Chaos and the Anti-Thread

[Dreamtimer]

Sounds interesting.

[Emil El Zapato]

It looks like all hell is breaking loose on the border. My older brother warned me about 30 years ago to not go near the border because it was dangerous (he's hyper conservative). It looks like he was right. Is this a dream come true? The early scuttlebutt is that the Mexican side of the border has arrested some people for spreading 'fake news' regarding getting across the border. Apparently, that started the mob rush. 2 people were slightly hurt. Doesn't say whether or not any of the bum rushers were arrested. Seems reasonable that they would be though. What they did constitutes a serious breach of understood protocol. They're likely lucky to be alive. Trump is probably at Mar-El-Lago whacking off since his wife won't sleep with him. She has some sense of decency it would seem...however deeply hidden.

[Dreamtimer]

In America, your Constitutional rights are quite nebulous within 100 miles of the border. You could be held without charges or worse. After 9/11 Americans lost all kinds of rights.

And now norms are being eroded.

Slippery slope is probably way too mild a term.

[Elen]

After 9/11 Americans lost all kinds of rights. And now norms are being eroded.

Include the rest of the world into that equation, please.

[Chris]

Well, America is still partially free and there is always a chance that some lost freedoms can be restored. I'm far more worried about China right now. They are seriously backtracking and going back to good ol' Maoist days. The social credit score thing and the spy chips they surreptitiously install into every Chinese-made product is what really worries me, not to mention what they are doing in Uigurstan and Tibet.


My brother recently bought a chinese-made smartphone (Huawei), which is otherwise excellent, but he did notice, that every time he casually mentions something in a conversation (and who doesn't have their phone on them at all times in this day and age?), he starts getting targeted ads for said product shortly thereafter. This is without him even searching for it online, just talking about it does the trick.


My own much older google smartphone also had this feature (as part of google now), but at least you can switch it off in the settings, which I did. However, the current crop of "always on" tech products are seriously creepy in this respect and they don't even tell their customers that they're doing it. China is the worst offender, but other tech manufacturers (such as Samsung and LG) are also doing it.

[Aragorn]

Well, America is still partially free and there is always a chance that some lost freedoms can be restored. I'm far more worried about China right now. They are seriously backtracking and going back to good ol' Maoist days. The social credit score thing and the spy chips they surreptitiously install into every Chinese-made product is what really worries me, not to mention what they are doing in Uigurstan and Tibet.

Well, they've gotten very good at that after all the experience they've gained from doing that very same thing for (independently) the CIA and the NSA since "9/11".

My brother recently bought a chinese-made smartphone (Huawei), which is otherwise excellent, but he did notice, that every time he casually mentions something in a conversation (and who doesn't have their phone on them at all times in this day and age?), he starts getting targeted ads for said product shortly thereafter. This is without him even searching for it online, just talking about it does the trick.

I've heard this before, and if it isn't some kind of synchronicity event coming from the universe itself — which is entirely possible, mind you! — then it's probably because of something built into the Android operating system. And the company that develops Android is now part of Google.

Of all the corporations wanting to put their (existing or potential) customers under surveillance — and there are quite a few — Google is undoubtedly the worst offender. And what's really disturbing is that they don't even see this as the malicious intrusion into our privacy that it is. All you need to do, if you use either the Chrome or Chromium web browsers — both of which are developed by Google, with the former being proprietary and the latter being Free & Open Source Software — is look at the settings and how they are explained, along with the warning messages you get when you enable or disable some of those settings.

I'll give you an example, applicable to both Chrome and Chromium. If you enable the "Do not track me" functionality — which sends a special request to websites to not track your surfing behavior by way of special tracking cookies — then you get a warning message that this is a bad idea, because then "Websites will not be able to offer you personalized ads."

I mean, WTF? What gives those idiots the idea that I would even want to see ads in the first place? That's why most of us internet denizens install an ad blocker in our browsers from the moment we start using them. But Google makes a serious amount of money from selling ads, as well as from selling your private data. Not to the governments — oh no, like all the other tech giants, they want you to believe that they'll protect you against government surveillance — but to their corporate partners.

But wait, it's not over yet. It gets worse. You see, even though Google does offer you to enable the "Do not track me" functionality in both Chrome and Chromium, and likewise for Mozilla, the company that develops the Firefox browser and the Thunderbird email and Usenet client, neither Google nor Mozilla respect the "Do not track me" request themselves, and they both have parts of their telemetry — i.e. the "phoning home" in the background with both data and metadata regarding your surfing behavior — switched on by default. You have to explicitly disable that in your settings — and at least for now, they do still have to offer you that option because of the very strict European privacy regulations. But how many people bother going through all of their settings before they begin surfing?

My own much older google smartphone also had this feature (as part of google now), but at least you can switch it off in the settings, which I did. However, the current crop of "always on" tech products are seriously creepy in this respect and they don't even tell their customers that they're doing it. China is the worst offender, but other tech manufacturers (such as Samsung and LG) are also doing it.

I hear ya, Brother. We're firmly headed toward a cyberpunk dystopia — if we're not there already.

[Dreamtimer]

It's weird that nobody is talking about how many of the new crop of Congress Critters got in without any corporate money. All small donations. Which means they're answerable to their communities and not the big money corporate PACs.

So weird.

Could it be because they're mostly liberals? Could that have anything to do with it?

I mean...they're doing exactly what the alternative community should be praising to high heaven.

So weird.

What I see instead is posts talking about Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, her strange long fingers, and is she part demon?

I guess that gets more clicks.

[Emil El Zapato]

I saw an excellent movie last night...I recommend it...

"President Strangelove or How I learned to stop worrying and love the Wall!"

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1gXY3kuDvSU

[Dreamtimer]

Is it online? Is it about coming to love Big Brother? Is it double-plus good?

I've missed this thread. I'm gonna find something good to post here.

[Dreamtimer]

Well well well. Aamon Bundy took a stance for principal and now he's suddenly a shill for Soros.

Quelle surprise!

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8bued0OJ8Vw

[Emil El Zapato]

Now there is the definition of 'Anarchists' ... Long Live Robert Heinlein...

[Fred Steeves]

Russian collusion: Big fat nothing burger just like many of us thought all along?

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lq_-mxHx1UA

[Emil El Zapato]

NothingBurger? Leaking? - Somebody...meaning Dore and his talking head there aren't reading between the lines very well. To their credit actually...facts only...they did gloss over the 'redacted' part pretty quickly...There's the meat...in the redaction. My bet: they will present ample evidence for collusion...it will be split, of course, between the right and the left on how it is perceived. The right will do the usual 'anything for power' and pretend none of it ever happened. The lingering inescapable facts are the campaign violations which aren't 'simple' violations, they are egregious. Again, it won't be enough for the right to take any action...Bottom line...he will be impeached as a result of his overal scumbagness and incompetency. Most sensible people will recognize 'collusion' when they see it. Oh, we can't forget 'obstruction of justice'...that one is pretty much a done deal, also.

[Dreamtimer]

Who has heard of Thucydides? We're in a dance with China and N. Korea could be a catalyst...

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XewnyUJgyA4



As an aside, there's plenty of evidence of conspiracy which is where collusion matters. Also obstruction of justice.

When people commit crimes openly they're still crimes. When people work to inure us to the shock of their blatant criminality, they're still criminals.

Republicans supported Nixon to nearly the bitter end.

And Agnew used the witch hunt language throughout.

Like you said, Fred, it's the same old thing all over again. They're still criminals. Just of the mob type.

[Kathy]

As an aside, there's plenty of evidence of conspiracy which is where collusion matters. Also obstruction of justice.

When people commit crimes openly they're still crimes. When people work to inure us to the shock of their blatant criminality, they're still criminals.

Republicans supported Nixon to nearly the bitter end.

And Agnew used the witch hunt language throughout.

Like you said, Fred, it's the same old thing all over again. They're still criminals. Just of the mob type.

No-one can argue with this!