Yeah, I never thought they were too bad and usually seemed to have a sense of humor about stuff.
They *did* wrongly debunk the story about the "Emory U Chalk Trump Crisis". Though in that case, the article writer's excuse that it sounded so ridiculous he assumed the story had to be a mean-spirited invention actually kinda rings true. I thought much the same.
"Honestly I think the best solution is to start teaching critical thinking in schools and start teaching it young."
Amen to that. And why is this not done??
I strongly suspect (supported by personal experience) that the folks doing the teaching have found that turning young people into critical thinkers too early doesn't result in the kind of students/people/citizens they want to produce.
Not a conspiracy, just the way things work out. An observation that has explanatory and predictive power, which usually suggests a strong element of truth.
The error that frequently follows after the inarguable conclusion that half the people are of below average intelligence, is that all the ones above that line share your every political position.
Much as I generally hate the horror stories we hear of CPS overreach, I guarantee you that "violation of her Fourth Amendment rights" may well be the least-bad thing that happens to this little druggie.
I've been on the street, participated in the robust black market economy and drug trade and believe me, while there are tons of decent people there who adhere to Dylan's injunction "To live outside the law you must be honest", teenage girl runaways don't end up in that part of the subculture. If you can't imagine the ugliness that people entirely unmoored from societies' behavioral expectations and the law are capable of, that reflects well on your own mental health. But it doesn't help the girl.
So while we celebrate this 'victory', give some thought to what can be done to ameliorate the self-destructive behavior of so many teens. CPS is certainly better occupied trying to help these kids than 'saving' children from waiting in a car for five minutes or walking unsupervised to a nearby park.
I know this is an old thread, but the "Vinotemp Saga" in the linked thread is fascinating, in a can't-look-away car crash kind of way. (http://www.wineberserkers.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=29900)
It ended THIS YEAR (disputed purchase was in 2010), but the noble protagonist, who was put through insane duress by the company, FINALLY won a court case...and by "won", I mean "got a settlement done before trial", which involved an NDA apparently. Public record though, shows "Dismissal via settlement with prejudice". Basically, a pre-trial "You have failed to intimidate or financially crush the defendant, and you are clearly in the wrong. Do the fucking math." message. But it took the poor woman YEARS and hundreds, maybe thousands of hours of effort, in addition to legal fees (which, I suspect, she DID recover).
So if your corporate opponent, even though clearly in the wrong by any common sense moral reckoning, goes after you, you CAN win...but you have to not give up, no matter what.
"...lack of more centralist or right wing voices"...
Yeah, that ought to be considered problematic since the "...seismic political developments" referenced in the article were caused by the huge, underrepresented mass of unannointed plebes whose fervent desire is to bail on the One World project as currently constituted. And said academics are all down with the project, just not the part where a few people get insanely rich.
Those of us (on both sides of the Atlantic) who have little desire to emulate the success of socialism in, say, Venezuela, don't even mind if globalism lifts the prosperity of people in the Third World (which it has). What we DON'T want is more centralized decision-making enforced through a panopticon state. Which the socialists don't seem to mind at all as long as they are given ever more power to "do good".
F. That. When the people forgo a competent well-meaning president to elect a giant orange middle finger directed right at you...pay attention!
...emotional response, to feel actual gut-wrenching *hatred* for those responsible for taking a relatively intellectually sound bit of governance like "granting creators exclusive use of their creations for a limited time" and turning it into...this? And by "this", I mean the near-indescribable cesspit of copyright (and not excluding patent and even trademark) law.
It seems harsh to hate them, even considering that the people responsible for the travesty and who benefit from it are almost exclusively NON-creators.
Meh. Considering the lawyerly rationalizations and weak moral excuses for such greed, I'm okay with hatred. Wish it carried more consequence for them...maybe someday.
...emotional response, to feel actual gut-wrenching *hatred* for those responsible for taking a relatively intellectually sound bit of governance like "granting creators exclusive use of their creations for a limited time" and turning it into...this? And by "this", I mean the near-indescribable cesspit of copyright (and not excluding patent and even trademark) law.
It seems harsh to hate them, even considering that the people responsible for the travesty and who benefit from it are almost exclusively NON-creators.
Meh. Considering the lawyerly rationalizations and weak moral excuses for such greed, I'm okay with hatred. Wish it carried more consequence for them...maybe someday.
...long about the 350 thousandth time that depending on government to regulate those greedy corporatists backfired. The only thing that drives down prices and improves service and product offerings is competition. i.e.: some OTHER greedy corporatists jumping in and saying "You're screwing over your own customers (because you can), but if we don't, they'll soon enough be OUR customers."
And, yes, of course they eventually change, the disruptive and innovative people behind the challenge to entrenched players cash out and the new players themselves then go to gov't for preferential treatment and suppression of competitors...but the thing is, the initial innovation and disruption is *never* a product of government intervention. Sometimes (rarely) government inattention or incompetence *allows* said competition to occur, but it isn't something to expect. So the wistful tone of the article ("Gosh, if only the CRTC would make them give us what we want at the price we want!") is kind of mystifying.
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: No more head in the sand for the left?
Yeah, the Dems have no hand in the corporatist kleptocracy we now live under, nothing to do with the FDA ensuring Big Pharma profits, didn't insist on policies that created the housing bubble that led to the 2008 crash, never helped turn IP-hoarding into a creativity-free gold mine, and know nothing about the taxpayer-raping pension crisis coming rapidly down the pike.
*gah* I posted about the reality-warping stress created when people try to pretend there's a good guy/bad guy dichotomy somehow represented by these two political parties before I saw your posts, Thad, but thanks for providing the fine example.
All of the illogic, sand/head submersion, pretzel-twist reasoning and denial are the result of both sides trying to pretend there are "good guys" and "bad guys" in DC.
The world makes more sense, and you can actually make logical constructs with predictive and explanatory power if you will only accept a single fact: THEY. ARE. ALL. BAD. GUYS.(even the wimmens).
They ALL trade off support and votes for questionable legislation, they ALL accept the "assistance" (and, not coincidentally, the campaign contributions) of lobbyists in writing legislation. They ALL read off positions given them by groups whose agendas are not consistent with the legislators' stated purpose of REPRESENTING THE BEST INTERESTS OF THEIR CONSTITUENTS. (not just the wealthy and powerful ones)
Once you stop trying to excuse the actions of "My team", things tend to fall into place. And yes, many of the individuals involved are, personally, decent human beings. But "Senatores boni viri, senatus autem mala bestia"
"...shoveling cash to anyone who wants to take it and is willing to say what we want to hear about whomever we want to hear it said."
FTFY
Lack of transparency? Inadequate oversight? Casual waste of taxpayers' money? Psht.That's FedGov SOP. Prosecutorial overreach and a corrupt system of payoffs to well-connected "Friends of Law Enforcement" seem like relatively harmless outliers. No big deal. So many government agencies can be/have been turned to the abuse of citizens and the suppression of legitimate demands for reform, and few of them have the weaponry, legal muscle and (sadly) public support the DEA has.
More investigation will only show the agency being used as so many others are: To ensure the money keeps flowing to the right people and stays in the right pockets, forever, if possible. Directed persecutions of problematic individuals may be rare now, but the powers-that-be may soon find it desirable to 'cull the herd' of rude, inadequately-indoctrinated badthinkers. The DEA will be pretty useful then.
"Alternative"?? Why would you think any of the homeless who have drug problems* would change that just because they suddenly have pr0n to whack off to?
*-"homeless drug problem", funds inadequate to obtain desired quantity of drugs. (sry, but I've worked with homeless folks)
I have seen Trump referred to as a "giant orange middle finger" offered up to the political class by people who feel betrayed by both parties. The question of his "competence" for the office is irrelevant to them.
In point of fact, you, and other self-appointed elitists, do NOT want anything like a true "polyglot culture". In action, as we have seen recently on college campuses, you want absolute adherence to ideas that you find amenable and an absolute ban on ideas you characterize as objectionable.
You are so certain of your moral superiority (which is based on projection, straw men and LOADS of unexamined assertions) that you see no need for any self-awareness. You hand wave and name call all disagreements, and alter definitions of words as necessary.
When it can be seriously claimed that the morally unobjectionable sentiment "All Lives Matter" is LITERALLY an "act of violence" (and not far down the rod, a sentiment to be met with violence, I suspect), the "false consciousness" is not only on one side, and neither side is actually FOR freedom of expression and belief.
And as long as one party or the other can convince either the educated clueless or the less-educated clueless that they are on the "moral" side of some stupid, irrelevant wedge issue, what you claim not to want is supported by your actions. And of course, you won't see it...
The only thing worse than too many "ignorant citizens" would be a permanent army of corrupt white-collar elitists in a permanent federal bureaucracy benefitting from and perpetuating the cronyism and influence-peddling the elected officials indulge in. In such a vile system, the self-interest of all parties involved is to strive for ever-greater, more centralized power and wealth; to be used in pandering to ever-more-incompatible interest groups.
Good thing we don't have anything like that. So much better to have the educated running thing for the dummies, right? #noneedforasarctag
I think it will be years before the all-important 19-25 demographic will accept a technology that can be used by parents and grandparents without routinely generating eye-rolling faux pas.
OTOH, the conversion of text about a song into actual audio bits of the song itself, could generate a mini-licensing scheme. The RIAA would have to cut the NSA in on the deal for access to those multi-billions of communications on your text-o-voice-o-phone device. After all, those mega data centers don't build and maintain themselves!
On the post: Team Prenda Finally Goes To Jail: Hansmeier & Steele Indicted & Arrested
Re: Re:
Cruel, unusual and tempting.
On the post: In The Rush To Blame Facebook, Come The Calls To Suppress Ideas People Disagree With
Re: Re: Snopes?
They *did* wrongly debunk the story about the "Emory U Chalk Trump Crisis". Though in that case, the article writer's excuse that it sounded so ridiculous he assumed the story had to be a mean-spirited invention actually kinda rings true. I thought much the same.
On the post: In The Rush To Blame Facebook, Come The Calls To Suppress Ideas People Disagree With
Re:
Amen to that. And why is this not done??
I strongly suspect (supported by personal experience) that the folks doing the teaching have found that turning young people into critical thinkers too early doesn't result in the kind of students/people/citizens they want to produce.
Not a conspiracy, just the way things work out. An observation that has explanatory and predictive power, which usually suggests a strong element of truth.
On the post: In The Rush To Blame Facebook, Come The Calls To Suppress Ideas People Disagree With
Re: Well, but you know...they ARE idiots.
The error that frequently follows after the inarguable conclusion that half the people are of below average intelligence, is that all the ones above that line share your every political position.
On the post: Court Tells Family Services Worker 'I Don't Approve Of Your Lifestyle' Isn't A Valid Warrant Exception
I've been on the street, participated in the robust black market economy and drug trade and believe me, while there are tons of decent people there who adhere to Dylan's injunction "To live outside the law you must be honest", teenage girl runaways don't end up in that part of the subculture. If you can't imagine the ugliness that people entirely unmoored from societies' behavioral expectations and the law are capable of, that reflects well on your own mental health. But it doesn't help the girl.
So while we celebrate this 'victory', give some thought to what can be done to ameliorate the self-destructive behavior of so many teens. CPS is certainly better occupied trying to help these kids than 'saving' children from waiting in a car for five minutes or walking unsupervised to a nearby park.
On the post: Here Are The Companies That Want To Charge You $2,500-$100,000 For Negative Reviews
It ended THIS YEAR (disputed purchase was in 2010), but the noble protagonist, who was put through insane duress by the company, FINALLY won a court case...and by "won", I mean "got a settlement done before trial", which involved an NDA apparently. Public record though, shows "Dismissal via settlement with prejudice". Basically, a pre-trial "You have failed to intimidate or financially crush the defendant, and you are clearly in the wrong. Do the fucking math." message. But it took the poor woman YEARS and hundreds, maybe thousands of hours of effort, in addition to legal fees (which, I suspect, she DID recover).
So if your corporate opponent, even though clearly in the wrong by any common sense moral reckoning, goes after you, you CAN win...but you have to not give up, no matter what.
On the post: TPP, TTIP And CETA Are Disasters For The Public: Are There Better Ways To Do Trade Deals?
Re: Re: Re:
"...lack of more centralist or right wing voices"...
Yeah, that ought to be considered problematic since the "...seismic political developments" referenced in the article were caused by the huge, underrepresented mass of unannointed plebes whose fervent desire is to bail on the One World project as currently constituted. And said academics are all down with the project, just not the part where a few people get insanely rich.
Those of us (on both sides of the Atlantic) who have little desire to emulate the success of socialism in, say, Venezuela, don't even mind if globalism lifts the prosperity of people in the Third World (which it has). What we DON'T want is more centralized decision-making enforced through a panopticon state. Which the socialists don't seem to mind at all as long as they are given ever more power to "do good".
F. That. When the people forgo a competent well-meaning president to elect a giant orange middle finger directed right at you...pay attention!
On the post: CBS Sues Public Domain For Existing
Is it inappropriate, or an exaggerated...
It seems harsh to hate them, even considering that the people responsible for the travesty and who benefit from it are almost exclusively NON-creators.
Meh. Considering the lawyerly rationalizations and weak moral excuses for such greed, I'm okay with hatred. Wish it carried more consequence for them...maybe someday.
On the post: CBS Sues Public Domain For Existing
Is it inappropriate, or an exaggerated...
It seems harsh to hate them, even considering that the people responsible for the travesty and who benefit from it are almost exclusively NON-creators.
Meh. Considering the lawyerly rationalizations and weak moral excuses for such greed, I'm okay with hatred. Wish it carried more consequence for them...maybe someday.
On the post: Canada's Attempt To Force Cheaper, More Flexible Cable Packages Is A Bit Of A Joke
There should have been a lesson learned...
And, yes, of course they eventually change, the disruptive and innovative people behind the challenge to entrenched players cash out and the new players themselves then go to gov't for preferential treatment and suppression of competitors...but the thing is, the initial innovation and disruption is *never* a product of government intervention. Sometimes (rarely) government inattention or incompetence *allows* said competition to occur, but it isn't something to expect. So the wistful tone of the article ("Gosh, if only the CRTC would make them give us what we want at the price we want!") is kind of mystifying.
On the post: The Clinton Campaign Should Stop Denying That The Wikileaks Emails Are Valid; They Are And They're Real
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: No more head in the sand for the left?
*gah* I posted about the reality-warping stress created when people try to pretend there's a good guy/bad guy dichotomy somehow represented by these two political parties before I saw your posts, Thad, but thanks for providing the fine example.
On the post: The Clinton Campaign Should Stop Denying That The Wikileaks Emails Are Valid; They Are And They're Real
Re: Re: No more head in the sand for the left?
The world makes more sense, and you can actually make logical constructs with predictive and explanatory power if you will only accept a single fact: THEY. ARE. ALL. BAD. GUYS.(even the wimmens).
They ALL trade off support and votes for questionable legislation, they ALL accept the "assistance" (and, not coincidentally, the campaign contributions) of lobbyists in writing legislation. They ALL read off positions given them by groups whose agendas are not consistent with the legislators' stated purpose of REPRESENTING THE BEST INTERESTS OF THEIR CONSTITUENTS. (not just the wealthy and powerful ones)
Once you stop trying to excuse the actions of "My team", things tend to fall into place. And yes, many of the individuals involved are, personally, decent human beings. But "Senatores boni viri, senatus autem mala bestia"
On the post: The Clinton Campaign Should Stop Denying That The Wikileaks Emails Are Valid; They Are And They're Real
Re:
On the post: Prominent Pro-Patent Judge Issues Opinion Declaring All Software Patents Bad
Re: Oh Noes
On the post: Report: DEA Blowing Money On Liars, Thieves, And Amtrak Employees
Re:
FTFY
Lack of transparency? Inadequate oversight? Casual waste of taxpayers' money? Psht.That's FedGov SOP. Prosecutorial overreach and a corrupt system of payoffs to well-connected "Friends of Law Enforcement" seem like relatively harmless outliers. No big deal. So many government agencies can be/have been turned to the abuse of citizens and the suppression of legitimate demands for reform, and few of them have the weaponry, legal muscle and (sadly) public support the DEA has.
More investigation will only show the agency being used as so many others are: To ensure the money keeps flowing to the right people and stays in the right pockets, forever, if possible. Directed persecutions of problematic individuals may be rare now, but the powers-that-be may soon find it desirable to 'cull the herd' of rude, inadequately-indoctrinated badthinkers. The DEA will be pretty useful then.
On the post: NYC Kills Internet Browsing At Free WiFi Kiosks After The City's Homeless Actually Use It
Re: Re:
*-"homeless drug problem", funds inadequate to obtain desired quantity of drugs. (sry, but I've worked with homeless folks)
On the post: House Intel Committee Says Snowden's Not A Whistleblower, 'Cause He Once Emailed His Boss's Boss
Re: Re: Re:
On the post: House Intel Committee Says Snowden's Not A Whistleblower, 'Cause He Once Emailed His Boss's Boss
Re: "You are a hypocrite!"
You are so certain of your moral superiority (which is based on projection, straw men and LOADS of unexamined assertions) that you see no need for any self-awareness. You hand wave and name call all disagreements, and alter definitions of words as necessary.
When it can be seriously claimed that the morally unobjectionable sentiment "All Lives Matter" is LITERALLY an "act of violence" (and not far down the rod, a sentiment to be met with violence, I suspect), the "false consciousness" is not only on one side, and neither side is actually FOR freedom of expression and belief.
And as long as one party or the other can convince either the educated clueless or the less-educated clueless that they are on the "moral" side of some stupid, irrelevant wedge issue, what you claim not to want is supported by your actions. And of course, you won't see it...
On the post: House Intel Committee Says Snowden's Not A Whistleblower, 'Cause He Once Emailed His Boss's Boss
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
Good thing we don't have anything like that. So much better to have the educated running thing for the dummies, right? #noneedforasarctag
On the post: Why Apple Removing The Audio Jack From The iPhone Would Be A Very, Very, Very, Bad Move
Re: Re:
I think it will be years before the all-important 19-25 demographic will accept a technology that can be used by parents and grandparents without routinely generating eye-rolling faux pas.
OTOH, the conversion of text about a song into actual audio bits of the song itself, could generate a mini-licensing scheme. The RIAA would have to cut the NSA in on the deal for access to those multi-billions of communications on your text-o-voice-o-phone device. After all, those mega data centers don't build and maintain themselves!
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