GeorgiaDon

Hard to believe I’ve been coming here to Speaker’s Corner for 20 years for my daily dose of enlightenment and aggravation. It’s really been the best place to hear a diversity of opinions from real people, a diversity I can’t encounter at work or the drop zone where it would be inappropriate to talk about so many of the topics we can kick around here. I’ve learned something from all of you, and I’ll really miss getting perspective from you even if sometimes it makes me gnash my teeth. So I’d like to wish all of you fair winds and following seas. Don

I’m sure it’s entirely a coincidence that they chose a young white woman as their fake victim.

I’m sure it’s entirely a coincidence that they chose a young white woman as their fake victim.

I believe he already dismissed those motor vehicle laws as stupid nanny state laws (post #10).

The 15-year-old staged the scene, then called 911 and claimed his 13-year-old brother was the killer and that he survived by hiding in a bathroom. He thought everyone was dead, but his 11-year-old sister was wounded and survived by playing dead, then escaped through a window. If she had not survived, it's conceivable the killer might have gotten away with it. I have a vague recollection that years ago someone who used to post in SC murdered her parents and tried to frame her brother for the crime. Does anyone else recall that story, or is it just some fever dream of mine?

A long time ago I read about a guy in England during WWII who was branded a coward and ostracized by the townspeople where he lived because he wasn't obviously in the military (didn't wear a uniform/wasn't deployed). It turned out he was a scientist involved in developing radar. Hard to argue that developing radar wasn't a useful contribution to the war effort. Also hard to work on developing radar (or any new technology) while at the same time fighting on the front lines. Perhaps you can explain to the rest of us why nothing any of us could possibly be doing, no matter how essential, is as important as military service?

I think it's part of his pathology, that he has no concept of a sense of humor, so he often seems to substitute cruelty.

Regarding a more mundane application of “AI”, I help to moderate a forum that is largely devoted to fossil identification. Lately we are getting lots of posts from people who are confused by identifications given by a google ap. Most of the ID suggestions are so far off as to be comical. One poster was concerned that google misidentified a common fossil as a toxic mineral, and was insistent that they needed to go to the hospital immediately. I’m sure it’s a challenge to get an algorithm to parse out the meaningful data from a poorly photographed image, make appropriate comparisons to hundreds of thousands (or millions) of possibilities, and make a plausible suggestion as to an identification. However we have many humans on the forum who are excellent at doing just that.

Actually this is a good example of perhaps the biggest threat of a Trump presidency. He may be blind, or at least unable to see beyond his own grievances. However he is surrounded by truly malignant people who will easily manipulate him, putting themselves in positions of power to do enormous harm to the country, and to the world. They were not prepared last time, as they did not expect to win. Project 2025 is enough to show they won't make that mistake again, and it's likely even worse is being planned by people who are smart enough to keep things under wraps until it's too late to stop them.

It seems to me many conservatives are hung up on conformity. We all should be straight, gun-toting, country music loving, American-speaking evangelical Christian baby-making machines. Maybe we don't all have to be white, but it's expected that we should all act white (no "ghetto music", no funny hair styles etc). Maybe it's a control thing, any life choices or actions that are different from theirs is somehow threatening, and must be eradicated. Personally I would find a society that has total uniformity to be painfully boring.

I have a nephew who suffered from gender dysphoria for many years, beginning well before their teens. Now in their 20s, they went through hormone treatment and recently underwent surgery to complete the transition to female, at least externally. Although they still have work to do psychologically, it's mostly to deal with damage done by years of dysphoria and the social stigma that comes with that. At least we no longer have to worry constantly about suicide. I find it interesting that before any hormone treatment was started it was determined that the male bits they were born with were never able to produce sperm, which suggests that they were never a fully functional male and the dysphoria may well have had a physiological basis. I know that I, personally, never made a choice as to my gender identity, it was "built in" by a combination of genetics and hormone environment during development. I assume the same is true of everyone else. It is absurd to assume that other people consciously choose their gender, and even more so to assume people choose an identity that often results in a lifetime of suffering.

Also depends on what is considered to be a "human right". Some countries consider access to health care to be a right, not just a commodity for sale to those who can afford it. Same for education. OTOH few countries consider unrestricted access to firearms to be a basic human right.

I think this decision will come to be seen as on par with Dred Scott. Like Dred Scott, the damage will likely require a constitutional amendment or two to repair. Perhaps the Democrats should campaign on putting forward a couple of amendments, one to limit presidential immunity and to define a process to decide what acts are "official" and what are not (with self-dealing firmly in the "not" category), and a second amendment to impose term limits on supreme court justices. An enforceable code of ethics would be good too. Perhaps another amendment could introduce an upper age limit to the presidency. Another thing they could campaign on is a repeal of the Comstock Act.