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Englishgrinn @ Englishgrinn @lemmy.ca
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6 mo. ago

  • UnitedHealthcare CEO's alleged killer Luigi Mangione inspiring others toward violence, prosecutors say

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  • I'm late to this party but I always like to chip in on Luigi threads:

    1. That other people were inspired to kill CEOs by this killing is irrelevant. I mean, it's debatable that it's true at all. But even if it were, that feels relevant only insofar as this is a jury trial - and thats not a bug of a jury trial, it's a feature. Public sentiment doesn't really get a say outside the 12 folks in the box.
    2. There is a serious chain of evidence issue with the supposed murder weapon. Body cams are turned off, (improper) when Luigis bag is taken from him, and according to filings, that bag wasn't searched until back at a local station over 30 minutes later. That strikes people as suspect as it's outside normal procedure for cops, who would normally search a bag right away during the arrest. The cops were alone with that bag for 30 minutes prior to "finding" the gun. Most unbelievable, they expect us to believe that someone capable of this killing, and producing an inherently disposable 3D printed "ghost gun", then failed to ditch it and carried it across state lines? He couldn't find a garbage can to pitch it in over 24 hours later?
    3. People say Luigi couldn't be the adjuster because of the height/build difference between him and the security footage of Brian Thompsons shooting. I find this less convincing as the footage is extremely unclear. But I will say at the very least, nothing in that footage has been brought to my attention that supports Luigi being the shooter. No shill pundit or sweaty former prosecutor desperate for their 15 minutes has got on TV and said "See, here's what the prosecution is going to point to to build their case."

    It would seem to me, that Luigi is a troubled young rich kid who wrote some critical, if meandering, things about his frustrations with US Healthcare, got accused by a McDonalds employee who was financially incentivized to see a suspect, had evidence planted by some cops hoping to catch this rising folk hero before anyone else got any ideas, and then got railroaded by the most corrupt DOJ since the Gilded Age.

  • Trump's DC Occupation Costs 4 Times More Than It Would Take to House City's Entire Homeless Population

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  • First, I'm going to heavily qualify this statement. Like, a lot. I have never served in any military capacity and I'm repeating something a member of the Canadian military told me, which could easily be wrong for 20 reasons.

    National Guardsman are similar to our "reservists" and are not paid when inactive. If additional troops who were already trained but not active, we're then activated, that would account for additional costs.

    So yeah, massive grain of salt but you asked and someone gave me a reasonable answer that seemed to fit. I have done no fact checking, though.

  • Games Where Nothing Happens (SPOILERS for various game plots)

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  • I mean you're right, but it makes sense in context in both cases because the plot, or maybe better to say the driving motivation for action by the characters, isn't the real story.

    TLOU isn't the story of two survivors trying to reach a goal- thats set dressing. It's the story of a man who lost his daughter being given a chance to confront his grief and grow close with another young woman who would be the same age. The relationship growing, their mutual guilt and relief and joy in finding that familial connection in a dying world IS the story. And the climax isn't Joel shooting 50 more people, it's when he chooses her over the whole world. Even when thats obviously the wrong choice.

    From a plot view, nothing has changed. What actually "happened" was entirely between Ellie and Joel. But lots of stories are like that. If you released a movie where a grieving man connected with his adopted, formerly abused or neglected, daughter- that could be a good movie and you wouldn't say "nothing happened" because it would be honest and upfront with its stakes. But fewer people would play that as a game so they have to obfuscate their actual story with apocalypse and zombie trappings.

  • A US citizen and Army veteran was detained at an immigration raid and held for 3 days. His family scrambled to find him |

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  • He self-identifies as Conservative, when talking to me, which is 99% of the time he spends discussing politics.

    I dunno. Feels like we lost the thread here. If it makes you guys happy, sure. By "leans Conservative" I actually meant "center-right Liberal". Everyone cool with that?

  • A US citizen and Army veteran was detained at an immigration raid and held for 3 days. His family scrambled to find him |

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  • That's bullshit. My friend is a wonderful person who hasn't actually voted for a Conservative government in over a decade. "Sheer was a joke. Pollievre is a clown." Are his exact words. He wants more military spending for the Canadian forces where he served for years, and he's highly skeptical of higher taxes, convinced that rich people will always find a way to weasel out. He's against minimum wage hikes because "the corporations will just raise prices". Because of these reasons, he identifies as Conservative, albeit one who votes Liberal because the CPC is a joke. He's right of me but thats where most people are.

    This is a man who, is bi himself and strongly supports LGBTQ rights, and went no contact with his own brother because his coke-addled brother wouldn't stop spouting racist shit.

    Stop with bullshit "everyone to my right is Nazi" stuff. You don't know anything and it helps no one.

  • actually not a bad movie

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  • Hi! Nothing in your short post was offensive or stupid so I apologize for the wall of text I'm going to dump on you. And I'll caveat what I'm about to say with "People find ways to be clever in all kinds of situations, so you're even kind of right." But...

    I'm going to take a stand, on a very subjective topic, and say loudly; No, Trolling is not an art form. I hate this fucking take. Trolling takes all kinds of forms but its unifying element is to make other people 'upset'. Sometimes mad. Sometimes sad. Sometimes confused. Sometimes depressed. You know what else does that? Existing at all in this fucking ghastly, unjust, terrible world. People start pissed off, and Trolls dog pile on and take credit. Trolling is art in the same way painting a freshly painted white wall in more white is fucking art- you accomplished fuck all.

    Being kind is fucking art. More than art it's fucking design, and craft and construction. Making someone happy. Hopeful. Joyous. Inspired. That takes fucking art. It takes hard work, sometimes sacrifice, and always intellect. And you have to do it in direct defiance of the whole fucking world.

  • A US citizen and Army veteran was detained at an immigration raid and held for 3 days. His family scrambled to find him |

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  • I had a good friend who isn't usually very politically engaged (we're Canadian and he leans Conservative) text me this story. Along with the following:

    "Wow. I know Trump gets away with a lot of shit, you told me ICE is arresting innocent people every day, but this shit is atrocious. No way conservatives let this slide..."

    Oh sweet summer child...

  • Long Island community outraged after 'stellar' SUNY college student detained by ICE

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  • The article specifically says she came here legally and was in the process of obtaining permanent residency - a lengthy process.

  • Kamala Harris won the U.S elections: Bombshell report claims voting machines were tampered with before 2024

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  • I keep seeing headlines and links to substacks regarding this particular theory and while there's some smoke - I remain unconvinced.

    The timing of Leo's purchase of that company is suspect. Pushing an uncertified update is suspect. The oddities in the numbers are suspect.

    But no one has connected the dots in a satisfying way and that no one had pointed to what steps could be taken to verify suspicions. It feels half-baked. I would love to try and believe that more Americans voted for Kamala, but only for a "faith in humanity" kind of way. Proving widespread fraud feels a long way off.

  • America's spies say Iran wasn't building a nuclear weapon. Trump dismisses that assessment

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  • The truth doesn't really matter. Israel will get their war, and the US will lumber into it behind them.

    What's crazy to me is apparently the US has become so polarized, so used to division that pointing out Israel is acting like bloodthirsty psychos is somehow supporting Iran, or Hamas before that. It's like their whole culture has evaporated any nuance at all. Only diametrically opposed good and evil battling forever. Professional wrestling stories with Heels and Faces divided by clear black lines.

  • US Congresswoman LaMonica McIver indicted by grand jury over immigration centre scuffle

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  • I believe the old adage is that a grand jury can indict a ham sandwich. It'll be interesting to see what steps are taken to either turn the inevitable trial into either a political stage show, or a black box tribunal. If they think they can spin it hard enough that their propaganda machine can make this woman look like she did something wrong, we'll get that option. And I think that's most likely, since it's black woman and attacking her will be easy to get the base onboard for. But if they claim its all "national security" issues and refuse to have any press attention, we'll know they have less than nothing.

    Either way, anyone paying attention saw the original footage last month knows these people did nothing wrong.

    I'm going to get darker than is probably warranted for a moment, and just ask, how are none of these authoritarian shitbags not dead already? I know stochastic terrorism is primarily a right-winger trait, but no type of human ugliness is universal to just one side of the aisle. You'd think more people would be taking a crack at Stephen Miller, Russ Vought, Pam Bondi and the other ghouls.

  • Carney tells Trump: Canada 'won't be for sale ever'

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  • I went in for chest pains at the end of last year, I was shocked at how fast I was seen. Once they established I wasn't dying, I had a pretty long wait but overall service was really good and I paid nothing.

    Well, not nothing, I've paid taxes my whole life. But I doubt I've paid the 6 figures amount that would've cost me in the US even if you add all my lifetime taxes together and during that time I still drove on roads and stuff.

    Socialized medicine isn't just a better option, it's the only moral choice.

  • Colour Me Criminal

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  • The short answer is - yes, there are a bunch of ways to be legally in the United States without a green card. These tend to be temporary, or contingent on other things, so harder to track and produce immediate evidence of.

    The longer answer is, it doesn't matter. Deportation is a tool in the government's tool kit for dealing with those who entered the country illegally - but Deportation is a process, with steps, due process and it requires the ability for the potential deportee to argue their case to an immigration judge. Being grabbed by masked thugs off the street, taking a brief layover in Louisiana while they fuel the plane and then being deported to a torture facility in El Salvador without so much as ever speaking to your lawyer is a contravention of your rights. Your human rights, your 5th Amendment rights, take your pick.

    Kilmar Abrego Garcia, for example, was never formally granted asylum. He missed the filing deadline of one year. However, in his original deportation trial he showed significant evidence and credible testimony that he had fled El Salvador to escape being forced to join the gang that was shaking down his family for protection money. The only reason he wasn't deported after that original hearing was that a Judge granted him hold order - stating he specifically could not be deported to El Salvador because his life would be in danger. It's unlikely he has any simple card or document that shows that order he could carry with him. In direct violation of that order, ICE sent him anyway. He's almost certainly dead.

  • Rejected at her door, ICE nabs a Maryland woman in her car after smashing her window

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  • That woman, is a dangerous gang member? THAT woman? And her screaming, terrified 18-year-old daughter who had the audacity to demand cops show a fucking warrant.

    If you aren't filled with rage at this point, you're either evil, or painfully ignorant.

  • The Economist Trashes Trump’s ‘Flat-Out Nonsense’ Tariffs in Scathing Editorial: Most ‘Unnecessary Economic Error in the Modern Era’

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  • In before MAGAs are on your case wondering what mushrooms have to do with anything.

  • The New Video of Federal Agents Ambushing a Student and Disappearing With Her Should Chill You to Your Core

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  • A couple of op-eds for a Student newspaper criticizing Israel? I thought I saw the pieces linked earlier but I don't see them now. The article linked on this post says it supported a student divestment program and referenced the International Criminal Court calling attacks on Gaza a genocide.

    Hardly spicy compared to your average social media post.

  • The Atlantic releases the entire Signal chat showing Hegseth's detailed attack plans against Houthis

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  • Yeah, reporting has mostly been about the leak - and I understand why. American lives > anything else in American politics and the OPSEC is what puts American lives at risk.

    But if I understand this "operation" correctly - a rocket specialist for the Houthis who was instrumental in the attacks on Suez Canal had a girlfriend in that building. So, they dropped the building on him. 53 innocents dead to kill one terrorist? This is acceptable losses in modern American warfighting?

  • The New Video of Federal Agents Ambushing a Student and Disappearing With Her Should Chill You to Your Core

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  • For the record, and I know I'm not the first to say it, this woman committed NO crime. She didn't overstay a visa, she didn't protest illegally. She wrote something the administration didn't like.

    For that, she was arrested by 8 masked officers in the middle of the street, in broad daylight. She was thrown in the back on an unmarked SUV. She's received no legal representation. No trial. Not even charges, because again, she committed no crime.

    Americans, you realize you're watching the death of your rights and the rule of law, right? You have no illusions about the fact that you are defenseless? There is no longer any guardrail between you and an El Salvadoran prison camp. In something that reminds me very much of Stalin, an accusation is now a conviction.

  • Pete Hegseth denies texting war plans to journalist

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  • There's a couple reasons -

    1. It wasn't so much "bombing Yemen" as it was, bombing a terrorist organization within Yemen's borders. This is something every American administration has done for decades. That makes it poor political fodder, you can't "one up" the competition with it.
    2. Most Americans would agree that the Houthis, once it is explained to them who they are, need to be bombed. The actual action would be reprehensible to some, but acceptable to most. You can't put pressure on an admin to change their tactics when they feel they have a plurality of support.
    3. The sad and undeniable fact is that in American politics - American lives are simply more important than foreign ones. That's not really unique to American culture, it's not meant as a criticism, it's just a sad reality. Bombing Yemen is pretty low risk for American lives - but sloppy OPSEC put American lives at huge risk so that's where the focus is.

    In a perfect world, the fact that America is committing violence in other nations and is not realistically reigned in by International Laws or Treaties would be a point worth getting upset about. But that fact is over 100 years old and has been successfully normalized. The idea of incompetent buffoons operating the Department of Defense like a bunch of frat boys trying to organize a kegger is marginally newer and more impactful on the national psyche.

  • Locked Removed Deleted

    Permanently Deleted

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  • The article has pictures of the chat. The DoD and NSA have both confirmed this happened. A spokesperson for JD Vance has confirmed it happened. What evidence would you accept?