They’re all over AliExpress and TEMU. People use them mostly to cheat bridge tolls, lol.

Always how it is. Philly is an amazingly, deeply progressive place that started what we would consider today’s interpretation of “progressive” way way back in 1812. Racists and bigots absolutely exist in the city but for the most part, every instance of political violence in the past 10 years has either been actual Nazis (Patriot Front) shipping in via U-Haul, or goobers from the outer counties driving in specifically to shoot guns at windows and signs and drive out of the city with their plates covered, using one of those friggin remote controlled piezoelectric tint plate blockers

I spoke to a few people about this since commenting, and this is essentially the response I got back — this kind of thing does already exist, but it has typically been organized by ciswomen for transwomen on a community basis — I. E., strong moderation and vetting and familiarity prevents abuse.

So, I’m guessing the better direction for random cis men who want to organize would be to create a chapterized organization that protects or provides physical barriers around places trans people need to enter and may be prevented from doing so by rioters or violent dissidents. My immediate thought is to protect the doctors and patients who give care to trans youth, and just make an email, text, or Fediverse alert system that dispatches people near an area if a credible report appears of that kind of need.

I think, that way, it helps separate communications between trans folks and cis folks for safety reasons, but the needful is still done and everyone comes away feeling better and more united. I feel like that first part is really necessary to prevent opportunistic abuse.

I do not disagree, but, not every trans person wants to carry a weapon — their existence should just be respected like any other person around here. I mention my thought because those people still need protection, for both their physical and emotional safety.

Idk. Being trans is hard enough, and being a cis white het man is pretty much easy mode comparatively. My thought was moreso that trans people really deserve it that we lean in more using the things we know we have at our disposal. I don’t claim whiteness, but I am unquestionably white if asked by other white people, and I know for a fact that white dudes are much more likely to treat me with respect off the bat. I don’t like that, but I can exploit it to keep people who are just trying to live their fucking life in peace safe. I can’t imagine a more stereotypically ‘American’ cause than that.

Nothing can prepare you for what it’s like when gross dudes suddenly think they’re in good company and let slip some shit that is so heinous that you can’t even react for a few minutes.

Conscious cismen and transmen know what I mean.

I am genuinely not sure how that kind of outreach would work, or how to protect anything that is out there from bigots weaponizing it, but I recognize that there’s a need and that cis men like myself (especially those of us with some height on us) have a surprising amount of power to prevent other cis dudes from fucking around.

I am not much for toxic masculinity, but I’ve spent enough time embroiled in it to know that groups of guys will back off anyone who they think might have a weapon. Hell, I’ve personally seen gangbangers actively ward other gangbangers off from cat-calling a woman wearing a wedding ring. I learned later that this is common wisdom because the potential damage that a scorned husband can cause is ridiculous. I think there is something to just utilizing that effect for, y’know, good instead of evil.

I wish there were a group of cis men who would be willing to open-carry where it’s legal, on demand, and accompany any trans person to and from anywhere they gotta go. I’d do it if I weren’t a pacifist, but maybe it’s still useful even to just have a walking buddy.

It’s a shame that this is where we are as a society, but then again, I’m just using the same argument I’ve been fed my whole life about guns being critical towards creating a more polite society.

Brendan.

I saw Loren say once that the basic premise of the show is that “Bob can’t win.” Like, that’s the rule. He has to lose, because that action is what endears us as an audience, but also creates a plyable space to inject the kind of schmaltz that the Simpsons used to be known for in its earliest seasons.

Y’all, the denial of power happens on every possible level. We gain power with every single Charlie Kirk Memorial Highway sign that gets “accidentally” knocked down with a car bumper. Or every Charlie Kirk Memorial Highway offramp sign that gets suddenly redesigned overnight with a can of black spray paint. Deny them quarter on every single front.

The Wheezle! Propaganda, buuuuuuuuuudddddddy.

Finno-Urgic Chad: “haha hey guys watch this”

I have been using, exploring, and researching generative AI and big data / machine learning for like 6 or 7 years now, and all I can say is that generative AI is not at all ready to take most jobs, mostly because the error rates are extremely high for businesses that really can’t tolerate even one mistake, like fast food ordering systems. The liability is going to be insane once a chat bot recommends that someone at the drive-thru order a bleach and mcflurry special, and the high-as-balls teenager working the machine just does what the computer tells them to do.

The issue at hand imo is that C-suites and VPs and shareholders have all been marketed to — it’s obvious to anyone who has worked with it in any real amounts of time that this shit ain’t ready, but, the brass all sure believe that it’s ready, and they’re gonna try. Once the funding floor falls out (in, say, an inevitable recession that comes once foreign countries’ central banks pull their investments in US savings bonds) and these mega model companies start charging what their tech actually costs, people are gonna be the cheaper option real fast.

Personally, I think that any established professional will be fine. If you are already good at programming, you will probably keep doing programming from here. If you’re good at art or design and have work from the past 10 years, you will probably be fine.

Who I mourn for are the kids who are just now coming up. There will be absolutely no cheap opportunities for young and hungry but inexperienced young adults — that space of ‘good enough’ can and will be filled with generative AI. :/ I have no idea what the solution there is besides a campaign towards mentoring youths and giving them opportunities explicitly.

My suggestion personally is that trans folk start taking boating lessons. They might not let you leave by plane, but they can’t stop a small boat from leaving shore somewhere, anywhere, along the 28,000 miles of coastline along the East Coast. Purchasing an old fishing trawler will be helpful, as if your boat obviously has fishing equipment onboard, drone strikes are less likely and less justifiable — especially given how many wealthy, white Americans regularly pilot their little boat-houses to Bermuda every year.

Additionally, in less than three days’ voyage, you can reach several sovereign overseas European territories through which to claim asylum, such as St. Pierre and Miquelon (France), Bermuda (Britain), Sint Maarten (Dutch), and Greenland (Denmark). Stay out of public, and stay safe everyone. Now is the time to use all of those social-avoidance skills we have been practicing for decades.

You, my friend, would probably enjoy the magazine ‘AdBusters.’ I have been a subscriber since college, 20 years now.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adbusters?wprov=sfla1

you know what the worst part about the creeping nature of murderous, paranoid fascism is? the hypocrisy!

Does Tate mean like the list of doxx that Charlie’s defenders are compiling?

Okay I know we’re all pretty deep into the nerdweb here, but let’s not lose the thread of reality here. ABC still pulls close to 5 million individual viewers every night, JUST on broadcast and cable rebroadcast. That ain’t fuckin nothing; TV is still an important and influential medium.

Spez got invited to talk to Congress about radicalism on social media. I bet that has something to do with it. Steve “Bugeyes” Huffman will not turn down an opportunity to help Trump out.

I’m confident they were just looking for a reason after Colbert. Seth Meyers better use his last few weeks before he gets pinched to come up with a contingency plan, cus this is a fucking crackdown.