Scary Devil Monastery (profile), 14 Feb 2022 @ 8:29am
Re: Re: Re: Re:
"which is why I'm wondering why you declared what the school-board intentions and thinking where without even bothering to actually inform yourself of it and within which context they worked."
I didn't. I reiterate;
"And the context here is that looking at the list of books banned from classrooms in southern state and Tennessee in particular have a common thread - they are books about the other and the racism and bigotry which has led to said other being discriminated or persecuted."
The laundry list of what the Tennessee Banned Book List contains sends a clear message, especially combined with the removal of any topic associated with awareness of bigotry visavi LGBTQ and ethnicity.
I could give the school board intentions the benefit of doubt but it'd have to be, in the wake of the facts at hand, the same sort of doubt I'd assign to the intentions of Mr. Goebbels after his polemic speeches about the shocking language used by the german jewry.
Scary Devil Monastery (profile), 14 Feb 2022 @ 1:15am
Re: Re: Re:
"But the tragedy the Jewish, and other minority groups, suffered does not excuse the apartied conditions the Israeli government is forcing on occupied Palestine."
Although that is true it's also true that Israel has painted itself into a very bad corner with no real options on the table. Some of which could have been solved by compromise as Rabin attempted to do. His assassination, by an israeli zealot, tore the idea of a united israel apart and by now I'm thinking that country has come to rely on the pressure of an enemy abroad to keep the irreconcilable sides on the same room.
Scary Devil Monastery (profile), 14 Feb 2022 @ 1:10am
Re: Re:
"That's actually a heck of a claim to make less than two weeks after a well-known liberal talk show host got caught spreading Holocaust misinformation!"
For which Whoopi got a time-out the show and told to read up on her nonsense...and came back apologizing.
"Democrat Rule #1: any bad thing they accuse conservatives of doing, or of wanting to do, they are already doing that thing themselves."
Good on you to find one of the exceptions where a liberal proves stupidity is a thing across political boundaries.
Meanwhile accusing the other side of what your own side does and plans to do is the standard conservative default. As demonstrated so very well by you right there.
Get it straight; No one believes your rhetoric any longer. You don't get the benefit of doubt. We know you guys by your actions and judge you accordingly. So you can just fsck right back to stormfront and preach your false equivalences to the choire there.
Scary Devil Monastery (profile), 14 Feb 2022 @ 1:04am
Re: Re:
"In this instance it was never about "conservative values", it contained 8 "cuss-words" and one graphic depiction which was what some parents and school-board members objected to."
Context matters.
And the context here is that looking at the list of books banned from classrooms in southern state and Tennessee in particular have a common thread - they are books about the other and the racism and bigotry which has led to said other being discriminated or persecuted.
I'm sure that school board in particular will be fine teaching about the Holocaust - as long as they can find material phrasing it as a minor and irrelevant paragraph in history and doesn't connect that long dead history to the thriving neo-nazi organizations and general closet anti-semitism prevalent in the US.
This is just the "conservative values" of an american school board wanting the next generation of children to grow up educated by way of lies and omission.
Scary Devil Monastery (profile), 14 Feb 2022 @ 12:53am
Re: Re: Maus
""Ban" is not the most accurate word."
It really isn't. But it's the word the school board used to describe their actions.
And they did ban it from the curriculum which, given the trend of Southern State school boards to ban from what may be taught any literature accurately describing racism and bigotry, a pretty ugly image.
Apparently the idea is that children should be taught an inaccurate world view and then all stand there with surprised pikachu faces when they find their entire upbringing has been based on lies and omissions.
This is the next generation being brought up to resemble those 1 in 3 americans today so deranged they consider math, factual history, empirical science and basic logic dangerous "leftism".
Scary Devil Monastery (profile), 10 Feb 2022 @ 4:27am
Re: Re: Re:
"...your representatives represent people on the other side of the debate as well. Make your arguments with logic, with statistics, with information your representative can look up for themselves. If all you've got is "I don't like this", well... what would YOU do getting email like that?"
Sounds like work. Lamentably we're at the point where I can't see the average american doing any of that unless they're getting paid to do it. With, quite often, two mortgages on their house, no money to send their oldest to college, and both breadwinners in the family pulling ten hour shifts offering any of their time pro bono might not end up the highest priority on their calendar.
“One of the penalties of refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors.”
Scary Devil Monastery (profile), 10 Feb 2022 @ 4:21am
Well, that's not really odd.
...because what could possibly go wrong with some alt-right wingnut trying to bring the Bat Signal into real life and encourage every red-blooded 'murican to go after whoever their crystal ball points out as the culprit of the day?
Scary Devil Monastery (profile), 8 Feb 2022 @ 1:27am
Re: Re: Never attribute to malice...
"The last thing a CEO wants is to have to eat that crow."
Naturally. Every CEO knows they're in the hot seat for 3 to 5 years. That's not enough time to rebuild the business. And certainly won't help their CV unless they've specifically been hired to fix what is deeply broken.
None of the decisionmakers will ever have to face the consequences of their policies. They'll do the bare minimum, harvest the rewards and bonuses of having made the company drag in a few extra cents of payout on the stock for that fiscal year, then leave before the slapdash fixes they put in place give way. CEO's migrating through companies is like playing one of those card games where the last participant to hold the joker loses.
So facing the issue of their company having possibly cut the throat of the golden goose upon which they relied to make a living they'll always try to stall, delay, and lobby for legislative relief rather than fixing their problems.
Welcome to the end game of capitalism. Fast start, roaring mid stretch, ends with a burning tire rolling out of the wreckage.
Honestly, at this point I'm starting to think the only way we can have sustainable free markets is if the threat of regular canings in the town square keeps the top executives honest.
Scary Devil Monastery (profile), 8 Feb 2022 @ 1:14am
Re: Never attribute to malice...
"I think people here vastly underestimate the incompetence of software designers at car companies."
No, I think most people here are all too aware that large companies will invariably retain the lowest bidder with a good spiel.
"Te car companies CAN'T comply with the law because their software is so poorly engineered in the first place, not flexible enough to accomodate the law's requirements, and will take literally years of effort to make complaint with the law (I say "make compliant" rather than "fix" because if they ever do it, it'll be by more half-competent hacking)."
And it strikes me, again, how this mindset is not only endemic of larger companies but inevitable. To fix or prevent this shit we really need to do one of two things - reduce the profit motive to the point where every company making it into the big leagues won't suddenly abandon all the advantages building its brand for the sake of cutting production and development costs...or make sure every company over a certain size lives in perpetual fear or putting a foot wrong.
I really don't like bringing up the chinese model...but every time their corporations start becoming big enough and cocky enough to impact the nation as a whole, crackdowns happen and the responsible people are shlepped away in chains as warnings unto others.
Of course there's that state and corporation as one mess to consider where leeway is given according to political credibility...but at this point, when looking at the US, I'm not seeing much difference in form of corruption between the two.
Scary Devil Monastery (profile), 8 Feb 2022 @ 1:06am
Re:
"I think the most charitable read of their public statements is also the most damning."
Or to summarize, when Kia and Subaru faced revolutionary new tech rather than try to adapt it to further the interest of their customers they used it to further their own interests...and now when the law demands they open up their toolbox they're finding out they shot themselves in the crotch and have to dial back the functionality of the cars lest some asshat hacker land the vehicles a reputation of the worse sort.
Subaru has always been top notch with a hitherto secured title as the car most likely to please owners. This, guys, is how you snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.
I think we're all due some very hard lessons in why it's a good thing to keep corporations in a permanent state of fear.
Scary Devil Monastery (profile), 7 Feb 2022 @ 12:57am
Re: Re: Disallowed
"Which is actually a very good thing."
It's ironic that the lessons europe had to learn, much of it due to US influence, americans have forgotten completely.
The nazis and alt-right know damn well there is no middle ground to be had. They cleave to an opinion which is utterly incompatible with democracy, civil rights, or any of the principles written off in the US constitution and the UN declaration of human rights.
And they also know that if they can just finagle the bleeding-heart gullible morons who believe in humanitarian principles to invite them to the table to discuss things, they win.
Because just as you can't be just a little bit pregnant you also can't be on the fence about racism. The position between the nazi and the humanitarian is the guy who agrees to kill only a few jews or perhaps agree to force them to wear a star of david and accept second-class citizenship. Still an anti-semite nazi, just one who isn't a frothing lunatic about it.
Scary Devil Monastery (profile), 7 Feb 2022 @ 12:50am
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
Americans used to be less...dumb...about free speech. Consequences have always existed over choices made. It's just that in modern times "Free speech" became a meaningless talking point and at some point liberals forgot that not everything can be debated from a neutral point of view. It's the literal reason why both MLK and Malcolm X were so disillusioned in the "moderate" fence-sitters who made all the right noises and then stabbed them in the back.
Klansman: "They Will Not Replace Us! Toss out the Mexican Rapist! String up the <N-word>!" Civil Rights Activist: "Hell no, Get Lost!" Moderate: "Guys, surely we can talk about this? Lynching is a no-go but there must be some compromise we can agree on? Redlining? Separate But Equal?"
Some issues just don't have medium ground. You can't, in real life or in theory, be just a little racist, just a little pregnant, or just a little anti-science. And americans need to re-learn that.
Scary Devil Monastery (profile), 7 Feb 2022 @ 12:42am
Re: Grand Theft AmeriKa
"Who has robbed you more, government or private parties?"
I'm sure you saw that as a rhetorical question but...If you live in the US, private parties.
There's a reason why the average american life is a lot shittier than it was for their parents and grandparents, why unions are a thing of ages past, why there is no universal healthcare or demands on paid vacations, sick leave, parental leave, or a living wage whereas not too long ago a single breadwinner could support a family. Like the rest of the OECD still takes for granted.
And it sure isn't either the government or external forces making sure one in ten citizens - of the wealthiest nation in the history of the world - is in the food stamp program and 40% of all households would go bust over an unplanned $400 expense.
Part of Bezos incredible wealth is because he's paying less in taxes than the average lower middle class household - and because all his workers are literal wage slaves whose working conditions are so atrocious toilet breaks and promptly notifying EMS about a body on the floor isn't in their privilege package.
Scary Devil Monastery (profile), 7 Feb 2022 @ 12:34am
Re: Scary - the rank and file falls in line
Makes you long for the days of yore, doesn't it? To think there was a time when the uppity journo or loudmouthed pillar of the community hearing "Mr. Salazar is very upset" would be hearing it from a thug in a dark alley, not from the cops pulling him/her over for a "routine" inspection.
Scary Devil Monastery (profile), 7 Feb 2022 @ 12:31am
Re:
"If the Shop Safe Act, all the online marketplaces will go offshore, and use the Dark Web and Bitcoins."
It isn't unlikely. If we've learned anything from history it would be that when government decides to go all-in on protectionist bullshit harming the ability of newcomers to make a buck, circumvention of the offending legislation becomes the norm rather than the exception.
I'd advise anyone not already in the know to read up on the french lace monopoly of the...17th century, I think, as well as the british Red Flag Act.
Shop Safe is just that best legislation money could buy. For the biggest campaign contributors - also the biggest monopolies irked at having to compete - this bill is the g(r)ift which keeps on giving.
Scary Devil Monastery (profile), 7 Feb 2022 @ 12:16am
Re: Re: Re:
"...if the bill not changed and is pushed wont they end up voting on party-lines like in the house and its likely that Wyden and others will vote against?"
About the only thing most democrats can agree with republicans on is that they don't really want things to get better. The ratchet effect is real enough.
This bill is great for all the monolithic oligopolies and pseudo-monopolies around and very much less so for smaller business and online retailers. So with every major campaign contributor having an interest in this passing, it will likely pass.
If there's anything I'm still very much confused about it would be why so many americans still think they have a government by the people, for the people when almost every politician to make it to the house and senate come with a leash and an owner.
Scary Devil Monastery (profile), 4 Feb 2022 @ 1:36am
Re: Disallowed
"There are a growing number of people, both in the U.S. and the western world, who are increasingly intolerant of any speech which advocates and assists massive loss of life."
FTFY.
This may come as news to you, Koby, but the world has never tolerated those inciting conditions of mortal danger for massive amounts of people.
I'd say no one with common sense should be surprised at that but given how broken your moral and ethical compass, not to mention your sense of basic logic, has proven to be on multiple occasions...
Scary Devil Monastery (profile), 4 Feb 2022 @ 1:32am
Re: Re: Re:
"Not everyone who disagrees with (someone who does not want the world eaten) wants to eat the world."
FTFY.
What is being discussed isn't Rogan choosing to host people with merely differences of opinion. Flat Earthers, comparative religion, friedmanists contra keynesians, psychics, marxists, libertarians...those are all opinions.
Sure, so is "anti-vaxx" - with the key difference that;
A) Everything about anti-vaxx has proven a demonstrable lie.
B) It's a belief which is in large part to blame for 700000 americans dying which wouldn't be dead had the US pandemic response been merely lackadaisical and mediocre.
Rogan is certainly within his rights to host such people. But this case isn't the nazi party marching through public space on skokie. This is the bartender hosting nazis surprised that his regular patrons now abandon him because they don't want to stand with him on that choice.
When Rogan decided to platform and thereby abet and assist those malicious asshats that's a choice with consequences.
Scary Devil Monastery (profile), 4 Feb 2022 @ 12:36am
Re: Re: what the law in Japan says it must
"Any copyright owner ought to be able to say "we will permit unlicensed use in situation <x>", without losing rights to license in other situtations that are <not x>. I don't see how even Hollywood executives could rationally oppose such a legal change."
The reason you don't see that is because you are trying to look at this from a common sense angle.
Here's the thing - neither copyright nor any of it's legislative extensions over the last century has been made according to good sense, good faith, or in good will. Bluntly put this legislation is from start to finish intended to screw people. The main beneficiaries of it being the middleman industry and a rapidly increasing cadre of legal counsels.
That's why you will find no easy solutions when it comes to copyright. Everything requires the involvement of high-priced legal counsel.
I'd argue that the industry of IP law counsel has been the biggest beneficiary of copyright legislation - beyond even the House of Mouse which now literally couldn't function without having as many lawyers on retainer as animators.
If japanese law requires stakeholders to actively pursue copyright enforcement or lose those copyrights then that framing is entirely by design. Just according to keikaku.
"But such a law is idiotic, needless, and ought to be changed immediately."
I would advise you to google "red flag act". This sort of shit isn't exactly new.
Scary Devil Monastery (profile), 3 Feb 2022 @ 12:33am
Re:
"I don't consider removing 83 year olds from positions of extreme power unfortunate even if I approve of their politics/judicial philosophy."
When it comes to politics I'd agree. When it comes to Judges, whose job is literally only to interpret law what I want is someone who's spent 50 years studying what law is, how it works, how it's interpreted and how judgments work out long-time.
The last thing I want as a legal counsel is some 40 year old who's been coasting on his dunning-kruger and is just at the point where their ambitions to "make a mark" are greatest. I want a jaded old fart who's seen it all - twice - who can say "No, we're not doing this because although it may look good for this particular case I can see a dozen cases where this would be fucking horrifying, kiddo".
On the post: Penguin Random House Demands Removal Of Maus From Digital Library Because The Book Is Popular Again
Re: Re: Re: Re:
"which is why I'm wondering why you declared what the school-board intentions and thinking where without even bothering to actually inform yourself of it and within which context they worked."
I didn't. I reiterate;
"And the context here is that looking at the list of books banned from classrooms in southern state and Tennessee in particular have a common thread - they are books about the other and the racism and bigotry which has led to said other being discriminated or persecuted."
The laundry list of what the Tennessee Banned Book List contains sends a clear message, especially combined with the removal of any topic associated with awareness of bigotry visavi LGBTQ and ethnicity.
I could give the school board intentions the benefit of doubt but it'd have to be, in the wake of the facts at hand, the same sort of doubt I'd assign to the intentions of Mr. Goebbels after his polemic speeches about the shocking language used by the german jewry.
On the post: Penguin Random House Demands Removal Of Maus From Digital Library Because The Book Is Popular Again
Re: Re: Re:
"But the tragedy the Jewish, and other minority groups, suffered does not excuse the apartied conditions the Israeli government is forcing on occupied Palestine."
Although that is true it's also true that Israel has painted itself into a very bad corner with no real options on the table. Some of which could have been solved by compromise as Rabin attempted to do. His assassination, by an israeli zealot, tore the idea of a united israel apart and by now I'm thinking that country has come to rely on the pressure of an enemy abroad to keep the irreconcilable sides on the same room.
On the post: Penguin Random House Demands Removal Of Maus From Digital Library Because The Book Is Popular Again
Re: Re:
"That's actually a heck of a claim to make less than two weeks after a well-known liberal talk show host got caught spreading Holocaust misinformation!"
For which Whoopi got a time-out the show and told to read up on her nonsense...and came back apologizing.
"Democrat Rule #1: any bad thing they accuse conservatives of doing, or of wanting to do, they are already doing that thing themselves."
Good on you to find one of the exceptions where a liberal proves stupidity is a thing across political boundaries.
Meanwhile accusing the other side of what your own side does and plans to do is the standard conservative default. As demonstrated so very well by you right there.
Get it straight; No one believes your rhetoric any longer. You don't get the benefit of doubt. We know you guys by your actions and judge you accordingly. So you can just fsck right back to stormfront and preach your false equivalences to the choire there.
On the post: Penguin Random House Demands Removal Of Maus From Digital Library Because The Book Is Popular Again
Re: Re:
"In this instance it was never about "conservative values", it contained 8 "cuss-words" and one graphic depiction which was what some parents and school-board members objected to."
Context matters.
And the context here is that looking at the list of books banned from classrooms in southern state and Tennessee in particular have a common thread - they are books about the other and the racism and bigotry which has led to said other being discriminated or persecuted.
I'm sure that school board in particular will be fine teaching about the Holocaust - as long as they can find material phrasing it as a minor and irrelevant paragraph in history and doesn't connect that long dead history to the thriving neo-nazi organizations and general closet anti-semitism prevalent in the US.
This is just the "conservative values" of an american school board wanting the next generation of children to grow up educated by way of lies and omission.
On the post: Penguin Random House Demands Removal Of Maus From Digital Library Because The Book Is Popular Again
Re: Re: Maus
""Ban" is not the most accurate word."
It really isn't. But it's the word the school board used to describe their actions.
And they did ban it from the curriculum which, given the trend of Southern State school boards to ban from what may be taught any literature accurately describing racism and bigotry, a pretty ugly image.
Apparently the idea is that children should be taught an inaccurate world view and then all stand there with surprised pikachu faces when they find their entire upbringing has been based on lies and omissions.
This is the next generation being brought up to resemble those 1 in 3 americans today so deranged they consider math, factual history, empirical science and basic logic dangerous "leftism".
On the post: Over 60 Human Rights/Public Interest Groups Urge Congress To Drop EARN IT Act
Re: Re: Re:
"...your representatives represent people on the other side of the debate as well. Make your arguments with logic, with statistics, with information your representative can look up for themselves. If all you've got is "I don't like this", well... what would YOU do getting email like that?"
Sounds like work. Lamentably we're at the point where I can't see the average american doing any of that unless they're getting paid to do it. With, quite often, two mortgages on their house, no money to send their oldest to college, and both breadwinners in the family pulling ten hour shifts offering any of their time pro bono might not end up the highest priority on their calendar.
On the post: Emails Show The LAPD Cut Ties With The Citizen App After Its Started A Vigilante Manhunt Targeting An Innocent Person
Well, that's not really odd.
...because what could possibly go wrong with some alt-right wingnut trying to bring the Bat Signal into real life and encourage every red-blooded 'murican to go after whoever their crystal ball points out as the culprit of the day?
On the post: Kia, Subaru Disable Useful Car Features, Blames Mass. Right To Repair Law
Re: Re: Never attribute to malice...
"The last thing a CEO wants is to have to eat that crow."
Naturally. Every CEO knows they're in the hot seat for 3 to 5 years. That's not enough time to rebuild the business. And certainly won't help their CV unless they've specifically been hired to fix what is deeply broken.
None of the decisionmakers will ever have to face the consequences of their policies. They'll do the bare minimum, harvest the rewards and bonuses of having made the company drag in a few extra cents of payout on the stock for that fiscal year, then leave before the slapdash fixes they put in place give way. CEO's migrating through companies is like playing one of those card games where the last participant to hold the joker loses.
So facing the issue of their company having possibly cut the throat of the golden goose upon which they relied to make a living they'll always try to stall, delay, and lobby for legislative relief rather than fixing their problems.
Welcome to the end game of capitalism. Fast start, roaring mid stretch, ends with a burning tire rolling out of the wreckage.
Honestly, at this point I'm starting to think the only way we can have sustainable free markets is if the threat of regular canings in the town square keeps the top executives honest.
On the post: Kia, Subaru Disable Useful Car Features, Blames Mass. Right To Repair Law
Re: Never attribute to malice...
"I think people here vastly underestimate the incompetence of software designers at car companies."
No, I think most people here are all too aware that large companies will invariably retain the lowest bidder with a good spiel.
"Te car companies CAN'T comply with the law because their software is so poorly engineered in the first place, not flexible enough to accomodate the law's requirements, and will take literally years of effort to make complaint with the law (I say "make compliant" rather than "fix" because if they ever do it, it'll be by more half-competent hacking)."
And it strikes me, again, how this mindset is not only endemic of larger companies but inevitable. To fix or prevent this shit we really need to do one of two things - reduce the profit motive to the point where every company making it into the big leagues won't suddenly abandon all the advantages building its brand for the sake of cutting production and development costs...or make sure every company over a certain size lives in perpetual fear or putting a foot wrong.
I really don't like bringing up the chinese model...but every time their corporations start becoming big enough and cocky enough to impact the nation as a whole, crackdowns happen and the responsible people are shlepped away in chains as warnings unto others.
Of course there's that state and corporation as one mess to consider where leeway is given according to political credibility...but at this point, when looking at the US, I'm not seeing much difference in form of corruption between the two.
Surely we can do better than this?
On the post: Kia, Subaru Disable Useful Car Features, Blames Mass. Right To Repair Law
Re:
"I think the most charitable read of their public statements is also the most damning."
Or to summarize, when Kia and Subaru faced revolutionary new tech rather than try to adapt it to further the interest of their customers they used it to further their own interests...and now when the law demands they open up their toolbox they're finding out they shot themselves in the crotch and have to dial back the functionality of the cars lest some asshat hacker land the vehicles a reputation of the worse sort.
Subaru has always been top notch with a hitherto secured title as the car most likely to please owners. This, guys, is how you snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.
I think we're all due some very hard lessons in why it's a good thing to keep corporations in a permanent state of fear.
On the post: Explainer: The Whole Spotify / Joe Rogan Thing Has Absolutely Nothing To Do With Section 230
Re: Re: Disallowed
"Which is actually a very good thing."
It's ironic that the lessons europe had to learn, much of it due to US influence, americans have forgotten completely.
The nazis and alt-right know damn well there is no middle ground to be had. They cleave to an opinion which is utterly incompatible with democracy, civil rights, or any of the principles written off in the US constitution and the UN declaration of human rights.
And they also know that if they can just finagle the bleeding-heart gullible morons who believe in humanitarian principles to invite them to the table to discuss things, they win.
Because just as you can't be just a little bit pregnant you also can't be on the fence about racism. The position between the nazi and the humanitarian is the guy who agrees to kill only a few jews or perhaps agree to force them to wear a star of david and accept second-class citizenship. Still an anti-semite nazi, just one who isn't a frothing lunatic about it.
On the post: Explainer: The Whole Spotify / Joe Rogan Thing Has Absolutely Nothing To Do With Section 230
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
Americans used to be less...dumb...about free speech. Consequences have always existed over choices made. It's just that in modern times "Free speech" became a meaningless talking point and at some point liberals forgot that not everything can be debated from a neutral point of view. It's the literal reason why both MLK and Malcolm X were so disillusioned in the "moderate" fence-sitters who made all the right noises and then stabbed them in the back.
Klansman: "They Will Not Replace Us! Toss out the Mexican Rapist! String up the <N-word>!"
Civil Rights Activist: "Hell no, Get Lost!"
Moderate: "Guys, surely we can talk about this? Lynching is a no-go but there must be some compromise we can agree on? Redlining? Separate But Equal?"
Some issues just don't have medium ground. You can't, in real life or in theory, be just a little racist, just a little pregnant, or just a little anti-science. And americans need to re-learn that.
On the post: Small Alabama Town's Overzealous Traffic Cops Also Monitored Internet Traffic To Threaten Critics Of The Corrupt PD
Re: Grand Theft AmeriKa
"Who has robbed you more, government or private parties?"
I'm sure you saw that as a rhetorical question but...If you live in the US, private parties.
There's a reason why the average american life is a lot shittier than it was for their parents and grandparents, why unions are a thing of ages past, why there is no universal healthcare or demands on paid vacations, sick leave, parental leave, or a living wage whereas not too long ago a single breadwinner could support a family. Like the rest of the OECD still takes for granted.
And it sure isn't either the government or external forces making sure one in ten citizens - of the wealthiest nation in the history of the world - is in the food stamp program and 40% of all households would go bust over an unplanned $400 expense.
Part of Bezos incredible wealth is because he's paying less in taxes than the average lower middle class household - and because all his workers are literal wage slaves whose working conditions are so atrocious toilet breaks and promptly notifying EMS about a body on the floor isn't in their privilege package.
On the post: Small Alabama Town's Overzealous Traffic Cops Also Monitored Internet Traffic To Threaten Critics Of The Corrupt PD
Re: Scary - the rank and file falls in line
Makes you long for the days of yore, doesn't it? To think there was a time when the uppity journo or loudmouthed pillar of the community hearing "Mr. Salazar is very upset" would be hearing it from a thug in a dark alley, not from the cops pulling him/her over for a "routine" inspection.
On the post: House Votes For COMPETES Act, Even With Its Problems, Almost Entirely On Party Lines
Re:
"If the Shop Safe Act, all the online marketplaces will go offshore, and use the Dark Web and Bitcoins."
It isn't unlikely. If we've learned anything from history it would be that when government decides to go all-in on protectionist bullshit harming the ability of newcomers to make a buck, circumvention of the offending legislation becomes the norm rather than the exception.
I'd advise anyone not already in the know to read up on the french lace monopoly of the...17th century, I think, as well as the british Red Flag Act.
Shop Safe is just that best legislation money could buy. For the biggest campaign contributors - also the biggest monopolies irked at having to compete - this bill is the g(r)ift which keeps on giving.
On the post: House Votes For COMPETES Act, Even With Its Problems, Almost Entirely On Party Lines
Re: Re: Re:
"...if the bill not changed and is pushed wont they end up voting on party-lines like in the house and its likely that Wyden and others will vote against?"
About the only thing most democrats can agree with republicans on is that they don't really want things to get better. The ratchet effect is real enough.
This bill is great for all the monolithic oligopolies and pseudo-monopolies around and very much less so for smaller business and online retailers. So with every major campaign contributor having an interest in this passing, it will likely pass.
If there's anything I'm still very much confused about it would be why so many americans still think they have a government by the people, for the people when almost every politician to make it to the house and senate come with a leash and an owner.
On the post: Explainer: The Whole Spotify / Joe Rogan Thing Has Absolutely Nothing To Do With Section 230
Re: Disallowed
"There are a growing number of people, both in the U.S. and the western world, who are increasingly intolerant of any speech which advocates and assists massive loss of life."
FTFY.
This may come as news to you, Koby, but the world has never tolerated those inciting conditions of mortal danger for massive amounts of people.
I'd say no one with common sense should be surprised at that but given how broken your moral and ethical compass, not to mention your sense of basic logic, has proven to be on multiple occasions...
On the post: Explainer: The Whole Spotify / Joe Rogan Thing Has Absolutely Nothing To Do With Section 230
Re: Re: Re:
"Not everyone who disagrees with (someone who does not want the world eaten) wants to eat the world."
FTFY.
What is being discussed isn't Rogan choosing to host people with merely differences of opinion. Flat Earthers, comparative religion, friedmanists contra keynesians, psychics, marxists, libertarians...those are all opinions.
Sure, so is "anti-vaxx" - with the key difference that;
A) Everything about anti-vaxx has proven a demonstrable lie.
B) It's a belief which is in large part to blame for 700000 americans dying which wouldn't be dead had the US pandemic response been merely lackadaisical and mediocre.
Rogan is certainly within his rights to host such people. But this case isn't the nazi party marching through public space on skokie. This is the bartender hosting nazis surprised that his regular patrons now abandon him because they don't want to stand with him on that choice.
When Rogan decided to platform and thereby abet and assist those malicious asshats that's a choice with consequences.
On the post: YouTube Dusts Off Granular National Video Blocking To Assist YouTuber Feuding With Toei Animation
Re: Re: what the law in Japan says it must
"Any copyright owner ought to be able to say "we will permit unlicensed use in situation <x>", without losing rights to license in other situtations that are <not x>. I don't see how even Hollywood executives could rationally oppose such a legal change."
The reason you don't see that is because you are trying to look at this from a common sense angle.
Here's the thing - neither copyright nor any of it's legislative extensions over the last century has been made according to good sense, good faith, or in good will. Bluntly put this legislation is from start to finish intended to screw people. The main beneficiaries of it being the middleman industry and a rapidly increasing cadre of legal counsels.
That's why you will find no easy solutions when it comes to copyright. Everything requires the involvement of high-priced legal counsel.
I'd argue that the industry of IP law counsel has been the biggest beneficiary of copyright legislation - beyond even the House of Mouse which now literally couldn't function without having as many lawyers on retainer as animators.
If japanese law requires stakeholders to actively pursue copyright enforcement or lose those copyrights then that framing is entirely by design. Just according to keikaku.
"But such a law is idiotic, needless, and ought to be changed immediately."
I would advise you to google "red flag act". This sort of shit isn't exactly new.
On the post: With Stephen Breyer's Retirement, The Supreme Court Has Lost A Justice Who Was Wary Of Overly Burdensome Copyright
Re:
"I don't consider removing 83 year olds from positions of extreme power unfortunate even if I approve of their politics/judicial philosophy."
When it comes to politics I'd agree. When it comes to Judges, whose job is literally only to interpret law what I want is someone who's spent 50 years studying what law is, how it works, how it's interpreted and how judgments work out long-time.
The last thing I want as a legal counsel is some 40 year old who's been coasting on his dunning-kruger and is just at the point where their ambitions to "make a mark" are greatest. I want a jaded old fart who's seen it all - twice - who can say "No, we're not doing this because although it may look good for this particular case I can see a dozen cases where this would be fucking horrifying, kiddo".
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