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Reason Roundup

Inside the CDC's Campaign To Police COVID Speech

Plus: FOSTA in court, challenges to Illinois' assault weapon ban, and more...

Elizabeth Nolan Brown | 1.19.2023 9:30 AM

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Dr. Anthony Fauci | Ken Cedeno - Pool via CNP/CNP / Polaris/Newscom
(Ken Cedeno - Pool via CNP/CNP / Polaris/Newscom)

For years, various branches and levels of the federal government tried their darndest to grab more control of what could be said on social media. Sex trafficking, election integrity, hate speech, Chinese influence—all served as fodder for legislation, regulation, or executive action geared toward seizing the means of content moderation, with some degree of success.

But it was the COVID-19 pandemic that really did the trick—as my colleague Robby Soave details in Reason's March 2023 cover story.

During peak pandemic times, "the federal government shaped the rules of online discussion in unprecedented and unnerving ways," Soave writes. Some of this was confirmed recently by documents that Twitter CEO Elon Musk shared with journalists. Soave uncovered evidence of similar shenanigans at Facebook:

According to a trove of confidential documents obtained by Reason, health advisers at the CDC had significant input on pandemic-era social media policies at Facebook as well. They were consulted frequently, at times daily. They were actively involved in the affairs of content moderators, providing constant and ever-evolving guidance. They requested frequent updates about which topics were trending on the platforms, and they recommended what kinds of content should be deemed false or misleading. "Here are two issues we are seeing a great deal of misinfo on that we wanted to flag for you all," reads one note from a CDC official. Another email with sample Facebook posts attached begins: "BOLO for a small but growing area of misinfo."

These Facebook Files show that the platform responded with incredible deference. Facebook routinely asked the government to vet specific claims, including whether the virus was "man-made" rather than zoonotic in origin. (The CDC responded that a man-made origin was "technically possible" but "extremely unlikely.") In other emails, Facebook asked: "For each of the following claims, which we've recently identified on the platform, can you please tell us if: the claim is false; and, if believed, could this claim contribute to vaccine refusals?"

Facebook, Twitter, and other tech companies were under extreme pressure to acquiesce to government demands on this front. In July 2021, President Joe Biden accused social media platforms of "killing people" by not stopping the spread of COVID-19 misinformation. And he was far from alone in using this sort of rhetoric.

All of this followed years of political leaders excoriating tech companies for not stopping the spread of everything from sex ads to Russian memes to white nationalist rhetoric. Throughout 2020 and 2021, tech executives were routinely hauled before Congress to answer absurd questions about their processes. Bill after bill sought to take away their protection from civil liability for things that users posted, to micromanage their algorithms and the way they handled specific sorts of content, to modify antitrust laws in ways that would cut into their business, etc. Facebook and Google both faced federal lawsuits.

So even if Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) authorities didn't directly order Twitter and Facebook to do their bidding, you can imagine how tech executives might have felt they had little choice.

"If you look at it in isolation, it looks like [the CDC and the tech companies] are working together," Jenin Younes, litigation counsel for the New Civil Liberties Alliance, told Reason. "But you have to view it in light of the threats."

More from Soave:

Facebook is a private entity, and thus is within its rights to moderate content in any fashion it sees fit. But the federal government's efforts to pressure social media companies cannot be waved away. A private company may choose to exclude certain perspectives, but if the company only takes such action after politicians and bureaucrats threaten it, reasonable people might conclude the choice was an illusion. Such an arrangement—whereby private entities, at the behest of the government, become ideological enforcers—is unacceptable. And it may be illegal.

Read the whole piece—"How the CDC Became the Speech Police"—here.


FREE MINDS

Federal appeals court judges seemed skeptical of the government's claims regarding FOSTA. The Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act (FOSTA), passed in 2018, criminalizes owning, managing, or operating an "interactive computer service" with "the intent to promote or facilitate the prostitution of another person." U.S. attorneys say this doesn't target protected speech, but illegal conduct—that it is essentially a law against aiding and abetting prostitution or sex trafficking. But at a hearing last week, judges with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit didn't seem to be buying the government's logic:

"In my mind, it's not an aiding-and-abetting law. We know how to write 'em when we want to," Harry Edwards, one of the three judges on the panel, said during the hearing. "This doesn't look like anything that I understand to be an aiding-and-abetting law."

"That immediately tells me the government's got great concern that the statute, as actually written, has problems—so let's make it something that it's not," Edwards continued. He characterized U.S. attorneys' reasoning as "let's call it aiding and abetting, and maybe we can cause the court to believe that the reach of the statute is limited because we've called it something that it's not."

("We disagree with the position you just laid out, that this is not an aiding-and-abetting statute," a lawyer for the government responded.)…

Judge Patricia Millett pushed back on the government's claims that FOSTA didn't criminalize advocating for legal prostitution.

"If someone actively promotes on their website the legalization of prostitution…how is that not [promoting prostitution]?" she asked.

"Because it's just promoting prostitution in general, as a concept," a U.S. attorney replied.

"No, it's not," Millett interrupted. "It says, I want—here's all my friends who are prostitutes…here's 20 of them, I want to make it legal for them to engage in prostitution.…How does that not promote the prostitution [of another person]?"

Reason talked last week to one of the lawyers for the team challenging FOSTA in court. Read more from that interview here.


FREE MARKETS

An emergency hearing yesterday sought to stop Illinois' ban on assault weapons from taking effect. More from WLS Chicago:

At least three lawsuits have already been filed, with the latest one from the Illinois State Rifle Association. They are the first legal oppositions to Illinois' new ban on assault weapons.

The first two suits were filed in state court. This latest challenge to the state's assault weapons ban was filed in federal court by the Illinois State Rifle Association.

In the Effingham County case, the attorney said his lawsuit is more so about the way this law was adopted, saying it is unconstitutional

The suit was filed by Tom DeVore, last year's Republican nominee for Illinois attorney general, on behalf of hundreds of plaintiffs.

He's also seeking an immediate temporary restraining order.

The hearing yesterday was in the DeVore case.


QUICK HITS

Former Trump OMB Director, Mick Mulvaney, to @thedispatch: "The truth of the matter is that the first two years of the Trump administration, when the Republicans had the House and the Senate, we raised spending faster than the last couple of years of the Obama administration." https://t.co/he0QDOEkSH

— Stephen Hayes (@stephenfhayes) January 18, 2023

• "The U.S. is gearing up to announce a major new weapons package for Ukraine on Friday," Politico reports. "While the next tranche will include additional artillery, ammunition and armor — likely Stryker armored combat vehicles — the U.S. is not expected to sign off on American M1 Abrams tanks, said the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the talks ahead of an announcement."

• A measure under consideration in Montana "would interpret the state's constitutional right to privacy to mean that it does not protect the right to an abortion, a move that would echo others in several states to severely restrict or ban abortion."

• "Can the Fourth Amendment survive digital surveillance?" TechFreedom's Corbin Barthold asks.

• Mother Jones looks at "how a notorious jail failed a disabled transgender inmate."

• "Whether a person is a 'noncitizen' will now be printed on driver's licenses and state IDs under a controversial law that was just signed by Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine," reports the Ohio Capital Journal.

• On taking detransitioners seriously.

Start your day with Reason. Get a daily brief of the most important stories and trends every weekday morning when you subscribe to Reason Roundup.

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NEXT: Inside the Facebook Files: Emails Reveal the CDC's Role in Silencing COVID-19 Dissent

Elizabeth Nolan Brown is a senior editor at Reason.

Reason RoundupCoronavirusCDCSocial MediaFree SpeechCensorshipFirst AmendmentMisinformationInternetTechnologyFacebookCivil LibertiesPublic HealthPandemic
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  1. Fist of Etiquette   2 years ago

    For years, various branches and levels of the federal government tried their darndest to grab more control of what could be said on social media.

    And from that recently we all got a safe and effective something or other that didn't need to be examined with a critical eye.

    1. Fist of Etiquette   2 years ago

      The sour fruits of that remain today, as the Overton window remains mostly fixed firmly in place.

      1. JenniferGriffin   2 years ago (edited)

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    2. Nardz   2 years ago (edited)

      Oops

      1. KristenAvila   2 years ago (edited)

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    3. Earth-based Human Skeptic   2 years ago

      And Reason endorsed this, because mean tweets.

  2. Fist of Etiquette   2 years ago

    ...the first two years of the Trump administration, when the Republicans had the House and the Senate, we raised spending faster than the last couple of years of the Obama administration.

    But it was raised for the right reasons.

    1. JesseAz   2 years ago

      ENB and Hayes are trying to be clever here or just ignorant. The president who starts 2016 did not sign the 2016 budget, it is done the year prior. Obama signed FY16 spending.

      https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/12/18/460281572/congress-sends-1-8-trillion-tax-and-spending-bill-to-president-obama

      But they apply that budget raising to Trump who had zero say in it. They did the same thing with FY09 where they tried to blame FY09 but in that case Bush actually refused to sign it and Obama signed it.

      Likewise many of the programs signed under Obama were analyzed for only a decade under CBO cost estimates. Reid and Pelosi always gamed their bills to explode after Obama left office, ACA being a prime example of it.

      I dont think ENB is intelligent enough to understand it, but Hayes used to.

      1. Mother's Lament   2 years ago

        I dont think ENB is intelligent enough to understand it."

        I think she does. It's more about a lack of honesty and devotion to her narratives.

        Buttplug often deliberately pulls the same thing with the 2021 budget.

      2. Quicktown Brix   2 years ago

        The claim still holds up if you start Trump in FY 2018.

        https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/statistics/data/federal-budget-receipts-and-outlays

        1. JesseAz   2 years ago

          I'm commenting 0m their use of incorrect budget years. If they were honest with the years I wouldn't care. Trump overspend with his budgets.

          But they focused on trump with GOP control, which was not the case for 2018. Their assertion was wrong. You dont have to defend incorrect statements by inserting a new statement.

          1. Quicktown Brix   2 years ago

            Where did they specify the budget years?

            It seems to me like you're saying, you can't count FY 2016 because that's Obama. You can't count FY 2018 because GOP lost the House. You can't have it both ways.

            1. Commenter_XY   2 years ago

              2017, by process of elimination.

            2. JesseAz   2 years ago

              Did you read the actual tweet?

              first two years of the Trump administration,

              1. Quicktown Brix   2 years ago

                Yep. I read that. "the first two years of the Trump administration, when the Republicans had the House and the Senate"

                It's vague, but to me it means the 2 years that Trump and the GOP were responsible for the budget

                Either way, even with your nitpick, it remains true.

          2. DesigNate   2 years ago

            But the GOP would have set the first two years of budgets, setting 2017’s and 2018’s, since they controlled the House in 2016 and 2017 respectively.

            Either way, it’s still fucking stupid to blame spending on the President and not the Speaker.

    2. Mike Laursen   2 years ago

      So Trump could put his name on the bottom of the checks.

      1. Earth-based Human Skeptic   2 years ago

        Did you throw yours away?

      2. Mike Laursen   2 years ago

        I see my new gray-boxes BFF is gnat biting at my comments. Don’t you have something better to do?

  3. Chumby   2 years ago

    Fire the CDC staff that engaged with this. Just following orders doesn’t cut it. Place their accrued pensions into a victim compensation fund.

    1. HorseConch   2 years ago

      A multi-million strong workforce of overpaid, mostly useless assholes doesn't typically result in positive outcomes.

    2. Earth-based Human Skeptic   2 years ago

      Just fire them? How about at least a Nuremberg show trial, perhaps followed by exile?

      1. Hank Ferrous   2 years ago (edited)

        The negative side effects of the ‘safe and effective’ vaccines that was and are being tested on the populace are too severe for exile to be commensurate as punishment. Since the progressives are open-minded and multicultural, and ‘out’ betters, perhaps a punishment to fit the crime chosen at random from another culture?

        1. Earth-based Human Skeptic   2 years ago

          Can't do that, because appropriation. But we can choose an interesting punishment from each convicts heritage.

  4. Fist of Etiquette   2 years ago

    An emergency hearing yesterday sought to stop Illinois' ban on assault weapons from taking effect.

    The Supreme Court has certainly settled that right.

  5. JesseAz   2 years ago

    Farms looking at masks and diapers on cows for climate change.

    https://www.foxnews.com/media/farmer-speaks-out-against-forcing-cows-wear-diapers-contain-methane-emissions-loony-town

    1. Idaho Bob   2 years ago (edited)

      Clown world.

      People who’ve never raised livestock showing their idiocy.

      Waiting for the “safe and effective” argument in 3,2,1…

      1. TheReEncogitationer   2 years ago

        Well, it Depends...
        😉

        Thank you, Chubby and Utkanos for giving me the courage to initiate a groaner pun! 🙂

        1. Utkonos   2 years ago

          Diaper puns will soon need to be put out to pasture. Meanwhile can keep Biden our time.

    2. Sometimes a Great Notion   2 years ago

      But its the Mormon's who are strange with their magic underwear religion.

      So I look into it and perhaps art means something different in the UK, but the brain trust behind that is the Royal College of Art and the Prince of Wales (Charles).

      1. TheReEncogitationer   2 years ago

        But its the Mormon’s who are strange with their magic underwear religion.

        It's a case of Both/And, not Either/Or. The bicycle boys are just skinny cattle who roam around neighborhoods.
        🙂

    3. Earth-based Human Skeptic   2 years ago

      Just a natural outgrowth of masks and diapers on people for social change.

    4. Red Rocks White Privilege   2 years ago

      Looking forward to the Great Pacific Diaper Patch to crop up.

      1. Utkonos   2 years ago

        Great. Another lobby to pamper.

  6. JesseAz   2 years ago

    San Francisco is up to 5 million per black identifying citizen. Do I have a 6 million?

    https://nypost.com/2023/01/16/sf-reparations-panel-proposes-5m-lump-sum-payment-to-eligible-residents/

    1. Derp-o-Matic 6000   2 years ago

      Does shitting on a sidewalk count as being a citizen there?

    2. Idaho Bob   2 years ago

      Identifying as black...

      I'm all in.

      1. Illocust   2 years ago

        With 5 million on the line, you'd be stupid not to as a California resident.

        1. Jerry B.   2 years ago

          I identify as a Black California resident. That should be good enough for any Progressive. Just send the check to my vacation home in Virginia.

          1. MK Ultra   2 years ago

            I'd imagine that DC will try to one-up San Francisco on this, so you could double-dip close to home.

    3. Earth-based Human Skeptic   2 years ago

      I assume that SFC will have to print their own currency to pay out these reparations. What can you buy with a Pelosi buck?

      1. Sometimes a Great Notion   2 years ago

        Ice cream?

        1. Sevo   2 years ago

          A gay hooker for Paul?

          1. JoyBradley   2 years ago (edited)

            I am making $92 an hour working from home. I never imagined that it was honest to goodness yet my closest companion is earning $16,000 a month by working on a laptop, that was truly astounding for me, she prescribed for me to attempt it simply. Everybody must try this job now by just using this website. http://Www.workstar24.com

          2. InsaneTrollLogic   2 years ago

            He just picks those off the street for free.

            1. Super Scary   2 years ago

              Or after getting him home, stiffs him (giggity) and has the cops drag the guy out of his house. That's pretty much free, right?

      2. TheReEncogitationer   2 years ago

        Botox?

  7. JesseAz   2 years ago

    Shocking everyone, free lunch programs have massive fraud.

    https://justthenews.com/nation/states/center-square/chicago-schools-audit-reports-widespread-fraud-free-lunch-program

    1. A Thinking Mind   2 years ago

      There's no such thing as a free lunch.

      1. Jerry B.   2 years ago

        “If you kids don’t get out and campaign for Mayor Lightfoot, there’ll be no free lunch, and worse social studies grades.”

    2. Earth-based Human Skeptic   2 years ago

      Fraud in Chicago? Who could have predicted that?

      1. Derp-o-Matic 6000   2 years ago

        My faith in the integrity of the Chicago government and its officers is deeply shaken.

        1. InsaneTrollLogic   2 years ago

          "I'm shocked! Shocked to find that gambling is going on in here."

      2. Chumby   2 years ago

        Paging Rod Blagojevich

  8. Fist of Etiquette   2 years ago

    The U.S. is gearing up to announce a major new weapons package for Ukraine on Friday...

    The Big Guy has some national security legal defense to pay for.

    1. Chumby   2 years ago

      Germany indicated it won’t transfer tanks until the US does.

      1. Don't look at me!   2 years ago

        Tanks, but no tanks.

      2. JesseAz   2 years ago

        https://www.politico.com/news/2023/01/05/biden-ukraine-bradley-vehicles-tanks-00076549

        1. Chumby   2 years ago

          The tanks part was the US pushing Germany ti transfer its Leopards to Kiev. Germany balked.

        2. Earth-based Human Skeptic   2 years ago

          Serious question: to what extent are battle tanks obsolete, or at least not cost-effective (in dollars or combat measures)?

          1. Chumby   2 years ago

            I think mechanized armor folks will drone on how they are still great but…
            Cheap, easy to manufacture drones are causing militaries to reevaluate how important tanks are. Should a naval battle break out between the US and Russia or with China, and the latter two’s hypersonic missiles work as advertised, folks will revisit whether trillion dollar navies are useful against first world nations. That is a big if.

            1. rbike   2 years ago

              As having a son in the naval reserves, I selfishly do not want to find this out.

            2. Hank Ferrous   2 years ago

              I have a fairly amusing anecdote: I was attached as Infantry round-out to an RC Armor unit on their 1st deployment, headed to Ar Ramadi back when it was purported to be the most dangerous place on the planet. There were some printed single-sheet 'how-to' flyers, paper & digital, showing the mobility and catastrophic kill kill strike points on the Abrams tank floating around Iraq. The wet eyes and quivering lips were both educational and entertaining, to say the least, from a group that referred to anybody not in a tank as crunchies.

              1. Quicktown Brix   2 years ago

                "a group that referred to anybody not in a tank as crunchies."

                OK. That's a good one.

      3. Utkonos   2 years ago

        You know who else sent German tanks into Ukraine?

        1. TheReEncogitationer   2 years ago

          Putin? (It wouldn't surprise me. A lot of Putin's munitions in Ukraine are ground score.)

  9. Derp-o-Matic 6000   2 years ago

    Inside the CDC's Campaign To Police COVID Speech

    Two years too late, sweetie

    1. rev-arthur-l-kuckland   2 years ago

      Did ENB get whiplash from yesterday saying there is no bias at Google and the gov saying there was no interference?

      1. Mother's Lament   2 years ago

        It has to be hard juggling all of those paradoxical narratives in your head.

        1. Hank Ferrous   2 years ago

          I don't think so, deeply religious cult followers are known for a lifestyle centered around cognitive dissonance, the ability to shift & deny their own arguments, quickly reject any information that calls into question a tenet of their worldview. It can be seen in most of the left-leaning/progressive commentariat here and at volokh, not merely the reasonmag staff.

    2. Á àß äẞç ãþÇđ âÞ¢Đæ ǎB€Ðëf ảhf   2 years ago

      Sure makes one wonder what caused this sudden enlightenment. I don't buy the idea that ENB, Soave, et al are Democratic moles, but I sure do understand why some think it plausible. Then there's the idea that TDS blinded them all, bolstered by the speed with which they all condemned Musk for buying Twitter, releasing all those damning messages from the government masters, and reviving all those banned accounts, including Trump.

      I really don't know. I just know that Reason has no more credibility with me. Everything they do now, I look at through x-ray glasses. It will take years to earn back any credibility, and articles like this are barely better than the last 6 years.

      1. Earth-based Human Skeptic   2 years ago

        TDS? For sure.
        Left-libertarian bias? No doubt.
        Directives from Reason overlords? Probably

        1. Mother's Lament   2 years ago (edited)

          “Left-libertarian bias”

          But it’s not even left-libertarian. There are hundreds of left-wing journalists, opinion makers and polemicists who have recognized the problem and are battling it. Weiss, Weinstein, Brand, Taibbi, Peterson, Rogan, Greenwald, Robbins, etc.

          It’s more like bien-pensant, blue-bubble bias.

          1. Hank Ferrous   2 years ago

            Agreed. It is possible for leftist views to overlap with libertarian views, but this almost never happens here.

          2. Bill Dalasio   2 years ago

            I'm going to have to say "I told you so" to some here. When the idea of "thick libertarianism" was being shopped around, I warned this was the outcome. If "libertarianism" is about things other than individual liberty, it was a fait accompli that liberty was going to become only one of a number of competing values in the resulting ideology. And for writers steeped in urban cosmopolitan culture, liberty was inevitably going to become a lower priority than urban cosmopolitanism. Let's face it, a principled, uncompromising, stand on behalf of liberty is only going to mean awkward social encounters and missed career opportunities. Why go with that when you can make it about pot, food trucks, and how awesome prostitutes are?

            1. DesigNate   2 years ago

              Prostitutes ARE awesome and here’s why:

              https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=77rJ8VLj2-c

              1. Chumby   2 years ago

                It is ok to date a stripper provided she leaves her gimmick at work.

  10. JesseAz   2 years ago (edited)

    Stephen Hayes @stephenfhayes · Follow Former Trump OMB Director, Mick Mulvaney, to @thedispatch: “The truth of the matter is that the first two years of the Trump administration, when the Republicans had the House and the Senate, we raised spending faster than the last couple of years of the Obama administration.”

    https://www.investors.com/news/obamacare-subsidies-to-explode-as-cheapest-bronze-plan-costs-surge-28/

    Much of which was the planned growth of ACA. This was known since the law was passed. Weird it wasn’t mentioned.

    1. Mother's Lament   2 years ago

      Yes, but the narrative.

  11. InsaneTrollLogic   2 years ago

    Illinois again says, "hold my beer".

    https://www.zerohedge.com/personal-finance/illinois-newest-suicide-attempt-wealth-tax-legislation-be-introduced-week

    Details are still thin, but the Washington Post reports that Illinois’ proposal will be for a tax on wealthy people’s holdings, or so-called “mark-to-market” taxes on their unrealized capital gains. That means, for example, that you could be taxed on what the value is of a stock at some given time, regardless of whether you later sell it for a loss.

    And....

    In other news, a leading Illinois state senator says he will rekindle efforts for a graduated income tax, which was defeated at the polls in 2020. When it comes to their role in Illinois’ suicide, progressive legislators are nothing if not persistent.

    1. Don't look at me!   2 years ago

      The road to prosperity is paved with higher taxes.

      1. Earth-based Human Skeptic   2 years ago

        But only on the right people.

    2. Derp-o-Matic 6000   2 years ago

      Will they get to claim losses when stocks drop in a given year?

    3. JasonAZ   2 years ago (edited)

      Many of the wealthy people in Chicago are leaving, along with their businesses. What should we do?

      Dems: Let’s tax their wealth!

      Me: Hmmm. 40% of zero is zero. If you chase off wealthy people that contribute to your state, how is that helping your economy. And let's not forget, CA and IL, both of which are floating this idea, have massive state governments, beyond the average.

  12. Fist of Etiquette   2 years ago

    ...the U.S. is not expected to sign off on American M1 Abrams tanks...

    Suddenly General Dynamics doesn't need money?

    1. Spiritus Mundi   2 years ago

      They make the Stryker, probably has higher margins.

  13. InsaneTrollLogic   2 years ago

    And just where did this money disappear to?

    https://www.zerohedge.com/crypto/ftx-says-413-million-worth-cryptocurrency-was-stolen-failed-exchange

    In a report to creditors on Jan. 17, the company said that FTX debtors have identified approximately $1.6 billion of digital assets associated with FTX.com, of which $323 million of which was “subject to unauthorized third-party transfers” and $426 million of which was “transferred to cold storage under the control of the Securities Commission of The Bahamas.”

    1. CelestineRichards   2 years ago (edited)

      If you were looking for a way to earn some extra income every week… Look no more!!!! Here is a great opportunity for everyone to make $95/per hour by working in your free time on your computer from home… I’ve been doing this for 6 months now and last month i’ve earned my first five-figure paycheck ever!!!!

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  14. Fist of Etiquette   2 years ago

    Can the Fourth Amendment survive digital surveillance?

    Ha. It didn't survive a dog's nose.

    1. Idaho Bob   2 years ago

      Damn, that was good.

      1. Earth-based Human Skeptic   2 years ago

        (golf clap)

    2. TheReEncogitationer   2 years ago

      It shouldn't happen to a dog.

    3. DesigNate   2 years ago

      Savage. And I’m totally stealing this for future use.

  15. sarcasmic   2 years ago

    It is so outrageous that Reason is showing outrage after facts and proof were known! The fact that they didn't show outrage when there was no proof is proof that they were never outraged in the first place!

    Did I get that right?

    1. Don't look at me!   2 years ago

      Poor sarc.

      1. Chumby   2 years ago

        sarc doesn’t call the fire department until after the building has been burned down for two years. Until then, he will maintain that the building is not and was never on fire.

        1. Derp-o-Matic 6000   2 years ago

          Well, the arsonist didn't run a story about the building burning, so any rube claiming otherwise is just part of the Inferno Cult

        2. JesseAz   2 years ago

          Very apt analogy. Sarc would have been one of the catholic members burning copernicus at the stake then claiming he was still right to do so after more evidence came out, claiming nobody could have known. Except the burned guy.

          1. Don't look at me!   2 years ago

            Fuck that burned guy for not following the science.

          2. Mother's Lament   2 years ago

            Well ackshually, Copernicus was sponsored by the Roman church, dedicated his seminal work on heliocentrism "De revolutionibus orbium coelestium" to the Pope, and was buried in Frombork Cathedral, after he died peacefully an old man.

            Sarc would have been one of the drunken SA Brownshirts smashing windows on Kristallnacht and then saying decades later, "how were we to know they weren't social parasites? We worked with the evidence available at the time."

            1. TheReEncogitationer   2 years ago

              "Seminal work?". They didn't have ink back then? 😉

              1. Mother's Lament   2 years ago

                What would you pay for a world changing scientific theory, dedicated to the pope, and written in splooge?

                1. TheReEncogitationer   2 years ago

                  Aw, just fuckin' with ya, Fish Boy. 😉

                  If someone came to me with such a document, I would automatically know it was a very dumb forgery.

                  Because in real life, the Pope would have first burned the document as Heresy, Blasphemy, Simony (if done on Church stationery,) Fruits of the Deadly Sin of Lust, and a whole bunch of other "sins."

                  Then the Pope would have used the embers to burn Copernicus as what Phil Hendrie called a "Spooooooge Demon!"
                  🙂

                  Then I would turn in the perp, use HAZMAT gloves to give the document to Ossifer Friendly, and if the perp's own spooge DNA is on the document, the case is as open-and-shut as a cream pie.
                  😉

                  And no reward would be requested or needed. Just doing my part to end religious phlegm-flammery and crushing the seeds of crime would be enough.
                  🙂

    2. Derp-o-Matic 6000   2 years ago

      Reason staff was either contributing to the problem or too stupid/lazy to bother doing an iota of investigative journalism to expose (or disprove) what was obvious to many observers.

      1. sarcasmic   2 years ago

        I see. They should have done their investigation before there were any facts to investigate.

        1. Don't look at me!   2 years ago

          Facts always exist.

          1. mad.casual   2 years ago

            No, no. The facts didn't exist until the emails came out. Zuck, Dorsey, Gadde, the Barrington folks, Malone... it was all just imaginary with no facts to discover until the emails came out. Joe Rogan interviewing everyone first hand wasn't a comedian/UFC commentator out-journalisming actual journalists, it was just a right-wing nutjob giving platform to conspiracy-theory mongering.

            1. sarcasmic   2 years ago

              Great point. Good journalists act on hearsay instead of waiting for facts.

              1. Chumby   2 years ago

                Good journalists investigate leads instead of repeating a narrative provided by known bad actors.

                1. mad.casual   2 years ago

                  Or even just talk with people about grievances or conflicts because they're journalists with interests trying to inform the public, not lawyers or cops waiting for their turn for sarcasmic to fellate them.

                  1. sarcasmic   2 years ago

                    When did you fall on your head? You used to, well, not be stupid. If you're saying I've got a thing for cops and lawyers then your brain is definitely broken. When did it happen? Last year? Year before? How long did you spend in the hospital? How many IQ points did you lose?

                    1. Mother's Lament   2 years ago (edited)

                      “Good journalists act on hearsay instead of waiting for facts.”

                      You insinuate good journalists don’t act off tips, and then have the guts to call mad.casual retarded?
                      What the fuck do you think investigative journalism is all about, you drunken tool.

                      It’s discovering facts that others want well hidden. And you start by investigating tips, rumors, innuendo and you go from there.

                      It’s not about reading off “facts” from a government press release.

                    2. JesseAz   2 years ago

                      You do love the Capitol officers for killing the maga white savior.

              2. Don't look at me!   2 years ago

                Good journalism looks for facts, not waiting for them.

              3. mad.casual   2 years ago (edited)

                Again, I’m not a conspiracy theorist, I’m a “You don't know what ‘first hand’, ‘hearsay’, or ‘facts’ means and it’s obvious” theorist.

                1. sarcasmic   2 years ago

                  Ad hominem for the win!

                  1. mad.casual   2 years ago

                    Factual and not hearsay no less!

                  2. Mother's Lament   2 years ago

                    For the thousandth time, you idiotic fuck, how is that "Ad hominem"?

                    Are you just being deliberately retarded to get a rise out of us?

                    1. JesseAz   2 years ago

                      No. He is that retarded.

                  3. Pepin the short   2 years ago

                    You stupid homeless weasel

                    1. sarcasmic   2 years ago

                      Maybe you wouldn't mumble as much if you took my dick out of your mouth.

              4. Its_Not_Inevitable   2 years ago

                Good journalists dig up the facts. What's this "waiting for" shit? Police blotter reporting?

                1. Mike Laursen   2 years ago

                  I don't think sarcasmic was emphasizing waiting, but trying to say journalists shouldn't jump the gun before they have actual facts.

                  1. sarcasmic   2 years ago

                    Reason has it backwards. You're supposed to come up with a conclusion and then find facts to back it up.

                    Instead they have the audacity to wait for facts and then come up with a conclusion!

                    Can you imagine that?

                    1. Don't look at me!   2 years ago

                      Instead they have the audacity to wait for facts ..

                      You don’t wait for facts, you go find them!

              5. Mike Laursen   2 years ago

                Good polemicists do. And polemicism is what a lot of commenters here want from Reason.

                1. Don't look at me!   2 years ago

                  Beyond hope.

                2. DesigNate   2 years ago

                  No, we want investigative journalist who do more than take government mouthpieces at their word.

                  I swear to science, if superheroes gave this much benefit of the doubt to supervillains, they’d all be murdered in their sleep.

        2. JesseAz   2 years ago

          How did so many people know about it if the facts didn't exist? Facts came out in the Berenson lawsuit. The fucking government admitted to it dozens of times.

          Just because your a leftist narrative pushing retard doesn't mean there were no facts. Fauci/Brix both said they were working with social media. California democrats bragged about a back door to Silicon Valley.

          These facts always existed dumbfuck.

        3. Earth-based Human Skeptic   2 years ago

          How about Reason staff follow a libertarian bias, and always suspect that government is up to no good?

        4. DesigNate   2 years ago

          Not to pile on but,

          1. The facts were there all along, they just weren’t publicly available yet. (If you ignore Psaki admitting on live tv that they were flagging “disinfo” for Twitter and Facebook to remove.)

          2. Investigative Journalism is all about chasing down leads based on hunches and hearsay to dig out the truth.

    3. JesseAz   2 years ago

      Once again. The facts were already there you retarded shit. There was plenty of evidence around, thats how people in these very comments knew about it. Multiple monitoring groups tested and found the blocking and censorship. While you were busy pushing leftist narratives in defense of it, others were discussing it.

      It is amazing how much you claimed was a conspiracy is correct now isnt it?

      Not everyone is a narrative pusher like you. Just because you chose to be retarded and not take 5 minutes to investigate something doesn't mean the evidence wasn't there. You just ignored it and attacked those who didn't.

    4. damikesc   2 years ago

      ....now do Russiagate.

      ...or Blasey-Ford.

      1. sarcasmic   2 years ago

        I know it. Reason should stop waiting for facts and proof and just run with whatever they feel.

        1. Chumby   2 years ago

          They should be journalists and ask the questions instead of blindly following a government fed narrative that the majority of the commentariat could smell from a mile away. Simping ≠ journalism.

          1. mad.casual   2 years ago

            I'm not a conspiracy theorist, I'm a 'the facts we have don't add up and it's obvious' theorist.

            At some point in history, the latter was known as an "investigative journalist" or "detective".

            1. sarcasmic   2 years ago

              The latter says "This smells fishy" and then looks for fish. They don't declare that there is a fish and then go looking for it.

              1. Chumby   2 years ago

                simpgasmic still carrying the water for the lies. The message was suspicious and the messengers were not credible.

              2. Don't look at me!   2 years ago

                Poor sarc.

              3. mad.casual   2 years ago

                And a good propagandist says, "I don't smell any fish, you're crazy."

                A bad propagandist or even just generally bad human says, "There aren't any fish.", "What's a fish?", and "I'm going to need to see emails proving the existence of alleged 'fish' before I'll believe any actually exist."

                1. sarcasmic   2 years ago

                  Meanwhile Reason, what you call a leftist propaganda machine, did some pretty good digging into the CDC policing speech. That's proof right there that they're all leftists, right?

                  1. Don't look at me!   2 years ago

                    Cite?

                    1. JesseAz   2 years ago

                      Reason did zero digging. They waited for the facts to be too loud and insurmountable and then tacitly acknowledged them.

                2. Hank Ferrous   2 years ago

                  You could add: 'Are you a marine biologist? No, then you aren't qualified to have an opinion on fish.' 'I am not a marine biologist, but my unrelated degree in X gives me relevant expertise to determine there are no fish.' 'I just read a short article about fish written at the 6 grade level, so my piscine expertise informs me that there are no fish.' 'You smell fish, you are a racist, sexist, homophobic, transphobic piece of filth.' 'The suggestion of fish being present is a QAnon/Russian conspiracy theory propagated by the alt-right/white supremacists/trump followers. 'Russia!' 'It's trump's fault.'

                  1. mad.casual   2 years ago

                    Do the alleged fish carry fish membership cards and elect leadership, otherwise, how are we to know what's a fish, what's a school, and what's just flotsam and jetsam ambling about in the ocean?

                    This could go on forever...

                    1. Utkonos   2 years ago

                      And it will if we don’t scale it down.

                    2. Chumby   2 years ago

                      Folks may continue to carp about it from on their high perch.

                3. MK Ultra   2 years ago

                  There is a hockey rink/ice fishing/God joke there.

          2. Earth-based Human Skeptic   2 years ago

            See my comment above. Some of us might expect "libertarian" journalists to operate under a bias the always suspects government.

        2. Don't look at me!   2 years ago

          Or maybe look into things.

        3. Spiritus Mundi   2 years ago

          Like nuclear secrets at mar-a-lago or Russian collusion? How about Kavanaugh rape rooms? Jessie Smollet attack? Reason often runs with feelings over facts.

          1. sarcasmic   2 years ago (edited)

            Because giving opinion on existing news and conducting in depth investigations are the same thing. Roger that.

            1. JesseAz   2 years ago

              Goalposts moved. Now it is just opinion when opening on false narratives beneficial to the left like Kavanaugh.

            2. A Thinking Mind   2 years ago

              So sometimes they can give an opinion based on what other people are saying, but other times, they really shouldn't acknowledge what other people are saying, and hold their opinions until facts come out. But which stories they choose to comment on, and which stories they ignore until more is learned, do not indicate any manner of bias whatsoever.

              So true! Thanks, Sarc.

              1. sarcasmic   2 years ago

                But which stories they choose to comment on, and which stories they ignore until more is learned, do not indicate any manner of bias whatsoever.

                Ah yes. The bleating refrain of "They didn't do this, therefore this is what they believe!"

                1. A Thinking Mind   2 years ago

                  Imagine you're with extended family for a holiday get-together. One of your cousins or nieces brings their new puppy, and one brings their new infant. If you spend a ton of time petting, playing with, and talking about the puppy but completely ignoring the infant and refusing to say anything about it, do you expect people not to notice the disparity?

                  1. sarcasmic   2 years ago

                    That has got to be one of the dumbest analogies I've ever seen in my life. Seriously.

                    A better one would be we're at the dinner table with family having a civil discussion when you start screaming at me "Why aren't you talking about XYZ? That means you believe ABC! Fuck you! Die in a fire! I don't care what you say now, you said it all when you didn't say anything! Aaaauuugghhh!" and everyone with a brain looks at you like you're fucking nuts.

                    1. Super Scary   2 years ago

                      "That has got to be one of the dumbest analogies I’ve ever seen in my life. Seriously."

                      Well I dunno, maybe try out your sports team one again?

                  2. Mike Laursen   2 years ago

                    I'd be concerned about the self esteem and mental health of any parents who noticed or gave a shit.

                    1. sarcasmic   2 years ago

                      Aye.

            3. Chumby   2 years ago

              WTf? Maybe Colt 45 does make 80-ounce bottles.

              1. Sevo   2 years ago

                Chugging a couple of 40s will do.

                1. InsaneTrollLogic   2 years ago

                  Double fisted, one for each hand.

        4. damikesc   2 years ago

          They should consistently do one or the other.

          1. sarcasmic   2 years ago

            Maybe so. But this whole "Nobody's allowed to change their minds as the facts evolve, that's dishonest!" shtick is tiresome, mendacious, and retarded, just like the people pushing it.

            1. Don't look at me!   2 years ago

              Facts don’t “evolve”.

              1. Chumby   2 years ago

                Neither does sarc’s failed attempts at sobriety.

            2. damikesc   2 years ago

              Nobody outside of you is saying that. It's just being noted that they are awfully careful to double check all sources if it impacts Democrats and substantially less careful in doing so with anything involving anybody with a tertiary connection to Trump.

              1. sarcasmic   2 years ago

                Got another news source that has delved into the CDC policing speech deeper than Robby?

                I mean looking at actual facts. Not just "He said she said."

                1. Nobartium   2 years ago

                  The Twitter files exist, provided directly by the owner.

                  Bury your head harder.

                  1. Mike Laursen   2 years ago (edited)

                    The Twitter files have to be just about the most incoherent method Elon Musk could have used to release that information.

                    And not optimally transparent. It would have been much better if he had released the files to all journalists. But one suspects he wanted to drive traffic to Twitter.

                    1. Chumby   2 years ago

                      When WaPo used to do journalism and they broke a story, did they first share it with NYT et. al.?

                2. JesseAz   2 years ago

                  The berenson lawsuit dumbfuck.

                  1. DesigNate   2 years ago

                    Didn’t Greenwald try digging into it prior to the Twitter files being released?

                    1. JesseAz   2 years ago

                      Yeap. Plus all the open admissions from politicians.

            3. JesseAz   2 years ago

              Do you actually think you're the moral and intelligent one on this discussion? Talk about delusion.

            4. Spiritus Mundi   2 years ago

              Problem is Reason changes their principles not just their opinion based on those involved and as new facts come out. Cf Sullum on classified documents Trump v Biden and the 'Private Company' canard on social media bias/censorship.

              1. EISTAU Gree-Vance   2 years ago

                A couple weeks ago when that football player had a heart attack the morning links promptly ran a story about “misinformation on vaccines and athlete deaths”, or something like that.

                I don’t normally trash the writers here, but I just thought that would’ve been a good one to wait on. 6 months from now, the way things are going, that might not age well.

        5. Derp-o-Matic 6000   2 years ago

          I know it. Reason should stop waiting for facts and proof

          Agreed. True journalists obediently regurgitate press releases from the White House and the FBI without inquiry or critical analysis

          1. sarcasmic   2 years ago

            Then I guess Reason isn't staffed by true journalists, because Robby's piece on the CDC is much more than regurgitated press releases.

            1. Derp-o-Matic 6000   2 years ago

              Two years too late

              1. sarcasmic   2 years ago

                Thank you for again proving the general retardation in these comments. You guys are angry at Reason for doing good journalism without liberal bias because they waited until they had actual information to report on. Unreal.

                1. JesseAz   2 years ago

                  You truly are too dumb to understand the issue here. You were wrong. Posters here were right. They had the same facts. Some acknowledged them, some preferred to ignore them.

                2. Mike Laursen   2 years ago

                  They also dislike that Reason has a calm, rational editorial style instead of engaging in passionate diatribes and condemnations.

                  1. sarcasmic   2 years ago

                    Tony believes that tax cuts equal giving money to the rich. Likewise cutting transfer payments equals robbing the poor. Not taking is giving, and not giving is taking.

                    These folks operate on similar illogic. A lack of outrage equals praise. A lack of praise equals outrage.

                    What you don't do is more important than what you do do.

                    The kicker is that they think it makes them clever.

                  2. JesseAz   2 years ago

                    Like with Kavanaugh or nuclear secrets at mar a Lago?

                    You two are quite ignorant.

        6. DesigNate   2 years ago

          damikesc’s post was pointing out they didn’t wait for the facts on “Russia collusion” OR the “credible” Blakey Ford.

  16. InsaneTrollLogic   2 years ago

    Creepy, Davos, but I repeat myself.

    https://www.zerohedge.com/political/corrupt-circle-jerk-select-human-beings-did-davosians-just-reach-peak-creepy

    During the day they listen to speeches about diversity, equality and inclusion, and then at night many of them pay young women to perform degrading sex acts. But since they have lots of money, they are able to pay the “sex workers” very well. Of course a lot of them flew into Davos on carbon-spewing private jets, but then they have the gall to lecture the rest of us about turning up our thermostats a little bit too much in the middle of the winter. Sadly, no matter what these elitists do, the mainstream media will continue to portray them as “saviors” that are justifiably telling the rest of us how to live our lives.

    1. Earth-based Human Skeptic   2 years ago

      Well, as long as those sex workers are not constrained by government regulation, right Reason?

      1. InsaneTrollLogic   2 years ago

        I've been a little surprised all week that ENB hasn't reported on the sex workers in Davos. It would seem to be right on her reporting beat here considering that she's reported on sex workers in other areas.

        1. Mother's Lament   2 years ago

          Isn't Koch at Davos? She wouldn't touch that with a ten foot pole.

  17. Fist of Etiquette   2 years ago

    Mother Jones looks at "how a notorious jail failed a disabled transgender inmate."

    MoJo at some point will exclusively report on government damages to trans POC's.

  18. InsaneTrollLogic   2 years ago

    Irish Covidiots.

    https://www.spiked-online.com/2023/01/19/irelands-covid-amnesia/

    The madness didn’t abate until late last January. Like some Victorian mesmerist, the Irish government relaxed most of Ireland’s Covid restrictions with a snap of its fingers and – voilà! – everyone snapped out of their trance.

    1. Don't look at me!   2 years ago

      It’s good to be a lemming.

      1. Earth-based Human Skeptic   2 years ago

        Ah, the Irish culture. Based on whisky, victimhood, and vindictive socialism.

        1. Chumby   2 years ago

          A 5 course Irish meal is a potato and a four pack of stout.

  19. Fist of Etiquette   2 years ago

    Whether a person is a 'noncitizen' will now be printed on driver's licenses and state IDs...

    They'll be caught when asked to show that ID at the polls!

    1. Minadin   2 years ago

      I've been asked to show photo ID at every polling place I've voted at for at least the last two decades.

      1. Don't look at me!   2 years ago

        Displaying your white privilege…

        1. mad.casual   2 years ago

          Of the 6-7 polling places I vote at every year, maybe half ask for ID. - Chicagoan

          1. Don't look at me!   2 years ago

            Dead Chicagoan.

      2. Spiritus Mundi   2 years ago

        I've never been asked for the last three decades.

    2. Jerry B.   2 years ago (edited)

      Always asked for ID at the polls in Virginia.

      And I’m in the liberal part.

  20. Fist of Etiquette   2 years ago

    On taking detransitioners seriously.

    Don't give the social contagion of detransitioning a platform!

    1. mad.casual   2 years ago

      I didn't look behind the paywall, but from the first two paragraphs, it looks like you don't have to worry. They talk about Chris Beck just long enough to relegate his detransitioning story to right-wing audiences and then segue to their academic expertise.

  21. mad.casual   2 years ago

    Mother Jones looks at "how a notorious jail failed a disabled transgender inmate."

    Man goes weeks with untreated gunshot wound. Mold growing everywhere. Prison without power for weeks. Transgender "woman" hardest hit.

    1. Don't look at me!   2 years ago

      Not enough menstruation products in stock?

      1. Hank Ferrous   2 years ago

        https://archive.ph/HhU71

        MDC has been known, speaking as an east coast punk rock, nyhc guy, for serious issues longer than idiot biden's political career. MJ can always be counted on for the most ignorant contrived victimhood take, Yes, the medical issues sternquist had were real. No, they were not a 'death sentence,' not does the horrific crime of being misgendered in the computer system stack up against other abuses found in this facility. This is risible, and sadly typical enb reasonmag fare. It is tangentially libertarian, bu there are greater violations to prisoner civil liberties at the MDC. Progressive vs libertarian thinking, demonstrated neatly.

        1. mad.casual   2 years ago (edited)

          Yes, the medical issues sternquist had were real.

          Disagree, Unclear. Did they have medical issues? Sure. Did they receive far less than top-notch care at MDC? Almost certainly. Other than that, their back was messed up and their plumbing, the parts they retained, didn’t work when they went in and being in prison didn’t heal them of their condition(s). “She” got an abrasion when a catheter got removed and had complications and an infection when a new one got inserted? Turns out CAUTIs are probably *the* most common nosocomial infections and if someone who uses a cane to walk gets confined to a bed because of a CAUTI, it’s harder for them to walk when they get out. Who, besides every hospital, assisted care living facility, personal nurse, or anyone who’s cared for an ill, elderly relative or neighbor, knew?

        2. MK Ultra   2 years ago

          Cro-Mags are playing the DC pizza joint (Comet Ping Pong) out of which Hillary Clinton was running that child slavery ring.
          I'm not sure that the venue understands what a true hardcore show is like, but my old ass will be in the back with my arms folded to see what happens.

      2. Social Justice is neither   2 years ago

        I guess that helps with the gunshot wound but how does it help with the trans care?

      3. mad.casual   2 years ago

        And, of course, the alleged victim is the peachiest of peaches:

        Although she has been charged only with violating Section 1017, the government has proffered that agents also recovered firearms during a search of her residence. These include two rifles that the government represents were fully automatic - that is, capable of shooting multiple rounds with a single trigger-pull. Gov't Letter Opposing Bail Package 3, ECF No. 26; Oral Argument held on Sept. 29, 2022. Given Sternquist's prior felony convictions, there is a strong likelihood that she will face substantial additional sentencing exposure under 18 U.S.C. § 922 or other provisions of Title 18.
        ...
        The Pretrial Services Report reveals Sternquist to have a substantial criminal history, including felony convictions for identity theft, carrying a concealed weapon, grand larceny, possession of stolen property, and possession of tools for forgery/counterfeiting. Sternquist also has a number of misdemeanor convictions. Pretrial Services also notes that Sternquist has a history of non-appearance and other noncompliance with court orders: the Richmond County Criminal Court issued a bench warrant for her arrest in 2007, and she violated the terms of her supervised release twice in the context of a prior federal case. The latter violation led a judge in the District of New Jersey to revoke her supervised release and to impose an additional term of incarceration in 2013. See Judgment in a Criminal Case, No. 3:10-CR-432-01 (D.N.J. Nov. 4, 2013), ECF No. 31.

        https://casetext.com/case/united-states-v-sternquist

        No word on the GSW victim or any crimes he/she may/may not have committed.

  22. Derp-o-Matic 6000   2 years ago

    There's been surprisingly little mention of Joe Biden's classified documents in the links this week, ENB....

    1. Don't look at me!   2 years ago

      Pictures of hunter driving the corvette that was in the “locked” garage.

      1. Ajsloss   2 years ago

        "Was his penis out?" -buttplug

      2. TrickyVic (old school)   2 years ago

        That's as far as his dad would let him take it.

    2. Chumby   2 years ago

      Elizabeth Nolan Brown Warren refrained from making it all about abortion so to boaf sidez it, the Biden stuff was expunged.

      1. mad.casual   2 years ago

        ^This guy gets it.

    3. A Thinking Mind   2 years ago

      That's a little bit disingenuous-she didn't do a Round-up on Monday and then had it in links on Tuesday. She's not ignoring it, but she's not giving the same attention you are. Other people at Reason are certainly covering it, though, so it's not like it's being buried.

      1. Mother's Lament   2 years ago

        "Other people at Reason are certainly covering it, though, so it’s not like it’s being buried."

        I've read those articles. They're mostly "both sides", "Republican's pounce" or "not good but the opposition exaggerated" pieces.
        A different sort of burying.

      2. JesseAz   2 years ago

        Reason is less interested than even the legacy mainstream media. Look at KJPs briefings.

  23. Fist of Etiquette   2 years ago

    During peak pandemic times, "the federal government shaped the rules of online discussion in unprecedented and unnerving ways..."

    Luckily for us our media class along with Hollywood influencers, known for speaking truth to power, pushed back against that authoritarianism.

    1. Don't look at me!   2 years ago

      No widespread censorship.

      1. Earth-based Human Skeptic   2 years ago

        No unofficial censorship.

  24. InsaneTrollLogic   2 years ago

    Democrat totalitarianism.

    https://nypost.com/2023/01/18/democrats-latest-attempt-to-use-a-white-supremacy-scare-to-crush-their-opposition/

    Democrats have moved from wanting to criminalize speech inciting violence to that “inspiring” violence because incitement has a higher standard of proof. Inspiring violence is indirect and unprovable, and Democrats want the American public to attribute equal malice to the people allegedly inspiring and the ones committing the violence.

    1. Derp-o-Matic 6000   2 years ago

      Does this include the Koran?

      1. Don't look at me!   2 years ago

        How about violent movies?

      2. mad.casual   2 years ago

        No discussions of CRT or transgender religious theory at school board meetings.

      3. Social Justice is neither   2 years ago

        Does that include BLM and DIE initiatives?

    2. TrickyVic (old school)   2 years ago

      Only for their political enemies.

      The dems have little problem with those who inspire violence on their team.

      Remember no civility until dems are elected?

      https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/nancy-pelosi-promises-no-civility-unless-democrats-win-the-midterm-elections

      https://reason.com/2018/10/11/hillary-clinton-says-democrats-cant-be-c/

      1. TrickyVic (old school)   2 years ago

        Also, I heard this quite a bit.

        Riots are the voice of the unheard.

    3. Fats of Fury   2 years ago

      Jackson Lee proves white supremacy every time she opens her yap.

    4. Derp-o-Matic 6000   2 years ago

      Case in point, Chinese-spy-fucker Swallowswell:

      https://www.breitbart.com/clips/2023/01/19/swalwell-mccarthys-criticism-of-me-inspires-death-threats/

  25. InsaneTrollLogic   2 years ago

    Lizard people.

    https://nypost.com/2023/01/18/elite-extraterrestrials-plot-in-davos-to-take-away-your-freedom/

    The star of the panel was New York Times publisher A.G. Sulzberger, who proclaimed that disinformation is the “most existential” of “every other major challenge that we are grappling with as a society.” Sulzberger boasted, “When we make mistakes, we acknowledge them in public and we correct them.” Except for RussiaGate, its 1619 Project fairy tale, and a few dozen other howlers. Former New York Times editor Jill Abramson slammed the Times for being part of the Davos “corrupt circle-jerk.”

    1. Earth-based Human Skeptic   2 years ago

      Please, bomb Davos while we have a chance.

  26. Sandra (formerly OBL)   2 years ago

    "The U.S. is gearing up to announce a major new weapons package for Ukraine on Friday," Politico reports.

    As long as American soldiers aren't dying in Ukraine, it seems like this can continue indefinitely. Like the US could keep spending billions on a proxy war for the next couple years and it wouldn't even be a major issue in the 2024 election.

    #BipartisanshipIsAwesome

    1. Don't look at me!   2 years ago

      What’s wrong with killing people?

      1. Earth-based Human Skeptic   2 years ago

        Especially with financial incentives.

    2. Derp-o-Matic 6000   2 years ago

      Biden did promise a return to normalcy

      1. Social Justice is neither   2 years ago (edited)

        Reason editors approve this message and specific context

    3. Spiritus Mundi   2 years ago

      Americans at home have been immune to the horrors of war since the Civil War. We mostly pay to keep the death and destruction someplace far away.

      1. I, Woodchipper   2 years ago

        "keep" and "cause" are two different things, friendo

        1. Earth-based Human Skeptic   2 years ago

          But only one is good for arms sales.

    4. A Thinking Mind   2 years ago

      This can continue for years and years-we've had a proxy war ongoing in Yemen since at least 2015. We can't risk turning off the spigots to the war industry, they might have rethink their business models!

    5. Fats of Fury   2 years ago

      By 2024 90% of voters will say the country is going in the wrong direction and the democrats will win in a landslide.

  27. Fist of Etiquette   2 years ago

    Such an arrangement—whereby private entities, at the behest of the government, become ideological enforcers—is unacceptable. And it may be illegal.

    Ooo, I can't wait for government officials to get their comeuppance.

    1. Social Justice is neither   2 years ago

      Funny how just last week every element of this was excused by leftists like ENB as just private companies acting as they wish and politicians harmlessly jawboning. Fuck ENB and everyone else that bought in to that BS narrative.

  28. Jerryskids   2 years ago

    I think instead of eating the bugs, we should eat Klaus Schwab, Al Gore, John Kerry, and Bill Gates before they get too stringy and gamy. Note, I'm certainly not suggesting that we kill them first, as I am totally non-violent. Let these people serve a useful purpose for once.

    1. Earth-based Human Skeptic   2 years ago

      I would be happily pass up my share. In fact, I would prefer a glowing hole in the ground where Davos used to be, and thus no long pig for anyone.

    2. TheReEncogitationer   2 years ago

      Jerry, what brought you to this lowly state?

  29. InsaneTrollLogic   2 years ago

    Justice is deaf, blind, and dumb.

    https://nypost.com/2023/01/18/doj-boosts-biden-but-tarnishes-itself-by-letting-his-own-lawyers-search-for-classified-docs/

    Given the opportunity to search President Joe Biden’s office and residences, the Department of Justice declined to do so, The Wall Street Journal reports. Instead, it allowed potentially uncleared and unnamed private counsel to search for classified material after the discovery of the highly classified documents in the Penn Biden Center office. It was a decision that could benefit Biden greatly, but at a considerable cost to the department itself.

    1. mad.casual   2 years ago

      it allowed potentially uncleared and unnamed private counsel to search for classified material

      Again, if you don't know what's in the missing documents, how can you be sure even direct federal employees like FBI agents have clearance to identify the material accurately?

      1. damikesc   2 years ago

        How did NARA not know that those documents were missing? I thought they were always on top of such things...

    2. Super Scary   2 years ago

      "but at a considerable cost to the department itself."

      I somehow doubt it.

  30. InsaneTrollLogic   2 years ago

    And the Secret Service is keeping mum.

    https://nypost.com/2023/01/18/dont-believe-the-secret-service-doesnt-know-who-visits-bidens-house/

    Let’s say the FBI was investigating a threat against the president, and one relevant line of inquiry involved figuring out who had visited the president’s private homes in Delaware during certain dates over the last 23 months. The Secret Service is responsible for keeping these private residences secure even when the president is not on site. If the FBI told the Secret Service that it was critical to get such visitor information, do you really think the Secret Service would respond, “Gee, sorry, we don’t keep logs for that”?

    1. Earth-based Human Skeptic   2 years ago

      It would be fun to see the hooker count.

      1. Mother's Lament   2 years ago (edited)

        I wonder how many kids they funnel through those doors.

  31. InsaneTrollLogic   2 years ago

    Shrinkage, or the real population bomb.

    https://www.euronews.com/2023/01/17/the-countries-where-population-is-declining

    China -- currently the world's most populous country -- has fretted for years about the effect of its ageing population on the economy and society, but population was not expected to go into decline for almost a decade.

    1. Don't look at me!   2 years ago

      I blame climax change.

      1. Chumby   2 years ago

        Reproduction rates have softened, more or less limping along.

        1. mad.casual   2 years ago

          Like shooting poor with a lope.

          1. Á àß äẞç ãþÇđ âÞ¢Đæ ǎB€Ðëf ảhf   2 years ago

            This is certainly fertile ground for Chumbly's return.

            1. Don't look at me!   2 years ago

              Don’t egg him on.

            2. Sevo   2 years ago

              Not enough elections.

              1. Earth-based Human Skeptic   2 years ago

                Lacist!

              2. Chumby   2 years ago

                That’s the problem, politicians haven’t been able to solve this issue. A case of electile dysfunction.

                1. mad.casual   2 years ago

                  ED, a disease that afflicts over 330M Americans, can be cured with this one weird trick!

                  1. Sevo   2 years ago

                    That's "tlick", mc!

                2. Don't look at me!   2 years ago

                  If your election last more than 4 hours, see a doctor.

                  1. Utkonos   2 years ago

                    And don’t stiff him on the bill!

    2. TheReEncogitationer   2 years ago

      What a road of lubbish!

    3. Fats of Fury   2 years ago

      Not a problem, if old people become an issue in China, China will kill old people.

      Also FTA
      The African continent will increase from 1.4 to 3.9 billion inhabitants by 2100. Some 38% of the world's population would then live in Africa, compared to around 18% today.

      No, more than likely Africa will still have 18% of the world's population, the other 20% will have moved on to Europe or North America.

  32. Walter Bean   2 years ago

    Haled before Congress.

  33. I, Woodchipper   2 years ago

    A measure under consideration in Montana "would interpret the state's constitutional right to privacy to mean that it does not protect the right to an abortion, a move that would echo others in several states to severely restrict or ban abortion."

    Abortion is literally the ONLY medical procedure where the "right to privacy" is a gray area. the only one.

  34. I, Woodchipper   2 years ago

    "Whether a person is a 'noncitizen' will now be printed on driver's licenses and state IDs under a controversial law that was just signed by Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine," reports the Ohio Capital Journal.

    What's the controversy exactly? Literally interaction we have with just about every bureaucracy there is asks us to indicate if we are a US Citizen or not. How is this ID proposal eliciting anything more than a "whatever"

    1. Earth-based Human Skeptic   2 years ago

      What would all those superior enlightened European countries do?

    2. Social Justice is neither   2 years ago

      I have loads of uncharitable reasons it's an issue, but the only way I can see it being a legit issue is it makes it more efficient to run them for status violations since there is a visible indicator to run that check at all. Even that is no worse than a warrant check, but activists gotta activist.

  35. I, Woodchipper   2 years ago (edited)

    On taking detransitioners seriously.

    We are in clown world where the default is to take mentally ill confused young people seriously when they play dress up, but when any of them come to their senses they are dismissed and ignored. It takes sober think pieces like this one to help convince people that maybe, just maybe, these people who woke up are being genuine.

    We live in the Dumb Ages.

    1. damikesc   2 years ago

      Look at John Money, the guy behind this whole transitioning nonsense. Easily one of the most evil and loathsome human beings to ever walk the Earth. Fruit from the poisoned tree.

    2. Earth-based Human Skeptic   2 years ago

      Humans have always been dumb. Perhaps we just kidded ourselves for the past few centuries.

    3. Mike Laursen   2 years ago

      The most remarkable thing about the linked article isn't what it says, but that it ran in The Atlantic, which is usually solidly in the progressive mainstream.

      1. DesigNate   2 years ago

        Even The Atlantic can see that the trans movement has gone too far?

        1. Chumby   2 years ago

          Trans Atlantic?

          1. Utkonos   2 years ago

            +10000

  36. Sarah Palin's Buttplug 2   2 years ago

    Trump Is Plotting How to Kick DeSantis ‘In the Nuts.’ Here’s His Playbook, .................So Far Team Trump is preparing to paint the Florida governor as an establishment hawk who'll put Social Security on the chopping block

    https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/donald-trump-plots-against-ron-desantis-2024-election-1234663645/

    Fatass Donnie needs to clear out the GOP riff-raff for 2024.

    1. Sarah Palin's Buttplug 2   2 years ago (edited)

      The draconian cuts DeSantis voted for would have raised the eligibility age for Social Security and Medicare to 70. It would have weakened Medicare by offering seniors “premium support” instead of comprehensive health coverage. And it would have eroded Social Security by giving recipients miserly annual adjustments for inflation. Taken together, the two measures would have cut these bedrock safety-net programs for seniors by more than $250 billion over a decade.

      But Fatass Donnie will retain his Big Government cred!

      $25 billion per year is almost insignificant.

      1. InsaneTrollLogic   2 years ago

        Hi Moneyshot, aka Shrike.

        A few years ago, you got your original “Sarah Palin’s Buttplug” account banned for posting kiddy porn to this site. The link below details all the evidence surrounding that ban. A decent person would honor that ban and stay away from Reason. Instead SPB keeps showing up, acting as if all people should just be ok with a kiddy-porn-posting asshole hanging around.

        https://reason.com/2022/08/06/biden-comforts-the-comfortable/?comments=true#comment-9635836

        1. InsaneTrollLogic   2 years ago

          And the admission of being banned:

          https://reason.com/2019/02/26/bernie-sanders-cnn-townhall-foreign-poli/?comments=true#comment-7690893

          moneyshot 4 years ago
          Reason has my email address.
          For all I know some conservative asswipe in IT made an editorial decision on his own.
          fuck him — and you too.

          1. Sarah Palin's Buttplug 2   2 years ago

            You must be president of the Trump Cult now.

            What a shitty cult too.

            1. damikesc   2 years ago

              Better than the pedo cult you populate.

              1. Sarah Palin's Buttplug 2   2 years ago

                HURRY! DEFEND TRUMP! HE IS EL PRESIDENTE FOR LIFE!

                You cultists never miss.

                1. Red Rocks White Privilege   2 years ago

                  Pointing out that you're a hicklib pederast who admitted to being banned for posting kiddie porn isn't a defense of Trump. It just means you're a hicklib pederast who reflexively defends Democrats.

                  1. Earth-based Human Skeptic   2 years ago

                    It also means he's a reflexive retard.

                2. Chumby   2 years ago

                  Your posting of illegal content has what exactly to do with Trump?

                3. InsaneTrollLogic   2 years ago

                  I never mentioned Trump one way or the other while referencing your banning. I'd say it's you who belongs to a cult of some kind.

                  1. Sarah Palin's Buttplug 2   2 years ago

                    Yet I post non-stop whenever I wish. Do you even know what “ban” means?

                    I realize you’re stupid. But “ban” is a simple concept. It means a permanent revocation of a privilege.

                    1. InsaneTrollLogic   2 years ago

                      Yes, I think we all, except you, understand what "ban" means.

                      Your original handle for reference:

                      Sarah Palin's Buttplug|12.4.18 @ 10:30AM|#

                      Well, if Sam's Club can't make it here what do you do?

                      You know, The Dotard did say the US was a shithole and only he personally would make us great again.

                      #TheDotardSaysMakeSamsClubGreatAgain

                    2. Sevo   2 years ago

                      turd lies; it’s all he ever does. turd is a kiddie diddler, and a pathological liar, entirely too stupid to remember which lies he posted even minutes ago, and also too stupid to understand we all know he’s a liar.
                      If anything he posts isn’t a lie, it’s totally accidental.
                      turd lies; it’s what he does. turd is a lying pile of lefty shit

      2. Sevo   2 years ago

        turd lies; it’s all he ever does. turd is a kiddie diddler, and a pathological liar, entirely too stupid to remember which lies he posted even minutes ago, and also too stupid to understand we all know he’s a liar.
        If anything he posts isn’t a lie, it’s totally accidental.
        turd lies; it’s what he does. turd is a lying pile of lefty shit

        1. Sarah Palin's Buttplug 2   2 years ago

          Look, it is Sevo shitting up the thread again.

          Sevo is like the lowest rank in the Trump Cult. He cleans up the ejaculate after their meetings.

          1. Sevo   2 years ago

            turd lies; it’s all he ever does. turd is a TDS-addled pile of shit, a kiddie diddler, and a pathological liar, entirely too stupid to remember which lies he posted even minutes ago, and also too stupid to understand we all know he’s a liar.
            If anything he posts isn’t a lie, it’s totally accidental.
            turd lies; it’s what he does. turd is a lying pile of lefty shit

    2. Chumby   2 years ago

      You mad that Kids R Us was not what you thought it was?

    3. InsaneTrollLogic   2 years ago

      So you're using a mildly relevant (or even irrelevant) music magazine to slam your favorite chew toy. Color me unimpressed there, Shrike.

    4. A Thinking Mind   2 years ago

      establishment hawk who’ll put Social Security on the chopping block

      That doesn't even make sense. Nobody who is a shill for the establishment would dare touch Social Security. You have to make a distinct break from the uniparty in order to go after it, and Trump of all people would know this. I don't believe this actually can be Trump's strategy. I don't trust Rolling Stone to accurately be reporting on or predicting Trump's strategy, and the sheer nonsense of this premise confirms that instinct.

      1. Sarah Palin's Buttplug 2   2 years ago

        Republican House Conservatives Threaten Debt Limit Default to Cut Social Programs

        https://tax.thomsonreuters.com/news/republican-house-conservatives-threaten-debt-limit-default-to-cut-social-programs/

        Rick Scott, Ron Johnson, and Lindy Graham have talked cuts to SS on the Senate side.

        1. InsaneTrollLogic   2 years ago

          References to your banning.

          https://web.archive.org/web/20181225135006/https://reason.com/blog/2018/12/24/brickbat-the-last-place-you-look#comment_7608665

          OpenBordersLiberal-tarian|12.24.18 @ 10:24AM|#
          If you look in this topic there are several Sarah Palin’s Buttplug posts that have disappeared.
          I love Reason, but if they really have banned Mr. Buttplug I think that’s a major mistake. I will try to partially cover his beat by posting links describing how terrible the #DrumpfRecession is, but it won’t be the same because my economics knowledge lags far behind his.

          1. Chumby   2 years ago

            Buttplug got banned? Did he say something mean about one of the editors?

            1. Sarah Palin's Buttplug 2   2 years ago

              The Buttplug has never been banned!

              On Twitter the Reason staff professed devotion to the Buttplug.

              I got that going for me.

              1. Sevo   2 years ago

                turd lies; it’s all he ever does. turd is a kiddie diddler, and a pathological liar, entirely too stupid to remember which lies he posted even minutes ago, and also too stupid to understand we all know he’s a liar.
                If anything he posts isn’t a lie, it’s totally accidental.
                turd lies; it’s what he does. turd is a lying pile of lefty shit

              2. Red Rocks White Privilege   2 years ago

                The Buttplug has never been banned!

                moneyshot 4 years ago
                Reason has my email address.
                For all I know some conservative asswipe in IT made an editorial decision on his own.
                fuck him — and you too.

                On Twitter the Reason staff professed devotion to the Buttplug.

                No, they didn't.

                I got that going for me.

                The only thing you have going for you is when you inevitably get Rosenbaum'd.

                1. Sarah Palin's Buttplug 2   2 years ago

                  Yet I post non-stop whenever I wish.

                  Do you even know what "ban" means?

                  I realize you're stupid. But "ban" is a simple concept. It means a permanent revocation of a privilege.

                  1. InsaneTrollLogic   2 years ago

                    Your original handle that was banned:

                    Sarah Palin's Buttplug|12.4.18 @ 10:06AM|#

                    I'm not a filthy anarchist like Editor-in-Chief Katherine Mangu-Ward. But I'm also not a fan of the manufactured frenzy that always surrounds what will inevitably be bipartisan agreement to return everything to the status quo.

                    Peanuts here call you folks "commies".

                    1. Red Rocks White Privilege   2 years ago

                      Note the tacit admission that the original one was banned by setting up the new account as Sarah Palin's Buttplug 2 that he's now used for five years--if the original wasn't banned, why bother putting the number in there, especially when the hicklib pederast now swears up and down that it was never actually banned?

                  2. Red Rocks White Privilege   2 years ago

                    Yet I post non-stop whenever I wish.

                    Probably because you have multiple email accounts, you just managed to get your original one nuked for posting kiddie porn. This pathetic deflection doesn't change the fact that you're a hicklib pederast who admitted to getting banned for posting kiddie porn.

                  3. Chumby   2 years ago

                    A smug, proud response to posting disgusting and illegal content. Jared from Subway gives you a thumbs up.

              3. Chumby   2 years ago

                2) I’m a libertarian and ENB <3 me.

              4. InsaneTrollLogic   2 years ago (edited)

                Bullshit.

                Courtesy of Overt:

                Now you are lying. You specifically admitted to being banned and tried blaming it on a “conservative IT” person’s editorial decision. But that’s what you do- lie about what is there.

                I’m sure you will also deny that on 12/4/2018 you were posting in articles, and by 12/6/2018 your posts had been completely scrubbed from site. Unfortunately for you, the wayback machine remembers.

                https://web.archive.org/web/20181205130733/https://reason.com/blog/2018/12/04/government-shutdown-avoided-again-reason#comment

                That’s you posting on 12/4

              5. InsaneTrollLogic   2 years ago

                And now, also from Overt:

                And that’s the same article on 12/6, after your name has been scrubbed:

                https://web.archive.org/web/20181206190522/https://reason.com/blog/2018/12/04/government-shutdown-avoided-again-reason#comment

              6. InsaneTrollLogic   2 years ago

                And yet another thread where "Sarah Palin's Buttplug" was scrubbed from existence.

                https://web.archive.org/web/20181206125618/http://reason.com/blog/2018/12/05/repeal-these-bad-booze-laws-next#comment

                First, Ken's reply:
                Ken Shultz|12.5.18 @ 10:02AM|#
                You're an ignoramus.
                "Realpolitik (from German: real; "realistic", "practical", or "actual"; and Politik; "politics", German pronunciation: [ʁeˈaːlpoliˌtiːk]) is politics or diplomacy based primarily on considerations of given circumstances and factors, rather than explicit ideological notions or moral and ethical premises. In this respect, it shares aspects of its philosophical approach with those of realism and pragmatism. It is often simply referred to as "pragmatism" in politics, e.g. "pursuing pragmatic policies". "

                Then a mention that the person Ken was indeed replying to was Shrike:

                Ken Shultz|12.5.18 @ 10:15AM|#
                He's an ignoramus.
                Shrike doesn't know what pragmatism means, and he's arguing about how I used the word.

                But, the original comment from SPB was removed.

                And anther one mentioning SPB, but there's nothing replied to:

                OpenBordersLiberal-tarian|12.5.18 @ 9:53AM|#
                Who are your top 3 2020 Democrats, Mr. Buttplug? I bet you'll be more motivated than ever to vote in 2020 after Republicans stole the governorship in your state in 2018.

            2. Sevo   2 years ago

              Nope.
              He posted links to kiddie porn sites; he's a scumbag pederast on top of being a lying lefty pile of shit.

              1. Sarah Palin's Buttplug 2   2 years ago

                Sevo is like the lowest rank in the Trump Cult. He cleans up the ejaculate after their meetings.

                1. Sevo   2 years ago

                  turd lies; it’s all he ever does. turd is a kiddie diddler, and a pathological liar, entirely too stupid to remember which lies he posted even minutes ago, and also too stupid to understand we all know he’s a liar.
                  If anything he posts isn’t a lie, it’s totally accidental.
                  turd lies; it’s what he does. turd is a lying pile of lefty shit

                2. Earth-based Human Skeptic   2 years ago

                  Wow. That would be a devastating zinger, on the middle school bus.

                  1. Chumby   2 years ago

                    How he would love to be on a middle school bus.

                    1. Sevo   2 years ago

                      Well, if he ever gets out of the 6th grade, he can hope.

        2. Red Rocks White Privilege   2 years ago

          Default doesn't happen unless the US can't cover the interest on the existing debt. If the debt limit isn't increased, it simply means that the government can't spend more than it takes in. The reason such a move would crater GDP is because it would hit the government spending part of the GDP, unless taxes and fees were raised to cover the desired spending.

          Your side (and that includes neocons now) cries "default" because it knows that most people aren't aware of how it actually works.

          1. Red Rocks White Privilege   2 years ago

            Note the hicklib pederast can't refute this, or he'd have posted another link defending his beloved Democrats.

    5. Derp-o-Matic 6000   2 years ago

      Fuck off and die, shit-weasel. You were banned from this site for posting links to child pornography. No one gives a shit about your TDS-addled ramblings. Eat shit.

    6. Diane Reynolds (Paul.)   2 years ago

      Does the story contain references to a gang rape?

  37. Unicorn Abattoir   2 years ago

    The CDC and its minions tried to control speech on the internet? When did this happen? I've been reading Reason for years and this is the first I've heard of it!

    1. Dillinger   2 years ago

      my mother in law did not know about the Idaho murders until last Friday when 20/20 and Dateline highlighted them

  38. mad.casual   2 years ago

    So, is the thinking at Reason that the motivations for the turnabout on the Biden Admin's fascist, illegal social media 'influencing' would be too blatant if they did it *on* Jan. 20th?

    1. Diane Reynolds (Paul.)   2 years ago

      Reason seems to have gotten to the rarely used stage of "it happened, it's as bad as you say, and it's a bad thing".

      1. mad.casual   2 years ago

        Just in the nick of time...

      2. Mike Laursen   2 years ago

        In this stages meme, there needs to be an early step: "There isn't much evidence yet, but I'm going to believe it is absolutely fact becuase it aligns with my political team's biases. And I'm going to say, "I told you so", if it turns out actual evidence comes along."

        There's a lot of that step going on in the commentariat.

        1. Don't look at me!   2 years ago

          You fucking dummy.

        2. DesigNate   2 years ago

          I mean, our political team of Libertarians IS inherently biased against trusting the government.

  39. sarcasmic   2 years ago

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11653589/Alec-Baldwin-charged-involuntary-manslaughter-Rust-shooting.html

    Alec Baldwin and Rust female armorer will be CHARGED with involuntary manslaughter over his fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins - and face up to 18 months in jail

    Took long enough.

    1. Chumby   2 years ago

      My semi-automatic rifles with 30-round magazines have killed fewer people than Alec Baldwin’s acting.

    2. Diane Reynolds (Paul.)   2 years ago

      This is one of those stories that I purposely paid little attention to... is it realistic that Baldwin is guilty of anything here? It's a movie set with prop guns, if the dipshit who placed a real gun on the prop table isn't guilty of anything, how is Baldwin?

      1. sarcasmic   2 years ago

        Blanks don't have big hunks of lead sticking out of the end. Wouldn't have taken Baldwin more than a few seconds to check and say "Whoa! What the hell! You trying to kill someone?"
        Instead he killed someone.

        1. Diane Reynolds (Paul.)   2 years ago

          I dunno... I'm a hollywood actor. Guns are things that icky working class people in flyover country use. Someone hands me a prop gun, I barely know which way to point it. I'm an actor, I have to be shown.

          I dunno, it seems like a tragic accident that at most, the armorer has some culpability for.

          1. Earth-based Human Skeptic   2 years ago

            Yeah, but is there some sort of guilt when an anti-gun Hollywood liberal uses guns (and usually uses them a lot) in some movie to earn millions through an acting contract or as a producer?

            1. Diane Reynolds (Paul.)   2 years ago

              This accident just proves Hollywood anti-gun liberals correct. Look how easy it is to kill someone when you're just holding the thing!

              1. A Thinking Mind   2 years ago

                When you point it and pull the trigger, yeah, it’s shocking that people die.

                Either you respect a weapon as a weapon, or you don’t. Baldwin was too lazy to do the work of being in charge of a gun when any blind idiot can be taught not to load live ammo into one. That laziness and carelessly cost someone their life.

          2. sarcasmic   2 years ago

            Maybe it will result in actors having to actually learn about the devices they're playing with on stage. I don't mean everyone has to go hardcore like Keanu training for John Wick. Just saying some very basic firearms instruction would have prevented this tragedy from occurring.

        2. mad.casual   2 years ago (edited)

          I’m not a director or anything, but I’ve seen enough YouTube videos to know that one person, let alone two, doesn’t have to be standing right behind a camera for it to accurately capture a gun going off while pointed at it.

      2. Chumby   2 years ago

        It was a real firearm. All firearms are always loaded with live ammunition unless personally verified by the wielder at that time. When cleaning a firearm, if I turn around and it is out of sight and nobody else is present, I still verify its loaded condition when I have turned back around. If the firearm had malfunctioned, I’d be sympathetic to his innocence. Afaik, the firearm functioned as designed with Alec pulling the trigger on a live cartridge.

        1. Diane Reynolds (Paul.)   2 years ago

          I know that, you know that, but we're icky working class people who don't go to lunchtime pitch meetings at swanky outdoor LA restaurants. I have an *checks media style guide* arsenal in my bedroom. I know things like proper trigger discipline, press checks, clearing... I can disassemble and reassemble most of my autos blindfolded, while a marine drill sergeant stands behind me with a stopwatch.

          Let's take a more extreme example. You're an actor in a modern war movie. In a scene, you operate a TOW Missile. What are the procedures to make sure the TOW missile isn't real or going to go off when you pull the trigger. To Hollywood people, if you hand them a Colt 1851 Navy, you might as well be handing them a TOW missile.

          1. Earth-based Human Skeptic   2 years ago

            Maybe. I will bet that for character "authenticity" most actors get some sort of firearms coaching. And I would bet that at sometime they heard some basic gun safety.

            1. sarcasmic   2 years ago

              And I would bet that at sometime they heard some basic gun safety.

              That obviously didn't happen on this set. I don't know about you, but every time I pick up a gun, or a gun is handed to me, I check it. It would have taken all of ten seconds to determine that old single-action had bullets instead of blanks.

          2. Chumby   2 years ago

            Social class doesn’t absolve one of one’s responsibilities. It wasn’t a TOW missile, it was a handgun. A working handgun that I believe some of the crew had been plinking with earlier. As an adult, Alec had the responsibility to understand the basic operation of the firearm including how to do so safely. Verifying the firearm status of being loaded is part of that.
            I won’t be on a jury if there is one but unless the gun malfunctioned, my vote would be guilty.

            1. Diane Reynolds (Paul.)   2 years ago

              Social class doesn’t absolve one of one’s responsibilities.

              I disagree. For instance, a blue checkmark is a warning sign that the person you're dealing with has a learning disability.

            2. Diane Reynolds (Paul.)   2 years ago (edited)

              Look, I really don’t have a dog in this fight. And no, I don’t think much of Baldwin’s politics etc., but I don’t like to see people railroaded because they’re unlikable.

              But I still submit that to most hollywood actors, a firearm is a devilishly complicated bit of clockworks, understandable only to alchemists and other people versed in the ways of Natural Philosophy.

              1. Chumby   2 years ago

                He pulled the trigger. A person is dead because of him. He is responsible. Full stop.

                The circumstances support the involuntary manslaughter charge as opposed to something more serious.

              2. mad.casual   2 years ago

                As a counterpoint to your extreme example, let's say a manager under you hired someone to do some software or networking black magic. As a result of the black magic, a one company's hardware is permanently compromised and/or liquidated and another's is disabled pending a protracted recovery. Do you investigate the manager and any employees under him or just walk away saying, "It was an honest mistake and I don't want to see anybody get railroaded."

                I bet that even if *you* walk away, there's still at least an investigation with an unequivocal firing, almost certainly civil, and potentially even criminal charges. If only as corrective actions against repeated occurrences.

              3. Social Justice is neither   2 years ago

                I get you're doing an OBL style bit but when multiple actors come out and say it is standard practice to go through gun safety on every set then there is no excuse for not knowing. Baldwin is at fault for pulling the trigger if not also negligence for failing to have the set follow standard safety procedures as EP.

                Now the armorer and admin may be in another kettle of fish but that has little to do with Baldwin.

          3. Dakotian   2 years ago

            Well having fired TOW missiles in my misspent youth, there is no way to tell if the missile is real or not. It is entirely enclosed.

          4. mad.casual   2 years ago

            It's actually funny you should mention this because when I discuss(ed) the rules of firearm safety with my kids, I always mention what I call a Zeroeth rule: If it's not your gun and/or you don't know exactly how it works well enough to ensure anyone/everyone's safety, don't fucking touch it.

            Call me crazy but, as a libertarian, I'm not a big fan of reinforcing the Nuremburg Defense and/or the bad outcomes and methods of the Milgram Experiments.

            1. sarcasmic   2 years ago (edited)

              I always mention what I call a Zeroeth rule: If it’s not your gun and/or you don’t know exactly how it works well enough to ensure anyone/everyone’s safety, don’t fucking touch it

              Good point. Though I might amend it a tiny bit and add "It's ok to ask the owner how it works. They'll be more than happy to show you."

              1. mad.casual   2 years ago

                IMO, that confuses a rule with a suggestion. You may be interested in how the gun works and aren't obligated to learn how the gun works, but if you don't know, don't fucking touch it either way.

                1. sarcasmic   2 years ago

                  I wasn't intending to contradict the rule to not touch it if you don't know how it works. My point was that, for the most part, gun culture tends to be friendly and ignorance can be easily cured with a question.

            2. Diane Reynolds (Paul.)   2 years ago

              It’s actually funny you should mention this because when I discuss(ed) the rules of firearm safety with my kids,

              See again, this is where I have you, sir.

              You discussed firearm safety with your kids, as I did with mine.

              What's the firearm safety being discussed in a family with an "in this house we believe" sign in their front yard?

        2. Minadin   2 years ago

          "If the firearm had malfunctioned, I’d be sympathetic to his innocence."

          Oddly enough, CBS News was reporting this with the wording 'Baldwin was holding the gun when it went off'

          1. Chumby   2 years ago

            Must have been an assault revolver or an assault style revolver.

            1. Don't look at me!   2 years ago

              “Blew his lungs out!”

              1. Sevo   2 years ago

                Joe Asshole's been (fortunately) missing; hope he died.

          2. Its_Not_Inevitable   2 years ago

            Baldwin's defense will be: "I didn do nuffin. It just went off. It has a mind of it's own!"

    3. Diane Reynolds (Paul.)   2 years ago

      Oh, and by the way, the question NO one seems to be answering is: When does the move actually get released?

      1. mad.casual   2 years ago

        I hope they just started shooting horses and actually killing and eating critters that they depict cowboys eating around the campfire because, at this point, the "No animals were harmed in the filming of this movie." badge would be a pretty cruel joke.

    4. A Thinking Mind   2 years ago

      18 months seems super generous.

      1. sarcasmic   2 years ago

        Rich people get the benefit of being treated as innocent until proven guilty. Anyone else would have already been railroaded into taking a plea under threat of several life sentences if taken to trial.

  40. Dillinger   2 years ago

    thank you for 4 different(?) pieces on the CDC and censorship.

  41. Earth-based Human Skeptic   2 years ago

    How should we interpret Reason's Bash the CDC day? Is this a delayed enlightenment? Or something closer to what happened when the USSR declared somebody a non-person?

    1. Diane Reynolds (Paul.)   2 years ago

      How should we interpret Reason’s Bash the CDC day?

      It's safe to talk about.

  42. Diane Reynolds (Paul.)   2 years ago

    "If you look at it in isolation, it looks like [the CDC and the tech companies] are working together," Jenin Younes, litigation counsel for the New Civil Liberties Alliance, told Reason. "But you have to view it in light of the threats."

    Looks like?

    Here's Youtube's own public statement on misinformation:

    Thanks to these investments, videos that violate our policies are removed faster than ever and users are seeing less borderline content and harmful misinformation. As we do this, we’re partnering closely with lawmakers and civil society around the globe to limit the spread of violent extremist content online.

    So some critics are right, the twitter files aren't really much of a revelation, beyond a confession by your wife that she is in fact having an affair after she was confronted with pictures taken by a private dick of her hotel tryst.

    1. Mike Laursen   2 years ago (edited)

      It is not illegal nor necessarily immoral for a privately-owned social media site to accept advice and direction from government agencies. It’s their prerogative. Imagine, for example. if Facebook or Google helped distribute information during a natural disaster such as a flood.

      It is not currently illegal (but Congress should make it illegal) for Federal officials/employees to try to tell a social media site what to do.

      A lot of people who are making a big stink about Google or Facebook or Twitter "censoring" this or that person or post don't really give a shit about the principles involved, but just that the person was on their partisan team.

      1. Mother's Lament   2 years ago

        nor necessarily immoral for a privately-owned social media site to accept advice and direction from government agencies

        It's immoral as hell when it comes to censorship, blacklisting and silencing voices, fascist.
        No actual libertarian would even conceive of the excuse you just created, let alone give it voice.

        Nobody let this authoritarian fuck tell you he's libertarian ever again.

      2. Don't look at me!   2 years ago

        It is not currently illegal (but Congress should make it illegal) for Federal officials/employees to try to tell a social media site what to do.

        Constitution on line 1

        1. Chumby   2 years ago

          White Mike may not know about that obscure law of antiquity known as the First Amendment.

        2. Utkonos   2 years ago

          Bill Wright is that you?

  43. Diane Reynolds (Paul.)   2 years ago

    On taking detransitioners seriously.

    The fucking fuck?

    1. Mike Laursen   2 years ago

      You don't think they should be taken seriously, eh.

  44. Diane Reynolds (Paul.)   2 years ago

    Just so you know, the other libertarian media has moved onto exploring things like why everyone pretends COVID never happened.

    I won’t detail the consequences here, because everyone knows them. Whatever country you live in, the list is more or less the same – from economic carnage and social deterioration to the horrific damage done to children’s mental and physical wellbeing. Not to mention the disquieting illiberal precedent set by authoritarian emergency legislation and vaccine mandates.

    Everyone knows what was done and who did it. But nobody – nobody in Ireland, at least – will talk about it. The trance continues. It has just changed form, from an apocalyptic ‘We’re all going to die!’ panic, to a kind of ‘What are you talking about?’ willed amnesia.

    1. Derp-o-Matic 6000   2 years ago

      Ideally, this would lead to absolute guarantees that this draconian state of affairs will never arise again.

      Not gonna happen. The lockdowns, etc., were a dry-run for climate change lockdowns. This will happen again, but harder

      1. I, Woodchipper   2 years ago

        ^ this. They are already prepping for it.

    2. mad.casual   2 years ago

      I mentioned this during the pandemic. At some point in history (I assume), large groups of people had to just kind of go quiet, break eye contact, and kick pebbles whenever anyone mentioned "The War Of The Worlds". It wasn't until there was a large enough generation of young people too removed from the situation before somebody could do their best Jim Carrey "What idiots!" impression and everybody laughed.

  45. Liberty_Belle   2 years ago

    According to a trove of confidential documents obtained by Reason, health advisers at the CDC had significant input on pandemic-era social media policies at Facebook as well. They were consulted frequently, at times daily. They were actively involved in the affairs of content moderators, providing constant and ever-evolving guidance.
    -----------------------------------------
    "Consulted" is much different from "mandated by" ; so which is it ? I need to get my outrage properly aligned.

    1. Social Justice is neither   2 years ago

      Not really when the difference is manufactured under duress and the "suggestions" from government come exactly with the same implied threat as a mob boss marveling over your business and how tragic it would be if something happened.

      The only liberty you seem to believe in is the liberty to comply with threats from others or else.

  46. JasonAZ   2 years ago

    Wow, nobody posting about Jacinda Ardern stepping down in NZ?

    I'm not confident that the Kiwi's will elect anybody better, but glad to see this witch out of power; for now. Justice would be her getting punished for violating her citizens rights over fictional COVID hysteria, but I'll take a win however I can get it. Seeing her step down in disgrace as her poll numbers are in the tank, is worth celebrating.

    1. mad.casual   2 years ago

      Her, "I've done 79% of the work a man would do... and I'm exhausted." speech was humorous.

    2. Diane Reynolds (Paul.)   2 years ago

      I guess the rise of far right extremists has scored another dark victory.

    3. Fats of Fury   2 years ago

      She has an inside track to a job at the UN, WEF or the Clinton Global Initiative.

      1. JasonAZ   2 years ago

        No doubt

    4. Social Justice is neither   2 years ago

      The problem is this allows her party to dissociate from her and the policies they cheered for as she fails upward.

      1. JasonAZ   2 years ago

        Sadly, true. Hopefully, the opposition party was against these measures and it'll gain favor with the electorate.

  47. Diane Reynolds (Paul.)   2 years ago

    By the way, on this Alec Baldwin firearm controversy, here are some pretty good remarks by Colion Noir.

  48. CelestineRichards   2 years ago (edited)

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  49. JesseAz   2 years ago (edited)

    You can repeat the narrative blindly all you want Mike. All vaccines have risks. This one has fairly big ones comparatively. Denying that just makes you look like an ignorant shill.

  50. Mother's Lament   2 years ago

    "It’s been proven the vaccines are safe and effective."

    Actually quite the opposite, and many people here have shown you study after hard study demonstrating that. But here you are, after all that, still repeating the same platitude.

    Almost like it's your job.

  51. Zeb   2 years ago

    Effective at what? It does seem to reduce risk of dying of covid somewhat. For most people that risk is extremely small at this point (and has always been very small). At least for a little while.
    But we also know that it makes you more likely to get covid, especially in the few weeks after an injection. Many people experience pretty nasty side effects. And for some reason that still needs to be determined, overall death rates have increased and not decreased since the vaccine roll-outs.
    None of these facts are really in dispute. I'm not trying to say no one should take the vaccine. The cost/benefit probably still works out for some. But the way it has been used, it is far from clear that the vaccines have been a net positive for overall human health. When you deploy a drug on this kind of scale, you can't just look at the narrow case of covid outcomes (but only if you haven't taken the vaccine in the last 3 weeks). You have to look at the overall impact on health and mortality in general.

  52. DesigNate   2 years ago

    Your definition of effective and normal people’s definition of effective are very different.

  53. Chumby   2 years ago

    I think Germany is concerned with that, hence the reluctance to give away materiel acquired for its defense.

    There hasn’t been “who has the smallest penis” measuring contest this bad since 1914.

  54. Sometimes a Great Notion   2 years ago

    I saw a report last month that they only have enough ammo and artillery shells supply to use if invaded for about a week or two.

  55. InsaneTrollLogic   2 years ago

    They have to keep warm somehow, with the price of natural gas being what it is.

  56. Á àß äẞç ãþÇđ âÞ¢Đæ ǎB€Ðëf ảhf   2 years ago

    We won't know until sarc tells us next year.

  57. Idaho Bob   2 years ago

    Depends when the story breaks.

  58. Spiritus Mundi   2 years ago

    You both need to look at the handle.

  59. Chumby   2 years ago

    The Wehrmacht is a shell of its former self.

  60. Sevo   2 years ago

    You reckon that's a sock or a parody?

  61. Don't look at me!   2 years ago

    Would be the same for the real Mike.

  62. Super Scary   2 years ago

    Since the real one is so painfully predictable, the Lairson poster usually gets a lot of people.

  63. JasonAZ   2 years ago

    If you idiots just banned him already, it would be clear this was a sock/parody.

    Love you guys, but seriously just ban the clown already.

  64. Don't look at me!   2 years ago

    That’s the main bullet point.

  65. Spiritus Mundi   2 years ago

    Parody

  66. Chumby   2 years ago

    Maybe the folks tasked with maintaining adequate supplies were unintentionally discharged.

  67. Commenter_XY   2 years ago

    They shot their wad, Chumby.

  68. InsaneTrollLogic   2 years ago

    It's almost too close to the real thing.

  69. Earth-based Human Skeptic   2 years ago

    Like the Bee vs the NYT or WaPo.

  70. Mother's Lament   2 years ago

    I can never tell the difference.

  71. Mother's Lament   2 years ago

    "Journalists can't report the facts until they're told them!"

  72. Spiritus Mundi   2 years ago

    The facts didn't yet exist - sarc

  73. Dillinger   2 years ago

    you know that accent too ...

  74. Fist of Etiquette   2 years ago

    Double check the name.

  75. Don't look at me!   2 years ago

    Half million dollars?
    Now you talking real money.

  76. Gaear Grimsrud   2 years ago

    I have real Mike muted and rely on parody Mike to keep me updated.

  77. Zeb   2 years ago

    Well, I'm a sucker. But I'm pretty sure the real Mike made the same comment yesterday.

  78. TheReEncogitationer   2 years ago

    I guess the dog would never leave the house. 🙂

  79. siwewiy   2 years ago (edited)

    I've made 64,000 Dollars so far this year working online and I'm a full time student. Im using an online business opportunity I heard about and I've made such great money. It's really user friendly and I'm just so happy that I found out about it. Heres what I do. 🙂 AND GOOD LUCK.:)

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