Most effective system at murdering people and clinging to power, certainly.
It's like admiring the architecture in Hell. All those tastefully done circles. The soothing separation of sinners into like minded souls. The feng shui of ice and fire.
It is the trillions of dollars we've pumped into China and the modernization we demanded to buy our stuff from them that has improved life there for millions. Billions still are in poverty so abject language fails me. No pigeon problems in the villages just means people ate them all.
I have herds of deer in my yard. I encourage hunting to reduce the risk I hit the next one on my bike instead of my car, again.
There's no deer outside of nature parks in China. They ate all of them. They had to, they were starving.
The office of president, held by Jinping, is a figurehead position.
He has to act in accordance with the will of the Politburo Standing Committee.
But, then again, he is a seat holder on the PSC. And arguably the most influential.
One of the reasons he has such high "approval" ratings is because he's called "president" instead of "Chairman". As flipping through the pages of history will show you, one of the keys to having a "good" government in China is to put on a big show of purging "corruption" from the government. AKA, removing your political rivals.
I don't see term limits making much difference in China. The hope for abandoning Marxist mentality and policies is virtually nonexistent. Opening the markets and increasing trade with the outside world has done more to liberate the people than all of the Communist leaders combined.
People I know who watch CNN & MSNBC daily, all day, keep talking about the dark web. I don't know where it is. But I don't do social media.
They get echo chamber propaganda emails daily. Vile hatred and lies, but they won't share them with me, just read from them and simmer in bile. They tell me the Republican Party sends them hate mail.
Which they won't share. I'm always willing to believe the worst about any Party, but this always sounds like agitprop from the DNC.
What they don't know and don't want to know, is anything Hillary ever did to deserve prison. Not a clue about Uranium One, Ukranian pipelines, suicide prone staff, cattle futures, stolen White House property, multiple mansions given as gifts..... Nada. Obama never bombed Libya for French oil companies that bribed him, never laundered illegal campaign contributions from the middle East, never asked Putin to lay low until after he was re-elected, nor promised to abandon missile defense. Barry never told children to break immigration laws, etc. Etc.
The 21st century didn't happen. But the NRA murders people and owns Congress. George Soros doesn't exist.
In short, smart, hard working people don't know Jack about their planet and what they know is lies.
They Hate Trump. Look! What! He! Did!.... But they can't tell me what he did, they were not told, just that he should die in horrible agony for it. How did these loving people learn to hate on command?
They insist they don't. But I must, since I don't! Hate! Trump!
I'm not sure if YouTube is really MSM or not, but there are similar censorship issues at play. It's a shame that some crazy idiot felt it was worth shooting people over, but clearly, people feel they are being targeted with censorship. I recognize that YouTube is a private company that can censor speech as it wishes, but that may prove to be a poor business model in the long run. If nothing else, they need to be more up front with how they apply their filters. I've noticed it recently in what is presented as things I may care to watch. Suddenly I'm having to search for content from some favorite channels, that used to be regularly suggested to me. It's pissing off both the creator, and consumer of YouTube content.
Regardless of whether they, or any private company, censors their product...
KILLING IS UNACCEPTABLE.
That's the piece of the puzzle that's missing from today's society.
We don't need to fix guns.
We don't need to fix security.
We don't need to fix private companies (although I agree that subversive censorship sucks).
We need to fix...SOCIETY AT LARGE.
Dunno how...there's no easy answer (well...the easy darwinian answer wouldn't go over very well...), but it has to be done. Soon. Or, Darwinism WILL take over whether we want it to or not.
A good start would be to tell new parents to be firm and CONSISTENT with their children. No spankings but a slap on the butt is a good precedent to a 15 minute talk about what happened and why you, the parent, are disappointed.
A parent's job is to train monkeys to be humans, over an 18 year period. A child's job is to test EVERY boundary.
YouTube and Facebook wanted to not censor anything, so they would not be responsible for anything. Smart & the right way to do business. Europe and China demanded censorship. Thus they ARE responsible for what they do and do not allow online.
So to preempt the lawsuits waiting from everyone who wants to suppress other's voices, they suppress what they want to. It's going to get much much worse.
I can't claim to be a fan of Diamond and Silk. I've seen them on various new shows. I can't say that I'm terribly impressed. Of course, none of that has anything to do with the right/wrong of them being censored by Facebook. I do think that Facebook should explain it's "unsafe to the community" decision on these two.
I understand the need theoretical need to keep terrorists, drug dealers, etc. from using social media for their purposes. Sadly though, it's typical that Progressives will overreach and lump all who don't drink their coolaid into a category that they feel the public must be "protected" from. It's sad. Facebook is a good idea. It's being turned into a tool to promote an ideology. That's a huge conflict with it being a tool that connects people. I deleted my Facebook account years ago because I could see this happening. It's only gotten worse since then. It seems the door is being opened for a worthwhile competitor that won't be a bad actor like this. It would be great if someone could de-throne Facebook. That's probably asking for a lot at this point though.
The Biggest Black Lives Matter Page on Facebook is Fake By Donie O'Sullivan @CNNTech - April 9, 2018
For at least a year, the biggest page on Facebook purporting to be part of the Black Lives Matter movement was a scam with ties to a middle-aged white man in Australia, a review of the page and associated accounts and websites conducted by CNN shows.
The page, titled simply "Black Lives Matter," had almost 700,000 followers on Facebook, more than twice as many as the official Black Lives Matter page. It was tied to online fundraisers that brought in at least $100,000 that supposedly went to Black Lives Matter causes in the U.S. At least some of the money, however, was transferred to Australian bank accounts, CNN has learned.
Fundraising campaigns associated with the Facebook page were suspended by PayPal and Patreon after CNN contacted each of the companies for comment. Donorbox and Classy had already removed the campaigns.
The discovery raises new questions about the integrity of Facebook's platform and the content hosted there.
The whole Diamond and Silk thing is blatant silencing of Trump fans. I see people putting stuff on facebook that is very offensive but I always say they have a right to their opinion. Looks like now facebook has shown their absolute bias. After Zuckerberg gets done with congress we'll see if there are any changes. I doubt it!
This hearing is a joke. @facebook makes 98% of its revenue from advertising. If @facebook, @google and @twitter don’t sell your privacy like meat at a butcher shop, they will go broke. So let’s face facts. They’re never going to stop selling your most precious private data. EVER!
I was pretty much done at “@facebook is an idealistic and optimistic company...” Sorry, you slimy weasel, but @facebook is a modern day rug merchant, selling anything they can get their hands on at their users’ expense. #DeleteFacebook
Wonder how many Lamborghinis the weasel handed out to these frauds questioning him today. What a sad dog and pony show this is. #DeleteFacebook
Facebook is how a geek tried to get laid. It worked. It was secondary that it be a blackmail tool. The big bucks came right after, when people went to them to buy data on the sucker users. I haven't seen the bio pic but that's the order of the time line as I've read it.
Badweb, and many other private mutations of the old bulletin board early internet sites are labours of love by enthusiasts. Bikes, cooking, whatever. Some sell information on their members, most don't.
Facebook started as a college phenomenon. Hook up, share fee!ings, with a group that expects everything to be free, or built into the tuition fees. ( which mummy & daddy handle ) When it went big, geezers like me pointed out that a big connection service that doesn't charge it's users, is selling them. Server space and T1 lines are not free. Not like time on the University system.
Facebook from the beginning is a scam. Get laid, get rich, same thing.
YouTube sells advertising. And user data.
Both desperately wanted to avoid the cost and responsibility of editing user supplied stuff. Video, comments, articles, communication. The instant you start making editorial decisions, you have Legal liability for content. They spent a lot in bribes and lawyer fees to avoid that liability, since that will seriously cut into the bottom line.
However, China demanded control over their subject's access. Big money, and separate, legally, to the rest of the world, so greed overcame decency and ideals. People complaining about the sellout to Chinese dictators did little to hurt them.
European demand that they stop being a tool of terrorism, otoh, that was in Western courts. They are seriously desperate not to take responsibility for anything. They really don't want their internal processes made public. You might have noticed that No Human ever makes the decision to take down content or censor political speech. It's an algorithm. ( magic spell as far as the public knows )
These are useful tools, I watch a lot of documentaries and other stuff on YouTube. Like any tool, it's use is up to the tool user.
I can use a hammer to drive nails and build a house, bend metal into useful shapes, or bash in brains. My choice.
The owners of these sites are choosing how to use them. Surprise! They choose to steal and harm. It pays well. It makes them feel good about themselves. And you? You are product, and customer. Sheep buying sweaters. ( why is it cold? ) Cattle investing in steak restaurants.
^^ ...not to mention the fact law enforcement loves the social media companies. No need to get a warrant for certain things. They just pay an informant for your data.
There are companies that save Facebook, probably daily. Why? They cater to employers looking at potential new hires. You deleted that video with the beer bong and you screaming that the company you work for is run by faggots and Republicans? Doesn't matter. They kept it. And they will compile a report, complete with deleted video, comments, pictures, as requested by their clients, customized to their wants. Saves a bundle over using HR staff to search all the applicants.
Wish I'd thought of it. Big Brother for hire.
I can't claim any superiority here. I never liked Facebook. I have an account, since my peers use it and it's become a sales tool. No account? Can't see my friend's kitty & kid pictures. I get emails to look at them. I haven't been to "my" page in at least a month. All it has is my name, and a ?note? That I don't respond to requests or read my page so don't be offended.
Last I looked it was full of my Mother's posts bashing Trump, the NRA, and Republicans. She said she'd only "friend me?" If I didn't comment on her political posts No problem. I don't comment at all. I don't read it. For all I know AQ and Putin are using it to raise money for Julie to take typing lessons.
Public radio has long been a favorite of mine. The leaders seem to believe that Stalin could have made Communism a world wide success if only he'd been as smart as they are.
People I know who work at the local station agree.
They were just doing a segment on Candace on Fox Morning News. LOVE the comment she made about "your grandparents suffered through slavery; YOU are not suffering through anything, you're just privileged whiners".
And she's right.
All this victim/oppressor shit is right out of Marx. If you're successful, you're an oppressor; if you aren't one of the "successful" ones, you're a victim; and Socialism is the only way to fix that.
Bullshit.
The problem with socialism is, everybody always wants more stuff. Period. And THAT is where oppression really steps in - the ruling class takes all the stuff, keeps all the power, and REALLY starts to oppress the slaves.
Sure, the concept is nice. The Star Trek societal utopia is appealing...but it'll never happen. There's this thing called "human nature" and a drive to succeed - it's called "survival of the fittest", or "survival of the species". The strongest move forward, the weaker are absorbed. It's genetics, and a fact of nature - and no amount of politics can or will cure that.
Kudos to Candace for calling out the BLM whiners, and kudos to Kanye for sticking to his guns. He can afford to lose an Adidas endorsement or three; I hope he sticks with his beliefs and continues to promote it. And I hope more will follow suit. This crap has got to stop.