The difference is that we’ve allowed a private, for profit company to do the surveillance, and they are not beholden to all of the laws that we put in place to keep the Government in check. Capitalism’s latest innovation is outsourcing fascism. The privatization of all of this oppression is accelerating.

“The first truth is that the liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerate the growth of private power to a point where it becomes stronger than their democratic state itself.” -FDR

To shreds you say…

"The Trinidad Police Department employs five full-time officers and several part-time officers. The officers will be transferred to the Henderson County Sheriff’s Office after the department shuts down Friday.

Trinidad will now receive law enforcement support from the Henderson County Sheriff’s Office. The mayor said the city will look into getting a designated deputy from the sheriff’s office. "

Same assholes, same job, same beat, different boss. I’m sure it will change EVERYTHING. End qualified immunity, make cops personally liable when lawsuits are pressed, make police pensions or unions responsible when the office can’t cover the entire penalty.

The laptop is 300+.

“Get out of here, mop, I’ve got a good thing going and I’m not gonna let you ruin this for me!!”

As frustrating as it is to see, and despite my overwhelming desire to scream “duh” and " I told you so"; The only path out of this division is to try to be gracious and welcoming when someone wants to come back to reason. So please don’t fight the folks that are trying to agree with you in a way that saves them their wounded pride. Go watch Behind the Curve to see how these echo chambers make it socially toxic to change your mind, which means people get “trapped” by the fear of judgement, so they just stay in the cult.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Behind_the_Curve

I just feel like posting this completely unrelated story on every automated traffic camera thread, I can’t understand why I feel this compulsion.

https://cybernews.com/editorial/israel-hacked-iran-traffic-cameras-us-war/

2026: it did end, the transition to hell was subtle, but I see it now.

This is Minecraft. Like literally, this idea spawned Minecraft. https://www.wired.com/2013/11/minecraft-book/

VR game. Finger tracking controller mandatory. Basic gameplay is that of a wizard, casting spells. Each finger is an element, like air, water, fire, earth, life. You cast a spell by holding an element and drawing a shape in the air then gesturing. So a fire bolt would be hold fire, move in a line to point the direction, release fire mid throw. To make a fire ball, hold fire, then draw a circle in the air, then throw, release in the throw. Allow the user to make up spell effects by combining elements, shapes and gestures. Combine air and earth, draw a spiral, point at an enemy to trap them in air bands and earth bonds. Paint an ally in broad strokes with life to heal, etc. Moderate inspiration from Wheel of Time, if you’ve read it.

The gameplay of finger-wiggling mage sounds fun. Add bullet time for easy mode/overpowered.

IANAL, but doesn’t settlement mean they don’t admit fault, they have no judgement to actually force changes, and the same case can’t be brought again, aka, they get to keep harming kids, just have to cough up some tiny slice of profit and offer some lip service to doing better? Or, to rephrase, as long as the government gets a cut, they can keep abusing?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_CIA_controversies

Let’s get crazy then.

Can you call to your mind your mother’s face? Could you describe her from the image? Aphantasia folks cannot call that image. They memorize the words for traits such as “Blonde”, but that’s all it is, a list of memorized words.

You are in fact right, but given a binary choice between war crimes, or war crimes AND Fascists, I’m afraid the right choice is war crimes without the side order of Fascism.

Hilariously, you are right. It certainly wasn’t his intention to do so, but it is happening. Strangely aligned with China spending like crazy to pivot to a green energy super-supplier. End of an era, although no one will admit it yet.

Dogs are not great at grammar and punctuation. They are still good dogs.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immortal:_The_Invisible_War

https://rpggeek.com/rpg/1774/immortal-the-invisible-war-1st-edition

It’s a hot mess out of the box, but the core mechanics make good bones, and they integrate the rules into the lore in a way that makes metagaming hard (Or in character, anyways, for example at high perception, you can actually see stats)

My favorite system only uses d10s, and they should be color coded. 9 colors are assigned, and you always have to have a random, and frequently you will need to roll two of the same color, but you also have to keep track of which color was for which effect… And as I introduce more players, I usually end up giving them a set to play with… I’m sure I’m well over $2k on this over the entire life of the hobby.

The dice goblin cannot be satiated. Just a few more…

At five, a child has few tools (or even words) to deal with and describe their strong emotions of frustration, disappointment, etc. Dropping an ice cream cone isn’t that big a deal to a 25 year old adult. But it literally may be THE WORST thing that has ever happened to the child. They are also learning what boundaries are for the first time. In the moment of “I hate you”, just don’t take that first gut reaction; pause, think about the moment for them, and then try to find a way to emphasize with them, and maybe even getting them to catch their breath and empathize with you. Teach them what the emotions are called, ask them to try to explain why they are upset, or state why you think they are upset and ask them to confirm. Use and provide your wisdom and context from your years of experience. Don’t flee from your boundaries, but enforce them softly with redirection and reframing rather than hard consequences that the child can’t make the connection with. One phrase I used a lot was “We can’t control everything, sometimes we can’t even control our feelings. But you can try to control your breathing (long, deep breaths have a physiological calming effect). And when you control your breathing, you can get control back of your body and mind.”