Writer Stephen Elliott Sues Over 'Shitty Media Men' Spreadsheet: Reason Roundup

Plus: libertarian accounts purged from Facebook?

Wikimedia Commons

Google spreadsheet "whisper network" spawns lawsuit. Author and editor Stephen Elliott, founder of The Rumpus, is suing over his inclusion on a Google spreadsheet that started circulating around this time last year. Dubbed the "shitty media men" list, it was created by a woman named Moira Donegan, who urged female friends and fellow writers to anonymously out male journalists, pundits, and literary types who were known to take sexual liberties. The list wound up with allegations against more than 70 named men, ranging from making unappreciated advances on women colleagues to serial sexual assault and rape.

Elliot was anonymously accused of conduct from rape to "unsolicited invitations to his apartment." In a lawsuit filed Wednesday in federal court, Elliott is seeking at least $1.5 million in damages.

In the suit, Elliott asks for details—names, addresses, etc.—on those who contributed to the list, which had straddled the line between public and private. Anyone who had a link could see it and contribute, and even after Donegan took it down, screenshots and PDFs of the page persisted.

Donegan took down the document not long after Buzzfeed published an article about it. She said she hadn't been trying to publicize the names of alleged shitty men, simply to create a digital "whisper network" that allowed women in media to warn one another—more like an email forward of yore than a Facebook post.

But according to Elliott (and some of the other men named on the list), this still had the power to have "derailed" his life. His lawsuit said he will subpoena Google for metadata that can help him figure out who specifically made the allegations against him.

Wait. Stephen Elliott is filing a lawsuit against the creator of the SHITTY MEN IN MEDIA list? Every man on that list i recognized—had reason to be there. Unfathomable. So much will come out in discovery. If I were a man on that list I would NOT want that lawsuit to go thru.

— Christine H. Lee (@xtinehlee) October 12, 2018

Some of the other men whose names were on the list questioned his strategy. "If the problem was that his reputation was affected, this is going to make it infinitely worse," one told The Cut. "And that would be true for me if I were to join him, if I were to make myself part of the public face of this thing. Like, what would I do that for? Money? I've tried to clear my name individually, but I would never join a lawsuit. That just wouldn't help."

FREE MINDS

Facebook purges political "spam." More than 800 pages and accounts were booted by Facebook yesterday. The company said it's because these accounts and pages were spreading spam. Some trafficked in ads appearing to link to political news that actually went to marketing content. Others used different accounts to push the same political posts, memes, and news out more widely, in violation of Facebook policies.

"Unlike previous sweeps of pages in recent years, which have included hundreds of pages and accounts from Russian and Iranian actors attempting to muddle the United States' political conversation, the pages and accounts removed on Thursday all originated domestically," notes Slate.

Some of the accounts that were removed include such libertarian favorites as Cop Block, the Free Thought Project, and Police the Police.

FREE MARKETS

Big Tech embraces big regulation.

Doing research on GDPR. Given the shocking but not surprising study yesterday showing the law has helped Google relative to other ad tech vendors (h/t @s8mb), I wanted to collect my favorite GDPR facts/stats in one thread. Feel free to add yours! https://t.co/W2ocs1zlwo pic.twitter.com/qTY0I30UrN

— Alec Stapp (@alecstapp) October 11, 2018

Tech companies are asking the U.S. government to enact European Union–style privacy rules, now that the big companies have already had to comply to keep regulators across the pond happy. Click through the whole Twitter thread above from Niskanen Center tech-policy analyst Alec Stapp for more on just how bad the effects of these draconian "privacy" and "consumer protection" policies have already been in the E.U.

QUICK HITS

He's announcing he made a hat for Trump that says "made an updated hat that says 'make America great' without the 'again'…and Trump wore it!"

Shows a picture on his iphone of Trump wearing said hat.

Says the "again" part of the original slogan "hurts back people." pic.twitter.com/mt2vO3Sl86

— Jack Jenkins (@jackmjenkins) October 11, 2018

• A new report from the Government Accountability Office says U.S. weapons systems are incredibly easy to hack: "Using relatively simple tools and techniques, testers were able to take control of systems and largely operate undetected, due in part to basic issues such as poor password management and unencrypted communications."
• Are 68,000 people a day "trafficked right in front of our eyes?" Nope, says The Washington Post, in a column debunking the bogus Airline Ambassadors International claim.
• Michelle Obama calls George W. Bush her "partner in crime." Read that how you will.
• President Trump just signed into law a major overhaul of streaming music licensing.
• Uber is asking the Securities and Exchange Commission to let it start giving company stock to drivers.
• A $15 minimum wage "may be enough to buy a small home in some parts of the U.S.," writes Erica Pandey at Axios. "But what's apparent on the map above is that it is barely sufficient for a studio apartment in the big cities, and it could upset workers already earning $15 and more."
• Washington state has abolished the death penalty, becoming the 20th U.S. state to outlaw it.

Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

Dubbed the "shitty media men" list, it was created by a woman named Moira Donegan, who urged female friends and fellow writers to anonymously out male journalists, pundits, and literary types who were known to take sexual liberies.

I assume you mean libraries here, and I, for one, consider all libraries to be sexual and for the taking.

[ipsquire]

Didn't we used to call those "adult book stores"?

[Fist of Etiquette]

She changed it and now I look like A FOOL.

[Cynical Asshole]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2LM0CZZ9Uw8

[Marcus Aurelius]

Well at least it wasn't consent related...

[Just Say'n]

"Credibly" accused

[Fist of Etiquette]

The list wound up with containing allegations against more than 70 named men, ranging from making unappreciated advances on women colleagues to serial sexual assault and rape.

Unappreciated advances is rape.

[Inigo Montoya]

So if someone you found unattractive asked you out for a drink, that would constitute rape?

Has the definition really been stretched to that extent?

I'm waiting for when buying something marked down for liquidation qualifies as shop lifting, or telling someone you don't particularly like them counts as murder.

[ipsquire]

When words are "violence", lustful glances are certainly assault. (FoE was obv kidding). I taught my kids the "one bite at the apple" rule - everybody gets to ask you out (or suggest whatever) respectfully once before it's becomes objectionable - not sure if that's still PC.

[Rich]

I taught my kids the "one bite at the apple" rule - everybody gets to ask you out (or suggest whatever) respectfully once before it's becomes objectionable

"I respectfully request that I be allowed to fondle those bodacious ta-tas!"

[Marcus Aurelius]

See, that's a valid request, and gives the woman agency to accept or decline.

The article mentions "unsolicited invitations to his apartment"... An invitation gives someone agency and should not be considered offensive, when if the guy is slime. It's when you could someone over the head and bring them up without an invitation that raises the hackles.

[Anomalous]

In reference to the word "rape."

They keep using that word. I don't think it means what they think it means.

[General_Tso]

That's Inigo's line

[Just Say'n]

"Credibly" unappreciated rape advances

[Jerryskids]

Women always think it's an unappreciated advance until they see the size of what I got in my pants. That's right ladies, I got a big fat wallet. Not so unappreciated now, is it?

[Anomalous]

Where wallets are concerned, the women definitely favor girth.

[TuIpa]

Um, I keep my money in a fucking bank. It's not 1950.

[Zeb]

You are also apparently unfamiliar with the concept of metonymy.

[loveconstitution1789]

Fag. Keeping 100s in a wad is a sign of being a badass gansta.

[Longtorso, Johnny]

I dub thee "NPC Tony" and "NPC Weigel"

How The 'NPC' Meme Tries To Dehumanize 'SJWs'
Essentially, some large portion of society (normies, pop-culture fanatics, and Trump-haters, among others) who speak in cliches are, in fact, NPCs with no internality, agency, or capacity for critical thought. Like townies in Pokemon idly parked outside the same house day and night, constantly ready with the same contrived one-liners, these IRL NPCs aren't thinking for themselves. They can't.

NPCs have no agency; NPCs don't think for themselves; NPCs don't perceive, process, or understand; NPCs arrive at the same worldview not because it's authentic to their experiences, but automatically. As a descriptor, it suggests that those to whom it applies aren't even human, but are rather, functionally, robots, or clusters of computer code. That this has resonated as widely as it has is funny, but also a little scary.

[Bee Tagger]

is there anything memes can't do?

[BestUsedCarSales]

Just the classic belief that I'm in the elite few of thinking individuals, and everyone else is subhuman, incapable of appreciating or realizing the reality that I know is true.

Same as it ever was, updated to use a term from DnD.

[Azathoth!!]

Just the classic belief that I'm the thinking individual, and everyone else is simply human, incapable of appreciating or realizing the reality that I know is true.

Fixed that for......well....for me. How could something as simple as you ever need anything fixed? For goodness sake, you're still made of matter, of all things, that's so last multiverse.

[Cynical Asshole]

NPCs have no agency; NPCs don't think for themselves; NPCs don't perceive, process, or understand; NPCs arrive at the same worldview not because it's authentic to their experiences, but automatically.

Sounds like a pretty accurate descriptor. And not just for SJWs either.

[mad.casual]

I used to be a Social Justice Warrior like you, then I took an arrow to the knee.

[Anomalous]

Dehumanizing SJWs is pointless. They already lack humanity.

[Red Tony]

So...exactly what liberals do when they accuse anybody with a conservative viewpoint of being a Russian bot?

[Zeb]

Yes. SO let's be more like that. That's sure to make things better.

[TuIpa]

Take your appeasement elsewhere.

[Zeb]

Yeah. Dehumanizing people you don't like or who you disagree with almost always works out well.

[TuIpa]

Fuck off bot.

[Zeb]

Well, that's a new one, at least.

[loveconstitution1789]

Your premise assumes that the other side is discussing things in good faith.

[loveconstitution1789]

She said she hadn't been trying to publicize the names of alleged shitty men, simply to create a digital "whisper network" that allowed women in media to warn one another?more like an email forward of yore than a Facebook post.

The WOman, always trying to keep their boot on ya.

[mad.casual]

It would be hard pressed to find a more prototypical two-faced statement. A communication network is how you publicize things. The only reason you would whisper was not to avoid publicizing, but to avoid detection. Further, if her aim was actually to stamp out sexual misbehavior on the part of men, categorizing recipients as 'women in media' is counterproductive. She wanted to gossip, knew the gossip could be slanderous/libelous and didn't want to get caught.

This only serves to further convincing me that Roe v. Wade was possibly the stupidest way to invent a right to privacy and women's suffrage is overrated. How awesome would it be if Russian hackers were involved in the 'whisper network'?

[Marcus Aurelius]

I don't know about hackers, but Russian women of whispers are looking for marriage on many websites...

[Rich]

Stephen Elliott is filing a lawsuit against the creator of the SHITTY MEN IN MEDIA list? Every man on that list i recognized?had reason to be there. Unfathomable. So much will come out in discovery. If I were a man on that list I would NOT want that lawsuit to go thru.

"And if I were a woman who had falsely 'contributed' I wouldn't give a SHIT!"

[Longtorso, Johnny]

The "Good Censor" continued:

LEAKED TRANSCRIPT OF PRIVATE MEETING CONTRADICTS GOOGLE'S OFFICIAL STORY ON CHINA
It was Wednesday, July 18, and Gomes was addressing a team of Google employees who were working on a secretive project to develop a censored search engine for China, which would blacklist phrases like "human rights," "student protest," and "Nobel Prize."

Gomes's remarks also shed light on why Google is interested in returning its search engine to China after a noisy departure in 2010, when the company announced that it "could no longer continue censoring our results" there due to concerns over free speech and security. In explaining to staff why the work on Dragonfly was "extremely important," Gomes referenced the sheer size of the Chinese market, saying "we are talking about the next billion users" for Google. He also called China "the most interesting market in the world today." "By virtue of working on this," Gomes added, "you will act as a window onto this world of innovation that we are otherwise blind to."

[Cynical Asshole]

In explaining to staff why the work on Dragonfly was "extremely important," Gomes referenced the sheer size of the Chinese market, saying "we are talking about the next billion users" for Google.

Of course it's about tapping into the Chinese market. Was anyone naive enough to think otherwise?

[Trollificus]

Not coincidentally, their first rule of corporate behavior, "Don't be evil." was removed from their mission statement.

Coincidentally, they are working harder and harder to get 50% women in all positions.

[mad.casual]

get 50% women in all positions

Cutting them in half and posing them is pretty fucking evil.

[JoeBlow123]

The CCP can go fuck themselves. So can google.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Some of the accounts that were removed include such libertarian favorites as Cop Block, the Free Thought Project, and Police the Police.

Authoritarian actions beget authoritarian actions.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Washington state has abolished the death penalty, becoming the 20th U.S. state to outlaw it.

UNDER PENALTY OF DEATH

[Mickey Rat]

The Washington Supreme Court has reinterpreted the constitution to implement its preferred policy, the state legislature did not write the death penalty out of the law.

[Longtorso, Johnny]

The Great Horse Manure Crisis of 1894
This problem came to a head when in 1894, The Times newspaper predicted? "In 50 years, every street in London will be buried under nine feet of manure."

This became known as the 'Great Horse Manure Crisis of 1894'.

The terrible situation was debated in 1898 at the world's first international urban planning conference in New York, but no solution could be found. It seemed urban civilisation was doomed.

[Longtorso, Johnny]

Major error found in new UN IPCC report ? UN distorted data from discredited study, scientist reveals
McKitrick was referring to a 2013 study by Prof. Shaun Marcott of Oregon University, which claimed that current temperatures were the hottest in 4000 years. But the study quickly came under intense scrutiny as many scientists ridiculed the study's claims and calls for retractions were issued. McKitrick's 2013 analysis of the study that the current UN report relies upon, was scathing. Marcott's "11,000-year study's 20th-century claim is groundless," McKitrick wrote in 2013.
Marcott's 2013 study was also accused of "skirting awfully close to crossing the line into research misconduct" and a "gross misrepresentation of the findings." See: Climate Depot Round Up of Marcott's Collapsed New Hockey Stick Study ? Prof. Pielke Jr. Mocks As The 'Hockey Stick that never was'

[Longtorso, Johnny]

Victims of Hurricane Michael are represented by climate deniers

[Griffin3]

Gah. Retards. It's a storm of the decade, and it's been, hmm, about 12 years since the last storm like this hit the Florida Panhandle. About 20 years ago one wiped out my apartment on a barrier island, I live 60 miles inland in a metal-roof, deck-screwed, brick house now. This one went into a particularly low-lying area without a barrier island, duh, you get catastrophic damage. Although, if you notice from Live Storms Media and other non-MSM sources, there is a lot of devastation, and there are a lot of buildings built to the 2005, post-Ivan code suffered minor damage, is all.

Storms happen. In cycles, even. But I guess, if you spend your limited brainpower on alarmist rhetoric instead of learning history, all this must be new and amazing to you.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

Dig the passive-aggressive "climate-consensus-97-percent" part of the Guardian link.

Best line from the article: "The GOP formerly thought of itself as the party of intellectuals." LOL. That changed starting in the 20s and 30s when the nation's intelligentsia began its century-long love affair with Marxism.

[Longtorso, Johnny]

Canadian Profs Claim STEM Promotes 'Eurocentrism' and 'White Supremacy'
Three Canadian professors recently penned an editorial in an influential academic journal arguing that teaching students STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) helps perpetuate "patriarchy," "heteronormativity," and other social ills.

Led by University of Alberta professor Marc Higgins, the research editorial "Displacing Methodologies in STEM Education: Theory for Eco-Social Justice" argues that STEM education practices, called "methodologies," reinforce a variety of social ills.

STEM education practices ? such as the traditional way of teaching math ? produce "patriarchy, heteronormativity, white supremacy, Eurocentrism, (neo-)colonialism, able-ism, classism, labor inequity, anthropocentrism, and/or others," the professors claim.

[Don't look at me!]

A mind is a terrible thing.

[Mickey Rat]

Is this one of the joke papers?

[Rich]

Well, here's a quote form the Springer link: "we need to challenge the mask of innocence and ask ourselves how relations of domination and subordination regulate encounters in classrooms."

So, I suppose it depends on what them meaning of "joke" is.

[Sevo]

"Is this one of the joke papers?"

If not, it should be. Sokal would be proud...

[Cynical Asshole]

It's definitely a joke. Not sure if it's one of the joke papers, but it's definitely a joke.

[JoeBlow123]

That is what I thought too haha.

[Griffin3]

These professors should be the first to renounce the products of STEM education, and live their lives using only the fruits of mystical thinking, homeopathy, human-powered methods of travel, and wishful ju-ju.

[Jerryskids]

Hmmmm, and they penned an editorial in an influential academic journal making an argument against this horrible practice of following the scientific method? What, the street-corner interpretive dance version of the argument didn't go so well?

[Zeb]

You know what promotes Eurocentrism and Patriarchy?

Acting like learning the stuff you need to know to do something useful with your life is some special province of white men. (Not to say that STEM are the only useful pursuits).

I have to wonder, do these people even have an idea of what the world should be like (and how it might be accomplished)? Or do they just want to hate and destroy things?

[JoeBlow123]

"Acting like learning the stuff you need to know to do something useful with your life is some special province of white men. (Not to say that STEM are the only useful pursuits)."

I think the Chinese, Japanese, and Indians did not get the memo that STEM was for Euro white men.

*The debates our intellectuals have in the West, priceless*

[Drave Robber]

anonymously accused of conduct from rape to "unsolicited invitations to his apartment."

Well, a solicited invitation would need to be preceded by an unsolicited solicitation.

[sparkstable]

Person 1: I'm not asking first. You ask. I ain't no rapist!

Person 2: No way. YOU ask first.

The future of dating.

[General_Tso]

'Yeah, I'm down for that too, but first I have to run out and get this notarized!"

[A Thinking Mind]

Just use cameras and record all sexual encounters to prove that consent happened. For convenience, they should all be live-streamed to the internet.

If we lose presumption of innocence, privacy will be the very next thing to go.

[Drave Robber]

The future of dating.

Bartenders making the right remarks at the right time will be in demand.
Or matchmakers' era again.

[Rich]

testers were able to take control of systems and largely operate undetected, due in part to basic issues such as poor password management and unencrypted communications."

"And, of course, pervasive Chinese microchips."

[Bee Tagger]

Uber is asking the Securities and Exchange Commission to let it start giving company stock to drivers.

stock cars on the street does not sound safer.

[Fist of Etiquette]

It's when they start adding NOS is when it becomes a Fast & Fuberious franchise.

[Griffin3]

Ouch.

[Fist of Etiquette]

"But what's apparent on the map above is that it is barely sufficient for a studio apartment in the big cities, and it could upset workers already earning $15 and more."

Looks like we need to mandate a maximum cost of living.

[Don't look at me!]

Oh, wait! I know! Let's control the price of an apartment. That will fix everything!

[Anomalous]

Yeah, makes sense. A floor for wages, and a ceiling for rents. The perfect solution that all Top Men love to impose.

[Woody Chip Hurrrrr?]

And walls for minds. Can't have any thinking outside the box provided by the government.

[Derp-o-Matic 6000]

Wow, if only someone could have seen that coming!

[Zeb]

Why does anyone think that the minimum wage should be enough to support a family?

[Woody Chip Hurrrrr?]

Because income inequality leads to independent thinkers and innovators, and innovation leads to income inequality and independent thinkers, and independent thinking leads to innovation and income inequality.

Therefore all wages must be a good-living wage. You can't have a good society if people are different because that implies some people are better than others.

[Zeb]

The main problem, though, is that artificially high minimum wage means that young and unskilled or disabled people won't be able to get work, which they would need in order to develop any useful skills and work ethic.

[Trollificus]

Which situation DOES make them available and useful as foils for activists. Just a positive and probably mostly unintentional side-effect of minimum wage activism.

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

Because comfort is a human right.

[Colossal Douchebag]

Why do you hate families?

[Bee Tagger]

More than 800 pages and accounts were booted by Facebook yesterday.

seems like facebook knows the trick for deleting accounts quickly that no one else does.

[Don't look at me!]

#3 will surprise you!

[Sarah Palin's Buttplug]

Says the "again" part of the original slogan "hurts back people."

No man, you don't understand conservatives. America was only great when there was a separate set of laws for "uppity ni**ers". It is called "originalism".

[Longtorso, Johnny]

Hey NPC Weigel, how is the problem acne?

[Weigel's Cock Ring]

He's still as stupid and ugly as the unfortunate day his mother squeezed him out.

[Zeb]

Get a room, you guys.

[Cy]

That's a tired old violin you've got there. Can't find a new one or just can't afford one?

[Drave Robber]

Would anyone think of front people?

[Rich]

Nancy Rivard, a former flight attendant who is president of the organization, said she came up with the statistic by taking an estimate of the number of people identified by the International Labor Organization (ILO) as engaged in forced labor ? 24.9 million people ? and then dividing by 365 days. That, according to her math, comes out to more than 68,000 people a day.

*** facepalm ***

[Don't look at me!]

Well, to be sure, they only work one day...

[Cynical Asshole]

That 9 year old's straw study doesn't seem quite so ridiculous now. /sarc

[Trollificus]

Did she run into competence issues in flight attendancy?

[Longtorso, Johnny]

Remember That Our Opponents Are Insane Crazy People
Ahoy, losers ? we're woke and free of your fussy influence. We have crushed our enemies and driven them before us, and now we hear the sweet music that is the lamentation of the women-identifying persons. You Never Trumpers who used to talk a big game about conservative success to milk the marks now look upon our success and despair. We look at the festival of insanity and choose to giggle.

[gaoxiaen]

Milk. There you go again.

[Weigel's Cock Ring]

I'm not a big Kanye West fan, but mixed in with a lot of silliness he actually had a really good point yesterday about the second order effects of deindustralization. People need to earn the money for food, clothing, and a roof over the head, and if there are no legitimate jobs to be had, people are going to do whatever they need to in order to survive, even if it involves criminal activity.

It's simply wrong to intentionally implement policies that destroy people's jobs, regardless of whether they're located in the inner city or in rural West Virginia, period.

[Don't look at me!]

Is it ok if they had good intentions?

[ipsquire]

There are plenty of legitimate jobs that involve lots of criminal activity. Heard of "police work" or "the priesthood"?

[Cynical Asshole]

I've heard "petty government functionary" pays pretty well too.

[Jerryskids]

I think they prefer the term "Deputy Assistant Lorem Ipsum Technologist".

[Trollificus]

"Assistant Director of Diversity, Inclusion and Equity Compliance!"

"You mean, Assistant TO the Director of Diversity, Inclusion and Equity Compliance, Mr. Shrute."

"Yes, ma'am."

[Zeb]

And plenty of criminal jobs that involve legitimate activity.

[Zeb]

Problem is, if you are talking about trade and other economic policies, most policy changes are going to destroy some jobs and preserve or create others.

[Griffin3]

Let me see:

It's simply wrong to intentionally implement policies that destroy people's jobs

So, around the turn of (last) century, the move to automate farm labor with tractors instead of backbreaking labor was "simply wrong", and the people displaced had no other way to survive except for "criminal activity"?

I am sorry, you are incorrect. Please try thinking again.

[Mock-star]

Which intentionally implemented policy forced people to use tractors?

[Rich]

Washington state has abolished the death penalty

So, all the meat purchased there has been imported?

[loveconstitution1789]

Abortions are humming along on schedule though.

[Zeb]

No, they haven't abolished death yet.

[Trollificus]

All that money spent on medicines, procedures and health care and the mortality rate stays around 100%. Sheer incompetence!

[Fist of Etiquette]

A new report from the Government Accountability Office says U.S. weapons systems are incredibly easy to hack...

Especially when Colossus and Guardian hook up.

[Don't look at me!]

"unsolicited invitations to his apartment.
What an absolute monster. Didn't get enthusiastic consent before he made the invite.

[Rich]

"Would you mind if I asked you a question?"

*** slap! ***

[loveconstitution1789]

^This.

FemNazis are the worst.

[loveconstitution1789]

FemNazis dont want anything from men and certainly perfectly normal invitations for sex.

[Echo Chamber]

Scientists breed healthy mice from two females

Male obsolescence is coming

[loveconstitution1789]

Women need someone to boss around.

[Cynical Asshole]

So, pretty soon the "cum and joke mines" will just be "joke mines?"

[Anomalous]

They'll be fine until stuff starts breaking.

[loveconstitution1789]

President Trump just signed into law a major overhaul of streaming music licensing.

Vox was cited but didnt provide much detail. One detail it did provide was this:
"It allows for payment of royalties for songs written before 1972, to both songwriters and performers."

I just don't think that 50+ years of royalties after a creator is dead is the way to go with IP. Definitely the life of the creator and a decade or two after death.

[Rich]

But the creator lives forever due to the magic of audio tape!

[Cy]

or in Disney, and a bunch of idiots on here's opinion, "a corporation = a person."

[Zeb]

No one actually thinks that.

[Zeb]

Definitely the life of the creator and a decade or two after death.

I don't know if I'd even go that far. Wasn't it originally 14 years or something?

[Trollificus]

And yet, despite the ironclad logic of IP maximalists, people still created music!

[Rich]

Elliot was anonymously accused of ... "unsolicited invitations to his apartment."

"Why, that bastard didn't have the common decency to let me make the first move!"

[sarcasmic]

A $15 minimum wage "may be enough to buy a small home in some parts of the U.S.," writes Erica Pandey at Axios. "But what's apparent on the map above is that it is barely sufficient for a studio apartment in the big cities, and it could upset workers already earning $15 and more."

You mean one size doesn't fit all?

No!

Fucking!

Way!

[Longtorso, Johnny]

Self-Healing Material Can Build Itself From Carbon In the Air

Boston Dynamics' Robot Went From a Drunk Baby To a Nimble Ninja in a Matter of Years

[Rich]

That self-healing stuff sounds like ice-nine.

[Zeb]

And we all know how that ends up.

[Sevo]

"Women and Minorities Affected Most!!!!"

"White Americans gain the most from Trump's tax cuts, report finds"
[...]
"The finding comes from a new analysis of the $1.5 trillion tax cut using an economic model built by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a liberal think tank, and released in a joint report with Prosperity Now, a nonprofit group focused on helping low-income Americans attain wealth and financial stability. It is the first detailed analysis of the law to break down its effects by race."
http://www.staradvertiser.com/2018/10/11/
news/white-americans-gain-the-most-
from-trumps-tax-cuts-report-finds/

More accurately, those who are paying the most taxes now will get the greatest reductions, with "Asian" (who are the new "White") getting $2.6K and (the other) "White" getting $2.0K.
As the turd and Tony show reminds us constantly, spinning is about the only way the left reports anything.

[Rich]

Witches to Hex Justice Kavanaugh in Occult Ritual in NYC

50% of the event proceeds will go to charity: 25% to the Ali Forney Center and 25% to Planned Parenthood.

Tickets cost $10.00.

[Longtorso, Johnny]

Do you know what else floats?

A duck.

[geo1113]

Very small rocks.

[loveconstitution1789]

We all float down there.

[Cynical Asshole]

If you're mass per unit of volume is equal to or less than that of water.

[Griffin3]

Tulpa?

[BestUsedCarSales]

Planned Parenthood asks for a lot of donations for something that is apparently not a charity.

[Trollificus]

They should offer appealing pictures of the doe-eyed fetus YOUR donation helped to kill.

[Cynical Asshole]

...the law has helped Google relative to other ad tech vendors

Gee, who could have seen that coming? Besides, you know, anyone with a working brain.

[OpenBordersLiberal-tarian]

Another smart piece from Vox:

The case for abolishing the Supreme Court

The past couple years have exposed severe flaws in the American system of government. Russia's hacking of the 2016 election was only successful because of the Electoral College, so we should abolish that. The Senate gives the same representation to Wyoming as it does to California, so those rules need to be changed as well. Finally, since the presidency and Senate are clearly illegitimate, it follows that the Supreme Court is too.

[Longtorso, Johnny]

I say we just abolish everything, to be sure.

[loveconstitution1789]

As long as we start with banishing Lefties, the USA will be fine.

[Just Say'n]

As a reminder, Vox is the number source for woketarian writers here

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

Typical left-wing response to everything--"If we can't be in charge of this institution, it's illegitimate and needs to be destroyed."

Vox isn't full of NPCs, it just provides the programming.

[Ken Shultz]

You know what else the big tech companies appear to have benefited from greatly?

Quantitative easing.

Whatever else the stock market (especially at big tech companies) has to do with rising bond yields this week, the Fed not buying as much in the way of bonds surely has something to do with rising yields.

We're still below historic levels. Hold onto your hats as reality sinks in.

[Just Say'n]

Scott Horton and Daniel McAdams were banned from Twitter a few months back and instead your writers ignored it and applauded social media sites for banning Alex Jones. Now suddenly some Facebook pages are banned and you guys mention it?

[Ken Shultz]

"Washington state has abolished the death penalty, becoming the 20th U.S. state to outlaw it."

I generally oppose the death penalty, but the left using the courts to inflict policy on democratic bodies and the people is one of the reasons why nominating and confirming justices has become so partisan. Being a lefty judge seems to be all about finding excuses to push forward a progressive agenda anymore--and isn't that incompatible with being an honest liberal?

[Stormy Dragon]

President Trump just signed into law a major overhaul of streaming music licensing.

Basically, if you write a song and record it, it automatically belongs to the big record companies now. They can negotiate with third parties to sell them the rights to your recording whether you want them to or not. You can then try to jump through their hoops to try an get a cut of the money they made (minus a percentage for the service of stealing the rights from you).

Furthermore, if you go out and sell the rights to your own recording outside their system, they have the power to DMCA the results because how dare you try to make money without giving big corporations their cut!

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

The bill received unanimous support from Republican and Democratic lawmakers in its passage of the Senate and House. Its passage has been awaited by the music industry for several years, stretching back to the Obama administration.

Huh.

[Woody Chip Hurrrrr?]

This part of the report is classic proggie:

They also point to the use of manipulative UX design (aka dark patterns) that are used to "nudge users towards particular choices and actions that may be against their own interests", suggesting these essentially deliberately confusing consent flows have been successfully tricking users into clicking and accepting "any kind of data collection" just to get rid of cryptic choices they're being asked to understand.

Given Google's dominance of digital ad spending in Europe it stands to gain the most from websites' use of manipulative consent flows.

However GDPR requires consent to be informed and freely given, not baffling and manipulative. So regulators should (hopefully) be getting a handle on any such transgressions and transgressors soon.

Yes, ask the government which created the situation with god-awful regulations to now fix the situation with new regulations!

[DRM]

The constitutions of both Washington and the United States are clear that a person may be deprived of life by due process of law. In a constitutional republic, changing the constitution has to be done by the amendment procedure, not by a proclamation by a coterie who arrogate the power to themselves.

So the correct response to a judicial ruling abolishing the death penalty is hanging the judge so ruling from the nearest lamppost for usurpation and tyranny, in order to allow the re-establishment of a democratic and republican form of government.

[Zeb]

The constitutions of both Washington and the United States are clear that a person may be deprived of life by due process of law.

Well, they make it clear that they can't be deprived of life without due process.

Here's a question (that I am not claiming to know the correct answer to). How does the prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment enter into the equation? "Unusual" implies some kind of normative judgement. Which can change. So is it not possible that the death penalty could over time move from the "usual" to the "unusual" category? Or are we required to forever judge things by the standards of cruelty and unusualness of the late 18th century?

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

Or are we required to forever judge things by the standards of cruelty and unusualness of the late 18th century?

I would argue that words like "unusual" are a case that allows for continuous constitutional reinterpretation.

Just like most 2nd amendment supporters argue that "weapons in common use" be allowed to be owned by the populace. So no, it doesn't just apply to front-loading muskets.

If the police get 'em, we get 'em.

[DRM]

Well, they make it clear that they can't be deprived of life without due process.

Exceptio probat regulam in casibus non exceptis, to coin a phrase. There is no need to restrict under what circumstances the state may lawfully deprive a person of life unless it has a lawful power to deprive a person of life.

(The Tenth Amendment was included in the Bill of Rights specifically to prevent this rule of construction being used on the Bill of Rights itself to imply sweeping federal powers beyond those limited ones previously delegated by the Constitution. However, in the case of states, they retain whatever powers are not prohibited to them by the federal and their respective state constitutions, and the presence of a restriction on a power proves the existence of the power.)

How does the prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment enter into the equation?

Modern social context for "cruel" and "unusual" can be considered, but the laws and constitutions of the nation and state are part of that context. A punishment explicitly contemplated by the constitutions and enacted in the laws of the nation and many states for ordinary crime is ordinary, not "unusual".

Further, the effects of judicial usurpations that make a punishment rarer must not be used to subsequently justify declaring a punishment "unusual"; such simply compounds the tyranny of the original usurper.

[JoeBlow123]

I personally do not agree with the death penalty but you are 100% correct, the courts had no role to play in this. It should have been the legislature.

Courts are getting rather arrogant in their powers.

[JoeBlow123]

I personally do not agree with the death penalty but you are 100% correct, the courts had no role to play in this. It should have been the legislature.

Courts are getting rather arrogant in their powers.

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

Elliott has acquired attorney Andrew Miltenberg of Nesenoff & Mittenberg LLP, a high-profile lawyer who has made a name for himself defending men accused of sexual assault, and advocating for the roll-back of Title IX protections.

Miltenberg, Reason commenter.

[Drave Robber]

MiLtenberg of MiTtenberg? Funny.

[Trollificus]

What the l?