[Azath Vitr (D'ivers]

Interesting sequence of events:

Quote

Trump's lawyer [...] said on Friday [Trump] would surrender without protest if indicted on criminal charges over alleged hush money paid out to porn star Stormy Daniels[...] "There won't be a standoff at Mar-a-Lago with Secret Service and the Manhattan DA's office,"

Trump's Lawyer Pledges Ex-Prez Will Turn Himself in if Indicted

'Without protest'? How long is that going to last? Let's see...

Quote

Trump Makes Obnoxious Return to Facebook After 2-Year Ban

[...] posting "I'M BACK" along with a clip from his victory speech after the 2016 election [...] YouTube also announced it was reactivating his suspended channel [...] Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, lifted Trump's ban on its platforms in January, but he hadn't posted again until Friday.

Trump Makes Obnoxious Return to Facebook After 2-Year Ban

So far so...

Quote

Trump Says He Will Be Arrested Tuesday, Calls For Protests

Charges against the former president are expected in New York

[...]

[Trump:] "Protest, take our nation back!"

Trump Says He Will Be Arrested Tuesday, Calls For Protests

There we go.

Essentially: 'I'M BACK, yay! And now I'm GONE... NOOO! STORM ALL THE CAPITOLS!'

If he does get indicted, judge will probably be too chickenshit to deny him bail.

Quote

[...] "[...] sources familiar with the planning said they will go over security preparations in and around the courthouse [...] Secret Service will take the lead in what they will allow or will not allow[...] decision to handcuff [...] or not, they will set the tone and will escort him into the courtroom."

Fox News anchor tells viewers Trump could be handcuffed if indicted

Trump probably wants to be on video going in in handcuffs (his Youtube ban got lifted just in time)....

This post has been edited by Azath Vitr (D'ivers: 18 March 2023 - 02:49 PM

[Lady Bliss]

I think it would be magnificent to see him hauled off in handcuffs

[Nicodimas]

Bidens DOJ arresting opposition leader...crazy times.

Imagine at a state level if Republicans started using fed money and arresting opposition leaders.

/wild

[Tiste Simeon]

 Nicodimas, on 18 March 2023 - 03:45 PM, said:

Bidens DOJ arresting opposition leader...crazy times.

Imagine at a state level if Republicans started using fed money and arresting opposition leaders.

/wild

Ugh I promised myself I wouldn't respond to your nonsense, but I have to ask *that's* the take you have from this?

[Azath Vitr (D'ivers]

 Nicodimas, on 18 March 2023 - 03:45 PM, said:

Bidens DOJ arresting opposition leader...crazy times.

Imagine at a state level if Republicans started using fed money and arresting opposition leaders.

/wild

It's the Manhattan DA, not Biden's DOJ.

Georgia might get him next....

[Azath Vitr (D'ivers]

Though Republican lawmakers are trying to stop the Georgia investigation:

Quote

Having tried and failed to interfere in Georgia’s 2020 presidential election, [...] Trump’s allies are now attempting to interfere with the ongoing grand jury investigation into that earlier misconduct. The Republican majority of the Georgia House approved a bill this week that would create a commission with the power to investigate, discipline, and even remove locally elected district attorneys for conducting investigations that are deemed “politically motivated.” The Georgia Senate passed a nearly identical bill last week.

If enacted into law, the Georgia legislation would empower the commission to interfere with active investigations like the one Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is conducting into Trump. [...] Gov. [...] should refuse to sign it—but if the bill becomes law, the courts will still have ample reason to throw it out. [/quot]

Can Georgia Republicans really fire Fani Willis for indicting Trump?

[Azath Vitr (D'ivers]

The Stormy Daniels hush money charges might seem relatively minor, but no one should be above the law. Bill Clinton should have been removed from office and imprisoned for perjury. Then Al Gore would have become president; assuming Clinton's removal from office took place after January 20 1999 (Clinton was impeached by the House on December 19 1998), Gore then could have been reelected twice to serve close to the maximum of 10 years allowed by the Constitution:

Quote

no person who has held the office of President, or acted as President, for more than two years of a term to which some other person was elected President shall be elected to the office of the President more than once.

Twenty-second Amendment to the United States Constitution

Would he actually have been able to do much about climate change?... more than was done, certainly. And the Iraq War probably wouldn't have happened.

This post has been edited by Azath Vitr (D'ivers: 18 March 2023 - 04:23 PM

[Cause]

Wyoming has banned the morning after pill. I live in a hell hole. The USA not Wyoming specifically.

Exciting to see trump maybe face some consequences but I do worry this will just give his campaign oxygen and fuel a backlash vote.

[Azath Vitr (D'ivers]

Correction to what I quoted before---that news story misrepresented what Trump actually wrote---it wasn't

Quote

"Protest, take our nation back!"

it was actually:

Quote

"PROTEST, TAKE OUR NATION BACK!"

And Trump's posted about it again:

Quote

"WE MUST SAVE AMERICA! PROTEST, PROTEST, PROTEST!!!"

Donald Trump Claims He'll Be Arrested Tuesday, Urges Protests to 'Take Our Nation Back'

[HoosierDaddy]

 Nicodimas, on 18 March 2023 - 03:45 PM, said:

Bidens DOJ arresting opposition leader...crazy times.

Imagine at a state level if Republicans started using fed money and arresting opposition leaders.

/wild

I mean… the thin blue line doesn’t need much reason to murder anyone who doesn’t closely resemble a standard issue Republican.

[Primateus]

 Azath Vitr (D, on 18 March 2023 - 04:06 PM, said:

 Nicodimas, on 18 March 2023 - 03:45 PM, said:

Bidens DOJ arresting opposition leader...crazy times.

Imagine at a state level if Republicans started using fed money and arresting opposition leaders.

/wild

It's the Manhattan DA, not Biden's DOJ.

Georgia might get him next....

Yeah, you just have to know that's a meaningless distinction to t**** supporters. Something happens to their dear leader, it's the devil Biden doing it.

[Azath Vitr (D'ivers]

Quote

[Trump:] “[The Manhattan DA] is a Soros backed animal who just doesn’t care about right or wrong no matter how many people are hurt.” [...] there “is no legal system, this is the Gestapo, this is Russia and China, but worse. Disgraceful!”

Trump claimed Bragg knows he’s innocent. “But he doesn’t care,” [...] “He is just carrying out the plans of the radical left lunatics. Our country is being destroyed, as they tell us to be peaceful!”

Trump Calls Manhattan DA an ‘Animal’ Working for ‘Lunatics’

'As they tell us to be peaceful'... ominous to say the least.

As I predicted, Trump is hoping he'll have a perp walk (no mention of whether he wants handcuffs though?):

Quote

Trump has embraced the idea of being led before the public and media—possibly with a big smile on his face. “He wants to be defiant—to show the world that if they can try to do this to him, they can do it to anyone,”

[...] Secret Service and NYPD will likely opt for a less public booking process.

Trump Keeps Talking About His Perp Walk

[Tsundoku]

Someone should keep an eye on any nearby grassy areas or book depositories in case the Republicans decide to get rid of their biggest liability and make a martyr at the same time.

This post has been edited by Tsundoku: 24 March 2023 - 01:02 PM

[Maark Abbott]

What exactly is going on with TikTok in America? I saw a video of a North Cackalack rep asking someone if it accessed a WiFi network. Is this another case of US boomer politicians are technophobes again?

[Primateus]

 Maark Abbott, on 24 March 2023 - 08:49 AM, said:

What exactly is going on with TikTok in America? I saw a video of a North Cackalack rep asking someone if it accessed a WiFi network. Is this another case of US boomer politicians are technophobes again?

It is believed that TikTok gathers a whole lot of data and that said data is ending up in the Chinese government's hands.

There is also a belief that the TikTok algorithm is different in the west than in China. Meaning that in the west it will filter meaningless garbage to the users, providing little to none actually educational content, while the reverse is true in China.

I don't know if either of these is true, as I don't use TikTok and I don't read much about it. But I do know that several Cybersecurity experts has warned against TikTok and that several of my friends who work in sensitive positions in tech firms are specifically banned from having TikTok on their workphones, and if they have it on their private phones, then they are banned from using company wifi.

[Tiste Simeon]

I think they're taking TikTok off all government devices in the UK too. It's not cool for a foreign government to spy on another.

But its fine for your own government to strip back rights and protests and implement a full on surveillance state because reasons.


I have TikTok on my phone cos there are some very funny people on there (though I miss Vine).

[QuickTidal]

 Primateus, on 24 March 2023 - 09:04 AM, said:

 Maark Abbott, on 24 March 2023 - 08:49 AM, said:

What exactly is going on with TikTok in America? I saw a video of a North Cackalack rep asking someone if it accessed a WiFi network. Is this another case of US boomer politicians are technophobes again?

It is believed that TikTok gathers a whole lot of data and that said data is ending up in the Chinese government's hands.

Except there's never been any proof that the CCP sees anything, nor could any of the lawmakers in Washington produce one scintilla of evidence.

 Primateus, on 24 March 2023 - 09:04 AM, said:

There is also a belief that the TikTok algorithm is different in the west than in China. Meaning that in the west it will filter meaningless garbage to the users, providing little to none actually educational content, while the reverse is true in China.

This amuses me because I have a friend who uses the Douyin version of the app from China and it's literally all the same stuff, just Chinese-based creators. It's laughably easy to disprove that statement. But the US lawmakers don't have any interest in giving this guy a chance to explain. This is all theatre for their voters. They know they have no ground to stand on, like logically if they REALLY thought they were taking on some big secret app fuelling data to the CCP, they would allow him to answer their questions and be thorough about it....VS misunderstanding (purposely or otherwise) how WiFi works...theatre. All of it. The Douyin app does focus on things important in China like education and whatnot, but it's not all that different.

 Primateus, on 24 March 2023 - 09:04 AM, said:

But I do know that several Cybersecurity experts has warned against TikTok and that several of my friends who work in sensitive positions in tech firms are specifically banned from having TikTok on their workphones, and if they have it on their private phones, then they are banned from using company wifi.

The funny thing to me about this is that these cybersecurity experts and their companies should also have the same rules about FB, Insta, Twitter ect. as they do just as much (if not more) data collection....but they rarely do, usually because the companies in question USE those programs to sell their wares.


The real deal here is that Meta/Facebook...AKA Mark Fuckerberg has lobbied the govt HARD because they can't compete with TikTok and are a failing company (even Instagram is now flagging in popularity) to get rid of TikTok...the funniest thing being that Facebook, Insta, and the rest of American-owned social media companies grab your data too, but no one is squawking about them. Amusingly that whole display just shows you that A. the Boomer congress people on BOTH sides of the aisle haven't a fucking clue about how tech works, and B. they are frightened as fuck about an app that allows the younger generations who just kicked their asses in the mid-terms having access to an app that allows them to learn about the real state of the world. Like the Ohio Train Derailment? Owned by Norfolk Southern, right? Guess who owns major shares in them? Blackrock. Covered by ZERO news media. Covered by people on TikTok. I could list a bunch of things you're not seeing on traditional news media that get reported on tiktok in grassroots ways. The American govt is losing control of the younger populace because they are being educated about things the govt wants them in the dark about...or at the very least their brains are being twigged that MAYBE the govt doesn't have their best interests at heart.

And wanna know how badly Fuckerberg is scared right now? He had his devs delete the ability to delete your FB account. You can only sign out right now, the delete account feature is gone, or at least was yesterday.

The current plan is that if the US bans TikTok, then everyone is deleting both FB and Instagram, and will just use VPN and other means that decrepit Boomers don't know anything about to access TikTok. It's the technologically savvy generations VS the people who can't convert a Word doc to PDF, or know how WiFi works.

It was also the same dog and pony show of "All leading NON-yes or no question without allowing the nuance of answer"....or in some cases letting him speak at all.

They could give a FUCK about data being stolen. They really could not care less. This is all about money, and grip on power.

Lastly as someone who uses TikTok, I have learned more news items with decent video and whatnot in the last few years of TikTok than I have in many years of other forms of news. I've also learned how to cook better, learn more about health topics, and other things. Does it snag my data? Almost certainly. Do I give a fuck about that? I do not.

This post has been edited by QuickTidal: 24 March 2023 - 12:16 PM

[Gothos]

 QuickTidal, on 24 March 2023 - 11:48 AM, said:

The current plan is that if the US bans TikTok, then everyone is deleting both FB and Instagram, and will just use VPN and other means that decrepit Boomers don't know anything about to access TikTok. It's the technologically savvy generations VS the people who can't convert a Word doc to PDF, or know how WiFi works.

"everyone" XD I'd love to see the actual level of coordinated response, that'd be a sight to remeber! All jokes aside, it would indeed be a lovely sight to see Meta die. The amount of dumb distractions that social media funnels is a terrible influence on society, and it's embarrassing that it ever got this bad.

Quote

Lastly as someone who uses TikTok, I have learned more news items with decent video and whatnot in the last few years of TikTok than I have in many years of other forms of news. I've also learned how to cook better, learn more about health topics, and other things. Does it snag my data? Almost certainly. Do I give a fuck about that? I do not.

Curious. The Internet in general has offered uncountable channels of information transfer like this for decades. For me, it even let me get enough training to change my career and turn my life around. Yet you make it sound like "learning to cook better and about health topics and other things" is somehow tied to TikTok. Perhaps you mean that the medium is just convenient enough that it has overwritten other sources for you?


You note that the US govt (and other governments) and western corporations don't care your well being - which is, I think, correct - yet I get the feeling that chinese govt/corporations (which are one and the same anyway) somehow.... do? Or it doesn't matter for some reason?

[QuickTidal]

 Gothos, on 24 March 2023 - 12:25 PM, said:

Curious. The Internet in general has offered uncountable channels of information transfer like this for decades. For me, it even let me get enough training to change my career and turn my life around. Yet you make it sound like "learning to cook better and about health topics and other things" is somehow tied to TikTok. Perhaps you mean that the medium is just convenient enough that it has overwritten other sources for you?

Pulling up a decent YT video for a recipe (as an example) takes time and effort I don't need on something like Tiktok where I can just search a term and then scroll until I find one I like, or go to one of the chefs I follow and learn something. That's just one example. It's ease of access for me, 1000%. It also suffers none of the ads you have to deal with on YT.

Do I still get recipes from other places online? Sure, my recipe keeper app likes links...but I've made many a dish from TikTok and enjoyed it.

 Gothos, on 24 March 2023 - 12:25 PM, said:

You note that the US govt (and other governments) and western corporations don't care your well being - which is, I think, correct - yet I get the feeling that chinese govt/corporations (which are one and the same anyway) somehow.... do? Or it doesn't matter for some reason?

Nah, I'm not standing up for any govt here, can't stand the CCP...it's just wildly amusing to me that a social media app that lets us plebs not only talk to each other, but share shit you can't find through heavily lobbied and regulated media sources, is so scary to those govt entities. Hell, the protests in Paris have been laser organized on TikTok VS the other social media. There's a reason for that.

Whether I think a corporation OR a govt has my best interests at heart? I do not....but more do I care? I also do not.

I'm amazed that it's been proven that the FBI filters and censors something local like Twitter...but somehow everyone is okay with that....but yeah a company like TikTok that is run by a Singaporean (with a Taiwanese wife...the fact of this should not be lost on anyone who knows about the CCP) is somehow in bed with the CCP enough for me to care about my data.

Like we either regulate ALL these companies, or none of them. This is why it will never happen...the US lawmakers don't WANT FB, Twitter, and Insta to go away...but they would need to if the ban hammer was welded at TikTok....this shit is all about the soundbites the lawmakers can use to foist shit onto their followers from...ding ding sing...their social media accounts.

And until someone can produce actual evidence of the supposed links between the CCP and TikTok...then we are all pissing into the wind.

[Cause]

 Primateus, on 24 March 2023 - 09:04 AM, said:

There is also a belief that the TikTok algorithm is different in the west than in China. Meaning that in the west it will filter meaningless garbage to the users, providing little to none actually educational content, while the reverse is true in China.

I always find this one funny, because the goverment can pass any laws they want to govern children safety standards, education requirements, screen-time limits etc.

Im not a legal expert but there must be a way around the first ammendment on this because the USA already has an age rating system in place for video games and movies.

So if you think the youth are being dumbed down act on it