JCVD FTW.
"It’s dark out there, and it’s easy to say, well, yes, but it always has been (and that’s not true - it’s been darker, it’s been lighter, but right now? It’s pretty damn dark). It’s easy - and very attractive - to be cynical and disengage, or to simply disengage through ignoring everything, but neither makes anything better, and neither leads to solutions.
So what can we do? We can make noise. We must make noise. We’re all busy, yeah, but you know what? A lot of us are online, and it takes a minute to find the email of your senators or your congresspeople, and you can find their office phone numbers, too. You can take five minutes to write an email and say what you think, what matters, and to let your representatives know that you will remember what they do and what they say. You have to follow through; we all have to follow through, with praise and condemnation alike.
And no, it doesn’t feel like nearly enough, but it’s a start. Being informed, informing others, looking at facts and trying to verify them (and that can be hard, too; there’s disinformation on all sides, and conspiracy theorists to muddy the waters, too). If enough people start to push, any boulder can be moved. We have to fight despair. We have to fight that exact feeling of helplessness, because that is exactly how we’ve gotten where we are - made to feel powerless, so what’s the point?"
"Mr. Stanhope... has said that there is no such thing as addiction. “There are only things you enjoy doing more than life,” he said."
"I've recently seen two articles speculating on the NSA's capability, and practice, of spying on members of Congress and other elected officials. The evidence is all circumstantial and smacks of conspiracy thinking -- and I have no idea whether any of it is true or not -- but it's a good illustration of what happens when trust in a public institution fails. The NSA has repeatedly lied about the extent of its spying program. James R. Clapper, the director of national intelligence, has lied about it to Congress. Top-secret documents provided by Edward Snowden, and reported on by the Guardian and other newspapers, repeatedly show that the NSA's surveillance systems are monitoring the communications of American citizens. The DEA has used this information to apprehend drug smugglers, then lied about it in court. The IRS has used this information to find tax cheats, then lied about it. It's even been used to arrest a copyright violator. It seems that every time there is an allegation against the NSA, no matter how outlandish, it turns out to be true.
All of this denying and lying results in us not trusting anything the NSA says, anything the president says about the NSA, or anything companies say about their involvement with the NSA. We know secrecy corrupts, and we see that corruption. There's simply no credibility, and -- the real problem -- no way for us to verify anything these people might say. It's a perfect environment for conspiracy theories to take root: no trust, assuming the worst, no way to verify the facts. Think JFK assassination theories. Think 9/11 conspiracies. Think UFOs. For all we know, the NSA might be spying on elected officials. Edward Snowden said that he had the ability to spy on anyone in the U.S., in real time, from his desk. His remarks were belittled, but it turns out he was right...
It's time to start cleaning up this mess. We need a special prosecutor, one not tied to the military, the corporations complicit in these programs, or the current political leadership, whether Democrat or Republican. This prosecutor needs free rein to go through the NSA's files and discover the full extent of what the agency is doing, as well as enough technical staff who have the capability to understand it. He needs the power to subpoena government officials and take their sworn testimony. He needs the ability to bring criminal indictments where appropriate. And, of course, he needs the requisite security clearance to see it all. We also need something like South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission, where both government and corporate employees can come forward and tell their stories about NSA eavesdropping without fear of reprisal...
Trust is essential for society to function. Without it, conspiracy theories naturally take hold. Even worse, without it we fail as a country and as a culture. It's time to reinstitute the ideals of democracy: The government works for the people, open government is the best way to protect against government abuse, and a government keeping secrets from its people is a rare exception, not the norm."
Exactly this - So one of my psych professors explained the...:
"So one of my psych professors explained the difference between introverts and extroverts the clearest way I’ve heard: Introverts expend energy socialising, extroverts gain energy from socialising. That’s literally it, it has nothing to do with intelligence, or even how much you enjoy spending time with people. An introvert can like going out but just find it exhausting.and an extrovert can happily spend a few days alone. With all the stupid misinformation about these labels about this seems the clearest way to define the terms."
"When people say, "You have nothing to fear if you have nothing to hide," ask them if it's fine to install cameras in their homes, not just in the living room but the bedroom and bathroom. Ask them if they'd mind wearing a microphone and video camera every day, so others can check on what they've said and done. You are guilty of something. I guarantee it. Lawmakers have created countless new crimes and punishments, and allowed law enforcement to extend old laws in dangerous ways. Have you ever told anything short of the absolute truth when filling out an online form to use some service? We can charge you with a felony for that. And, by the way, we don't need to convict you at trial. If you are a target, we can ruin you financially if you try to defend yourself. This is what we expect in banana republics and police states, not here. And as the surveillance state expands, it will create more targets among people like you."
"He told the amazing story of how Renzo once broke a man's foot without even touching him. Yes, you read that correctly. He never touched him. Here is the story, as relayed to me by Dave: He told me a story about one time when he was in Brazil. There was a bully that kept f***ing with him, right. Renzo said that he couldn't beat the guy, because the guy was much bigger than he was. The bully, in Brazil, he was like a good soccer player or something, so Renzo tricked him.
He told the bully to meet him at the beach. Renzo took two boxes, and one of the boxes was empty, it was just an empty box. He took the other box, and he put it over a small boulder. He told the guy, 'I bet you my man, I can kick this box farther than you into the water.' Of course he kicked the box that didn't have a rock on the inside of it. He kicked the hell out of that box [laughs]. The bully is like, 'Aw man, you can't kick this box farther than me', and the guy went to kick the box as hard as he could, and he broke his foot. I don't care if you're a fan of the Gracies or not, that story is awesome. It's not about the size of the dog in the fight, it's about the size of the brain in the dog. Renzo Gracie is a very smart dog."
My inner child is confused, yet happy now. Of course, I was in high school when The Little Mermaid came out, so not so much "child" then.
"Today, I walked past a guy who had a really cool Klingon Empire tattoo on his forearm. I thought to myself, “I should totally say qapla’ to him!” But before my mouth could form the word, another part of my brain said, “shut up, you fool! He’ll think you’re making fun of him!” I hate it when my brain fights with itself, so I just said, “Dude, that Klingon tattoo is badass.” He looked up at me and said, “thanks, man!” He took a couple steps away, stopped and turned back to me. He said, “actually, I guess I should say qapla’!” “Dude!” I exclaimed, “I was totally going to say that, but I didn’t want to be That Guy.” He pointed at his tattoo and sheepishly said, “well, I’m clearly That Guy, so…” “Oh no,” my brain shouted, “I made him feel bad!” Thinking quickly, I gave him the Klingon salute and said, in my gruffest Klingon voice, “Today is a good day to be That Guy.”"
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