Oblate 's Techdirt Comments

Latest Comments (464)

• On the post: United States Gifted With 33rd National Emergency By President Who Says It's Not Really An Emergency

  

  Oblate ( profile ), 19 Feb, 2019 @ 06:29am

  Just the facts we want, please...

  the situation has worsened in certain respects in recent years.

  Cherry picking the details, as most of the data shows decreasing problems at the border. Note that you will probably have trouble picking real cherries without immigrant labor.

• On the post: New York Times Moves To Dismiss Joe Arpaio's Defamation Lawsuit By Pointing Out It's Impossible To Defame Him

  

  Oblate ( profile ), 08 Jan, 2019 @ 01:27pm

  Re: Re:

  fundraising both for his lawsuit and for his Senate campaign

  What Senate campaign? A bit more publicity like this, and he'll be Trump's running mate in 2020!

• On the post: New York Court Tells CBP Agent He's Not Allowed To Pretend He's A Traffic Cop

  

  Oblate ( profile ), 06 Dec, 2018 @ 06:50am

  Re: Re: the long arm of the three letter agency/federal cops

  Wreckless driving isn't a Federal offense.

  You wouldn't know that from watching drivers around here...

• On the post: French Tax Officials To Start Digging Through Social Media Posts For Expensive Cars It Thinks You Can't Afford

  

  Oblate ( profile ), 26 Nov, 2018 @ 10:21am

  Opportunity knocks...

  Now selling indistinct pictures of me in front of my $50 beater car, wearing a beret and a tricot rayé, $5 (4.5 Euro) per shot.

• On the post: After Being Hit With A 'Motion For Return Of Property,' Gov't Agrees To Delete Data Copied From A Traveler's Phone

  

  Oblate ( profile ), 19 Nov, 2018 @ 11:41am

  Re: Re: Re: I hope this is enforced

  And what if there are no charges, just (for example) extra harassment at the border?

  Since extra harassment (on top of the typical harassment she's already subject to) can apparently be done with impunity, it's pretty much guaranteed.

• On the post: Alabama Voters Say At Least One Sheriff Won't Be Enriching Himself With Federal Inmate Food Funds

  

  Oblate ( profile ), 15 Nov, 2018 @ 10:48am

  Why not other prisoner benefits?

  It's impossible to budget exactly the right amount, so why not use the excess funds for other prisoner benefits, such as books, vocational training, etc.? This would remove the motive to misuse the funds. Hopefully this excess amount would be added to the already allocated funds for books etc.

• On the post: Why The Whole Freaking World Knows That Rep. Jeff Fortenberry Hates Being Called Fartenberry

  

  Oblate ( profile ), 02 Nov, 2018 @ 10:34am

  For you to understand the optics of this, and you don't...

  Looks to me like Archer Shartenberry'd all over the optics...

  (When you think it can't get any more sophomoric- I'll be there.)

• On the post: City Council Seized, Crushed Resident's Legally-Parked BMW While He Was In The Hospital

  

  Oblate ( profile ), 23 Oct, 2018 @ 06:08am

  The law was not followed when the car was taken, which I would interpret to mean that it was stolen. Would he have any luck if he reported it as stolen? Seems like a pretty easy case, as there's already an admission of guilt. Let his insurance company lawyers frighten the council to repaying him properly, isn't this part of why one pays for insurance?

• On the post: Six Months Later, People Are Finally Realizing That FOSTA Actually Is Putting Lives At Risk

  

  Oblate ( profile ), 03 Oct, 2018 @ 11:16am

  Follow the money...

  It would be nice if some reporters actually ask Representatives like Ann Wagner and Mimi Walters, or Senators like Rob Portman and Richard Blumenthal how they feel about the fact that the bad law that they pushed for,...

  Considering how poorly FOSTA achieves the publicly stated goals, the only logical conclusion is that the above mentioned politicians were paid by pimps to pass this law. Isn't there a term for someone who works for a pimp?

• On the post: Officer Who Killed Unarmed Man Now Teaching Officers How To Go About The Difficult Business Of Being Alive

  

  Oblate ( profile ), 11 Sep, 2018 @ 07:36am

  Actually a great idea but for the wrong audience

  CLEET, “will describe some of the challenges in dealing with the aftermath of a critical incident such as Officer Involved Shooting. Participants will be exposed to many of the legal, financial, physical, and emotional challenges which may result from a critical incident.”

  Maybe if they made all police officers take this course BEFORE they shot someone there would be fewer questionable shootings?

• On the post: Ninth Circuit Stops Monkeying Around And Denies En Banc Review Of The Monkey Selfie Case

  

  Oblate ( profile ), 05 Sep, 2018 @ 07:09am

  We should at least know whether a cert petition's been filed in about three months or so,...

  I know what the monkey would be filing (or flinging) if he knew about this case.

• On the post: NJ Courts Impose Ridiculous Password Policy 'To Comply With NIST' That Does Exactly What NIST Says Not To Do

  

  Oblate ( profile ), 17 Aug, 2018 @ 01:39pm

  If this is an improvement...

  I shudder to think how bad their password policy was previously. Are they trying to make it easier to break in to their systems? What's next, mandating plugging in found USB drives? Requiring mailing their passwords in plain text? Picking your password from a drop-down list instead of typing it in?

• On the post: Cops Go To Wrong House, Kill Innocent Man, Receive A Free Pass From Local Grand Jury

  

  Oblate ( profile ), 08 Aug, 2018 @ 01:06pm

  Balko points out the mayor of the city is smugly celebrating this non-indictment and blaming the media for making a horrible-looking situation look bad.

  I guess it's not just the police in that town that like to take cheap shots...

• On the post: Chicago Poke Chain Sends C&D To Hawaiian Poke Joint Demanding It Not Be Named 'Aloha Poke'

  

  Oblate ( profile ), 02 Aug, 2018 @ 01:30pm

  Other laws may affect this too

  For example, it seems possible that truth in advertising laws would require that the name of the restaurant chain in Chicago change their name to Ahole Poke.

• On the post: Cops Lose Qualified Immunity After Arresting Man For A Snarky Facebook Comment

  

  Oblate ( profile ), 30 Jul, 2018 @ 12:08pm

  Re: "We in the police don't make mistakes. EVER."

  I get the impression (i.e. not doing actual research, now that the precedent has been set) that the cops realized they screwed up and decided to (over) charge him with something so they could reduce it to a misdemeanor plea. I think a plea deal would have left him unable to proceed with a civil rights case.

• On the post: Congressman Introduces Legislation To Criminalize Protesting In A Mask

  

  Oblate ( profile ), 13 Jul, 2018 @ 12:52pm

  Re: As scummy as it gets for a politician

  Would this then be one of the events where they allow professionals, as opposed to limiting to amateurs?

• On the post: Police Chief Tries To Blame Newspaper Shooting On The Loss Of Social Media Monitoring Tool, But It Doesn't Add Up

  

  Oblate ( profile ), 05 Jul, 2018 @ 11:26am

  the account was dormant -- invisible to Geofeedia.

  Next we'll see a push for a law against suspected criminals allowing their social media accounts to go dormant...

• On the post: Danish Anti-Piracy Lawyers Jailed For Real, Actual Stealing From Copyright Holders

  

  Oblate ( profile ), 15 Jun, 2018 @ 12:37pm

  Re: Re: And where would the money go?

  The worst part is the entertainment industry still hails him as a hero

  Maybe they will make a movie about him? The big question is, if they do make a movie about him then will they still screw him out of his royalties?

• On the post: 'Transparent' FCC Doesn't Want To Reveal Any Details About Ajit Pai's Stupid Reese's Mug

  

  Oblate ( profile ), 14 Jun, 2018 @ 10:38am

  So now that they have this information...

  How long until "Taylor Amarel" starts writing letters in support of the FCC?

• On the post: ACLU Obtains Documents Showing Amazon Is Handing Out Cheap Facial Recognition Tech To Law Enforcement

  

  Oblate ( profile ), 22 May, 2018 @ 01:40pm

  Amazon calls the service “Rekognition.”

  Too bad they don't also sell a spell checker.

  It can quickly scan information it collects against databases featuring tens of millions of faces, according to Amazon.

  Maybe Amazon Prime subscribers are excluded from the database, and this is all just to sell more subscriptions?

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