I think reinforced digital isolation is a big part of the problem. This is something that could be solved by calling the service phone number or asking at the library or a help group, a doctor’s office etc… It might be extra hoops to jump through but there’s not any physical or communication barrier completely blocking her. Instead she clicks a button and gets a form and automatically feels completely helpless.

A 20 page form should take like ~30-45 minutes with help, it’s not a huge ask and doesn’t require as strong of a support network as some people in this thread are claiming. She’s got a phone and can read and talk, the only thing that could lower this hurdle further is support information being stapled to the front of the form.

Now it’s a different issue once the bureaucracy requires multiple followups, workday visits, transportation for evaluation, etc…

This + abolish corporate personhood mitigates half our problems. Hold C-suites criminally liable for company misconduct, remove lobbying, and ban stock trading for lawmakers and we’re 80% fine.

Nobody confirmed it was consensual or with a guy tbf. Could have been that horse

The solution is to aggressively regulate the platforms, not the people posting. Saying dumb shit like “drink horse dewormer” is free speech; providing a platform to push that awful advice to millions of people is not a protected right.

It doesn’t need to; market forces do that.

https://www.justice.gov/archives/opa/pr/justice-department-sues-realpage-algorithmic-pricing-scheme-harms-millions-american-renters

I don’t claim to be an economist but I’m doubtful that pulling indirect levers and letting the market regulate itself works. If it did we’d already be 45 years into a Reaganomic utopia.

What I don’t get is the assumption that a fixed stipend of currency will provide for basic necessities.

If the society was committed to universal housing, food and healthcare access then just make that the stated goal and get those funds involved directly in housing/food/healthcare. Just giving someone $1000 doesn’t stop their landlord from increasing rent by $900 to match; a government owned housing alternative does.

Someone correct me if I’m wrong, but I read somewhere a long while back that UBI is a non-solution to wealth inequality. IIRC if you don’t also radically change the rest of the regressive tax structures then the supply of cash still gets funneled upward. Most of the hype is from PR and the inherent good vibes of getting a check in the mail.

Pretty funny that the article and the reply both implicitly assume adulthood is owning things or doing certain activities. Adulthood is being able to navigate life through adversity. Every young person I know treading water with unstable income and no support is way more ‘grown up’ than boomers complaining about having to cut back on retirement cruises.

I’ve never seen people more mad that a stranger paid a few thousand extra amortized over 14 years.

Not if we stop tracking it 🤠

Don’t get me wrong, they signed up to ooh-rah bomb brown people. But it hits a little different when, statistically, a portion of them are literally from these cities. There’s an insular camaraderie in the military and they’re pulled from a diverse background by design. You can’t just drop a battalion on a city and expect them to behave themselves like a Texas National Guard in Oregon.

I’m also not claiming this is a good thing. A military junta doesn’t make for kind and benevolent rulers, but wouldn’t be bad in the same ways as the current administration.

He already functionally has full control of the country since there are no checks against him. Him getting a stamp of approval to ignore the rule of law doesn’t change anything except giving his lawyers more time to golf instead of pushing court papers.

The real fight here is over optics. He’s very visibly cannibalising and deconstructing the federal government and forcing constitutional crisis by marching ICE/National Guard around peaceful streets. When he has his shiny insurrection papers he can now march out the military as well, which is the only way he can exert real political control. Stochastic terrorism and 20k ICE thugs can’t occupy a nation of 340 million.

But the thing is the military isn’t ICE. They didn’t sign up to wander around Chicago arresting maids and line cooks. They need a real, genuine, convincing reichstag fire or armed opposition to keep those soldiers from wondering why they’re patrolling the streets and shooting dissidents for the emperor with no clothes. If you can’t convince them to be fully on board the maga train then it gets very difficult to hold your kangaroo court to purge the left. That is going to be much more interesting than any phony act or simple declaration of martial law.

No the problem is the cameras, full stop. You can’t shift the cultural safety norm to require millions of remotely accessible cameras and expect a company or government to not abuse them.

The only reason for the popularity of these cameras is big tech’s marketing and business strategy. Amazon made a shit ton of money throwing expensive stuff on your unattended doorstep. That leads to obvious problems and the only ways out are:

• Amazon spends money on proper, secure delivery ❌
• The customer pays extra in time and money for an existing solution (CCTVs have existed since 1927) ❌
• Amazon subsidizes a shiny new “solution” which is a thinly veiled data harvesting platform that will generate even more money ✅✅✅

Even if they were concerned with data collection consent, there is no way to get it by the very nature of an always-on, public facing camera. And if it wasn’t that, it would be a fancy peephole.

I inherited one of these cameras on a previous home and it objectively provided no real value to me. It recorded the coming/going of my neighbors, bugs flying in front of it, visitors who had already texted their ETA, and delivery guys taking pictures that got sent to me seconds later.

The “peace of mind” factor quickly evaporated when the neighborhood feed was constant posts warning of homeless people or someone walking at night or anyone in a hoodie. Any post where there was a legitimate crime was someone in a mask covering the camera. So how exactly was it keeping anyone safe?

On the other hand, Amazon got incredible value from years of recording everyone’s movements. The fact that rubes will pay a few dollars a month to defray hosting costs for the goldmine of a 24/7 live stream is gravy.

Lacking a secure drop off point is a service issue between you and the company delivering the package. It’s just as possible to install a lock box or a set a pickup point or require a signed delivery. Complain to Amazon if they’re too cheap to do anything about porch piracy. The convenience of opening your door for a package doesn’t stand up to my right to privacy.

For the rest of your points: sure, if you really need a camera to watch your private porch then feel free to aim it at the porch and not the entire street. I’m not saying it should be illegal to monitor your property but that your right to 24/7 monitoring ends where your property line does.

I think a lot of people are buying into the image of white guy + tac vest + gun = ICE = fed = military. These things are in no way equal but it’s an important part of the administration’s plans for you to imagine they are.

ICE is a big bark and a little bite. These people have minimal/no training, they are literally angry thugs on a power trip. Step back and actually think about the outrageous operations and headlines you see.

They’re tough guys when they outnumber you or are tackling a 70 year old nanny, but when faced with a critical mass of opposition they tuck tail and run. The only thing they have going for them is the costume and a gun.

Turns out that watching a bunch of conspiracy videos about how brown people ruin America doesn’t make you a tough guy. What actually does make you tough is years of drilling, specialized training, decades of institutional knowledge, engaging in real combat, etc. So we’re back to the eternal truth: the military are the true kingmakers of the state.

In terms of personal safety you still need to watch out for ICE on the streets. However, in terms of political power they’re a paper tiger. They could never lock down a city or shut down an election without massive military support. Whether the military would lend that support is an open question, but certainly not without a compelling reason (beyond the POTUS decrees it)

Is it too much to ask for a doorbell camera to operate like a doorbell? We’ve had peepholes on doors that can be opened and checked when needed for years with no problem, why do we suddenly need constant surveillance of the public commons? This is also on the owner for buying into the scare tactics.

IMO it should be flat out illegal to have any permanent camera that monitors a public space. I don’t consent to have a stalker track when I enter and leave my home, I won’t consent to have a neighbor do the same.

Oh he’ll for sure be propped up and wheeled around indefinitely, but it’s basically confirmed he’s getting more frequent TIAs and worse recoveries despite his treatment. Real question is how bad is the next puppet going to be once he croaks.

Well for starters that’s not how you phrased it. No mention of Europe or Europeans, just “white” which is an overly broad modern invention. There are people we’d consider white who had minimal influence from that era of European/Victorian culture.

Secondly, not all Europeans who wore such elaborate clothing were white. France, Spain, Italy, and most all of southern Europe had populations of varying degrees of melanin (not to mention foreign dignitaries, mixed families, etc…). The populations in their colonies sometimes adopted or were forced to wear these styles.

Thirdly, AFAIK there’s not much to back up the personal hygiene myth. It’s true that city sewage infrastructure was far behind some peers at the same tier of development, but you don’t need modern plumbing to wash yourself off when you stink. Other cultures did have different hygiene standards but there’s many unique factors (access to hot springs, religious ritual cleansing, climate, etc…) which weren’t mirrored in Europe.

Taken at face value you turned “it’s funny how people wore elaborate outfits and didn’t have our modern hygiene concepts” into “white people have dirty ancestors”

Hear me out: down zoning. We dig some deep ass bunkers and throw parks on top of them.