The Current Events Thread

[Kamak]

This is great news. Hopefully the methods the doctors used can be replicated in other patients to save them, since she's the only known survivor of it.

Any word on whether she's going to suffer any long-term damage? I know they were worried about what it might do to her but hoped that rehab would be all she needed. Then again, it might be too early to know.

[Tetrunes]

iirc there are 2 in the US who have survived, and I'm not sure about any long term damage.

[The Willow Witch]

International Children's games opening event

My city is hosting it this year.

Was actually pretty awful to experience with a hardcore migraine.

Hey I can admit the international thing is cool, having all these kids from all over the world and seeing them interact with each other is exiting.

But I fucking hate sports.

[Syobon]

NSA broke privacy rules thousands of times per year, audit finds

So, when is something actually going to be done about this?

[Exeres]

When our collective outrage surpasses our collective apathy.

[Gryewolf]

I'd be more suprised if anything is ever done about it.

[Madican]

NSA broke privacy rules thousands of times per year, audit finds

So, when is something actually going to be done about this?

People are already angry, we just can't do anything about it unless the politicians decide to, short of an outright revolution which would be bloody as hell. We can demand accountability all we like but they're ultimately only as accountable as they want to be since we can't force the government to do anything.

Hell Snowden revealed all this to the public knowing that the government wouldn't apologize, but would instead come at him with a vengeance and label him a traitor. It's hilarious that Obama keeps saying Snowden could have gone through the proper legal channels while conveniently forgetting judicial is a branch of government that has consistently quashed any attempts to do stuff of that sort.

[D-vid]

Who would have thought?

I'd say there doesn't have to be a bloody revolution à la 1770s to correct that. A collective Rosa Parks of a big part of the country might work too.
Also as a shameless political advertisement, you guys might want to look into the Pirate Party. They're all up in that privacy business and with such headlines they would have a field day.
You'd only need to manage to vote them into the government. Which I know is hard after 250 years of only ever voting between blue and red but if you want a start, that would be it. If the American Pirate Party is anything like ours, that would be a great achievement for your rights.

[TheStranger]

NSA broke privacy rules thousands of times per year, audit finds

So, when is something actually going to be done about this?

People are already angry, we just can't do anything about it unless the politicians decide to, short of an outright revolution which would be bloody as hell. We can demand accountability all we like but they're ultimately only as accountable as they want to be since we can't force the government to do anything.

Hell Snowden revealed all this to the public knowing that the government wouldn't apologize, but would instead come at him with a vengeance and label him a traitor. It's hilarious that Obama keeps saying Snowden could have gone through the proper legal channels while conveniently forgetting judicial is a branch of government that has consistently quashed any attempts to do stuff of that sort.

So, basically, transparency is completely meaningless, since the US goverment has nothing but open contempt for both their own laws, and also the ideals theyre supposed to embody? Good to know. Remind me what the point of democracy is again, since you apparently have to hold a gun to the goverments head before they actually do their jobs?

[Madican]

Who would have thought?

I'd say there doesn't have to be a bloody revolution à la 1770s to correct that. A collective Rosa Parks of a big part of the country might work too.
Also as a shameless political advertisement, you guys might want to look into the Pirate Party. They're all up in that privacy business and with such headlines they would have a field day.
You'd only need to manage to vote them into the government. Which I know is hard after 250 years of only ever voting between blue and red but if you want a start, that would be it. If the American Pirate Party is anything like ours, that would be a great achievement for your rights.

3rd Party tickets have been getting increasingly popular, but not enough to overcome the stranglehold red and blue have over the media. As can be seen with the Tea Party, they will mercilessly inflate its bad apples to make them the public face of the party, demonizing them so people won't vote for them. Alternatively, they don't talk about them at all. No one knows they exist unless they specifically seek them out or notice their name on the ballot.

There's also the issue of no one really caring about who a person is on said ballot unless it's a president. Senators and congressmen pretty much have a secure lock on their local areas because people don't care.

Even if they did manage to win some seats in the House or Congress, they'd just be lost in the wave of red and blue. Ten people, for example, would be able to accomplish absolutely nothing.

Also Stranger, the USA is a republic, not a democracy. We've never been a democracy. Also this is not a unique problem with the USA. It's every single country in existence.

[Syobon]

Nah the problem in Belgium for instance is that political power is too fractioned for anything to happen ever unless people actually get along (hah!). Same end result, but different problem.

[Syobon]

Guardian Editor: U.K. 'Security Experts' Entered Offices And Destroyed Hard Drives

Welp, looks like we can stop pretending Western fascism is dead.

[TheStranger]

So, I guess they just basically dont give a shit at all how they come off anymore? They probably know that we're way too complacent and scared of change to actually band together in a big enough group to take them down.

[Syobon]

"It appears that the UK government is intentionally leaking harmful information to The Independent and attributing it to others"

This is very important because it will be used by Western governments to accuse Snowden of endangering human lives. Other major British newssources are already piggybacking the Independent to discredit Snowden.

[Valbrandur]

Scientist manages to link his brain to another's and controls finger movement.

They managed to link basic thoughts together and one of the scientists managed to control what the other typed on a keyboard.
This is the first step to finally becoming a hivemind race.