Coyne Tibbets’s Techdirt Profile

On the post: Texas Gov’t Threw Millions At ‘Border Enforcement.’ Stats Show It Was A Waste Of Money.

Coyne Tibbets ( profile ), 30 Mar, 2022 @ 05:58pm

Monetary inflation

Next time, I suggest you report the amount as $400 μ trillion. Sounds bigger that way. Or, I guess, you could report it as $400 million. I realize an amount that small is hardly worth mentioning these days, but it is accurate.

On the post: Taxpayers Shell Out $900k To Cover For Cops Who Charged 64 People With Possessing 1 Oz. Of Weed

Coyne Tibbets ( profile ), 24 Mar, 2022 @ 07:34am

Whole thing falsified?

I have to say that this sounds like a pretty clean party. An ounce of MJ amounts to 0.44 grams per partier. Also, there was evidently no alcohol, which I imagine would have generated other charges. And no gun found. Sixty-four people and no one apparently resisted arrest. Veritable saints. Which seriously raises the question in my mind: Did the weed come with the cops? In fact, the original shot -- assuming there was one -- or the call reporting it, to me raise a question: Was the whole incident manufactered by the cops, just to create an excuse to arrest these people?

On the post: Federal Court Says Good Faith Prevails In Deployment Of Extremely Questionable ‘Reverse’ Warrant

Coyne Tibbets ( profile ), 21 Mar, 2022 @ 11:00pm

Cell phone off

Who would they have arrested if Okello Chatrie had thought to turn his phone off before going to the bank? Version for those who can no longer type "hat-tip" in full: Who wd tey hv rrstd f thf hd tht 2 t/f c/p b4 gn 2 bnk?

On the post: Clearview’s World Tour Continues With A $21 Million Fine From The Italian Government

Coyne Tibbets ( profile ), 18 Mar, 2022 @ 09:08pm

Onward ever onward

All this and yet Clearview presses onward ever onward, like a blind warthog. Who is paying their bills? Who is buying their data? Someone must be. Someone who wants microsecond-by-microsecond detail of all of our lives. Who could it be?

On the post: Beneficiary Of First Amendment Protections Says Fourth Amendment Shouldn’t Be Respected By Cops, Courts

Coyne Tibbets ( profile ), 16 Mar, 2022 @ 10:44pm

Law of Declining Importance

Come on, everyone knows that, when there is a numbered list of rules, they decline in importance as the reciprocal of their ordinal number. First Amendment is important, definitely. Second Amendment is only half as important as the First, still important, but not as much. Third Amendment would only be one third as important as the First. If anyone could remember what the h*ll it said. By the time you get to the Fourth Amendment, well, it matters only when the defendant can afford a $gajillion for lawyer's fees. I mean, it's a pretty lame LEO that can't come up with a legal way to search anything anytime, what with the "I feared for my life" judge brain bypass; parallel construction; paid snitches; and the "somebody called us from here" skit. Plus a thousand more clever tricks. Higher numbered Rights? Forget about those...

On the post: Appeals Court Tosses Evidence Illegally Obtained By Opportunistic Cops Who Couldn’t Take ‘Nah’ For An Answer

Coyne Tibbets ( profile ), 16 Mar, 2022 @ 10:19pm

How Lame

And these cops couldn't come up with, "Ahh, ummm, yeah, we thought there might be a bomb in the bag. Yeah, ummm, an armed bomb. We was in serious fear for our lives. Honest Abe..." I guess they left the machiavellian cop at home. That's what is wrong with the Fourth Amendment today: the only times it works are when the machiavellian cop, the one with imagination, didn't come along. When he is along, any search can be justified. I'm not the machiavellian cop and it took me 5 seconds to find a safe harbor. The Appeals Court wouldn't have even bothered to listen to the case.

On the post: World’s ‘First NFT Vending Machine’ Didn’t Work And Neither Did The NFTs

Coyne Tibbets ( profile ), 09 Mar, 2022 @ 02:48pm

Pigeons Buy Worthless Pigeons

So, I searched for "party pigeons" on Google, which lead me to https://partypigeons.io This page tells you all about how your party pigeon is made unique, which apparently involves generating an image algorithmically based upon 70 attributes. (Except the pigeon might get one of the 10 "prize" party pigeons that are not algorithmically generated that are apparently offered as a bonus.) If their 70 attributes are binary, that is actually 1.18 sextillion possible pigeons. Which, if my math is right, works out to 168,655,945,817 pigeons for every pigeon...I mean, every person on the planet, more or less. They claim the offering is limited to 10,000 unique party pigeons. But even if they do have a 10,000 limit in the software, all they have to do is turn that off to make $71 trillion or therabouts. Unfortunately, everyone will be bored to death of party pigeons long before that point, and party pigeons will wind up being worth about $.0000001 each. Which means all the pigeons who paid $420.69 each got as close to nothing as any NFT can offer. But it's not a rip-off, nosiree. Because aassuming the stupid vending machine works, the pigeons all get exactly the party pigeon they paid to buy and they can prove their ownership of all $0.0000001 of it forever.

On the post: Israeli Police (Mostly) Cleared Of NSO-Related Wrongdoing While NSO Issues Legal Threats To Calcalist Over Cover-Up Claims

Coyne Tibbets ( profile ), 15 Feb, 2022 @ 11:34am

Free pass

So they were unsuccessful 25 of 26 times and the 26th is okay because they didn't use the info. It's such a joy to watch the police give themselves a pass.

I wonder if they would give me a pass if I was unsuccessful in 25 of 26 bank robberies and didn't spend any money from the last?

I guess breaking the law is only a thing if you're not a cop.

On the post: ID.me Doesn't Have Enough Humans To Backstop Its AI, Allowed A Guy In A Bad Wig To Illegally Obtain $900,000 In Benefits

Coyne Tibbets ( profile ), 15 Feb, 2022 @ 11:10am

Saving money for the crooks

We all knew the government only used ID.me as a quick way to save money by denying legitimate applications. We also know that the crooks always find a way to the money...and that the government is fine with that. Witness the cable companies.

On the post: Penguin Random House Demands Removal Of Maus From Digital Library Because The Book Is Popular Again

Coyne Tibbets ( profile ), 11 Feb, 2022 @ 05:20pm

A Satiric Conservative Guide to Identification of a Book Ban

It can be very difficult for today's thoughtful conservative to be sure whether or not a particular action taken against a book does, in fact, constitute a ban. This is because book bans are often initiated by veiled language.

For example, when banning a book, a state official might say,

We do not want our students reading filthy liberal books, so we are going to take the book out for a cleansing with gasoline, after which it will be dried off with a match. When that is completed, the book will be in perfect condition for student use.

So how is a conservative to tell if a book is being banned? It is actually quite easy, most of the time. If a book is (1) removed from (2) availability to one or more groups of people for (3) political purposes, that is a ban.

(Note for the expert: For all practical purposes, students are people.)

So, remember: One, two, three--it's a ban!

On the post: Minneapolis Police Officers Demanded No-Knock Warrant, Killed Innocent Gunowner Nine Seconds After Entering Residence

Coyne Tibbets ( profile ), 11 Feb, 2022 @ 08:40am

Re: Criminals lying? Perish the thought

The justification is in: Amir's cousin was wanted for murder. Every story I see has that in the first paragraph, if not the first sentence. They aren't saying "Amir sheltered the cousin" in that many words, but they certainly imply it. So...guilt by association: clean shoot!

On the post: More Fallout For NSO And Israel: Gov't Police Illegally Deployed Malware Against Person Involved In Netanyahu Bribery Trial

Coyne Tibbets ( profile ), 08 Feb, 2022 @ 07:09pm

Proofreading is your fiend

"CVOID" - Is this fake news, a typo, or did Fauchi change the name again?

I know, I know. I live in a glass house...but this did stick up, a bit like a sore thumb.

On the post: Tenth Circuit Tells College Administrator That Ordering A Student To Stop Talking About An Instructor Clearly Violates The First Amendment

Coyne Tibbets ( profile ), 04 Feb, 2022 @ 04:16pm

Re: light sensitive?

How the hell did she get from class to class?

Sunglasses, no doubt. Wrap-arounds, with special lenses. Allow me anticipate the next question: It is not practical to take notes indoors while wearing sunglasses.

She should have registered her disablitity with the university and they'd have assigned her one of those front-row seats.

It should be well within the instructor's authority to assign a seat or, perhaps, as to ask for a volunteer in the first three rows to move to the fourth row. This is not a problem that seems to require an administrative solution. Not to mention the fact that she may well have "registered" -- the story does not say.

Of course, if it wasn't a disablity but a symptom of her goth lifestyle, then they would have told her to grow up, i.e. what college is for.

The alternative offered presumes that the student is a liar. Have you grounds for such a charge? If it is, in fact, a disability: One does not "grow up" from a disability.

As for her plea to have the instructor downrated by other students, the appropriate course of action...

Why was the action she chose inappropriate? You don't explain.

... would have been to contact the univerisy and have them provide a way for her to review that instructor seeing as she lost that ability when she dropped the class.

Maybe I missed something, but I thought the university's proposal was essentially: Go do this thing that is impossible -- don't call us until you do. That seems to offer no way to, quoting the First Amendment, "...petition the Government for a redress of grievances." That is not only what the university intended, but it has fought a legal battle to assert its "right" to do so. Appeals Court says: Nope.

On the post: Texas Town To Start Issuing Traffic Tickets By Text Message

Coyne Tibbets ( profile ), 02 Feb, 2022 @ 12:48pm

One, two, feel my shoe...

My prediction of how it will go:

=ding= You have a new text from C.O.P: Congratulations on doing a fine job of driving.

=ding= You have a new text from C.O.P: You just looked at your text messages, dummy! Have a $60 ticket on me (and 3 points on your license, too).

On the post: Georgia Sees Florida & Texas Social Media Laws Go Down In 1st Amendment Flames And Decides… 'Hey, We Should Do That Too'

Coyne Tibbets ( profile ), 28 Jan, 2022 @ 01:46pm

Re: Re: Re: Non Interference

Yet, it seems that only one side gets hot and bothered by that.

That is so very true, they are very hot and bothered. Which is why they are passing all these laws to force sites to let them respond to opinions that differ from theirs.

On the post: Sculptor Of Pillar Of Shame Announces It's Now Public Domain So That Anyone Can Make A Copy, As Chinese Authorities Seek To Destroy It

Coyne Tibbets ( profile ), 10 Jan, 2022 @ 12:00pm

Accountability

Now that the sculpture is public domain, let's alll make the artist famous with a replica at every crossroads. Like roaches, crimes against humanity flee from the light.

On the post: FAA Ignores FCC, Limits U.S. 5G Over Unsubstantiated Safety Concerns

Coyne Tibbets ( profile ), 15 Dec, 2021 @ 06:48am

Re: Vaccine Safety

Yeah! Also: Birds aren't real.

On the post: CNN Goes Full Moral Panic About Kids And Social Media

Coyne Tibbets ( profile ), 10 Dec, 2021 @ 06:10pm

Re: Re: Digital Addiction

But it's censorship to protect kids! That's totally different!

On the post: New Jersey Cop Facing Charges After Hitting A Man With His Car And Driving His Body To His Mom's House

Coyne Tibbets ( profile ), 08 Dec, 2021 @ 08:49am

Disappointed

I find myself a bit disappointed. Usually in these cases they find a way to make the victim responsible. Something like perhaps...

The pedestrian, Dymka, irresponsibly walked in front of Santiago's car. To avoid prosecution, Dymka then refused to allow Santiago or Guzman to call 911. But Santiago was concerned and so he returned to the scene several times in an heroic effort to convince Dymka that 911 should be called.

The last time, Dymka stole Santiago's car and drove it to Santiago's mother's house, where he then crawled into the back seat of the vehicle and expired.

You know, some believable explanation like that, that turns Dymka into a thug and makes Santiago the hero. An explanation that migiht not pass the smell test, but that puts the blame squarely where it "belongs."

Like the story about the woman who shot herself in the temple -- after being searched for weapons, handcuffed behind her back and placed in the back seat of a cruiser -- and with an officer there in the seat next to her, questioning her.

On the post: Chinese Government Is Building A Surveillance System That Will Target, Track Foreign Journalists, Students

Coyne Tibbets ( profile ), 06 Dec, 2021 @ 09:45pm

Re: The USA is truly, undeniably, utterly evil.

What, are you doing a top twenty reprehensible practices list? Governments that live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones. If I made a top-20 list for any arbitrary country, I'm sure that, line-by-line, comparing the lists of any two countries to determine which is "worst"... ...well, it would be like trying to determine which cell phone plan is worst. I.e., if you really want to get down to comparisons, I'm sure there would be no problem finding a billion people who will rate China's top-20 list worse than the United States top-20 list. Yes, I'm sure China would have no problem findingi a billion people either, given their practices of oppression, censorship, indoctrination, political...oh, wait, not doing that yet. Still arguing whether China lives in a glass house and should dare to throw stones.

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