I'm reminded of an explanation of Ramadan, so that Muslims remember what it's like to be famished and can empathize with those with food insecurity.
Similarly Hustler magazine served to remind us that whatever we were saying / drawing / posting, someone else was saying something raunchier, and their freedom of expression was upheld as well.
A public spam pit would serve to remind everyone why we have moderators, even when large social media sites continuously make controversial and often bad moderation decisions due to system complexities we've yet to reconcile.
Though for now, one only needs to go to 4chan/b and /pol and can get a good glimpse of what is public discourse on the conservative side. And numerous subreddits monitor the worst of Parler, GAB, TheDonald and so on.
The conservative madhouse is not only not being silenced, but is actively being monitored to see just how mad they are today.
Wired belongs to a newsmedia agency whose voice(s) get quieter so long as ordinary members of the public can tweet.
Also people on internet forums can share fact-checks and evidence that run contrary to news-agency-highlighted opinions. Also opposing opinions that might be more convincing.
So even before we follow the money, they are motivated to convince the legislature to do stupid shit that silences the public-access podiums.
It seems to me, once the police decide someone is a bad-guy they're motivated to make that person suffer in any way they can conceive, while making all efforts (including lying to courts) to get his warm body into a private-prison cell, and their seizing of his phone without intent to release it (ever) was part of this effort.
Is there any evidence to suggest this is not the case?
I suspect if all they're going to get is chewed out a little by a judge, this isn't going to stop law enforcement from continuing to seize phones and just keep them.
I'm reminded of the DHS Stormtroopers / LGMs who grabbed people off the street during the 2020 unrest in Portland, many of whom have had their phones seized and can't get them back despite multiple legal efforts to do so. Still. Now.
The market failure of the broadband industry and its regional monopolies is a total indictment of capitalism.
The broadband market has made a case, now for over a decade, that anything would be better than a capitalistic approach, and maybe the states should eminent domain the broadband companies and make them a state-run service.
The state would have to try really hard to do worse than what the public deals with today.
There's still a notion in the US of a criminal element that we have crime due note to precarity and desperation but because some people were _born on the wrong side of the tracks (a segregation reference) and there's nothing for it but for Batman to punch them in the face.
To the contrary, we know how much crime happens†, how a lack of social safety nets leads to crime. But US culture just doesn't care.
†Actually I was looking up DJS homicide statistics for 2019, and found that in fact we don't know how about half of our homicides occurred, what I'm going to guess is poor reporting by law enforcement. Of the ones we do know, typically neighbors have a severe disagreement which gets exasperated by booze and a handy weapon (usually, but not always, a handgun.)
It may force some bad cops to quit, or for certain counties to start budgeting more for victims, but most counties still have a long history of DAs and judges siding with law enforcement officers.
More suits will get to civil court. We'll have to see if that leads to an abundance of awards to victims of the police, or if judges are still inclined to dismiss the suits on bad justification.
When their first response is to seek to find the whistleblower, and to spend public funds in order to do just that, it tells me officials believe their job is not to honestly fulfill their duties, but to keep up appearances that they are fulfilling their duties.
It's how we get government departments openly lying to congress about how they're not violating human rights.
Exactly, this. The conversation was much easier to control when news agencies had to expressly approve anything that was said.
Nowadays, people know that police officers shoot innocent people, that legislators lie all the time and that corporations are not sufficiently regulated to prevent their products from injuring or killing people.
When the public becomes aware of a thing, there's pressure to fix it. And if the people demanded all the wrong things got fixed, then where'd we be?
I think the police should be about serving and protecting the public, or they shouldn't exist as a tax-supported government department.
At this point I'd assert South Dakota would be better off without its state police departments entirely than the ones it has. At least then, the public would only have to deal with (alleged) common criminals.
Police defenders are doing their job, though there's something to be said about improving jury selection.
But swatting judges who side with police and err towards them (and against the public), and swatting prosecutors who cheat or who fail to go after officer misconduct. Yeah, the fantasy of having them SWATTED has its appeal.
Once I find a tracking device on my car, what are my rights regarding the device? Can I be charged with a crime for destroying it or refusing to return it to law enforcement? Am I allowed to remove it from my vehicle? Will I be charged with a crime if I turn it into a news agency or another none-government agency? What about an agent of another government, say the ambassador of China?
The problem is once government agents start engaging in espionage against me (say, planting a tracking device on my car) it is essentially a declaration of open hostility by the state considering its agents are committing crimes against me and mine.
The Alt-Right was a voting bloc organized by Steve Bannon comprising of a number of online groups, including from 4Chan, the gamergaters, the manosphere, Incels and so on, essentially the sexually frustrated young white-ish male community, and while they thrived on QAnon-style accepted fictions, they were way ahead of Kelly Ann Conway.
The Alt-Right were the ones who doubled down on voting for Trump after the Access Hollywood open mic scandal, and were the ones driven to loyalty by rightwingers owning the libs.
They were also the recruitment fodder for the White Supremacist groups that are vying for power and organizing for the GOP in 2021. So when Marjorie Taylor Greene is talking about Jewish Space Lasers, that's totally an appeal to the Alt-Right and its descendant voting blocs.
On the post: The Flopping Of Trump's Blog Proves That It's Not Free Speech He's Upset About; But Free Reach
Trump's access to the soapbox
Trump doesn't need a burner phone, just an official platform where it's relatively plausible something it claims Trump said actually was said by him.
But an account used to echo Trump's statments on Twitter was shut down for serving as an ad hoc Twitter account.
But if Trump wantsnto express an idea rather than an assertion of his authority, it is very easy for anyone to say something anonymously.
On the post: The Flopping Of Trump's Blog Proves That It's Not Free Speech He's Upset About; But Free Reach
Maybe we need it as a digital memoral.
I'm reminded of an explanation of Ramadan, so that Muslims remember what it's like to be famished and can empathize with those with food insecurity.
Similarly Hustler magazine served to remind us that whatever we were saying / drawing / posting, someone else was saying something raunchier, and their freedom of expression was upheld as well.
A public spam pit would serve to remind everyone why we have moderators, even when large social media sites continuously make controversial and often bad moderation decisions due to system complexities we've yet to reconcile.
Though for now, one only needs to go to 4chan/b and /pol and can get a good glimpse of what is public discourse on the conservative side. And numerous subreddits monitor the worst of Parler, GAB, TheDonald and so on.
The conservative madhouse is not only not being silenced, but is actively being monitored to see just how mad they are today.
On the post: Why Is Wired So Focused On Misrepresenting Section 230?
I'm assuming it's the same as NYT and WSJ
Wired belongs to a newsmedia agency whose voice(s) get quieter so long as ordinary members of the public can tweet.
Also people on internet forums can share fact-checks and evidence that run contrary to news-agency-highlighted opinions. Also opposing opinions that might be more convincing.
So even before we follow the money, they are motivated to convince the legislature to do stupid shit that silences the public-access podiums.
On the post: Court To Cops: Waiting Sixteen Months To Search A Seized Phone Violates The Fourth Amendment
It's part of the ride
It seems to me, once the police decide someone is a bad-guy they're motivated to make that person suffer in any way they can conceive, while making all efforts (including lying to courts) to get his warm body into a private-prison cell, and their seizing of his phone without intent to release it (ever) was part of this effort.
Is there any evidence to suggest this is not the case?
I suspect if all they're going to get is chewed out a little by a judge, this isn't going to stop law enforcement from continuing to seize phones and just keep them.
I'm reminded of the DHS Stormtroopers / LGMs who grabbed people off the street during the 2020 unrest in Portland, many of whom have had their phones seized and can't get them back despite multiple legal efforts to do so. Still. Now.
On the post: Cable Lobby Working Hard To Ensure Biden Broadband Plan Doesn't Encourage Real Competition
Socialism
The market failure of the broadband industry and its regional monopolies is a total indictment of capitalism.
The broadband market has made a case, now for over a decade, that anything would be better than a capitalistic approach, and maybe the states should eminent domain the broadband companies and make them a state-run service.
The state would have to try really hard to do worse than what the public deals with today.
On the post: New York Police Union Tells NYPD End Of Qualified Immunity Will Force Officers To... Act Lawfully
80s loose cannons who get the job done
There's still a notion in the US of a criminal element that we have crime due note to precarity and desperation but because some people were _born on the wrong side of the tracks (a segregation reference) and there's nothing for it but for Batman to punch them in the face.
To the contrary, we know how much crime happens†, how a lack of social safety nets leads to crime. But US culture just doesn't care.
†Actually I was looking up DJS homicide statistics for 2019, and found that in fact we don't know how about half of our homicides occurred, what I'm going to guess is poor reporting by law enforcement. Of the ones we do know, typically neighbors have a severe disagreement which gets exasperated by booze and a handy weapon (usually, but not always, a handgun.)
On the post: New York Police Union Tells NYPD End Of Qualified Immunity Will Force Officers To... Act Lawfully
Forcing bad cops to quit
It may force some bad cops to quit, or for certain counties to start budgeting more for victims, but most counties still have a long history of DAs and judges siding with law enforcement officers.
More suits will get to civil court. We'll have to see if that leads to an abundance of awards to victims of the police, or if judges are still inclined to dismiss the suits on bad justification.
On the post: Florida City Officials Spend $50,000 To Find Out Who Gave Journalists A Public Record
Abusing power and taxpayer money to find the leak
When their first response is to seek to find the whistleblower, and to spend public funds in order to do just that, it tells me officials believe their job is not to honestly fulfill their duties, but to keep up appearances that they are fulfilling their duties.
It's how we get government departments openly lying to congress about how they're not violating human rights.
On the post: Florida City Officials Spend $50,000 To Find Out Who Gave Journalists A Public Record
When corrupt officals actually got punished
I'm not entirely sure such a time existed. Though there sure was a time when we believed corrupt officials actually got punished.
When they don't then we essentially have an aristocracy, and they tend to behave like aristocrats.
On the post: Bad Section 230 Bills Come From Both Sides Of The Aisle: Schakowsky/Castor Bill Would Be A Disaster For The Open Internet
Silencing the voices of the people
Exactly, this. The conversation was much easier to control when news agencies had to expressly approve anything that was said.
Nowadays, people know that police officers shoot innocent people, that legislators lie all the time and that corporations are not sufficiently regulated to prevent their products from injuring or killing people.
When the public becomes aware of a thing, there's pressure to fix it. And if the people demanded all the wrong things got fixed, then where'd we be?
On the post: South Dakota Court Says Government Doesn't Need To Pay For Home Cops Destroyed To Find A Fugitive Who Wasn't There
A special kind of stupid
I think the police should be about serving and protecting the public, or they shouldn't exist as a tax-supported government department.
At this point I'd assert South Dakota would be better off without its state police departments entirely than the ones it has. At least then, the public would only have to deal with (alleged) common criminals.
On the post: The Flopping Of Trump's Blog Proves That It's Not Free Speech He's Upset About; But Free Reach
We've had this conversation before.
Feel free to get the state to make an actual public square on the internet. But you're going to find you need moderation in a hurry.
Unless you really like penis pills, Nigerian princes and discussions of your vehicle's extended warranty.
On the post: FISA Court Says FBI May Be Abusing Surveillance Powers; Will Continue To Allow It To Abuse Surveillance Powers
I'd say it's working exactly as intended.
Curiously, the FISA court has never done its job as a sufficient check on government departments violating civil rights.
It's a justification, much like the mobile-home tribunals used to suggest detainees at camp X-Ray were getting due process.
It's so some director can tell a less-blatant lie to Congress.
On the post: Lawsuit: Cops Trashed An Attorney's Home In Retaliation For Successfully Defending A Suspect Against Murder Charges
SWATTING Lawyers
Police defenders are doing their job, though there's something to be said about improving jury selection.
But swatting judges who side with police and err towards them (and against the public), and swatting prosecutors who cheat or who fail to go after officer misconduct. Yeah, the fantasy of having them SWATTED has its appeal.
On the post: Lawsuit: Cops Trashed An Attorney's Home In Retaliation For Successfully Defending A Suspect Against Murder Charges
95% of all cops...
The remaining five percent are dwindling as they are discharged / dispatched one by one for not being team players.
On the post: Lawsuit: Cops Trashed An Attorney's Home In Retaliation For Successfully Defending A Suspect Against Murder Charges
Why they should be defunded
I think this incident demonstrates what will happen to those officials and bureaucrats who cut their budget shortly after they do so.
Our police state is daily showing the power they intend on using if ever we actually challenge it.
On the post: Louisiana Drug Warriors Bungle Surveillance So Badly Their Target Catches Them Placing A Tracking Device On Her Car
This does raise a lot of legal questions
Once I find a tracking device on my car, what are my rights regarding the device? Can I be charged with a crime for destroying it or refusing to return it to law enforcement? Am I allowed to remove it from my vehicle? Will I be charged with a crime if I turn it into a news agency or another none-government agency? What about an agent of another government, say the ambassador of China?
The problem is once government agents start engaging in espionage against me (say, planting a tracking device on my car) it is essentially a declaration of open hostility by the state considering its agents are committing crimes against me and mine.
On the post: Signal Founder Cracks Cellebrite Phone Hacking Device, Finds It Full Of Vulns
A "setup" device.
This is a possibility, but that would involve someone at the precinct knowing more about cracking phones than Celebrite, or Moxie.
That's the sort of multi-dimensional gaming that maybe the CIA would play with a rival agency, maybe.
On the post: Signal Founder Cracks Cellebrite Phone Hacking Device, Finds It Full Of Vulns
Why would he lie
Maybe to cover for the friend who procured it for him, who may have committed crimes but more importantly betrayed his blue brethren.
I suspect such a friend, if he was uncovered, would face more than dismissal.
On the post: Senator Bill Hagerty Believes Compelled Speech Is 'Liberty'; And Anyone Upset With Moderation Choices Should Be Able To Sue
Alt-right
The Alt-Right was a voting bloc organized by Steve Bannon comprising of a number of online groups, including from 4Chan, the gamergaters, the manosphere, Incels and so on, essentially the sexually frustrated young white-ish male community, and while they thrived on QAnon-style accepted fictions, they were way ahead of Kelly Ann Conway.
The Alt-Right were the ones who doubled down on voting for Trump after the Access Hollywood open mic scandal, and were the ones driven to loyalty by rightwingers owning the libs.
They were also the recruitment fodder for the White Supremacist groups that are vying for power and organizing for the GOP in 2021. So when Marjorie Taylor Greene is talking about Jewish Space Lasers, that's totally an appeal to the Alt-Right and its descendant voting blocs.
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