now.trump is in office,and he is gearing up to be an unmitigated disaster.

so get involved.head to your next town hall meeting and speak your piece.start to connect with the political movements in your area and start to put pressure on your local representative.

i think we can all agree that trump is awful on so many levels,but to witness the american people become so politically engaged,so politically active,more active than they have been in decades.it really is inspiring,and all this is due to trump.

if hillary had won,would we see the same kind of newly energized,and politically active public?

i don't think so.

so let us stop with the rehashing.
stop with the blaming.
and get off our asses,step outside our own little,insulated echo chamber and start to engage.

don't know how to step outside your own bubble?
there is an app for that:
https://videosift.com/video/it-is-time-to-pop-your-social-media-echo-chamber-bubble

*oh,and even though i may have alluded to who i voted for.let me state clearly that i voted for hillary.i stick by my dislike of the "lesser of two evils" but come on...trump in the white house?

yeeesh....

Comment hidden because you are ignoring dag. (show it anyway)

It's THE problem of content on the Internet and it hasn't been figured out yet. As you can rightly guess - VideoSift has a hand in this too - as advertising pays the server bills.

I don't know what the answer will be. Nobody likes ads really. The experience of watching TV commercial free, or Netflix spoils you for ever watching standard broadcast or cable TV.

I don't know what the answer is - I suspect it will be some kind of tightly integrated weaving of content and advertising, like product placement.

I ran with an airsoft P90 for years as my primary and an MP7 as my secondary. The integrated reflex sight isn't great, so the first thing you usually do is pull it out and replace it with a triple rail (left, right, top) module. Also, reloads in combat are tricky: you want to keep the weapon aimed and sighted but you have to lean your head way back to pull the magazine out and slap a fresh one in.

Such a cool weapon though!

I'm right there with you...I've never been on FB, twitter, myspace, or any other social site unless you count the sift.

I do get your point about it being integral to the success of movements like the Arab Spring, and I can support using social media for that kind of organization, I just think that's the exception rather than the norm.

I took this as a jab at people who think retweeting IS action, not the precursor TO action. They seem to be a majority today, a statement I base on little more than third hand experience and biased reports.

*quality system that's an integral part of the robotic farming *future .

@robdot
trying to unpack your comment.

"spent the entire election cycle ranting about hillary"

what the holy fuck are you blathering about?

the entire election cycle liberals fell asleep at the wheel,and tacitly bought the bullshit pie that:paid political pundits,pollsters and supposed "informed political journalists" were selling.

hillary is going to win,the polls reveal that hillary will beat trump handily.don't worry liberal democrats,hillary is going to win.do not pay attention to hillary's abysmal numbers,because trumps are just as horrid.

and just WHAT was hillary's platform?
what was her political messaging and vision for america's future?

"well,my fellow americans,at least i am not THAT guy".
that was it,that pathetic,weak and facile position,WAS her campaign!

if this is what you are referencing,then yes..i agree..the democrats fucking dropped the ball.they had no message,no platform,no vision.

the democrats lost a massively energized younger population when they openly,and brazenly,fucked over sanders,because sanders threatened the DNC and the democrats corporate money train,and we can't have a politician who has shown integrity,morals and vision now can we?

hillary on the other hand,had already proven to be a willing participant in the corporate train.you know..speak one way to the people,but another way behind closed doors..wink-wink-nudge nudge-know-what-i-mean.

if this is what you are talking about,then yes,i agree,liberal democrats need to take a big,giant bite out of that shit sandwich and stop behaving like they are fucking victims.

hahaha...this is what happens when you try to flirt with ideologues.
they will adore you,shower you with praise and attention.
until you become a liability,and then you are treated like a mangy dog covered in herpes.

milo is smart,very smart,and i hope he can rebound from this but in a more positive and less....character driven way...i think he has something to say,but maybe this time don't play to the ugly underside of politics.

if he can re-invent himself with a genuine and honest approach.i think he can be a force to be reckoned with,but just stop with the prostituting his integrity to appeal to most base,and ugly tribalism that dominates republican thinking.

@Janus
you are not alone,many here on the sift tend to lean in your direction,however,i find this to be misplaced skepticism.

when it comes to russian internal policies,and actions abroad i tend to agree with the assertion that RT leans towards russian state "message of the day".similar to how CNN,MSNBC and FOX play that game.

but when it comes to being critical of the USA,and considering just who chris hedges is as a journalist and writer.i find the criticism un-warranted.

that is just my opinion,you are free to disagree of course.

though i would like to point out that many media outlets that have produced fantastic content,with exceptional journalists,are under siege.TeLeSUR and aljazeera english are in the crapper due to funding,and small,independent outlets are also struggling to compete with the megalithic corporate media to bring critical analysis in these dangerous times.

so while i agree that a venue such as RT should be approached with a modicum of skepticism,i also feel very strongly that we should not throw the baby out with the bath water.

chris hedges has been a extremely vocal critic of power,corruption and the devastating affects of neoliberalism.pulitzer prize winning author and journalist.

so while this may be on on RT,it is chris hedges that has credit with me.he has proven to be a man of integrity.

@MilkmanDan
Well, I believe words will never hurt me (unless I let them).

My parents both work for Stanford, and there, and at many other decent colleges, being exposed to new ideas and people is certainly an integral part of the educational experience. That doesn't mean you have to become a SJW, it means you learn how to discuss topics with those you disagree with, not just live in an echo chamber.

I think many today are so sheltered and deep in a bubble that they do make it to colleges having never had their beliefs challenged in any meaningful way. That they can graduate with the same flaws is horrendous, IMO.

It doesn't make a difference to your ability to make a statement per se, but speaking to a friend of mine who is a physicist his answers are somewhat different. He's suggested that reading more about it will make it more confusing and that we are invariably wrong and don't know shit. I happen to agree with him. That's not to say one shouldn't attempt to gain as much knowledge as possible, but that it's not always as easy as "go read a text book and it should be nice and clear", because reading it should hopefully generate more questions than it answers. Hopefully I've worded that so it makes sense.

Anyway, the sum of human knowledge is dynamic steaming pile of shit. Yes, it's gotten us a long way. But we're still like dung beetles tending to it and it will be a long time until we can transform it into something close to the truth.

Maybe when we can integrate AIs into us we'll accelerate things a little.

/giggle

To add some extra context, the 1 in 20 reply was after an Australian minister in the current government said we were wrong to support Lebanese immigration back in the 70's because of 27 some odds 'accused of terrorist support' types in modern Australia. Someone fired back the 1 in 20 statistic to poke holes in what has been a generally good thing for Australia, ie. integration of other cultures.

The rhetoric from the minister dried up pretty fast, because the figures were so awfully unbalanced that no sane person could try to continue to make the point without making a complete fool of themselves. Trump obviously doesn't have that problem (well, doesn't seem to care if he does make a bigger horses ass of himself).

On the Citicorp Center:

http://99percentinvisible.org/episode/structural-integrity/

Interesting story.

Donald Trump is whatever he needs to be to get your approval right now. He's not a man of conviction who can be relied upon to stand by his beliefs. He's an adolescent with a twitter account who needs more followers to prop up his ego. He's a thin skinned, vindictive narcissist who cares more about the appearance of popularity than committing to the hard work required to earn true respect. He's a child in the middle of the room who's suddenly realized everyone's paying attention to him, so he hams it up and makes silly faces to hold the attention. His relentless need for praise and zero integrity allowed him to shape-shift into anything that would get the highest ratings. He is whatever the desperate and disenfranchised wanted him to be, so they voted for him. But he still only cares about the cheering section, even if he has to bring his own with him. So he will never do what's hard to fulfill his promise. He'll put up the facade, sign the papers in front of the cameras, bask in the glory, move on and blame someone else when he fails to follow through. There are people who need what he promised and I feel sorry for them that the only one saying what they needed to hear was a sad little man who's universe does not extend beyond his own ego. He will self destruct, because he always does.

just a totally expected and easily anticipated reaction to trumps inauguration.

the very people whose paycheck relies on partisan politics are putting on a show.

/golfclap

so when obama won,we saw white,lower income americans lose their shit..riot on the streets,and openly bemoan the end of american exceptionalism.

we saw republican mouthpieces and commentators somberly criticize obamas inauguration speech.like someone had just taken their last cookie.

and what did those giants of intellect,and power-houses of political analysis focus on over the next few months?

birth certificates.
kenyian born.
muslim.
richard wright.

they were not really making accusations,they were just asking.
juuuust asking questions.nothing wrong with that right?

so during the obama years,the political pundit class made issues of the most inane..and quite frankly..stupid of all things to focus on,and IGNORED the very real problems that obama deserved actual criticism for.

so all we are seeing here,is the political pundit class doing the exact same thing.

i have called trump "americas greatest used car salesmen" and "the best internet troll",but now that i am reading david cay johnstons "the making of donald trump",it appears i was being kind.

trump is far more despicable,grotesque and venal than i ever could have imagined.

but for this pundits to take such an easy,and lazy tact to create drama where there is none...just reveals just how far they will go to subvert their own integrity.

hitler references?
dude...that is lazy.