US Politics: Losing Appeals

[DMC]

2 minutes ago, Zorral said:

Which statement, as you know my dear, means jack shyte in terms of the living conditions. 

Again, there are horrid living conditions in virtually every major city - and it's not like rural areas are some refuge for that matter.  I just don't like the depiction of Baltimore as a "dying" city.  It's not, and hopefully they'll get the FEMA funding to deal with this latest example of our crumbling infrastructure.

[Kalbear]

2 hours ago, DMC said:

Sure, it was certainly less wrong than others, but 38% and a 10 day delay is not nearly "pennies on the dollar" in my understanding of the idiom, especially considering Trump said he'll pay it despite requesting it to be reduced to under $100 million.  Seems weird to take a victory lap.

To be really clear I wasn't actually intending to be taking a victory lap here - when I said "who could have predicted this" I was trying to say that this was a really predictable part of dealing with rich people, and this sort of thing happens every single time with Trump (and, well, basically anyone else rich). Same sort of thing happened with the sacklers, who at this point are the largest drug dealers in the last 20 years and are responsible for literally millions of deaths. Or how no one of note got charged for anything after the great recession. It just doesn't work the way people want it to.

[Corvinus85]

48 minutes ago, karaddin said:

From what I've been reading just now it's not even human error, a power failure causing loss of steering control at exactly the wrong time - 1min earlier or later and it would have been fine. Whether there was cut corners on maintenance leading to the power failure will take longer of course.

The only upside is the middle of the night leading to few people being on the bridge.

 

46 minutes ago, Zorral said:

The owner, registered, it seems, in Norway? has been cited for three previous maintenance-safety events.

The power failure seems to be the prevalent theory for now. The ship would have been steered by a harbor pilot who knows the water, so unlikely to have been human error. (though human complacency should never be discounted)

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

1 hour ago, karaddin said:

From what I've been reading just now it's not even human error, a power failure causing loss of steering control at exactly the wrong time - 1min earlier or later and it would have been fine. Whether there was cut corners on maintenance leading to the power failure will take longer of course.

The only upside is the middle of the night leading to few people being on the bridge.

 

1 hour ago, Zorral said:

The owner, registered, it seems, in Norway? has been cited for three previous maintenance-safety events.

I'd still file that under human error. Perhaps not due to the two people captaining the boat, but laziness on the corporate side. 

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

Erin Hawley sucks every bit as much as her husband. When two toxic people get married...

[Makk]

5 hours ago, maarsen said:

Twitter with many more subscribers barely made money which is why Musk refused to buy it after looking at the books. Even now after Musk was forced to buy it it has dropped in value by 1/2 at least. Truth Social is a scam.

Truth social has tiny revenue, high net losses, and prevailing biased content that is going to cap potential revenue by keeping away advertisers who don't want their brands associated with it. The combined share value of it and digital world is massively overvalued. But it is a transparently bad investment rather than a scam. It would be a scam if they reported false revenue or user counts to justify the valuation but they are not, these numbers are just publicly terrible.

[Makk]

4 hours ago, Zorral said:

Why in the world would you assume that?

In a world in which a kid sits for three + years w/o a trial in Rikers for marijuana possession because his parents can't come up with a $3000 bond?

I'm making that assumption because the US Securities and Exchange Commission and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority have been investigating digital world since they were formed in late 2021. Along with many investigative journalists looking for a scoop. They found some faults and digital world were fined a relatively small amount, fired their ceo and major shareholder, and had to revise filings. I'm trusting that if there was a smoking gun pointing to foreign money trying to manipulate weak minded truth social users, it would be found in the digital world shareholder base.

[Ormond]

19 hours ago, Kalbear said:

Yes, violence does something to our brains, which is why Japan - which has absurdly violent media by most standards, including crazy violent comic books - is leading the world in violent behavior. 

O WAIT

No one with any sense has ever claimed that violent media was the ONLY factor in violent behavior. Within Japan, as in other countries, those who consume more violent media are more likely to be violent themselves. That the overall rate of violence is lower in Japan is due to all the other cultural differences they have. 

[Kalbear]

4 minutes ago, Ormond said:

No one with any sense has ever claimed that violent media was the ONLY factor in violent behavior. Within Japan, as in other countries, those who consume more violent media are more likely to be violent themselves. That the overall rate of violence is lower in Japan is due to all the other cultural differences they have. 

Zorral was claiming exactly that, which is why I responded. Furthermore there is very little study that indicates any kind of causal linkage, and in fact it seems entirely the opposite - those who are more inclined to violence like violent media. 

In any case, as I'm sure you'd agree, there are no easy fixes. The problems are humans. 

[Ormond]

20 minutes ago, Kalbear said:

Zorral was claiming exactly that, which is why I responded. Furthermore there is very little study that indicates any kind of causal linkage, and in fact it seems entirely the opposite - those who are more inclined to violence like violent media. 

In any case, as I'm sure you'd agree, there are no easy fixes. The problems are humans. 

Sorry, I did not see what you were responding to. 

I disagree that there is "very little" research indicating causal linkage. Researchers can't do "causual" research on violence which would involve people really harming others, but there certainly is research examining things through cross-lagged correlations and the like that seems to show that more of the causation is from watching violent media to being violent, rather than being violent getting one to consume more violent media. 

No, there are no easy fixes. And it is ridiculous that many right-wing politicians try to blame recent violence just on video games -- as I understand it there being no evidence that video games are more likely to be associated with real violence in their users than simply watching violent TV or movies -- and more importantly, gun control would be a way more effective way to reduce violence in the USA than doing any censorship of media.  I personally think parents should be encouraged to limit the amount of violent media of any type their children consume -- and that depictions of violence in the media should be encouraged to show more realistic consequences for the victims -- but I think that should be voluntary and not mandated by government. 

Edited March 26 by Ormond
limit overuse of word

[maarsen]

1 hour ago, Makk said:

Truth social has tiny revenue, high net losses, and prevailing biased content that is going to cap potential revenue by keeping away advertisers who don't want their brands associated with it. The combined share value of it and digital world is massively overvalued. But it is a transparently bad investment rather than a scam. It would be a scam if they reported false revenue or user counts to justify the valuation but they are not, these numbers are just publicly terrible.

The name for the scam is 'pump and dump'. You pump up the prospects of the company, in this case using the Trump name and 'reputation' as a good businessman and billionaire investor, and when the time comes you dump the shares before the price falls.

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

25 minutes ago, maarsen said:

The name for the scam is 'pump and dump'. You pump up the prospects of the company, in this case using the Trump name and 'reputation' as a good businessman and billionaire investor, and when the time comes you dump the shares before the price falls.

And the Trump cult is so stupid and besotted they’ll buy…

[Phylum of Alexandria]

1 hour ago, Ormond said:

Within Japan, as in other countries, those who consume more violent media are more likely to be violent themselves. That the overall rate of violence is lower in Japan is due to all the other cultural differences they have. 

I'm also dubious of the claim that Japanese media is absurdly violent by most standards.

Is it possible to find violent media? Sure, especially in manga or anime.

Is it more violent than the torture porn horror flicks that have proliferated in the US? Are the most violent titles anywhere near as popular as the Saw series was? 

It's also important to note that streaming and even cable TV are not very common in Japanese households even now, certainly not the ubiquity that we currently enjoy. Internet searches make everything easier to get, of course, but we've had primo access to violent content for much longer.

(I guess this comment is of questionable value in the US politics thread, so I will emphasize the violent nature of US pop culture, which I would say far surpasses that of Japan. Also: they don't have guns...we have easy and unfettered access. They have great social safety nets, we are turning into Saudi America).

[Zorral]

‘The Wire’ Creator David Simon Rips Into Baltimore Bridge Conspiracists, Calls Marjorie Taylor Greene A “Complete Submoronic Pratfall Of A Human Being’

https://deadline.com/2024/03/david-simon-marjorie-taylor-greene-baltimore-bridge-1235868804/

 

[DMC]

5 hours ago, Kalbear said:

I was trying to say that this was a really predictable part of dealing with rich people, and this sort of thing happens every single time with Trump (and, well, basically anyone else rich).

Alternatively, if this does ultimately end up with him paying $175 million instead of $464 million (which of course still very much remains to be seen either way), that is still a significant and punitive ruling.  Indeed, I strongly suspect if the original judgment was $175 million and the bond just stayed that way, very few would be complaining right now.

[LongRider]

16 minutes ago, Zorral said:

‘The Wire’ Creator David Simon Rips Into Baltimore Bridge Conspiracists, Calls Marjorie Taylor Greene A “Complete Submoronic Pratfall Of A Human Being’

https://deadline.com/2024/03/david-simon-marjorie-taylor-greene-baltimore-bridge-1235868804/

 

When I was on Twitter, I followed David Simon, he can cuss like no-one else!  Glad to see he hasn't lost his touch.  

[Martell Spy]

‘Biden bump is real’: president gains on Trump in six battleground states
Biden leads Trump in Wisconsin and is tied in Pennsylvania and Michigan, new poll shows

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/mar/26/election-trump-biden-latest-polls

Quote

 

Joe Biden had some good news on Tuesday as polling showed him gaining on Donald Trump in six battleground states, seven months before the presidential election. In response, one leading Democratic strategist said the “Biden bump is real”.

According to Bloomberg News and Morning Consult, Biden now leads Trump by a point in Wisconsin, having trailed by four last month, and is tied in Pennsylvania, where Trump had a six-point lead last month. The two candidates were also tied in Michigan.

 

 

[Zorral]

Appeals, appeals, appeals!

Even the Supreme Court seems sick of its abortion pills case
The lawsuit challenging mifepristone should have never been heard by any court.

https://www.vox.com/scotus/2024/3/26/24112540/supreme-court-mifepristone-fda-alliance-hippocratic-medicine-abortion-pills

The very much related issued:

A crackdown on 'judge shopping' provoked a rather telling Republican reaction
Why are Sens. Mitch McConnell, John Cornyn and Thom Tillis so upset about an overdue judicial reform? The answer is obvious.

https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/republican-reaction-mcconnell-kacsmaryk-judge shopping-rcna143610

And we know all about the Very Intelligent Person, um, 'arguing' this case  --

Erin Hawley: The Woman Arguing Against the Abortion Pill
Erin Hawley, a law professor and wife of Senator Josh Hawley [see me run! Knees to chin! I Run Run Run!] From the invaders I Let Into the Capitol!], is arguing the Supreme Court case.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/26/us/erin-hawley-abortion-pill-supreme-court.html

 

Edited March 26 by Zorral

[DMC]

9 minutes ago, Zorral said:

Even the Supreme Court seems sick of its abortion pills case

Yeah drawing conclusions based on oral arguments is the proverbial "famous last words," but really looks like that 7-2 split is gonna hold in this case.

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

7 minutes ago, DMC said:

Yeah drawing conclusions based on oral arguments is the proverbial "famous last words," but really looks like that 7-2 split is gonna hold in this case.

I sincerely hope so.  I also hope the Judicial conference cracks down on “Judge Shopping”.