Funniest/Most Insightful Comments Of The Week At Techdirt

from the grapevine dept

This week, our first place comment on the insightful side comes from That One Guy, responding to some of the details of the murder charges against a cop who tasered a teen riding an ATV:

'This? This is why people don't trust you.'

The officer went on to state he had "no sympathy" for the dead teenager.

So, funny thing about sympathy, it's one of those 'reciprocal' things. If you make clear that you don't give a damn about the suffering and/or death of those around you, don't act surprised when no-one cares if you're the one in a tight spot.

A cop displaying this story of mindset should be fired immediately(psychiatric evaluation would probably be appropriate as well), as that's the sort of thing that can have serious negative impact on the relationship between the public and police. If the public in that area are aware that the police are willing to just shrug off a dead teen, the odds of them wanting anything to do with them are going to take a serious hit, and the odds of them being willing to help the police are going to be even lower.

Poisoning the relationship between yourself and those you interact with and might need the assistance of is an incredibly stupid move, and not something any boss, cop or otherwise, should let pass.

Another unidentified officer is captured saying, "Don't run from the State Police. You'll get fucked up."

Translation: "If you 'run' from the cops that is absolutely grounds to be murdered on the spot."

Because that is exactly the kind of person I want to see armed and given extensive cover by their employers and the legal system, someone who appears to have no problem with the idea that running away from a cop(which, given they only turned on the siren after the fatal shot was likely not the case here) is justification for on-the-spot execution.

Bessner has a history of using excessive force and has been reprimanded before for using his Taser inappropriately, including using the device on handcuffed suspects. The investigation into Bessner's conduct shows that over a four-year span ending in 2017, he had 40 use of force incidents, 17 pursuits and five car accidents.

Given he was still employed at the time of the murder I would have to assume that the number of punishments handed out for such a 'colorful' history that were more than a slap on the wrist could be counted on a single hand, likely a closed one.

For second place, we head to our post announcing our card game on Kickstarter, CIA: Collect It All (which is going strong, so hurry over to Kickstarter if you want a copy) where on commenter expressed surprise that these were "physical CARDS that I can't steal like a computer game". A response from ryuugami quickly corrected that idea:

You are confused. It's the exact opposite.

You can't "steal" a computer game (unless you find a boxed copy, of course), but you can steal a physical product such as these cards.

For editor's choice on the insightful side, we start out with a response from Pixelation to the bizarre Washington Post editorial comparing expensive broadband bundles to hotel courtesy services:

What she doesn't say in her argument...

If a hotel started charging like that, we would go to the one down the street. Good luck with that kind of choice with cable/internet.

Next, we've got an anonymous comment summing up the glaring issue with Microsoft's stance on the computer recycler who is going to jail for manufacturing Windows recovery discs:

Software companies:

For years: "You don't buy the software! You buy a license to use it!"

Suddenly now: "NO WE DIDN'T MEAN THAT"

Over on the funny side, our first place winner is a question/suggestion from Jinxed about our Kickstarter card game:

Will there be a redacted version, making the challenge more difficult?

(Though that got lots of laughs, we are now actually examining the possibility of adding some redacted "wild cards" into the game mechanics!)

In second place, we've got a comment from hij about the computer recycler that Microsoft got convicted of a crime:

First Conversation With Cell Mate

cell mate: Welcome to hell. What are you in for?
Lundgren: Helping people.
cell mate: Me too. RIAA?
Lundgren: Microsoft.
cell mate: ah.

For editor's choice on the funny side, we start out with a callback from Ninja in response to the student loan refinancing company that created a fake person to spread its message:

Newbies. Prenda would like to introduce you Alan Cooper.

And finally, we've got one more comment about our CIA card game (which — last shameless self promotion in this post, I promise — you should go back on Kickstarter), in which drewdad suggests a solid alternative name:

How did this not get named "Intelligence: The Gathering"?

That's all for this week, folks!

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