Trashing a target's reputation in an attempt to further compromise any public support of them is straight out of the playbook. No one in the government wants a martyr on their hands.

1a doesn't apply as its not forced speech.

It's not? In what way is forcing a creator to state that an image is AI-generated, under threat of fines, imprisonment, or other state-imposed punishment, NOT compelled speech? Please, be specific.

There still are occasional situations where it's required - for instance, embedded devs and guys working on drivers sometimes have a need to hit the hardware directly or without the OS otherwise being involved to get some of our tools to work, although a network-restricted VM will suffice for that more often than not. Where I work we don't have direct admin access per se, but we do have to formally request to have USB access turned on and/or Avecto installed on the box. Afterwards any admin access requests are automatically logged and the session recorded so at least IT has a jumping-off point if anyone does something stupid. We also have a ton of internally DMZ'd lab networks and dedicated machines for when groups of folks need that kind of access.

But unconditional root just because you're a dev? Sure, just enter "sudo go screw yourself"

Areas with periodical cicadas don't have to deal with it often. Down here in Florida we have annual varieties, so the cicadas are an everyday thing here throughout the warmer months.

This kind of thing is why you haven't been on my list of options for printers anymore, nor will I recommend you unless it's absolutely unavoidable. I miss the old days, where HP produced solid products that worked really well, lasted, and didn't bend you over on consumables. Well, not as badly, anyway.

Or a pool/billiards hall.

I'd argue it's more extreme than that, and that a better analogy would be paying a plumber to install a toilet but somehow magically conferring his skills and experience upon the customer so that they could easily do their own work at the same level. An actor's appearance and/or voice is often a fundamental part of their contribution to something, and depriving them of that exclusive is like stealing (as in, depriving them of the ability to use) what they bring to a project.

No, $32K is not the minimum for an appearance in a single episode of a show. I have friends that have had speaking guest roles in shows like "Ozark" and were paid a few thousand dollars for a couple of minutes of screen time, but they might only get cast for two appearances per year and had to fly from all the way across the country on their own dime to do it. The per-episode pay looks extravagant for those of us used to a much smaller steady bi-weekly paycheck, but that money isn't a steady flow for most actors. It's like consulting gigs - you might make bank during the term of engagement, but that money has to last you until you score your next job.

I'm glad someone mentioned this. The term lengths completely defeat the intended purpose of copyright, and are based on some nebulous concept of "moral ownership" that, to my knowledge, is not articulated anywhere in law.

From my own experience, another problem is the Dunning-Kruger effect. Lots of otherwise competent folks think, "I'm a good sysadmin, there's not much to this security stuff". Too many people in IT are unwilling to admit they don't know everything, and if they do, it's often not accepted as a valid answer and they're told to do the work anyway.

The problem is that when faced with the possibility of paying fines and spending days doing recovery, a lot of companies only see the certainty of money lost paying for proper security to begin with. It's kind of like Alaska Flight 261 - the airline deliberately chose to skimp on maintenance and save those costs because a crash was considered a "meh, it'll never happen" event.

there is likely less income inequality

There's definitely less income inequality, but it's not totally absent. When I went to high school at Fort Campbell, the general environment was quite good overall, but there were still the cliques of officers' kids that liked to show off their new clothes and often new cars that the enlisted kids' folks couldn't afford (with a few exceptions, most of us NCO kids walked or took the bus), and there was some definite social stratification as a result. Plus, officer housing was quite a bit more spacious for a given family size, which helps during study time because the family isn't always on top of one another. Having said that, no one at school went without the basics they needed to succeed, and no one went hungry. There was the occasional teacher's pet that was almost always an officer's kid and most of the sports stars were as well, but nothing too over the top.

Then everything from your performance evaluations, the two tests, your physical fitness scores, time in service, time in grade, etc... All are weighted, tallied up, and you find out whether you were promoted or not.

You brought up a good point that acted to help maintain a suitable learning environment when I was in school - if your kid was an ongoing discipline problem at school, your CO was going to hear about it at some point, and he'd "strongly encourage" you to get the kid whatever help he needed, and if you didn't, your odds of promotion on the next cycle were going to be affected. I'm sure things are somewhat different now than they were 45+ years ago when I spent a cumulative seven years in DoDEA schools, but the pressure from above on parents definitely helped to keep the train on the rails, and it's something that is pretty much absent in civilian schools. But from first-hand experience with both, I can say even in the 70s and 80s the difference between the DoDEA and civilian schools I attended was like night and day.

Yup. Whether the universe was divinely created, evolved from nothingness, is a simulation, or whatever else, it doesn't change the fact that I still have to come up with the money for the mortgage every month.

And then there are guys like me. I'm an embedded dev also, but the vast majority of my work can be accomplished from home, which has worked for me for the past several years. If I need to touch a particular piece of hardware, I go in. On occasion, I spend several weeks in a row in the lab. The difference is, my employer doesn't really care. They just want to see results. If I can produce results at home, they're fine with that, but if I need to be onsite to get something done, then that's what is expected.