bobcallme

The regulators and bureaucrats.

Free Uncle Bob!

Discouraging people from using tools that restrict a persons freedom is not the same thing as removing an individual because of wrong think or personal grudges. The "canceled" tools are still there and available for anyone to use if they wish. If people don't want to have anything to do with RMS, they are more than free to do so.

I would argue that, for a time, the focus was to create tools that abide by an ideology AND are the best at what they do.

When a project becomes focused on throwing people under the bus instead of creating the best tools for people to use, it's time to jump ship. If any GNU developers are unhappy with the way things are, they are more than free to fork and walk away instead of wasting everyone's time.

> Pretending that people are being jailed because of the color of their skin is ridiculous, especially considering that in many cities the jury, lawyers, judge, clerks, etc. are also of the same skin color.

That is not the point. People should not have to sit in a cage and then be "judged" by a system that is no longer blind and is stacked against anyone who goes through it. How long do you want to sit in a cage for "something you did not do"? It's no longer about "justice" or "reform", it's about revenge and benefiting those who make it up.

> Statements like yours throw the entire justice system under the bus. You essentially call into question the entire [apparatus] that remains to protect normal folks in the burnt out husks of cities like Baltimore and Detroit.

The system needs to be thrown out because of how it was created and what it has become. Instead of only being used to "reform" the most reprehensible individuals in society (violent crimes, theft, fraud), it has become a weapon for use against anyone the two parties did not like. First it was the racist Democrats who used it against those who did not look like them and then the fundie Republicans pushed it even further to use it as a tool for the things the church did not like. Many people sitting in jail right now should not be in jail because their "crimes" never affected anyone else or society at large.

> Karen is an anti-white slur. "Karen" expects people to follow the rules and to be pro-social

Being a cunt is not limited to any one group or ethnicity. "Karen" is applicable to any busybody who should mind their own business and leave people alone.

"Better police" does provide more "public safety". This argument has been used to create the system that we have now, caging people you don't like or don't look like you; it can never be "reformed" in any meaningful manner. I'd rather have a 20% greater chance of being randomly shot than to continue with this push for a system that cages people for victimless crimes or creates more criminals because Karens' across the country feel that they need to control everyone and everything. Everyone should have the right to defend themselves against any threats against themselves or their neighbors; this is not negotiable.

The more pressing issue is the fact that critical tools that we depend upon are not properly funded or the incentive to properly maintain them is simply not there. Many of these projects were started as pet projects in peoples spare time. Sure, Google gives a lot of money and contributes to some of these projects but their contributions do not match how much they depend upon them. This is all compounded by the fact that Google is actively working to undermine many of these same projects because they can't get a license change or projects don't want to bend to their will.

Rewriting the world in Rust or other "memory safe" languages is not going to be the silver bullet that is being claimed. In the case of Rust, I am tired of people evangelizing it when it's plagued with issues that undermine its goals and rewrites will bring about more nasty bugs. "Unsafe" code will still need to be written and not being able to use or have stable toolchains to work with is a non-starter for a lot of projects. Until all of these languages have set standards and stable toolchains, hopefully the Rust Foundation will push, these languages are a non-starter.

> Ironic given the above, because now you're saying it's worth killing a lot of old people for some economic gain, not to mention hospitals getting overloaded resulting in deaths of younger people from road accidents and other treatable illnesses etc.

It's not "...worth killing a lot of old people for some economic gain..." and it was never about that. The unintended consequences of this circus brought on by both parties has resulted in more death. We've allowed politicians and prominent figures to make negligent decisions that have resulted in deaths that could have been prevented.

People die from a wide range of things, some preventable and some not so much. Keeping everyone inside and preventing them from socializing has resulted in more deaths than a virus with a significantly low mortality rate. Why don't we shut the world down for other causes of death that have been happening in greater numbers? The sensible thing would have been to isolate populations with compromised immune systems and maybe make vitamin D supplementation a priority.

OP was talking about "sowing hate"; the topic was not on unpopular opinions or view points. "...mostly old impressionable people" is a bit of an oxymoron; it's a bit arrogant that you would try to assert that "old" people are not capable of forming their own opinions or seeking out others. There will come a point in time where applying labels where they don't belong will no longer work to silence opposing views that you don't like.

> RUSH: Folks, this coronavirus thing, I want to try to put this in perspective for you. It looks like the coronavirus is being weaponized as yet another element to bring down Donald Trump. Now, I want to tell you the truth about the coronavirus. (interruption) You think I’m wrong about this? You think I’m missing it by saying that’s… (interruption) Yeah, I’m dead right on this. The coronavirus is the common cold, folks.

Your quote from Rush is actually one of the few things that I actually agree with. The better response to this would have been to do absolutely nothing at all.

While he had some controversial views and opinions, that's quite a blanketed statement. Painting everyone you don't like with arbitrary claims is not how you deal with polarizing individuals. I did not agree with him on ~70% of what he had to say but will defend the fact that a lot of things he said were taken out of context.

I hope freedom of speech and expression does not die with him. He and many others were important in standing up against the fundies and various groups that wanted to the limit the rights that we take for granted today. If you have not seen it yet, I recommend watching “The People Vs. Larry Flynt”.

I hope freedom of speech and expression does not die with him. He and many others were important in standing up against the fundies and various groups that wanted to the limit the rights that we take for granted today. If you have not seen it, I recommend watching “The People Vs. Larry Flynt”.

> Bitcoin also enables ransomware.

"Ransomware" has been a thing well before Bitcoin. Instead of Bitcoin, they would convince people to buy moneypaks or various gift cards.

> How about nobody burns down anything? Can we manage that? Yes, even if a big fat meanie is president.

I think you might be asking too much of people here. They can't seem to help themselves. Censorship and violence is OK when their people do it under the guise of cause X but it's not OK when other people do the exact same thing.

The problems on HN are quite telling. I agree with your statement. I just wish there was a good alternative to HN.

Fuck you and everyone here. The fact that anyone could defend this decision is ridiculous. I'm tired of people defending censorship in the most brain dead of ways when it has never worked in the past and it most certainly will not work now. Censoring unpopular ideas only allows them to fester in the dark where they can't be brought to light or addressed in the open. This was never about "racism","bigotry" or "ignorance". We are in this boat because of a much deeper set of problems that are currently going to lead to the further regression of society.

Those in power, people here and the arrogance of many others have created an entire generation of people who've been banished, shunned or shouted down any time they had a differing opinion on anything. I personally am done dealing with this bullshit and the problems that have been inflicted on society. I'm done being quiet and, personally, I'd rather join the damned than continue this circus. I'm willing to put everything on the table to end this and ensure that this will never happen again. EVERYONE deserves a voice and a platform; you are more than free to not listen.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_they_came_...

People claim to care about climate change and the environment but moves like this only further harm the environment and cause more suffering. Instead of this drastic change, a better first step would be to force automakers to sell / provide conversion kits for any vehicle made in the last 15 years. Getting as much life out of vehicles that are still road worthy is a better option instead of pushing more waste.

In terms of the needed power, Massachusetts can't even maintain the infrastructure they already have. How is the state going to make the required upgrades to support this move? The state's only nuclear power plant was decommissioned last year and there are no plans for new ones. Solar is not really a large scale option given the latitude, lack of sunny days and the need to clear / destroy more woodlands. Wind is an option but the scale needed would make the landscape become the eyesore that Vermont / New Hampshire has become.

From Section 2a :"(3) the term ‘‘pornographic image’’ means any visual depiction, including any photograph, film, video, picture, or computer or computer-generated image or picture, whether made or produced by electronic, mechanical, or other means, of sexually explicit conduct."

The danger is that this could be weaponized to censor any opposing viewpoints, given that it includes art, drawings and political cartoons; this is not just about photographs of real people.

https://www.xbiz.com/docs/news/256391_SasseMerkleyDEC2020.pd...

People need to STFU about politics at this point. Both the Republicans and Democrats have flawed arguments in regards to both the 2016 & 2020 elections; I've had it with both sides and those who posture themselves with a "only my side is correct" attitude. For the last 4 years, arguments in regards to foreign influence (for as little as $50k), the issues with voting machines and updated voter registration rolls were on the table and not a single thing was done to address these issues in the last 4 years. Now that election integrity is in question, whether or not there is merit in these claims, the left seems to be quite quick to be dismissive about any such claims. As someone who does not subscribe to either ideology, there was a lot of F*ckery going on that calls into question some flipped results and the razor thin margins in quite a few areas.

At his point, I'm done. Politics, label mindedness and posturing does not have any business in a professional setting. People seemed to have chosen their Kool-Aid and doubled down and it does not look like there is a way off this ride in the foreseeable future. I've sadly watched a number of people that I've had a lot of respect for in various communities show that they are more closed minded and have shown that they are susceptible to these problematic characteristics.

Are you able to offer a more coherent rebuttal? Name calling is what children do. Adults generally offer up an argument; it does not have to be a good or perfect one.

So, criticizing Mozilla is not allowed or using strong language to drive a point? If anything, my original comment did not go far enough. All of the people here helped to kill Internet freedom and the Web. Civil discussion is only allowed if certain organizations/topics are not on the table and their malicious actions just get brushed off like it is no big deal. I was a huge supporter of Mozilla (Project/Foundation) and gave lots of money to support them. As each issue came up, I was brushed off as a crazy loon whose opinion has no merit or weight. Flagging and censorship seems to be the tool of the day to ease the pain of having to deal with an unpopular opinion. As my final and last post to this Brogrammer circle jerk, I leave with this:

First they came for the CEO because he used personal funds to support things that we did not agree with and I spoke out in support of him as a gay man because Free Speech is important. Then they came for the browser, because they believe in a "Free and Open Web"..."Privacy".."Truth":

* EME (can't have a Free and Open web without DRM) * Pocket (just save pages with this non-free service in the cloud, trust us...we care about privacy) * Studies (pushed a malicious plugin that you were not suppose to know about) * Cloudflare DNS (TRR) (we must ignore all system DNS settings at all cost because we trust CloudFlare) * telemetry (we can't trust the user really wants to disable it) * Ministry of Truth [1] (everyone trusts Mozilla to be the gatekeeper)

The laundry list of things keeps growing and these issues fall on deaf ears. "Well, you can fork...change things" I should not have to maintain my own fork of a now shitty browser just so that malicious features are removed or stay turned off.

Hacker News was the last and final place on the Web that I go and participate. I dumped Facebook 8 years ago and I have been kicked off of Reddit (remember when Snowden news articles from mainstream sources were banned from r/technology?). I guess my best bet is to move to an island so I don't trigger or bother the fine folks of Hacker News / YCombinator...

[1] The Mozilla Information Trust Initiative : http://archive.is/jcJWg

How is it great if I don't have the freedom to run my own server. Do you really trust that Mozilla won't hand over your browsing history and saved pages?

> You know Pocket is owned by Mozilla right?

That does not make it any better. So what if they did finally release the sources for the plugin (only took them a year or two to do). They have not released the server component. They are also using it to push ADs that I don't want. I should not have to toggle 50 different things and remove a bunch of stuff before I can use Firefox and then the next update undoes all of that.

Interesting that they would fight for this, but yet they push malware, HTML5 EME, CloudFlare DNS, ADs with Pocket and to be the gate keeper of the truth [1]. Mozilla. The Mozilla Project and Foundation have become quite toxic and this two-faced stance that it cares about its useds is quite appalling.

[1]The Mozilla Information Trust Initiative : http://archive.is/jcJWg

Edit: censored

> You are completely wrong. "Prohibition" was working. Smoking was dropping year after year, thanks to public policies like banning flavored cigarettes, packaging laws, ID laws, and taxes.

The main reason traditional smoking dropped was not because of prohibition, it's because of education and the fact that we had someone (or a lot of someones) who smoked and we had seen what it did to them. If someone is determined to get their hands on something, they will get it on the black market that you are proposing to create.

> What proposed regulation are you claiming makes it harder for an adult to buy e-cigs?

The removal of flavored e-cigarette devices / tobacco from convenience stores. E-cigarettes are already hidden away in most convenience stores and I've been to hundreds of them across the country on my travels. The FDA needs to stop using my tax dollars to lie to teens with their The Real Cost AD campaign because it is not factual. I would support it if they were not lying to teens and they pushed factual ADs (showing parasites is not factual or genuine). Any teen who has had a Biology or health class will see through that (unless you are proposing we stop factually teaching those things in schools).

> Nevermind that part of the FDA's problem is that e-cigarette manufacturers were able to resist regulation by claiming in court they were not a nicotine replacement therapy, but in fact a new tobacco product for people who did not want to quit.

You need proof to back up that claim.

> Besides that - obviously the existence of other problems does not prevent us from dealing with this one, now. The facts, according to the article, are that our tremendous progress in eradicating nicotine addiction has been dealt a serious setback: millions of kids are addicted, most of whom would not have been smoking cigarettes, and vapers are more likely to become future smokers.

More FUD and bullsh*t claims being made. The only reason vapers would start using cigarettes is if you made e-cigarettes / vaping products difficult to get. All of this could have been avoided if parents talked with their kids, administrators did their bloody jobs and stop lying to teens about the things we don't want them to do. I guess that I was lucky enough to grow up in a time where my parents somewhat cared and I had the freedom to make my own stupid mistakes without authoritarians like you proposing to move the bar of adulthood later and in life.

> That's great. That doesn't excuse their easy availability and the clear marketing toward children. That's how the media and government need to be held accountable.

Care to provide a link or example? Because I have yet to see any. Every convenience store that I have been in has most tobacco products hidden and any ADs have just text and no pictures.

> That there are more dire issues doesn't mean we can't tackle less dire ones. The real tragedy is if the government had been on the ball, this would have never been a problem in the first place. E-cigs should have been much more heavily restricted, no flavorings allowed, etc., then people could have still quit smoking and we wouldn't have a teenage nicotine addiction epidemic. As it is, e-cigs have been sold as something basically completely safe and fun, and consequently millions of children are now addicts.

My personal opinion is that you can't expect the government to protect me or you from every single threat. Adding more restrictions, creating a black market and lying is not going to help address this. I still want to see example of ADs that appear to be targeting children to buy e-cigarettes.

> E-cigarettes helped your friends stop smoking. Great! But apparently they're helping other people start.

So, the real question is WHERE are they getting them since all sources require an ID to get them and making them more illegal or difficult to get most likely won't stop them from getting them.

My opinion is that energy would be better spent at addressing immediate health issues and this issue could have been avoided if parents + school administrators + the community were more involved. I don't buy "we could not smell it" since most vaping stuff does have a sweet smell to it.

You are selling this FUD under the guise of "protect the children" when in reality you are restarting the issues we had with traditional cigarettes. The new regulations will pull vaping devices from stores and make it more difficult for those who do need them, thus making them go back to using cigarettes. People should be able to make their own informed choices and be able to put what they want in their bodies. Prohibition never works since it is not currently working (since all retailers are suppose to be checking IDs). This whole thing could have been avoided if parents talked with their children and school administrators did their jobs of enforcing existing policies / laws. There are much worse public health issues that need to be dealt with NOW and this is not it. Ever heard of the opioid / heroin epidemic that actually results in death and much worse health issues?