Funniest/Most Insightful Comments Of The Week At Techdirt
from the whatcha-sayin dept
This week, our first place winner on the insightful side is Pixelation with a comment about banning TikTok:
Banning TikTok will open the door to the real threat, government control of communication platforms. I would say it’s a republican wet dream, but it’s also a democrat one as well.
In second place, it’s That One Guy with a comment about Senator Durbin’s attack on Section 230:
There are idiot senators but none should be allowed that as an excuse
And the ‘There are no honest and/or reality-based arguments against 230’ streak remains unbroken since the law’s inception…
In the year 2024, it is beyond ridiculous that so many senators do not understand Section 230 and just keep misrepresenting it, to the point of wishing to repeal it (and with it, the open internet).
With great power should come higher expectations. These are senators, I have no doubt that if they asked one of their staff they could easily get a dozen experts on the law in question on the line within the day so to the extent they ‘do not understand Section 230’ the do not deserve the benefit of the doubt in assuming that it’s not willful ignorance rather than an honest lack of knowledge.
For editor’s choice on the insightful side, we start out with another comment from That One Guy, this time about Trump saying the right things about a TikTok ban for the wrong reasons:
Given who we’re talking about I guarantee his ‘support’ has nothing to do with realizing the ban would be unconstitutional and is entirely contingent upon him believing that opposing the ban benefits him more right now than continuing to support it.
The second that changes he will be back to ‘TikToc is the enemy of the public and must be stopped!’
Next, we’ve got T.L. digging into the problems with the idea:
Forcing a sale is not unconstitutional itself, it’s the threat or imposition of a ban on a platform that hosts speech in order to facilitate the sale that is. The federal government can restrict access to an app or website on government-owned devices, but it can’t dictate whether the public can or cannot access them on personal devices; First Amendment-protected materials are usually exempted from federal trade restrictions.
The First Amendment precludes embargoes on the importation or exportation of various forms of print, audio and video materials, broadcast materials, artwork and other images, methods of personal communication, and other informational materials (that includes software, which TikTok constitutes). These restrictions on materials protected by the First Amendment (regardless of their country of origin) are already enshrined in the Berman Amendments of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and the Trading with the Enemy Act.
Over on the funny side, our first place comment is an anonymous comment about license plate readers and “vehicle cloning”:
This was NOT how I imagined downloading cars would work…
In second place, it’s another anonymous comment, this time about the 5th Circuit ruling that age verification isn’t a First Amendment violation:
The next question is if you’re allowed to show obscene material to a frozen embryo, after you have verified that the embryo has been in storage for more than 18 years.
For editor’s choice on the funny side, we’ll keep it going with two more anonymous comments, the first on Trump’s TikTok comments:
When it comes to Trump’s statements, it’s always important to remember: any similarity to actual persons or events is entirely coincidental.
And finally, one responding to a typo in one of our posts:
The drub habits will continue until morale improves.
That’s all for this week, folks!
Comments on “Funniest/Most Insightful Comments Of The Week At Techdirt”
Section230
How mean would the gov. get if Someone falsified Information on Any of the congress persons? Faked information and Just Lies.
Why isnt that same happening TO those in Congress, that are Lying about section 230?
REALLY wish we had kept a few of those Laws about truth in adverts, LONG AGO.
Truth, Justice, and the American way? gone and forgotten.
Since they wish to change things, Why cant WE. Congress wages? BACK to the allowance system. Benefits? There arnt any.
Re: Section230
I like the way you think. We should have a contest about the best AI generated fake news about these lying congress-critters.
Maybe have a Kickstarter campaign to pay the winning entry?!?
Re: Re:
i don’t think youcan tell the difference between most of Congress and fake AI-generated news. Good luck.
Re: Re:
Don’t say that! Next thing you know, they’ll start trying to ban Kickstarter et al., like they’re attempting to do with TikTok.
For security purposes, of course.
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It’s truly amazing how the site owner refuses to acknowledge that a federal district court judge, upheld by a unanimous appellate panel, found the Biden WH and FBI committed one of the gravest attacks on the 1st Am. in decades by coercing Big Tech to censor dissent online!!
Re:
citation needed
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Re: Re:
From the Boston Herald, founded in 1846:
Biden’s censorship a threat to democracy
Re: Re: Re:
Try again. That’s an oped, behind a pay wall.
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Re: Re: Re:2
Learn how to bypass paywalls, Sambo.
Re: Re: Re:3
well aren’t you a racist prick
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Re: Re: Re:4
Yes. And a crypto-fascist.
Re: Re: Re:5
it’s not really “crypto” if you’re open about it, prick
Re: Re: Re:6
It’s impressive how incredibly stupid they are.
Re: Re: Re:7
But not very surprising (second paragraph).
Re: Re: Re:3
Oh shit we got us a real live edgelord over here.
Re: Re: Re:3
Learn what the term ‘op-ed’ means, shit for brains.
Re:
You mean a conservative think tank shopped for a favorite Trump-appointed judge known for his willingness to insert his ideology into his decisions in a notoriously conservative appellate court district and his decision included glaring factual errors and hyperbole.
That’s not the flex you’re pretending it is.
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Re: Re:
Unlike Bolshevik scum like you, I respect and appreciate all Courts.
Re: Re: Re:
Again with the Cold War boogeymen. Dude, you’re fucking old. The Bolsheviks aren’t a threat anymore. They’re not going to impurify your precious bodily fluids. You have more to fear from heart disease and cancer than you do from the Reds. Get your prostate checked and get some therapy.
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Re: Re: Re:2
So you don’t deny that you consider some U.S. courts to be invalid and unworthy of your respect. Noted.
Re: Re: Re:3
Hey, when the Fifth Circut straight up makes up shit for a ruling…
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Re: Re: Re:4
Why don’t you respect the legitimacy of the U.S. judicial system?
Re: Re: Re:5
“Why don’t you respect the legitimacy of the U.S. judicial system?”
Respect is earned.
Re: Re: Re:6
And legitimacy is proven through legitimate rulings. Not going against your point, just adding to it.
Re: Re: Re:5
I respect the legitimacy of the system. That doesn’t mean that I always agree with what they say or think they’re infallible, nor that I think every judge’s opinion is deserving of respect beyond what respect I’d give to any law or ruling imposed by a legitimate government.
Criticizing a court or its opinions is not disrespecting the legitimacy of the court system. Especially when it’s really just one court, and one opinion in particular, that is being criticized, and not for being illegitimate but for being flawed or wrong or biased.
Re: Re: Re:5
If I didn’t, I would not be criticizing it.
Or be here at all.
I’dlike the American judicial system to at least maintain a veneer of impartiality, because that’s important and sends a message: Democracy WORKS.
Being a fascist shitbag runs counter to that goal and only strengthens other, worse forms of governance.
Re: Re: Re:3
Correct. US courts that are dominated by judges who make unconstitutional rulings (e.g. Federalist Society judges) undermine the legitimacy of the US judicial system, the same way a referee who makes bad calls in favor of one team undermines the legitimacy of a sport. Why would I respect that? Why do you think that respect must be a default and not earned based on performance? Why do you imagine all judges could magically be infallible and purely unbiased? What kind of jingoist fascist bullshit have you been feeding your brain?
Re: Re: Re:2
Since prostate cancer isn’t actually fatal, I’d suggest he get his testicles checked, but I’m beginning to suspect he hasn’t got any.
Re: Re: Re:
Bolsheviks were dissolved in 1952, numbnuts.
Re:
Lying delusional fuckwit.
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Re: Re:
Cry harder, dork.
Re: Re: Re:
Coming from someone who cosplays as a professional victim, that’s damn near the funniest thing you have ever said.
Re:
Its even more amazing that you still can’t get Trump’s cock out of your mouth, after a decade.
Re:
You’re misrepresenting what they said and what the panel held (for one thing, they actually overturned most of what the district judge held, and not even the district court judge called it “one of the gravest attacks on the 1st Am. in decades”), but more importantly, the site owner has explicitly acknowledged what the district court judge and the appellate panel said.
He just doesn’t agree with them, just like many legal scholars. For example, many of the alleged facts used in their reasoning are false or misleading.
But that the courts in that case ruled as they did? That was absolutely acknowledged here.
Re:
We look forward to your scintillating article about it. Because of course you’d never just complain like a bitch without backing it up with… who am I kidding you’re just a complaining little bitch.
Perhaps trump realises millions of people use tik tok
including young people potential voters and republicans ,if some democrats wants it banned it makes sense for trump to oppose the policy.tik tok is like twitter most media companys and many politicans
use it as a free advertising platform to reach a wide audience .
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Re:
Except Twitter isn’t owned by the evil, disgusting CCP.
It’s owned by a noble and heroic American citizen!!
Re: Re:
…who was born and raised in South Africa.
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Re: Re: Re:
That makes me like him even more.
I wish he was born in Rhodesia.
Re: Re: Re:2
Where’s Rhodesia? There’s never been any such sovereign state that I’ve ever heard of.
Re: Re: Re:
And who owes to the Saudis.
Re: Re:
How much brave, heroic American Saudi money helped fund that purchase?
Re: Re: Re:
Hopefully a lot.
Anything we can do to dupe the Saudis out of their money is great.
Re: Re:
Jack Dorsey?
Because Elon has been noted to bend over and ask authcap leaders to fuck his ass.
Metaphorically, of course. All while owning Twitter, mind.
I mean, he even praised his big sugar daddy Xi after one such session. (Though that was for Tesla-related matters, but it’s a reasonable assumption that he’d jump when Xi demands he jump for Twitter-related bullshit too.)
Re: Re:
Elon Musk is neither noble nor heroic. I’m not saying that he’s evil or anything; I’m just not putting him on a pedestal, especially one he hasn’t earned, like you are.
I also don’t judge a corporation based solely on who runs it. How it is run is at least as important.
Like, I don’t think Microsoft in the ’90s was inherently better than Amazon was in its early years just because Bill Gates owned Microsoft then and I thought he was a pretty decent guy while Amazon is owned by Jeff Bezos and I think he’s an asshole. My opinions are shaped by a lot more than that.
Even if Elon Musk was a noble and heroic person like you say (and he definitely isn’t), I judge Twitter based on how it operates and how it is run, so how good of a person Elon is has zero bearing on my opinion. And no matter how well-intentioned Elon may or may not be, he is demonstrably incompetent at running Twitter, so it doesn’t matter; the road to hell is paved with good intentions, y’know.
But setting all that aside, absolutely none of this is relevant to the comment you’re responding to, which is about a potential reason why Trump is opposing the proposed TikTok ban: that young potential voters—including Republicans—use the platform, so a ban on the platform passed under Democratic leadership but opposed by Trump and other Republicans could drive a wedge between young voters (who historically tend to lean left when voting) and the Democratic Party and increase support for Trump among younger Republicans; plus, TikTok is generally seen as a good way to reach younger voters, not all of whom use Twitter (even if only looking at the ones who use TikTok). Those are all pragmatic reasons Trump might have considered.
They weren’t arguing about whether or not TikTok should be banned, what Trump will decide in the future, or how they think they or anyone else should feel about Trump’s decision. They also weren’t saying anything whatsoever about whether or not TikTok is better or worse than Twitter, nor is such a comparative analysis relevant. This was about reasons why Trump might have taken the position that he factually has taken.
What you said addresses nothing that they said. It doesn’t contradict or diminish the assertion that most media companies and many politicians use TikTok as a free advertising platform to reach a wider audience, just like how they use Twitter, that millions of people—including young potential voters and Republicans—use TikTok, the fact that some Democrats want to ban TikTok, or that any of those could be reasons why Trump would be pragmatically motivated to oppose the Democratic proposal to ban TikTok given that he is opposing it. At best, you’re just presenting an (allegedly) ideological or principled reason to support the TikTok ban (in your opinion), one which Trump may very well agree with, and one way TikTok is distinguishable from Twitter. However, none of that is relevant to what the other person stated, particularly given that Trump is publicly opposing the TikTok ban. Your opinion on the proposed ban is entirely irrelevant.
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Re: Re: Re:
Twitter/X is better than ever. Mr. Musk fired literally 80+% of the workforce (ie., the dead weight) and the site works just as well. Plus, there’s a greater diversity of opinion (ie., non-progtard voices aren’t systematically censored). That he regularly denounces illegal aliens and gender ghouls is icing on cake.
Re: Re: Re:2
“This is a great bar!”
Re: Re: Re:
I do want to acknowledge though the thoughtfulness and detail of your reply (even though I ignored most of it before composing my whimsical, pro-Musk reply).
Re:
Worth keeping in mind that the whole ‘TikTok is the enemy of the US and must be reigned in/sold to a US owner’ started with Trump, so it’s a tossup if he’s opposing the ban simply because the democrats are in favor of it or if he’s banking on enough stupid young voters to not remember that far back and instead think that Trump is actually against the ban and voting accordingly.
Re: Re:
¿Por qué no los dos?
Re: Re: Re:
No idea what you just asked, sorry.
Re: Re: Re:2
It’s a meme of a Latina child saying (translated into English) “Why can’t we have both?”
Re: Re: Re:3
Young voters are more aware of Trump’s current threats than anything
And Jan 6 is probably still in their minds.
Assuming Biden goes through with this Trump-era bullshit, the young voters might be hard-pressed to vote this time round…
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Re: Re: Re:4
Young voters are even less likely to support Biden now that he’s complicit in the genocide of Palestinian martyrs and their civilian collaborators.
Re: Re: Re:5
Because Donny would be much better for those who are unable to defend themselves?
Re: Re: Re:5
What martyrs? You mean Hamas? They’re not martyrs; they’re terrorists who care nothing for the well-being of the Palestinian civilians they’re supposed to be governing.
Also, what genocide? If Israel wanted to wipe out the Palestinians in Gaza, they could easily do a much better job of it—with or without aid from the US—than they are currently doing. They could stop warning and evacuating civilians from where they are about to bomb. They could just blanket-bomb the entirety of Gaza rather than aiming them strategically at locations believed to be Hamas strongholds and bases or places where missiles are being launched. They wouldn’t have been allowing humanitarian aid in—even after inspections to ensure weapons and such aren’t being smuggled in. The Gazan population wouldn’t be growing faster than people are dying there.
What’s happening is that Israel is at war with Hamas, Hamas is using the Gazan civilians as human shields (even trying to prevent them from evacuating) while also stealing aid meant for civilians and hiding in tunnels, at normally-off-limits places (hospitals, civilian homes, schools, and refugee camps), and among the general populace, Israel is doing more to try to minimize civilians casualties among the enemy more than pretty much any other nation would do for a country they’re at war with but is often being prevented from doing so by Hamas, and other countries aren’t managing the logistics of getting humanitarian aid to Gazan civilians very well such that that aid is being backed up even after it has all passed Israel’s inspections.
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Re: Re: Re:6
See? I prodded you into basically agreeing with me that Hamas and the entire fighting-aged population of Gaza should be liquidated.
That we can agree on this is a Good Sign!! 🙂
Re: Re: Re:7
Your logical fallacy is: Strawman!
Re: Re: Re:5
Keep smoking that hopium bro.
Re: Re: Re:5
And if those young people genuinely believe that the best thing they can do is to vote for Trump or not vote for Biden, it’s a shite plan.
I’m not going to defend Biden, but for the people who think that he hasn’t done a good enough job, if they think that the alternative is to vote for the other guy who boasted about fucking over women’s rights to their wombs and has made it very clear that he will fuck over everyone who disagreed with him, and continue to let his loyal goon squads fuck over everyone else, it’s shooting themselves in the foot. It’s taking a chainsaw to their genitalia for the shittiest reasons possible. It’s cutting off their nose in hopes that the two men they hate might feel a drop of guilt.
Not to mention that assuming a second Trump presidency, most of these Gen Zers and millennials and enbies and blacks and other minorities are very unlikely to have an exit plan. The odds are good that they don’t have a strategy to resettle somewhere, or have the resources to pull it off. They really think that a mass reset or massacre or similarly cataclysmic event will happen and force everyone back into sanity again. To which I gotta ask… you’d really wish another four years of Trump on everyone else and risk getting your marriage rights revoked, just like abortion rights did? Fucking stupid.
Re: Re: Re:3
Ah, gotcha.
Re: Re: Re:2
It’s a meme coming from an Old El Paso advert for soft tacos and taco shells.
Nazi content creator StoneToss meets Streisand Effect
https://boingboing.net/2024/03/16/nazi-cartoonist-meets-the-streisand-effect-after-twitter-censors-discussion-of-his-identity.html
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Re:
He handled it with grace, aplomb and élan. Love that he marketed his merch off the back of the doxing. Hell yeah I took advantage of the AMOGUS promo code!
Re: Re:
Lol you’re bragging about spending actual money on amateurish and unoriginal Nazi art.
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Re: Re: Re:
Imagine caring about what kind of art someone finds enjoyable.
Re: Re: Re:2
“art”
Re: Re: Re:2
When someone enjoys amateurish and unoriginal Nazi art, it tells you a lot about them.
Re: Re: Re:3
In your view, what does it tell you about them?
Re: Re: Re:4
that they’re believers in Nazi ideology
people who aren’t Nazis avoid supporting Nazis with cash and positive word-of-mouth
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Re: Re: Re:5
Hmm. Interesting.
If Stonetoss is a Nazi, then I’m pro-Nazi. So sue me!
Re: Re: Re:6
Lawsuits aren’t how we beat the Nazis the first time.
Re: Re: Re:6
Thank you for your admission. Far more honesty than one expects from individuals like you.
Re: Re: Re:4
They’re bad people with bad taste.
Re: Re:
you ever think about how deranged you gotta be to say, even anonymously and even as a joke, that you enjoy Nazi “art”
Re: Re:
He pleaded with his followers to help him get in contact with Elon with a list of his enemies he wants banned. He handled it with all the grace and aplomb of a small, spoiled child screaming as they ran to daddy because another child said no to them.
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Re: Re: Re:
And Big Daddy Elon then promptly nuked the most egregious (and TOS-violating) examples of the doxing.
Pretty rad when the world’s richest man (and a brilliant innovator and a White South African) has your back!
Re: Re: Re:2
Elmo’s still not gonna let you suck it.
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Re: Re: Re:3
Well, I would if he invited me to.
Because (unlike you) I’m not a homophobe.
Re: Re: Re:4
I’m a bisexual man in a same-sex marriage.
I’d rather die than glance sideways at Elmo’s penis.
Re: Re: Re:4 We know you’d toss him off with a smile, that’s the joke
I don’t care who you fuck as long as they are consenting bro. It’s the pathetic begging that I was making fun of. Way to miss the point numbnuts.