Goooood morning: Boring weather today. Mostly cloudy with a high near 45 degrees. Honestly, if the clouds want to stay relevant they should consider freshening up their style a bit.
Interim Seattle Police Chief Sue Rahr fires cop: The Stranger broke the news yesterday that Rahr fired Seattle Police Department (SPD) Officer Kevin Dave for hitting and killing 23-year-old college student Jaahnavi Kandula in January 2023. Dave remained on payroll for almost two years as first the criminal investigation into Davve took place, and through the subsequent internal disciplinary investigation by the Office of Police Accountability. Kandula’s death caused outrage not only due to Dave’s driving 74 miles per hour in a 25 mile per hour zone—and the fact that SPD had hired him despite a sketchy driving history—but because of former Seattle Police Union Vice President Daniel Auderer’s comments about Kandula’s “limited value” which were caught on body camera and later made public. Rahr fired Auderer last year.
Seattle doubles speed cameras in school zones: The City plans to install 19 new speed cameras across Seattle school zones to catch and penalize speeders, according to KOMO. Check out the full list of places the Seattle Department of Transportation plans to add the suckers.
Seattle cops union trying to hide stuff: The Seattle Police Officers Guild (SPOG) has appealed a decision in a lawsuit it filed against DivestSPD to prevent the City from revealing the name of an officer involved in multiple complaints—despite winning the lawsuit. This is ’cause SPOG wants a judge to rule that the City of Seattle should not be allowed to release the names of officers accused of a whole host of bad behavior. SPOG wants a categorical injunction. The ask from SPOG is ridiculous, in particular because the police union contract sets such a high bar for proving cops committed certain offenses, including lying and bias, and this would further shroud the disciplinary process in secrecy.
City Year program manager arrested for child rape: King County Prosecutors charged a City Year program manager at South Shore PreK-8 and Aki Kurose Middle School with child rape after he allegedly had sex with a 13 year old who he tutored, according to the Seattle Times. Seattle Public Schools is reexamining its affiliation with City Year, an AmeriCorps-funded program that assists teachers and sends additional staff to schools.
Ballard High graduate Jean Smart wins a Golden Globe: The star of “Hacks” won a Golden Globe Sunday night, and we’re so proud of her. Genuinely, I always thought Smart was born and raised in the South or something, I love that she’s from here.
All the single men: According to the latest numbers from FYI Guy, in 2023 Seattle had one of the highest ratios of single men to single women among the largest US cities. The ratio part is kind of meaningless, because you know, gay people exist, as do bi and pansexuals, so who knows what this actually means for the dating scene. But still, good to know that if you are rejected by a random tech bro, just know, there are plenty more single ones where that one came from.
Dating in Seattle be like:
-emotionally unavailable t boy
-amorphous puppy poly blob with deep esoteric lore
– c¡s girl that lives with her mom in lynnwood— OCDoll (@CISFAKER) November 29, 2024
Meta switches to community notes system: Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg plans to shift away from third-party fact checkers to a community notes system across Meta platforms. Zuck called fact checkers “too politically biased.” Though, he admitted that with this move away from content moderation more harmful content will make its way onto Meta platforms. The plan comes as President Donald Trump’s return to office date creeps ever closer, and as CNN points out, Trump has never been a big fan of fact checking, which tends to reflect unfavorable on him when he says false stuff such as, “I won the 2020 election.” While this is likely politically motivated, I honestly think it’s fine. It’s not like in life we have fact checkers. I believed a lot of dumb stuff for way too long, like that thing where if you hand is bigger than your face you have cancer. Pushes your hand into your face. Fucking got ’em.
The CDC announces first US death from bird flu: A person in Louisiana died of bird flu on January 6 (seriously cursed day, everyone). The disease still has not made the leap to spreading person-to-person, which would be very bad. So far there have been 66 confirmed cases of bird flu in humans since 2024, and the cost of eggs is skyrocketing. Here is a good fact sheet from the CDC about this disease.
Pardoning Proud Boys: The former leader of the Proud Boys, Enrique Tarrio, asked Trump to pardon him. Tarrio faces 22 years in prison for seditious conspiracy related to his role orchestrating the January 6 attack on the US Capitol, according to the Guardian. Trump has promised pardons for January 6 rioters to start the first hour he takes office.
Take our sex survey: There’s a reason you walk like this. Because you’re getting laid goooooooooooood. So listen to some FLO and tell us all about it. Or maybe you’re just hanging out with yourself and still laying it down good, leaving your fingers a lil pruny. That’s great. TELL US ABOUT IT. We loooooove to hear it. It’s your chance to brag about whatever you’re into, you beautiful freaks.
Facts checkers?
not since FOX
Extinct they
are now
useless
in a post-
‘truth’ world
free your
Emotions
the Meaner
ones anyway
and Stockpile up
your Arsenals
Thedonold’s
gonna make
us great again
@1: Free speech doesn’t require “fact” checking. Community notes is the better path.
“Seattle doubles speed cameras in school zones: The City plans to install 19 new speed cameras across Seattle school zone.”
So what? The tickets don’t count towards insurance premiums and paying the ticket is voluntary. What good is a voluntary ticket with no cost?
From the link provided in the segment about bird flu:
“CDC has carefully studied the available information about the person who died in Louisiana and continues to assess that the risk to the general public remains low.”
If you don’t care about the truth then sure, “free speech” can be whatever you say it is but we’re talking about a social media platform that has already helped facilitate multiple genocides even with its alleged fact-checking operation. Free speech is at its most vital when it’s used as a check on power but now we’re at the point where people are defending shouting fire in a crowded theater to an audience of millions like it’s a sacred right.
“… but now we’re at the point where people are defending shouting fire in a crowded theater to an audience of millions like it’s a sacred right.” -@barth
if it Wasn’t
Thedonold’s
here to Rectify
@5: “Free speech” can absolutely be whatever you say it is. There is zero requirement that free speech has to be true speech or good speech. Free speech can absolutely include untrue speech or bad speech.
Because of the dangers of untrue speech and bad speech, it may be the case that free speech is not the unalloyed good we were promised in the 1960s. It may be the case that too much free speech is harmful. But if we’re going to advocate clamping down on untrue speech or bad speech in the name of avoiding harm, we need to be honest that we’re not actually in favor of free speech. “Free speech so long as it’s true and good for you” is not actually free speech. 😃
@5: Just be glad you don’t live in the UK where citizens are in jail for the Facebook posts and comments. Another example of where the extreme left meets the extreme right.
Anyone who still thought they were getting factual information from Facebook likely didn’t believe the fact checkers anyway
@5
Truth?
Whose truth are we talking about?
Haven’t we been told time and time again that there can be more than one truth?
The umbrella of “fact-checking” almost instantly expanded to include an ever-growing wish-list of speech restrictions. Speech codes are only as good as the people (and bots) enforcing them, so it’s weird that the same people who don’t trust Meta would trust them to operate as the ultimate arbiter over what’s true and what isn’t.
Guys, I’m literally finding out today that the AI slop distribution platform known as “facebook” had a fact-checking operation so I am not sure it could get any worse. What I reject is the notion that “free speech” is inherently good no matter what because everything comes with trade-offs. I don’t want people to be jailed for posting, I just want people in positions of tremendous power to wield it more responsibly.
I understand that free speech is exactly that and people are allowed to say whatever they want. I just think anyone with a global platform should feel a responsibility to do better even if they’re not obligated to. Like, if the “hot or not” website i created in college was implicated in an ethnic cleansing I would probably be more circumspect about my responsibilities to the wider world but clearly I don’t have the billionaire mindset. Who cares about the Rohingya when you have rings to kiss and shareholders to please.
Really though, the idea that these people actually care about free speech as a virtue is laughable. Musk has banished media from twitter that is unflattering to him personally, and all of these guys are courting an administration that is openly hostile to the free press and willing to weaponize the power of the state against its critics. They don’t care about free speech beyond their ability to use it against their perceived enemies or competitors.
10 you are confusing truth with people’s opinions about it which i guess is understandable considering all of the cable channels with “news” in the name are 24-hour op/ed operations but just because people are saying there is more than one truth you are not obligated to take them at their word
All the government entities tasked with suppressing Disinformation are now in the hands of MAGA. What Disinformation will they suppress first?
@12: Free speech isn’t inherently good, any more than democracy is inherently good. Each just works better than every alternative ever tried.
As your description of FB implies, it’s better to avoid platforms known for nonsense than to try to suppress what is on those platforms.
Thanks I’m not trying to suppress anything and I’m powerless to do so anyway I am just expressing my opinion that we should all expect better from those in power and not be fooled by their claims that they support free speech when their actions prove otherwise
@9: Social media and news are served by different platforms. Want the latest news, go to a news site. Want to read about your friends’ lives, go to Facebook. That’s what most people do.
I feel sorry for people who worry about other people reading information that they don’t agree with.
There is no harm in people reading things you disagree with and no one here is arguing so, but you should worry at least a little about people reading things that are objectively false and believing them because this can have negative implications for society. Just to carve out one example, deadly and disabling diseases are on the rise because vaccination rates are declining due to persistent disinformation that is getting amplified on these platforms.
@10 FTW!
when on Day One
Thedonolde orders executions
or jailings or just a little ‘Rough Justice’
for His enemies* whose Side will You be on?
*everyone But the MAGAs
say that Reminds me
where can I get
one a’ them
Hats
@18: Per your example, all the more reason to refute conspiratorial content with the correct, and yes truthful, information. Going on the offense with fines and prohibitions only increases its allure and exacerbates mistrust of our government.
When, on day one? The Donald orders executions, or jailings, or just a little rough justice for his enemies. Whose side will you be on, everyone but the MAGAs? Say, that reminds me, where can I get one of those hats?
@21,
Every reasonable journalist and citizen in America spent months providing objective and easily verifiable proof to myopic assholes like @10 and 19 that the election wasn’t stolen, and we still witnessed a violent coup that killed several people and injured well over 100 officers. I don’t know what the best course of action is here, but attempting to reason with unreasonable, violent assholes certainly doesn’t seem to be it.
@21
“Per your example,
all the more reason to
refute conspiratorial content… ”
and that’s
as far as you
Get in MuXZux-
ville: it’s only ‘free
speech’ if it’s Allowed
it Is their platform*
they disagree &
you’re Gone
is that free
enough
for you?
*VAST QUANTITIES
of “free speech” and Use it
to sway the body Politic where-
everthefuck they desire — and it’s Never
in Our
Favor – & it’s
about to get Worse
@5 More importantly, nobody has a right to speech, free or otherwise, on any private platform. All the First Amendment says is that the government can’t jail you for most speech (note added terms of service on this eg yelling “Fire!” in a crowded theater). Nobody is required to host anyone’s speech in a private space, nor is anyone required to listen to anyone else’s speech.
@21 A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth gets its boots on.
Per your example, all the more reason to refute conspiratorial content. And that’s as far as you get in Muxzuxville. It’s only free speech if it’s allowed. It is their platform. They disagree. And you’re gone. Is that free enough for you? Vast quantities of free speech? And use it to sway the body politic wherever the fuck they desire, and it’s never? In our favor and it’s about to get worse.
Suggest social media companies shouldn’t let wackos tell you vaccines will make your kid autistic and reactionaries will start freaking out about “free speech,” but suggest NBC should be allowed to show two dudes sucking each other off in primetime and they’ll sing a different tune.
@26
I get the
Clean-up.
but
Why
change
the Meaning?
ah.
you’re
Channeling
Wormtongue &
his sockbott El🔨ing🛴
and tossing in a litlle d13r.
well-Played!
@19, I don’t believe any election in the 21st Century has been stolen.
I have never voted for Trump. Biden and Harris were my votes in the last two elections, although whatever I do in Washington State won’t change the electoral count.
My biggest regret, besides Harris losing (and Clinton before her), is that the Federal criminal cases could not be completed before Trump won the most recent election. I am not sure either Federal case would have changed the 2024 outcome. We will never know, but that doesn’t mean the verdicts would not have mattered, in and of themselves.
@23 that is.
@27: That’s a silly comparison. You don’t see two heterosexuals doing cunnilingus either on NBC.
Has Dan Savage himself had enough? See yesterday’s Savage Love.
“Would you be willing to share my list of proposed gender-free pronouns with your readers, listeners, and followers? I’ve enclosed a graph listing them that details how they should be used. They are very liberating.”
Dan: “Sorry, but I’m unwilling to share your list of new pronouns with my readers, listeners, and followers, as there are currently more than enough gendered pronouns, non-gendered pronouns, and neo-pronouns in circulation. I don’t see any point in adding more to the mx.”
@deweebee
doktor Ruth’s
the Closest we get
to sex on our Networks
but if RFK’s gonna be Head
of CDC or whatever, we may as
well get tS’s Hump on Primetime too.
one celebrates Life
the other, Not
so much.
@32 right because even the government does limit certain speech, in this case “obscenity,” and no one complains. New categories of restriction, say “medical disinformation,” could be added to the list.
so many Lawyers
Too many Lawyers
dead-broke deeply-
Motivated with Way
too much Time upon
their hands ready to go
to Bat for the Fascists for
pennies upon the Dollar – if
you give them an Infinite amt.
of time and typewriters they can
“make sense” of ANY far ‘right’ just-
ification for fascistic manipulators intent
on seizing all of ‘our’ platforms in their endless
pursuits for
Dominionism but
that’s an Excellent idea, 13,12.
if there’s an Actual Fire
in that crowded cinema
we Desperately NEED to
KNOW — if some prefer to
remain Inside for the BBQ, well
then that Oughtta be Up To Them
but don’t
let’s Sacrifice the
Entire Audience because
Actual Facts’ve been Disappeared.
Please, someone sane and rational—-stop this MAGA crazed world.
My Love Beetle and I want to get off.
In the meantime, I’ll be writing and playing music,
and stocking up on red wine and dark chocolate. 😐