It’s true. If there was even one single person in his immediate orbit that gave more of a shit about him personally than about what being near him could do for themselves, he’d never have been allowed to walk all the way to Air Force One with toilet paper stuck to his shoe, much less left to wander in this screamingly loud, crowded, visually confusing huge building without someone at his side.

And that’s another thing. He’s in a position where anyone already in the area could just rush him, not to mention trip and fall hazards with confetti flying everywhere. Secret Service is there, certainly, but do you see them? I don’t. Everything about this is just odd: no one from his entire entourage is anywhere near him.

Not that I give a shit, but it’s weird that NO ONE he brought with him does either.

It doesn’t have to get as far as eminent domain. In at least one Georgia case the land was condemned by local authorities, the start of the legal process of eminent domain, and the family was no longer able to live in it regardless. So the use of eminent domain as a threat to force the sale of privately held land is already happening.

Every “voluntary” easement is signed in the shadow of automatic condemnation. When the company across the table can take your land if you say no, you aren’t negotiating, and attorneys representing landowners know that.

This quote is from one article of many about how non-local companies use condemnation as a tool to steal land, and how that has a very long history in the US. This particular article is about how a community in Nashville attempted to use condemnation in the other direction, condemning a property wanted by a data center so that no one could use it, but it gives the history pretty well.

I do too. My history teachers tried, but most of what I learned about history I learned as an adult, mainly because I really like historical biographies. There was a time when I’d have multiple books going at once, but that was decades ago now.

What has really fired me up in the last few years has been listening to Heather Cox Richardson and Joanne Freeman, who are both essentially historians/history teachers/historical authors turned contemporary political commentators.

Until them I avoided almost all modern political commentary because it all sounds like fantasy football to me, with participants hotly arguing conjecture. But when I first heard Richardson, she was talking about how some particular thing with Trump had a clear parallel in something that had happened in Reconstruction, I could see it for myself, and suddenly history had relevance again.

I was hooked. She does a Saturday morning thing with Dr. Freeman, whose specialty seems to be Alexander Hamilton, and they both just talk history in the modern context and laugh. I haven’t read their books, but I might, and Richardson also has a Substack I catch occasionally.

Somehow those two have got me interested again, and it’s no longer strategists arguing fantasy politics. (I still don’t listen to anyone else, lol.)

Never too late to learn.

Mail-in ballots are their own paper trail. Not only can they not be fucked with, they can be used to demonstrate electronic fuckery in the rest of the same election.

Every mail-in ballot (and early vote) is much harder to account for and manipulate when it comes to fucking an election as a whole. And they’ve been doing this since electronic voting was a thing. If you haven’t yet, you should definitely read Vanity Fair’s The Path to Florida which is a dissection of the Bush v. Gore fight in Florida. Be sure to note the negative 16,000 votes in Volusia County.

Oh there are SO many more, but this article listed only the Class Two Senate seats for South Carolina. If they’d included both classes you’d just have almost the full list of South Carolina senators.

I noticed because I missed the presence of Andrew Butler, another South Carolina senator of the same Butler family named in the article, who was responsible for the caning of Charles Sumner in the Senate.

For any history buffs like me, I am including the story, because it actually mirrors a lot of what is happening right now. For anyone else, now you know that the vast majority of South Carolina senators were and are racist sacks of shit (there are a few exceptions, fortunately).

In 1856, roughly four years before the start of the Civil War, westward expansion was hotly debated, and not just with words, because abolitionists wanted banning of slavery in any territory to be a requirement of entry into the Union and statehood, while slave-owning states of course did not.

This wasn’t just about slavery; like MAGA today it was about power and who got to control the country, as the pro-slavery states sought to ensure that territories admitted to statehood did not dilute their own federal influence, power and control. So how newly-admitted states were represented and got to vote was a huge deal, especially if that admission might upset various cheats like the Three-Fifths Compromise and others like it that gave slave-owning states an unnatural advantage not directly conferred by actual population.

The Kansas-Nebraska Act was one of these cheats, a short-lived compromise co-authored by Andrew Butler of South Carolina, which allowed newly admitted states in the west to enter the union while permitting slave ownership by leaving it up to the new state to decide for themselves, where slavery was already just as hotly argued over as it was anywhere else.

States rights, in other words. This should be sounding familiar by now.

So when the Kansas-Nebraska Act went through the Senate, an abolitionist named Charles Sumner from Massachusetts gave an impassioned speech against it, while also being sure to personally insult Butler as many ways as he could throughout, with liberal use of sexual innuendo (probably not misplaced, according to Wikipedia).

By way of response, Butler’s first cousin once-removed, Preston Brooks, who was a representative for South Carolina at the time, came onto the Senate floor with a couple of other southern congressmen two days later and caned Sumner nearly to death. Brave men as they were, they waited for the chamber to be almost empty before they did so, claiming that this was so that no ladies present in the galleries could see, and Brooks attacked Sumner as he was sitting at his desk writing a letter while his associates held off those attracted by the commotion so no one could help Sumner, one using a pistol. Sumner had already passed out and was being held up by the lapels by Brooks as he continued to whip him with the cane before others were able to get to him, and suffered severe injuries.

Afterward, the South closed ranks around its own and re-elected those involved, making heroes out of them, but Preston Brooks died of a respiratory infection shortly after re-election anyway. Sumner survived and lived another twenty years, but he

suffered head trauma that would cause him chronic pain and symptoms consistent with what would now be called traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder, and spent three years convalescing before returning to his Senate seat. He suffered chronic pain and debilitation for the rest of his life.

Funny thing, the caning of Charles Sumner ended up being one of the biggest own-goals of the pro-slavery South: when these racist slave owners brought their violence into the Senate itself it angered a number of abolitionist Kansas settlers, one of whom was John Brown, and the Pottawatomie Massacre in response, and in the long run only strengthened the newly-formed anti-slavery Republican party and helped put Abraham Lincoln into office four years later.

Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose.

In a city of billionaires, Mamdani is not owned, which is why they’re all so scared of him: the powers that be can’t control him, and they can’t even predict him.

Which is exactly what makes this so based. Mamdani IS the mayor of NYC. He could make Bibi’s arrival in his city a little slice of hell in all manner of ways, many of which would break no law at all, and many New Yorkers would be thrilled to do their part.

But will he? No one knows. And that’s the beauty of it. We all know he’s thinking about it now.

So whether this pans out in reality or not, it’s always good policy to make a motherfucker watch his own back. Mamdani just turned Bibi into a motherfucker with a back that needs watching in NYC.

I’m not the one who downvoted you, and I wouldn’t because you know your own body best. But that one single number really isn’t the measure you think it is, even when it is “off the chart” as in your case.

All you’re really telling me is that quitting methadone 👍 resulted in profound changes to your body chemistry, of which testosterone was only one.

Testosterone doesn’t work alone, but as one of a handful of different substances that act in concert to produce what you refer to as “manliness.” For all you know you were also zinc or B6 deficient, or fat, or you drifted into a diabetic state or were low on precursor hormones, or any number of other things. It’s not just testosterone, and definitely not testosterone as a lab value with no other considerations taken into account.

Which is exactly why Kegsbreath is a fool, and why one hormone out of many should NOT be replaced based on numbers alone.

Impotence when you come off it, and infertility, possibly permanent.

I didn’t become this rabid horn dog willing to go up to women and ask them out. I didn’t really get any extra confidence at all, just physical stamina. There was no change in my perceived “manliness”, and most of these types would have probably still called me a wuss while I was on the steroids.

That’s because you were clearly not making enough of these hormones on your own, so much so that you were already symptomatic. The testosterone (and presumably the steroids as well) you were given just raised you back up to normal levels.

Kegsbreath’s talking about offering it based on numbers alone, and it just doesn’t work like that. Numbers are only one part of the diagnostic considerations. If you take extra testosterone regardless of what the numbers say and you don’t actually need it to bring you to a place of normal functioning, you can damage your hormonal production permanently.

Truth. And it’s worse for young guys who do it, because if they end up getting unnecessary exogenous testosterone, it can and often does have a negative effect on libido, performance, and fertility long before age or other conditions manage those downward for them.

Testes that are making enough testosterone for that person to live comfortably should be left alone to do so, because like the adrenals when you fuck with steroids, if testes get testosterone in excess they lay back and think, “Job done,” and then that’s the last you hear from them.

I’m not even joking. That looksmaxxer fool is a poster boy for what can happen when you take testosterone and don’t need it: he’s barely out of his teens and apparently infertile. He may well be impotent too, though I doubt he’s bragging about that part of it.

EDITED TO ADD that it took them a day but now the doctors themselves are coming out of the woodwork to call bullshit (emphasis mine):

Five of six men’s health experts contacted by ⁠Reuters for this story said they were puzzled by the announcement on testosterone testing and concerned it may lead to unnecessary – or even harmful – treatment.

“We hear from patients that ​when you treat low T, things like cognitive alertness and stamina improve. But the evidence is not concrete, and it ‌comes from patients who were treated because they were symptomatic,” said ‌Dr Kevin McVary, a urologist on the medical advisory board of Rugiet, a telehealth platform that provides testosterone supplements.

“Many in our armed forces are young men who are not done having their families,” McVary said. “If you just dole out the testosterone, the testes will shrink. And you can’t reliably count on them coming back.” Other risks include blood thickening, prostate issues, acne, hair loss, breast tissue growth and mood volatility.

I listened to the actual interview he did with Katie Couric. It’s not a failure of reporting, nor hearsay.

Gov. Beshear was reporting actual calls his office has received indicating McConnell has likely died, while personally maintaining that the truth is not yet known to him. He did so within the context of personally not ever having received anything from either Mitch McConnell or McConnell’s staff beyond the one photograph and the press release the public got, despite being the governor of Kentucky and technically McConnell’s boss.

Honestly, the gov was working overtime to be understanding, and was very careful with his words, but even so he’s clearly had enough.

The interview (read the transcript if you don’t have time to listen):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YF3Yao2KZWI

Both the Portland Press-Herald and AP News go further into the details in regard to this guy’s past, with AP speaking to at least one ex-wife and that wife’s mother (who witnessed some of the abuse), his daughter, another estranged relative who asked to remain anonymous, and “hundreds of family court records obtained from the Augusta District Court clerk’s office” that “detail years of allegations of physical and verbal abuse raised by his second ex-wife on behalf of herself and his daughters.”

According to the Press-Herald article,

Ashley Brouillette told a reporter that she wanted to speak publicly because she had previously reported concerns to his superiors in the military about David Brouillette’s mental health.

It’s an interesting statement to make on its own, just like it’s interesting how AP News can document this guy’s lifelong history of abusive behavior toward others out in a matter of hours but the gubmint meat grinder never could. It’s pretty clear they just don’t want to hear it.

I can’t tell if you’re joking or not, but in reality you’re probably right. This kind of overt, arrogant, conscienceless disregard for the humanity of others is always just the tip of the evil shitberg they’re made of under the skin.

Or to put it another way, a man who does not care about the abuse, torture, and murder of thousands is not going to give two shits about the right of a child to live unharmed. And just as he feels entitled to do what he will to the living bodies of immigrants, he will feel entitled to do the body of anyone else that lacks the power to stop him.

It never fucking ends with these kinds of gleefully evil people: whatever horrendous amorality you see in front of you, there’s ALWAYS more where that came from.

So protesting and calling out their crimes and sharing video and making a racket must not be as pointless as some would have us all believe, because Tom Homan himself is desperate to shut it down.

The LAST fucking thing any sentient human being should do is shut their mouth against these murders and crimes against humanity.

Anyone who cares enough to yell, KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK!

Thanks for adding the gift link, much appreciated.

Nah, not a word about anonymization AND they’re gonna let humans look at it too. This is the actual agreement.

Consent to the Use of Health Data for AI Training and Modelling

The health data you have allowed us to collect and process will be used for AI training and modelling, including human review, to improve Samsung Health, including algorithms to analyse health conditions and our AI features.

This means that if you have consented to any or all of the below, the corresponding data will be used for AI training and modelling:

• Health and wellness data: data related to body measurements, nutrition, step count and activity, and sleep
• Medication data: data related to medications, including prescriptions and dosages
• Health records: medical and clinical data, such as diagnoses, prognoses, test results, past records and treatments
• Cycle tracking data: data related to menstrual cycles, including physical conditions and physiological indicators (e.g. heart rate)

You may withdraw your consent at any time in the Samsung Health settings > Privacy. If you withdraw your consent, we will stop using your data for AI training and modelling.

Please note that your consent also applies to Samsung Health apps on other devices signed in with the same Samsung account (as long as the device supports this feature).

Check the Samsung Health Privacy Notice to see how your data is processed.

From a different article than OP posted, there is this:

Samsung said that the data it collects will “improve Samsung Health” through refined machine learning algorithms that analyze health conditions. The company plans to grab four categories: your sleep, your medications, your medical records, and your cycle tracking details. The company also said that humans (maybe Samsung employees and third-party contractors) will be able to review some of the data collected.

Lol at that “maybe” in the last line.

Definitely. This raises more questions than it answers.

I don’t know about other folks, but speaking for myself I am getting absolutely firehosed with incessant disturbing news on a daily, sometimes hourly basis as my country faces becoming the world’s largest authoritarian sweatshop.

I literally don’t remember seeing this at all.

But if I did, it’s not surprising to me that I forgot about it. The orange chancre driving across his own freshly painted narcissist’s folly was probably the least harmful/obscene/amoral/anti-human thing that putrescent fuck did with my tax dollars that day.

There is an interesting problem with human moderators though. Once the entire population of Earth is posting on social media, are there enough humans to ever moderate it?

Yes, because the community itself can be the largest part of its own moderation. As Reddit has proven, they do not all have to be paid, and people who run their own groups would be happy to take more of that moderation work on just to ensure their own viability on the site. There can also be local moderation as well as top-down moderation: it does not all have to be sweat shop workers in the third world. Meta could do far more than they are now to limit sockpuppet and astroturfing accounts, and accounts that are not actually tied to a human being, all of which would have an oversized effect on cleaning up the filth, but they don’t.

Rather, time after time, year after year, people tell whoever is looking into [whatever the current scandal is now] that they reported this content and Meta came back with “Nope, we have looked into this and this content does not violate community standards.” What if Meta just took action on the community reports they already receive? Meta will rapidly and without recourse take down content that involves, for example, classic art that involves nudity, but double down on ignoring actual CSAM, as in this case.

Compare and contrast that with Meta’s vigorous policing of content that does NOT promote their agenda. Put those together and it paints a picture of a corporation that is very much involved with its ability to manufacture and sway public opinion, but has no interest otherwise in cutting off anything that makes it a dollar.

There are all kinds of helps and fixes to what has become an extreme moderation problem, every single one of which Meta has refused to engage despite having profits in the billions. Billions. You could hire an entire country of moderators with a fraction of that, but they don’t simply because they are not interested in any of that.

No one is on a Meta site to be served as a customer; they are there to have their data collected and analyzed for better efficacy of the propaganda and advertising Meta pushes their way and then sold on to other data aggregators or even the government, and to be used in any way that Meta likes without recourse to the user. And if a kid gets trafficked, or killed, or kills themself because of Meta, well that need not force any real change either. Meta’s gotten really good at making concerned noises about that kind of thing without ever changing their own part in how it happened, and continues to happen.

Or to put it another way, in today’s model, Meta sees itself as entirely separate from its userbase, and unable/unwilling to distribute any of its power among its users to make it better for everyone. But look at Lemmy, where there is little separation between instance admins and the general userbase: everyone can help moderate from the ground up. There is no money in moderation here at all, yet we have not descended into 4chan. How is it that Lemmy can do adequate online moderation (and Reddit before it) for free without a single dollar, much less without the billions of dollars available to Meta? Its because on Lemmy the community itself is the primary moderation tool, and while they talk otherwise, in reality Meta refuses that community paradigm almost entirely.

There’s another factor as well: it is far easier to moderate an online community that has always kept its standards high from the start than it is to come around and clean house when it all starts feeling a bit Voat and 4chan. Had Meta been adequately moderating all along, it would never have gotten this bad to start with.

TL;DR: Effective online moderation only looks like an impossible task when it suits a company to not even try.