Are you claiming that teacher's don't have copays? Because that's patently false. How about before Obamacare when you could be kicked off your insurance roles for having a "pre-existing" condition and then you couldn't find healthcare anywhere? Do you think that didn't effect teachers? People in the U.S. pay more for healthcare than people in Finland do when you take into account the amount of taxes they pay. When the costs of programs are spread among the public, things tend to be cheaper.
Let's take a look at the Finland school system. They have strong unions that are allowed to take an active role in helping decide what's taught. They have seniority. They don't care about standardized tests, which differs dramatically from the U.S. They don't have any No Child Left Behind bullshit.
The students defer drastically, as well. All the students in Finland have healthcare. When they are sick they can go to the doctor and not have to worry about a gigantic bill. They have a poverty rate of 5.3% compared to the U.S. which has a rate of 23.1%. I'm also willing to wager that a significantly larger chunk of their population believes in evolution and global warming compared to the U.S. It's hard to learn when your hungry and sick.
Your argument is borderline dishonest. Teachers in Finland don't have to worry about a lot of things U.S. teachers do because they're taken care of by the government via taxes, which results in said utilities and services being cheaper. For example: health care. I also bet that Finland teachers don't have to spend their own money on buying supplies for their students, which is sadly really common here.
It's worth pointing out that the author of that New York Times article, Mike Soraghan, has in his Twitter bio "Frac(k)ing is my life" and that he links to the same articles you linked to.
There's obviously something nefarious going on. Why else would all of these natural gas companies be paying people off and making them sign confidentially agreements?
Side-note: Before today I didn't realize how lax the laws on natural gas companies are. The New York Times has a great graphic on the subject.
"The natural gas industry has exemptions or exclusions from key parts of at least 7 of the 15 major federal environmental laws designed to protect air and water from radioactive and hazardous chemicals. Below are the seven laws listed in the order they were passed."
Funny enough, they actually edited that article. I believe the quote was originally something along the administration losing all credibility without the specification on the issues of transparency and accountability.
Most countries don't have a 21+ year old age limit on alcohol. It's actually a rather poor idea and harms 18/19/20 year olds who attend college and get busted drinking. It's pretty silly to draw parallels between porn and alcohol. You've said you're a /r/nofap reader. You obviously have a bias against porn.
You need to be a responsible adult and talk to your children about pornography. If you don't trust them then you need to install a porn filter. But if you don't trust your kids, you're going to have a lot of bigger problems then porn.
This doesn't negate the fact that Toms makes a shitty product that fall apart easily, especially in the 3rd world.
Have they never offered free shoes we wouldn't be talking about them. They make it seem like they are giving away a pair of shoes worth $50, when they are really just spending a couple of dollars on a marketing expense. I bet they pass the cost of giving away a "free" pair of shoes onto their customer.
I can't speak for OP, but I have no disdain for Apple or Nike in terms of their markup because they are not masquerading as some sort of quasi-charity that is supposedly helping people in need. Also, they make good products.
It seems like a lot of people in the tech industry are smitten with the the corporate leadership of popular companies like Amazon, Google, Apple, Facebook, etc. These people may have created great products and companies but people need to realize that you're not their friends. They have mostly have different interests than you. I noticed this a lot when the PRISM scandal happened. I saw people actively defending these companies saying that their leaders would never allow such a thing to occur. I think a lot of this has happened because of clever marketing. Advertisements like "Dear Sophie" by Google [1] or "Music Every Day" by Apple are designed to be touching and pull on your heartstrings. You owe these companies nothing. They don't need you to defend their actions. Your interests aren't always aligned. I will be very surprised if writers at the Washington Post are now allowed to write about the hardships of being an employee at an Amazon Fulfillment center. That type of story just doesn't align with Bezos' interests.
Wikileaks really should have slowly leaked out information like the Guardian has with the Snowden documents. Even today people haven't absorbed the important information that Manning shined a light on.
For example, from the Manning leaks we learned that the U.S. railed against a proposed increase in the minimum wage in Hati. It would have raised wages from 24¢ to 61¢ an hour. American corporations that take advantage of Hati for cheap labor couldn't have that. I'm looking at you Hanes and Levi Strauss.
Brainwashed is the right word. Have you seen any of thr old drug propaganda videos? Check them out on YouTue. Also look up and watch Referrer Madness. In D.A.R.E my brothers kid learned that LSD stays in your system forever and drips acid down your brainstem, among a whole slew of other non-factual information.