hij’s Techdirt Profile

On the post: Police Union Director Indicted For Importing And Distributing Cop-Killing Fentanyl

hij ( profile ), 04 Apr, 2023 @ 02:53pm

Has this happened before?

If she is the first cop caught with fentanyl and distributing it across state lines that means she is eligible for qualified immunity, right?

On the post: MLB Tries To Trademark 3 City Names, Runs Away After Law Profs School Them

hij ( profile ), 31 Mar, 2023 @ 03:19am

We talking sports here?

Could not help but noticing you used a certain word, "the," in a sports related article. Is that allowed?

On the post: Fifth Circuit Finally Finds A Cop Unworthy Of Immunity, Strips Protection From Officer Who Shot Man Five Times During Routine Traffic Stop

hij ( profile ), 30 Mar, 2023 @ 04:07am

How does the internal affairs investigator still have a job?

The Internal Affairs Division investigator, Mandy Arroyo, should be out of a job. Presumably she will be given an award, but it is laughably pathetic that her report is a small side note to the story.

On the post: A Look Into What Advertisers Elon’s Twitter Has In Its Future

hij ( profile ), 13 Feb, 2023 @ 12:18pm

An inability to learn seems right on point

“Can you not vet the ads on Truth?” asked one user in a post directed at Mr. Trump. “I’ve been scammed more than once.”

You are on the "Truth" website, have been scammed multiple times, and you are still there wondering what is going on. It is a beautiful thing when someone finds the perfect place where they belong. It would not surprise me to find out this person is on Truth.social because they are mad at the world and cannot understand why things seem to be stacked against them.

On the post: Now Mesa Public Schools Are Also Declaring That They Have Failed In Educating Their Children By Suing Social Media

hij ( profile ), 07 Feb, 2023 @ 01:00pm

I may be in trouble

It is a bit concerning that it is possible to sue someone for being a public nuisance or even for being a bad influence on children. Judging by what my sister-in-law says, I may be in big trouble.

On the post: Cord Cutting Is Hitting Comcast Harder Than Ever

hij ( profile ), 02 Feb, 2023 @ 08:26am

FoX Revenue Increasing

While cord cutting increases the revenue at FoX has continued to increase. They have had healthy increases each of the last several years. There is a disconnect between the cable providers and the media providers, but the cable providers continue to focus on the Internet providers rather than the companies costing them money. Their efforts to extract money from the companies that they have less control over has not served them well, but they continue to prefer to play nice with the Murdochs and other old media companies to their detriment.

On the post: FBI Private Sector Cyberthreat Reporting Database Hacked By Apparently Unreported Cyberthreat

hij ( profile ), 20 Dec, 2022 @ 11:52am

Meanwhile in Georgia

In other security theatre news, the University of Georgia just sent out an email to all faculty and staff officially announcing that TikTok, Telegram, and WeChat are not allowed to be installed on any university owned device unless it is for law enforcement or security purposes. Looks like the People's Republic will have to pay one of the FBI's official business partners if they want private information about US citizens.

On the post: Fact Check: Facebook’s Policy That Its Fact Checkers Can No Longer Check Trump Is Very, Very Bad

hij ( profile ), 17 Nov, 2022 @ 12:47pm

Yuge Announcement

I am officially announcing my candidacy to be President of the United States. Please let the folks at Meta know.

On the post: Semafor Joins A Very Broken US Media Industry Claiming To Have Found The Cure For Eroded Trust In News. But Have They Really?

hij ( profile ), 20 Oct, 2022 @ 06:25am

Fractured and less than coherent

The few articles I read were divided into four different pieces, and each one was a short blurb on a particular issue. Instead of one informative and substantive piece, each article is a fractured mess that allows me to pick the nice thing I want to believe. They are more concerned with providing their readers with things that make them feel good rather than challenging assumptions and presenting uncomfortable truths. They may go further than I originally thought.

On the post: Survey Says… More Than Half Of Households With LAPD Officers Support Dismantling The LAPD

hij ( profile ), 18 Oct, 2022 @ 02:31am

Suicide Among Police Officers in San Antonio

In San Antonio a recent rash of suicides by police officers have prompted officials to blame the problem on the lack of love and respect for police officers: https://meaww.com/san-antonio-police-officer-dies-suicide-5th-incident-7-months-experts-say-stop-the-demonization No evidence for this is provided. Even if it is true, the proposed solution is for everybody else to just stop and change their views on the police without any need to assess how or why this is happening.

On the post: Employees Reveal Zuckerberg’s Metaverse Vision Is A Clunky, Boring, Ego-Driven Mess

hij ( profile ), 12 Oct, 2022 @ 09:07am

No sexx0rs?

It does not matter if it is good or not. As long as Meta insists there will not be any sex in their virtual world it will continue to be a dead end. The corporate revulsion to anything outside of their idea of what is mainstream will mean that a world that is an ideal platform for open and free expression will never have the spark to make it interesting in any sense.

On the post: Trump Sues CNN Yet Again And It’s As Dumb, If Not Dumber, Than His Previous Failed Lawsuits Against CNN

hij ( profile ), 06 Oct, 2022 @ 10:52am

Integrity of Early American Journalism

Fascinating how these "originalists" forget how journalism was practiced at the time the first amendment was written. Then again, Justice Thomas remains unburdened from the confines of either history or consistent principles.

On the post: Your Law Enforcement Dollars At Work: Deputies Drive 500 Miles To Seize A Young Girl’s Pet Goat

hij ( profile ), 07 Sep, 2022 @ 02:40am

Quintessential Power Play

Yet another example to add to the pile that these things are not about principle, money, or base desire. It is about exerting power and ensuring others know who has the power to impose their will on others.

On the post: Devin Nunes Claims The Right To An ‘Unimpaired Reputation’ Is A ‘Sacred Right’; Oh And Also Needs To Cough Up Info On How He Got Hired

hij ( profile ), 16 Aug, 2022 @ 12:43pm

Strict Constitutionalism and Sensationalist Journalism

One day they are going to learn about Benjamin Franklin and how he learned a living. Are they ever in for a shock. Weird how the folks who want to channel the "founding fathers" are so shockingly ignorant of the context of the 1st amendment in a time when many journalists were barking mad with little regard for civilities and reputations.

On the post: Elon Musk’s Response To Twitter’s Legal Filing May Impress His Fans On Twitter, But Is Not A Good Legal Argument

hij ( profile ), 18 Jul, 2022 @ 12:03pm

A genius at getting other people to pay other people

Not sure where this comes from:

I have to say that prior to all this going down, I actually thought Musk was a tremendously innovative entrepreneur who was strategically brilliant in taking seemingly insurmountable issues and actually figuring out ways to get around them. However, his behavior since trying to take over Twitter has basically erased every bit of that, and he comes out looking like a guy who has bumbled his way into success and has no idea what he’s doing. And it shows.

His genius is being able to bring other people together to solve difficult problems. In this case, though, he either straddled his legal team with too much of his ego or realized that this time he is using his own money rather than using VC money he got from someone else.

On the post: Elon Musk Demonstrates How Little He Understands About Content Moderation

hij ( profile ), 15 Apr, 2022 @ 11:40am

Algorithms without data is meaningless

Musk fails to discuss the data used by algorithms to determine the parameters used to make decisions. For example, the results from fairly straightforward Bayesian machine learning algorithms depend on the data used in the training steps. Without that data the algorithms are fairly limited in understanding how topics are making it to a given user's timeline.

On the post: Jury Awards $14 Million To Anti-Police Brutality Protesters Who Were Brutalized By Colorado Police Officers

hij ( profile ), 06 Apr, 2022 @ 08:11am

Who pays?

It is not just the tax payers in Denver who will pay for this; it is tax payers across the country. The costs associated with insuring against the risks of having a police department will grow. https://thehill.com/opinion/criminal-justice/545261-the-future-of-police-liability/

On the post: Ukraine Government Confirms It Is Using Clearview AI To Identify… Dead Russian Soldiers?

hij ( profile ), 29 Mar, 2022 @ 08:07am

Identifying dead soldiers should not be that hard?

Do Russian soldiers wear dog tags or have name tags on their uniforms? If the condition of a soldier's remains mean that the face is recognizable then other forms of identification should be more reliable.

On the post: Apparently Unwilling To Learn From Florida & Texas’s Failures, Georgia Moves Forward With Unconstitutional Content Moderation Bill

hij ( profile ), 28 Mar, 2022 @ 05:53am

Censor everyone else but not me in Georgia

This is the same Georgia that allows school principals to ban books so that people who are offended can go around librarians trying to make information available to students. If that is not censorial enough for you Georgia has also passed a bill that prohibits teaching "divisive concepts" such as acknowledging racism. There is plenty of hypocrisy in this state, but election years really bring it out in its full glory.

On the post: Pentagon Publication: Young People Getting Injured At Basic Training Because Of 'Nintendo Generation'

hij ( profile ), 28 Feb, 2022 @ 11:31am

This again?

When I went through basic training many (many) years ago stress breaks in leg bones was something being studied. My company took part in the study, and we were part of the control group using the older approach to basic training where the marching under load started early and then let up a little bit before increasing. The other control group had the heavy loads on the soldiers later in the cycle. This is something that has been concern to the military for a long time. Any medical professional making off the cuff remarks without being aware of the studies that have taken place is not all that professional.

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