Funniest/Most Insightful Comments Of The Week At Techdirt
from the unconstitutional-bullshit dept
This week, we all balked at one of the most flagrant (or at least explicit) examples of police abuse we've seen in a while, where a cop literally declared his lack of time for "constitutional bullshit". Our top two comments on the insightful side are both anonymous and both come in response to that story. First, one commenter found the faint, tiny, and kind of shocking silver lining for the victim:
The only surprising thing about this...
...is that the cops didn't shoot his dog.
Next, another commenter expressed a slice of the rage this and similar stories cause:
"I don’t have time to play this constitutional bullshit."
Can we just tattoo this phrase right on the faces of officers that say or do this shit? And when they scream for their "constitutional" rights regarding cruel or unusual punishment, how about we just tell them, you already said you didn't have time to play this constitutional bullshit!
For editor's choice on the insightful side, we start out on our post about Twitter's banning of alt-right accounts, where the conversation quickly turned to the fact that both sides of the political spectrum are guilty of trying to suppress the other's ideas. One commenter suggested only liberals get people fired, but Vaultnode was quick with a counter-example:
And "the Right" got a Nintendo PR representative fired for the content of her (distasteful) thesis in college.
Both "sides" are guilty of having outrage mobs that got people fired. Identity politics is pure idiocy and hurts everyone, regardless of political policy learnings.
Next, we head to our post about a prosecutor who got off with a disturbingly light punishment for altering a police transcript and deceiving the court. Varsil, a lawyer, arrived to explain how shocking that is:
Now, I'm not American, but I am a lawyer, and this seems absolutely insane to me.
A one year suspension? I can't see how behaviour like that calls for anything less than disbarment. He attempted to perpetrate a fraud on the court process. It baffles the mind to think that after a year they're going to let this guy slide back in.
As much as people claim lawyers are all lying unethical weasels, the opposite really has to be true. The system functions on the basis of lawyers not deceiving each other or the court. There are certainly times when you can (and may be required to) not say anything, but there is never an excuse for lying to opposing parties or the courts.
If I pulled something like this the bar association in my area would have me suspended the instant they caught wind of it, and I can't imagine any other outcome other than disbarment. The fact that this guy is a prosecutor shouldn't spare him, either--it makes it all the more egregious that he is subverting the fairness of the trial process.
At this point how can the public be convinced that the other matters he may have touched aren't equally tainted in some fashion or another? Surely a full and complete review of every file he's been on now becomes necessary.
Unbelievable.
Over on the funny side, our first place comment comes in response to our story about the Dr. Seuss estate's lawsuit against a parody book. Baron von Robber tried to one-up our Seussian lingo:
I do not like copyright maximalists and spam.
In second place, we've got a response from Nathan F to Mike Pence's legal attempts to keep his emails secret:
VP Elect Mike Pence is a special snowflake so of course he can refuse to turn over the emails (that would show wrongdoing on their part). Why in the world are you bothering these powerful people when they are busy trying to run the country (into the ground)?
For editor's choice on the funny side, we start out with a response to the infuriating ruling that essentially dragged public domain Wizard Of Oz materials back into copyright, where I.T. Guy had an idea for a new t-shirt targeting the judge, to replace the "infringing" ones:
I am going to start making tee shirts with Raymond Gruender's picture on it in a tin man hat with the caption: "If I only had a brain."
Finally, we've got an anonymous comment exploring customer confusion issues on our post about the trademark spat between the Toronto Maple Leafs and Snoop Dogg's new medical marijuana company:
I'm so confused .. I went to see a hockey game and now I have 2 bags of cheetos and some oreos
That's all for this week, folks!
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[quote]
Speaking of social media, Twitter’s exhibiting classic death throes, or in the immortal words of Spinal Tap, their audience and “appeal is becoming more selective.” Unlike friendster, livejournal, myspace, etc, they’re doing it to themselves by first “shadowbanning” and now outright mass banning accounts.
[endquote]
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Playboy, Kotaku Misreport On Nintendo Firing Employee
The Right likely drew attention to her thesis. Nintendo says that her actions alone resulted in termination of her employment.
https://blogjob.com/oneangrygamer/2016/03/playboy-kotaku-misreporting-on-nintendo-employe e-firing-shows-danger-of-narratives/
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Re: Playboy, Kotaku Misreport On Nintendo Firing Employee
And yes, GG are victims of a witch hunt, not some 3 spoopy 5 me conspiracy to harass the wimmins offa our interwebs.
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Re: Re: Playboy, Kotaku Misreport On Nintendo Firing Employee
GG are victims of a witch hunt
You misspelled "perpetrators"
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Re: Playboy, Kotaku Misreport On Nintendo Firing Employee
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But I don't really know how to describe the actual reason that she got fired in a way that wouldn't violate the rules. Technically, the reason she was fired was that she had a second job which wasn't a very good match for Nintendo. You can find more details pretty quickly, but you'll have to do that google search on your own.
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Re:
Through the power of analogy and allusion, of course! She contracted for the military, escorting patrol boats into her harbour where they could unload their cargo in return for a docking fee.
And if that's a bit too subtle for folks, think what things military ports are quite well known for.
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Re:
I'll need to hear it from a grownup before I believe that's how it really happened.
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Re: Re:
>“Alison Rapp was terminated due to violation of an internal company policy involving holding a second job in conflict with Nintendo’s corporate culture. Though Ms. Rapp’s termination follows her being the subject of criticism from certain groups via social media several weeks ago, the two are absolutely not related. Nintendo is a company committed to fostering inclusion and diversity in both our company and the broader video game industry and we firmly reject the harassment of individuals based on gender, race or personal beliefs. We wish Ms. Rapp well in her future endeavors.”
It was the second job she held which got her fired, because it conflicted with Nintendo's corporate culture (and for the record, I'd terminate any employee who kept that kind of second job off the record as well).
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Re: Re: Re:
Oh please. Like you're anyone's boss. More likely you're a sexually-frustrated 19-year-old whose anger at Rapp comes from the fact that she won't fuck you. Grow the fuck up.
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Seriously though, even Hillary didn't play that card regarding her own email.
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scream for their "constitutional" rights
the constitution still exists, though it's become a check valve and only flows one direction.
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