We didn’t really pay enough attention to the feature creep overdrive following the patriot act. And most countries around the globe were only too happy to go along with it because “the USA is our friend and ally”.

“Crime prevention”, such an orwellian euphemism.

Comedy Of Errors

A beautiful euphemism. We could apply it to all of the USA’s current admin and its activities.

AMD marches “against Intel”? Is there some sort of confrontation going on between the 2? Or does this just mean AMD makes good processors and sells better?

Just do it already!

But next, I’d really like banks to consider the idea that it isn’t bad for business to say “tyrant’s money isn’t necessarily safe here”.

They got what they paid for I guess.

Wait, did reddit make a deal with Google for data mining?

put every comment and commentator into the prejudged boxes they regard as right and wrong.

I hate that this is commonly known as “politics”. To me, this is a sports event. I still like to think that politics is about discourse, compromise, coalitions etc.

Again?

You have changed your tune from

You haven’t heard a song NOT using it since at least 1998.

to something much weaker.

I stand by my original statement: That’s bullshit.

Do you think I condone horrible things done “in the name of God”? As if God asked us to just be horrible to each other, lol.

What about the bibble?

It’s very much a matter of degrees and there’s no doubt that Israel is much higher on the immorality scale, compared to most other (“civilised Western” or not) countries.

Also, as a monotheist - presumably of one of the larger denominations - you are throwing stones in a glasshouse here.

Can’t hurt to quote a bit more:

— joining Adalah’s existing list of now more than 100 Israeli laws that discriminate against Palestinian citizens.

One of the report’s central findings is a sweeping assault on freedom of expression, thought, and protest across a wide array of arenas. It includes laws prohibiting the publication of content that includes “denial of the events of October 7,” as determined by the Knesset, and restricting broadcasts of critical media outlets that “harm state security.”

Another authorizes the Education Ministry to fire teaching staff and withdraw funding from educational institutions based on views it considers expression of support for, or incitement to, a terrorist act or organization. And alongside a state-led campaign to deport international solidarity activists, a third law bars foreign nationals from entering the country if they have made statements critical of Israel, or have appealed to international courts to take action against the state and its officials.

But perhaps the most dangerous bill is one that targets citizens who merely seek to consume information from sources the state doesn’t like. Just a month after October 7, the Knesset passed a two-year temporary order — renewed last week for another two years — that outlaws the “systematic and continuous consumption of publications of a terrorist organization,” carrying a one-year prison sentence. In other words, the legislature now criminalizes conduct that takes place entirely within a person’s private space.

All happening silently while the public is busy wrapping their heads around more overt government activity. Sound familiar?

I already commented yesterday. Now I read your replies. I must say, you really do not have the whole picture here and you should stop arguing this theory right now. Esp. this part:

You haven’t heard a song NOT using it since at least 1998.

Maybe try bandcamp.com to listen to the rest of the world (and realize how big it is).

I guess I can never be 100% sure, but why would my favorite punk band who can’t even tune a guitar (or maybe they’re doing that on purpose) use autotune? To untune their singing?

And it’s not just Punk, there are many ways of singing that defeat the purpose of autotune.

And your weird gatekeeping with analog tape and vinyl has nothing to do with anything here.

People are completely used to autotune in music now

I’m not.

the evidence points to the use of an agent that the French military named “camite”.

The Georgian authorities said our investigation findings were “absurd” and the police had acted legally in response to the “illegal actions of brutal criminals”.

Camite was deployed by France against Germany during World War One. There is little documentation of its subsequent use, but it is believed to have been taken out of circulation at some point in the 1930s, because of concerns about its long-lasting effects.

Couldn’t make up anything more cynical than this.

automatically looting their country for more than 30 years

Even the Soviet Union did this. While Russia itself was unable to sustain itself, more and more countries from the fringes had to help out by exporting the fruit of their work, resources etc.

tbf, dried figs are still very good.

Sounds like they haven’t had sufficient funds to keep it in good repair, yet they’re announcing that after decomissioning the ISS they will launch their own Russia-only space station. Baloney?

Anyhow I feel they’re busy with other things right now and launching astronauts is not their #1 priority. But this could point to Russia’s economy/society crumbling more and more, so it’s still a net positive.

The only thing that really pisses me off here is that it will most likely play into Musky Melon’s hand.

But now that we have “peace” in Gaza, we can continue shipping weapons with a good conscience

It’s all so fucked up. It took 80 years to get that way. How long to unfuck? In theory, we (several countries) just need to stop actively supporting Israel. But there’s so much political fuckery in the way, and the more one side of the political spectrum demands this, the more certain others will ride the opposite.