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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM

danime91 Since: Jan, 2012 Relationship Status: Above such petty unnecessities
#179201: Mar 23rd 2017 at 10:15:20 AM

You know, with all the news going around about Trump's ridiculous doings and all his wholly unqualified administration staff choices and nominees, I hear almost nothing about the VP. Anyone know what Pence is up to these days or is he just so sidelined that he's not in the spotlight at all?

Luigisan98 A wandering user from Venezuelan Muscat Since: Oct, 2013 Relationship Status: I <3 love!
A wandering user
#179202: Mar 23rd 2017 at 10:16:44 AM

X5[up] Are they really that stupid?

The only good fanboy, is a redeemed fanboy.
TacticalFox88 from USA Since: Nov, 2010 Relationship Status: Dating the Doctor
#179203: Mar 23rd 2017 at 10:18:29 AM

Yes. They are.

Republican voters would let Trump shit in their mouths if they thought it would make liberals mad and Democrats to lose seats.

New Survey coming this weekend!
carbon-mantis Collector Of Fine Oddities from Trumpland Since: Mar, 2010 Relationship Status: Married to my murderer
Collector Of Fine Oddities
#179204: Mar 23rd 2017 at 10:19:50 AM

[up][up]Trumplings from my own family praise Putin's liberal use of polonium nutritional supplements as "he knows how to get things done!"

Even the ones who currently depend on government assistance for their very lives( read: cancer treatments) shit on the sole thing keeping them alive as "SOCIALIST POISON" and people other than themselves relying on it as parasites.

edited 23rd Mar '17 10:21:44 AM by carbon-mantis

Luigisan98 A wandering user from Venezuelan Muscat Since: Oct, 2013 Relationship Status: I <3 love!
A wandering user
#179205: Mar 23rd 2017 at 10:21:59 AM

You know, now I feel bad for calling them stupid, stupid people aren't even that stupid anyways.

The only good fanboy, is a redeemed fanboy.
sgamer82 Since: Jan, 2001
#179206: Mar 23rd 2017 at 10:26:52 AM

Even stupid has a sense of self preservation, Too Dumb to Live notwithstanding.

On the humor side, the @PresVillain twitter wasted no time on "I'm President and you're not."

https://twitter.com/PresVillain/status/844955300901859328

NativeJovian Jupiterian Local from Orlando, FL Since: Mar, 2014 Relationship Status: Maxing my social links
Jupiterian Local
#179207: Mar 23rd 2017 at 10:26:58 AM

It's only a win if we gain something. Trump's already shown his colors time and again. Publicly shaming him accomplishes nothing. He does that to himself on a daily basis. It's a pointless gesture.
I disagree. It chips away at his credibility. His approval ratings have been trending downward since his inauguration. Every time he makes an ass of himself, does something blatantly idiotic, or makes an obvious political/diplomatic misstep, his support base erodes. His feeble attempts at "totally not a Muslim ban" have even people who like the idea of a Muslim ban going "well, that was just poorly executed". People who like his foreign policy hate his health care plan. Every time he screws up, he loses some of his base.

There are absolutely people who would say to themselves "I love his Muslim ban, his health care bill, his budget proposal, and his dealings with foreign national leaders, but pardoning his friends who broke the law? That's obvious cronyism! He was supposed to drain the swamp!" Yeah, it's dumb that that's their bridge too far, but it still would be for some people.

Really from Jupiter, but not an alien.
sgamer82 Since: Jan, 2001
#179208: Mar 23rd 2017 at 10:30:28 AM

Ideally, Trump could call so far or do something so unignorable that his own party will be forced to impeach him to maintain any sense of their credibility.

CenturyEye Tell Me, Have You Seen the Yellow Sign? from I don't know where the Yith sent me this time... Since: Jan, 2017 Relationship Status: Having tea with Cthulhu
Tell Me, Have You Seen the Yellow Sign?
#179209: Mar 23rd 2017 at 10:40:48 AM

Yeah, that bridge has been crossed. Several times. Doublethink is a thing as it turns out. I still imagine Trump's undoing will be getting caught acting like a decent human being.

[up][up]As for that. I certainly agree on not more or less handing Trump's cronies their pardons, but the filibuster could end up being Too Awesome to Use. The Dems probably should be thinking towards getting their base off the couch and to the polls in 2018/2020, not flipping GOP voters. And, so far, the Dems' voters seem to want to see a fight. Meekly bowing Trump's SCOTUS nominee or accepting a flimsy deal after Mc Connell started a constitutional crisis over Garland, which was in the news for months, probably wouldn't go over well.
(That burning the one shot might be leave the Dems helpless is relevant, but fat chance explaining that to voters, especially when the "lol hope the DNC is learning its lesson over its 'corruption'" narrative is still out there).

edited 23rd Mar '17 10:43:23 AM by CenturyEye

Look with century eyes... With our backs to the arch And the wreck of our kind We will stare straight ahead For the rest of our lives
tclittle Professional Forum Ninja from Somewhere Down in Texas Since: Apr, 2010
Professional Forum Ninja
#179210: Mar 23rd 2017 at 11:01:04 AM

House Freedom Caucus members are saying no deal despite a meeting with Trump.

"It's dead Donald, Paul."

"We're all paper, we're all scissors, we're all fightin' with our mirrors, scared we'll never find somebody to love."
Krieger22 Causing freakouts over sourcing since 2018 from Malaysia Since: Mar, 2014 Relationship Status: I'm in love with my car
Causing freakouts over sourcing since 2018
#179211: Mar 23rd 2017 at 11:02:36 AM

The Senate just voted 50-48 to revoke the FCC's privacy rules.

I have disagreed with her a lot, but comparing her to republicans and propagandists of dictatorships is really low. - An idiot
TacticalFox88 from USA Since: Nov, 2010 Relationship Status: Dating the Doctor
#179212: Mar 23rd 2017 at 11:06:26 AM

Cartoon villains

New Survey coming this weekend!
Luigisan98 A wandering user from Venezuelan Muscat Since: Oct, 2013 Relationship Status: I <3 love!
A wandering user
#179213: Mar 23rd 2017 at 11:09:35 AM

[up] Poor bastards...they don't know that the Internet nation is actually a more frightening force to be reckoned with as other know from the days of SOPA and PIPA.

The only good fanboy, is a redeemed fanboy.
blkwhtrbbt The Dragon of the Eastern Sea from Doesn't take orders from Vladimir Putin Since: Aug, 2010 Relationship Status: I'm just a poor boy, nobody loves me
The Dragon of the Eastern Sea
#179214: Mar 23rd 2017 at 11:10:53 AM

They don't care. It's not like there's any tangible damage that all the protests will do.

It would take Google refusing to conduct searches to change their minds. Maybe not even that. If Google stops doing searches, the population becomes that much more uninformed. And the Republicans profit. Again.

Say to the others who did not follow through You're still our brothers, and we will fight for you
danime91 Since: Jan, 2012 Relationship Status: Above such petty unnecessities
#179215: Mar 23rd 2017 at 11:12:33 AM

[up][up][up][up]How does Senate voting work? Who were the two who didn't vote?

Also, time to have my computer running VPN at all times.

edited 23rd Mar '17 11:12:52 AM by danime91

Luigisan98 A wandering user from Venezuelan Muscat Since: Oct, 2013 Relationship Status: I <3 love!
A wandering user
#179216: Mar 23rd 2017 at 11:15:01 AM

Two words: Internet Counterattack

The only good fanboy, is a redeemed fanboy.
Fighteer Lost in Space from The Time Vortex (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: TV Tropes ruined my love life
Lost in Space
#179217: Mar 23rd 2017 at 11:17:28 AM

I continue to find it amusing how militantly Internet communities oppose companies having access to store and trade users' browsing history. There are so many slippery slope fallacy arguments being made that I legitimately cannot keep track of them.

Certainly, there is merit to an argument in favor of general consumer privacy, but the obvious solution: a universal online ID system that encrypts personal information and releases it only to entities authorized by the user, is dismissed out of hand. Instead, people seem to prefer an anarchistic view of the Internet where security is basically a shark pit that you jump into at your peril.

And this from the same people who scoff at the notion of a libertarian society in which everybody is exclusively responsible for their self-defense and vigilantism is the primary method of administering justice.

The Internet is not the Wild West anymore, no matter how the online hipsters keep yearning for the good ol' days. The enemy is not corporations and governments, but the outlaws who steal data, forge identities, and hold web-based companies ransom. The best way to ensure security is to force rigorous identity-tracking at the hardware level, preventing anyone from forging credentials without getting booted.

Pick one: control over your identity, or freedom from data collection.

edited 23rd Mar '17 11:25:07 AM by Fighteer

"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
TerminusEst from the Land of Winter and Stars Since: Feb, 2010
Rationalinsanity from Halifax, Canada Since: Aug, 2010 Relationship Status: It's complicated
#179219: Mar 23rd 2017 at 11:24:37 AM

One of the missing Senators is a conservative Republican who is recovering from back surgery, IIRC. The other is also a Republican (the split is 53-47), so at least every Democratic (and the de facto Democratic independents) Senator voted No,

Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.
CaptainCapsase from Orbiting Sagittarius A* Since: Jan, 2015
#179220: Mar 23rd 2017 at 11:28:33 AM

[up][up][up] The anarchic structure of the Internet is the root cause of both it's worst and best qualities, and given a choice, I would prefer keeping it as is and making educating people on smart web usage a part of basic school curriculums.

edited 23rd Mar '17 11:30:04 AM by CaptainCapsase

CenturyEye Tell Me, Have You Seen the Yellow Sign? from I don't know where the Yith sent me this time... Since: Jan, 2017 Relationship Status: Having tea with Cthulhu
Tell Me, Have You Seen the Yellow Sign?
#179221: Mar 23rd 2017 at 11:29:36 AM

a universal online ID system that encrypts personal information and releases it only to entities authorized by the user
This is honestly the first I've ever heard of this proposal. note  Does any article have details on how it works? Would it be the equivalent of a social security number online?

Look with century eyes... With our backs to the arch And the wreck of our kind We will stare straight ahead For the rest of our lives
Kostya (Unlucky Thirteen)
#179222: Mar 23rd 2017 at 11:30:20 AM

How would that sort of system work with devices that have multiple users?

danime91 Since: Jan, 2012 Relationship Status: Above such petty unnecessities
#179223: Mar 23rd 2017 at 11:31:45 AM

[up][up]It's like with physical housing. Your place of residence and your identity are more or less a matter of public record. What you actually have and do inside your home is a private matter only to be shared with people you want to share it with. If the authorities have a warrant and probable cause, only then should they be allowed to search your home. I think the Internet should be more or less the same. There has to be some form of unspoofable identification built-in, but the information is only available to authorities with probable cause, such as if they're investigating an online child pornography ring or the hacking of a company database.

The idea has been proposed before, but the issue is that the way the Internet was designed and built makes it impossible to implement such a system. It would require a rebuild from the ground-up to incorporate, which would be costly beyond imagination.

Smaller countries such as South Korea and Japan have partially implemented a form of such a system, where you basically sign up for various web services using your social security number (I would know; I've tried to register for some Korean MMOs without much luck on that front) but I don't know how practical it would be on a wider scale.

edited 23rd Mar '17 11:36:51 AM by danime91

Krieger22 Causing freakouts over sourcing since 2018 from Malaysia Since: Mar, 2014 Relationship Status: I'm in love with my car
Causing freakouts over sourcing since 2018
#179224: Mar 23rd 2017 at 11:42:08 AM

[up]On a wider scale? The second the more resourceful cyber criminal types get their hands on it - the worst card database breaches will look like child's play compared to the sheer extent of identity theft or forgery that will happen.

If my memory is correct, Fatal System Error suggests as much, that the Internet will have to be changed from the ground up for such a system to work without being exploited to hell and back.

I have disagreed with her a lot, but comparing her to republicans and propagandists of dictatorships is really low. - An idiot
danime91 Since: Jan, 2012 Relationship Status: Above such petty unnecessities
#179225: Mar 23rd 2017 at 11:47:37 AM

[up]It's the way the Internet works by sending and receiving packets. Currently there's no way to hardcode in identifying information into packets; packets just carry information back and forth, some of which may be identifying info which may or may not be true. It's in the hardware (well, not really, but it's inherent in the system), so it's not something that can just be patched. To make such a universal identification system work, you'd have to come up with a whole new architecture for the Internet, while at the same time making every single computer, smartphone, wireless router, and any other device using or having to do with Internet connectivity incompatible. Imagine the financial nightmare that would be.


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