All purpose news and politics thread part VI: This Is Not The Time For Posing

[Malvolio]

People who were not part of the government asked twitter to delete naked pictures posted without permission of the naked person. That it's, that's the tweet.

That's it? That's what James Woods is whining about? That's what's supposed to be worse than Trump's kids stealing money from their own charity? Even if Hunter Biden were an elected official, the worst that would happen is he would leave office like Anthony Weiner did. If this is the best they've got to distract from Herschel Walker, the Rev. Warnock has very little to worry about.

[Mister Mets]

This just occurred to me: We’ve all heard and/or read that Trump called for the Constitution to be suspended and him to replace Biden as president. Not that his fever dream would ever happen, but, if it did, that would mean killing the Second Amendment, the sacred cow of the GQP, right wingers and ammosexuals from coast to coast. Things that make you go HMMMMMM….

I don't think we should expect Trump to think these hings through.

Canvassers are usually trained to ring or knock once, wait a few minutes, then move on to the next house. I've had issues when I've canvassed, but no one has ever pulled a gun.

I don't think it is a culture clash. The desire to be left alone can be found in many people from many cultures. It's how you go about it that matters. Shouting from a window to 'go away', or hiding inside until the person at the door leaves, or hanging up signs that warn people from coming near the house, or buying a house far from society and living alone like a hermit, sure, go ahead.

Shooting someone through a door when you don't even know who it is, that's a sign of a troubled person. Let's face it, it could just as easily have been a Police Officer or a town official as a 15 year old Canvasser. If it was done for political reasons, then that's even more messed up.

Obviously it's a bad idea to shoot at a stranger at your door. Whether it was political or whether he was scared, the shooter should be prosecuted. It is legal for people to knock on doors and anyone who responds to that with a gun should be in jail. I don't know if this had anything to do with training.

That said, there are some people who really want to be left alone and there will be obvious conflicts between them and the people who want a greater sense of community/ civic engagement. I don't know if there's much of a policy solution beyond prosecuting trigger-happy nutjobs until others inclined in that direction realize it's either best not to open the door or to just give a curt no.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

I don't think we should expect Trump to think these hings through.

It’s a given Trump rarely thinks ANYTHING through, but the silence from the GQP has so far been staggering. Of course, if pressed to provide a response, Qpublicans will either say:

1) They hadn’t heard about Trump’s comment and can’t answer
2) They didn’t think Trump was serious, that he was just joking

[godisawesome]

It’s a given Trump rarely thinks ANYTHING through, but the silence from the GQP has so far been staggering. Of course, if pressed to provide a response, Qpublicans will either say:

1) They hadn’t heard about Trump’s comment and can’t answer
2) They didn’t think Trump was serious, that he was just joking

3) They 100% believe Satanic Communists both smart enough to control the world but not smart enough to stop Donald Trump justify “extreme measures.
4) “The capitalist cares not from whence the blood flows, only that quarterly reports show numbers going up while they’re on the clock.”
5) They think they’re capitalists, and will someday see 4) in their lives if they just ignore all evidence to the contrary hard enough.

[Tendrin]

A State of Emergency is in effect in Moore County after a massive power outage caused by damage to substations by firearms.

A Duke Energy outage map Saturday evening showed 37,998 customers without power in Moore County; The Randolph Electric Membership Corporation also reported nearly 3,000 customers without power in the southern part of the county. As of Sunday at 7 p.m. 34,632 people are without power, according to a Duke Energy outage map.
Jeff Brooks with Duke Energy said crews experienced "multiple equipment failures" at two substations in Moore County. Randolph EMC reported no damage to any of their substations, though their customers affected stem from issues from the damage at the Duke Energy substations.

https://www.wral.com/sheriff-firearm...ency/20612201/

Fields said the Moore County Sheriff's Office is working with state and local law enforcement and will continue to investigate the incident. When asked if this was an incident of domestic terrorism Fields replied, "I can't answer that," but added "This was targeted. It wasn't random."

Investigators aren't sure if there is a tie between the substation damage and a drag show that sparked a lot of controversy in the area; It happened at the Sunrise Theater in Southern Pines.
There was heavy security there amid concerns about protesters and fears of possible violence.

Posts flooded social media Saturday night, but Fields said the posts they have investigated have been deemed not credible.
Fields did have strong words for the shooters.

“Cowardly is what I'd call it," Fields said. "We don't have anything. No motivation and no group has stepped up to acknowledge or accept what has been done. I call them cowards.”

Anyone with any information should contact the Moore County Sheriff’s Office at 910-947-2931.

'Not credible', says the sheriff. We'll see.

[Mister Mets]

"Well what policy would you intact? What do you want to see?"

Really comes off as "How can I loophole around policy to keep being a hateful jerk?" and "Give me something to whatabout with!" in this situation...

I do get why some people don't want clear standards, as it opens up loopholes, and invites criticism of the side willing to adopt standards if someone can now argue (often sloppily) that they're not meeting those standards, or that they're setting standards that are self-serving.

It still beats the alternatives. Loopholes can be closed. If someone is arguing in bad faith, that can be pointed out.

But if we're dealing with people from different backgrounds, we can't assume they're going to have the same frame of reference. Standards will also help avoid situations where people are the toxic combination of obnoxious and wrong.

We're talking policy as well.

There was a targeted shooting at a gay club by someone incited by right wing talking points, the response isn't more incitement.

As I said already, we fully allow private institutions to toss and ban people for shouting comments that could cause harm(like "fire!" in a crowded place) so saying that it's acceptable that places online should do the same in their spaces isn't a bad thing and indeed has precedence. Posting more gay spaces in Colorado directly(and very obviously purposely) after one was targeted with extreme violence is such a situation where such a ban on more incendiary speech would come into play and for the same reasons business limit people from yelling fire: because it could cause harm to the public.

And no one is saying that she's broken a law, just that private institutions can and should be able to ban such speech.

And "be civil" rules do indeed work well...this very community has just such a rule and is a well functioning community and there are plenty others with just such rules.

And it's not hard to acclimate, just don't be a terrible person. It's very easy not to say hateful things, and just as easy to apologize once it's pointed out that you may have inadvertently said something offensive. That's what warnings and temporary bans are for.

And you've done more than just mention that others refer to gender affirming care as mutilation: you've repeated it without prefacing that it's evil and you've defended the right to say it repeatedly which is not the action of someone who believes such a comparison is absolutely disgusting would do. It's pretty simple.

Don't say transphobic things.
Don't defend people who say transphobic things.

Be a good person.

We've got several discussions here.

Private institutions are allowed to toss and ban people for whatever reason. I'd rather they not, but if CBR wanted to, they could become the top forum for Comicsgate and Trump fans. However, as private citizens, we're still able to discuss and criticize those decisions.

This argument gets messier when some people are actually calling for prosecution, and that's happened here. Dalak wrote "That she hasn't been prosecuted for this is more of an indictment of our legal system rather than a reason she is not guilty of the actions. This is obvious when you consider all the conservatives who are able to make such obviously loaded statements in order to encourage violence against their chosen targets (Democrats, LGBT, Muslims, Antifa, etc)" so he is suggesting she broke a law, or that laws should be changed to apply to what she's done.

"Be civil" is a vague rule because different people will have their own views on what is hateful. Well-meaning people sometimes come to weird conclusions due to blind spots, being primed to view something ungenerously, or sometimes getting tricked by trolls.

"Don't defend people who say transphobic things" has a potential flaw in that it could be read as preventing anyone from pointing out when detractors of a transphobe are mistaken on a specific point.

I haven't offered any opinion on whether a word applies when describing mastectomies performed on minors, mainly because I'm still figuring out aspects of the question. If someone is in need of the procedure, the word "mutilation" is wrong. I suppose it would apply if patients come to regret it.

[Tendrin]

Here he goes again.

[CaptainEurope]

That's it? That's what James Woods is whining about? That's what's supposed to be worse than Trump's kids stealing money from their own charity? Even if Hunter Biden were an elected official, the worst that would happen is he would leave office like Anthony Weiner did. If this is the best they've got to distract from Herschel Walker, the Rev. Warnock has very little to worry about.

And twitter was right to remove the tweets, as in most US states, making intimate pictures public without consent is against the law.

[Tendrin]

The whole laptop story is completely ridiculous. It's clearly a disinformation op with real materials from the Hunter Biden hack put on an HD with presumably phony ones.

The obsessive focus on it and an attempt to make the 'biden crime family' a thing is just such obvious right-wing cope over who Trump was that it just makes them look ridiculous. This isn't going to help them.

[PaulBullion]

And with Gladys Knight saying she "loves Biden like a brother" last night, he pretty much has a second term in the bag.

[scourge]

I do get why some people don't want clear standards, as it opens up loopholes, and invites criticism of the side willing to adopt standards if someone can now argue (often sloppily) that they're not meeting those standards, or that they're setting standards that are self-serving.

It still beats the alternatives. Loopholes can be closed. If someone is arguing in bad faith, that can be pointed out.

But if we're dealing with people from different backgrounds, we can't assume they're going to have the same frame of reference. Standards will also help avoid situations where people are the toxic combination of obnoxious and wrong.

And you've got that combination covered quite well with this continued nonsense.

The standards have been explained plenty well already. But hey, keep running those goalposts around while you try to defend someone inciting and encouraging violence.

And twitter was right to remove the tweets, as in most US states, making intimate pictures public without consent is against the law.

They were but unfortunately now we have that loser Musk in charge and he's got no problem allowing scum like Ted Cruz to repost the pictures.

Of course Musk is currently on the "They're going to assassinate me for revealing the truth!!!" train so he could theoretically not be aware of it.

[Kevinroc]

The whole laptop story is completely ridiculous. It's clearly a disinformation op with real materials from the Hunter Biden hack put on an HD with presumably phony ones.

The obsessive focus on it and an attempt to make the 'biden crime family' a thing is just such obvious right-wing cope over who Trump was that it just makes them look ridiculous. This isn't going to help them.

They absolutely want it to be Hillary's E-Mails as well. But Biden isn't going to be hated like Hillary was. Democratic Primary Voters (particularly the Black voters in the 2020 Democratic Primary in South Carolina) knew what they were doing.

[Tendrin]

They absolutely want it to be Hillary's E-Mails as well. But Biden isn't going to be hated like Hillary was. Democratic Primary Voters (particularly the Black voters in the 2020 Democratic Primary in South Carolina) knew what they were doing.

I think it shows the declining impact of these kinds of right-wing shenanigans too.

[Tendrin]

And you've got that combination covered quite well with this continued nonsense.

The standards have been explained plenty well already. But hey, keep running those goalposts around while you try to defend someone inciting and encouraging violence.

Mets would much rather try to argue us in circles about 'standards' than acknowledge what's happening. Way easier conversation for him to demand we have.

[Gray Lensman]

Mets would much rather try to argue us in circles about 'standards' than acknowledge what's happening. Way easier conversation for him to demand we have.

Sounds like he is cutting close to sealioning.