USCE Autumn: Well Actually, This IS somethingpedantic.com

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Debate & Discussion > USCE Autumn: Well Actually, This IS somethingpedantic.com

Name Change: Oct 9, 2005

So what I'm reading in so many words is that Jones got OJ Simpson'd in Connecticut.

# ¿ Oct 12, 2022 21:38

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ¿ May 13, 2024 23:31

Name Change: Oct 9, 2005

Leon Trotsky 2012 posted:

That is what I'm saying. OJ's judgement in his civil case for actually murdering two people was $33 million. A billion for harm caused by defamation is uncharted territory.

I think Jones is probably a repugnant enough person that no judge is going to want to go easy on him. But, it's not like this is a totally normal level of compensation for the type of case or that the case itself was standard in any way. If this were some unknown person, I think it is more likely to get scaled down. But, in this case, who knows?

Someone's earnings being garnished in perpetuity so that their work is primarily a relief fund for wronged parties is rare but not unprecedented.

# ¿ Oct 12, 2022 22:14

Name Change: Oct 9, 2005

Would definitely take a special kind of vampire to create a legal fund for the guy who organized a harassment campaign against victims of a mass shooting before admitting that he made all his accusations up in front of god and everybody, and then fully pay a billion dollars in stock options.

I mean if they want whatever brands they associate with to immediately become toxic and explain to shareholders why this was so important, great.

I'm sure there will be a wingnut fund that could cover several million at most.

# ¿ Oct 13, 2022 00:40

Name Change: Oct 9, 2005

From what I gather, much of Haiti is divided between warring gangs in support of one leader or another, and they intercept any aid that arrives rather than distribute it, thus famine and cholera. Public opinion does not necessarily enter into it.

I don't really see a way around a military intervention unless you're willing to live with the consequences of "do nothing."

# ¿ Oct 17, 2022 23:33

Name Change: Oct 9, 2005

cat botherer posted:

Why would you think that us putting the thumb on the scale for our favored strongman would fix this?

Well, we can also just drop food without "security" guarantees of any kind and let the Haitians sort it out. Aside from the humanitarian costs, technically that would hinder Ariel Henry, who has been implicated in Mo�se's assassination.

"Do nothing" is a not a neutral choice.

# ¿ Oct 17, 2022 23:53

Name Change: Oct 9, 2005

cat botherer posted:

Again though, even in times like after the earthquake, intervention has done more harm that good. Every intervention the US has done in Haiti has been, in part, justified by your reasoning. It always turns out the same way. "Do nothing" is not a neutral choice. It is the less-worse choice, given history. "Doing something" is a worse choice.

So just so I'm clear, what is your take on what if any actions should be taken by foreign governments? If I am to believe any number of news reports and general sentiment of people ITT better-read on this topic, Haiti is about to become post-apocalyptic without intervention.

# ¿ Oct 18, 2022 00:18

Name Change: Oct 9, 2005

I was honestly willing to entertain the notion of doing nothing and what that meant to people, but not so much when people descend into histrionics the moment their reasoning is challenged or asked for details.

(USER WAS PUT ON PROBATION FOR THIS POST)

# ¿ Oct 20, 2022 01:27

Name Change: Oct 9, 2005

Main Paineframe posted:

Facebook's user numbers are dropping, and (more importantly) they're having a harder time effectively monetizing those users. The drops in revenue and userbase are fairly small so far, but Facebook doesn't have any real path to reversing either, and if advertisers start to lose faith in them it could rapidly turn into a death spiral (though companies that big don't die fast, no matter how disastrous their business model becomes).

That's exactly why they're shoveling money into the metaverse furnace. Their core business is starting to disappoint the markets, and they don't seem to have a way to get those numbers back to levels the investor types will be happy with, so they're going back to the tried-and-true startup tactic of promising some big moonshot breakthrough in hopes that it'll distract the media from their dwindling revenue.

Facebook could go on forever as is, the problem is that when you can't project growth, Wall Street gets upset because number must go higher or why am I even invested in this?

# ¿ Oct 21, 2022 19:44

Name Change: Oct 9, 2005

Verifying everyone on Twitter as an actual person and instituting a program to promote those who verify isn't actually a bad idea, 10 years ago.

# ¿ Nov 1, 2022 20:14

Name Change: Oct 9, 2005

rscott posted:

Has anyone suggested to Elon that he charge a one time fee for registration, and then charge users for options like changing their profile picture and the ability to message other users? Seems like a business model with some track record of success

Years of ad revenue will entirely come from a resume-writing service, and uh, a WinAmp TV channel or something

# ¿ Nov 2, 2022 04:30

Name Change: Oct 9, 2005

Freakazoid_ posted:

I'm not too concerned with what happens after twitter collapses.

I am concerned about what will happen to all that information that flowed from twitter. While I imagine anything remotely important will be remembered on a wiki somewhere, the details that existed on twitter might be lost. That sort of information erodes in time as people grow up or forget, and a new generation comes with only a story told of what happened before. Without the literal context, it gets harder to believe the past existed the way it did.

People will just move onto something of equal or greater convenience. I think someone upthread mentioned TikTok. There are plausible alternatives that even right now make more sense than Twitter. The tweet format is already long in the tooth. Tweet threads are loving obnoxious and feel like we are moving backwards in Internet communication. Celebrities have largely moved away from Twitter because it's mostly just a way to damage your brand at this point (keeping it real goes wrong!), and people left over are mostly posting two-line jokes or screeds.

I don't know, to me it's been a lumbering undead curiosity for a while. It's never been profitable, it was considered ludicrous that Musk would even buy it at the share price.

Name Change fucked around with this message at 18:50 on Nov 3, 2022

# ¿ Nov 3, 2022 18:32

Name Change: Oct 9, 2005

I don't think it's coincidental that this stuff is hitting the airwaves after his divorce (having lost that network of handlers), or that the media is fixated on his antisemitism hobby compared to his history of weird, inappropriate behavior.

Handlers will tolerate a lot for a paycheck, and right-wingers will be supportive no matter what you say.

# ¿ Nov 3, 2022 21:15

Name Change: Oct 9, 2005

-Blackadder- posted:

R's are pretty pissed at Trump right now. Talking all kinds of poo poo about him.

I wouldn't be surprised if Biden, DNC et al aren't particularly perturbed about Florida.

Before tonight Trump would've swatted DeSantis like a fly.

Now DeSantis has the clout, and the environment is much more favorable, for him to get in some real body blows against Trump before he hits the mat.

DeSantis lives safely in the Florida state media bubble, Trump shouldn't be afraid of him at all. Charlie loving Crist made DeSantis look like a constipated baby on the debate stage, Trump will eat him alive. There is only one Lord of the Chuds.

Trump's real problem is that he's not selling when the national election results come in.

# ¿ Nov 9, 2022 10:15

Name Change: Oct 9, 2005

-Blackadder- posted:

Crist still got blown out.

As did Clinton after she clobbered Trump in debates.

It's long been known that Debates don't shift opinions.

It wouldn't be DeSantis' debate skills that would doom him, it'd be his questionable ability to generate Trump-level enthusiasm and his weird unlikable prick personality. It's also unknown if his 3rd World Iron fist dictator schtick will actually play on the national stage.

Regardless, Trump clearly is afraid of him. And the Midterms aren't helping. But don't take my word for it.

But since Trump is almost certainly running, DeSantis would have to beat Trump in the primary (which apparently people seem to think is somewhat unlikely) if he were to face Biden. Which leaves us back at DeSantis just softening up Trump.

But who knows, maybe we'll get a nightmare scenario and Trump and DeSantis will unite. Doubtful Trump's ego would allow it, but the Harris/DeSantis debates would be uniformly terrible.

So in a local red state where you are the incumbent governor, the winds are with you and it doesn't really matter that you're a charisma black hole when all the party and donors are invested in you. None of this is the case when you go up against the king-in-exile and voters are looking for who excites them, not Guy with (R) Next to His Name.

Now I don't think given these results tonight that Trump wins in 2024 but he's going to sail through the primary unless he dies. All of these guys doing their best Trump impression have absolutely none of his charisma or low animal cunning.

# ¿ Nov 9, 2022 12:15

Name Change: Oct 9, 2005

Anno posted:

Lmao at Eli Lilly having to put out a tweet saying �sorry folks, insulin is in fact not going to be free. Sorry to get your hopes up.� because some rich chump got offended a few times and bought Twitter.

I can't figure out why he bought Twitter even as petty reasoning goes, because he could always just say whatever he wanted on Twitter and no one cared.

# ¿ Nov 11, 2022 04:34

Name Change: Oct 9, 2005

Assuming Warnock wins, we'll get to see if claims that other Dem senators are hiding behind Sinema are true very soon.

# ¿ Nov 13, 2022 11:39

Name Change: Oct 9, 2005

We got to the point where all but two Dem senators were in favor of removing the filibuster.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/interactive/2021/filibuster-vote-count/

This would have been an earth-shattering change in the Senate, of enormously more importance even than a $15 minimum wage.

# ¿ Nov 14, 2022 02:52

Name Change: Oct 9, 2005

Eric Cantonese posted:

So any of you got a take on this drama over Chris Magnus? He just had to resign as head of Customs and Border Protection.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/12/us/chris-magnus-resigns-cbp.html

It doesn't give me high hopes that much can be done with changing how CBP operates. It also reinforces my worries about how powerful (in all the wrong ways) the border patrol's union is. I hope they can find a replacement soon, though.

CBP is an infamously lovely organization to the extent that Trump and his people recognized they could weaponize it for dirty tricks, because it often attracts people chuddy enough that they are eager to become brownshirts and secret police: https://www.yahoo.com/news/operation-whistle-pig-inside-the-secret-cbp-unit-with-no-rules-that-investigates-americans-100000147.html

I would say it actually exceeds how lovely cops can be because cops from everything I can gather are held to higher standards. Let that sink in.

It's not great when the union is openly chuddy on social media. The whole thing is also protected from reform by being firmly planted in the middle of a political nerve center in America.

# ¿ Nov 14, 2022 04:45

Name Change: Oct 9, 2005

Jaxyon posted:

lol i drive a 20 year old sedan and i can't wait for the shitshow when it finally dies off

We bought two new cars in the last two years because you will pay new car prices for used cars. Our only saving grace was that the resale value on my 10-year old car was ridiculous.

# ¿ Nov 18, 2022 23:10

Name Change: Oct 9, 2005

Gumball Gumption posted:

That's like trying to explain that a klan member is calling themselves a racist ironically. Like yeah, they are, but also it's true.

SA itself has problems with people advocating [repulsive thing or person] "ironically" (wholeheartedly), it's a learned way to slip vileness into the discourse while pretending not to own it.

# ¿ Nov 21, 2022 22:52

Name Change: Oct 9, 2005

FizFashizzle posted:

Love that we�re the new dreamers: a political football that�s too toxic to act on either way.

Punting like last weekends jets - patriots game.

They're not going to try to make you pay loans they're trying to discharge all or part of.

What will be funny is if Trump casually mentions "yeah, people should get their loans discharged, I never pay back any of my loving loans lol" and the vampire resistance to student loan forgiveness evaporates overnight.

# ¿ Nov 22, 2022 22:17

Name Change: Oct 9, 2005

Charliegrs posted:

What I do wonder, is if at some point you might start to see right wing gatherings getting shot up. Those Nazi rallies you see happening in various cities around the US? What happens when those start getting shot up by people who have had enough of their poo poo and no longer care about throwing away their own life to teach them a lesson. Will this have the affect of scaring these groups or just embolden them even more? Sadly it would probably be the latter.

This would be a serious mistake. These groups openly hope for a reprisal attack, as it feeds their victim complex, creates self-justification for further radicalization and terrorist action, and can be easily hooked into their racial holy war conspiracy mythology. The birth of the modern right wing extremist movement is deeply incompetent/illegal militaristic responses to right wing cults by the FBI.

# ¿ Nov 25, 2022 12:13

Name Change: Oct 9, 2005

If a rail strike would result in empty power plants and grocery stores, then yeah you should nationalize rail etc. It's insane that this isn't handled in the way other critical infrastructure is.

# ¿ Nov 30, 2022 14:32

Name Change: Oct 9, 2005

-Blackadder- posted:

Interesting how the GOP is responding to the potential strike. Though it ultimately seems to be along the usual lines according to the House votes.

Out of curiosity, what exactly are the complete and total (including indirect and far reaching) impacts a strike would have? Like what are the full implications here?

Is it just another group of corporate execs getting smacked in the pocketbook and inevitably having to humble themselves by tossing a few crumbs to the proles or is it like "who wants to see what happens if we don't raise debt ceiling [Joker grin]?"

A strike would crash the economy and according to my reading move us to a "every morning, grab your filth-caked pan and collect water at the bottom of the skull mountain"-style economy. This is not a nationalized system because [decades of poor decisions by those in power].

# ¿ Dec 1, 2022 01:42

Name Change: Oct 9, 2005

Eric Cantonese posted:

I like to think this is relevant to the ongoing discussion we've been having on if/when Trump will ever face legal consequences.

https://twitter.com/CalebMelby/stat...oKL_X6syTIBX0FE

The way our legal and economic system work is that sometimes what hurts you comes from the weirdest poo poo.

Something something Al Capone and tax evasion.

Staluigi posted:

It's like loving clockwork

You remember when it was this running joke that trump was "increasingly isolated" all the time like a shepard tone, constantly more isolated but still somehow more centrally empowered to make life worse for everybody

When does that totally break. When does he get actually put out to pasture in his personal life too

This should make it easier for more lawsuits and charges for Trump's people, if not Trump himself. We're already talking about a political operation where his campaign manager's career ended like an episode of COPS. There's smoke coming out the side of the ship. Smart, above-board people don't work for Trump.

Republicans will probably still try to carry him through the primaries until it's truly impossible, though.

# ¿ Dec 7, 2022 03:22

Name Change: Oct 9, 2005

Leon Trotsky 2012 posted:

She did break the possession law, but she had less than one gram of oil with THC in it and they gave her 6 drug trafficking and smuggling charges. Which is obviously bullshit.

Also, the average penalty for a Russian possessing the same amount of hash oil she had is a suspended sentence (probation) for two years with no jail time. She got 9 years in a penal colony.

She was also the first person ever to be charged with smuggling and trafficking for such a small amount of THC oil.

At this point I would be surprised if she had any THC on her in reality.

Let's make sure we give Russia the benefit of the doubt though, taking less THC through Russia than most posters ITT have in their bodies right now is a violation of Russia's sacred sovereignty, and if that's punishable by nine years in Star Trek 6, so be it.

# ¿ Dec 8, 2022 20:44

Name Change: Oct 9, 2005

I don't think Manchin is "better" than Sinema, and god help us all any time we have to choose between the two. Manchin is as corrupt as any of them, and really reacted poorly in the moment to being confronted with it during the never-ending BBB drama by threatening reporters.

Sinema is unique in how nakedly incompetent at messaging she is. It's just hard to figure out what Sinema's deal is besides stupidity.

# ¿ Dec 9, 2022 22:06

Name Change: Oct 9, 2005

Judgy Fucker posted:

The GOP should just make Mitch Speaker. He's been an effective caucus leader in the Senate, no rule against a non-Representative being Speaker.

Mitch has been on the enemies list since at least COVID when he stopped going to the White House for meetings because everyone there had it.

# ¿ Dec 15, 2022 03:00

Name Change: Oct 9, 2005

Beginning to look like Trump Campaign III is more of a collection plate than a candidacy. No, I mean more than the first two did.

# ¿ Dec 15, 2022 19:05

Name Change: Oct 9, 2005

It's not like Trump really needs to be on Twitter at this point. 2016 was a very different time in social media (Twitter was still perceived as something that mattered and coverage of social media was fawning), and his magic power to hold the media's attention through tweets diminished when he did it 50+ times per day for years.

# ¿ Dec 19, 2022 11:44

Name Change: Oct 9, 2005

I wonder if Santos is one of the many that Democrats worked to get nominated.

# ¿ Dec 31, 2022 21:47

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ¿ May 13, 2024 23:31

Name Change: Oct 9, 2005

Killer robot posted:

He wasn't in a contested primary, it sounds, so no.

I'm not really a big fan of the strategy since it seems prone to backfiring, but it seems like it both wasn't what the doomsayers kept telling me it was, and yet worked pretty well anyway , so

Thanks for checking, I'm on mobile atm

# ¿ Jan 1, 2023 01:09

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Debate & Discussion > USCE Autumn: Well Actually, This IS somethingpedantic.com