Politics... US election edition (2020 almost over, read all about it!)

[rjshae]

The guy photographed in the Capitol building in tactical gear carrying zip ties has been identified:

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9131713/MAGA-rioter-30-pictured-carrying-zip-ties-paramilitary-gear-identified.html

Eric Munchel, who was formerly employed at Doc Ford's Rum Bar & Grille in Florida, took part in the assault along with his Mum. 

Are these the type of people we'd want running our government? For most people I'd suspect probably not.

[Raithe]

Well, as they say, the F*** Your Feelings crowd sure seem to be having a f*** lot of feelings at the moment.

[Hurlshort]

I am really looking forward to going back to the times where these were the controversial stories of the day: https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/kamala-harris-vogue-cover-182547945.html

Remember when this was the biggest outrage coming out of the White House?

Or when George HW Bush threw up on the Japanese Prime Minister? Or Dan Quayle misspelled potato? These are the low stakes hijinks I think we have to look forward to over the next 4 years. Ooooooh, Biden looked like he was smelling some kid's hair! How weird.

[rjshae]

8 hours ago, Guard Dog said:

I cannot imagine anything about weaponized microwave being non-lethal. I also can’t imagine it being immediately fatal. If you want to kill a man in eight hours to 20 years that would be one way to do it. The majority of my career had been RF electronics until recently. The only people I’ve ever heard of that were actually killed by microwave energy were in Alaska in 1990s. Two guys got lost in the woods near the Bering Sea and broke into a TPN70 Radar ray dome that was part of the PAVE PAWs early warning system. They fell asleep in there and never woke up. But it took hours of continuous  exposure to a 60MW S Band transmitter to be lethal. 

 

[Hiro Protagonist]

Trumpers losing their jobs and they usually don't know why. It wasn't my husbands 'best moment'. Seriously? So much cope.

 

Edited January 11, 2021 by Hiro Protagonist

[Azdeus]

16 hours ago, Guard Dog said:

Sometimes I wonder if the world was better off without the internet. Knowledge was both earned and valued back then. Conspiracy theories didn't proliferate and  nut jobs were convinced only THEY knew the truth because they couldn't network.  It's been a boon no doubt but sometimes I wonder if it's a net loss. 

No pun intended. 

I don't think the net is a problem as much as constant access to it, smartphones. You don't need to know things anymore since they're a quick google away, not that you necessarily find the correct information or such ofcourse, The Algorithm will find you results that you want rather than what you need afterall. Having to learn how to find information, process and understanding it isn't as important as it was in the beginning of the milennia.

Ofcourse, having twitter and facebook always be there to constantly reinforce your bubble as soon as it's protective membrane starts to dissolve aswell.

[Hiro Protagonist]

[Lexx]

@the video above: "The world needs to see the raw emotions ... that antifa causes"

These people ...

[Hiro Protagonist]

 

[Gromnir]

is predictable but still vulgar how many republican legislators and pundits is opposing impeachment 'cause such would be divisive with the potential for angering trump's supporters.

after the election, there were many observers who lamented how the President and his cronies pushing a wholly unsupportable narrative o' election fraud were divisive and dangerous.

and again, mr. sterling is a hardcore republican who were participating in advancing voter suppression in georgia leading up to the election but even he couldn't accept what was happening.

trump supporters responded that they were just exercising their legal rights in an effort to defend democracy, in spite o' fact that there were never any genuine evidence supporting their claims and recognizing how in court giuliani and others repeated denied they were claiming the existence of election fraud. 

the volatile and divisive atmosphere which led to the disturbing events at the Capitol were created by trump, his legal team and all too many legislative allies but now those same trump supporters is using the danger they created as an excuse to insulate the President from any kinda punishment? 

ps still no federal level briefing on the events at the Capitol? really?

Edited January 11, 2021 by Gromnir

[Malcador]

Maybe Parler being offline is a good thing

 

 

[Guard Dog]

Be careful what you post online. The Internet is forever.

in other news it looks like the Trump administration is going to spend the rest of this week trying to boost his legacy. Talk about polishing a turd. But I do expect we will see more pardons this week than the gates of heaven 30 minutes after Armageddon.

[Bartimaeus]

Yeah, if the Obsidian forums required my ID, even if they supposedly keep it private, I'd have gladly been gone without a word. Madness.

(e): Also, apparently they had additional features for people who submitted their social security numbers? ...I don't see how this can possibly be true, that'd be just insane, but it is what I heard.

(e): Photos for the IDs and stuff also weren't scrubbed of metadata, so you can literally find like geolocation data in the photos for each user, too...

Edited January 11, 2021 by Bartimaeus

[Malcador]

48 minutes ago, Guard Dog said:

Be careful what you post online. The Internet is forever.

That's why everything I post is a lie.

[Pidesco]

1 minute ago, Malcador said:

That's why everything I post is a lie.

Including that.

[Guard Dog]

15 minutes ago, Pidesco said:

Including that.

[Darkpriest]

Well, one thing is sure. Do not expose your private data to US based companies, as US has very poor data protection rules. 

You are best with companies registered in EU. 

I hope EU will be hard on FB and other social media about the storage of data and data protection for EU citizens. 

 

As for Twitter, I think they shot themselves in the knee. Their stock is sliding, user base most likely will dwindle significantly, and the use of platform itself as well, as bubbled echo chambers do not create sufficient traffic. 

 

As for Google, Apple and Amazon, while they will get away in US, I do believe that there will be an anti-trust hammer coming on this side of the pond. They will also adhere to whatever demands China and India will have. Not sure how Aussies and South Africa will react. This flexing of the muscles might bite them back way more than they expected. 

They've shown how much power they wield, and that might given some people in politics some second thoughts, if that's a bit not too much of a power. Finances are one thing, but de facto existence is a different ball game. 

Edited January 11, 2021 by Darkpriest

[Skarpen]

1 hour ago, Malcador said:

Maybe Parler being offline is a good thing

 

 

That was debunked months ago.

[Malcador]

Not quite as the user's reported though, unfortunately, but seems like a really poor idea to not use GUIDs on their part.  Also in the absence of 2FA, wasn't failing safely.  So will stick by my teasing of their quality.  They made it easier to scrape the site, for all that is worth I guess.

Edited January 11, 2021 by Malcador

[Raithe]

[Skarpen]

28 minutes ago, Raithe said:

Yep, Americans are a big no no when government censors them but will allow some random suit to shut them up, bend them over and whip their butt with a big leather belt because they love freedom 

[Gromnir]

47 minutes ago, Skarpen said:

Yep, Americans are a big no no when government censors them but will allow some random suit to shut them up, bend them over and whip their butt with a big leather belt because they love freedom 

yes, 'cause whether is a random suit, or a pizza delivery guy, or a constitutional lawyer, individuals have competing liberty concerns and the government doesn't have the capacity to intervene in the deliberations and agreements 'tween such individuals... save for extreme limited circumstances. agree to terms o' service, or go elsewhere. can't force a newspaper publisher to print an opinion article. duh. obvious. nevertheless, assume a social media publisher (those random suits who run social media platforms is publishers for legal purposes) needs bend over for a random pundit?

option: the people, through their elected representatives, may decide social media applications should be public utilities instead o' private enterprises. 

do so is slippery slope and is gonna counter-intuitive result in more regulation and censorship as 'posed to less. will also likely be more expensive almost overnight. 

whatever.

regardless, at the moment, the liberty rights o' a rando prophet of trumpism is not superior to the random suit. thank goodness.

HA! Good Fun!

 

 

[rjshae]

1 hour ago, Skarpen said:

Yep, Americans are a big no no when government censors them but will allow some random suit to shut them up, bend them over and whip their butt with a big leather belt because they love freedom 

Funny how the same people who praise capitalism will curse the companies for practicing capitalism. The media companies do what they do to make money (or not lose money).

[Darkpriest]

58 minutes ago, Gromnir said:

yes, 'cause whether is a random suit, or a pizza delivery guy, or a constitutional lawyer, individuals have competing liberty concerns and the government doesn't have the capacity to intervene in the deliberations and agreements 'tween such individuals... save for extreme limited circumstances. agree to terms o' service, or go elsewhere. can't force a newspaper publisher to print an opinion article. duh. obvious. nevertheless, assume a social media publisher (those random suits who run social media platforms is publishers for legal purposes) needs bend over for a random pundit?

option: the people, through their elected representatives, may decide social media applications should be public utilities instead o' private enterprises. 

do so is slippery slope and is gonna counter-intuitive result in more regulation and censorship as 'posed to less. will also likely be more expensive almost overnight. 

whatever.

regardless, at the moment, the liberty rights o' a rando prophet of trumpism is not superior to the random suit. thank goodness.

HA! Good Fun!

 

 

Problem is, I believe those companies do not wnt to be treated as publishers, yet they behave like sucha and demand from platforms they're hosting to curate content like a publisher, correct? 

[Guard Dog]

Some Republican pundit I’ve never heard of stated that removing Trump from Twitter was an example of communism. In the same speech she suggested that social media platforms be nationalized.

That loud bang you heard was my head exploding.