US Politics: CPAC - Finding new ways to bring America to Rune.

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

4 hours ago, The Anti-Targ said:

For $500/month to be of any use you need to be getting money from elsewhere as well. For any GMI or UBI to not still create an underclass of "miserable, lazy bludgers" who can still be political scapegoats it has to be set at a level which allows a person (and a family) to live a subsistence life solely on that GMI / UBI. That's why the U in UBI needs to disappear, because the amount you can politically justify giving to everyone is not enough on its own for anyone to be able to live.

I gave up in the thread dedicated to it, in part because I was bored and because I wasn't being taken seriously, but this is the point I was trying to hammer home. A UBI is in theory a good thing, but as the supply of labor outpaces the need for it, a UBI would probably just create an even worse permanent caste system that would be even harder to escape from. Maybe the floor is lifted slightly higher, but the floor would be all there is for an increasing number of people in our country. 

[Fragile Bird]

5 hours ago, The Anti-Targ said:

<snip>

Hey, I saw the news about the NZ earthquake. Are you on the North Island or in the south? Is everything ok? 7.2 is scary.

[DMC]

So, only about 40 minutes until Trump is inaugurated, right?  I can't wait!

[Fragile Bird]

12 minutes ago, Leap said:

You fool. Trump was already secretly inaugurated on the afternoon of January 20th by a Secret Military Court. Everything good Biden has done was actually Trump. Everything bad Biden has done was probably Pelosi.

You've been going to those bad places on the internet again, tsk tsk!

[Jace, Extat]

18 minutes ago, DMC said:

So, only about 40 minutes until Trump is inaugurated, right?  I can't wait!

I want to hear Donald give Aragorn's speech from the end of RotK.

"Hold your ground... Hold your ground...

Sons of Gondor, of Rohan, MY BRothers. I SEE in your EYES. The SAME FEAR that would take the heart of me.

A day MAY come. Okay? It might come. It might not but we'll see. We'll see if it comes.

When the courage of men fails. Oh, that'd be bad. Real bad, guys.

When we forshake our FRIENDS and break all bonds of fellowship

But it is NOT okay? NOT this day. Okay?

An hour of wolfs. Wolfs are bad, folks. And shattered steel. When the AGE of men comes crashing DOWN.

But it is NOT this day. This day. We fight.

By ALL that I hold, dear. On this GOOD, Earth. The BEST Earth, that's what they say. At least since I came along, right? Okay? I bid you STAND! MEN! Of the WEST.

[Fez]

Y'all are laughing but...

It's pretty easy to imagine that we're heading towards an era of a permanently militarized capitol complex. And it seems like it's probably warranted.

 

[Jace, Extat]

1 minute ago, Fez said:

Y'all are laughing but...

It's pretty easy to imagine that we're heading towards an era of a permanently militarized capitol complex. And it seems like it's probably warranted.

 

Don't worry, your country is fiiiiine.

[DMC]

4 minutes ago, Fez said:

Y'all are laughing but...

Yeah the security concerns are obviously very real - the House canceling its session today.  Not making light of that, but I'm still gonna make fun of them.

[DMC]

14 minutes ago, Jace, Basilissa said:

I want to hear Donald give Aragorn's speech from the end of RotK.

Not your best work, but still about 3 stars.

[Jace, Extat]

I'll take it. 3 stars for a sober effort? I'll take it.

[Corvinus85]

54 minutes ago, Jace, Basilissa said:

I want to hear Donald give Aragorn's speech from the end of RotK.

"Hold your ground... Hold your ground...

Sons of Gondor, of Rohan, MY BRothers. I SEE in your EYES. The SAME FEAR that would take the heart of me.

A day MAY come. Okay? It might come. It might not but we'll see. We'll see if it comes.

When the courage of men fails. Oh, that'd be bad. Real bad, guys.

When we forshake our FRIENDS and break all bonds of fellowship

But it is NOT okay? NOT this day. Okay?

An hour of wolfs. Wolfs are bad, folks. And shattered steel. When the AGE of men comes crashing DOWN.

But it is NOT this day. This day. We fight.

By ALL that I hold, dear. On this GOOD, Earth. The BEST Earth, that's what they say. At least since I came along, right? Okay? I bid you STAND! MEN! Of the WEST.

Yeah, but he won't do a "For Frodo" after.

[Mindwalker]

1 hour ago, DMC said:

So, only about 40 minutes until Trump is inaugurated, right?  I can't wait!

I was gonna ask, is The Real President, I mean King, reinstalled yet?

1 hour ago, Fez said:

Y'all are laughing but...

It's pretty easy to imagine that we're heading towards an era of a permanently militarized capitol complex. And it seems like it's probably warranted.

 

In my case, it's just gallows humor.

Speaking of gallows... I heard Pence wrote an op-ed and is still all-in on The Big Lie. It's getting harder and harder for me to be glad he was saved on Jan 6.

ETA: As the former guy hates his kids, he could adopt Cawthorne.

 

[IheartIheartTesla]

Trying not to draw too many comparisons with Hitler's beer hall putsch, which of course ended up with him being jailed, but then coming back stronger the next decade.

[The Anti-Targ]

1 hour ago, Fragile Bird said:

Hey, I saw the news about the NZ earthquake. Are you on the North Island or in the south? Is everything ok? 7.2 is scary.

Thanks for asking, yes I am in the North Island. It was 100km off the coast, so far enough away for there to be no damage on land. There was a tsunami warning for a short while but nothing eventuated on that front. So two bullets dodged for people on the coast. I am almost as inland as it's possible to get in NZ, so I will never be at tsunami risk, or rather if I am ever at tsunami risk that might be the least of the world's problems because we will probably have been hit by a decent sized asteroid.

[DMC]

4 minutes ago, IheartIheartTesla said:

Trying not to draw too many comparisons with Hitler's beer hall putsch, which of course ended up with him being jailed, but then coming back stronger the next decade.

On the bright side, if it takes ten years for Trump to reclaim power, it increases the chances he'll die in the meantime.

[The Anti-Targ]

Sooo, the next QAnon date will be 4th of July? Someone misinterpreted the 4 March thing, what was actually meant was there would be a march of soldiers to take over the capital on 4 July and re-instate Trump as President in a second independence day.

[Jace, Extat]

4 minutes ago, The Anti-Targ said:

Sooo, the next QAnon date will be 4th of July? Someone misinterpreted the 4 March thing, what was actually meant was there would be a march of soldiers to take over the capital on 4 July and re-instate Trump as President in a second independence day.

Wonderful!

[DMC]

Sorry if this is off topic, but I don't really know where to put this and I don't wanna start a new thread...

Sidewalk robots get legal rights as "pedestrians":

Quote

As small robots proliferate on sidewalks and city streets, so does legislation that grants them generous access rights and even classifies them, in the case of Pennsylvania, as "pedestrians."

Why it matters: Fears of a dystopian urban world where people dodge heavy, fast-moving droids are colliding with the aims of robot developers large and small — including Amazon and FedEx — to deploy delivery fleets.

I think it may be time to call Sarah Connor.  There's also this - 

Quote

"Last October, the University of Pittsburgh paused testing of Starship robots after one wheelchair-using student tweeted that one partially blocked a curb ramp," Fast Company reported.

"The school resumed tests after Starship tweaked its software, then pronounced the service operational in January."

I haven't been on campus since covid (so pretty much exactly a year), but they started using these little fuckers all around campus to deliver food and whatnot in Fall 2019.  They were extremely annoying and, as I tend to walk fast between buildings, I nearly tripped over the little bastards on a handful of occasions.  The problem isn't just them being fast moving - they often stall out randomly.  I guess that could be fixed, but I don't care.  I am totally a small robot bigot when it comes to suppressing their rights.

[Jace, Extat]

1 minute ago, DMC said:

Sorry if this is off topic, but I don't really know where to put this and I don't wanna start a new thread...

Sidewalk robots get legal rights as "pedestrians":

I think it may be time to call Sarah Connor.  There's also this - 

I haven't been on campus since covid (so pretty much exactly a year), but they started using these little fuckers all around campus to deliver food and whatnot in Fall 2019.  They were extremely annoying and, as I tend to walk fast between buildings, I nearly tripped over the little bastards on a handful of occasions.  The problem isn't just them being fast moving - they often stall out randomly.  I guess that could be fixed, but I don't care.  I am totally a small robot bigot when it comes to suppressing their rights.

They aren't people. They have literally no rights. It's the owner that will sue me in court after I murder 150 of the things.

There's one of these abominations in my supermarket. It idles from aisle to aisle, doing nothing but examining us fleshbeings for future extermination.

[DMC]

1 minute ago, Jace, Basilissa said:

doing nothing but examining us fleshbeings for future extermination.

That's the reason I walk so fast.