Same shit in the UK.

The only people still paying RRP for books are the oldies who still can't use computers for Amazon etc.

That and the attached coffee shops, most book stores near me would be dead if not for a coffee place inside it.

https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-...ection-hillary

The research showed that the manipulation of results pages in search engines can shift the voting preferences of undecideds by anywhere between 20 and 80 percent, depending on the demographic –meaning Google was attempting to rig the 2016 election for Hillary Clinton.

The voting preferences of participants who saw no search suggestions shifted toward the favored candidate by 37.1%. The voting preferences of participants in the search suggestion groups who saw only positive search suggestions shifted similarly (35.6%). However, the voting preferences of participants who saw three positive search suggestions and one negative search suggestion barely shifted (1.8%); this occurred because the negative search suggestion attracted more than 40% of the clicks (negativity bias). In other words, a single negative search suggestion can impact opinions dramatically. Participants who were shown four negative suggestions (and no positives) shifted away from the candidate shown in the search bar (-43.4%). -Epstein, Mohr, & Martinez, The Search Suggestion Effect, 2018

Independent media is currently under attack. Youtube has been demonetization any news they consider controversial (i.e. It's not made by one of the 6 big networks or toeing their line). Not to mention they hawk MSM in your suggested videos and make sure none of the Alex Jones, RT, or Dore videos show up unless that is all you watch/subscribe to.

Google, obviously, has gone to shit. They had a algorithm that worked well for a long time -- and then they changed that under the guise of fighting terrorism, pedophilia, monsters grumpkins and snarks.

Anyone paying attention knew this was coming. "Lets just give people the power to censor and profit from it and hope that it doesn't happen because of how fucking ethical they are."

Corporations are trying to use the incoming blue wave to derail the left by ushering in more Chuck Schumers, Nancy Pelosis, and other Rightwing capitalists people like Mick call "communists"... It's not going to work in the long term. Things just keep getting worse and people -- regular dumbass people, are starting to put it together. But it remains to be seen how long they can keep the charade going.

My guess is that it can last until the boomers start retiring en-mass and the corporate media starts trying to pitch austerity again (to preserve the rich's ill-gotten wealth amassed since Carter). By then it will become plain that the share of the economic pie the college educated/regular workers are getting is far too small -- and the boomers will do what they always do and look out for themselves and try to preserve their SS/Medicare...having ran through all their assets via irresponsible consumer behavior.

i said months ago that Google does not hit the same as it did in 2008.

It doesnt catalogue the same. A lot of the references and data you used to have access to is gone unless you use direct access routes.

Ya we are pretty fucked. Idk. I don't think we can dedupe the newscycle or politicians we get.

It's just a question of which scary dystopian future we wind up with and who gets liquefied in the soylent vats.

TBQH I'm thinking a fair # on both sides of the main ideological and cultural divides are at risk. Especially anyone more vocal and willing to rock the boat.

Remember, the end game is obedience, and to cut the chaff while maintaining control n cheap ez labor.

I linked mechwarrior porn here like ages ago back b4 bans 4 that sort of thing.

Tbqh the mechwarrior universe has always been pretty racially and sexually diverse.

Whoever that poster is is to young to have played the original tabletop or Pentium 1 version on an 80mhz processor.

Also, for credibility this "tranny" played the hex based strategy freeware version that ran in like some weird opensourced gui. Don't remember the name, but definitely I remember my bryce3d backgrounds n that app on like the gnome desktop.

Tbqh I'm tired of people like Kagatob appropriating my gamer n hacker culture n I hope they are the first to go.

What they don't tell you about all those horrible soviet empires, is that it was generally the well-off that were complacent/active participants with the landlords/Czars of the feudal era that were killed. At least that's what those high up intended.

The worst was Stalin killing the rich peasants in the countryside -- who actually were hoarding grain and selling it until he started doing that. The other horrible stuff was generally people lower down the chain of command using their power to settle old scores. Most those people ended up getting killed themselves because they tended to the types that pissed enough people off.

So anyway...last time shit started getting this bad (the Great Depression) -- A guy named Franklin Roosevelt went to the elites (his friends) and essentially said "hey guys, you know that shit they did in Russia? (this is the 30s) Well there is a lot of angry poor people with guns that want to do something like that here...And I think it would be best if you paid them off instead of telling them to eat cake."
So just about over half the rich agreed. That was about enough -- and you can guess which side of the rich got hosed harder than the other.

The question is, is this going to happen this time? Or, are the rich just too damn cocky? The worst its gets without the rich paying off the poor -- the more likely some USSR shit is to take place.

Keep in mind...the military is never made up of rich kids. The are not a reliable ally to execute the masses...5% of the people? sure...40% of the people or more?...no way. And the military is the guy with sword in the room. Not the corporate overlords.

Edit: They had to shoot Eugene Debs to pull this off btw. Just like they shot MLK when he started his poor people's campaign. We know this is what happened if Bernie Sanders "dies of a heart attack" before 2020.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/MegaMek ! Ya megamek was the opensourced hack I played lol. (or like a an alpha predecessor that bitrotted), I remembered the initial release wasn't quite legal as it was a hack + used actual battletech mech names. (there use to be like a pirated engine u had to build n install the pirated data files). I never played with it past the demo / alpha.

Also

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miss...ce:_CyberStorm

And


https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mech...989_video_game)

And it's sequal. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mech...2:_Mercenaries

And

https://www.giantbomb.com/heavy-gear/3030-12849/

I'm an original nerd. I played in a clan, the Red Scorpions or Goliath Scorpions on a 48kbps modem connection. Not to mention others mecha games, there was the leetest robotech clone on the classic Xbox if IIRC one of the missions had u defending around a space elevator, lots of enemies.

Basically, yeah, I'm not fucking around when I say I've been to the stars and conquered them.

Not really smart if we genocide 40% of our 300 million vs the billions out there. Here's to hoping we don't wind up like the USSR