What happens when a definition of, or extrapolation from, a dubious definition of racism runs smack dab into mean ol' REALITY, eh?
So far, as with some really sketchy rape statistics on which some good-sized new departments and well-paying enforcement jobs depend, reality has been politely asked to make the adjustments. But I can't be the only one who questions how far down that road we can go...?? Can I?
Threats, bluster...it allows them to selectively enforce their policies. People who play nice probably won't have a problem. Individuals, websites and bloggers who are critical, who point out what a social, ecological and economic disaster this decadent bread-and-circuses shitshow has become...THEY might find themselves on the bad end of the expressed consequences.
The wealthy and powerful benefit, as in so many big-money endeavors, governmental and otherwise. But the sanctimonious drivel under which this corruption festers, the soaring invocations of "the aspiring human body and spirit" and the "bringing together of all nations under the banner of noble athletic competition", that's what really makes this particular in-your-face reverse Robin Hood act so unbearably nauseating. There's hypocrisy, there's mega-hypocrisy, and there's hyper-reinforced industrial-strength hypocrisy. And then there's the Olympics.
Ugh. "support the Olympics"? I'd rather support some corrupt sport that basically enslaves the athletes, making them work for nothing and casting them aside when they become useless for revenue generation...something like NCAA football, maybe.
Maybe he's trying to make the relatively minor, commonplace (for Louisiana. And Illinois.) corrupt practice of crony favoritism seem unimportant by comparison to the direct abuse of citizens under color of law.
Though illegal search and theft of private property has been somewhat devalued as a shocking violation of the oath to "serve and protect" recently. Was the failure to administer a beatdown just professional courtesy or something?
Did you check the Official TechDirt Pledge everyone has to sign in blood before coming onto the site?
Or the finalized, official platform of the TechDirt Party?
Or the policies of the FTC telecommunications department Masnick runs.
If you still can't find the official explanation of what "we" all want, brush off the dust and try looking under that gigantic, cobwebbed pile of unused brain cells. Which, for most of us, are kept in the cranium, but your search might be quicker if you just started at the anus.
But all meaningless to a pandering scum politician like Cuomo. Not only is the list a tragic joke, but the ongoing expansion of "restricted activities" and locations ("not within 1,000 yards of school/candy store/daycare/cute puppy, etc") for people on said flawed list calls into question the entire philosophy of incarceration-as-punishment.
We HAVE punishments in the books for these crimes. When the punishments have been meted out...the State's done. They don't get to add punishments, inconveniences or petty humiliations to the sentence.
If Cuomo really cared about da chirrens, he'd have these bad people castrated or murdered, or both. AND shunned! Honestly, it seems the patience The State has for the inconveniences presented it by laws and the justice system seems to be growing shorter and shorter. I won't be surprised by the introduction of a "We Can Do Anything We Want Because Pedophiles and Terrorists Act"
(though I'm pretty sure anyone who points this out is automatically considered a pedophile apologist, amirite?)
(Maintaining the perfect void of Step 2 inevitably requires all Congresscritters to delegate any actual legislating or decisionmaking to the executive branch and/or lobbyists retained by well-heeled industries. Then the only exceptions are hysterical legislative overreactions to media-driven moral panics and tit-for-tat patronage deals.)
Possibly, but this seems, like a lot of cases, to be companies' representatives responding to a clear "Heah's how we-all do bidness roun' heah." message. An employee, in such an environment, pressured by a boss who plainly states he doesn't care about "how they-all do bidness down theah" but wants results and a corrupt potential customer, will usually go along to get along.
We hypocritically prosecute businessmen for doing business in ways that are accepted overseas but don't seem to be bothered when it involves gov't procurement procedures, military contract bidding or "please just shovel the money into these dumptrucks" union demands.
It just seems sleazier when the scale is smaller and somehow more acceptable when the bid/contract/procurement specs are hundreds of pages.
I'd say presenting EU-free governance for Britain as "nothing", as you have done here, is more than a little disingenuous. Does Britain suddenly have no way to govern itself? Has Brexit left the UK with nothing in the way of governance?
I'm going to have to pull out my dusty old copy of Wikipedia Brittanica here, but I'm pretty sure Britain governed itself prior to EU membership, and should be able to scuffle along after.
As for immigration, there seem to be mutually exclusive realities. It is as if you have two friends at work who are next door neighbors. Neighbor A says: "We invited some black couples over for dinner and my neighbors were quite upset. Never knew they were so racist!" Neighbor B says: "My neighbor says he's throwing a party, but it appears to be a permanent open house! When I complained about things stolen from my property, people camping in my yard and his "guests" trying to ogle my wife and daughter when they shower, he accused us of being 'inhospitable' and 'racist' and said there was nothing we could do about it!"
Not sure 'reality' is getting a clear presentation in either story there. But there's obviously a large number of citizens who felt "Shut up, hater." was an inadequate response to their concerns. The Brexit vote shouldn't have been a surprise, even to those who were certain Lindsey Lohan's support would help them carry the day. Maybe she should have supported before the vote.
When did TD switch over to the top-down corporatist side? Is it the result of blindly following some narrative-"These same people are wrong on A, B and C, so I must oppose position D which they support"?? Or the knee-jerk obeisance to the "Our strength is in our diversity" mantra and it's unspoken clause "...in every circumstance, without exception and any questioning this is racist"
I've always been very suspicious when someone presents a position to me that, it is claimed, is correct beyond criticism, analysis or thought. Doesn't seem to bother you, I guess.
Likewise, to present this dispute as if only the Brexit side used wild hyperbole and unquestioning hatred of "the other" must mean you approve of the knee jerk, sky-is-falling,"maybe we really don't like democracy" post-vote hysteria coming from the Remain camp.
Wow. I've always respected TechDirt, but this is just head-shakingly sad...
IF the only way to break down a bought-and-paid-for scam is to circumvent the sleazebags in local government who've been selling out their own constituents for decades, so fucking be it. No apologies.
I only wish the Uber/Lyft approach could be as effective at the fed level.
And the red herring of purse-clutching alarm over "surge pricing" (otherwise known as'supply and demand') is misplaced, since it serves most effectively as the organic component of the software. Imagine: people freely choosing when and where to work, 'magically' and promptly responding to riders' needs!
But fuck that. Why suffer the indignities of freedom and choice when we can have city council grifters and union bosses decide these things for us? Why should we listen to satisfied customers and drivers, or take into account public safety when there's an incumbent, entrenched business doing a lousy job to be shaken down?
Although I suppose I really shouldn't say that, since you've taken a page from the proggy playbook and carefully made sure your post was completely fact-free.
Does that evil "surge pricing" ever, EVER rise to even HALF the nice, steady ripoff pricing of the cabs??
Yeah, I really love to participate (as the victi...err...'customer') in transactions where the person serving me is incentivized to rip me off in any way he can. That's just swell. Great alternative.
*ANECDOTAL EVIDENCE WARNING* Also, subtract from your apologia for the downtrodden cabbies the middle eastern gentleman who glared at my un-burka'd, tipsy friend for the entire duration of what she swears was her LAST cab ride ever. Bit of a microaggression there, eh wot? She's lucky he didn't blow up at her over the absence of a gratuity. so to speak.
So make it 899 carefully vetted, professional "service providers" on the cabbie side.
I had a rider (Uber) from Austin, little artist gal, who told me the police were actually SUPPORTING the laws killing off the ride-share services, because of the revenue from DUI fines!!
I found this shocking. I said, "Tha fuck? Putting the lives of the people they're supposed to be "serving and protecting' at risk just for money? Hell, even I'm not that cynical!"
She said "It's Texas, man. You can't be too cynical."
She said the restrictive laws were passed with a grand total of 8% of registered voters actually voting for them. Turnout was something like 17%.
Hope they have a better turnout for the "Texit" Referendum, eh?
^ THIS. Many times over, this. Q: Why is this happening? A: Lawyers wanna get paid.
The explanation here of "simple, first-level self-interest" satisfies both Occam's and Hanlon's Razors and has considerable explanatory and predictive power.The layer of legalistic complexities found in such filings is just for show. The more counterintuitive the case, the more byzantine the filigree of legalese it will be coated with.
(This explanation suffices in many other circumstances with much more subtle cause/effect linkages.)
No, people DON'T say "private companies are better at everything".
People say "free markets are the best way to allocate resources and reward enterprise", but that's nothing at all like what we are seeing in this instance or in the United States in general.
Thought I'd point that out in case you actually gave a shit about, you know, the truth and all. Which I strongly suspect you don't.
Also, dammit, I received an internet forum death threat in an argument about the proper golf grip, just to note how devalued the currency of violent invective has become in such venues.
Haaahah!! Yeah, copyright apologists frequently resort to that last refuge of a scoundrel: The Rules. Rules to be obeyed, because, "whatever slippery piratey arguments pirates make, they are the law."
It makes the shills really uncomfortable to have to face the reality that the law is not a permanent monolith. Their voices get really high when someone suggests that copyright, especially as now constituted/distorted, is clearly NOT a law of nature.
On the fine day when changes to copyright that benefit both artists and consumers are implemented (now, how does anybody lose in that situation?), I'm sure the people employed as "copyright advocates" will just graciously accept the "Whatever you think, that's the law." argument. Right??
On the post: Techdirt Podcast Episode 85: Is Your Algorithm Racist?
So far, as with some really sketchy rape statistics on which some good-sized new departments and well-paying enforcement jobs depend, reality has been politely asked to make the adjustments. But I can't be the only one who questions how far down that road we can go...?? Can I?
On the post: Comcast/NBC Ignores Lessons From The Cord Cutting Age, Buries Olympics Under An Ocean Of Annoying Advertising
Re: Re: IOC Commitee
The wealthy and powerful benefit, as in so many big-money endeavors, governmental and otherwise. But the sanctimonious drivel under which this corruption festers, the soaring invocations of "the aspiring human body and spirit" and the "bringing together of all nations under the banner of noble athletic competition", that's what really makes this particular in-your-face reverse Robin Hood act so unbearably nauseating. There's hypocrisy, there's mega-hypocrisy, and there's hyper-reinforced industrial-strength hypocrisy. And then there's the Olympics.
Ugh. "support the Olympics"? I'd rather support some corrupt sport that basically enslaves the athletes, making them work for nothing and casting them aside when they become useless for revenue generation...something like NCAA football, maybe.
On the post: Frustrated Public Defender Appoints Governor -- And Licensed Attorney -- To Provide Indigent Defense
Re:
If need be, you can close your eyes, put fingers in ears and repeat "lalalalalala" until the mean old story goes away.
Or just click some other link.
On the post: Sheriff Uses Unconstitutional Law To Raid Home And Seize Electronics Belonging To Watchdog Blogger
Re:
On the post: Sheriff Uses Unconstitutional Law To Raid Home And Seize Electronics Belonging To Watchdog Blogger
Re: Genius move.
Though illegal search and theft of private property has been somewhat devalued as a shocking violation of the oath to "serve and protect" recently. Was the failure to administer a beatdown just professional courtesy or something?
On the post: Even The Usual Defenders Of The RIAA Are Pointing Out They're Simply Lying About YouTube
Re: Regulation drums
Did you check the Official TechDirt Pledge everyone has to sign in blood before coming onto the site?
Or the finalized, official platform of the TechDirt Party?
Or the policies of the FTC telecommunications department Masnick runs.
If you still can't find the official explanation of what "we" all want, brush off the dust and try looking under that gigantic, cobwebbed pile of unused brain cells. Which, for most of us, are kept in the cranium, but your search might be quicker if you just started at the anus.
On the post: New York Makes Playing Pokemon Go, Other Online Games A Sex Offender Parole Violation
Re: Re:
But all meaningless to a pandering scum politician like Cuomo. Not only is the list a tragic joke, but the ongoing expansion of "restricted activities" and locations ("not within 1,000 yards of school/candy store/daycare/cute puppy, etc") for people on said flawed list calls into question the entire philosophy of incarceration-as-punishment.
We HAVE punishments in the books for these crimes. When the punishments have been meted out...the State's done. They don't get to add punishments, inconveniences or petty humiliations to the sentence.
If Cuomo really cared about da chirrens, he'd have these bad people castrated or murdered, or both. AND shunned! Honestly, it seems the patience The State has for the inconveniences presented it by laws and the justice system seems to be growing shorter and shorter. I won't be surprised by the introduction of a "We Can Do Anything We Want Because Pedophiles and Terrorists Act"
(though I'm pretty sure anyone who points this out is automatically considered a pedophile apologist, amirite?)
On the post: Yes, The Democratic National Committee Flat Out Lied In Claiming No Donor Financial Info Leaked
Step 1: Get elected. (And re-elected)
Step 2:
Step 3: Profit!!
(Maintaining the perfect void of Step 2 inevitably requires all Congresscritters to delegate any actual legislating or decisionmaking to the executive branch and/or lobbyists retained by well-heeled industries. Then the only exceptions are hysterical legislative overreactions to media-driven moral panics and tit-for-tat patronage deals.)
On the post: Texas Judge Indicted For Making Secret 10-Year Deal With Red Light Camera Company
Re: Of course, they're going to charge...
We hypocritically prosecute businessmen for doing business in ways that are accepted overseas but don't seem to be bothered when it involves gov't procurement procedures, military contract bidding or "please just shovel the money into these dumptrucks" union demands.
It just seems sleazier when the scale is smaller and somehow more acceptable when the bid/contract/procurement specs are hundreds of pages.
On the post: TAFTA/TTIP Just Got Harder: Brexit Is 'A Midsummer Night's Nightmare' Says EU Trade Commissioner
Re: Re: Re: Re: Malmstroem...
I'm going to have to pull out my dusty old copy of Wikipedia Brittanica here, but I'm pretty sure Britain governed itself prior to EU membership, and should be able to scuffle along after.
As for immigration, there seem to be mutually exclusive realities. It is as if you have two friends at work who are next door neighbors.
Neighbor A says:
"We invited some black couples over for dinner and my neighbors were quite upset. Never knew they were so racist!"
Neighbor B says:
"My neighbor says he's throwing a party, but it appears to be a permanent open house! When I complained about things stolen from my property, people camping in my yard and his "guests" trying to ogle my wife and daughter when they shower, he accused us of being 'inhospitable' and 'racist' and said there was nothing we could do about it!"
Not sure 'reality' is getting a clear presentation in either story there. But there's obviously a large number of citizens who felt "Shut up, hater." was an inadequate response to their concerns. The Brexit vote shouldn't have been a surprise, even to those who were certain Lindsey Lohan's support would help them carry the day. Maybe she should have supported before the vote.
On the post: You'll Never Guess Which Portmanteau Everyone Is Suddenly Trying To Trademark
Re:
When did TD switch over to the top-down corporatist side? Is it the result of blindly following some narrative-"These same people are wrong on A, B and C, so I must oppose position D which they support"?? Or the knee-jerk obeisance to the "Our strength is in our diversity" mantra and it's unspoken clause "...in every circumstance, without exception and any questioning this is racist"
I've always been very suspicious when someone presents a position to me that, it is claimed, is correct beyond criticism, analysis or thought. Doesn't seem to bother you, I guess.
Likewise, to present this dispute as if only the Brexit side used wild hyperbole and unquestioning hatred of "the other" must mean you approve of the knee jerk, sky-is-falling,"maybe we really don't like democracy" post-vote hysteria coming from the Remain camp.
Wow. I've always respected TechDirt, but this is just head-shakingly sad...
On the post: As Austin Struggles To Understand Life Without Uber & Lyft, DUI Arrests On The Rise
Re: Nobody is arguing
IF the only way to break down a bought-and-paid-for scam is to circumvent the sleazebags in local government who've been selling out their own constituents for decades, so fucking be it. No apologies.
I only wish the Uber/Lyft approach could be as effective at the fed level.
On the post: As Austin Struggles To Understand Life Without Uber & Lyft, DUI Arrests On The Rise
Re: Re:
And the red herring of purse-clutching alarm over "surge pricing" (otherwise known as'supply and demand') is misplaced, since it serves most effectively as the organic component of the software. Imagine: people freely choosing when and where to work, 'magically' and promptly responding to riders' needs!
But fuck that. Why suffer the indignities of freedom and choice when we can have city council grifters and union bosses decide these things for us? Why should we listen to satisfied customers and drivers, or take into account public safety when there's an incumbent, entrenched business doing a lousy job to be shaken down?
On the post: As Austin Struggles To Understand Life Without Uber & Lyft, DUI Arrests On The Rise
Re:
Although I suppose I really shouldn't say that, since you've taken a page from the proggy playbook and carefully made sure your post was completely fact-free.
Does that evil "surge pricing" ever, EVER rise to even HALF the nice, steady ripoff pricing of the cabs??
Yeah, I really love to participate (as the victi...err...'customer') in transactions where the person serving me is incentivized to rip me off in any way he can. That's just swell. Great alternative.
*ANECDOTAL EVIDENCE WARNING*
Also, subtract from your apologia for the downtrodden cabbies the middle eastern gentleman who glared at my un-burka'd, tipsy friend for the entire duration of what she swears was her LAST cab ride ever. Bit of a microaggression there, eh wot? She's lucky he didn't blow up at her over the absence of a gratuity. so to speak.
So make it 899 carefully vetted, professional "service providers" on the cabbie side.
On the post: As Austin Struggles To Understand Life Without Uber & Lyft, DUI Arrests On The Rise
Re:
I found this shocking. I said, "Tha fuck? Putting the lives of the people they're supposed to be "serving and protecting' at risk just for money? Hell, even I'm not that cynical!"
She said "It's Texas, man. You can't be too cynical."
She said the restrictive laws were passed with a grand total of 8% of registered voters actually voting for them. Turnout was something like 17%.
Hope they have a better turnout for the "Texit" Referendum, eh?
On the post: Concussion Protocol: Can You Tell The Difference Between Soda And One Half Of A Football Team?
Re: Re: They might have a small point if....
The explanation here of "simple, first-level self-interest" satisfies both Occam's and Hanlon's Razors and has considerable explanatory and predictive power.The layer of legalistic complexities found in such filings is just for show. The more counterintuitive the case, the more byzantine the filigree of legalese it will be coated with.
(This explanation suffices in many other circumstances with much more subtle cause/effect linkages.)
On the post: European Parliament Orders MEP To Take Down A Video About His Attempt To Visit The 'Reading Room' For Trade Documents
Re: Re: Holy Streisand effect Batman.
People say "free markets are the best way to allocate resources and reward enterprise", but that's nothing at all like what we are seeing in this instance or in the United States in general.
Thought I'd point that out in case you actually gave a shit about, you know, the truth and all. Which I strongly suspect you don't.
On the post: European Parliament Orders MEP To Take Down A Video About His Attempt To Visit The 'Reading Room' For Trade Documents
Re:
On the post: Homeland Security Wants To Subpoena Us Over A Clearly Hyperbolic Techdirt Comment
Re: It could be a planted loop.
Also, dammit, I received an internet forum death threat in an argument about the proper golf grip, just to note how devalued the currency of violent invective has become in such venues.
On the post: Australian Gov't Commission: Copyright Is Copywrong; Hurting The Public And Needs To Be Fixed
Re:
It makes the shills really uncomfortable to have to face the reality that the law is not a permanent monolith. Their voices get really high when someone suggests that copyright, especially as now constituted/distorted, is clearly NOT a law of nature.
On the fine day when changes to copyright that benefit both artists and consumers are implemented (now, how does anybody lose in that situation?), I'm sure the people employed as "copyright advocates" will just graciously accept the "Whatever you think, that's the law." argument. Right??
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