Current Affairs Is this the twilight of democracy?

and people to antagonize here!
hahahaha.
We’ve had a heavy prioritisation of speed over the last government and roads to 0.

Lowering speed limits, traffic calming, etc… and the road toll goes up.

Time behind the wheel is the biggest cause of accidents. Slowing people down just results in more people on the road for longer so more accidents 🤷‍♂️
 
It’s the little hick towns that get you. Who’s got time to slow down to 60 as you pass a diary in the middle of nowhere?

And tickets for being on my phone… I’ve got business to do!
I'd slow down around a dairy, but never a diary ;) Why do you feel the need to slow down around it unless there was something interesting written in it? ;)
 
although never having ever in my life, including my absolute dickhead years of teenagehood had an unfairly bad interaction with police, i’m not what you would call a “fan”.


but if i were this cop, i’d have got back in my car, reversed about 1/4 of a mile, floored it. bowled him. beaten him to death if he were still breathing, then dragged him into the long grass and gotten on with my day.




joking.
kinda.

they deserve to be paid a metric shit tonne more than they are.
and it’s going to get way worse with these dickheads.
The sad part was when the cooker says he has a disabled kid in the car...
 
Andrew Bacevich again.

How America can go forward.

FAREWELL, THE AMERICAN CENTURY

*******************************



Only through the exercise of candor might we avoid replicating such mistakes.

Indeed, we ought to apologize. When it comes to avoiding the repetition of sin, nothing works like abject contrition. We should, therefore, tell the people of Cuba that we are sorry for having made such a hash of U.S.-Cuban relations for so long. President Obama should speak on our behalf in asking the people of Hiroshima and Nagasaki for forgiveness. He should express our deep collective regret to Iranians and Afghans for what past U.S. interventionism has wrought.

The United States should do these things without any expectations of reciprocity. Regardless of what U.S. officials may say or do, Castro won’t fess up to having made his own share of mistakes. The Japanese won’t liken Hiroshima to Pearl Harbor and call it a wash. Iran’s mullahs and Afghanistan’s jihadists won’t be offering to a chastened Washington to let bygones be bygones.

No, we apologize to them, but for our own good — to free ourselves from the accumulated conceits of the American Century and to acknowledge that the United States participated fully in the barbarism, folly, and tragedy that defines our time. For those sins, we must hold ourselves accountable.

To solve our problems requires that we see ourselves as we really are. And that requires shedding, once and for all, the illusions embodied in the American Century.


cant quite see this happening.…….
https://tomdispatch.com/farewell-the-american-century/
 
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Andrew Bacevich again.

How America can go forward.

FAREWELL, THE AMERICAN CENTURY

*******************************



Only through the exercise of candor might we avoid replicating such mistakes.

Indeed, we ought to apologize. When it comes to avoiding the repetition of sin, nothing works like abject contrition. We should, therefore, tell the people of Cuba that we are sorry for having made such a hash of U.S.-Cuban relations for so long. President Obama should speak on our behalf in asking the people of Hiroshima and Nagasaki for forgiveness. He should express our deep collective regret to Iranians and Afghans for what past U.S. interventionism has wrought.

The United States should do these things without any expectations of reciprocity. Regardless of what U.S. officials may say or do, Castro won’t fess up to having made his own share of mistakes. The Japanese won’t liken Hiroshima to Pearl Harbor and call it a wash. Iran’s mullahs and Afghanistan’s jihadists won’t be offering to a chastened Washington to let bygones be bygones.

No, we apologize to them, but for our own good — to free ourselves from the accumulated conceits of the American Century and to acknowledge that the United States participated fully in the barbarism, folly, and tragedy that defines our time. For those sins, we must hold ourselves accountable.

To solve our problems requires that we see ourselves as we really are. And that requires shedding, once and for all, the illusions embodied in the American Century.


cant quite see this happening.…….
https://tomdispatch.com/farewell-the-american-century/
Sorry guys... yeah right.
 
Andrew Bacevich again.

How America can go forward.

FAREWELL, THE AMERICAN CENTURY

*******************************



Only through the exercise of candor might we avoid replicating such mistakes.

Indeed, we ought to apologize. When it comes to avoiding the repetition of sin, nothing works like abject contrition. We should, therefore, tell the people of Cuba that we are sorry for having made such a hash of U.S.-Cuban relations for so long. President Obama should speak on our behalf in asking the people of Hiroshima and Nagasaki for forgiveness. He should express our deep collective regret to Iranians and Afghans for what past U.S. interventionism has wrought.

The United States should do these things without any expectations of reciprocity. Regardless of what U.S. officials may say or do, Castro won’t fess up to having made his own share of mistakes. The Japanese won’t liken Hiroshima to Pearl Harbor and call it a wash. Iran’s mullahs and Afghanistan’s jihadists won’t be offering to a chastened Washington to let bygones be bygones.

No, we apologize to them, but for our own good — to free ourselves from the accumulated conceits of the American Century and to acknowledge that the United States participated fully in the barbarism, folly, and tragedy that defines our time. For those sins, we must hold ourselves accountable.

To solve our problems requires that we see ourselves as we really are. And that requires shedding, once and for all, the illusions embodied in the American Century.


cant quite see this happening.…….
https://tomdispatch.com/farewell-the-american-century/

Pearl Harbor was an attack on millitary.

Hiroshima was nuking babies and sending in Nuclear scientists to photograph and measure the effects of the experiment.

How can you write about appoligies and not grasp that Hiroshima and Pearl Harbor are not part of the same conversation.
 
I was listening to an economist who thinks the world is in a bad place, drowning in debt and that some countries will default on their debt within the next 3 years. I think he’s a bit of a doom merchant but some of what he said pricked up my ears:

Democracy is a popularity contest and politicians will do what’s best for re-election rather than what needs to be done but is unpopular.

He said this must always lead to short term thinking and long term disaster and Western democracies have sunk themselves in debt.

Looking at our National debt servicing costs, the US debt position (and various countries around the world), regional councils reaching debt limits and the level of private sector debt I can’t disagree that we’re doing democracy wrong.
 

Scary stuff!

50% of AI people think there’s a 10% chance humans will be wiped out by AI…

The example: If there’s a plane where 50% of the engineers think there’s a 10% chance of the plan crashing, would you get on it? How do we get off!

Watching that it’s freaky what it can do. Scan your brain while you watch a picture and the AI can recreate you thoughts… wow! Once AI figures out we’re all thinking about porn all day long and use that against us like it has with social media, we’re all screwed!
 
Scary stuff!

50% of AI people think there’s a 10% chance humans will be wiped out by AI…

The example: If there’s a plane where 50% of the engineers think there’s a 10% chance of the plan crashing, would you get on it? How do we get off!

Watching that it’s freaky what it can do. Scan your brain while you watch a picture and the AI can recreate you thoughts… wow! Once AI figures out we’re all thinking about porn all day long and use that against us like it has with social media, we’re all screwed!
I'm more worried my dogs will learn to talk and tell people what I get up to. I'm fucked then.
 
Scary stuff!

50% of AI people think there’s a 10% chance humans will be wiped out by AI…

The example: If there’s a plane where 50% of the engineers think there’s a 10% chance of the plan crashing, would you get on it? How do we get off!

Watching that it’s freaky what it can do. Scan your brain while you watch a picture and the AI can recreate you thoughts… wow! Once AI figures out we’re all thinking about porn all day long and use that against us like it has with social media, we’re all screwed!
What's .50 x .50
 
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