Not one word in Trump's speech yesterday about social security or medicare. Half of Americans have no retirement savings to speak of. You can't save for retirement when you live below the poverty line or even if you live above it and near it.

What the fuck does your post have to do with the OP?

Im going to take a wild ass guess and assume you dont like Trump and you spend your days on reddit making sure everyone knows that huh?

Yes, that is indeed a wild ass guess. My comment deals with the nation we live in. It's OK if you want to reduce everything about the USA down to pro-Trump or anti-Trump but you won't be able to have a discussion with me if that's your intent.

you were the one that introduced Trump to a politically benign post dude.

Trump addressed Congress last night and talked about the nation we live in. During his first few weeks as President he has spoken about health, justice, education, freedom, the press and religion. I'd say that all of these are quite related to the title of this submission. Talking about these things without mentioning Trump is going to be quite a challenge. I guess you think you're up to it. Go for it. Dude.

I dont expect trump to do anything about those issues. I dont expect the next president to do anything about those issues either. The system will continue along until it finally collapses and the person in the white house is completely irrelevant to that probability.

US Presidents are charged with enforcing federal legislation and The Constitution. No one else is given the power to do this except the President. To assert that no President can or should every attempt to carry out his duties with regard to any of these is rather novel.

I checked your post history and apologize for misjudging you and maligning you. I retract my accusation.

You are not wrong about the responsibilities of the president, I just dont think it matters. people other than the president make the important decisions that affect these issues. I do not believe the idea that presidents do not fulfill their constitutional responsibilities is a novel concept on this subreddit.

I certainly agree with you or anyone who asserts that Presidents often fail and disappoint. Nobody is trained to be President. Nobody is really capable of being President. I'm not sure anybody even tries to be President. But, I sure as hell hope that whoever is President ought to try. It would be refreshing to see that.

100% agree friend.

Why are you so offended by what he said?

I over reacted and apologized. Im just tired of all the politics here and lost my temper.

No worries, have a good one.

You too my friend!

Poverty line is a very dynamic thing as well. Someone can be living in San Fransico making 88K a year and still have no savings, or means to save for retirement.

We are in weird times.

I personally do not buy anything that I can't hand someone cash for. If they don't like cash, cool I can go else where.

I've never needed credit, nor will I ever want to. So far no one has had a problem taking a stack of cash.

What about things that you need a credit card for, like getting a rental car?

Just got a rental car recently. Paid for it all with debit. Maybe they ran my credit in other ways.

Nope, your 'debit' card also allows transactions to be processed via the CC network that's on its label (usually Visa or MC). Running the payment as a CC allows them to put a hold on your card and pull further funds as needed, which handing them literal cash would not accomplish. The fact that your card is connected to your own money in a checking or savings account rather than a line of credit extended by a bank doesn't affect the nature of the transaction in the CC system.

Your credit history is not involved in this transaction even if you do use a credit card.

It's strange to live in SF. The cost of living is so high. Many adults live together (like most younger people do to start off) because rent is so expensive, they don't save any money alone.

Just recently I had a friend that wanted to move here, and she had very little idea how expensive it really is to live around the city, it's stupid. I saw a 400 square foot studio for $2500 a month. Did not include washer and dryer, or a freaking fridge!

that's also the avg for 760sq in Seattle.

Civil asset forfeiture is evil. I wouldn't drive anywhere with more than a weeks pay on me.

Does the US government not pay pensioners? In the U.K. They do

No, the US government does NOT pay pensioners. In the US everyone (except farmers) is supposed to pay 7.65 percent of their gross wages into 'The Social Security Fund'. Employers are supposed to match this payment. In 1953 the Supreme Court declared that anyone making this payment has no actual entitlement to the monies they and their employers pay into this 'fund', except that they may, upon retirement, be allowed to receive a payment from the fund IF they have worked for a total of ten years (i.e., 40 quarters). It is a rather modest payment, by the way, averaging about $1,200 per month if I recall correctly. Housewives (or spouses) who haven't had at least a 10 year history of working can receive half of what their spouses receive. My neighbor, a widow, was a nurse for 40 years and makes $2,200 a month. That pays her mortgage, utilities, car payment and a bag of groceries each week. Fortunately for her, she contributed 8 percent of her paycheck to a retirement account and has a bit each month from that to cover the rest of the bills.

Lots of people don't get any social security. People who die before 66 pay into the fund their whole lives but get none of the money they paid into social security. You can't live very well under social security if that is the only thing you get. You are expected to pay your own medical bills in the US. When you reach 65 you get a little help. If you're expected to die within 6 months you get a free visit to a hospice. A lot of people here are dirt poor and live like it's a third world country.

On the other hand, I know a guy who flew helicopters in Vietnam. His military pension is about $2,400 a week.

Because social security and medicare are two of the worst policies this nation has ever implemented (on the same level as the likes of the income tax, the Patriot Act, and Obama care - all of these completely decimate our freedoms.)

Your retirement is not and never has been a legitimate concern of the government - and you'll find that SS, medicare, Obamacare, the income tax (nearly all taxes, actually) are unambiguously unconstitutional. News flash - the Constitutional is almost wholly a libertarian document, limits the power of the government and almost exclusively prevents the evil policies mentioned above (which are wrapped in BS "feel-good" well-intent.)

I never opted for the government to take a single dollar for my - and especially not any body fucking else's - retirement.

This isn't about Trump, btw... It's about individual freedom and individual responsibility and until we embrace that as a nation we will continue to flounder.

You are very intense, but I would like to challenge you on a few facts.

Where in the U.S. Constitution do you think a program like Social Security is prohibited?

Why shouldn't we, the People, develop a program of wealth redistribution that helps ensure that elderly people don't suffer in poverty because they can't work? Yes, many can save enough to make this unnecessary, but for any number of reasons, there are many who cannot save enough to retire comfortably. I am happy to give up a small share of my income to ensure their well-being and prevent tragedy. Most others are as well. Consequently, the U.S. Congress passed a law and the President signed it, and now we do it, and that is how are democracy works. Just because you yourself would rather see a different policy, that doesn't mean it's invalid.

"I never opted for the government.." That's not how laws work. We decide on them collectively using the tools of democracy. You have to abide by those laws to live here as a free person.

Yes, I am very passionate about this... And you challenged me with questions, not facts... And I'm sorry, I find it hilarious that you end your comment with "to live here as a free person" right after stating I should be coerced to forfeit my property for an extremely dubious cause (which... is bankrupt.)

The Constitution was drafted explicitly to limit the power of the Federal Government, which was created by the people. Everyone loves to cite Article 1 Section 8 - exclusively the phrase "provide for the common defense and general Welfare" - to essentially grant unlimited power to congress to pass any law just because the majority of congress voted for that law. This is not how it works and is exactly why we have a Constitution which lists enumerated powers we the people have granted unto congress. I will offer it is a poorly constructed clause, which was vehemently pointed out by Hamilton, however the word "Welfare" had a completely different meaning when the Constitution was drafted: "Exemption from any unusual evil or calamity; the enjoyment of peace and prosperity, or the ordinary blessings of society and civil government (Webster’s American Dictionary of the English Language, 1828)."

So - "why shouldn't we, the People..."

Jesus, I could write an entire dissertation on this. Number One, and by far the most important, is it infringes on my civil liberties and my own rights to my own personal property. It is disheartening that there are "those who cannot save enough" - but this is not my concern as a sovereign individual... and I'll tell you what, I could surely use my own money at the moment - so who is it more important to that the confiscated property serves? The man it was taken from and could sorely use it, or the man it was given to who did not work for it? Leftists love the word "fair" ... this doesn't seem very "fair" to me.

If you are happy to give up a small share of your income, then by all freaking means, do it - just don't force me to do it, also.

We are not a democracy and the government currently, and has for a while (basically since Roosevelt) operated far outside of its constitutional boundaries.

I'm not saying "that's how laws work" - I'm telling you the law is fucking morally corrupt and an illegitimate overreach of the Federal Govt. There are legitimate laws, and then there is govt overreach, and the latter make up nearly 99% of federal law today.

Good conversation! Nobody should be downvoting you for clearly stating your ideas. I disagree with most things you are saying but you earned my upvote!

A few points:

This is not how it works

You specifically pointed out why that is how it works. One of the enumerated powers is to provide for the general welfare. I'm not sure what kind of econ background you have, but this clause allows us to get together and pool our money to buy public goods. Things we all want, but none of us can individually afford. Parks, roads, fire stations, a military, etc. These public goods make us all wealthier because they make our lives better than they cost to implement. We want the ability to share out money in this way.

As for whether any particular expenditure is worth more than it costs, well, that's what the democratic decision-making process is there to determine. Welfare programs are easily worth it, in my opinion (and many others). Hence, it was put into practice.

"it infringes on my civil liberties and my own rights to my own personal property"

The taxes you contribute to our collective governing get you more than they cost you. See above about roads, schools, parks, etc. If they didn't, we wouldn't be doing them. We don't get to individually decide what those public goods expenditures are, though. It has to be a shared decision by definition. Just because you don't like (or directly benefit) from some of them doesn't mean you don't contribute. You benefit from roads near your house that other people helped pay for despite using far less than you, too. You want this, you just don't realize it.

(I'd bet, you also don't want old people starving to death for reasons not their fault).

The law isn't morally corrupt. Your understanding of governments work is severely limited by a philosophy of self-interest promoted by wealthy people, though.

I'm libertarian but I'm not fully a taxation is theft guy. I find SS useful for my needs just so long as it remains solvent. My parents depend on it. I can live with that and live with paying for public school and sewers. To me none of that falls under a reasonable definition of theft. You may disagree.

The real theft that I care about is fiat currency. In the 60s minimum wage was 1.25. We were on the gold standard back then. $1.25 in old silver quarters is now worth near $20. That's the entire problem, right there. We're being robbed. Also if money was tied to metals again we wouldn't have all this deficit spending (where you get into taxation that is clearly theft by anyone's standards), so you take care of income inequality and national debt in one swoop.

Everything in the US society is backward. We reward pathological, immoral and dysfunctional behaviors and we punish honest, noble, productive behavior.

The system is totally fucked and will not last. This system of crime and bassawkwardness cannot sustain itself.

Totally agreed. It's like this all over the world.

fortunetly its not

Actually the Islamic state has not let go of morals and values. In fact you'll get killed if you violate it too much.

It's the wrong morals though and I struggle to even understand that they're morals. Such as accepting Mohamed having sex with a 7 yr old girl, killing people who believe in a different god than you etc. etc.

ISIS is suffering from the same problems as the rest of the world. Global capitalism is, at present, consuming all human values and endeavors.

• not to say that capitalism is all bad (it has done and is doing very productive and valuable tasks)
• not to say the left or socialist groups have any better answers (the left after Jimmy Carter has provided nothing but useless identity politics and establishment apologetics)

Zizek speaks on the topic quite forcefully. https://youtu.be/eizVX02W6aM?t=15m29s

Good video, thanks for linking. The examples he gives for why he thinks ISIS has already been infected by the West are quite convincing, and the logic extends just about everywhere else in the world.

Thanks for posting that. That's a very good video of Zizek's thoughts. Unfortunately, the journalist is an idiot and didn't understand what Zizek said. In the end the journalist just repeated himself with a lame untrue statement and ended the interview. The translation is obviously poor. But if you listen to him, it's clear he didn't understand a damn thing Zizek said.

Well it's not wrong morals it's about perspective. Western law is based on rehabilitation. The Sharia is about prevention.

For example food clothing and shelter are guaranteed in an Islamic State so there is no reason to commit crimes. Then there are harsh penalties on top of that for anyone thinking of committing a crime anyways.

Edit: Also I don't understand why non-Muslim are so fixated on the age of the Prophet's wife. Unless you are planning on marrying a 9yo don't even bring up the topic it's not a point of argument. Non-Muslims talk about this topic as if it is a major factor in their life.

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that to kill someone based on their religious beliefs is not a matter of perspective, it's just wrong.

Western law is based on rehabilitation

I think you mean restitution and punishment.

Aisha is an excuse used by plenty of imams and muslim men to sexually abuse female children. And the disgusting pedophilia poet their excuse for abusing little boys.

Raymond Ibrahim: Rationalizing Pedophilia in Islam

These beliefs are of a sect of Muslim. Most do not believe such immoral things. Look up in Wikipedia for more balanced presentation.

The koran reads like the anti-Christ commandments.

Thou SHALL kill (infidels, women, other muslims whatever) Thou SHALL lie (and 6 or other special words for it like Taqiyya lie that you are peaceful and a friend until there are enough muslims then chop off heads and hands) Thou SHALL rape, enslave and worship falls idols including a so called prophet who believed himself demon possessed.

Anyway I agree this age is the bizarro world

Yeah basically afaik the rules are no religion other than Islam is allowed in the Arabian peninsula and no religion other than Islam, Christianity, and Judaism is allowed within the Islamic State in general.

Personally I don't see the problem with chopping off hands? If your food clothing and shelter are taken care of like in an Islamic State, why would you even steal?

Actually that's a weirdly fair argument by western standards. It would make for an intersting debate.

So satanic?

I heard it explained that Satanism uses upside down religious symbols. The cross, star of David becomes pentagram. Satan is in control of the world when everything is upside down.

You need to educate yourself about what satanism is actually all about friendo

Salary is damn near perfectly inverse to inherent worth of the position.

So a janitor is worth more than the lead systems developer?

Looks like we got a lead systems developer over here (but also yes)

That's okay because we're bringing the rest of the world to us so we can experience their brands. /r/multiculturalcancer

That's is the result of seperation of the state and religion.

You're going to have to explain that one, bub.

250 years of unsustainability.

Yep, totally not working.

It hasnt been unsustainable that entire time, for one.

Secondly, the current system we have is vastly different than the original system put in place.

The system of 250 years ago is dead.

The current system is dying.

/r/LateStageCapitalism

I love Leftism and the idea of that sub, but the mods of the sub make me hate it.

Still upvoted tho

You know, I felt the same way with the recent drama in the /r/socialism mod elections. I've been an undecided far leftist for a couple months now, but the fact that /r/socialism mods can't have a fucking reddit election without rigging it makes me lean towards libertarian socialism or anarchy.

Yeah /r/socialism mods are also mostly turds.

Tbh, I've always felt something fishy was behind the scenes with those subs. Whether it was teenagers or college kids trying to act authoritarian for their "space" or whatever and making it worse for many people accidently, or whether it is a few mods having some sort of ties to an organization that would want to divert the sub for nefarious motives (i.e. the Feds), I don't know.

I find it funny that a Leftist chan website (8ch.net/leftypol) was able to collectively fund an episode of the great Richard Wolfe's presentation "Global Capitalism," but I can't recall anything that /r/socialism or /r/LSC has done to impact real life.

or whether it is a few mods having some sort of ties to an organization that would want to divert the sub for nefarious motives (i.e. the Feds), I don't know.

I've wondered that too. Certainly lefty reddit is under surveillance by the FBI, but I can't help but wonder if or not the moderators are compromised/informants.

but I can't recall anything that /r/socialism or /r/LSC has done to impact real life.

/r/FULLCOMMUNISM has promoted strikes and stuff. I agree though, those subs should be putting their money where their mouths are. Donation drives and events to spread class consciousness, and educate the working class about how they're being manipulated.

what happened?

https://www.reddit.com/r/SubredditDrama/comments/5wjt2e/rsocialism_mods_subvert_democratic_will_of_users/

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Maybe this is CERN's doing - flip reality.

It's not backwards. It's a system based on human nature.

I totally disagree. It's based on psychopathic behavior. Most humans are not psychopaths, just the leaders.

Couldn't have said it better.

Sorry the free enterprise system, capitalism, money based meritocracy is human nature. It's human nature to trade for competitive advantage.

The only problem is that government has become so huge that it perverts the market to the whims of those who control government. The free market is not to blame for something easily explained by governmental malpractice.

You're responding to the wrong person.

It was meant for your eyes.

It had nothing to do with my post.

It did. Maybe you're too dense to realize it.

Friendly.

The only problem is that government has become so huge that it perverts the market to the whims of those who control government. The free market is not to blame for something easily explained by governmental malpractice.

The REAL problem here is that the corporations has become so massive that it start to blot everything else. They became the always hungry predators, and their hungers for power and profit never stop.

The Global Imperialist (Who you guys call the Globalist) is the biggest incarnation of this thing. It grows when the Soviets (Love them or hate them, they are an opposing force to their plan) being destroyed. And they almost having full control, if it wasnt for the internet (A tool for mass brainwashing backfiring). Now, they are shaking. And this is probably the only chance for a full revolution.

Yeah but don't blame capitalism and free enterprise like the socialists do... The problem is we've given the government too much power and companies use that government power to protect themselves with regulation and special favors.

More government control is not the answer, neither are large corporations. But the free enterprise system is an amazing thing that is the very essence of human nature.

The thing is: How to stop a free enterprise from turning into that type of corporation? This makes the socialist tries to get rid of the "free enterprise", since it's not really free. Yeah you can say that anyone could do it with enough wealth, but how much is "enough"? The piss poor workers at that time surely dont have enough, and the capitalists at the top likely just gonna take even more money to themselves, and make sure the rest dont have enough wealth to topple them. This makes the number of the people that doesnt have "enough" grows. And well, we come to this problem: the 0.0001% has too much, while the rest suffers

Now, how to solve the problem above is a tricky one. The Socialist/Communist wants to change the core of humanity, but that's gonna take a very long time. The libertarian/anarchist wants to erase the government, but due to our nature, it will lead into 2 scenarios: full blown barbarism, or the corporationist, who just get wiped will regroup and strike back, and without anyway to unite the people, they will take back and re-establish the government again, this time, with even harsher rules and more ways to control us. So a state, a government is still needed, but it has to run by all of us, and has to have a way for all of us to check what they do. I dont have any answer for it, but maybe the internet might be the thing to do it.

boom.

Chris hedges is one hell of a gate keeper

you can thank the diagnostic medicine school for this fault. It wasn't like that in the ancient times.

I doubt you know what it was like in ancient times.

Well, I know the doctors where the enlightened elders of the community, they saw the whole individual and did not solely rely on the treatment of symptoms like the diagnostic medicine we have today does, where you have 20 minutes conversation with your "doctor" and upon where you recieve a prescription and sends you to the nearest pharmacy.

Everything is broken. It's hard to comprehend the changes that have occurred just in the last fifteen years. You can crash a car in seconds... and it will takes weeks to undo or repair the damage. The damage to our democracy in the past decades will never be restored :(

And the Committee of Public Safety decides who is terminally unsafe

It's almost like that book, what's it called again.....

This is double plus ungood.

1984? or 2017 the sequel?

1984.

2017 The New And Improved 1984.

The ministry of Alternative Facts.

Committee of Public Safety beheaded people in France in late 1700s

And according to Chris Hedges, Mass enslavement of the people via globalization and dehumanizing of 7 billion people into drone like mutants is the solution.

Chris Hedges is NOT liberal, he is a propagandist who often* forgets what his point is so often his writing is unreadable.

But then it is hard to pretend to be a political and economic liberal when you are just another tool of the oligarchy.

Source: His own writing.

I'm sure you'll find it easily then. You must know which book you read.

I didn't claim to have read his books, it was articles I read back in 2008/09, 10 that turned me off. I have ignored him since then.

You made very silly claims of his views and fail to back it up.

Thanks for calling my opinion silly. I am not going to go back and re-read his excess verbiage to justify what I think.

You didn't state it was your opinion at the time. Of course you have a right to your opinion, but everyone else has a right to call you on your silly thoughts and ask for evidence. I've followed CH for years, probably close to a decade. What you claimed is ludicrous.

Here is my original comment. How could that be interpreted as anything but an opinion.

GuruOfGravitas -4 points 9 hours ago*

And according to Chris Hedges, Mass enslavement of the people via globalization and dehumanizing of 7 billion people into drone like mutants is the solution.

Chris Hedges is NOT liberal, he is a propagandist who forgets what his point is so often his writing is unreadable.

But then it is hard to pretend to be a political and economic liberal when you are just another tool of the oligarchy.

I want to read this. What are you talking about? It sounds like fascinating reading.

Honestly wondering what you're referring to. I'm reading a book by Hedges now and that is not the impression I get from him in anyway. He was a foreign war correspondent for decades in Bosnia, Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine/Gaza. All his writing is about the horrors of empire/oligarchy and how a militarized country cannabalizes itself morally and economically. He is one of the harshest critics I've ever read on global capitalism, US foreign policy, the Democratic and Republican corporate duopoly, Israel, Wall Street, mass consumer culture, war, environmental inaction. He was on the front lines of the Occupy, is a proponent of secessionist movements, mass strikes and divestment from corporations. He even sued Obama over the NDAA. And he has been marginalized and blacked out for speaking truth to power. Dissidents on any side of the spectrum are super important in my opinion

Occupy was pure astroturff, to mislead you into thinking something would be done, kind of like what Hedges is up to.

I disagree man. Hedges wrote plenty about what was wrong with Occupy as well. He has been consistent in his criticism of corporate empire, and his writing is pretty fire and brimstone trying to get people to take action

Really? Have we read the same Chris Hedges?

Have you read Empire of Illusion?

This is completely true. And the great american hope employing goldman sachs employees and promising closer ties to israel which is THE most anti-american act ever. And don't even talk about the DNC, Clinton, Podesta etc. etc. it should be pretty obvious that they will end america.

In the last days, expect everything to be inversed and alien to the regular people.

In the last days, expect everything to be inversed and alien to the regular people.

Was hoping this was going to read "In the last days, expect everything to be invaded by aliens". That's my hope for this lost world.

God damn eyes trying to read ahead

Yep most everyone on this planet is living the lie.

Chris Hedges info on Inverted Totalitarianism is really good.

Holy fuck this is incredible.

Link?

YouTube search inverted totalitarianism. It's like an academic substantiation of what gets discussed here routinely.

Thank you

You should also read the original author of that idea: Sheldon Wolin, once a professor political economy (or poli sci I don't remember) before he passed away.

http://press.princeton.edu/titles/9175.html

Hedges is a good writer, and hence a good propagandist, but his analysis is weak and gives way to the emotionally moving but empty narratives that animate his propaganda.

He's a Presbyterian minister, so his writing often comes across as sermonic

He's not Presbyterean, he's a Unitarian.

He was ordained in the Presbyterian Church in 2014.

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/ordained_to_write_20141013

Kind of like your empty rhetoric?

No. More like yours.

• I had to have surgery and my Doctor did a great job.
• I needed some legal help and the lawyer I used did a great job.
• I know some young people who went to a university and ended up getting great jobs.
• Yes.
• Depends what you mean by press.
• Not all religions.
• Yes.

Systemic trends are what matters

I just think one ought to be careful when making sweeping generalizations or implying "all".

It would be as if someone asked you what you did for a living and they said, "Oh, all people in that industry are perverts." That would not be true and would dishonor those who personally try to do their best in a bad system.

Just because YOU had some good/decent experiences, doesn't make up for the great whole being fucked.

I'll take "anecdotal evidence," for $2000, Alex.

Its up to us to turn this sad state of affairs around. We are aware, and awareness is the first step. Let's get to work!

USA "Patriot PATRIOT" Act

FTFY, it's an abbreviation, not a word

I'm not really sure about the doctors part. I think most of the problems are caused by hospital admins, not doctors.

The food pyramid is a great example of this. It was pushed by the food industry and politician in the 70s. It was made to sell subsidized crops, not to create better health for Americans. Doctors at the time were heavily against it stating that they didn't know what it was going to do to the health of Americans. It turned out to be a perfect recipe for type2 diabetes, heart disease, and obesity. Fast forward 30-40 years and doctors are now pushing it it be "healthy" Recently it changed to the food plate, which isn't much better.

Cut out grains, sugars, and processed oils (vegetable oil). Eat mostly vegetables, fruits, and meat. Don't be scared of saturated fats.

Some doctors are also paid shills by food corporations, that use them to vouch for a certain product or some 'miracle ingredient' being healthy or worth paying more for. Supermarkets can sell 'organic' and 'local' food as being way better for you and the environment, while shipping the organic food halfway across the world from a 'local' town near where it's shipped. There's very few regulations on this too, so consumers just put their faith in the supermarkets and that they're telling the truth.

Why don't you just try anyway

"the first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers"

shakespeare, henry VI, pt. 2, scene 2, line 73

Doctors don't really destroy health though, do they?

The fatcat middle management in healthcare, and the fact that there's no national accessible-to-all healthcare system, might be destroying health, but doctors destroying health? Yeah, this guy is gonna have to elaborate on that or STFU.

We have a massive opioid addiction epidemic that kills a large number of people yearly. Who do you think keeps prescribing these meds?

i hold pharma more responsible then doctors, who are often educated incorrectly

Doctors have to prescribe it. I don't see how the statement: "doctors destroy health" is more or less accurate depending on the doctors internal justification for their actions.

My friend went to the VA mid last year because he was having violent thoughts. Got into a politics argument with somebody and got so pissed he was just waiting for the person to give him an excuse to kill him.

So after a single 20 minute visit, after NO physiological tests, the doctor prescribed him 9 (NINE!) different pills. For anger. Based solely on their conversation.

Anger he already controlled on his own. Some of those pills were just too counter the side effects of the other pills.
(He now smokes weed and doesn't take any of the pills btw.)

I'm gonna go ahead and say that doctor is evil. You can reserve judgement if you like. I think it's inexcusable.

It's their literal job to know better.

If only they were paid a living wage we might get some competent folks in medicine

The people writing the prescriptions aren't doing the research, so they listen to the people who make the products, believe their studies etc. I believe they almost all have good intentions on the front line

Doing damage via empowering disease processes is still damaging regardless of the origin

If we believe the medical industry like the prison industry are treated as a business model, then it doesn't make sense for them to supply the real cures for ailments and diseases, why give you a 20$ cure when they can charge you for months on "fake" medicine, but not sure if their is any evidence of that, just saying logically it doesn't make sense for corporations to give us one-off cures.

Strangely enough...

Medical malpractice is now the THIRD leading cause of death in the US.

Scary if true, but it has been challenged on the basis that there may be flawed assumptions, which would mean that one in every 3 deaths in hospitals would have to be due to medical malpractice:

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/jun/03/medical-error-study-cause-of-death-criticized

Still, even if it's only 10% of the original figure, that's still way too damn high, for sure. I'd be interested to know how much of that is doctors fucking up and how much is stuff like miscommunications when patients are transferred, etc.

It's far far to much that's for sure.

Yes. The American Health Org (cant remember the name), has been touting the lie that fats are bad, and sugars are ok, since the industry maintained that lie dozens of years ago. My Bio teacher outright told us, that this org is responsible for the obesity epidemic in America.

There needs to be a recognition of modern science, to save people from the pitfalls they are sold for cheap. However if that were done, people wouldn't be duped into exposing themselves with all manner of garbage (so they can be studied after).

Cancer makes money. How are Doctors not harming people? Not directly, but indirectly, of course, and in every way possible. Gouging economically, and questionably helpful physically.

Prevention doesn't make money, because only an ounce will do!

This is very true and I don't give a fuck if its said by the Kremlin or Bernie Sanders

Kali Yuga

The PATRIOT Act is probably in place to tag people ("lone wolves") who realize that 'radical muslims' only hate America because we killed them by the millions and wanted to control their oil and interfered in their governments, long before 9/11 happened.

It was also written before 9.11. by none other than "BidenBro"

Hur dur but have you seen the picture of him eating ice cream? He's just like one of u/s

WAIT. I LIKE ICE CREAM.OMG WE ARE SO RELATABLE

I'm probably out of the loop here but do you have a source?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omnibus_Counterterrorism_Act_of_1995

The last paragraph:

During the debate over the Patriot Act of 2001 then Senator Joe Biden compared this bill to its 2001 counterpart stating "I drafted a terrorism bill after the Oklahoma City bombing. And the bill John Ashcroft sent up was my bill."[7]

Non-Mobile link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omnibus_Counterterrorism_Act_of_1995

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Sykes-Picot Agreement

Thank God you can't fuck up peanut butter.

lol

Well said.

"..and the USA "Patriot" Act destroyed America"

False. The country being hijacked by Nazis within the CIA on Nov 22, 1963 destroyed America.

Tell me more about this gem of information you have here. Nazis in the CIA, you say??

Correct me if I'm off mark, but I believe Jeffrey is referring to the Green Hilton Memorial Agreement. It is hypothesized that JFK was assassinated by trying to put the federal reserve out of business by creating a new gold backed currency. This agreement, whose authenticity i remain agnostic too, gave JFK access to a sufficient horde of gold to make this possible. This Horde of gold, called the global collateral accounts, (whose authenticity i can neither confirm nor deny), represents a vast sum wealth derived from centuries of economic activity in Asia. It is surmised that the CIA had knowledge of both Kennedy's intent and capability to follow through, as well as the banking cabals reptilian will to safeguard its printing press. When push came to shove within the agency, the Nazi's (pro federal reserve representatives (because every bankers wet dream is a fascist global government [privatized gains, socialized losses])) leveraged the banking interests against the government. so that the CIA became de facto middleman between the two. With the CIA's newfound power over the the government at the backs of the bankers, a new era of politic was ushered in. An era championed by Cheney, Rumsfeld, Bush, Brzezinski, Clinton and Kissinger. Their Motto? NWO, and there wasn't turning back after they killed JFK

Not quite (though that is interesting)-- I was referring to the fact that the Nazi war machine was funded and supported by Wall street banking and corporate interests who later imported vast swaths of Nazi infrastructure and ideology into the US by way of the CIA following WW2.

The same Wall street financial interests (Bush, Dulles et. al) that funded the rise of the Nazi war machine in the 30s and 40s afterward imported vast swaths of Nazi infrastructure, spies, scientists and ideology into the CIA following WW2-- a process which culminated in the assassination of JFK in 1963. Check out "The Devil's Chessboard" by David Talbot.

Is this that whole Operation Paperclip thing? I didn't realize the CIA was involved in any way, but hey why wouldn't they be? When was the CIA created? Nvm I woll google that ;)

I couldn't find a free pdf of that book, so I guess it is still selling :/

Have you seen the damage control the CIA put out in response to this book??

https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/csi-publications/csi-studies/studies/vol-60-no-3/seeger-the-devils-chessboard.html

Attack the Muslims watch your nation fall.

History repeats itself, everyone that attacks the Muslims has failed. Now your seeing it happen to America.

You could argue Europe changing as well, as in their culture is being replaced.

Hopefully we'll see a cultural replacment in America as well instead of total collapse.

I'd like to be the (second) to ask for the source. Which book or article or website (and, if a book, what page or chapter)? It's useful to have the idea expressed in the quotation, but I'd like to know the context and be able to verify the attribution (and a quick websearch didn't help).

I agree, mostly, except ironically: religion doesn't 'destroy' morals. One of these is not like the others.

The fatcat middle management in healthcare, and the lawyer I used did a great job.

what an amazing sentence, I couldnt agree more

You can only suppress consciousness for so long

Pretty soon firemen will start the fires.

That actually happened in the Roman Empire

/u/WisdomModifier was referencing Farenheit 451

Yessir, I was. Excellent book, which seems to grow more and more poignant by the day.

...And then Atlas shrugged.

The US is going the way of the old USSR in more ways than one.

Rhetoric is fine, but show me where doctors intentionally and recklessly destroy health, in the way that banks destroy the economy.

Not to mention that the Anti-Defamation League openly slanders people.

How do doctors destroy health?

Pills.

That gets you better?

or are you just referring to psychiatrists?

Some meds help, I'll agree. But some destroy internal organs, health and lives.

Sounds like, exactly what the Russians planned to do to America, to destroy Her. Maybe they really did it.

A bit exaggerated, no?

Is "Chris Hedges" suggesting that being a doctor should not require university because university inherently 'destroys knowledge'? What about being a civil engineer? No university there either, right?

What a ridiculous quote that takes everything out of context to misrepresent institutions.

Funny how all the Trump fanboys think he's going to fix all of this

The blizzard of the world has crossed the threshold and has overturned the order of the soul. -Leonard Cohen

Ain't it lovely?

I was listening to Ras Kass this morning and this quote popped up as an intro to a song. Although I think it was Icke quoting Hedges. Here it is if anyone's interested.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwDr-1hc8Cc

I agree with this.

Religion destroys morals?

I think it should say creates false morals. And dogma, don't leave out dogma.

Get this to r/all and dare them to say otherwise.

Islam doesn't destroy moral

and Chris Hedges is a superb plagiarist

... and yet, we continue to elect the same politicians time after time.

You too my friend!

That actually happened in the Roman Empire

I just think one ought to be careful when making sweeping generalizations or implying "all".

It would be as if someone asked you what you did for a living and they said, "Oh, all people in that industry are perverts." That would not be true and would dishonor those who personally try to do their best in a bad system.