Spyke

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US lawmakers vote 50-0 to force sale of TikTok despite angry calls from users

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Well the CCP does exert considerable control over TikToks parent company ByteDance. The CCP has already utilized data from TikTok to track protestors and other "dissidents"

https://apnews.com/article/tiktok-china-bytedance-user-data-d257d98125f69ac80f983e6067a84911

No the CCP does not own Tik Tok but it might as well own it.

Unfortunately this situation is not unlike what the US government likely does. However, hopefully this precedence building policy recognizes that data privacy from 3rd party entities is needed. Will that standard be applied to US companies? Not likely any time soon but I'm optimistic.

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A third party signed up 15,000 voters in Arizona. Democrats worry that’s enough for a Biden spoiler

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Third party voting being a recent addition? Have you heard of Ross Perot? Have you heard of the Whig party? Third party voting has been around for centuries. The Democrats and Republicans just want you to think it's not a thing.

The threshold for participation of a candidate unfairly keeps 3rd parties out so the Democrats and Republicans can keep power.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/do-the-debates-unfairly-shut-out-third-parties/

privacy

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Automakers Sold Driver Data for Pennies, Senators Say

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For my Ford, the manual was very helpful. Taking a look at the fuse box diagram, I was able to remove the fuse for the modem.

Thankfully I was able to verify that the modem power was secured because when I enter the infotainment settings to view the modem serial number, I can no longer see the modem serial number. It is just blank.

This won't work for all vehicles because the modem may have the same fuse as critical equipment.

news

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CIA shifts assessment on Covid origins, saying lab leak likely caused outbreak

I'm not sure why people are so quickly disregarding this theory. The Biden administration viewed that both the lab leak and the natural origins were legitimate. He had the US intelligence agencies looking into the origin.

https://www.cnn.com/2021/07/16/politics/biden-intel-review-covid-origins/index.html

Low confidence could just mean there is not much evidence available because the PRC has gone to great lengths to control information regarding the origin.

news

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Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to ask lawmakers to make community college free for all high school graduates

As a resident in Michigan, this is good news but definitely not something we need to focus on at this point in time.

The state government needs to focus on the basics and by that I mean clean water. Flint still has a water crisis and many cities like Brenton Harbor as well as northern Michigan towns face the same issues.

It is possible they can fix the water infrastructure and provide free community college since they do have a large budget surplus.

https://www.michigancapitolconfidential.com/news/michigans-2024-budget-will-spend-all-but-3-of-states-9b-surplus

tesla

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Tesla allowing FSD and free Supercharging transfer until March 31st

If the vehicle already had a fully operational FSD and supercharging paid for why is it so hard to allow a new vehicle owner use the capabilites that were already in the car?

It doesn't cost Tesla any more money for one owner to use those features for an extended amount of time vice two owners to use it for the same amount of time.

It's unfortunate that Tesla is keeping up its anti consumer practices.

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*Permanently Deleted*

For at least your first 2 points, I would argue that websites are designed with features and are exclusive to chromium based browsers (Chrome, Brave, and Edge).

The Bitwarden issue may just be Bitwarden related.

I haven't observed the other items so I can't speak to them.

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YouTube suspends Russell Brand from making money off his channel — The suspension comes following the publication of rape and sexual assault allegations against the British star

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But why can't those advertisers just block him as an individual?

We are now in a world where accusations now result in a de facto guilty verdict. We already saw this with Johnny Depp and Amber Heard.

No need for YouTube to blanketly make the decisions for all advertisers

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DeSantis says he won't support Covid vaccine funding if elected president | CNN Politics

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Oh that's good. I didn't see they had gotten the full approval.

I think there will need to be a point though where we determine that those who are not at risk don't need to get the vaccine and those at risk should still get it.

The pharmaceutical companies are pulling in tons of money based on the strong push that "everyone must get it". Unfortunately that money gets funneled into their lobbying power and thus continues the viscous cycle.

There is a reason the US provides approximately half the pharmaceutical sales in the world. https://www.statista.com/statistics/272181/world-pharmaceutical-sales-by-region/

For some odd reason that's not resulting in longer average lifespans. According to United Nations estimates, the US ranks 47th in life expectancy.

https://www.worldometers.info/demographics/life-expectancy/

At some point we need to cut the pharmaceutical companies loose because we are not seeing our money's worth.

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YouTube suspends Russell Brand from making money off his channel — The suspension comes following the publication of rape and sexual assault allegations against the British star

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Why does Google have to restrict which form of advertising he needs to use?

By confining him to certain types of advertising, it makes him less appealing to advertisers.

What if these accusations end up being false? I'm not losing sleep over Russell Brand losing money but if we hold the same logic it could damage smaller entities that can't afford it.

We see this with channels like the Armchair historian. Google demonitized that channel just because they had Nazi flags in a historical context when talking about WWII.

Another case could be made for anyone who wants to defame another individual. If someone doesn't like management for a local restaurant that advertises on YouTube, someone can just say "I heard from several people you had rats in your restaurant" or "I heard you had racist employees in your restaurant". We now live in a world where just the allegation is enough to damage an entity, regardless of if it is based in fact.

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Breaking news: Millennial and GenZ women have standards

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Why does it have to be an all or nothing judgment on an individual?

Why can't we be more nuanced?

Have you actually finished any of his episodes or are you operating off of what someone else told you? I figure you aren't going to openly admit to that because it goes counter to your argument.

If you haven't already seen it I would recommend the video Johnny Harris, a YouTube journalist, gives an in depth take on Joe Rogan. He is critical of Joe Rogan on some aspects. Here is the video:

https://youtu.be/sLaXSvpfDZs?feature=shared

I don't agree that he hosts some conspiracy theorists on his shown but does that make him a bad person? No.

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Breaking news: Millennial and GenZ women have standards

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But then how do you account for the fact that he was a very large Bernie Sanders supporter? He is also against the polarization of America.

Additionally, he has called out that nearly 19 of the top 20 Facebook Christian pages were actually fronts for Russian information operations to divide America.

The more our adversaries make us hate each other and dehumanize people we disagree with, the more they succeed.

Both the PRC and Russia are doing active information operations on the US based on what has been going on. They want division. They are making us give up our faith in democracy.