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Comment Re:The same news every single week... (Score 1) 65

Quad9 now (at the very least) has knowledge that some site(s) are aiding piracy. If they don't do something about it, they are liable.

What is the likely result though? Now you have Sony. Tomorrow it is China wanting sites blocked that express views against them. Iran wanting sites that are anti Muslim blocked. Where does it end because, you see, everyone has a beef against something. Where does it end?

Comment Re:Truly the Rockefeller of our times (Score 1) 86

Since you brought up the Battle of Blair Mountain, let's bring this story up to date with the Upper Big Branch Mine Disaster.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

Massey Energy in general and Don Blankenship in particular were totally anti-union. Because of that critical safety precautions were circumvented in favor of higher profits. 29 miners died as a result. One of the biggest thing the coal miner's union is about is mine safety. It is unknown if a union had existed would things have been different but I think the fear associated with losing your job in a non-union shop such as this one led to the violations not being reported. Add to that the cozy relationship the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) has with the coal companies and the result is 29 miners dead.

Comment Re:Unions built the American middle class (Score 2) 86

Unions won't help with any of those things. The decline of unions has been largely because folks have watched as the union shops have steadily gone out of business, replaced by cheaper overseas manufacturing. Rather than protecting the workers, their main success has been in accelerating the exodus of jobs out of the country.

It wasn't the unions that caused the outsourcing. It was simple economics. US manufacturing was exported whether or not the shop was union because even with today's too low minimum wage that cost is still higher than China which subsidizes the manufacturing businesses. You even noted the "cheaper overseas" part yourself. Unions had very little to do with that.

The fact of the matter is that the wealthy have the power, and the only thing that can balance that power is a strong central government with a strong desire to protect the workers. Things started declining under Reagan not because he broke the unions, but because he broke the government protection of workers at pretty much every level, *including* failing to defend unions. In the grand scheme of things, the decline of unions was below the noise floor.

Therein lies your problem. Most, if not all, of Congress are wealthy. Also most, if not all, have some sort of business they own outside of Congress or have large portfolios in the stock market. None of those are conducive to favor workers.

I come from WV where unions had their start in the coal mines. People have been killed fighting for their right to join a union here. For reference look up the battle of Blair Mountain or the history of Maitwan, WV. Interestingly enough, the coal company that owns that land proposed mountain top removal for it. Nothing like destroying not only nature but history for money!

As the Tennessee Ernie Ford song goes, "You load 16 tons what do you get? Another day older and deeper in debt."

Comment Re:'Streaming TV advertisers' (Score 1) 41

Meanwhile, looking at my own subscriptions...
* Netflix? No ads ever.
* Disney+? No ads ever.
* Apple TV+ (via a free year)? No ads ever.

You are seeing ads on every one of those. It just isn't what you would typically relate to ads. The ads you are seeing are advertising of upcoming show. Those usually do it in a banner style ad. In the case of Netflix it even extends to animated banner ads for shows.

* OTA content via Plex DVR? No ads (thanks to automated commercial stripping), for the most part.

That also has ads but you are using a form of ad blocking. And you even acknowledge it isn't 100% successful.

Comment Re:Tired of winning, yet? (Score 2) 296

We don't know how many people actually have had covid-19, since it's asymptomatic sometimes, but so far we've only had a deathrate from covid-19 that's about twice as high as our normal flu deathrate.

And we don't know the true death rate from COVID-19 either. Many have died in their home fearing going to the hospital until it was too late and the death was misdiagnosed (heart failure seems to be the favorite since COVID-19 has a serious effect on the heart).

Caveats: because we don't know how many people are asymptomatic, we don't really have much of a clue as to how serious this is compared to the normal flu.

And that is a failure of the Trump administration to utilize the Defense Production Act properly to ramp up testing. Late January early February of this year the administration was briefed on the outbreak and instead of taking the briefing seriously, the administration spent the next couple months denying it was an issue.

Even to this day Trump has not used the Defense Production Act authority to ramp up testing to the levels it needs to be in order to be effective. Add in the rhetoric to try to turn even the simplest of protective mitigation measures against the disease into a political wedge and you have the increasing numbers you have today.

Comment Re:Tired of winning, yet? (Score 5, Insightful) 296

If anything, the golfing is the least offensive part of Trump's presidency.

To me it is right up there with the rest of his offenses because he does it at Mar-A-Lago where taxpayer money is going into his pocket directly for the stay of the Secret Service and the rest of his party. A direct violation of the Emoluments clause.

There is nothing that man will do that doesn't profit him personally in some way. Follow the money...

Comment Re:Good - the right thing to do. (Score 1) 106

You need to read what you just posted...

For the purpose of regulating interstate and foreign commerce in communication by wire and radio...

It specifically states "INTERState" meaning between the states not "INTRAState" meaning within the same state. Nowhere in what you quoted is intrastate mentioned. Intrastate communications is supposed to be regulated by the State. That is what the public service commissions exist for.

Comment Need to do this with the media industry too (Score 5, Insightful) 35

They need to review in the same way the media distribution companies and cell phone companies the same. Not just the big tech companies. Hell, I even say do it for every proposed merger. Otherwise they don't have the whole picture of the consolidation that is going on out there.

Comment Re:So... (Score 1) 47

Voter ID in no way denies any citizen the ability to vote.

It sure does unless the ID is free for voting purposes. It also does if the person can't get to the location where IDs are.

It does, however, make sure that only citizens are voting, and only voting once.

Which is solving a problem that doesn't exist. In-person voter fraud isn't where the fraud is occurring. It is occurring in absentee ballots and in the electronic systems that are tabulating votes. And again, the requirements for proving "citizenship" should be free for voting purposes.

All these are barriers to voting solving a problem that isn't a problem.

Comment Re:Well, customer stupidity is good for business (Score 0) 132

But the anti-vaxxers do harm others and that is not acceptable.

You see this argument a lot. What it leaves is the question of why you don't trust the vaccine you got? If someone has a suppressed immune system for whatever reason, then it really doesn't matter if they get vaccinated since it won't work. They should take special care to not put themselves in situations where they can catch something or protect themselves in other ways (such as masks and gloves). So again, either you trust the vaccine you get or you don't. Presenting that argument puts the onus on everyone else for the stupidity of a few.

On the other side, if someone gets a disease that a common vaccine exists for, then the treatment costs should be solely on the one who caught it. Insurance shouldn't have to pay for it.

I for one trust the vaccines I got so this is a non-issue for me.

Comment Re:Wonderful. (Score 1) 121

From the list...

Promoting the sale or use of streaming devices with KODI installed

(emphasis added). So it is against this policy to even describe how to do it. What this will do is kill the developers who use FB most notably the build developers.

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