Political Randomness

[Smoove_B]

Holman wrote: ↑Sat Dec 30, 2023 6:37 pm
(Whoa, maybe the truth is that Libertarianism is just a thin veneer of Ayn Randian jargon smeared atop a deep tub of rancid radical selfishness?)

[Daehawk]

Looks like people weren't happy with their Trump Bucks purchases and feel swindled . AHAHHAHAHAHA. Really? NOooooooo not by the orange turd.

Trump bucks are the new Billy Beer. Totally worthless and leave a bad taste in your mouth.

[Unagi]

I mean it’s no Star Wars Video Tape, but do you have any idea how much a can of Billy Beer is worth today?

[Pyperkub]

I mean it’s no Star Wars Video Tape, but do you have any idea how much a can of Billy Beer is worth today?

As I have one, I had to look:

3. "Star Wars" — $100

True. The original 1982 VHS edition of 1977's "Star Wars" came with a hard case. It had been sold many times on eBay for more than $100.

But yeah, that's not much money, the damn thing retailed for over $100 when it was first released*!

but if you never opened it it's worth a lot more (but seriously? it was Star Wars at HOME!!!!)

*it was priced "to rent" back then, so I think the retail cost was about $120.

[Smoove_B]

Some new state laws for 2024:

Texas' public colleges must comply with a newly signed state law banning diversity, equity and inclusion offices on their campuses.

...

California will officially mandate gender-neutral toy aisles for large retailers.

The blue state became the first in the nation, in 2021, to adopt such a law.

The law states that retail stores with 500 or more workers must sell toys and child care products (excluding clothes) in a gender-neutral section that's "labeled at the discretion of the retailer ... regardless of whether they have been traditionally marketed for either girls or for boys."

Retailers can continue to offer other toys and child care goods that are traditionally marketed specifically toward girls or boys.

...

In Michigan, the Democratic-led Senate approved a package last year to increase regulations on gun ownership for residents in an effort to reduce gun violence.

Among the gun safety proposals were safe storage laws, more expansive background checks and so-called red flag laws.

In California, a law banning concealed guns in most public places was allowed to take effect on Jan. 1 after a federal appeals court stayed a lower-court ruling that had blocked it.

The law will be in effect as legal challenges against it continue through the courts.

I wonder which one we'll hear about the most in the news?

[stessier]

I would need to read more to understand what is actually prohibited, but that toy law seems really dumb and not sure how it is constitutional if it is prohibiting how a retailer labels aisles.

[malchior]

Sounds unconstitutional to me but I have to wonder if anyone will challenge it since compliance has such a low bar. A quick read shows they have to have a location with a 'reasonable' amount of toys labeled at the retailer's discretion. You can easily do this with an endcap. It's silly but pretty harmless. I do expect MAGA to lose it's mind.

[Daehawk]

I didn't know a child that age would know what a gender neutral is never mind something about themselves like that unless told.

[Holman]

I didn't know a child that age would know what a gender neutral is never mind something about themselves like that unless told.

Well, the whole point of "boys" and "girls" toys is precisely to tell them something about themselves.

[waitingtoconnect]

I would need to read more to understand what is actually prohibited, but that toy law seems really dumb and not sure how it is constitutional if it is prohibiting how a retailer labels aisles.

It’s funny if you have clothing for gay people you get boycotted by 50% of your customers - if you don’t you get boycotted by 50%… next it’ll be blue or red clothing.

Surely there are first amendment challenges on banning (or mandating) diversity offices also. And I can’t see today’s Supreme Court backing the well regulated component of the second amendment for a blue state.

[YellowKing]

The gender neutral toy aisle sounds like a good way to set your cause back through idiotic overreach. Every toy retailer I've ever seen already has gender neutral toy aisles. You have the aisle with the dolls traditionally marketed to girls, you have the aisle with the Hot Wheels cars traditionally marketed for boys. But then you have everything else that nobody gender assigns. Board games, Legos, etc.

In other laws, NC passed their Handmaiden's Tale porn ban to make adult sites require age verification. PornHub has pulled out (hehe) of the state just like they did in Virginia. Of course it's a stupid law because they can't do anything about dozens of non-US based sites and it's pretty much unenforceable with VPNs being available. Like everything the GOP puts forth, it's not about protecting kids. It's about control and enforcing their Christo-fascist rules. You can't preach "parental rights" on one hand, and then not trust parents to protect their own kids from adult content on the other.

[waitingtoconnect]

I’m sure lots of Republican lawmakers will be “hacked” in upcoming years…

[El Guapo]

The gender neutral toy aisle sounds like a good way to set your cause back through idiotic overreach. Every toy retailer I've ever seen already has gender neutral toy aisles. You have the aisle with the dolls traditionally marketed to girls, you have the aisle with the Hot Wheels cars traditionally marketed for boys. But then you have everything else that nobody gender assigns. Board games, Legos, etc.

In other laws, NC passed their Handmaiden's Tale porn ban to make adult sites require age verification. PornHub has pulled out (hehe) of the state just like they did in Virginia. Of course it's a stupid law because they can't do anything about dozens of non-US based sites and it's pretty much unenforceable with VPNs being available. Like everything the GOP puts forth, it's not about protecting kids. It's about control and enforcing their Christo-fascist rules. You can't preach "parental rights" on one hand, and then not trust parents to protect their own kids from adult content on the other.

Meet The Brilliant 12-Year-Old Hacker Who Breached The Bud Light Website’s Impregnable Age Verification Firewall

It'll take him time I'm sure, but I bet this kid could eventually access a porn site from within North Carolina.

[hepcat]

[Alefroth]

In other laws, NC passed their Handmaiden's Tale porn ban to make adult sites require age verification. PornHub has pulled out (hehe) of the state just like they did in Virginia. Of course it's a stupid law because they can't do anything about dozens of non-US based sites and it's pretty much unenforceable with VPNs being available. Like everything the GOP puts forth, it's not about protecting kids. It's about control and enforcing their Christo-fascist rules. You can't preach "parental rights" on one hand, and then not trust parents to protect their own kids from adult content on the other.

They'd be better off just assigning everyone an accountability partner.

[Pyperkub]

In other laws, NC passed their Handmaiden's Tale porn ban to make adult sites require age verification. PornHub has pulled out (hehe) of the state just like they did in Virginia. Of course it's a stupid law because they can't do anything about dozens of non-US based sites and it's pretty much unenforceable with VPNs being available. Like everything the GOP puts forth, it's not about protecting kids. It's about control and enforcing their Christo-fascist rules. You can't preach "parental rights" on one hand, and then not trust parents to protect their own kids from adult content on the other.

They'd be better off just assigning everyone an accountability partner.

AKA Mike Pence's Mom?

[gilraen]

In other laws, NC passed their Handmaiden's Tale porn ban to make adult sites require age verification. PornHub has pulled out (hehe) of the state just like they did in Virginia.

Huh...I remember this happening in Utah, I don't think I heard about Virginia.

[LordMortis]

Some new state laws for 2024:

Texas' public colleges must comply with a newly signed state law banning diversity, equity and inclusion offices on their campuses.

...

California will officially mandate gender-neutral toy aisles for large retailers.

The blue state became the first in the nation, in 2021, to adopt such a law.

The law states that retail stores with 500 or more workers must sell toys and child care products (excluding clothes) in a gender-neutral section that's "labeled at the discretion of the retailer ... regardless of whether they have been traditionally marketed for either girls or for boys."

Retailers can continue to offer other toys and child care goods that are traditionally marketed specifically toward girls or boys.

...

In Michigan, the Democratic-led Senate approved a package last year to increase regulations on gun ownership for residents in an effort to reduce gun violence.

Among the gun safety proposals were safe storage laws, more expansive background checks and so-called red flag laws.

In California, a law banning concealed guns in most public places was allowed to take effect on Jan. 1 after a federal appeals court stayed a lower-court ruling that had blocked it.

The law will be in effect as legal challenges against it continue through the courts.

I wonder which one we'll hear about the most in the news?

Aren't puzzles and games and more cerebral toys and most toddler toys gender neutral in a way we think of gender neutral? I will say that I was taken off guard, shrugged, and smiled that my Meijer have an explicitly gender blurred clothes aisle with gender blurred models in posters advertising the aisle. I'm more than a little surprised it's not a big deal AFACT. I don't exactly live in a progressive area.

[Smoove_B]

I bet someone is taking notes:

President Alexander Lukashenko of Belarus signed a new law Thursday that gives him lifelong immunity from criminal prosecution and prevents opposition leaders living abroad from running in future presidential elections.

The law theoretically applies to any former president and members of his or her family. In reality, it only is relevant to the 69-year-old Lukashenko, who has ruled Belarus with an iron fist for almost 30 years.

The new measure appears aimed at further shoring up Lukashenko’s power and eliminating potential challengers in the country’s next presidential election, which is due to take place in 2025.

The law significantly tightens requirements for presidential candidates and makes it impossible to elect opposition leaders who fled to neighboring countries in recent years. Only citizens of Belarus who have permanently resided in the country for at least 20 years and have never had a residence permit in another country are eligible to run.

It's beginning to really look like experiment of American Democracy is winding down...

[Blackhawk]

I would need to read more to understand what is actually prohibited, but that toy law seems really dumb and not sure how it is constitutional if it is prohibiting how a retailer labels aisles.

It seems like it's not so much that things are prohibited, but that there is a new requirement.

Looking at it, the reasoning is that stores often have very similar products for girls and boys that are handled differently - a rubber Cinderella bouncing ball for $3, and an otherwise identical ball with Spider-Man for $7. Or they'll have a blue bike helmet and a pink bike helmet, both for $25, but the blue one is much higher quality (or teething rings, or white noise machines for babies, or...) They're still allowed to have the girls' aisle and the boys' aisle, but now they have to have an aisle that has products for both so that shoppers can compare them directly. They also mentioned the issue of an all-boys/all-girls aisle communicating to both parents and kids that the 'wrong' one is inappropriate, but the prior seems to be the bulk of their reasoning.

Again, that's their reasoning. I mean, as a guy who, prior to age 6 or so, regularly played with dolls and got shit for it from relatives, I get it. But it still feels awkward, out of place, unwieldy, and excessive.

[Isgrimnur]

[LordMortis]

Florida to import drugs from socialist Canada and their worse than US socialized medicine supply chain, that US Free Market medical is trying to block?

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/other/f ... r-AA1mvVri

The Food and Drug Administration has decided to allow the first state to import drugs from Canada, a move that would change the way Americans obtain prescription medicines and could reduce their cost.

The agency said Friday it would allow Florida to import prescription drugs from Canada. Several other states have filed similar requests with the agency.

The plans are likely to face obstacles to taking immediate effect, including lawsuits from drugmakers and opposition from Canadian authorities. The FDA has also raised safety concerns about importing drugs if it can’t vouch for their quality.

[LawBeefaroni]

May eventually be moot. Eli Lilly announced direct-to-consumer online sales of their diabetes/weight-loss drugs yesterday. Cuts the price in half for uninsured and is just copay for most insured.

[Smoove_B]

Turns out Walgreens exaggerated the whole thing.

Not just Walgreens

Over the last couple of years, it seemed that America was experiencing a shoplifting epidemic. Videos of people brazenly stealing merchandise from retailers often went viral; chains closed some of their stores and cited a rise in theft as the primary reason; and drugstores such as CVS and Walgreens started locking up more of their inventory, including everyday items like toothpaste, soaps, and snacks. Lawmakers from both major parties called for, and in some cases even implemented, more punitive law enforcement policies aimed at bucking the apparent trend.

But evidence of a spike in shoplifting, it turns out, was mostly anecdotal. In fact, there’s little data to suggest that there’s a nationwide problem in need of an immediate response from city councils or state legislatures. Instead, what America seems to be experiencing is less of a shoplifting wave and more of a moral panic.

...

There had been evidence that fears of a major shoplifting wave were overblown. In 2021, Walgreens closed five stores in San Francisco, citing a rise in organized shoplifting. When the San Francisco Chronicle analyzed police data, the newspaper found that there was little evidence to back up Walgreens’s claim. The Chronicle reported that “the five stores slated to close had fewer than two recorded shoplifting incidents a month on average since 2018.”

But what happened as a result?

As shoddy data about shoplifting helps stir up fear of a potential crime wave, voters are becoming less tolerant of those kinds of policies, and progressive prosecutors have faced tough election cycles in recent years as a result. That includes Boston, and other places, too: Chesa Boudin, the former San Francisco district attorney who became nationally prominent for his more lenient approach to addressing low-level crime, was recalled in 2022, for example, after a fearmongering campaign about rising crime, including shoplifting, was launched against him.

Legislatures have also started passing stricter laws. Since 2022, at least nine states have imposed harsher penalties for organized retail crime offenses, according to CNBC.

Won't surprise me if this is somehow an election year topic - migrants arriving in caravans and looting suburban stores.

[Daehawk]

Mexicans coming to America to steal goods from China? Say it aint so!

[Victoria Raverna]

Funny:

[malchior]

2024 is off to a ripping start. A crime boss escaped prison and criminal gangs started storming institutions. The took a tv station hostage (which was quickly resolved) but they've captured soldiers and have executed at least one. They've also attacked at least one university and are kidnapping students.

[Octavious]

So scratch that off my vacation list I guess?

[Victoria Raverna]

Entrapment?

https://theintercept.com/2024/01/10/fbi ... stic-teen/

HUMZAH MASHKOOR HAD just cleared security at Denver International Airport when the FBI showed up. The agents had come to arrest the 18-year-old, who is diagnosed with a developmental disability, and charge him with terror-related crimes. At the time of the arrest, a relative later saidOpens in a new tab in court, Mashkoor was reading “Diary of a Wimpy KidOpens in a new tab,” a book written for elementary school children.

Mashkoor had gone to the airport on December 18 to fly to Dubai, and from there to either Syria or Afghanistan, as part of his alleged plot to join the Islamic State. The trip had been spurred by over a year of online exchanges starting when Mashkoor was 16 years old with four people he believed were members of ISIS. According to the Justice Department’s criminal complaintOpens in a new tab, the four were actually undercover FBI agents. As a result of his conversations with the FBI, Mashkoor could face a lengthy sentence for attempting to provide material support to a terrorist organization.

At an initial court hearing, family members said that Mashkoor, who had turned 18 just a few weeks prior to the arrest, had intellectual difficulties and been diagnosed with autism. Despite acknowledging Mashkoor’s family support and his young age, the judge ordered that he be detained while awaiting trial.

“It’s not lost on this court that Mr. Mashkoor is a young man with possible mental illness and the diagnosis of high-functioning autism. It is clear he has a sea of familial support,” the judge said. “But based on this evidence, there’s no reasonable assurance here that the court can simply chalk all this up to the defendant simply being a young man.”

Law enforcement agents first became aware of Mashkoor’s online activities in support of ISIS in November 2021. But instead of alerting his family, Mashkoor’s lawyers told The Intercept, FBI agents posing as ISIS members befriended him a year later and strung him along until he became a legal adult.

“It is appalling that the government never once reached out to his parents, even while they were sending undercover agents to befriend him online starting when he was 16 years old,” said Joshua Herman, a defense attorney representing Mashkoor. “Almost all of the conduct he is alleged to have committed took place when he was a juvenile.”

More details may emerge on the circumstances of Mashkoor’s ill-fated attempt to join ISIS, but the facts as laid out in the complaint are hallmarks of terrorism prosecutions based on FBI stings: a young man with developmental disabilities, already on the police’s radar due to mental health episodes and conflicts with family, groomed as a minor over a long period by a group of undercover FBI agents. Mashkoor’s case also follows a pattern of FBI sting operations in which a teenager is arrested shortly after their 18th birthday. As in similar cases, the court documents suggest that Mashkoor was limited in his ability to execute a terrorist plot on his own.

Seem to be common, another case a few months before:

https://theintercept.com/2023/06/15/fbi ... terrorist/

LAST WEEK, the Department of Justice announced the arrest of a teenager in Massachusetts on allegations of providing financial support to the Islamic State group.

A flurry of reports picked up on the arrest of Mateo Ventura, an 18-year-old resident of the sleepy town of Wakefield, echoing government claimsOpens in a new tab that an international terrorist financier and ISIS supporter had just been busted in the United States. The Department of Justice’s own press release on the case likewise trumpeted Ventura’s arrest for “knowingly concealing the source of material support or resources that he intended to go to a foreign terrorist organization.”

The only problem with the case and how it has been described, however, is that according to the government’s own criminal complaint, Ventura had never actually funded any terrorist group. The only “terrorist” he is accused of ever being in contact with was an undercover FBI agent who befriended him online as a 16-year-old, solicited small cash donations in the form of gift cards, and directed him not to tell anyone else about their intimate online relationship, including his family

The arrest has shaken his family, who denied allegations that their son was a terrorist and said that he had been manipulated by the FBI. Ventura’s father, Paul Ventura, told The Intercept that Mateo suffered from childhood developmental issues and had been forced to leave his school due to bullying from other students.

“He was born prematurely, he had brain development issues. I had the school do a neurosurgery evaluation on him and they said his brain was underdeveloped,” Ventura said. “He was suffering endless bullying at school with other kids taking food off his plate, tripping him in the hallway, humiliating him, laughing at him.”

Contrary to the sensational narrative fed to the news media of terrorist financing in the U.S., the charging documents show that Ventura gave an undercover FBI agent gift cards for pitifully small amounts of cash, sometimes in $25 increments. In his initial bid to travel to the Islamic State, the teenager balked — making up an excuse, by the FBI’s own account, to explain why he did not want to go. When another opportunity to travel abroad arose, Ventura balked again, staying home on the evening of his supposed flight instead of traveling to the airport. By the time the investigation was winding down, he appeared ready to turn in his purported ISIS contact — an FBI agent — to the FBI.

There is still much that remains to be known about Ventura’s case, which remains in its early stages. More information may still come to light as it moves to discovery and trial, including about his dealings with the FBI and other activities online.

Yet based on the government’s own account of what led to Ventura’s arrest, there is reason to believe that his case is less a serious terrorism bust than one of the many instances in which a troubled or mentally unfit young man was groomed by undercover FBI agents to commit a crime that would not have otherwise happened.

[malchior]

It sure sounds a lot like entrapment. Even if it legally isn't - it is despicable. They've done similar with adults and I'm less concerned with it there because it can be hard to discern someone's real intent. However with minors? As adults we should be trying to correct the behavior and get them help...not throw them in prison.

[Carpet_pissr]

Literally out of an episode from Homeland that I recently watched, wow.

[malchior]

I guess the fact that most of the retailer's claims were fabricated doesn't matter. The oligarchs want more police state and the oligarchs get what they want!

[Jaymann]

Does this mean they are going to literally tackle shoplifters?

[Carpet_pissr]

Does this mean they are going to literally tackle shoplifters?

Ask Best Buy how that worked out for them.

[Isgrimnur]

Judge orders Trump to pay nearly $400,000 for New York Times' legal fees

A judge in New York has ordered former President Donald Trump to pay nearly $400,000 to cover The New York Times' legal fees from a now-dismissed lawsuit he brought against the paper, three of its reporters and his niece.

Trump sued the New York Times in 2021, accusing the paper of conspiring with his estranged niece, Mary Trump, to obtain and publish his tax records. New York Judge Robert Reed dismissed the lawsuit against with the Times and its reporters in May 2023, ruling that they were protected under the First Amendment and ordering Trump to cover their legal fees.

On Friday, Reed determined that $392,638.69 was "a reasonable value for the legal services rendered," given the complexity of the case and the attorneys involved. (A portion of the lawsuit against Mary Trump was allowed to proceed, and her request to be reimbursed for legal fees was denied in June.)

[Isgrimnur]

Mike Lindell says MyPillow has been crippled by American Express slashing their credit line

MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell cries 'canceled' as Fox News stops running his ads

MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, who owes millions of dollars in legal fees after spreading lies about the 2020 election results, is apparently behind on his advertising bill and won’t be able to shill his pillows on Fox News until he settles up.

Lindell said in a video posted to X on Friday that Fox “canceled” MyPillow commercials without explanation. He then speculated that it’s because “they don’t want my face even on the network leading up to the 2024 election,” or because his online show hired Lou Dobbs, the former Fox Business host who landed the network in hot water after promoting spurious conspiracy theories about voter fraud in the 2020 election.
...
Fox, however, characterized it as a matter of business. “As soon as their account is paid, we would be happy to accept their advertising,” Fox spokesperson Irena Briganti told The Associated Press.

The Washington Post also cited an unnamed source who said Lindell has not paid his bills for MyPillow ads since August. And although Lindell told the Post that he paid “$4 million for ads in December alone,” its source said that payment was for commercials that aired in June and July.

Lindell conceded to the AP that he owes Fox millions of dollars but insisted that it’s within his credit line.

[TheMix]

Well... at least he has plenty of pillows to cry into. Too soon?

[Isgrimnur]

[Daehawk]

Shameful. How do stupid people get lifted up so high? In the OLd old day he would be left at the cave entrance

[Smoove_B]

Because there are apparently lots of people that think and feel the same way. They're not strong enough to publicly broadcast their garbage views, so they just support those that are.