It’s transparently a ridiculous defense, because the entire thing that they’re selling is the ability to track phones. – Nate Wessler
Governments are growing increasingly bold in their attempts to censor the internet:
Telegram is one of the last (mostly) uncensored frontiers of the internet. The messaging app allows users to message each other through both unencrypted and encrypted chats, and to create “channels” that other users can subscribe to. There’s no feed with an algorithm to manipulate, and founder Pavel Durov has committed to never sharing user information with [violent busybodies]…A decade ago, Durov fled Russia after his previous social media company, VKontakte, was [stolen] by the government. (Since then, he spent most of his time in Dubai and obtained French citizenship in 2021.) Russia banned Durov’s newer app Telegram in 2018 but then unblocked [it] two years later…China and Iran have also banned Telegram…[and now] French authorities arrested Durov at the airport for [a number of vicarious “crimes” due to his refusal to engage in a fascist partnership with cops against his own users]…The French case against Telegram resembles the U.S. case against Backpage...
It’s unusual that they didn’t make this sound like the rapist was doing his victims a favor:
A [typical and representative] Alabama prosecutor was found guilty of six corruption charges…for [extor]ting sexual favors from at least three women who[m] he was…prosecuting for crimes…Mark Johnson…[was] also previously…a [cop. His]…attorneys…argued in court that [rape isn’t a crime if a] prosecutor…[accomplishes it by threat rather than force]…
It’s far too late to cram this djinni back into its bottle, God help us:
…the Texas [cop shop collective has acquired]…a controversial surveillance tool called Tangles…that scrapes information from the open, deep, and dark web. Tangles’ premier add-on feature…WebLoc can track…mobile devices’ movements…through… “geofencing”…without a search warrant…subpoena…[or the participation of] companies like Google…us[ing]…information from data brokers…While a device’s mobile ad ID is [supposed]ly…anonymous…it is easy to cross reference other data points to determine the owner…Tangles is [sold] by the [fascist Israeli] company Cobwebs Technologies, which…operat[es] as a surveillance-for-hire outfit [to circumvent Constitutional limitations. Texas]…first purchased the software as part of Governor Greg Abbott’s multi-billion dollar Operation Lone Star [anti-migrant jihad and]…expanded the contract [every year]…
I can’t feel sorry for women who were happy to throw other women to the leopards:
Celeste Borys and Kira Lynch…[are regularly] scorn[ed] and harass[ed by the disciples of rescue industry charlatan]…Tim Ballard…who…[realiz]ed during the Obama administration [that there was plenty of money and fame to be made in the hysteria over “]child sex trafficking[“;] he [accomplished this by]…recruiting…true believers to join him on [theatrical “rescue”] operations in [foreign countries where officials could be bribed to ignore his illegal targeting of their citizens and endangerment of their children. His shenanigans inspired a completely]…fictionalized film [with the hypocritical name] Sound of Freedom based on [the tall tales he tells to attract marks to finance] Operation Underground Railroad…the [rescue industry profiteer]ing organization he founded…Ballard [fell from grace with everyone but MAGAists and QAnon cultists when a number of]…women – Borys and Lynch among them – [sued and filed criminal complaints against him for] sexually abus[ing] them…[using the same ridiculous “]saving children[ from sex trafficking” fantasies he used to fleece sex-haters and other gullible wackos]…
How long will America ignore the costs of its sick worship of state-sanctioned violence?
Police in the US use force on at least 300,000 people each year, [seriously] injuring an estimated 100,000 of them, according to…Mapping Police Violence, a non-profit research group that…[has] launched a new database…cataloging non-fatal incidents of police use of force, including stun guns, chemical sprays, K9 dog attacks, neck restraints, beanbags and baton strikes. The data…compiled from public records requests in every state….[demonstrate] that despite widespread protests against police brutality…in 2020, overall use of force has [at least] remained steady…and in many jurisdictions, has increased. The data builds on past reports that found US police [intentionally murder] roughly 1,200 people each year, or three people a day, a death toll that has crept up every year and dramatically exceeds rates in c[ivilized] nations. The nonfatal force statistics…illustrate how the [intentional murder]s are just a small fraction of broader police violence and [death]s caused by law enforcement…The data is [definitely] an undercount as it only covers incidents disclosed by [cop shops], and many states have laws [hiding] police [violence from public scrutiny]…
Cops should not be allowed anywhere near legal minors:
On…August 19, [typical and representative California cop] James Walter Best Jr. was arrested…[in] Maine…where…he [fled after being interrogated by Kern County, California cops in October of last year for repeatedly molesting and raping]…one of his [own] children…[from] 9 years old…until they were of age…Best…never denied the [molest]ations…but c[laim]ed…he didn’t remember…[Best was previously put on probation in 2020 for embezzlement and grand theft]…
Sleeping with a cop is one of the most dangerous things a woman can do, even if she’s a cop herself:
A…Chicago [cop who was not wearing his magical clown costume] attack[ed] his cop girlfriend during a drunken rampage…at a [cop shop], pulling her by her hair while [threatening her with] a loaded gun…Francisco Galvan…faces [only] misdemeanor c[harges because]…his [victim] declined to pursue felony charges…[fellow cops] saw Galvan walking through the [cop shop] parking lot…before he a[ttack]ed his…girlfriend, who was [wearing her magical clown costume and] sitting in a p[igmobile]…
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Re: Served Cold – The fact that The Critical Drinker and Shoe 0n Head are promoting The Sound of Freedom should tell you something about how little they actually know. Here’s hoping that Ballard’s credibility tanks, tanking MAGA and Qanon with it.