It's a bit long, sorry. I've never seen us publish anything like this, so let me know if you like it. I could stretch out any of the topics if you want, but I figured covering a variety would work better for what I was aiming for.
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There’s a world outside NationStates, it’s called Real Life, and since we do such a good job of filling you guys in on what happens here in our region and abroad, I thought I would spend some time looking at the world offline. I will warn you in advance, I live in the United States so a lot of what I’m aware of is happening in my neck of the woods. I don’t think the world revolves around us, but some stuff that happens here can have some pretty big implications.
In case you haven’t heard for the millionth time, there’s an election coming up in the US. I could go on a super long rant about it and my frustration with how the media is handling it, but what’s the point? People either know Donald Trump is a massive liar and the media is botching their response to him, or they refuse to acknowledge the depth and breadth of his falsehoods and ineligibility to be president. At the risk of sounding like Trump, some people say that Hillary is a flawed candidate, a proven liar and inauthentic when it comes to the liberal positions she takes in public. And others have a problem with being forced to choose the lesser of two evils, or have the election be a referendum on Donald Trump. Sorry you feel the way guys, the two party system sucks, but it’s what we have. And it has to be about whether or not you can trust this man to be your president, because this election is a choice between a madman and a (possibly craven) politician. We’ve had professional career politicians forever and the cool thing about them is that they know how stuff works and they can handle big grown up things. So even if you hold your nose and vote for Hillary, at least you know the world will keep spinning.
For those outside the US, we agree, this is insane. There’s plenty of people here scared to death about what will happen in a little more than a month. It’s enough to make me want to run far away and crash with one of you. So instead, I like to look at the other stuff going on that the media ignores so they can show the latest Trump ramblings. I was encouraged to see that even though a federal judge decided that the Dakota Access pipeline could go forward, the Obama Administration put a stop to it on all federal-controlled land and asked for a voluntary stop on the rest. This is just the beginning of finally considering the views of Native Americans when approving projects like this on their land. Apparently that wasn’t a main concern in the first place, but it’s 2016, so yay progress.
It was also cool to see that recent census report showing that for the first time since the Great Recession, median household income has increased, by 5.2%. It also happened to be the largest annual increase since 1967, and coincidentally, finally puts Americans back on track to the kind of economic prosperity they had in the 90s. The war with ISIS seems to have entered a potentially promising new stage, as their recruitment is way down and they continue losing territory. This is undoubtedly a good thing, even if we have to contend with the possibility that they may focusing on more local, homegrown attacks instead of waging organized war abroad. And every time something explodes in New York, or they find IEDs in a trash can in New Jersey, we will always have to wonder just what we’re dealing with. Thankfully, no one died this time. Even the Syrian crisis showed a glimmer of hope this month when we reached an agreement with the Russians to secure a ceasefire with the Syrians. On the one hand, negotiations are looking to be making some headway, but it remains to be seen how long that will continue. It’s been shaky lately and the humanitarian aid that was being delivered was halted after additional deadly attacks in Aleppo. If you’re not sure what that is, ask Gary Johnson (seriously, he’s probably an expert on it by now).
I also thought it was kind of cool that in the age of drones we’re seeing some of the biggest improvements in artificial intelligence, although when I heard that in 5 years 6% of all jobs will be replaced by robots, I started having second thoughts. Sure, I don’t drive a truck, don’t work for a taxi service (who will have to start competing with Uber and Google’s self-driving cars), but I have a job that involves customer service, and those are next on the chopping block. You’ve seen them in action, and you already hate them. The future is now, and it is chatbots. At least you can enjoy the goodies your robot assistants order on your behalf, but make sure you never lose your internet connection so your smart house doesn’t turn into a giant brick. The future is going to be really cool guys.
Well, those were just a few things I thought you should know about this week.
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There’s a world outside NationStates, it’s called Real Life, and since we do such a good job of filling you guys in on what happens here in our region and abroad, I thought I would spend some time looking at the world offline. I will warn you in advance, I live in the United States so a lot of what I’m aware of is happening in my neck of the woods. I don’t think the world revolves around us, but some stuff that happens here can have some pretty big implications.
In case you haven’t heard for the millionth time, there’s an election coming up in the US. I could go on a super long rant about it and my frustration with how the media is handling it, but what’s the point? People either know Donald Trump is a massive liar and the media is botching their response to him, or they refuse to acknowledge the depth and breadth of his falsehoods and ineligibility to be president. At the risk of sounding like Trump, some people say that Hillary is a flawed candidate, a proven liar and inauthentic when it comes to the liberal positions she takes in public. And others have a problem with being forced to choose the lesser of two evils, or have the election be a referendum on Donald Trump. Sorry you feel the way guys, the two party system sucks, but it’s what we have. And it has to be about whether or not you can trust this man to be your president, because this election is a choice between a madman and a (possibly craven) politician. We’ve had professional career politicians forever and the cool thing about them is that they know how stuff works and they can handle big grown up things. So even if you hold your nose and vote for Hillary, at least you know the world will keep spinning.
For those outside the US, we agree, this is insane. There’s plenty of people here scared to death about what will happen in a little more than a month. It’s enough to make me want to run far away and crash with one of you. So instead, I like to look at the other stuff going on that the media ignores so they can show the latest Trump ramblings. I was encouraged to see that even though a federal judge decided that the Dakota Access pipeline could go forward, the Obama Administration put a stop to it on all federal-controlled land and asked for a voluntary stop on the rest. This is just the beginning of finally considering the views of Native Americans when approving projects like this on their land. Apparently that wasn’t a main concern in the first place, but it’s 2016, so yay progress.
It was also cool to see that recent census report showing that for the first time since the Great Recession, median household income has increased, by 5.2%. It also happened to be the largest annual increase since 1967, and coincidentally, finally puts Americans back on track to the kind of economic prosperity they had in the 90s. The war with ISIS seems to have entered a potentially promising new stage, as their recruitment is way down and they continue losing territory. This is undoubtedly a good thing, even if we have to contend with the possibility that they may focusing on more local, homegrown attacks instead of waging organized war abroad. And every time something explodes in New York, or they find IEDs in a trash can in New Jersey, we will always have to wonder just what we’re dealing with. Thankfully, no one died this time. Even the Syrian crisis showed a glimmer of hope this month when we reached an agreement with the Russians to secure a ceasefire with the Syrians. On the one hand, negotiations are looking to be making some headway, but it remains to be seen how long that will continue. It’s been shaky lately and the humanitarian aid that was being delivered was halted after additional deadly attacks in Aleppo. If you’re not sure what that is, ask Gary Johnson (seriously, he’s probably an expert on it by now).
I also thought it was kind of cool that in the age of drones we’re seeing some of the biggest improvements in artificial intelligence, although when I heard that in 5 years 6% of all jobs will be replaced by robots, I started having second thoughts. Sure, I don’t drive a truck, don’t work for a taxi service (who will have to start competing with Uber and Google’s self-driving cars), but I have a job that involves customer service, and those are next on the chopping block. You’ve seen them in action, and you already hate them. The future is now, and it is chatbots. At least you can enjoy the goodies your robot assistants order on your behalf, but make sure you never lose your internet connection so your smart house doesn’t turn into a giant brick. The future is going to be really cool guys.
Well, those were just a few things I thought you should know about this week.