Comments by "Mat Broomfield" (@matbroomfield) on "The Real News Network" channel.

  1. I don't understand; how can you be a non-profit and yet be accumulating hundreds of millions in your bank accounts?
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  2. Just one more reason NEVER to trust the police. They truly are the enemy.
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  3. Of COURSE they do. The criminal fraternity always protects its own because they know that any of THEM could be next.
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  4. How do you prevent discrimination by discriminating? Affirmative action has always been a dreadful idea. It penalises the weakest non-diverse students in order to give opportunities to students who did merit them. Not only that but it undermines the achievements of blacks and women who achieved college entry without the hand ups. Do women REALLY need affirmative action given that they enter college and achieve higher results across the board? Giving people things they didn't earn is often a bad idea,. If you want to help minorities, ensure that all public high schools receive the same funding. Ensure that poor people are provided affordable access to education.
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  5. Says the man sitting on a solid gold throne...
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  6. I would LOVE to see the USA financially devastated.
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  7. All this misery just to make their short lives a little more comfortable. Repugnant. Makes me glad not to walk amongst the halls of power or wealth.
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  8. Zero democratic instinct in the Dems which is why they never fix gerrymandering when they're in power. They're as corrupt as the GOP.
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  9. Netenyahu should be on trial alongside him, along with the Americans who have enabled and legitimised him.
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  10. Concerned by this luddite knee jerk fear, but I can also see the dangers, much like letting an autonomous self learning AI loose on the internet. My greatest ethical concern is that these kids cannot consent to having their genes permanently altered.
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  11. American and UK politics is rotten to the core. These people all need putting against a wall and executing for crimes against humanity.
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  12. Sounds like the plot of Assault on Precinct 13. And what a surprise, even when he's a cop, the black man is the one getting killed by police.
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  13. The DNC are PERPETRATORS of a cybercrime, as well as real world crimes. And now THEY want to cry foul?! Nice try muddying the waters - fooling no-one. You should ALL be in prison for stealing democracy.
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  14. Trump's pathetic desire to get even with anyone who has ever sleighted him is the sign of a diseased mind. He needs to be taken out before he ruins the planet. More than he has already.
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  15. Yay equality!
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  16. Typical, so these companies are literally murdering the planet, and we actually have to pay to help them do it?!
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  17. Still doesn't make up for Obama's weakness on Guantomo. And Snowden IS the "the good whistleblower". He gave up a life of comfort, ease and happiness to bring to the public, info about abuses, wheras Manning was a disgruntled soldier who was lashing out in revenge for the way that he was treated. Absolutely no comparison.
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  18. Tulsi is a real class act.
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  19. Trump is part of the problem. Do you really think that a man who has spent his life exploiting the working class will jump in now and save you?
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  20. Did you watch the video?
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  21.  @therealnews  Yes, it's like the president supposedly being immune from prosecution. If you MAKE the rules, such that you are immune from BREAKING them, how can people ever see justice? America needs a national set of rules that have precedence over any local rules but they're afraid of the police's collective power. Like the unions, they need to have their power broken, and now in the aftermath of the pandemic when jobs are short is the perfect opportunity.
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  22. Don't object. You'll be portrayed as anti-semetic.
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  23.  @Perurikun  If Merkel was anything to go by, I'd say not.
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  24. A mistake? The kid killed his parents and a whole bunch of classmates. It was totally premeditated. He should be put away and they should throw away the key.
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  25. America needs to pull its fucking neck in and attend to its own corrupt "democracy" rather than interfering with nations that are not a threat to it.
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  26. Immigration should be decided on 2 questions: "Is this person safe?" and "Will this person add economic value to the nation?". If the answer is no to either, then they should be denied entry. On some occasions, the second question can be replaced by "Is this person in need of a safe harbour?" The irony is, America's population will soon start falling, and then they'll be desperate for immigrants to maintain their warmongering economy. I hope by then that they will have harmed their reputation so badly that the world gives them the middle finger.
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  27. If the Central Park 5 were innocent, why were they imprisoned? Because investigations are not the same as guilt.
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  28. Kelly has sold out. So much for him being an honourable man.
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  29.  @tedkoppel4199  I never suggested that the staff should not be compensated for their time - even charity workers get paid - but if they have millions in thebank then they are clearly accumulating profit.
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  30. These tactics should disqualify the company or any affiliates/derivatives from operating in the state for 25 years.
    6
  31. Rebellion? Political dissent you mean? Authoritarianism is on the rise across the globe, and surprise surprise to see Germany involved. Guess you can virtue signal all you like on immigration, but you just can't take the fascist out of their nature, whether it's controlling European finance, trade or now, interfering in the politics of other nations. Very torn on the Catalonia issue. I respect people's rights to self-determination - I voted for Brexit for exactly that reason - but where does it end? If Catalonia got independence, can South Catalonia break away from the rest, then an individual district, until the nation is nothing but ungoverned streets or towns? I have no answers, but it seems to me that communities need a certain population mass to be self governing.
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  32. Absolutely NOBODY believed universities operated on meritocracy. If you could have the "privilege" of claiming to have attended one of the most prestigious ACADEMIC establishments on the planet (along with the employment benefits that confers) simply because you were good at fucking _rowing_(!) then the whole system was always a farce.
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  33. I think black athletes deserve no more and no less special treatment than any others at the games. This is the one arena where the only thing that counts is one's capabilities, but now people want to inject race into this?! I respect a black athlete precisely the same as a white athlete, but if blacks start to turn every competition into a political rally then they will rightly find themselves excluded.
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  34. America's support of Israel will go down as one of the great injustices in history. Still American society is falling apart, so hopefully it will crumble and leave Israel without allies, then it can face the consequences of its ceaseless provocation and torment of the Palestinians. Personally, I'd turn the whole holy lands into a giant sewer so nobody wants it, but that's just me.
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  35.  Bob Jones  "Most cops are criminals." or criminal enablers.
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  36. In a civilised country, electricvity, let alone water, would NEVER be shut off. But then the USA is a repugnant banana republic run by vermin, and with clowns for voters.
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  37. I'd like to see millions of Americans exposed to a meteorite.
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  38. You cannot legislate bigotry away. It only festers. If freedom of speech means anything, it means the right to hold unpopular, ignorant opinions.
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  39. It wasn't journalism, it was political activism.
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  40. There's not a nation on earth that should trust the USA, not even its allies. Any nation that insecure, that militaristic and now ruled by a child emperor with a damaged ego and a thirst for vengeance is a threat to the planet. Somebody please, put a bullet in Trump's head before he kills us all.
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  41. I appreciate that they need to see if you can afford to attend but that also feels like the old boys club too.
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  42.  @markmaloney8154  I used to see comments like yours and think that they were posted by tin foil hat wearing paranoiacs, but now as incident after incident is made public, I see that you are totally, 100% correct, even down to the thrill kill statement. So depressing.
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  43. Enemies of the planet. I hope that they die in agony in house fires. Nothing more than the death by suffocation that they're condemning our grandchildren to. Scum.
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  44. Well that's disabused me of any notions of voting for the heartless wench. Made the mistake of thinking the Conservatives may have grown more compassionate.
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  45. Sickening that companies like Apple who already exploit their workers whine now that they have to pay SOME of what they owe even by that low bar.
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  46. No, exploiting the working class by not paying them for the work they've done. Before you throw around silly labels, I suggest that you research your candidate a little more thoroughly.
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  47. I notice the media were craven about Trump's refusal to take questions from a credential media organisation. They had a lot more balls when Obama declined to invite Fox to Meet the president.
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  48. The world needs to stop electing crotchety old men who will not live long enough to suffer the consequences of their long term policies.
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  49. This is the inevitable response to enforced immigration. Britain IS a very charitable nation, but being commanded to be charitable at our expense is creating huge resentment anda wholly predictable counter-movement of racial extremism which is sadly directed towards the (largely) innocent. I'd be interested to know WHO was murdering these refugees. I'm sure it would put a different slant on the narrative if it was other refugees. And I would have thought that the Director of the Institute of Race Relations would understand that Islam is not a race, and Islamophobia is a made up term to disempower those people who are justifiably leery of Islam.
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  50. Freedom of protest is not a licence to create destruction, but one man's unreasonable is another man's justified. The civil war didn't make positive change by obeying the law, nor did the French revolution.
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  51. Coincidence. Right.
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  52. No, I can see a case for not taxing organisations that are TRUE non-proits and serve a public good and I'm happy to see them untaxed. Many could not exist as businesses. But I take your point that the system seems broken.
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  53. You appear to have children. Are you not concerned about the future of the planet that they grow up on?
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  54. I agree. When when our leaders realise that their job is to run the nation for the benefit of its citizens, not just the tiny subset of citizens that own businesses?
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  55.  Donald Ganley  I think only the most naive of people EVER believed we lived in a meritocracy. The nearest way to experience a meritcarcy is to start your own business, but even then powerful scum like Google and Facebook, and super giants like Tescos can simply wipe you out by throwing money at the problem. Capitalism is a cancer that corrupts everything it touches.
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  56. No he's not. You don't impose peace on someone after having funded their enemies for generations. Especially when you are defunding essential aid that would show the aggrieved party that you are serious. This is blatantly partisan.
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  57.  @flushphoning9767  Would you trust YOUR kids lives on that assertion?
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  58. I've always thought a hunger strike as a protest was a particularly self-defeating tool, on a par with setting yourself on fire. Has it EVER achieved its objective?
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  59. A courageous woman. We need more journalists who are willing to put it on the line in order to tell the truth. Today''s toadies, more concerned about access and partisanship than integrity are a disgrace.
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  60.  @davinmaki7533  Perhaps so. Enlighten me.
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  61.  @tommench4848  Surely there ought to be a limitation on the amount of assets an organisation can accrue?
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  62. All this organised climate change denial organised by old men who won't live to face the consequences or spend the money that their greed has accumulated.
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  63. Evidence please?
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  64. The Paris accord was a set of voluntary measures designed to reduce the effect of climate change. By withdrawing, American companies are free to pollute, raising global temperatures and contributing to the extremes of weather that particularly affect low lying areas. As the man pointed out, these kinds of floods were a massive rarity, but due to climate change they will happen with much greater frequency.
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  65. When I hear the term "intersectional", what I hear is someone whining "How can I maximise my sense of oppression." There are certainly plenty of genuinely oppressed or disadvantage people out there, anyone using this term about themselves is rarely one of them.
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  66. Sorry but I have trouble taking news from back to the Future's Doc just after he received terrible news.
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  67. Spot on. It pisses me off immensely when even the tiniest thing come in at least two layers of plastic. I'm sure that we could easily enough restructure our food industry away from plastic. I look forwards to an economy not designed around planned obsolescence as well. It's all well and good buying a toaster for £10 or a microwave for £20, but we'd all be happier paying a little more and not having to constantly rebuy.
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  68. Part of me agrees with the idea of bringing so much pressure to bear on witnesses that they are compelled to speak, but I can also see how one's silence should be as mucvh of a right as speech. There's no doubt, the state has acted exactly like a fascistic bully in this case, especially with the fines.
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  69. Once your protests start to affect the operations of legitimate business, I WANT more aggressive policing. This was an incredibly mild incident - a firmish shove against somebody getting up in his face, followed by a stumble. No truncheon charge afterwards, no water cannons, no dogs, no tasers, and no deadly 90MPH ride back to the police station. It irritates me so much when British people want to adopt the victimhood of America. We have genuine issues about freedom of speech but at least our political system is not bought. Fracking is a demonstrably harmful practice, but if these protestors want to achieve change, the voting booth is the place to accomplish it.
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  70. For starters, I'm not a Yankee - I'm British, and secondly, the reason that America is so screwed was because they allowed money into politics. Britain has VERY strict control both on WHO can donate, and how much can be spent on a campaign so it almost eliminates the kind of corruption that has ruined America. In a FUNCTIONING democracy, the vote is an effective tool, whereas violence simply gets you dismissed as an extremist. I suggest that you educate yourself before calling others stupid.
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  71. I completely agree with you Eli. I was simply arguing the general case. And of course, we don't have a true democracy in Britain, we have a constitutional monarchy under the guise of a republic.
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  72. Excuse me but Nate has never been found guilty of this alleged crime, so to speak as though he WAS or, like a criminal trying to satisfy a parole board, that he should show remorse for a non-crime is ridiculous.
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  73. More unions? Yeah, that's what Trump wants for sure. That's why he hired all those illegal immigrants who have no rights.
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  74. He's still a bigot, he's just better at the PR.
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  75. "The [media] poison the minds of the voters". Are you kidding your ferret haired scumbag?! Nobody has done more to corrupt the minds of the American voters than you, and maybe when your factuality rate climbs about 22% you'll have the moral authority to whine about the voter's minds being poisoned.
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  76. Although I think she's right, and Juncker et al should stay the fuck out of our politics, considering May wanted to stay, this smacks of pre-election populism.
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  77. 75C. Fuck. That!
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  78. The individual sentences made sense, but collectively I got nothing. I'm trying to work out if you're an Alex Jones climate denying loon, or you're making some important point unintelligibly. Your use of the term "geo-engineering" tends to make me suspect the former.
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  79. Britain has always had shitty laws, limited freedom of speech, oppressive family courts, poor privacy protection, puritanical laws towards sex and pornography, and worse. Frankly, I can only see our exit from Europe turning us into a mix between quakers and authoritarians. I was in favour of our autonomy from EU immigration law, but our legal unaccountability was definitely one of my major concerns.
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  80. I just can't watch anything involving the US police any more. I just know they're going to be total scumbags who should be in prison or worse. The only reason the capitol police get praise is because there weren't enough of them to brutalise anyone.
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  81. I'd have preferred a country that wasn't still stained by religion.
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  82. These authoritarian regimes only arise in response the authoritarianism from left and centre. If Merkell were not so extreme, these counter-parties would not be so dangerous. No country wants to see its culture subsumed by foreign invaders, whether by invite or war.
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  83. "Climate control is a unproven science." It's about as well proven as any science we depend upon, and can be demonstrated in a lab. Predictions about global temperature trends have been made and validated, and the weather consequences as a result. Living here in Britain, we are about to hit the highest temperatures ever recorded. Any given week of weather could simply be an anomaly, but the underlying changes to the jet stream are the result of global changes. You only have compare LA 20 years ago with any city that has less cars to see the harms of pollution. You can see the plume of smog. Even if that was the only effect of all those cars, it would be reason enough to want to discourage polluting vehicles surely? I don't follow your logic that reducing traffic lanes with INCREASE pollution. Surely less traffic capacity means less pollution capacity?
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  84. The media is the enemy of the people, and has more or less always been, especially since the 24 hour news cycle. Instead of acting as though they are impartial actors delivering information, they should be viewed with massive scepticism at the BEST of times.
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  85. Of COURSE Trudeau is all talk. If people have not awoken to the fact he's a hypocritical bullshit artist yet, they never will.
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  86. Just as Keystone excel and Dakota Access have zero support? Steve, the US shits on its own citiizens so that the oil barons can make another billion that they'll never live to use, what on earth makes you think that they'd do the slightest thing to protect the lives of brown people?
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  87.  @MORE1500  America is a terminal case. The only way to make the planet better is if the whole thing is metaphorically destroyed.
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  88.  @GK-sx2dm  I'm increasingly disgusted by what my governemnt in Britain does to appease America. We're like the bully's wormy little sidekick.
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  89. This guy is a DREADFUL interviewer. It seems clear that he's not listening to his guest or doesn't understand the subject matter. On all of his videos, he asks a question, the guest replies, and he just goes "Hm." then goes on to make his own point. Never a question about the point just made, never a comment. He's the epitome of the saying "He's only waiting for the other person to stop talking so he can make his own point." It's never a conversation with him.
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  90. I'm somewhat uncomfortable with a centralised agency manipulating national, and subsequently, global banking and transactions in this way. Perhaps it's my ignorance, but this feels like putting your finger on the scales to compensate for a poorly managed economy in other areas. Surely when the Fed lowers interest rates, America is losing that money? If it is doing so to compensate for Trump's foolish trade war for instance, it feels like stealing money from Americans by the back door.
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  91. Marginal inconveniences? Comments like that will ensure that you never gain allies among the white majority. If you are, for example, one of the bottom 10% who loses a place in college in the name of affirmative action, your entire life can be ruined. I wouldn't call that a marginal inconvenience. As for the war on drugs or black incarceration rates in general, not that they are remotely relevant to the subject at hand, this is not affirmative action it's racial prejudice and I am 100% in favour of addressing it. I would decriminalise all drugs, hold judges accountable for sentencing disparities, and possibly even do double blind trials. Jurors are notoriously bad at ascertaining truth from expression and body language anyway, so it's really just theatre. But does it occur to you that in fact, affirmative action is giving a man a fish, whereas raising standards in all poor schools teaches the entire community HOW to fish?
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  92.  @ayeguyy779  I'd happily light the first match. Vermin who condemn millions or billions to death over their pathetic greed.
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  93.  @catfishjenkem2226  There certainly appears to be an undue influence coming from the terrorist state of Israel. I don't know if it's the soft influence of a populace that sees Jerusalem as the holy land, or something more insidious, such as oil protection. Either way, very scary stuff.
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  94. This woman is incredibly naive.
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  95. Ahh, so you've found this channel now have you mister Trump?
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  96. Right now, if America disappeared, the whole planet would breath a sigh of relief. Death to America is no longer the chant of terrorists, it's the reasonable wish of people who don't want nuclear war tomorrow.
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  97. Nobody cares. Just so long as Trump can own an extra golf course and traitorous politicians can take an extra 50k in donor money, the whole planet can drown or burn.
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  98.  @s404n1tn0cc Or cans.
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  99. Ahh, another structural expert makes his proclamation.
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  100.  @pechoja  The difference is, they're not stealing, or trading in stolen info to do so.
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  101. I voted to leave, but I think it should have been even higher than even 60% given that we have a government that has many totalitarian tendencies and no constitution.
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  102. Britain doesn't have a constitution.
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  103. The job of politicians is not to reflect the will of the bpeople but to act in their best interests. I don't agree with fracking but it could be argued that they consider that the financial argument outweighs concerns about its damage to the environment.
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  104. We live in a world populated by oppression olympians Eli. Two wrongs don't make a right, so manufacturing grievance where there seemingly was none serves nobody's cause, and merely makes these people look ridiculous. The protestors were not peacefully going about their own way, they were obstructing the lawful operations of the site. The right to protest is an important right (that I'm actually surprised we still have in the UK as our freedom of speech is quite restricted, and increasingly so). When I see police harrassing legitimate protestors, it angers me as it does you. I just feel that we need to be on solid ground, or accept that when we step off that ground there may be consequences. I'm sure that the French peasants in the 1700s were not screaming "oppression" when the royal guard vigourously resisted their revolution!
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  105. There are clearly facts here about which I was unaware. If the site is in operation only because it circumvented the law, then that is something that needs addressing. The grievance to which I was referring was the relatively mild push this man received, and which they have inflated into a huge police violence issue.
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  106. For Muslims to get upset about being unfairly lumped in with radicals is like wife beaters complaining that they get lumped in with wife murderers. They are all different points along the same continuum of abusive, retrograde behaviour. If they don't like it, then they should leave the religion. Islamaphobia is an irrational fear. Fear of radical Islam is not irrational so this is a misnomer.
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  107. No part of the judicial or political system should be for profit. When they both are, it's a perfect storm of injustice and hearing this bondsman justifying the behaviour of his industry is sickening. That said, the professor was a foolishly naive uber-lib, and the black guy overused the race card. No good players in this piece.
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  108. Hmmm, well it's more of a public access type debate - not profitable enough for the commercial channels.
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  109. I'm staggered that the burden of proof in such a damaging case (with a life destroying penalty) should be LOWER than in a criminal trial. Whilst I'm opposed to this man's alleged actions, I'm also opposed to the US extending its laws outside its own borders.
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  110. Graet to see Sheldon Cooper's little brother is still working.
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  111. This feels to me like when Dems quibbled over the SOURCE of the Podesta emails rather than addressing their content. If ANYONE offers you incriminating evidence about a political opponent, it's ridiculous to suggest that you should not be free to accept it.
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  112. Jeeeez, someone needs to tell this woman how to make a damned point! No wonder they're in trouble if this 20 minute ramble is indicative of their campaigning skills.
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  113. Nice try, no cigar. Now I suggest that you discard your silly identity politics and consider my argument rather than trying to prove what an intellectual you are. The fact is, in any voluntary exchange of information, there's a limit to how much utterly superfluous information one is willing to countenance before one loses interest or focus. If you ask me something really important, such as which candidate I recommend, and I prefix my recommendation with an irrelevant 10 minute ramble about my journey to the library, you'll be looking at your watch or for a way to interrupt. The bottom line is, at best, this woman's preamble was ill advised and at worse it was self indulgent. In short, her communication was ineffective. Dude.
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  114. There's a finite period of crap I'm willing to dig through in the hope there might be a pearl at the bottom you patronising idiot.
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  115. No you're right Lila, opinions are wrong, except yours of course. My opinion that she could have delivered the information more effectively is of course invalid. And what have YOU added to the conversation with your whiny critique of my opinon? And as for being a bully, you can get lost with that self martyring crap. Until this moment I was politely articulating my opinion that her delivery was sub optimal and it clearly was. If YOU now feel bullied, well perhaps you should not have stuck your self righteous nose in to chide me for my OPINION. If you mean HER, I hardly think that she's reading, and if she is, then she can learn something about communication from someone who clearly knows a lot more about it than either of you. You clearly just want to feel like a victim by proxy. Now you can get lost. Not reading any more of your pathetic nonsense.
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  116. No, the science is NOT always open for debate, any more than gravity is open for debate. "Open for debate" is what industry shills say to delay action. The debates are over. The people who are experts in the field have spoken. The fact that corrupt scientists are willing to sell out the future of the planet for comort now should be to their eternal; shame. But more than that: there is a type of aberrant psychosis amongst unqualified people - the need to be special and to think that you have somehow "seen through the plot". It's a mental illness. Human caused climate change is real and we need to change our behaviour now.
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  117. Nonsense. Saying that you should simply avoid corporate tax blackmail by reducing tax to 15% is not how you have a discussion about jobs, nor is pointing out that destroying the climate for the sake of jobs is ridiculous.
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  118. Bernie is making a grave misstep by allying with these corporatist anti-democratic scumbags. He should be leading a revolution tour not a unity tour. He's squandering his popularity. Exactly the same bullshit Obama did trying to reach out across the aisle and what did it get him? A year or two of platitudes then a feral Republlican party that will undo any decent works he did plus 50X as much.
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  119. Oh poor little hurt lamb, thinks he knows better than 95% of the world's climate scientists, but then swoons as soon as someone asks him for clarification. And then you wonder why nobody but other loons takes you seriously. Here's a hint Chris, talk to anyone who shares your views on this issue about ANY other topic and I'm pretty sure within a minute you'll be backing away as they espouse their delusional view of the world. That's exactly how the sane world views you.
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  120. My thought exactly Brand.
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  121. Moronic to expect any business to plan for or be complicit in its own destruction. That's why the world needs to simply steamroll over these fossil fuel companies for the future of mankind.
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  122. Why would Obama give a shit about the possibility of other nations suing it - it's not as though the US abides by international law in any case.
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  123. It's not her job to provide evidence to anyone. The ruling party is elected to govern, not to justify their every action. If people don't like it, vote them out next time around.
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  124. I obviously didn't make myself clear. It is not the job of ANY elected official to report back on the minutiae of day to day operations. We entrust them with the job of taking actions only based upon sound reasons. It is not our right to know WHAT those reasons are. Would you expect to know the details of every spy we have operating around the world, or the exact intelligence they provide? Of course not. By the same token, we have been told that this nerve agent is of a type and grade only manufactured by the Russian military. That's MORE information than we needed. I don't expect to be informed how we know about the grade of Russian nerve agents, or what our technology is for detecting it. These are operational details whose revelations may lead to a less effective security operation.
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  125.  @mikecorbeil  Yeah, I really don't think Marcus thought his position through before voicing it.
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  126.  @jamespardee6103  Hmmm, that seems like a complete non-seuitur to me. You might as well have said "Farmers should pay the same amount of tax per acre as a diamond mine." The electoral college is unjust because the amount of land has nothing to do with the number of people living on it, and democracy should by its definition, give equal representation to ALL of the people. The taxation thing is a completely different issue, unless you believe taht all land and all things built upon that land have equal value, by which right, a barren, undeveloped acre in the desert should attract the taxes as an acre on 5th avenuie containing luxury houses.
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  127.  @marcusbillings1644  My karate instructor often cited a saying (that he hypocritically never abided by) "There is great wisdom in many counsels." Whilst I agree with the general thrust of what you just said, what's the alternative - an unaccountable group? Individual determination? A paid arbiter? All are seriously flawed for different reasons, and non are corruption proof. Let's face it Marcus, human beings are the problem, not systems.
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  128.  @marcusbillings1644  How do you think we would be protected from these bodies without government, and can you point to an example of your proposed solution ever working in the modern world on a mass scale?
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  129.  @marcusbillings1644  Except it's ridiculous. Yes, lots of people have written about or made videos on the idea of anarchy - most are rebellious teens or selfish libertarians, and I have never yet seen a discourse on the subject that held up to even the most casual scrutiny. In EVERY situation where anarchy existed, life was utterly shit for the majority and a few superpredators arose and exploited the rest. You don't need to spoonfeed it to me because it's an adolescent pipe dream based upon the ridiculous belief of self regulation - something that demonstrably fails every day; and collectives that don't immediately lead straight back to government.
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  130.  @j2y2k3  I'm not even sure that you are correct about it being a left position to hate universal laws, but only a moment's reflection would show WHY such laws are a bad thing in most cases. And I could EASILY retort that the reason the right loves universal laws (if it was even true) is that they are binary thinkers, who like things to be black or white and lack brains that can cope with nuance (something Scump has exploited superbly),. You can thank centuries of Christian indoctrination for that in America. Universal laws lead to children being deported to Australia for stealing a loaf of bread, and money being treated as speech, and abortion being considered the same as murder.
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  131. What does this have to do with proxy wars?
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  132. Unfortunately ordinary Americans get no say in the matter. American traitors do. After all, it's never their kids who go to die in pointless wars.
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  133.  Scrabble Eddie  Lol!
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  134.  @ba94845  No, parents should not be able to make life-changing decisions for their kids that are not demonstrably for the child's wellbeing - no tattoos, not circumcision or FGM, and no unproven genetic experimentation.
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  135.  @nutsndoltz  Irrelevant. Non children cannot have rights, but the second they ARE born, they should have the full rights of an adult. Parents shoould be viewed as stewards not owners.
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  136. What a surprise white supremacists. And that's just the current government.
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  137.  @RobD2000  Given the difficulty in proving that he was successful, I don't know how you can make such an assertion.
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  138. So the fucking president and all his cronies can refuse to appear with ZERO penalty, but Manning cannot? She ought to just do what they do and say "I don't remember" to every question. Not a fan of Manning or Assange, but this is despicable.
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  139.  @cynthiaallen9225  You need to prove your income to take out your phone contract for goodness sakes. Do you really think that understanding the financial position of a family taking out a 50-100k loan is irrelevant? A student at university is largely supported by their parents. I think it's wholly reasonable to ask whether or not that student will have to drop out for financial reasons, wasting someone else's opportunity to attend.
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  140. What's wrong with that statement? Do you disagree with the guest?
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  141.  @redixdoragon  Thank you for the info. Do they know WHY capitalism has regular cyclic downturn?
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  142.  @redixdoragon  Yes, I can see that (thank you) but I wonder why that is the interval?
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  143. Right now, I'd take a fucking bowl of cornflakes over Scump. At least it wouldn't make things worse for decades.
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  144.  @rhiophiri9645  I think it's corrupt, degenerate and selfish to its very core. Even the good people are raised with a "me first attitude", and the rest feel like they're perpetual victims.
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  145.  @matthewmcclain1316  Yes, spot on, and politicians deliberately foster that. The Republicans were quite happy to amplify racial division with the souther strategy for over 50 years, and now they've been busted on that, they are creating left/right division instead. They should all be shot for treason.
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  146.  @jeffbanner4580  I may be an idiot but at least I know how to punctuate "you're". Also, America owes China trillions, and China is hardly a country that depends on any other nation. Also, the planet is rapidly seeking to move OFF the dollar since Trump proved that you are not a stable enough nation to be the basis for the planet's financial systems. Your raw avarice caused the crash in 2008, and your cowardice AND bigotry are undermining you now.
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  147. That'll serve him right for turning his back on them. Disrespect - worst crime in the police rule book.
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  148.  @judymeyer4315  No, I was pointing out that the police will kill innocent citizens simply for disrespecting them. Even the minor disrespect of turning their backs.
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  149. No country owes the citizens of another country admission, financial support or the opportunity to move in. Irrelevant what the law says. Stop making America nd Britain appealing and they'll eventually stop coming. I don't see them queing to invade Afghanistan or Bosnia or Barbados. This is economic upgrading. I don't blame them for trying, and I don't blame Britain or America for harshly rebuffing them.
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  150. Hear hear!
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  151. OF COURSE the US has reneged on its agreements making war more likely. But it needs to remember it has not been able to put to bed Afghanistan, Iraq or Syria, and that's WITH allied help. If Russia or China jumps in on the opposing side or the US loses its allies, the US is in no position to start even a single additional war, let alone multiples. Bear in mind also the Saudi Arabia has le financial incentive to assist in attacking Iran, than the US industrial military complex does. It's getting t9 the stage where the world would almost be safer if the US was wiped from the face of the planet.
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  152.  V M  Awww is diddums upset?
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  153. Just one more example of Trump's moronic, ignorant and bombastic policies. He's spent a lifetime bullying people and he thinks he can continue to do it to get his own way in the field of international politics.
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  154.  @tommench4848  I can't disagree with that assessment.
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  155.  @tarekaellis438  That's exactly what I thought. Just because you don't spend it doesn't mean you're not making it.
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  156.  @tj7179  Yes, that certainly appears to be the case TJ. What a shame taht there are always scum out there gaming the system.
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  157. Saying you cannot discriminate is not the same as saying that there was a quota by skin colour. I seriously doubt such a quota ever existed. I want a merit based system. If you are the best, whatever your skin colour, you get in.
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  158. Rose, I wouldn't describe giving all kids a level playing field (at least in terms of quality of education) as "affirmative action". Of course, single motherhood significantly decreases a child's chances, and the black community has a very poor record in that regard. I'm afraid I disagree with almost everything else you said. You seem to be implying that one cannot consider another person's needs unless you are from the same demographic. That is patently not true., although I concede that you cannot FULLY empathise. Your example of thalidomide has nothing to do with discrimination. One needs a representative sample of the target group to test a medication. That is screamingly obvious. How any pharmaceutical company could think that a drug targeted at pregnant women could be tested on men is beyond me. Your comments about being a female economist leave me somewhat bewildered. In what way was the merit-based college admission system disadvantaging women? It seems to me that we live in an age where the sexes are being pushed into careers that do not appeal simply to fill quotas. We were told that female college numbers were down - several decades of positive discrimination, and feminisation of the educational curriculum from kindergarten onwards has resulted in a significant reversal, so now males are under-represented. You suggest that women should be encouraged to pursue medicine. Why? Perhaps women consider that the 10 years of study does not provide an adequate return, or more likely, they realise that it will have an impact upon their plans for family. Similarly, you suggest that more men should be encouraged to move into teaching and nursing. Despite being temperamentally less suited to those fields than women.
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  159. Criminality most closely correlated to poverty not education. Single parenthood is a cultural phenomenon (toxic femininity if you like) exacerbated by disproportionate imprisonment. Disproportionate imprisonment is a result of a systemically racially prejudiced system that, ironically, starts with school teachers and includes police and judges. Not only does it over estimate the age of black males, but also the threat that they pose. The corruption of the industrial prison complex is a further factor. Your comments about it being a marginal inconvenience remind me of the recent feminist who said she thought all men should suffer for the history of patriarchy. When you start by vilifying all your potential allies, you don't have much chance. Black people are still a significant minority in America, and if Trump has revealed anything, it's that America is far more bigoted than anyone feared. I suggest you think about BUILDING bridges rather than burning them down. It hasn't been as acceptable to be openly prejudiced on either side since the 1960s. Incidents such as the ridiculous Evergreen State day of absence, numerous Black Lives Matter protests and the ridiculous decolonisation of science speech at Shackville TRC have brought black issues into massive disrepute. As for waiting for "my" kindness, my father was black. He was also absent all my life (surprise surprise).
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  160. Sorry to all the naive commenters below but this was as necessary as it was inevitable. Reagan should never have agreed to suspend development of space anti-missile systems. The ability to neutralise ICBMs and other intercontinental weapons is as logical as it is vital in an age where war can occur remotely at a range of thousands of miles. Given America's use and misuse of drones, and the increased use by OTHER governments of this technology, it is only logical that capabilities be developed that can look down from ABOVE their flight ceiling and shoot them down. If North Korea, Russia, Iran, and Pakistan show us anything, it's that there are players and potential players out there who can do harm to allies from the safety of their own nations. This is unacceptable. It may be a long shot that they will deploy them, but it was a long shot that a lunatic like Trump would ever get the strangle hold he has over America.
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  161. Lot's of alarmist speculation but would have lked more actual facts. Silly comments like "Amazon can tell how far you've read a book" are palpable nonsense and undermine this man's credibility.
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  162.  @VultCult And the Kindle reports back to Amazon your daily progress?
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  163. Very good point, although all the hash tags were rather self important.
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  164. Spot on. The American people must believe that they are the greatest in the world to justify the constant militarism and expenditure.
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  165. Indeed. Of course, nobody stopped to ask if maybe throwing away American lives simply to earn another oil or weapon exec a few more million might be starting to take its toll.
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  166.  @uncannyvalley2350  I have no idea what you're trying to say.
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  167. Is there precedent to support your claim?
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  168.  @DanA-nl5uo  No, you snarky prick. I had no idea that that WAS a credit bubble nor that it was caused by the Fed lowering interest rates. Especially as this video said that crash was NOT caused by the Fed.
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  169.  @DanA-nl5uo  Thank you. So how do stock buy backs make money for the company owners?
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  170.  @DanA-nl5uo  Ahh of course. Thank you for the clear explanation Dan.
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  171.  @TheSteveGainesRockBand  I'm being presidential.
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  172. @Bill H So wouldn't a better solution be simply to restrict who banks can lend to so that people only spend within their means?
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  173.  Oppressed Deplorable  Do Jews really run the American banking system though? And would it be better with American capitalists doing the job?
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  174.  Oppressed Deplorable  Yes, I did ask that. Not to be facetious, but out of a genuine interest. So these were all founded by Jews. Are they still RUN by Jews? I'm not disagreeing - I'm just curious.
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  175.  @catfishjenkem2226  Why is that Catfish?
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  176.  Danny Knapp Well said Danny.
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  177. No it's not. Climate change factors in solar energy. Whether short term rises in solar temperatures caused THIS SPECIFIC hurricane is irrelevant to the claim that man made climate change makes such extreme weather events more likely in the future.
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  178.  @fcommercials00  Okay, so he should be in a mental instution for life. He can never be freed. It's too great a risk.
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  179. Living in hope that Trump will get to see his entire world in ruins, and spend his last days ranting in impotent humiliation.
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  180. US politicians are failing the citizens desperately. They need to all be locked up for decades, at the very least.
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  181. Who do you think you are chump, the duke of the internet? If you don't understand why this woman is naive, you're not smart enough to understand the explanation.
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  182. I'll refer you to the comment I gave the previous guy.
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  183. So happy to see the USA continuing to ensure that it will be sidelined in all future matters of import on the planet. After your greed crashed the global markets last time, China, your biggest economic rival was talking about moving the world's economy from Wall Street. Now its treatment of the UN, and its attitude to the most important issue that has faced modern man only shows why you should be treated with nothing but contempt. I'd like to see the USA made to see on the stupid table for the next 50 years until it learns how to behave around the grown ups.
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  184. dreadful interviewer
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  185.  @hangerq5735  You couldn't be more wrong. This interviewer never listens to the interviewee, so there's never an interaction between them. He's simply waiting to progress to his next scripted question. The interviewee could mention some small off script point, and if the interviewer is not listening he could miss something that would lead to far more important areas. Supposing for instance, the guy was interviewing Edward Snowden about being a government data processing employee. The interview could ostensibly be about government security operations, but Snowden might drop into the conversation "yes we routinely monitor all citizens." Wilpert would miss the fact that such a thing is government overreach, and that Snowden was reaching out, because all he wants to do is get onto the next point. All he'd do is his usual disinterested, non committal "hmmm" and move on. Moreover, interviewees are like police suspects or porn models. They need to be encouraged to get to the juicy stuff - they don't just reveal it without a process first.
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  186.  @hangerq5735  You are seeing things in simplistically black and white terms - a starting place and a destination. Often the journey is FAR more enlightening than the final destination.
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  187.  @hangerq5735  Ah so you want the media to reduce every issue to a simple binary because that's easier to understand and makes your choices easier? So imagine your child is dying painfully of some disease that will definitely kill him. You should kill him early to ease his suffering, yes or no? Israel killing Palestinians - justified or not? See how your suggestion can be blown up with just the tiniest bit of effort? TBH, it's clear that your first comment was made without thought and now you're flogging a dead horse trying to justify it. Just admit that you made a mistake and we can both move on.
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  188.  @hangerq5735  I'm not blowing things up. I posted a two word comment. You challenged it. I elaborated, and you ignored my totally reasonable explanations and continued whining. The fact that you are too ignorant to comprehend WHY having a good interview technique matters, and too committed to your position is down to YOUR mental inadequacy (or bias - are you related to the the interviewer?), not negativity from me. Yes, I agree, the issue of this video IS "how we are to proceed in finding ways to help tackle global warming, in our fight for survival of the human race" and we missed potential insights due to poor interview technique. You have demonstrated in exhaustive and tedious repetition that you don't comprehend WHY good interview technique matters despite numerous examples from me of how good technique would ellicit better outcomes. The subject is clearly too complicated for your level of education. I have tried to remedy that deficit you but you are stalwartly resistant to learning. Run along sonny. I'm bored with you now.
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  189. How do you get from "I disagree with the way intersectional is used as a blanket excuse" to, "You agree with rape"? I suggest you go look up the term "non-sequitur".
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  190. I completely understand the issues. We're ALL intersectional. We all have problems that compound our challenges. I'm a mixed race child of a single mother raised in an era of overt racism. I'm a male in an age where the courts and society almost always side against males, I have lifelong health problems and other issues. I don't pull out a check sheet and start ticking off all of my disadvantages on a sheet in order to gain sympathy; I get on and do the best that I can with the lot I have in life. When women and black people stop whining about all of their disadvantages (some of which definitely DO exist) and start working to better themselves, they'll make inroads into their own life improvement. I think that playing oppression bingo simply makes people look pathetic and ridiculous in the eyes of everyone reasonable, and the end result is a scumbag president like Donald Trump. Had Hillary and the Dems not played the woman card, she might have gained a few percentage points. Had the trans activists not been so aggressive in their demands for proper pronoun use, bathrooms and the right to compete in sports of their chosen gender, there would not be such a growing rise on the right. The more extreme people's behaviour on the left, the greater the counter movement. People need to be careful which battles they fight if they want to win the war of improving society.
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  191.  @LanierHale-oq3dr  Zombie thread
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  192. Of COURSE Trump wants war. America is the greatest danger to this planet. Un may be unhinged, but it will be greedy, power hungry, damaged egos like Trump and Putin that kill this planet. America has always been this planet's great aggressor. Sure other nations have killed more people in a short period, but America has been beating the drums of war almost continuously for almost 250 years. Now that oil and the industrial military complex are also factors, things will only get worse.
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  193. I really don't see what 12 million soldiers can do against nukes when Iran has no chance of invading the US.
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  194. I've seen police break windows for less. This may be funny, but in America this guy is taking his life in his hands.
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  195. Always makes me laugh when people dress like gangsters then get irritated that they get treated like gangsters.
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  196.  @revolutionarybroom5222  I DON'T think police should be able to violate someone's rights because of how they look. I despise the police, and don't think they should EVER be able to violate someone's rights. I was simply pointing out that if you go around shouting "I'm a badass criminal" in the way you dress, AND you have prison-style tattoos on your face, don't be surprised if people tasked with the public safety start treating you as though you might be a baddass criminal. As for knowing what a gangster looks like, you do know that movies, documentaries and the internet exist right? Stop acting like YOU'RE living in the hood because you live in America.
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  197. I don't understand why people are not allowed to shoot police who break the law like this. Castle doctrine counts for everyone else.
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  198.  S. F.  Well, that may well be true. :-(
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  199.  @katymeigs5290  Yes.
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  200. I'm certain that Putin would be delighted to hear you dismiss everything as hysteria. He sits on the planet's largest nuclear arsenal, whilst Russia is the only nation to seize the territory of another sovereign nation since the end of the 2nd world war in contravention of the Geneva convention. It continues to violate the air space of other NATO members, whilst it murders any opposition within the country or abroad. I don't think hysteria is really the word I'd use.
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  201. I couldn't agree more. A thoroughly thoughtful follow up post Creative B.
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  202. I must congratulate you on a most excellent reply. I don't know whether all of your facts are correct - I will have to go away and research as some contradict "facts" that I had been given, but your thoughtful and dignified posting gives me much to think about.
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  203. Yeah, it's terrible the way that they've worked for years and years to develop world class skill in a career that only lasts a decade and results in irrecuperable brain damage whilst you have doubtless invested a comparable effort and can't earn a living wage :-/
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  204. Surely a reduction in interest rates affects your mortgage and loan repayments as well?
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  205. Britain has ALWAYS had draconian laws pertaining to freedom of speech, privacy, surveillance and other matters. And now Theresa May is looking to strip us of more of our rights. I imagine the powers that be couldn't be happier that terrorism has become such a big issue - it's just one more piece of bullshit to add to the justifications for banning porn, surveiling us constantly and fascist police powers along with "think of the children" "national security" and "for your own safety". That said, this man falls SQUARELY with the genuine key demographic being a Muslim immigrant who just visited the Middle East. I have no problem with him and those like him receiving greater scrutiny, although the line is a difficult one to draw.
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  206. You don't seriously expect anyone to read that Alex Jones university thesis do you?
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  207. Assange ceased to be merely a journalist when he became vindictive in attacking Clinton. Also, no journalist has the liberty to release official secrets.
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  208.  Rebecca Brown Stupid girl. Don't try to be clever. Bring an argument or STFU.
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  209.  @rhondaweber5638  Ahh another insightful analysis. Thank you for your wisdom.
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  210.  Rebecca Brown  Which only goes to confirm the unreliability of IQ tests in accurately definining people's intellect. And I LOVE to debate. With interesting interlocutors. And? Tell you what, why don't you read my original post again, then try and come up with an actual argument rather than a school yard ad hominem little miss 98th percentile.
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  211.  @teddyboef2821  "That says all we need to know." It says only that there was such a smorgasboard of facts, half facts and opinions, some of which I agreed with, and some I didn't, that I didn't get around to responding. But if it will keep you happy. The matter of revoking asylum. To say that it is against international law is asinine. No government operates entirely within international law. They do only what is expedient. Assange did so much to outstay his welcome that I was amazed he lasted as long as he did. He was like a little kid hiding behind his marginally bigger brother and throwing rocks whilst enemies twice the size of the big brother surrounded them both. He was a fool who didn't know when to act tactically. But would governments like him dead? Yes, and with good reason. That reason is not in the interests of the people, nor wholly against them either, but the reason is valid nevertheless. Yes, the government DOES abuse national security, exactly as it is doing with border funding right now. It's a complicated issue. NO governments can operate without a level of secrecy, and it is not for an individual with no comprehension of the greater context to arbitrarily decide when to undermine that secrecy. That's why this is nuanced. Whistle blowers are vital. Edward Snowden was a true hero and martyr to the planet. Assange was a hero who abused asylum and became a self serving fool. Wikileaks is NOT covered under the constitution. Freedom of the press has limits and Assange breached those limits. No newspaper could print the identities of spies operating in foreign countries for instance. But this is why the entire issue needs publishers/journalists who are themselves sqeaky clean. As long as Assange's motivations were to the truth and the wellbeing of the people, he was a hero. Clinton was regularly investigated and cleared of wrong doing. The "man" in charge of the nation right now despises her, and has the most dishonest self-serving senate in living memory walking in lock-step ready to approve his every inane piece of mental vomit, yet STILL they have provided nothing but innuendo. BUT, yes, she was an appalling candidate and an entitled, horrible human being. But for all that, she was still infinitely better than Trump. HIS legacy will scar the planet and geopolitics far beyond the life even of his youngest son. None of which is relevant. The second Assange made it personal and started choosing winners and losers in national elections, then he become a political operative, and a foreign agent and should be treated as such. For better or for worse, we elect our representatives and can theoretically hold them accountable. Nobody elected Assange and he answers to no one. That makes him a liability to democracy. It's like vigilantes - they make great movie characters, and we can all empathise with someone who sidesteps the law to take revenge, but with only a second of thought and a modicum of intelligence, you can immediately see why such a role could never be sanctioned or allowed to go unpunished.
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  212.  @Brembelia I've responded to your comment in answer to teddy boef
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  213.  @Zebula1918 I never said he didn't have the right, but there are times to release truth, and there are ways. What he did was specifically time the release to harm her campaign, then he played winners and losers.
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  214. The election of Trump.
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  215.  @valerievasiliou2721  Letting them know about the murders was one thing, and I agree that that the public had a right to know. Revealing Hillary's email misuse at the most damaging possible time was a calculated political action and he achieved his objective. Irinically, in ruining her political career, he also destroyerd his own life and reputation. It seems fair.
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