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Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg began 2017 with a bold personal challenge: "to have visited and met people in every state in the US by the end of the year."
So far, his whistlestop tour of the states certainly bears all the hallmarks of early political canvassing.
As part of the challenge, Zuckerberg reportedly wanted to meet longtime Democrats who voted for Trump in the last election and asked his team to reach out and find such people.
[...]
Such a tour becomes even more conspicuous in light of unsealed court filings from a class-action lawsuit in 2016 in which Zuckerberg attempted to dilute shareholder power and afford himself permanent control of the $440 billion company.
Of particular note in the proceedings was a message sent to Zuckerberg by Marc Andreessen, one of Facebook's most prominent investors, in which he raised the issue of "how to define the government service thing without freaking out shareholders that you are losing commitment."
"It's the thing people will point to on announcement and say 'what the f**k are you guys doing agreeing to this', particularly since... government service would require you to give up control of Facebook anyway and it's a moot point," said Andreessen, adding credence to speculation that Zuckerberg will make a run for political office at some point in the future.
One of the richest men in the world will be looking out for the little guy, right?
Source: https://www.rt.com/usa/386718-zuckerberg-political-campaign-rumors/
(Score: 2) by VLM on Tuesday May 02 2017, @03:14PM (31 children)
people have begun to realize that they care about
The neocons did a lot of good for Israel. If they were an Israeli political party that would be great, for Israel anyway. They are, however, Americans, theoretically on our side, but they aren't.
What good did that Israel-first political group do for the USA? Well, nothing, just Fed us up and killed a lot of us.
So yeah a political movement who's only slogan is "Fuck America, Americans need to suffer to help out Israel" doesn't sell very well anymore after trying it for a couple decades and seeing the result. Can't claim commie style that we just didn't try hard enough, too many dead Americans to claim that.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Phoenix666 on Tuesday May 02 2017, @03:25PM (30 children)
It's one thing for the neocons to support Israel because they think it will hasten the Rapture, but it's quite another to turn over the formal reins to a Jew. In other words, they use Israel for their own purposes, not because they like Jews.
FWIW, it's fine to be a Jew. It's fine to be a Jew holding office. It's fine to be a Jew and be president. It is not fine to be all those things and warp the policy and might of the most powerful country in the world to the racist and bigoted purposes Israel always pursues. It's absurd. It's as absurd as me becoming president and forcibly breaking England's hold on Scotland because I have Scottish ancestry, and granting every Scot a huge annuity out of the American treasury, and selling them weapons from the top shelf to enable them to ethnically cleanse the English from their lands and gobble up tracts of land south of their border, and fund the building of a giant wall around the English to transform their territory into an open-air prison. That prospect is so fantastical that anyone hearing it would wonder what kind of hallucinogens I'm taking, but it's exactly, exactly what we actually do for Israel.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2) by VLM on Tuesday May 02 2017, @04:05PM (28 children)
A lot of its the cost benefit ratio at work.
Saudi Arabia is a crap country full of crap people that land airplanes in our skyscrapers and crap laws and crap tier human rights. But, they tolerate our military presence mostly and sell a lot of oil, so the net balance is about zero. Yeah they suck, but on average they're worth it.
Israel, well we get, um, nothing? Although the cost is truly over the top immense. Abandon them and let nature take its course like Zimbabwe or soon to be South Africa? I'm sure they'll get along great with the natives after all that imperialism, LOL.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Tuesday May 02 2017, @05:47PM (26 children)
The only serious democracy in the region. The only nuclear power in the region. Proven able to hold their own in an area of the world that absolutely despises them. Why should we not be allies again?
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by VLM on Tuesday May 02 2017, @06:34PM (1 child)
Reasonable points. Sounds like Japan or Russia not Israel. Or maybe France. We don't fight for Japan or Russia or France or do their bidding. Likewise I'm totally not saying "bomb Japan again" but there's a spectrum of friendliness and putting them in charge of US policy as the 51st state is clearly going way way way too far. "We are best buddies" is a long way from "we die, a lot, for you, on your command".
For a good time, I could claim you described South Africa back in the good old days. "Serious", and "Power" being somewhat relative terms on that continent, LOL. Certainly, S.A. back in the good old days wasn't exactly Euro/USA levels of democracy, but observation shows S.A. was a lot more civilized than Rwanda, for example. Now that's a rough neighborhood. Frankly everyone in Africa of every color had a better quality of life when the Euros were in charge in the colonial era. And if they thought the euros were kinda tough masters, they're gonna have so much fun now that China is taking over, now they are a bunch of real hardasses.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Tuesday May 02 2017, @07:25PM
France? Those cheese-eating surrender-monkeys? They'll end up being the first arab nation with nukes here in the next few decades because of their immigration policies. That's how much they love to surrender.
Japan? We absolutely do protect them or they'd be Chinese right now. They're allowed fuck-all for a military, remember?
As for Israel dictating American policy? Get off the crack, man. You're eventually going to notice you live in a nation whose majority religion's deity was Jewish. That tends to lead to favorable feelings towards them.
We also like an underdog, which they are in spades. Every last nation within two borders of them hates their breathing guts and would love nothing better than to see them all dead. And yet they stand. Do they have help? Sure. That's still huge fucking brass cajones though.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 02 2017, @06:41PM (22 children)
Proven able to hold their own in an area of the world that absolutely despises them.
Not so much "hold their own" as "spend billions in foreign aid fighting off everyone."
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Tuesday May 02 2017, @07:15PM (21 children)
Six of one, half a dozen of the other. They need no foreign boots on the ground to hold their piece of it against all comers and that's worthy of respect.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Tuesday May 02 2017, @07:30PM (12 children)
The deserved respect for their toughness and talents is being offset by the blunt and shameless commitment of their "democratic" (don't be the Arab 20%, or the left) government to Apartheid 2.0
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Tuesday May 02 2017, @07:38PM (11 children)
You're going to call Apartheid on Israel when they're surrounded by nations where being Jewish is a death sentence? Bitch, please...
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 02 2017, @07:43PM (1 child)
None of them claim to be a democracy.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Tuesday May 02 2017, @07:50PM
*BZZZT* Wrong! Try again. Half of them claim it but don't functionally have anything resembling it.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Tuesday May 02 2017, @07:45PM (8 children)
Even the U.N. called it Apartheid, before the new guy got a call, and quickly pulled the report out on a technicality before showing the lady the door out.
And yes, I will. Do I need to Godwin the thread to point out that having shitty neighbors doesn't allow you to discard your own obligations?
It's not just the guys in the Occupied Territories. Israeli citizens of Palestinian descent are being actively discriminated against, because the place can be either Jewish or Democratic, but both ain't gonna work...
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Tuesday May 02 2017, @07:52PM (7 children)
The UN just elected Saudi Arabia to head their Women's Rights council. They are a joke. Not even a good one.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Tuesday May 02 2017, @08:47PM (6 children)
Shooting the messenger doesn't change the reality on the ground.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Tuesday May 02 2017, @10:38PM (5 children)
When the UN has every single time sided against Israel on everything it has ever said about the nation, you can go ahead and just dismiss everything they have to say on the matter. At this point I wouldn't believe them if they said Israel was majority Jewish.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Tuesday May 02 2017, @10:53PM (4 children)
Nope, you can't dismiss everything they say, because that's pretty much what you should be listening to, if you ever want to see actual peaceful relations there. Nukes prevent war, but actual peace ain't coming when everyone else refuses to disregards Apartheid against their cousins.
The UN also officialized the creation of Israel, and adopted multiple resolutions recognizing the green line as its border. Hardly "every single time".
The fact that the Zionist hardliners will create their Great Israel from the River to the Sea, current inhabitants be damned (literally), pissing off all the parties involved except the lapdogs US and UK, and making a mockery of their "democracy", doesn't make the UN unfair or biased when pointing it out...
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Tuesday May 02 2017, @11:15PM (3 children)
Yes, I most certainly can. The UN has not been useful for one damned thing in its entire history. It is entirely a sounding board where petty tyrants get to call the bigger tyrants cocksuckers and legitimize their own personal variety of tyranny. Nothing else.
Those "current inhabitants" did not exist before Israel was reformed. There never was a Palestine full of Palestinians. There was sparsely populated desert. Those there now are either people or the descendants of people who moved there with the express purpose of ridding the world of the Jew Menace as their religion commands. They are fighting for land that they have been trying to steal from Israel since WWII and to exterminate all Jews.
And progs like you side with them every single time even though they are violently against everything you stand for at home. Simply because your nation stands against them and you default to thinking everything your nation does is evil. Useful idiots, as Stalin would say.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Tuesday May 02 2017, @11:39PM (2 children)
That first paragraph belittles all the conflicts in which UN peacekeepers have protected millions of lives. Not everything is good with the UN, but not everything is bad either.
That second paragraph is straight up unchecked Zionist propaganda, which I did not expect on even your best trolling days. "Hey, there were Jews 200 years ago. Then there were not, but nobody was there, no sir, not even in the Holy City itself, before, during, or after the crusades, until the Jews came back to the empty desert that they own"
The third one is just plain dumb, period.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 02 2017, @11:57PM
May the light of knowledge shine upon you to unveil the horrors that are TMB posts. If you find yourself agreeing with anything he says do a critical analysis and wonder if perhaps your views are wrong. They may still hold, but better safe than sorry.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 03 2017, @04:08AM
Nobody was there. It wasn't quite empty desert. It had locusts, date palms, terrorists, mosquitoes, and many other creatures. There were no people.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 02 2017, @07:39PM (7 children)
Six of one, half a dozen of the other. They need no foreign boots on the ground to hold their piece of it against all comers
More like 1 of one and a baker's dozen of the other.
They would not even have any boots if it weren't for all the foreign aid.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Tuesday May 02 2017, @07:49PM (6 children)
Their economy's actually doing quite well for them but you were going for snark not facts, yes?
$127.4 billion is the number you're looking for. Not this year; over the last three quarters of a century. That's not even pocket change compared to the money we waste at home every single year; that's the penny we pass on the sidewalk that we don't bother to pick up.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Tuesday May 02 2017, @08:54PM (5 children)
How many of the 3000 Flint-like ongoing lead poisoning cases can you fix with $125B ? How many of the 70000 Structurally Deficient bridges ?
Instead of taking care of Americans, our taxes are used for the Crusade-by-proxy...
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Tuesday May 02 2017, @10:34PM (4 children)
You really want to suggest cutting spending to a libertarian as a progressive?
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Tuesday May 02 2017, @10:42PM (3 children)
I'm pretty sure I was suggesting allocating funds better.
Honestly, my love letter to Uncle Sam this year was 12% of my 6-figure income (under 17%, counting Uncle Jerry)... That's just ridiculously low by most civilized standards. I don't need lower taxes.
I just would prefer scrapping a third of the pentagon in exchange for funded schools, structurally sound roads, and clean water.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Tuesday May 02 2017, @11:00PM (2 children)
Whew, you almost hurt my brain there thinking a progressive might want to stop spending money we can't afford. Glad you clarified.
Really? Most people I know making even $50K/year see 35% of their check just go *poof* every payday. Those making six figures it's more like 40-45%. You really might want to include all of the taxes you pay.
And, yes, I'm certain you would deeply love relegating us to playing military second-fiddle to Russia, China, and possibly even Europe. Even if the money simply went back to the people who it'd been stolen from in the first place. Your type dislike the US even being able to do what's in its best interests, regardless of who likes it.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Tuesday May 02 2017, @11:30PM (1 child)
Come on, stay in non-trolling mode ... You perfectly know that cutting even half of the Pentagon would have the US play second fiddle to absolutely nobody, even if they combined... And I said a third.
Novel concept: Maybe be staffed/equipped to fight two simultaneous World Wars ... when they happen, not when having so many nukes means that even a single one isn't about to happen. And I'm saying that as someone with a lot of friends deriving a paycheck from our obsession to remain in overkill mode even as the debt piles up and our infrastructure crumbles.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Wednesday May 03 2017, @01:02AM
As a vet myself, I know it's technically possible to spend a lot less than we are and get a better military than we have. As a realist who's been around a few years, I know it's not practically possible to do so. Somewhere in the middle is what I'd aim for but I can't back any reduction in combat effectiveness.
Or we could, you know, stop handing out money to people just because they think they deserve it for existing.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by butthurt on Wednesday May 03 2017, @01:05AM
The only serious democracy in the region. The only nuclear power in the region. Proven able to hold their own in an area of the world that absolutely despises them.
The country is one of the few in Africa never to have had a coup d'état, and regular elections have been held for almost a century. However, the vast majority of black South Africans were not enfranchised until 1994. During the 20th century, the black majority sought to recover its rights from the dominant white minority, with this struggle playing a large role in the country's recent history and politics. The National Party imposed apartheid in 1948 [...]
-- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Africa [wikipedia.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 03 2017, @12:38AM
They design every other Intel CPU. They work with us to design and test systems that defend against incoming missiles, morters, artillery, and rockets. They are willing to take our most hard-core Jews, the ones who refuse to push buttons after sundown on Friday.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 02 2017, @06:33PM
> It's one thing for the neocons to support Israel because they think it will hasten the Rapture,
I used to believe that. Then I paid attention to what they were really saying.
Sure, some of the seriously whacko evangelicals think its about the rapture.
But for most of them its about holocaust guilt. We really blew it with things like turning away the jewish refugees on the SS St Louis [ushmm.org] and letting nazi sympathizers like Henry Ford [rarehistoricalphotos.com] and Charles Lindbergh [express.co.uk] as well as sincere anti-war protestors keep us on the sidelines while hitler murdered millions of jews.
Long ago it became dogmatic over-compensation and two wrongs do not make a right. But to ascribe their motivations to rapture hypocrisy is to misunderstand your opponent.