-
Posts
15600 -
Joined
-
Days Won
12
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Store
Downloads
Recruiting - 2020
2019-2020 Football Season
Football
Entertainment
Sports
News and Business
Cloak Room
Transfer Portal
Recruiting
Events
Posts posted by bolverk
-
-
800 miles from the Ukraine/Russia border.
Β
-
1
-
3
-
2
-
-
16 minutes ago, Goredho said:
The US Senate has voted overwhelmingly to remove a moratorium on states regulating AI systems from the Republican βbig, beautiful bill.β LegislatorsΒ agreed by a margin of 99 to 1to drop the controversial proposal during a protracted fight over the omnibus budget bill, which is still under debate.
Βhttps://www.theverge.com/politics/695495/senate-drops-ai-moratorium-budget-bill
Thom Tillis, the NC senator who just announced he's quitting, was the sole 'nay' vote. Weird.
-
This isn't the most eloquently written op/ed, because I doubt the author is a native English speaker. That said, he hits the nail on the head.
Trumpβs Deportation Program Is About Control. Even if You Are a U.S. Citizen.
By Chandran Kukathas
Mr. Kukathas is the author of βDialogues on Immigration and the Open Societyβ and βImmigration and Freedom.βThe tactics of the Trump administrationβs immigration agenda have shifted from time to time, but the broader objective has remained consistent: to deport as many people as possible and, more broadly, to transform the restrictions and reach of Americaβs immigration system.
President Trump and members of his administration believe they have a democratic mandate to do this. Their ultimate fear is that outsiders pose a danger to American values β the threat of not just taking our jobs or becoming welfare scroungers but also transforming our society into something different. βAmerica Firstβ means not so much putting Americans first as putting a distinct idea of America and American values first.
Yet the danger to those American values comes not from immigration itself but from immigration control. You cannot control outsiders (immigrants or would-be immigrants) without controlling insiders (citizens). The more vigorously you try to control immigration, the more you end up limiting the freedom of your citizens and violating equality and the rule of law.
This isnβt hypothetical. As Hiroshi Motomura and others have noted, during the Great Depression and in the years following World War II, an estimated two million people were forced to leave the United States. Astonishingly, more than half were American citizens, mostly people who were (or were suspected of being) Mexican. They were blamed for taking jobs and public resources and were deported or self-deported under intense pressure from authorities after targeted raids on neighborhoods.
This number does not include the many others who were wrongfully arrested, detained or incarcerated, often for days and weeks and sometimes for months or years, by the U.S. government. Nor does it include the many immigrants who were legal residents and were wrongly deported.
These statistics do not tell the whole story. To understand how immigration control undermines freedom β and the fundamental values not just of America but of most Western democracies β we need to look deeper.
The popular image of immigration control is border security, but there is more to immigration control than that. Governments everywhere encourage people to cross their borders and enter their countries. The U.S. National Travel and Tourism Office strategy aims to have 90 million annual international visitors β tourists, students, athletes, business travelers, transport workers β by 2027.
Immigration control is not necessarily about restricting entry but about controlling what those who enter do: determining whether they can work, study, reside, buy property, open bank accounts, set up businesses or marry. This is a challenge because many citizens are all too ready to employ outsiders, admit them to schools and universities, sell to them, buy from them or fall in love with them β in short, welcome them.
The only way for a government to prevent this from happening is to control its citizens by limiting their freedom to live as they choose. This means citizens must be controlled with penalties or punishments: fines, imprisonment or violence. They must be inspected, monitored, scolded, threatened and made to be fearful of finding themselves in violation of the law and at risk of being punished.
Citizens will challenge the laws, find ways around them or even violate them if the law limits their freedom to hire, teach, befriend or welcome whomever they choose.
To overpower citizens, governments will have to spend more money β on courts, judges, lawyers, prisons, the police and compensation payments β or find ways around their laws (or both).
In 2016 Denmark criminalized any act that could be viewed as helping asylum seekers, leading to hundreds of Danes being prosecuted for giving strangers a lift or buying them a cup of coffee.
The British government decided over a decade ago that to control movement, it needed to create a hostile environment for immigrants. But what this did was create a climate of fear for citizens, most notably for those who might be mistaken for immigrants. When βGo homeβ vans began touring selected places in Britain in 2013, many citizens had to ask themselves: How do I prove I am a citizen in my own country?
The question applies to everyone: To control immigration, how much control over our lives should we be ready to accept?
The evidence we have suggests that the number of people affected by such controls is not trivial. For example, British law required any citizen wanting to sponsor a spouse or partner to immigrate to have a minimum annual income of 18,600 pounds, or about $25,000. In 2015 roughly 40 percent of employed British citizens did not earn enough to reunite with their families.
Initially, somewhere around 15,000 citizens might have been unable to reunite with their families each year. The law was changed in 2024, raising the threshold to $39,000, probably making it even harder for poorer citizens who want to come home or bring in their spouses. In only a decade, at least 150,000 citizens were burdened by just this one regulation aimed at curbing immigration.
In the European Union, billions of euros are spent each year on immigration enforcement and the detention of suspected violators in more than 200 centers. And each year thousands of European citizens are caught and detained, some for days and many for longer, including those who struggle to establish their credentials.
Citizens are affected by immigration controls because of the costs they must bear not just in the taxes they have to pay but also in the services that they must forgo as government funds are redirected. Already, the U.S. immigration and border enforcement budget is several times higher than all other law enforcement budgets for the F.B.I., the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Justice Department, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and similar agencies combined.
The βbig, beautiful billβ under consideration by Republicans in Congress would add $175 billion to immigration enforcement. Mr. Trumpβs deportation efforts have moved thousands of law enforcement staff members at the Department of Homeland Security, the F.B.I., the D.E.A. and the U.S. Marshals Service from investigating violent (and other) crime and toward immigration enforcement.
The more determined governments are to control immigration, the more they will have to abandon due process and act as if the corruption of the rule of law were justified. Or turn a blind eye to the misuse of power by its agents.
We have to consider what these measures do to a society. They affect Americaβs core values, particularly liberty and equality. Liberty, because Americans see freedom to live as they choose as central to their way of life. Equality, because liberty is the natural endowment of all, not just some. Americans are not alone in thinking this, but they have said it more loudly and clearly than anyone else.
Proponents of such control will have to persuade at least some citizens that this violation of liberty is warranted and even normal. As the use of power by immigration authorities to stop and search citizens becomes routine and the voices of dissent are suppressed, citizens will even come to accept the militarization of society.
But the efforts at control will be divisive among citizens: Some will accept them as necessary, but others will resist them. So as governments try to normalize the violation of liberty, those who buy this story will look at those who object or resist not as fellow countrymen but as enemies. This is what we are seeing now unfolding on the streets across the United States.
Immigration control will transform America. The more vigorously it is pursued, the more it will turn us into people who do not care about the liberty of others. Worse still, it may turn us into people who do not care about our own.
-
3
-
1
-
-
I've mentioned it before, but I was working in one of the divisions that fell under the umbrella of the governor's office during the transition between Perry and Abbott. It wasn't a terrible place to work before the change, but after Abbott's political appointees took over, it quickly became a toxic workplace environment.
-
Satellite Imagery Shows Iran at Work at Fordo Nuclear Site
Amid competing assessments of how badly the enrichment facility was damaged in U.S. strikes, Iran appears to be making its own inspection.Satellite images taken in the days after the American attack on Iranβs Fordo nuclear enrichment site show a flurry of activity at the heavily fortified facility built deep inside a mountain.
New roads can be seen constructed to the points where U.S. bombs struck the top of the mountain, and an apparent crane and an excavator seem to be working near one of the impact sites. Many other vehicles are also visible at additional points around the site in the images, which were captured by Maxar Technologies.
βIt appears that theyβre evaluating the hole, evaluating how deep it went,β said Joseph S. Bermudez, senior fellow for imagery analysis at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. βThe images are showing us that the Iranians are beginning the process of investigating what happened and what level of damage the facility has.β
American B-2 bombers dropped 12 Massive Ordnance Penetrators β 30,000-pound bombs often called βbunker bustersβ β on the Fordo enrichment site on June 22. Afterward, President Trump said the facility was βobliterated,β though other assessments have been more cautious.
Experts said the Iranians were most likely using the newly constructed roads and equipment to assess the damage themselves.
βIt looks to me like theyβre examining the impact of the event rather than doing any thing more substantial like carrying out repairs or recovery. I donβt think I see any evidence of that,β said Peter McDonald, a director at Viper Applied Science, a company that specializes in blast and structural dynamics and computational physics.
A day after the American attacks, Israel said it had also hit Fordo, striking access routes to the site.
Satellite imagery shows that repairs began quickly: By June 27, Iran had already filled in a large crater at the siteβs entrance left by the Israeli strikes a few days earlier, the images show.
Iran doesnβt appear to be beginning any type of reconstruction or repairs to the enrichment facility itself.
βI donβt think theyβve moved into the phase of reactivation,β Mr. Bermudez said. βThereβs no real evidence for that. You would expect to see more vehicles, different types of vehicles.β
-
1
-
-
AI used to rate how hot restaurant reviewers (as a proxy for patrons) are for restaurants in LA, SF, and NYC.
-
-
6 hours ago, kingkoopa6 said:
Yall caught up?
The third season wrapped the story up neatly and tied a nice pink bow on the games.
-
1
-
-
6 hours ago, kingkoopa6 said:
456 my guy π«‘Β
The second season was a bit of a letdown, but the third season landed the ending.
-
Digging the shit out of this weather. Got 0.84 inches yesterday.
-
-
8 hours ago, Blotto said:
This is expert level shit......Β @bolverkΒ level, even. Not for the timid.Β
Β
That's a 'no' for me, dawg.
-
1
-
-
Wordle 1,473 4/6
β¬π¨β¬β¬β¬
β¬β¬π©β¬π©
β¬β¬π©β¬π©
π©π©π©π©π©Β
Connections
Puzzle #751
π¨π¨π¨π¨
πͺπͺπͺπͺ
π¦π¦π¦π¦
π©π©π©π©Β
π Daily Quordle 1254
8οΈβ£4οΈβ£
7οΈβ£6οΈβ£
m-w.com/games/quordle/
β¬β¬π¨β¬π© β¬β¬π©β¬π¨
β¬β¬β¬β¬π¨ β¬β¬β¬π¨π¨
β¬β¬β¬β¬β¬ β¬β¬β¬β¬π¨
β¬π©π¨π¨β¬ π©π©π©π©π©
β¬β¬β¬π¨β¬ β¬β¬β¬β¬β¬
β¬π¨β¬β¬β¬ β¬β¬β¬β¬β¬
β¬β¬π¨β¬β¬ β¬β¬β¬β¬β¬
π©π©π©π©π© β¬β¬β¬β¬β¬β¬π¨β¬β¬π¨ β¬β¬β¬β¬π¨
β¬β¬π¨β¬β¬ π©β¬π©β¬β¬
β¬β¬β¬β¬β¬ π¨β¬β¬β¬β¬
β¬β¬β¬π¨β¬ β¬β¬β¬π¨β¬
β¬π¨π¨π¨β¬ π©β¬π©π¨π©
β¬π¨π¨β¬β¬ π©π©π©π©π©
π©π©π©π©π© β¬β¬β¬β¬β¬
Β-
5
-
3
-
-
Congrats to all the Surly Bobcats!
-
3
-
-
26 minutes ago, HornOnTheBayou said:
I thought it was a great season. Season 3 was really bad, but this got the show back to what made it great. And for those saying the show insists on itself, you're not wrong, but it did in the first couple of seasons also and everyone loved it. Not much has changed in that regard.Β
I watched the first two seasons with everyone else, but skipped the third last summer when I was in the process of moving. After seeing all the comments in this thread about how bad season 3 was, I never watched it. Do I need to watch season 3 to enjoy season 4, or can I just go find a recap of that season and proceed with 4?
-
2 minutes ago, Nicole44 said:
Yeah. I donβt have time to βsleuthβ him out but seems like a few have found his picture. I donβt know why I was expecting like an older person in their late 30βs -50βs. Iβm personally glad for that bc an older person might have caused a lot more damage? I guess I was expecting someone older. When in reality any idiot with a gun could have done this. Awful.Β
Looks like this photo is from his ID.Β
https://channel2now.com/2025/06/30/article/news/crime/coeur-dalene-shooting-suspect-identified-as-wess-roley-2-firefighters-killed-one-injured-canfield-mountain/-
1
-
-
Something similar appears at the 23-second mark of this 49-second video.
Β
-
6 minutes ago, Nicole44 said:
there are some comments underneath that I cannot corroborate but nonetheless the killerβs name. And I am sure with that reporters will be able to find out a lot. As yβall can also.Β
His Facebook profile is down.
https://www.facebook.com/people/Wess-Roley/100094065606797/?_rdr
-
1
-
-
7 minutes ago, C-Man said:
American Pride Slips to New Low
Pride among Democrats tumbles, while independents also hit new low, more than offsetting increase among Republicans
https://news.gallup.com/poll/692150/american-pride-slips-new-low.aspx
Dem "proud to be an American" has plummeted since 2016, while Indies are more of a slow erosion, but they're getting to the same place.
The table showing party affiliation by age cohort is really telling.
-
12 minutes ago, Sawbonz said:
On NPR so no link but 2 aid distribution centers bombed in addition to the hospital mentioned in my previous postΒ
Β
at least 10 dead and dozens more injured.Β
Β
AP has a report out.
22 killed as Israeli forces fire on Palestinians in Gaza seeking food aid, witnesses say
CAIRO (AP) β Israeli forces killed at least 22 people and wounded 20 others, many while attempting to get desperately needed food aid in southern Gaza on Monday, according to witnesses, hospitals, and Gazaβs Health Ministry.Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis said it received the bodies of 11 people who were shot while returning from an aid site associated with Israeli and U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Fund in southern Gaza, part of a deadly pattern that has killed more than 500 Palestinians in the chaotic and controversial aid distribution program over the past month. Ten others were killed at a United Nations aid warehouse in northern Gaza, according to the Health Ministry.
The southern Gaza strike happened around 3 kilometers (1.8 miles) from the GHF site in the city of Khan Younis, as Palestinians returned from the site along the only accessible route. Palestinians are often forced to travel long distances to access the GHF hubs in hopes of obtaining aid.
Witnesses recount firings by troops
Yousef Mahmoud Mokheimar was walking along with dozens others when he saw troops in vehicles and tanks racing toward them. At the beginning they fired warning shots in air, before firing at the crowds, he said.βThey fired at us indiscriminately,β he said, adding that he was shot in his leg, and a man was also shot while attempting to rescue him.
He said he saw troops detaining six people, including three children, and it wasnβt clear what happened to them. βWe donβt know whether they are still alive,β he said.
Monzer Hisham Ismail, another witness, said troops attacked the crowds while returning from the GHF hub in eastern Khan Younis.
βWe were returning from the American aid hub β¦ we were targeted by (the Israeli) artillery,β he said.
Nasser Hospital said another person was killed near a GHF hub in the southern city of Rafah.
The Israeli military said it was reviewing information about the attacks. In the past, the military has said it fires warning shots at people who move suspiciously or get too close to troops, including while collecting aid.
Israel wants the GHF to replace a system coordinated by the United Nations and international aid groups. Along with the United States, Israel has accused the militant Hamas group of stealing aid and using it to prop up its rule in the enclave. The U.N. denies there is systematic diversion of aid.
The Israeli military said it had recently taken steps to improve organization in the area, including the installation of new fencing, signage and the opening of additional routes to access aid.
Israel says it only targets militants and blames civilian deaths on Hamas, accusing the militants of hiding among civilians because they operate in populated areas.
Strikes in and around Gaza City intensify
In northern Gaza, at least 10 Palestinians were killed in an Israeli strike on an aid warehouse in Gaza City, according to the Health Ministryβs ambulance and emergency service. It wasnβt immediately clear whether there was aid at the warehouse.The strike in Gaza City came as the military intensified its bombardment campaign across the city and the nearby Jabaliya refugee camp. On Sunday and Monday, Israel issued widespread evacuation orders for large swaths of northern Gaza.
Palestinians reported massive bombing overnight into Monday morning, describing the fresh attacks as a βscorched earthβ campaign that targeted mostly empty buildings and civilian infrastructure above the ground.
βThey destroy whatever left standing β¦ the sound of bombing hasnβt stopped,β said Mohamed Mahdy, a Gaza City resident who fled his damaged house Monday morning.
Fares Awad, head of the Health Ministryβs emergency and ambulance services in northern Gaza, said that most of Gaza City and Jabaliya have become inaccessible and ambulances were unable to respond to distress calls from people trapped in the rubble.
The Israeli military said it had taken multiple steps to notify civilians of operations to target Hamasβ military command and control centers in northern Gaza.
-
1
-
4
-
-
5 hours ago, pyrohornIII said:
I'm interested in y'all's comments on this?Β How widespread is this sentiment in your opinions?Β Β How large a part of it is responsible for the disconnect between the working class and the party?Β
Frankly at the heart of democracy is disagreement on many levels, but that works to move things along slowly towards a better society.Β But I personally feel the scam of superdelegates to put Hillary in over Bernie was the point where people started shaping up this idea and reinforcing it with example after example.Β Β
I think it reflects the genuine opinion of many progressives, especially younger ones. If asked during the 1990s, a younger me could have been the author, but I mellowed somewhat after having a kid, and then Obama came along, which made me think the party was beginning to head in a more progressive direction.
But, you know what, that younger me wasnβt entirely wrong, and much of that statement does ring true about the partyβs leadership. In some ways, Democrats are the conservative party, just trying to protect the status quo, which has definitely given them the stench of stale losers for a lot of voters.
-
2
-
-
Some bizarro world shit going on in the West Bank with Settlers attacking an IDF base because a Jewish teen was shot with a rubber bullet. The officer who shot the kid thought he was a Palestinian, but he was a part of a Settler group that was attacking the officer with rocks. Itβs believed members of this same group may have also been some of the same ones who rampaged through a Palestinian camp last week, in which the IDF somehow ended up killing three Palestinians.
At least, I think thatβs what was going on, but Iβm going to need a diagram, flowchart, or something to be sure. The story is kind of hard to follow, but it's clear the Settlers are out of control, and it's incredible how much they get away with.
Free link:Β https://archive.is/LyjgL
-
3
-
-
- Popular Post
- Popular Post
Wordle 1,472 3/6
β¬π©β¬β¬β¬
π©π©β¬π©β¬
π©π©π©π©π©Β
Connections
Puzzle #750
πͺπͺπͺπͺ
π¨π¨π¨π¨
π¦π¦π¦π¦
π©π©π©π©Β
π Daily Quordle 1253
8οΈβ£7οΈβ£
4οΈβ£5οΈβ£
m-w.com/games/quordle/
β¬π¨β¬π¨β¬ β¬β¬β¬π¨π©
β¬β¬π¨π¨β¬ β¬β¬β¬π¨π¨
β¬β¬β¬β¬β¬ β¬β¬β¬β¬β¬
π¨β¬β¬π¨β¬ β¬β¬β¬π¨π©
β¬β¬β¬β¬β¬ β¬β¬β¬π©β¬
β¬π¨π¨β¬β¬ π¨π¨π¨π©π©
π©π©β¬β¬β¬ π©π©π©π©π©
π©π©π©π©π© β¬β¬β¬β¬β¬β¬π¨π¨π©π© β¬β¬β¬β¬β¬
β¬β¬β¬β¬β¬ π©π©β¬β¬π¨
β¬β¬β¬π¨β¬ π¨π¨β¬β¬β¬
π©π©π©π©π© β¬β¬β¬β¬β¬
β¬β¬β¬β¬β¬ π©π©π©π©π©
Β-
7
-
4
-
- Popular Post
- Popular Post
Wordle 1,471 5/6
β¬β¬β¬π©β¬
β¬π©β¬π©β¬
β¬π©β¬π©π©
β¬π©β¬π©π©
π©π©π©π©π©Β
Connections
Puzzle #749
π©π©π©π¨
πͺπ¦π¦π¦
π¦π¦π¦π¦
π©π©π©π©
π¨π¨π¨π¨
πͺπͺπͺπͺΒ
π Daily Quordle 1252
6οΈβ£7οΈβ£
8οΈβ£4οΈβ£
m-w.com/games/quordle/
β¬π¨β¬π¨π¨ β¬π¨π¨β¬β¬
β¬β¬β¬β¬β¬ β¬π¨β¬β¬β¬
β¬β¬π¨β¬β¬ β¬β¬β¬π¨π©
β¬π¨β¬β¬β¬ β¬β¬π¨β¬β¬
β¬π¨π©β¬β¬ β¬β¬β¬β¬β¬
π©π©π©π©π© β¬β¬β¬π¨β¬
β¬β¬β¬β¬β¬ π©π©π©π©π©π©β¬β¬β¬π¨ π©β¬π©β¬β¬
π¨β¬β¬β¬β¬ π¨β¬β¬β¬β¬
β¬π¨β¬β¬β¬ β¬β¬π¨β¬β¬
π©β¬β¬π¨β¬ π©π©π©π©π©
π©β¬π©π©β¬ β¬β¬β¬β¬β¬
β¬β¬π©β¬β¬ β¬β¬β¬β¬β¬
β¬β¬β¬β¬β¬ β¬β¬β¬β¬β¬
π©π©π©π©π© β¬β¬β¬β¬β¬
Β-
1
-
1
-
10
Trumpβs America
in Cloak Room
Posted
That is really fucked up. Good article that goes into the background/history of this for those who don't click Xitter links:
https://www.military.com/daily-news/2025/06/27/new-army-shaving-policy-will-allow-soldiers-skin-condition-affects-mostly-black-men-be-kicked-out.html
Β