Lurker > Antifar

What's your go to (if it isn't popcorn, for some reason)?

Also, someone shoots at you, they go on trial. Even American cops don't raze their neighborhood.

https://bsky.app/profile/susanrinkunas.bsky.social/post/3kcm3uetqtt2u

Well at least you've found clarity and perspective that no one else has.

Tyranthraxus posted...

North Carolina is a lost cause. Democrats should focus on other places like Texas.

NC has a Democratic governor.

Brutal

https://apnews.com/article/north-carolina-congress-map-redistricting-d287cb668138e88db64a7c2e5e25fd0f

It's just that subreddit comments do not carry the same weight, imo, as the material aid being offered Israel by the governments those western leftists have been largely unable to influence on this issue. /u/vanDutchman2 does not seem to be enabling Hamas to get away from American-made bombs.

It's a difference of scale, you see.

Zwijn posted...

Yes, western leftists. The dynamics of Turkey are just relevant to one party here since theyre a Turkish infiltrant party who want to Islamify The Netherlands.

Can you point to Western leftists helping Hamas in any real way? Or is the party with two percent of the seats in one house of the Dutch legislature going to be your only cited example here?

Zwijn posted...

Well multiple parties in my country are pro-Hamas and want Israel to disappear so absolutely. They even get funding from the same sources

Is that "Western leftists," the original point of contention, or might the dynamics of Turkey be more relevant here than those of Harvard?

https://mattbruenig.com/2023/10/24/abortions-now-exceed-pre-dobbs-levels/

Zwijn posted...

If it can let you get away with stuff then absolutely, one can lead to the other.

Have Hamas gotten away with anything?

Don't live in the suburbs

https://www.vice.com/en/article/4a3ba3/california-dmv-suspends-cruises-self-driving-car-license-after-pedestrian-injury

Cruise, one of two autonomous vehicle companies offering fully driverless taxi rides in the U.S., has had its license revoked by the California Department of Motor Vehicles because it withheld video footage from an ongoing investigation and the manufacturers vehicles are not safe for the publics operation, the DMV said in a statement.

In August, California regulators approved an expansion of Cruises driverless taxi service, which is owned by GM, so it could operate 24/7, despite the opposition from San Francisco police and fire authorities as well as an activist group that demonstrated the vehicles Cruise operates can be disabled for extended periods by placing a cone on its hood. Earlier this month, a pedestrian was seriously injured after a driver hit them with a car and a Cruise car then trapped them underneath it, which spurred a federal investigation that is also examining the Cruise vehicles behavior towards pedestrians more generally based on other incidents.

In the Order of Suspension, the California DMV said that the Cruise vehicle initially came to a hard stop and ran over the pedestrian. After coming to a complete stop, it then attempted to do a pullover maneuver while the pedestrian was underneath the vehicle. The car crawled along at 7 mph for about 20 feet, then came to a final stop. The pedestrian remained under the car the whole time.

The day after the incident, DMV representatives met with Cruise to discuss the incident. During that meeting, Cruise only showed footage up to the first complete stop, according to the Order of Suspension. No one at Cruise told the officers or showed any footage of the subsequent pullover maneuver and dragging. The DMV only learned of that from another government agency. When DMV asked for footage of that part of the incident, Cruise provided it.

According to the DMV statement, the suspension is effective immediately. Cruise will still be allowed to operate in driverless mode with a safety driver. The DMV did not specify what Cruise has to do to get its license back, but it says it has informed Cruise of those steps.

In a statement, Cruise spokesperson Hannah Lindow disputed that Cruise failed to provide the full video during the first meeting with the DMV. I can confirm that Cruise showed the full video to the DMV on October 3rd, and played it multiple times, Lindow told Motherboard in a statement.

Lindow said Cruise is pausing operations on driverless cars in San Francisco as a result of the suspension.

Ultimately, we develop and deploy autonomous vehicles in an effort to save lives, Lindow said. In the incident being reviewed by the DMV, a human hit and run driver tragically struck and propelled the pedestrian into the path of the AV. The AV braked aggressively before impact and because it detected a collision, it attempted to pull over to avoid further safety issues. When the AV tried to pull over, it continued before coming to a final stop, pulling the pedestrian forward. Our thoughts continue to be with the victim as we hope for a rapid and complete recovery.

We cannot be sharing checkmark tweets citing "unconfirmed reports," come on. There has never been a less reliable source.

https://nyc.streetsblog.org/2023/10/24/slap-on-the-wrist-cop-loses-15-vacation-days-500-for-harassing-man-over-311-reports

An NYPD officer agreed to pay $500 and lose 15 vacation days after he admitted to posing as a 311 operator to threaten a member of the public who reported illegal parking outside his downtown Brooklyn precinct, the city's Conflicts of Interest Board said, confirming Streetsblog's reporting.

Officer John Madera of the 84th Precinct misused his position as a city official to access Justin Sherwood's confidential contact information and call him under false pretenses and then wrongly him that his "chronic" illegal parking complaints were "an abuse of the 311 system" that "might get [him] barred" from using it entirely, COIB said in an Oct. 11 disposition made public on Monday.

Madera "sought to discourage a citizen from exercising his constitutional right to complaint about government action," the watchdog agency wrote.

Sherwood, whom COIB's document does not name, filed 901 complaints over nine months in 2021 concerning officers' illegally parked cars near station houses including the 84th Precinct, where Madera has worked since January 2020.

The city's 311 office forwarded Sherwood's complaints to the precinct, and Madera called Sherwood by using confidential information to "advance a private interest" in violation of the City Charter, COIB determined.

Madera claimed to be a 311 operator named "Josh Hayden" during a Sept. 10, 2021 call when he threatened to cut Sherwood's access to the system if he didn't stop filing complaints about illegal parking.

City representatives do not follow up directly with members of the public who file 311 complaints, a spokesperson for the non-emergency service previously told Streetsblog.

Madera agreed to pay the $500 fine and forfeit the 15 vacation days. He also previously paid $500 toward a $25,000 the city paid Sherwood in a civil suit that cost the city more than $150,000 including legal expenses and fees.

The light punishment for the abuse of power and targeted retaliation was disappointing, but unsurprising, said Sherwood's attorney Gideon Oliver.

"These penalties are less than a slap on the wrist, and come too little, too late," Oliver told Streetsblog in a statement.

"The lack of meaningful consequences send the message that all it will cost other NYPD members who do the same kinds of things is a few hundred dollars and a few days vacation."

COIB's ruling marked the latest chapter in saga of NYPD retaliation and threats that began in 2021, when then-anonymous Sherwood told Streetsblog exposed the several phone calls suspected NYPD officers upset over his complaints about illegal parking outside their precincts.

3-4 most weeks

pnut027 posted...

Homelessness in America is mostly a drug and mental health issue than it is an affordability issue.

This is exactly backwards
https://www.skeptic.com/reading_room/critical-analysis-of-americas-homeless-crisis/

Counterfactual reasoning can be a useful tool for determining causality. You think A causes B. Remove A. If B still happens, then A was not the cause. (The rooster crows and the sun rises, in David Humes famous example, but no one thinks the rooster causes the sun to rise, which is easily testable by silencing the rooster and noting that the sun still rises.) Employing counterfactual reasoning here, if drug use were a driver of homelessness in aggregate, we would expect states with higher rates of drug abuse to also have higher rates of homelessness. In fact, no such relation exists between the data on drug addiction and those on homelessness: West Virginia, which leads the nation in drug overdose deaths,7 has one of the lowest rates of homelessness in the country.8 Californias overdose death rate is about one-quarter of West Virginias!9
Nor can state-level variation in rates of mental illness explain variation in rates of homelessness. Mental illness can be difficult to quantify, but Mental Illness America estimates that Californias rate of adult mental illness is about the same as the national average.
...
As in the above summary of differing hypotheses, Colburn and Page Aldern tested different explanations for homelessness by looking at regional variations in homelessness rates. However, they analyzed more finely-grained data, relying on city-by-city comparisons instead of state-by-state ones. After investigating a number of non-housing explanations for large-scale homelessness including climate, generous welfare benefits, mental illness, and substance use disorder they concluded there was no evidence that these factors can explain why some U.S. cities have significantly higher rates of homelessness than others.
Instead, they write: Vulnerable households live in every city of the country; the differences in rates of homelessness can be attributed to structural factors associated with the housing market. Homelessness is most severe in the metropolitan areas where housing costs are highest, because the pricier that housing becomes, the greater the risk that people with low incomes or other serious challenges will be locked out of whatever homes are available.
This is not a new finding. In fact, it is the consensus among most serious researchers of this problem. In their definitive book on homelessness, In the Midst of Plenty, Marybeth Shinn and Jill Khadduri note that homelessness is essentially a lack of access to affordable housing. Similarly, an influential 2018 study by Zillow (a leading online housing information and analysis site) found that rates of homelessness increase fastest in cities where, on average, rents exceed one-third of income.
It follows, then, that the cities with the most severe homelessness problems also have sky-high rents. The most recent Consumer Affairs ranking of U.S. cities by housing costs looks a lot like a list of places bearing the brunt of mass homelessness: San Jose, San Francisco, San Diego, Los Angeles, Seattle, New York, and Portland all make it into the top ten.

https://web.archive.org/web/20231020032216/https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/19/us/homeless-parking-lots.html

One of the fastest growing segments of Americas homeless population is people who live in their cars, R.V.s or other vehicles.

In many ways, its a sign of the worsening squeeze on the nations middle class. Compared with those living in tents and shelters, the so-called mobile homeless are more likely to have jobs or to be actively looking for work, a U.C.L.A. study found. Many lost their homes after being unable to afford rent or their mortgage, and had to move into their most valuable possession.

But living in a car comes with risks of burglary, harassment and more. That has led to the creation of safe parking lots, designated places for people living in their vehicles to stay overnight. Dozens of such lots, often outside of churches, have opened across the nation in the past five years, a testament to the severity of the homelessness crisis.

Cities aim to build affordable housing, but the timeline for doing so is measured in years, Rukmini Callimachi, a housing reporter for The Times, told me. The question becomes: What do you do with the people who are right in front of you?
Rukmini just published an article about these lots and the people who need them, most of whom have some kind of income but are stuck in expensive housing markets. She shadowed a social worker in Washington State who makes more than $72,000 a year, but lives in her car.

California has more safe parking lots than any other state, with more than two dozen from Santa Rosa to San Diego. And whats believed to be the very first lot opened in Santa Barbara in 2004.

Kristine Schwarz, the executive director of New Beginnings, the nonprofit that runs the parking initiative in Santa Barbara County, told Rukmini that the inspiration for it came from a county supervisor. The supervisor had stepped out of her office one day, looked around at the parking lot and realized that the solution to Santa Barbaras growing homelessness problem was right in front of her.

Now, New Beginnings publishes a manual that instructs other communities on how to run parking programs.
But even with the growth of these programs, only a fraction of the tens of thousands of people living in their cars across the country can be accommodated. And some cities are cracking down on people sleeping in their cars. The number of statutes restricting living in vehicles has increased 213 percent since 2006, according to a 2019 study by the National Homelessness Law Center.

That growth is a testament to the growing tension between municipalities who are trying to limit the eyesore of R.V.s, vans and passenger cars parking on public right-of-ways and the people stuck inside them, who have nowhere else to go, Rukmini told me.

The need has become so pronounced in California that Long Beach City College set aside a parking structure for its homeless students, after discovering in 2021 that close to 70 students were sleeping in their cars each night.

Administrators debated what to do, with some arguing that offering parking was not a long-term solution, Rukmini told me. They were overruled by Mike Muoz, who immediately opened the lot after becoming interim college president, arguing that it was better to do something.

Now they are fielding requests from other community colleges asking how to provide parking for their own homeless students.

R1masher posted...

Does Cheesecake Factory count as a restaurant?

What else would it be?

R1masher posted...

keeping the lights on

Depending on where you live, a warming world has already posed challenges to this.

Went to a tapas place last night, had a cheese plate, some lamb skewers, and some incredible potato thing.

A+

Yakuza Like a Dragon

My favorite pizza is Buffalo chicken and jalapeos on a white pizza.

I finished No One Is Talking About This, by Patricia Lockwood today. It's a really good book for anyone who is familiar with the term "galaxy brain."

DarthAragorn posted...

Why do you think TC is such a fan of it

I know full well why TC is a fan of it

SayHeyyShohei posted...

So there are only a handful of Wonder Flower effects,

You are misreading the post above, which states that the video only shows a handful

As someone who used to endlessly scroll Twitter, I've stopped using it owing to the owner being a virulent transphobe committed to spreading bullshit and empowering bullshit artists.

The striking thing in that poll is independents being more opposed than Democrats

Bump

By an advisor to the mayor
https://www.thecity.nyc/2023/10/18/tim-pearson-eric-adams-migrant-shelter/

One of Mayor Eric Adams top advisors grabbed a migrant shelter guard by her neck and threw her to the ground, according to an eyewitness statement obtained by THE CITY. He also shoved another guard, the same report alleges.

Tim Pearson, a retired police inspector who Adams has identified as a point man on migrant shelters, was part of a melee at a Midtown shelter Tuesday afternoon after he attempted to barge inside. The two guards were arrested following the clash, while someone else was taken to the hospital.

An account of the incident in the New York Post, which ended with the arrest of two security workers at the site, said Pearson was accosted by a security guard. A police source later told the Daily News that This is what happens when someone like this guard decides to exceed their authority and want to act like thugs instead of people who want to work for the city.

Pearson told prosecutors he had identified himself as a government official and had his shield displayed on his belt, the criminal complaint against one of the guards alleges.

But 12 witnesseses wrote accounts that describe Pearson refusing to identify himself, even after he was asked multiple times and emphasize that the guards were attempting to follow procedure in dealing with an intruder.

The statements, produced as part of a city Office of Emergency Management investigation of the incident, also describe the stranger who attempted to enter the facility without identifying himself while cursing at staff to get the fuck out of the way, and threatening to fire them, before shoving two guards when they tried to bar him from entering.

All the witness testimonials describe the mayors top aide acting angrily and laying hands on a female security guard first, which triggered a broader scuffle with other security guards on site trying to protect her.

Police arrested two guards, according to the incident reports and an NYPD spokesperson. A 29-year-old was charged with resisting arrest and obstructing governmental administration, while a second guard got a criminal court summons, but police didnt say what she was charged with.

Why should voice actors be distinct from other actors in this regard?

This is the worst topic on CE at the moment.

South Africa or one guy

Shooting people into the sun would be a tremendous waste of society's resources that could be spent on rehabilitation instead

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/state-department-resignation-gaza_n_65306079e4b00565b622b1fb

Veteran State Department official Josh Paul resigned from the agency on Tuesday over President Joe Bidens approach to Israel-Palestine, telling HuffPost he felt he had to do so because it was clear he could not push for a more humane policy within the U.S. government.

I have had my fair share of debates and discussions and efforts to shift policy on controversial arms sales, said Paul, who spent more than 11 years at States bureau of political-military affairs, which tackles weapons deals. He most recently served as the bureaus director of congressional and public affairs.

It was clear that theres no arguing with this one. Given that I couldnt shift anything, I resigned, he told HuffPost on Wednesday evening in his first media interview since he revealed his decision, which he also described in a LinkedIn post.

Multiple officials within the Biden administration who want the U.S. to encourage Israeli restraint as the country runs a military operation in Gaza have told HuffPost they are experiencing a chilling effect.

He got mad that it was a place where people who didn't like him dominated the discourse. He got mad they banned the Babylon Bee for misgendering people.

You don't have to specify just websites. Name a company whose practices have gotten better in the last ten years.

Yo_D_oY posted...

What would you do if you were Netanyahu?

The majority of Israeli citizens want him to resign.

Someone I know shared this on Instagram
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/5/5/6/AAWHm8AAE8is.jpg

Come on, you can't be buying your boss a cake for some nonsense like this. Get some self-respect

-Unowninator- posted...

Oh great, it's not a joke. Now how am I supposed to upload videos/screenshots from my Switch to the internet?

I think they changed that process. It's still silly, and overly complicated, but now you can just download them to your phone.

Maryland has a higher violent crime rate than NY
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_and_territories_by_violent_crime_rate?wprov=sfla1

Have people posted Whiskey and Rhapsody or the Sotenburi battle theme whose name I cannot remember yet?

Sorry to hear that, man

Everything comes with a price

Damn_Underscore posted...

I love Sunhawk's writing style, it's so unique

You would know it's a post by him without even seeing the username

A true CE character

Everybody has been really out in the open with "we're doing the response to 9/11 again"
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/16/opinion/israel-gaza-iraq-iran.html

Eric Adams, New York Citys lightning-rod mayor, has sparked new controversy over his use of artificial intelligence-powered robocalls that made it seem like he could speak languages like Yiddish, Urdu and Mandarin.
Adams on Monday revealed that his office had used AI software to reproduce his voice in dozens of languages, promoting an advertisement for city-sponsored job fairs. The messages didnt explain that they were made with AI and left voters believing that Adams spoke those languages.

"People stop me in the street all of the time and say, 'I didnt know you speak Mandarin,'" he said at a press conference on Monday.

In fact, Adams speaks only English, and while the obfuscation with the robocalls has relatively minor stakes, it prompted fresh backlash against the mayor who has relished his status as a combative provocateur and highlights growing concerns about how AI will be used in politics as next years presidential election nears.

Albert Fox Cahn, executive director of the watchdog Surveillance Technology Oversight Project, called the mayors actions "deeply unethical, especially on the taxpayers dime."

"Using AI to convince New Yorkers that he speaks languages that he doesnt is deeply Orwellian," Fox Cahn told the New York Daily News. "Yes, we need announcements in all of New Yorkers native languages, but [the robocalls] are just a creepy vanity project."

Adams shrugged off questions about the ethics around his fake-voice ads, saying that the robocalls helped make his administration seem more welcoming and were a useful tool to extend outreach to non-English-speaking communities that they might otherwise struggle to reach. Those people "could care less if it was a machine, or it was actually a human being," Adams said at the press conference.

The belated disclosure about the robocalls came as Adams announced his new "Artificial Intelligence Action Plan" for New York, a 37-item list of various initiatives using the technology, and a new chatbot tool for local businesses struggling to understand and follow city rules.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/controversial-nyc-mayor-eric-adams-used-ai-to-fake-his-voice-in-ads/ar-AA1ijuVY

Does Hitman count? Because Hitman