Phoenix84 's Techdirt Comments

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  • On the post: RFK Jr. Travels To Texas To Look Over What He Helped Create, Including A Tiny Casket

    Phoenix84 ( profile ), 09 Apr, 2025 @ 11:03pm

    What's weird though, isn't this the same party that decried "death panels" for the ACA? Seems like death panels are exactly the type of thing they'd fight for.

  • On the post: Trump’s FCC ‘Investigates’ Disney For Not Being Racist And Sexist Enough

    Phoenix84 ( profile ), 03 Apr, 2025 @ 07:20am

    Carr the racism Czar.

  • On the post: ICE Arrested And Detained A US Citizen For Hours Because He Looked Mexican

    Phoenix84 ( profile ), 29 Mar, 2025 @ 04:36pm

    The only reason that stood out to me was it didn't make sense. Did he have money and paperwork with him when he was arrested? How much? What paperwork? They said he had his identification. Did he get that back? If so, what additional paperwork should he have received?

  • On the post: ICE Arrested And Detained A US Citizen For Hours Because He Looked Mexican

    Phoenix84 ( profile ), 28 Mar, 2025 @ 03:42pm

    Indeed. Forget about Trump wanting only loyalists in his administration, he only wants loyalists in the entire country.

  • On the post: ICE Arrested And Detained A US Citizen For Hours Because He Looked Mexican

    Phoenix84 ( profile ), 28 Mar, 2025 @ 01:36pm

    Not to downplay this, as this is just disgusting and frightening all around, but you're not safe even if you're white. I haven't heard of a white US citizen being detained in this way yet, but several white immigrants (German, Russian, at least) have be detained and deported.

  • On the post: Yet Another Columnist Claims Bluesky Is A Liberal Echo Chamber Because Its Users Keeping Kicking Nazis Out Of The Bar

    Phoenix84 ( profile ), 20 Mar, 2025 @ 09:01pm

    and xTwitter is a MAGA echo-chamber. That's what happens when you silence opinions you don't like, or overwhelming drown out those opinions with your own by sheer force/numbers. Just because you can be blocked by someone that doesn't want to listen to you doesn't make it an echo chamber. If you want to have a debate about taxes, or even about the Dept of Education's efficacy, I'm more than happy to oblige. However if you just want to talk about how schools are indoctrinating kids with beliefs you don't agree with, then sorry I don't want to hear it. If you want a bible present in every classroom, but object to a torah or quran, your opinion is not valid.

  • On the post: Yet Another Columnist Claims Bluesky Is A Liberal Echo Chamber Because Its Users Keeping Kicking Nazis Out Of The Bar

    Phoenix84 ( profile ), 20 Mar, 2025 @ 06:24pm

    These are not “conservative views.” These are bigoted views that far too many people hold
    Sounds like the same thing to me. The bigots in this case are mostly conservative, and most conservatives are bigots at this point. At this point they overlap so much they might as well be the same.
    The guy speaking on behalf of his fellow “conservatives” continues to proclaim Bluesky is the platform of intolerance and fragility
    Every accusation is an admission. Twitter used to let you block users, and would warn you about content you might find offensive. You could still view it if you chose, it just wasn't forcibly put in your face.
    Block lists—featuring the names of people you will not permit to see your posts—are public and widely shared and discussed.
    Now, while I'm on Bluesky, I haven't used it much. I didn't know it had a sharable blocklist feature.

  • On the post: Trump Tests How Many Law Firms He Can Destroy Before Someone Stops Him

    Phoenix84 ( profile ), 19 Mar, 2025 @ 09:58am

    Nevermind, I had to re-read the article a few times. I didn't catch that courthouses would be included in government facilities. I see now.

  • On the post: Trump Tests How Many Law Firms He Can Destroy Before Someone Stops Him

    Phoenix84 ( profile ), 19 Mar, 2025 @ 09:54am

    How does this affect them?

    Can someone explain how this affects them? They aren't disbarred from what I read. Just revoked clearances and inability to access government facilities. I don't know anything about what law firms do, aside from representing clients, so I don't understand what harm that causes. To clarify, I'm not saying it's right, I seriously just don't understand what the actual issue is. The article doesn't actually clarify what the 'blacklisting' is, or how it affects them.

  • On the post: It Is Long Past Time For Democrats To Start Pounding The Impeachment Drum

    Phoenix84 ( profile ), 14 Mar, 2025 @ 12:17pm

    Maybe the minority party should just go home and not bother showing up for the two years they’re out of power.
    They have, that's the point. The "opposition party" is not opposing. A handful of representatives at most.
    He, uh, actually did lose an election after the first impeachment
    So? That gave him/his party 4 extra years to learn from the mistakes of the first term and plan for this complete gutting of the government. If he was immediately re-elected I don't think he'd have been this successful.

  • On the post: First Porn, Now Skin Cream? ‘Age Verification’ Bills Are Out Of Control

    Phoenix84 ( profile ), 14 Mar, 2025 @ 11:13am

    What about alchohol?

    For the porn case, it's clear. It's an easy way to just ban it without actually banning it. But for everything else, like diet products: how is this different from buying alcohol?

  • On the post: It Is Long Past Time For Democrats To Start Pounding The Impeachment Drum

    Phoenix84 ( profile ), 13 Mar, 2025 @ 11:46pm

    • I’m not sure if he’d change or not if he was thrust into the presidency.
    I wish we had an edit button, even for 5 minutes.

  • On the post: It Is Long Past Time For Democrats To Start Pounding The Impeachment Drum

    Phoenix84 ( profile ), 13 Mar, 2025 @ 11:45pm

    Pointless discussion

    It's pointless. Impeachment is unlikely to even pass in the house, let alone convict in the Senate. We did this last Trump term and what happened? Absolutely nothing; he was elected again. Plus, it won't change what's happening. JD Vance is just as bad and will continue on the war path Trump started. Speaker Johnson? I'm not sure if he'd change or not if we was thrust into the presidency or not. I suspect he'd continue to tow the line. What does matter? Fighting cloture of the CR right now, but they want to cave and leave the government open because they're afraid of the damage it can cause. DOGE IS ALREADY DAMAGING THE GOVERNMENT! Shutting it down won't make it worse, and might in fact slow them down, since DOGE will be stopped during the shutdown too.

  • On the post: Trump’s Latest Weapon Against Critics: Destroying Their Lawyers

    Phoenix84 ( profile ), 11 Mar, 2025 @ 04:26pm

    *and even then

  • On the post: Trump’s Latest Weapon Against Critics: Destroying Their Lawyers

    Phoenix84 ( profile ), 11 Mar, 2025 @ 04:25pm

    Even if you are a true believer in the MAGA movement, this is one of those things that should cause you to question how much Trump is focused on punishing his perceived enemies, rather than leading the country.
    MAGAs are so blinded by the cult of personality, they can't see their own hypocrisy or downfall. They've been spoonfed "Trump was persecuted, these are corrupt lawyers that he's getting rid of." Literally nothing will persuade them unless it directly affects them negatively personally, and even though some still fall in line. Trump said it himself, he could go out on the street and literally kill someone in broad daylight and they wouldn't care. They'd probably cheer him on in fact. It's extremely dangerous and the only way we can stop them is by convincing the non-true believers of the problems. The true-believers are too far gone to be saved.

  • On the post: Make It A Trend Part 2: EA (!!!) Releases Source Code For Four ‘Command & Conquer’ Games

    Phoenix84 ( profile ), 06 Mar, 2025 @ 05:35pm

    Double-take

    When I first read this, I had to do a double-take: "Wait, EA? Electronic Arts EA?" What's more, not only did they release the source for those games, but they also added Steam Workshop support for several other C&C games, like Generals. My only thought is that the remastered version did something good they saw. I don't know what it is, but I welcome it. Please, do more like this, EA!

  • On the post: Why Techdirt Is Now A Democracy Blog (Whether We Like It Or Not)

    Phoenix84 ( profile ), 05 Mar, 2025 @ 11:51am

    For those in the tech industry who supported this administration thinking it would mean less regulation or more “business friendly” policies: you’ve catastrophically misread the situation (which many people tried to warn you about). While overregulation (which, let’s face it, we didn’t really have) can be bad, it’s nothing compared to the destruction of the stable institutional framework that allowed American innovation to thrive in the first place.
    The logging of our national parks helps no one but logging companies. Meanwhile the parks themselves show off the beauty of the states they are in, drawing tourists, both domestic and foreign, and boosting the local economies of the states they're in, and keep the local ecology functioning and safer than without. Plus they provide non-monetary QOL improvements to the people. For example, I'm proud of the forest land in my state, and fear for the old growth that will be logged out if this continues. We have some of the oldest trees in the nation, and it would be a shame and an insult to lose them.
    courts that would enforce contracts (but not non-competes, allowing ideas to spread quickly and freely across industries)
    Well, I've been against non-competes, but you just made a pretty good case for why they can be bad.

  • On the post: After Killing USAID, MAGA’s Solution: Reinventing USAID, But Worse

    Phoenix84 ( profile ), 04 Mar, 2025 @ 11:55pm

    They’re not just incapable of seeing the sophistication in these systems; they’re ideologically opposed to admitting such sophistication could exist.
    These are the same people that think evolution is fake news because of "irreducible complexity", so yeah, I buy it.

  • On the post: History Will Not Treat Those Sleepwalking Through This Crisis Well

    Phoenix84 ( profile ), 20 Feb, 2025 @ 04:50pm

    This is one of those cases where I'm on the fence about compelling voting. I appreciate the right to vote, like other rights, is also the right not to vote. However if everyone was forced to vote, those that were on the fence might have actually made a difference if they were forced to choose an option. But, it also goes against the freedoms we aspire to have.

  • On the post: History Will Not Treat Those Sleepwalking Through This Crisis Well

    Phoenix84 ( profile ), 20 Feb, 2025 @ 01:00pm

    Speak up, protest, call your representatives. Run for office, if we still have free and fair elections by then. Be supportive of those affected, so they don't feel alone. Civil servants are not the cause of the bureaucracy, they just implement what they've been told to do. Do you know how much it costs to buy a $200 transmitter? Well, you have to submit 3 quotes from 3 different US vendors, then get approval, then get someone to purchase it for you, wait for it to be delivered, inspected, and handed over to you for use. Total cost: closer to $2000 when all done (all the man-hours required to get quotes, write out forms, etc). There's your waste. That's not waste you can see when you inspect the treasury or look at receipts, only what you'll see if you actually work in there.

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