1) Northern Europe is the closest comparison income wise to the US besides Japan which is culturally very different. I don't think it's unreasonable to aggregate these countries in comparing. There isn't going to be a perfect example, but Russia is very far from it.

Your argument about the death penalty is a null point because what you're proposing is impractical and thus not worth debating.

2) & 3) Greenland has a GDP per capita of 22K and is a highly idiosyncratic example given its population density. I think that's pretty much self evident. If Greenland is your best example I think I've proven my point.

I have no doubt that greater surveillance and enforcement will reduce crime rates. I'm not disputing that. Technology will naturally improve this through the likes of ever improving facial recognition. But I don't think a UK style CCTV policing system would be affordable given that the US is less densely populated in cities. As for enforcement, I don't think there's been a lack of money thrown in that direction. The issue, as this video points out, is more that if it was targeted at violent rather than drug offenders the overall benefit to society would be greater. There I would not disagree.

4)

Germany and the Netherlands are other examples where it has worked:

http://www.takepart.com/article/2013/11/14/some-european-prisons-are-shrinking-and-closing-what-can-america-learn

What you're proposing (visa vi death penalty) is something no democratic country has accepted (or will, I think). What I propose is at least accepted by to a large extent by many European developed countries. The US may shift eventually if it is recognised the current policies have been consistently failing.

5)

Yes there are many reasons why Venezuela is not a fair example. I think you make my point. Surveillance and enforcement are both necessary to reduce crime. Of course if you pick countries distinctly lacking in them then it supports your case.

But I'm arguing about which would be better given the baseline of current US policy. I think you would agree that both surveillance and enforcement are of a much higher standard in the US, with largely meritocratic and corruption free police forces. If that's the case then other developed countries, with roughly similar incomes and therefore tax revenues to afford comparable police force standards are a good reference. Venezuela is not.

It's not just FIFA itself who are exempt from taxes. It's also everyone associated with them, including construction, merchandising, and sponsoring, from the very second the World Cup was "awarded" to Brazil until they finally fuck off again.

No worries though. FIFA employed a very renowned expert as their chief ethics investigator, none other than Michael Garcia, who did such a crackerjack job when Lehman went belly-up.

And while we're at it, Jerome Valcke, the arrogant wanker at 5:15, is quite a piece of work himself. During his tenure as FIFA's marketing director, he ran a racket with VISA and Mastercard resulting in a penalty to the tune of $90m and was subsequently axed, only to be rehired as general fucking secretary.

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

I think there might be a few cases with debit type credit cards where your balance isn't checked immediately to validate the transaction, though I'd say these days that it must be pretty uncommon. I'm thinking of those old-fashioned imprint readers that you have to ratchet across the the card. Some taxis still use those here in Australia. Although my latest PayWave® Visa™ Debit card© doesn't even have raised numbers - so that wouldn't work.

@newtboy Chingy's initial statement was not directed at you personally, I can maybe see why you thought it might but you were mistaken. (he didn't quote or reference you at any stage)

What he was trying to say was that the issue here is not specific to Christianity (or for that matter any other religion) but rather with the mindless repetition of inherited arguments and belief systems (i.e. people not truly thinking for themselves or being able to operate outside of the box they have built for themselves).

Atheists etc. are frequently guilty of the same thing; he was simply suggesting that it's unproductive to reduce the problem to paradigm A. vs paradigm B. when in truth its the very act of limiting ones perception and consciousness to one particular paradigm that causes the problem.

In other words the Pastor is an asshat not because he is a Christian but rather because he is only capable of understanding the world via the adopted assumptions of others. A fault which can be levelled at virtually any system of understanding when practised by those who have not yet understood the entirely relativistic nature of such systems.

This is why he referred to the inevitable banter as "boring and tired". For most it becomes simply "Christianity bad atheism good" (or visa versa or whatever). The truth of the matter is far more complex and moreover is universal to all participants.


@chingalera You are far too clever for your own good sometimes! I'd say something about "staring unto the abyss..." but I know full well you already understand this inescapable compromise when "fighting monsters".

Tread softly though brother, even the best of us are always a mere stumble from falling back unto the darkness we seek to banish...

He calls the H-1B visa the genius visa, but that would better describe the O-1 visa.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O-1_visa

Spiegel now reports of an NSA branch called "Follow The Money".

Guess what they do...

Yap, they collect information about international money flows and feed them into their aptly named database "TracFin". 84% is said to be credit card related data, though VISA again claims to know fuck all about it.

TracFin also includes everything they extract from SWIFT, which was something we predicted during our protests against the program in 2009. They publicly shamed our movement as being driving by paranoia, yet here we are. Again. Strictly enforced data privacy... my ass.

The rationale for Assad in using chemical weapons is a group punishment of sorts for aiding the rebels. The conflict has been locked in back and forth territorial plays between Assad and the rebels. Dumping chemical weapons in a contested zone is a powerful psychological disincentive to the local civilian population in aiding the rebels.

Comparing this to Iraq '03 is misguided. Obama has shown no evidence of being a neoconservative, politically any serious involvement would be hugely damaging. There's good evidence to suggest that once Assad goes, there would be a civil war between the rebels for control. From there the rebels who come to power will likely be Islamic fundamentalists.

Besides, with fracking and CSG, the US is in a vastly different situation visa vi oil and gas, and either way Syria is hardly an oil slick. There's really little reason to get involved besides humanitarian reasons to act as disincentive to future dictators, at this point and I think it's disingenuous to suggest otherwise.

@Buck

The opposition to Assad is ragtag of mostly the local Sunni majority as the local Christians, Druze and Alawites have generally aligned themselves with Assad. They have little to nothing to do with the Muslim Brotherhood.

The reporting I have read is saying the strongest insurgents who are doing the weight of the fighting are generally fundamentalist Islamists, they also seem to be receiving the bulk of the funding from Saudi Arabia and Qatar unofficial groups who are sponsoring them.

The US is giving arms to purportedly moderate groups through the Supreme Military Council and Syrian Opposition Coalition political organisations, however it is not clear how extensive this program is.

@Kofi / @Yogi

I agree with what you are both saying. I'm sure you guys are aware of the origins of Al Qaeda both in the context of (1) their Mujahideen origins in Afghanistan propped up by the US against their Soviets and (2) their inception during the radicalisation of the Muslim Brotherhood movement in Egypt through the government's imprisonment and torture campaign while supported by the US.

However, by the time of 9/11, I'd argue Al Qaeda was long detached from any of its original goals (partly as a result of US actions that radicalised them) and had lost its idealism and was an organisation seeking power and global recognition.

That's also why I think the situation visa vi the US/Middle East has destabilised to a point that even were the US to withdraw from its military bases, propping up of dictators and disentangle itself from Israel then Al Qaeda would still target the US simply because those actions have replaced its initial aims and have become its raison d'etre.

That's not to say the US shouldn't get out of the Middle East because continued presence in this way is creating more groups that grow from local conflicts to global war with the US but I'm more saying, that it would be naive to expect organisations such as Al Qaeda to dissapear were the US to do this. Their existence is predicated on opposition to the US and were the US to disengage, they would simply manufacture reasons to continue their own global jihad. It's a bit of a Catch 22, damned if you do, damned if you don't at this point.

Would you consider taking Bitcoin? I'd be happy to pitch in, but I prefer to avoid using VISA, Mastercard, Paypal and co, who haven't exactly been standing up for free speech lately.

Y2K.. I was busy in Finland during fall 1999, hoping to get my fiancee visa and fly to the US before Y2K hit. Just in case all airplanes would stop working and so on.. Luckily I got the visa on time and arrived to the States already in late November 1999.

The world didn't end, planes were still flying at 2000, and I got to marry the love of my life! Not bad for a doomsday scare!

Yeah to this day I like a lot of that stuff, Shellac, Big Black, Rapeman, Scratch Acid, Jesus Lizard - etc etc, good stuff. US Maple always reminded me of Captain Beefheart put through a Sonic Youth filter... or visa versa.

Twas fake - my currency (gbp) was the wrong size compared to the rest. Nice viral for Visa apart from the obvious cgi on the rose at the end.

>> ^Sagemind:

The rule is one of several strict guidelines set by organisers to protect the exclusivity rights of sponsors such as Coca-Cola, Visa and McDonald’s and prevents ambush stunts from rival non-sponsors. It means that athletes are prevented from endorsing their individual sponsors throughout the event.
Athletes found in breach of the laws could be fined and disqualified from the Games, although this has never happened.
http://www.marketingweek.co.uk/news/olympians-hit-
back-over-sponsor-ban-rule/4003014.article


Seems like the UN is bigger than the IOC. Couldn't we just tell them "Fuck you we're not putting up with your shit!." I mean it's not like they have an army or anything, and I'm really sick of corporations ruling everyone.

I'm also sick of the Olympics not being about Amateurs anymore...it should be 100% non-professionals!

The rule is one of several strict guidelines set by organisers to protect the exclusivity rights of sponsors such as Coca-Cola, Visa and McDonald’s and prevents ambush stunts from rival non-sponsors. It means that athletes are prevented from endorsing their individual sponsors throughout the event.

Athletes found in breach of the laws could be fined and disqualified from the Games, although this has never happened.
http://www.marketingweek.co.uk/news/olympians-hit-back-over-sponsor-ban-rule/4003014.article

>> ^brycewi19:

How the hell did he get visas to get to places like Pyongyang, Kabul, Syria, and Iraq?


Answered in his FAQs:

How did you get into North Korea?
I Googled it. Koryo Tours out of Beijing. They'd be perfectly happy to take you there as well, as long as you're not a journalist. Travelers are actually reasonably welcome in North Korea.