cattress 's Techdirt Comments
Latest Comments (240)
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On the post: Small Alabama Town's Overzealous Traffic Cops Also Monitored Internet Traffic To Threaten Critics Of The Corrupt PD
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On the post: Small Alabama Town's Overzealous Traffic Cops Also Monitored Internet Traffic To Threaten Critics Of The Corrupt PD
cattress ( profile ), 06 Feb, 2022 @ 01:07pmRe: Re: I'm not seeing the profit being made here
By "they" were bringing in 582k, I meant revenue generated from the entire town, not the cops.
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On the post: Small Alabama Town's Overzealous Traffic Cops Also Monitored Internet Traffic To Threaten Critics Of The Corrupt PD
cattress ( profile ), 06 Feb, 2022 @ 01:02pmRe: I'm not seeing the profit being made here
You missed a whole lot here. First the town is less than 1300 people. There is no need for more than 2 cops for their six miles of road, 2 miles of interstate jurisdiction, 1 Dollar General store that is the entirety of commerce. The chief increased the size of the force to 9 or so (he actually refused to say how many cops the force had for so called security reasons). He was the only full time cop when he got hired- and he had a really shady past and lots of debt including a ton owed to the IRS. They were bringing in like 582k, where about 85k, or 14 percent came from traffic fines and forfeitures, to bringing in 1.2 million and 49 percent came from fines and forfeitures, in about 2 years. They paid for their expanded police force and still made insane profit
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On the post: Tenth Circuit Tells College Administrator That Ordering A Student To Stop Talking About An Instructor Clearly Violates The First Amendment
cattress ( profile ), 06 Feb, 2022 @ 12:25pmRe: light sensitive?
I have light sensitivity, always have, and I have never been known as "goth". But I would have really pissed this teacher off because I would have worn my sunglasses.
While I agree that it's best to arrive to class on time, I don't see how sitting on the floor, which doesn't require disturbing anyone to move or for the teacher to stop what she's doing is a problem. I'm not sure that light sensitivity would be covered by the ADA, but it hardly seems like the sort of thing worth this profs time to make an issue out of.
What I see here is a prof with an attitude problem, who thinks they are teaching a young person whom they arbitrarily determined is lacking in character & maturity (maybe she was late because dawdled a little too long drawing on her eyeliner, or maybe she came from a job or caring for an elderly relative, we don't know), a lesson about the "real world". She gave an ultimatum just to be hard ass (I see nothing saying where the student sat posed a safety hazard) instead of having a brief conversation after class about punctuality like a reasonable adult in the real world. It's a class, that this student is paying for, not a job, so please save that stupid comparison.
The truth is, the teacher looks immature and lacking in character here. Issuing ultimatums, not initiating a dialogue with the much younger adult, then going to the dean to tattle about a student encouraging other students to utilize the tools they were given to review the profs, and demand a "no contact", as if the student harassed her! -
On the post: Explainer: The Whole Spotify / Joe Rogan Thing Has Absolutely Nothing To Do With Section 230
cattress ( profile ), 04 Feb, 2022 @ 03:19amRe: Re: Re: Re: Re:
I think I'm one of those uninitiated. I haven't listened to his show, but I sort of got the idea that he had a some what reasonable style of encouraging discussion. That he didn't push back too much, for the sake of hearing the guests point of view, and because he wasn't necessarily knowledgeable enough. But I didn't realize he invited Nazis on his show, I think we all know what they think.
I had thought that his response to all this was pretty decent, with some exception. He said that he was going to work harder on getting more informed, especially regarding pandemic stuff, before he has guests on that subject. And that he didn't want to chase away musicians like Neil Young, he was actually a fan. So I'm not sure what to think, but not interested enough to tune in. Then he defended some of the things said on the show that were not true 6+ months ago, that have changed with the mutation of the virus, and are actually accurate now, complaining that people were being banned left and right for saying it. Trevor Noah called it broken clock thinking, which is spot on. Plus, I get a little sick of the whining when people get multiple warnings about spreading disinformation and they keep doing it anyway and have a tantrum when they get the boot. -
On the post: Virginia Police Used Fake Forensic Documents To Secure Confessions From Criminal Suspects
cattress ( profile ), 04 Feb, 2022 @ 02:36amRe: No, not even then
I was this naive, and I learned this lesson the hard way. As a 32 year old, intelligent, middle class white woman with a perfectly clean record, as the victim of a crime, I thought the police would take and issue a report without a problem. Instead, they preyed on my ignorance of their intentions and desperation for the police report so that I could get my necessary medication. I was told that they would give me the report if I would agree to do a polygraph. Since I wasn't lying, I didn't do anything wrong, I figured this was just a small inconvenience and I could get on with my life.
And while we all know that a polygraph isn't admissable in court, the true reason for the test is to secure a waiver of rights, then conduct an interrogation after the test, and use the test "results" to bolster their accusations of dishonesty and obtain a confession. The whole process is psychological manipulation, and in the end I was convinced that I had done something wrong but I couldn't exactly remember what. I got charged with filing a false report, which took a whole year to finally get the public defender to take me seriously- actually I got in touch with his supervisor who did the stuff I had been asking for, which convinced the prosecutor not to proceed, and most of my hair went grey after the interrogation. The kicker? The cop issued my report because he couldn't do the polygraph for a couple weeks, and I could have blown off the polygraph once I had the report in hand. But I was so stupid that I thought that I should go since that's what I agreed to, and since I didn't do anything wrong, I didn't have anything to worry about.
No one should need an attorney when they are the victim of a crime just to report the crime. It's insane. And there are no attorneys hanging around the police station to represent you during questioning, you can't apply for a public defender until after you have been arrested and charged. Cops heavily imply that you cannot invoke your rights at any time once you have waived them, and that doing so will result in arrest. I know better now, but I was terrified back then. I just wanted to be believed that I didn't lie or do anything wrong, but that detective wasn't hearing it, kept pointing to his test that said I showed deception. I was in a full blown anxiety attack, not thinking clearly, hyperventilating, wanting to leave, so I eventually told him what he wanted to hear. I can't imagine if I was in a situation where there could be DNA involved and I was presented with fake documents. I was convinced I had done something wrong that my subconscious was indicating on the polygraph even though I couldn't remember it! -
On the post: Georgia Sees Florida & Texas Social Media Laws Go Down In 1st Amendment Flames And Decides… 'Hey, We Should Do That Too'
cattress ( profile ), 29 Jan, 2022 @ 02:51pmRe: Non Interference
If so many of those people calling to ban such speech are indeed "non- recipients", then why don't those speakers go take their conversation elsewhere, where no one in polite society will overhear it and complain? Because they want their hateful rhetoric or blatant lies and disinformation to get amplified so that polite society hears it and is horrified. You feed on "owning the libs", you have a phrase for it!
You keep pretending that people with a simple difference in viewpoint or opinion, are merely engaging in spirited debate, and they are getting booted just for disagreeing. You know full well that is bullshit and you are being deliberately obtuse. The people getting banned dehumanize others, particularly marginalized people, by spewing hateful garbage. It's idiots who have rejected factual truth about the election, which has spin so far out of control that our democracy has been undermined. It's the kooks who continue to make up conspiracy theories and spread disinformation about the pandemic, and it's resulting in people making decisions that result in death because they are misinformed. Fuck off with your little innocent act, you aren't fooling anyone. -
On the post: Investigation Shows Faulty Drug Tests Resulted In Hundreds Of New York Prisoners Being Wrongly Punished
cattress ( profile ), 29 Jan, 2022 @ 01:24pmRe:
Nah, not the immigrants and refugees of WWII. Hitler was actually quite impressed with the eugenics disguised as "science" public policy in the US. We were sterilizing, institutionalizing, imprisoning, some times subjecting to scientific and medical experimentation, and otherwise regulating away the freedoms and rights all kinds of people, except white upper-middle class CIS, straight Christian men (well, depending on what country he or his family came from, we weren't too fond of Catholics for a while). We have been dehumanizing and brutalizing since the founding, even wrote in some permission to do so in our Constitution. Advent of mass media just allowed for more documentation than in the past.
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On the post: Yet Another Telecom-Backed Think Tank Insists U.S. Broadband Is Great, Actually
cattress ( profile ), 24 Jan, 2022 @ 10:56pmRe: Re:
Right, first thing I thought was who says "big broadband"? I think that undermines their credibility more than anything radical I could come up with to tell people.
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On the post: The UK Has A Voyeuristic New Propaganda Campaign Against Encryption
cattress ( profile ), 19 Jan, 2022 @ 10:22pmRe:
Criminals aren't the only people who use encryption. In fact, encryption is a necessary tool for victims and oppressed people to communicate with each other and outsiders in order to organize and get help.
You want to organize against police violence, you need encryption. You want to fight for legalization of weed or other drugs, better keep it encrypted. Don't like the current leader or political power? How about ordinary Palestinians whose homes are being seized by settlers or destroyed just because Israel didn't give them a permit. Drug cartels that are thick with law enforcement in South America, people who want to escape.
Do you have your head up your own ass?
First, kids falling victim to sex trafficking is not as common as, I think some people actually fantasize. And none of this spying will prevent anything. What will protect kids: secure stable homes - financial instability is the number one predictor of violence. Human right protections that are just as strong as adults, including privacy rights, the right not to seek safety and shelter away from parents or guardians- since they hurt kids the most- even if they are technically a run away or truant they shouldn't be under threat of incarceration. Parents should also be able to do the safe haven thing no matter how old the child and we really need to destigmatize placing children for adoption, it's never the easy choice.
Kids and teens need privacy, and they need to feel trusted and secure and that even if they made mistakes and misbehaved, and lied, and broke the rules and some how get caught up in a situation over their head or they want to stop, or think is their fault, that no matter what they are loved, and and that as a parent, guardian, trusted adult, we are going to fight tooth and nail to protect them and that we aren't mad at them, and even if we are we are going to get right over it, and we empower them to have their voice and to get whatever they need to feel safe and secure and with dignity and some level of control- because telling a kid you're putting them in foster care and someone they might care about is going to prison might not be the best solution to them.
And again, is your head still up your ass? Because when it's not the parents, trusted close adults that hurt kids, it's the fucking cops and child welfare like churches that run orphanages. The only people who should be subjected to the if you didn't do anything you shouldn't mind if we look around are precisely the scumbag cops and monied religious organizations. -
On the post: The UK Has A Voyeuristic New Propaganda Campaign Against Encryption
cattress ( profile ), 19 Jan, 2022 @ 10:50pmA follow up to the stunt
How about after this dark scene implying a child is abused, a follow up ad that shows the same child in a glass box with a crisis line operator, someone who appears to be a doctor or psychiatrist, and then we see that same leering adult standing outside the box intimidatingly. The kid opens their mouth to say something but changes their mind and leaves
Or maybe an alternative ad. A couple of teens holding hands, smile knowingly at the camera and shut the door, blocking the cameras view. Then you see the teens in the glass box, getting rather passionate, while a school principal, a couple cops and some parents are watching. Then you see later that the cops are sharing pics with each other, ogling and laughing, the principal sending an email to a school committee directing them to cut the girl, the female parent posting pics of the girl with the word slut written on them around the school while kids laugh and point, and the Dad is doing surveillance on the boys home while he strokes a shotgun.
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On the post: Why U.S. Robocall Hell Seemingly Never Ends
cattress ( profile ), 19 Jan, 2022 @ 01:02amRe:
Take a look at the companies on the list, those aren't debt buyers, those are original creditors.
And there aren't that many fly by night debt buyers, you have to have enough cash to pay for a portion of the debt, and pay for skilled collectors to work the accounts, plus compliance and security for handling PII and banking info. A lot of creditors pay third party collection agencies to work their defaults before charging off and selling the account.
I won't deny there are lots of unscrupulous collection agencies and collectors they employ- because I have seen some things. But they really are a necessary part of the process. If creditors couldn't collect enough of the defaulted debt, and find people to sell it to, then the lending criteria would be too strict for people to get the loans and credit they really need, like for a mortgage, or a car, or to cover an unexpected emergency. Utilities would all require huge deposits, automatic draft payments,or even a paycheck attachment. Yes we should fight the really unethical stuff, but we have to be careful not to make problems worse in a whole new way. -
On the post: Why U.S. Robocall Hell Seemingly Never Ends
cattress ( profile ), 19 Jan, 2022 @ 12:41amRe:
I used to do collections, and I've been in collections.
The problem is that the calls go across state lines, and a local lawyer can't practice in every state. And most of us in debt can't pay a lawyer up front, so they only take cases with a high potential to cover their time and costs on a contingency basis. They can send a letter to a small company, like where I used to work, and get them to stop, for a small fee, or a favor. Maybe, if they demonstrate they have evidence of something really, really egregious, a small company will pay a couple of bucks to make the matter go away. But big companies like Citi, Santander, Capital One, it's not even concerning as a mosquito to get a letter from a lawyer.
Plus, the different dialing systems that are generating so many calls often have multiple unassigned numbers that appear on caller ID which can't be traced, or show up as unknown, and sometimes have similar but not the exact same name, which makes it nearly impossible to prove that all the calls were generated from the same company. And if you don't answer, and they don't leave a message in your vm, they can try you at that number until they leave a message or talk to you, and they can call all the other numbers to reach you as well.
If you want to get them to stop calling, you gotta talk to them to get the address to send the request in writing, and good luck getting the correct one and proof they actually received the notice. And you might stop the calls from one collection agency but most big lenders use several agencies even before they sell off the debt, and what occurs with your account while being serviced by an agency doesn't necessarily transmit back to original creditor.
The laws aren't effective for the reality. -
On the post: Pennsylvania Says Legal Medical Marijuana Means Cops Can't Just Sniff Their Way Into Warrantless Searches
cattress ( profile ), 18 Jan, 2022 @ 11:42pmNo DUI?
This will only last until a cop perks up and says they suspect the person was under the influence, had consumed marijuana before operating a vehicle. That's why they have been fighting for specific physical measurement through some kind of biological sample test, like BAC but for weed. They pretend it's about getting unsafe drivers off the road, but it's just more easy busts with charge stacking and punishment enhancements that they can waive around to prove what heros they are.
A few years ago, my 27 year old friend was hit and killed by a 26yr old drunk driver, who wasn't permitted to drive because of a 2nd DUI prior to killing my friend; he was going well above the speed limit, and didn't hit the brakes until my friends body had rolled up the windshield into the air. The cops were doing their useless DUI checkpoints that evening. Rifling through people's cars, demanding ID to find some unfortunate schlep with a warrant, sniffing college girls. Useless. And they will find another way to pretend they aren't. -
On the post: FCC Politely Tells ISPs To Stop Abusing Covid Broadband Relief Program To Rip Off Poor People
cattress ( profile ), 13 Jan, 2022 @ 12:08amWhen do they get the money?
Does anyone know if Comcast gets the subsidy based on the number of people actually enrolled, or are they getting the subsidy based on the estimated number eligible customers they have?
Because as much as a pain in the ass the enrollment process is, just finding where to begin the process that they did next to zero advertising for, I would have to assume they get the subsidy even if they have less than the estimated number of eligible customers enrolled. I mean it really wasn't intuitive or obvious at all to apply for the discount. In fact I don't think I even found it logged into their website, that I had to search the program specifically to find the link. -
On the post: NYPD Officers Are Again Whining About Being Asked To Document Their Biased Policework
cattress ( profile ), 12 Jan, 2022 @ 08:37amRe:
I'm sorry if that came across as harsh, you probably were just kidding around. There are some people, mostly white, that try to claim that we are all part of the human race, therefore race is not real and there is no such thing as racism. While there was a time that townspeople could track an interracial bloodline and use it to deny ancestors whatever they didn't want them to have, there are far too many people for even nosiest of busybodies to keep track of.
Besides, I hadn't even thought of the frustration a cop might have in stopping a token white person to prove how not racist he does his job, only to be given a race that will still count as a minority. -
On the post: NYPD Officers Are Again Whining About Being Asked To Document Their Biased Policework
cattress ( profile ), 12 Jan, 2022 @ 08:11amRe:
I don't think scientific accuracy (as in lineage from Africa established through DNA) is the intent of the question of race (or genetic makeup determining biological sex) but rather what race the officer perceived the person to be based on appearance and whatever other observed circumstances lead the officer to make that determination (from where the stop occurs, to who else is around, to what crime they are investigating).
True, race is a social construct, and not a difference in our humanity. It's a social construct that has been used to determine who has what rights, who can live where, who can marry each other, where someone can get an education, where they can sit, drink water, go swimming, own property, if they can get a loan.
Gender is also a social construct, and also used for control of certain people. These are concepts designed to maintain "respectable" (as in not poor, not sissy Nancy boys; only masculine heterosexual, able-bodied middle class or better) white men's privilege and power. When you understand where these little boxes of classification came from, then much of the current dysfunction in policing (and politics) becomes evident.
So how nice for you that you could probably get away with some cutesy answer to a cop's question of your race like Klingon (so long as you don't appear to be very poor). But for a significant amount of the rest of us, that ain't gonna get us a chuckle, it's going prolong detainment and maybe even result in arrest. -
On the post: Big Tech 'Antitrust Reform' Agenda Sags, Revealing Mostly Empty Rhetoric
cattress ( profile ), 11 Jan, 2022 @ 10:26pmRe: Not anti-trust, just spite and PR soundbites
Correct. And the nitty-gritty, the stuff that would address real problems, is boring and technical. Neither the public nor the politicians have the knowledge, attention span or interest to learn. So we get caught up in buzzwords and political framing of issues that evoke fear and anger.
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On the post: NYPD Officers Are Again Whining About Being Asked To Document Their Biased Policework
cattress ( profile ), 11 Jan, 2022 @ 09:08pmFurtive movements
They tried to collect this data. But the forms were an aggressive shade, with a suspicious looking font that experience and knowledge has taught officers that it is strongly associated with gangs, like the NYTimes Journalist. The forms were perforated in the middle, with arrows pointing at the "waistline". Fearing for their lives & the lives of the people around them, all of the forms and their dogs were shot within 48 hours of introducing them to these heroic defenders of freedom. Duh!
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On the post: NYPD Officers Are Again Whining About Being Asked To Document Their Biased Policework
cattress ( profile ), 11 Jan, 2022 @ 08:56pmOr costly data entry
They could also go the way of untested rape kits, that collecting all that "paperwork", organizing, entering the information into a database is just too expensive. Plus, we can't expect cops to accurately record someone's race or sex, they don't know anything. And the people they ask those details of could be unsure themselves, or even lying, claiming to be a minority as part of the grand anti police plot. Plus, there's so many of those completed demographics reports sitting in a closet some where that there is no way they could possibly catch up now.
Re: Re: Scary - the rank and file falls in line
Apparently the second in command was once in the Explorers program and knew the chief from that, and got lots of perks for that relationship. Grabbed a woman's behind while drunk at a bar then showed his badge like it gave him permission. Got busted for drugs and other stuff, didn't comply with his court ordered drug and alcohol test and treatment, yet some how got off with $100 fine and no jail time. This guy also resigned shortly after Jones.