Facebook Is Calling the Cops on Sad Users: Reason Roundup

Plus: Rapper 21 Savage released from ICE custody and more details on how Homeland Security scammed immigrant students

Dado Ruvic/REUTERS/Newscom

Facebook protects itself from risk by putting users in danger. Facebook moderators can't handle determinations like whether a King Cake baby counts as obscenity. Yet the social media giant has nonetheless appointed itself arbiter of your mental health. And if its bots don't like what they see, Facebook may report you to police.

As part of "suicide prevention efforts," Facebook "says it has helped first responders conduct thousands of wellness checks globally, based on reports received through its efforts," reports CNN. Antigone Davis, Facebook's global head of safety, told the station: "We are using technology to proactively detect content where someone might be expressing thoughts of suicide."

Since 2011, Facebook has allowed users to flag potential suicidal content; reports prompted emails from Facbook urging the poster to call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. But starting in 2017, Facebook introduced bots to search out and report potential suicidal content. The bots report suspected cries for help to human moderators, who may then "work with first responders, such as police departments to send help," says CNN.

That's right: Facebook might call the cops on you because a bot thought you seemed sad. Facebook executives think that if a user exhibits signs of depression, it's up to Facebook—not the user's friends, family, or community—to intervene.

And why not? By preemptively turning users over to authorities, Facebook saves its own butt. As with so many tech-company precautions that they try to frame as being for users' benefit and public safety, the real protected party here is Facebook itself, which doesn't want to face criticism and lawsuits if a user who commits suicide could be said to have hinted about it online first.

All it costs is putting people's lives in danger.

We've seen again and again and again how cops called in to deescalate mental health situations wind up hurting and killing those they've been called in to help. Cops are not trained psychiatric professionals. Cops are not equipped to talk people out of suicide, nor to assess whether their Facebook posts spell trouble. Cops are not equipped to judge mental health by showing up at someone's door. And cops are not going to overlook other issues, like drug possession, just because someone is having mental health issues.

Not that Facebook would care. It's also begun calling police on people for an array of potential situations, including apparently terms-of-service violations. "We may also supply law enforcement with information to help prevent or respond to fraud and other illegal activity, as well as violations of the Facebook Terms," the Facebook safety page says.

Mental health researchers are now challenging Facebook's efforts and asking about the ethical implications.

FOLLOW-UPS

• The details of how federal agents used a fake school to entrap immigrants are getting even more disturbing. Read more about the whole sordid mess in the Detroit Free Press.
• Rapper 21 Savage was granted an immigration bond, after spending more than a week in custody. He's supposed to be released today. (More on this arrest here.)

QUICK HITS

• The national debt is now more than $22 trillion, a record high, having taken another turn upward in the wake of Trump's tax cuts.
• Kentucky police may have killed a kidnapping victim as they were attempting to save her.
• U.S. Senators will vote on the Green New Deal:

It's official: @senatemajldr says the Senate will vote on the Green New Deal championed by @AOC . The GOP is almost giddy about the idea of putting Dems on record on these progressive ideas

— Rachael Bade (@rachaelmbade) February 12, 2019

• Protecting and serving:

holy shit

someone actually used the word "rape" and "police officer" in the same headlinehttps://t.co/aJbRgHr7DJ pic.twitter.com/L1ubxmnEyC

— threat level: beige (@TimCushing) February 13, 2019

• "These folks need to get a life. And they can FOIA that!"

TFW you FOIA documents, and a senior official at the agency you FOIAed is talking smack about you and joking about how you should FOIA it https://t.co/7fJLBqP2cH pic.twitter.com/ZbplmAihA7

— Robert Maguire (@RobertMaguire_) February 12, 2019

• Voiceprints are here:

Jails across the U.S. are extracting the "voice prints" of people presumed innocent. Defense attorneys say they were unaware of the practice and are unclear on how they can expunge the data of nonconvicted clients. by @georgejoseph94 & @DebbieNathan2 https://t.co/M8ye4bfVWl

— The Appeal (@theappeal) February 12, 2019

Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

The national debt is now more than $22 trillion, a record high, having taken a sharp turn upward in the wake of Trump's tax cuts.

Oh boy.

[Weigel's Cock Ring]

No "sharp turn upward" at all, the debt is still increasing at basically the same exact rate it was when Lizzie's most venerated hero Block Insane Yomomma presided over $9.3 trillion of accumulated debt in his eight years in office.

[Don't look at me!]

That's different.
Racist.

[a ab abc abcd abcde abcdef ahf]

You are an idiot. It increased tremendously the last Bush year and the first Obama years, then gradually decreased some over the rest of his terms. It jumped up again under Trump.

[Weigel's Cock Ring]

$9.3 trillion in 8 years. Choke on it mofo bitch.

[DesigNate]

You should probably reread his post. He didn't say anything about the deficit.

Oh, and Obama's deficits didn't start really going down until 2012.

[a ab abc abcd abcde abcdef ahf]

You mean "the debt is still increasing at basically the same exact rate" where he implies the yearly deficit stayed static?

[Weigel's Cock Ring]

I didn't say anything at all about the deficit and neither did Lizzie in the quote I was referring to, you stupid cocksucker.

Why don't you get your G.E.D. so you can learn how to comprehend what you're reading better?

[Titanian]

Oh so now he implied.

You were wrong, stop being a bitch about it.

[dave b.]

Inheriting Bush's housing crisis and two off the books wars will do that.

[DesigNate]

Adding the $800BB "one time" spending to the baseline of the budget while your party controls both houses will do that.

[Rufus The Monocled]

Hello.

[Mithrandir]

To ENB: fuck you, cut spending.

[Mithrandir]

To ENB: fuck you, cut spending.

[Mithrandir]

Worth saying twice

[Crusty Juggler]

She does control our budget.

[Bearded Spock]

It is refreshing to see the Media caring about the national debt again after a decade of collective insouciance.

What is bizarre is seeing an obstensively libertarian publication implying that the problem is due to tax rates being too low.

If you read ENB's columns closely enough you can see little leftist tics like that showing up in her writing.

It's like she is trying to speak native Libertarian, but that strong Progressive accent keeps slipping through.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Post Trump's hoc, ergo propter hoc.

[Bearded Spock]

I've heard Trump has a big hoc. Tremendous. The best.

[Bubba Jones]

Her twits are more revealing.

[Earth Skeptic]

A friend took me to a twittie bar, but I was disappointed.

[Weigel's Cock Ring]

David Harsanyi, one of the very few real libertarians at Reason (frankly, it's a little astonishing that his work is still even allowed to be hosted here), tells the plain and simple truth: that the scumbags in the JournoList are lying on behalf of the democrats and aren now outright gaslighting the American public.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

The leftie defenses of AOC's Green New Deal wish list posting is one of the most ridiculous pieces of media cover in service of a Democrat politician I've ever seen. "She and her staff really are retards!" is not a ringing endorsement for a bartender LARPing as a politician.

[John]

See Weigal, Dave who is claiming the FAQ is not geniune. No kidding.

[DesigNate]

How are they NOT the enemy of the people? I mean, they are figuratively carrying water for the political class.

[John]

They are flat out lying and will continue to do so when their side ever gets back into power. They not only are a state run media they aspire to be a state run media.

[DesigNate]

It's just easier if you're told exactly what to print and what views to have.

[John]

Journalists who toe the party line are important people in authoritarian and totalitarian regimes. They are given good jobs and pay and lots of influence. Journalists hate the fact that they are not paid as well or considered as important as they think they should be. They don't want a free press. When they say they do they are lying. They want to be part of a safe and secure controlled press

[DesigNate]

I was reading comments the other day, on reddit I think, and someone said that Trump was authoritarian because he called the free press the enemy of the people.

I was like no, he called the main stream media the enemy. The free press is literally every single man, woman, and child in America. Anyone can go start a blog or vlog or make pamphlets saying that Trump is the antichrist and that his reign will bring down the Wrath of God on us all and not be thrown into prison.

These people lack any basic understanding of freedom.

[John]

Actual Authoritarians don't call the domestic media enemies. Quite the opposite, they love the domestic press because they control them and use them to put out propaganda. The fact that Trump dislikes the media is proof of how free the press actually is.

[Earth Skeptic]

I think at least some understand it. But they fear it, especially for those deplorables.

[Earth Skeptic]

Even the (real) Nazis had their pet media (outside Goebbels' official propaganda agency).

[Cyto]

He's not the only one. That was the official position of AOC's office after the open ridicule began.

Many in the media repeated that claim credulously, despite having been sent the same information directly from her office.

[John]

Someone looked at the PDF file and it said the author of the document was AOC's Chief of Staff. AOC continued to claim the document wasn't real.

[Ben of Houston]

Don't exaggerate. They said it was a draft released prematurely. Still a rather bald-faced lie. However, less absurd.

[John]

Who drafts documents in PDF?

[Cyto]

That was the third iteration. The first was that it was Republican fakery.

[CatoTheChipper]

There is no excuse for the FAKE NEWS that the Democrat Party and its public relations agents in the mainstream media disseminate to the public. This gaslighting story in The Federalist omits one item of strong, irrefutable evidence of media dishonesty and cites only a few of the progressive propagandists in the maintstream media.

Throughout the whole fiasco of the GND rollout, the website for New Consensus, the progressive 501c3 policy shop that drafted the GND for AOC, had a fourteen-page explanation of the GND. The report is dated January 2019 and contains the exact list of "5 objectives and 14 programs" of the final GND Resolution. Most relevant to the GND fiasco, the New Consensus GND report was co-authored by Professor Robert Hockett and it did not contain language about abolishing air travel and providing economic security to those unwilling to work.

[CatoTheChipper]

Hockett is one of the authors of AOC's GND. He certainly does not go to AOC's website to learn about the plan that he co-authored. Conservatives should not leap to the conclusion that he was lying during his infamous interview with Tucker Carlson (he was, however, stating falsehoods.) A charitable interpretation of the facts allows that Hockett may have been unaware of the GND FAQ and that AOC's Gang Green was so incompetent as to post such a document. OTOH, I can't find a retraction on Hockett's Twitter feed, although it has a retweet that falsely criticizes Carlson,

Anybody interested in the GND should check out the New Consensus website. I won't describe it here: it must be seen to be believed. This is not a parody site; indeed AOC and staff have tweeted references to it. Use Google for the link or check Hockett's twitter feed.

[loveconstitution1789]

Union leaders warn Green New Deal may lead to poverty: 'Members are worried about putting food on the table'

Union members AND Black folks leaving the Democratic Party in droves? uh-oh.

[Don't look at me!]

Didn't they read about the part about getting money even if you are unwilling to work? Sounds like a sweet deal to me.

[a ab abc abcd abcde abcdef ahf]

Especially if you have to be a dues-paying union member to prove you are unwilling to work.

[Don't look at me!]

Dues paying union member= unwilling to work.

*Ducks*

[Leo Kovalensky II]

You should probably *jump* to avoid the knee-capping.

[CatoTheChipper]

Don't forget about the fact that the GND would render worthless the assets of virtually every O&G exploration company, every O&G services company, every company that owns refineries, pipelines, terminals, ocean tankers, or gas stations, virtually every chemical company, every electric utility, every gas utility, every airline, every cruise ship, and most contractors largely provide specialty services to such companies. Most trucking companies would have the same fate.

When assets are rendered worthless, the liabilities remain: every such company would go bankrupt. After the bankruptcy attorneys settled the mess, the shareholders would get nothing and the bondholders might get a penny on the dollar in scrap value.

Which means that virtually every pension fund in the US is going bankrupt as well.

The GND mandates a destruction of wealth that incomprehensibly large. You can bet that the Chinese watch in glee as the US contemplates its suicide.

[John]

The GND is murderous insanity. It is one the same level as forced collectivization of farms. If it ever were actually enacted and enforced, it would result in the deaths of millions of Americans and improverish tens of millions more. I am not exagerating.

[chipper me timbers]

" You can bet that the Chinese watch in glee as the US contemplates its suicide."

While the rest of what you say is spot on, this is clearly nonsense. No good can come for China or other major world economies if the US has an economic meltdown.

[Fist of Etiquette]

holy shit

someone actually used the word "rape" and "police officer" in the same headlinehttps://t.co/aJbRgHr7DJ pic.twitter.com/L1ubxmnEyC
? threat level: beige (@TimCushing) February 13, 2019

Someone hasn't read the AP Stylebook.

[Vernon Depner]

Isn't it supposed to be "officer-involved sex"?

[Crusty Juggler]

NYPD detective, 42, is shot dead and sergeant is injured by friendly fire during shootout with robber, 27, wielding a FAKE gun at T-Mobile store in Queens

The officers opened fire on the suspect, and as they backed out of the store, they were struck by bullets from cops outside, O'Neill said.

'Make no mistake about it, friendly fire aside, it is because of the actions of the suspect that Detective Simonsen is dead,' the commissioner said as he choked back tears.

lol no

[Don't look at me!]

More money needed for training.

[Bearded Spock]

This incident clearly demonstrates that the cops are the only ones who are "professional enough" to carry guns.

It would have been really tragic if an armed citizen had shot someone by accident.

[Conchfritters]

What the fuck? He killed the detective with a fake gun? How is that even possible?

[Leo Kovalensky II]

When are we finally going to all get behind common sense toy gun control?

[Fist of Etiquette]

Backing out of the store? While not taking fire from inside the store? One would think this action would not be consistent with training, but what do I know.

[Cyto]

Yeah, this story does not deserve a LOL NO in response to the claim.... the robber clearly precipitated the events by using a fake gun in a robbery.

But the police opened fire under circumstances that were likely not the correct circumstances for firing their weapon. The robber knew he had a fake gun, and they didn't. So they have the excuse of thinking he was armed. But armed alone is not justification for shooting someone, particularly as a police officer.

Since the robber knew his gun didn't work, I'm going to guess that he didn't point it at the police officers who were pointing guns at him. Because that would be even more stupid than robbing a store with a fake gun, which is pretty damn stupid.

So depending on exactly what they saw as they walked in the door, they may have opened fire when they should not have.

[Cyto]

Based on the witness statements in the article and the statements from the police radio, it seems like the police entered and immediately opened fire. In response, the robber(s) ran to the back under a hail of gunfire. It is unclear if the officers entered the back and shot him there or if he was hit while fleeing the gunfire.

But police fired "at least 15 to 20 gunshots" and scored 1 hit on the intended target in a tiny area which also included customers and employees. So not exactly brilliant tactics (depending on exactly what they saw).

And having people firing through the door from outside while your guys are in front of you? Yeah, not very good discipline or control right there. More training would probably be a good idea. But I'd say better training would be even more important.

[Crusty Juggler]

It was like when the boys in South Park got into a gunfight at the Permanent Hippo.

[operagost]

I'm sure that, as a CCP holder, if I shot an innocent person while defending myself against an armed robber the cops would get behind me in the same manner.

Ahem. I'm sure.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Jails across the U.S. are extracting the "voice prints" of people presumed innocent. Defense attorneys say they were unaware of the practice and are unclear on how they can expunge the data of nonconvicted clients. by @georgejoseph94 & @DebbieNathan2 https://t.co/M8ye4bfVWl
? The Appeal (@theappeal) February 12, 2019

If they're so innocent, why are they in prison? If they're so innocent, what do they have to hide? And so on...

[Rich]

"the babies are a representation of the tradition, decadence and obsession our culture has"

Well, alrighty then.

[Don't look at me!]

Everyone knows the human body is repulsive.

[loveconstitution1789]

Drug kingpin Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzm?n likely headed to Supermax prison, experts say

More wasted taxpayer money on drug runners who never have been convicted of hurting any American inside the USA but are dragged from their shithole to America. Just like that nonsense with Noriega.

I think more and more Americans are not on board with these show trials by the federal government.

[Rufus The Monocled]

I was hoping SuperDupermax. But whatev. MAKE HIM PAY FOR THE WALL!

[Don't look at me!]

When are we going to get that Men in Black prison on the moon? I can't sleep some nights.

[John]

Someone suggested yesterday, they should offer him a place in a country club prison in return for a complete and truthful list of all of the American politicians and journalists he and his gang have paid off. That would be a trade worth making.

[DesigNate]

He'd be dead within the hour of making that deal.

[Rufus The Monocled]

Clinton Inc., eh?

[Don't look at me!]

Some sort of mugging with his wallet still in his pocket.

[Conchfritters]

He'll shoot himself in the back of the head. Twice.

[DesigNate]

That'll be quite a feat in prison.

[loveconstitution1789]

You don't know the Clintons well do you?

[Conchfritters]

Facebook might call the cops on you because a bot thought you seemed sad.

Does that include if I only check my Facebook twice a year?

[Rich]

*Especially* that.

[CharlesWT]

Good thing Facebook's bots don't check H&R comments.

[Vernon Depner]

If you haven't logged into Facebook for six months, your desiccated corpse could be lying on the floor at your house. Obviously, they need to send a SWAT team to investigate.

[Rich]

Cops are not trained psychiatric professionals.

OK. What kind of trained professionals are they?

[Don't look at me!]

Dog executioner?

[This Machine Chips Fascists]

Cop/garbage man. "Grab a broom! Start sweeping."

[Crusty Juggler]

EXCLUSIVE: Washington Free Beacon Obtains Employee Manual for Klobuchar Presidential Campaign

Big if true.

[bevis the lumberjack]

They managed to dodge it and then simply picked it up after it slammed into the wall behind them.

[Rufus The Monocled]

Some of that reads as parody.

If even partly true, she's certifiable.

[Crusty Juggler]

Lol like that's parody.

[Bearded Spock]

I once observed that Hillary would never be president because she reminded too many men of their ex-wives.

I'll go out on a limb and predict that Angry Amy won't ever be president because she reminds too many women of that Boss From Hell.

[Leo Kovalensky II]

Hill-dog is to ex-wives as Amy K is to ex-mothers-in-law

[Fist of Etiquette]

We've seen again and again and again how cops called in to deescalate mental health situations wind up hurting and killing those they've been called in to help.

Stressed out nails look just like all the other nails.

[loveconstitution1789]

You nailed that one.

[Cyto]

Incoherent screaming of conflicting commands is definitely the best way to get someone who is upset and out of control to calm down. If you hold a gun while doing it, it even works better.

[Ron]

I also find it odd that when the cops do tackle someone they get three cops on him and often the now victims arm is trapped under him with 500 pounds of steroided cops on top yelling for him to give them his hand or they will tase him. and of course they then claim resistance even though the victim could do nothing of the sort

[Bee Tagger]

The national debt is now more than $22 trillion, a record high, having taken a sharp turn upward in the wake of Trump's tax cuts.

if everyone at trump's inauguration just gave 2 dollars we'd be out from underneath this debt.

[Fist of Etiquette]

"It seems quite clear the scheme was set up by the government not to go after legitimate offenders, but to create fear in our immigration system," said Amer Zahr, an adjunct professor of law at the University of Detroit-Mercy and a spokesman for one of the 146 students who were detained by ICE. "They're going after students who are trying to better their lives, because America has the best education.This is who they're choosing to go after? It's really disturbing."

The feds could always go back to running child pornography web servers.

[Juice]

Oh, they stopped?

[Crusty Juggler]

Do Straight Men Really Eat a Lot of Ass Now? An Investigation

Sam, a 23-year-old barista from Minneapolis, is telling me how the mainstreaming of ass eating has changed her sex life. "As a very sexually active straight woman, over the last six months or so, every single straight guy I've had sex with asked to get his ass eaten," she says, "or was at least open to it." She adds that she tends to have sex with "very millennial" men who are "all pretty online," and that they usually return the favor. "The memeification of ass play has greatly increased the amount of ass exploration that is being done in my sex life," she continues. "Of course, the enjoyment has gone up significantly because of it."

Fact: I've been an official officer in the Eat A Booty Gang since 2014.

[Mongo]

I like it when my enematrix draws a heart in the foam after giving me a coffee enema.

[Bearded Spock]

It's the little things that make life worth living.

[Quo Usque Tandem]

One thing is for sure; you devote an ass load of time toward the effort.

[Don't look at me!]

It's all well and good, but it tastes like shit.

[$park? is the Worst]

Summary: "Hi everybody, I'm super slutty and all the guys I fuck are freaky."

[Crusty Juggler]

Hi, I'm Crusty. Want to get some supper or something?

[$park? is the Worst]

Sounds like she's right up your alley, IYKWIM.

[mad.casual]

She adds that she tends to have sex with "very millennial" men who are "all pretty online,"

I seriously have no idea what this means.

Given the fact that she says "every single straight guy I've had sex with asked to get his ass eaten", I'm inclined to believe she's really into working off assumptions, speaking in vague abstractions, and adjective abuse.

[Ken Shultz]

There's this thing called "hepatitis".

[Ken Shultz]

Some diseases are spread by going from the ass of one person to the mouth of another. This can happen, for instance, when someone preparing food doesn't wash their hands after using the restroom. It would seem to me that another possible vector might be taking your tongue and shoving it up somebody's . . .

I don't thin buttlickers should be discriminated against by the government, but I do question their judgement. There's gotta be a line between a healthy quest for adventure and shoving your tongue up somebody's . . .

[Crusty Juggler]

I EAT ASS

[0x1000]

If only it attacked the vocal cords and fingertips.

[mad.casual]

There's this thing called "hepatitis".

Hepatitis is hardly the only thing.

I'm not an insider on everything that goes into epidemiological modelling, but I'm pretty sure that when they model influenza, norovirus, viral gastroenteritis, etc. they aren't adjusting permeability coefficients and coming up with clearance rates based on copious amounts of ass eating.

[Bee Tagger]

The details of how [news event] are getting even more disturbing

[Conchfritters]

Oliver exposed himself to the woman, and told her she had active warrants for her arrest, but he would allow her to leave if she performed a sex act on him, police said.

Hero.

*wipes tear from cheek*

[Gaear Grimsrud]

Well he got home safe. Does anything else really matter?

[John]

http://video.foxnews.com/v/600.....show-clips

Is "The Most Hated Lesbian in Baltimore" a Leonard Cohn song or a Tom Waits song? It has be a song by one of them. The Tranny Lesbian cat fight is going to be endlessly entertaining.

[CatoTheChipper]

"Tranny-lesbian cat fight" is not the preferred nomenclature, Dude.

Transwoman-TERF cat fight, please.

TERF = Trans-Exclusionary Radical Feminist need not be lesbian, Dude.

[mad.casual]

Trans-Exclusionary Radical Feminist need not be lesbian, Dude.

What exactly makes her radical or a radical feminist? She's sharing common cause with a conservative male for chrissakes.

[Crusty Juggler]

Florida man, 21, 'recorded himself dressed in a black and white dog costume having sex with his pet husky before posting the videos online'

The Pinellas County Sheriff's Office said: 'The costumed man is seen in the video using his penis and multiple penis shaped sex toys to have inappropriate sexual contact with a Siberian Husky dog.

'Detectives say the dog in the video was clearly in distress. At one point during the video, the dog tries to run away and the man responds by striking the dog with a sex toy.'

Nichols admitted to detectives he made the video with his Siberian Husky, Ember, and shared it on the internet, according to officers.

The Incels in Trump's America have really lost it.

[Quo Usque Tandem]

Kill on sight; we have a moral obligation to execute him, as if he were the goat fucking Osama bin Laden; AmIright?

[Bearded Spock]

America needs to wake up to the threat posed by Furry bestiality.

[Rat on a train]

Did the police shoot the dog?

[Gaear Grimsrud]

Nichols admitted to detectives he made the video with his Siberian Husky, Ember, and shared it on the internet
How many likes did it get?

[Vernon Depner]

inappropriate sexual contact with a Siberian Husky dog.

So, what kind of dog fucking IS "appropriate"? I suppose if dogs can give testimony in court against drug suspects, they could also be capable of "enthusiastic consent".

[$park? is the Worst]

All it costs is putting people's lives in danger.

Yeah, but their lives were already in danger so no big deal.

I foresee a new way to initiate suicide.

[Don't look at me!]

Swaticide.

[a ab abc abcd abcde abcdef ahf]

Safer than texting encouragement, and you get to be a hero instead of a zero. Sweet!

[DesigNate]

So was the quip about the debt increase deliberate trolling? I have to believe it was deliberate.

[Ordinary Person]

I seem to remember Bush and the Retardicans handing Obama a huge budget deficit and then I remember Obama reducing that deficit every year. Then Trump came along and blew it up again.

[DesigNate]

None of that has anything to do with the tax cuts not being responsible for the increase in the deficit OR the debt.

You know, since 1) that isn't the government's money, it's ours and 2) they took in a record amount of revenue last year and are projected to take in more this year.

[Don't look at me!]

The subject is debt, not deficit.

[Bearded Spock]

Except Obama didn't start reducing the deficit until after the Republicans took over in 2011.

The deficit for his 2011 budget was higher than the deficit for his 2010 budget. Neither of which were passed by Republicans.

[Bee Tagger]

Jails across the U.S. are extracting the "voice prints" of people presumed innocent

one end of the phone call is on a green stripe, the other on white.

[Crusty Juggler]

Twitter is really interesting and important, update:

Internet Hilariously Claps Back On 'Roomy Vagina' Emoji Comparison

After the "pinching hands" emoji was released as part of the new emoji lineup of 2019, many people had hilarious reactions to its perfect, alternate use as the "small dick" emoji. Well it wouldn't be the internet if someone didn't try and ruin everyone's fun, but when a Twitter user tried to bring up a "roomy vagina" argument, the internet had a field day.

You will be gasping for breath by the end of this post, guaranteed.

Summary: men don't like to be small penis shamed, women don't mind being roomy vagina shamed.

[Don't look at me!]

GASP!

[Crusty Juggler]

Exactly.

[$park? is the Worst]

Language continues to take a turn for the retarded.

[John]

I am starting to wonder if English is going to devolve into some retarded form of pictographs in the same way Latin devolved into the romance languages. A couple of hundred years from now reading and writing actual English will become something eccentrics and academics do.

[$park? is the Worst]

Maybe the early Egyptians were onto something.

[Vernon Depner]

Already, it's something only old people do.

[Enjoy Every Sandwich]

"Hey Billy! The other day I told my girlfriend that I'd like a little pussy. She said, 'So would I. Mine's big as a house!'"

[$park? is the Worst]

I said "Man, you have a big pussy. Man, you have a big pussy."
Then she says "You didn't have to say it twice."
And I said "I didn't, I only said it once. I only said it once."

[This Machine Chips Fascists]

And then I had to tie a 2x4 across my ass to keep from falling in!

[mad.casual]

Summary: men don't like to be small penis shamed, women don't mind being roomy vagina shamed.

Just wait until they figure out that the high-five emoji has really been the flat-chested emoji since forever.

[Ken Shultz]

New media is going nuts. Online advertising budgets are increasingly going to Google and Facebook (Collecting data about users for advertisers works!), and that means fewer advertising dollars to go around for once new media darlings like Vice and BuzzFeed. As their revenue growth has plummeted, first, their IPO plans were put on ice, and now they seem to be window dressing themselves for acquisition by focusing on the bottom line--which means job cuts.

Vice has long been doing fake news "branded content", which is advertising made to look like editorial content. Meanwhile, Vice laid off 10% of its workforce, and Buzzfeed laid off 15%. The workers response? Buzzfeed's news department is unionizing!

LOL

Look at the letter those Buzzfeed workers wrote yesterday to announce their unionization, and there is significant evidence that the retarded shit you read from these people isn't because they're trying to confuse people. They may genuinely believe the stupid shit they write!

"We want to remain spry and competitive, but we reject the argument that we must choose between freelancing in a hellscape gig economy for vampirical platforms or submitting to the whims of a corporation that botches basic HR tasks," BuzzFeed News employees said in their letter Tuesday.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/em.....550020535?

It is through the views of such people that millions of Americans come to understand the world.

[John]

The botches HR tasks part is likely a legitimate gripe. One of the things you never hear about is how often publications just screw their writers by just not paying them. Freelancers get robbed all of the time. I am not surprised to hear that a publication as low rate as Buzzfeed screws its full time employees.

[Ken Shultz]

They don't want to freelance, and they don't want to work for big corporations.

Got it.

Meanwhile, the market is consolidating, freelancing is increasingly becoming the alternative to working at a big corporation, and the future of the company may well depend on being bought out by Disney or AT&T.

Maybe unionizing makes it less likely they'll get laid off and become freelancers, but driving up Buzzfeed's costs is likely to make key investors even more likely to sell out to a larger entity.

Was the HR task botched from Disney's perspective?

[John]

Saying you want a competent HR department that pays you and reimburses you for your travel vouchers and such is not saying you don't want to work for a corporation. I doubt the HR line came from nowhere. It is likely a good bet, considering the low level of competence and professionalism at places like Buzzfeed, they are not doing the basic things necessary to run a business.

[Earth Skeptic]

Well, in a perfect progressive media world, "journalists" can just forward a few tweets a day, in in return get generous salaries and broad public recognition.

[Don't look at me!]

...a corporation that botches basic HR tasks
Yes they blew it when they hired morons like you.

[Rufus The Monocled]

ELECT RUFUS: I WILL DISMANTLE HR DEPARTMENTS EVERYWHERE!

[AlmightyJB]

Sign me up for newsletter

[loveconstitution1789]

Rufus for Prez!

[John]

http://www.foxnews.com/enterta.....le-america

Esquire commits the sin of considering a white male to be a human being and incites a Twitter mob. The article is the first in a series of profiles of various teenagers of different races, sex and all of that. But, inclusive and diverse means no white male. The responses to this article are horrifying even by Prog standards.

[Rufus The Monocled]

"Abigail Collazo
@LeftStandingUp
? Feb 12, 2019
I do not mind that there exists an article somewhere in the world about young white boys of privilege needing to relearn about masculinity. I do mind that it's on the cover of @esquire during Black History Month."

Oh,Abbie, Abbie. Fuck off.

February belongs to blacks now?

My birthday is in February. WHAT DO I DO?

[John]

The "you can't do this in black history month" seems to be a common complaint. Maybe I am just cynical but I am inclined to think they would be just as angry about this had it been published in March.

[Mongo]

I just consider it as Eating Black Ass History Month and then I'm good.

[mad.casual]

My birthday is in February. WHAT DO I DO?

Mine's on Washington's B-Day. Mrs. Casual's is on President's day.

It would really be more symbolic to make Black History Month span Jan. 15th to Feb. 12th rather than just giving them the shortest month of the year.

[Earth Skeptic]

Dear Abigail:
If you want to set editorial policy for Esquire, then raise enough capital to buy a controlling interest.

Otherwise, shut the fuck up.

Sincerely,
White Male Privilege

[Ken Shultz]

I've had conversations with more than one progressive couple in California, lately, about how they want to move to Waco, TX or some place like Laurel, MS, which seems to be all about them watching Fixer Upper and Hometown on HGTV. They want to raise their kids in a place like that or retire to a place like that. I think I know what they thought of white people living in places like Waco and central Mississippi before, but now they've seen real Southerners on TV, and instead of being a bunch of horrible rednecks, the southerners there seem to be intelligent, funny, creative, and seem like they would make great friends--even if they do use the second person plural!

I mentioned that, especially in a place like Mississippi, they may find themselves in a community that's much more diverse than the lily white suburbs of southern California, and they hadn't really thought about or looked at the demographics. You wouldn't know it by their official political positions, but they may not be tolerant enough in reality to live in the South. It's also interesting that the kind of rigid "tolerance" they're trying to escape seems to be a problem they've contributed to themselves. On the one hand, they have no tolerance for Christians who don't believe in gay marriage, they want to force everyone around them to live as ecoparanoids, they look down on blue collar workers, etc., etc. and yet they long to live a place that isn't so calcified by their own attitudes?

[Don't look at me!]

It's complicated.

[John]

Some professor in the UK suggested that white people could in the future just live in a virtual world that is the all white 50s world he claims they want. Someone gave a perfect response,

"We have that now, its called Portland" The more Progressive a city, the whiter it is.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

Cancer cells are constantly attempting to spread.

[Crusty Juggler]

The details of how federal agents used a fake school to entrap immigrants are getting even more disturbing. Read more about the whole sordid mess from the Detroit Free Press.

Once again TreasonNN has a problem with the feds performing their one IMPORTANT DUTY, and that is PROTECT OUR BORDER. Round 'em all up!!!!

[Leo Kovalensky II]

Libertarians for do process (all ICE requests)

[loveconstitution1789]

Constitutional powers to enforce immigration law.

Sounds Libertarian to Libertarians.

[dirycola]

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[Crusty Juggler]

Your spelling and grammar seem familiar.

[AlmightyJB]

This post makes me sad.

[Crusty Juggler]

So it's like your face?

[Vernon Depner]

Hold on, someone is on the way to shoot your dog and help you.

[John]

http://needtoknow.news/2019/02.....n-control/

Sheriffs in Washington state are recieving death threats for their refusal to enforce gun control. But remember gun control advocates are not trying to disarm the public so they can use terror as a political weapon or anything. No not at all. Just ignore the death threats. Those are probably evil right wingers or something.

[Don't look at me!]

Are they going to knife the sheriff?

[John]

We need to keep guns out of the hands of criminals but not the people who threaten to kill sheriffs or something like that.

[Leo Kovalensky II]

It's fine as long as they do not shoot the deputy.

[loveconstitution1789]

The best thing about this era since Nov 2018 is that many Lefties who are violent psychopaths have exposed themselves for who they are.

I hope the sheriffs thoroughly investigate every threat and prosecute those gun grabbing nutjobs to the fullest extent of the law.

[CatoTheChipper]

Nov 2016?

[Crusty Juggler]

Ocasio-Cortez Living in Luxury Navy Yard Apartment Building

She ended up moving into a luxury apartment building with a wide array of amenities where rent for even a studio apartment exceeds $2,000 a month.

Ocasio-Cortez's new Navy Yard stomping ground was recently named "one of the coolest neighborhoods in the world." It has been described as the go-to place to both live and socialize for Trump staffers.

She has infiltrated the enemy. My God.

[AlmightyJB]

She may work for the enemy as much as she's helping them.

[Crusty Juggler]

A double agent?

[$park? is the Worst]

A deluxe apartment in the sky? Is it on the east side?

[Leo Kovalensky II]

Beans, apparently, do burn on the grill.

[Dillinger]

i never understood how they grilled the beans ... in the can maybe?

[Cyto]

2 grand is not crazy expensive for a DC apartment.

I suppose the Trump staffer bit is funny though. Maybe she'll find one to hook up with down at the pool or in the gym.

[Juice]

I used to live in that neighborhood. Actually down the street between the waterfront and the mall. Had to move out because I was sick of living in a tiny apartment and the rent kept going up, and it was ridiculous to begin with. It was right when they were redeveloping the area. It wasn't what I would call high end, but now it kind of is. A lot of it looks completely different. New street layout and everything. Property values are up at least 50%.

Anyway, I'm not sure what anyone expects her to do. Everywhere in DC is expensive like that. It's absurd. I keep expecting a dip in rents or housing prices but they just keep rising even though they've built shitloads of high rise condos everywhere. Condos go for around $500k and they're filling up those high rises. Blows my mind.

[Earth Skeptic]

No worries. Once Occasional-Cortex and her comrades take over the economy, property values will come back down (at least before ownership of property is outlawed).

[A Lady of Reason]

Beyond such a creepy intrusion, isn't it also scary FB has info on where you live and could literally call police in your town??? Creepy if you ask me! Never give your real info on social media!

[$park? is the Worst]

isn't it also scary FB has info on where you live

Not when everyone fills in that information, dummy.

[Titanian]

"Never give your real info on social media!"

Read the whole post dummy.

[Sevo]

There are lies, and then there are big lies, and then there are YUGE lies!

"The Green New Deal will "absolutely" pay for itself through greater economic growth, Ocasio-Cortez said, "because we're creating jobs.""
https://www.richmond.com/opinion/their
-opinion/guest-columnists/catherine-rampell
-column-democrats-in-are-at-risk-of-turning
/article_2c902cc3-5f78-5886-b342-ce6cfc1083ad.html

[Rufus The Monocled]

Boston University should ask for their degree back and refund this appalling ignoramus.

[Don't look at me!]

But we will also give you money if you are unwilling to work.

[Cyto]

In one version of her answer it was "we must provide good-paying jobs for people who are willing or unwilling to work", which completely had me flummoxed.

[Vernon Depner]

I've worked with many people who had good-paying jobs and were unwilling to work.

[Earth Skeptic]

That's the golden ticket.

[Cyto]

That was in her opening statement. The "how much will it cost" line of questioning was completely deferred to "it is irrelevant, and it will absolutely help the economy because of all of the new jobs".

On that front.... well.... if you really intend to rebuild every building in America in 2 decades or less, that alone would require at least 50% of the workforce. Add to that building enough high speed rail to replace all airline travel within a decade.... well, you can see where this is going.

We are going to need at least 100 million new immigrants to even make a dent in those projects. So yeah, it will totally pay for itself....

[Mickey Rat]

You just will not have the energy to make all the materials to rebuild every building.

[Earth Skeptic]

And most of them better be fucking mechanical engineers, chemists, electrical engineers, machinists, and heavy equipment operators. Unless they want to make trains of adobe.

[Mock-star]

Just think of all the food trucks....err food trains that we'll have though

[CatoTheChipper]

She's not lying: Gang Green really believes that the government can just create the money to pay for the GND.

She believes her own bullshit.

So-called "modern monetary theory" is the foundation of the GND. Money is just a construct of government: MMT holds that government can create as much money as it wants to fund necessary and useful projects.

Check out Robert Hockett's GND paper on how it will be financed. His only concern is whether government money creation would be inflationary, and he's confident that there would be no inflation or that, if inflation threatened, government could raise taxes slightly to contain inflation.

Anybody who has a passing interest in the GND really needs to check out the website of New Consensus, the 501c3 policy shop that wrote AOC's GND. I can't describe it here: it must be seen to be believed. It is not a spoof.

[Sevo]

"...His only concern is whether government money creation would be inflationary, and he's confident that there would be no inflation or that, if inflation threatened, government could raise taxes slightly to contain inflation...."

You'd think idiots like this never heard of Zimbabwe, Venezuela, or the Wiemar republic.

[Sevo]

Looks like the "NEW YORK WILL BE UNINHABITABLE IN 5 YEARS!!!!!!!!!!" rhetoric has been turned down a bit:

"SFclimate may feel like southern California by 2080, new study says"
https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/
SFclimate-may-feel-like-southern-
California-by-13611256.php

And everybody knows no on can live in So. Cal.

[Don't look at me!]

A true hellscape you wouldn't want visited on anyone.

[John]

San Diago is totally unihabitable. Everyone knows the climate there is miserable.

[Enjoy Every Sandwich]

That would be terrible! I sure as hell don't want those people moving to my town.

[Vernon Depner]

Phoenix is uninhabitable. People can live there only because of air conditioners and imported water. The uninhabitable parts of Arabia and the Levant could expand greatly with just a slight temperature rise.

[Earth Skeptic]

Phoenix is delightful for about half the year. Then just take the train to your summer hut in Minnesota.

[Cyto]

The news this morning had a couple of rehashes of the MAGA Country incident in response to a police statement about receiving inadequate phone records and having found a bottle of hot sauce that smelled like bleach.

One thing they didn't report but that I've read elsewhere is that he got into a fight with his boyfriend at a club earlier that night and that is where he received the scrape on his face that is seen in the photos. Is that a true story, or is that part fake news?

And have we determined where the "cracked ribs" story came from? He disavowed it as "people have been saying a lot of things about me that are not true", but where did it come from if not from him?

Idly curious minds want to know.....

[loveconstitution1789]

The phone records were "redacted".

What average person redacts their phone records, when they are trying to help police solve a violent crime?

This guy seems like a nobody Hollywood person who got caught up in making SJW lunacy a reality.

Chicago has been given up by conservatives decades ago. This reeks of false flag fuckup.

There are rumors of Chicago PD charging him with making a false police report.

[Cyto]

Yeah, I saw that, but it seems like that is wishful thinking from conservative sources, not coming from the Chicago PD.

A couple of articles this morning had the same quote from a local resident who was calling BS - "half of the people who live in this neighborhood are gay, and the other half are black."

But the "he got in a fight with his boyfriend over another guy" thing was covered as if it were true and not a made-up rumor for about a day, and then it disappeared.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

It's pretty obvious by now that the whole report was a hate hoax, and he filed a false report to raise his media profile for PR purposes. Regardless of how he ended up with a black eye, it definitely didn't come from a couple of Trump voters carrying a rope and a bottle of bleach, while walking around a black, gay neighborhood at 2 am in sub-freezing weather.

[John]

he lied about the whole thing. They should throw his ass in the can for a few months but they won't.

[Dillinger]

kinda showed his hand on acting skills with this project.

[jonso]

Start working at home with Google. It's the most-financially rewarding I've ever done. On tuesday I got a gorgeous BMW after having earned $8699 this last month. I actually started five monthsago and practically Text. profitvid.com

[Juice]

Kentucky police may have killed a kidnapping victim as they were attempting to save her.

They always say "killed in an officer-involved shooting."

They never say "killed by police."

[Juice]

Oh, I see there was also an officer-involved surprise sexual experience.

[Dillinger]

>>>used the word "rape" and "police officer" in the same headline

i thought we were *for* exchanging sex for value here?

[Vernon Depner]

We're not supposed to have to pay cops for our safety. You're thinking of the Mafia.

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

like whether a King Cake baby counts as obscenity.
If there's one thing I've come to loathe in the current culture, it's the young, svelte tech-company hipster confidently assuring us that their platform can be successfully monitored for problematic content using a combination of AI, machine learning and human operators.

[Blandly Urbane]

Sounds great HAL

[vek]

The fake ICE school is badass! Round them illegals up!