Spyke

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Hacktivist deletes white supremacist websites live on stage during hacker conference

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I mean, it is technically true, but in a trial with a jury of peers it wouldn't matter. This reminds me of the old school outlaw definition. If you were declared an outlaw the laws of the land no longer applied to you. You could commit crimes, but it also meant anyone and everyone could commit crimes against you without repercussions. It was a bit of a given that you would commit crimes because if you were declared an outlaw you probably were already committing crimes, but now anyone could rob, harm, or even kill you and it wouldn't be a crime.

I say fuck these neo-nazis but this is cyber terrorism technically.

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White House memo says 750,000 furloughed federal workers aren't entitled to back pay

I used to want to work for the federal government and once upon a time it was a very good job. Decent, but not the best, pay along with good health benefits, large amounts (in US terms) of leave, extra holidays, and a pension program. Now I don't see why anyone would want to work for the federal government. A common sentiment amongst government workers are that you are there for at least one of four things:

1.) Early retirement/pension - In the older days you could potentially fully retire as early as 50.

2.) Healthcare - You got to keep it into early retirement and it was typically better than any private or business insurance or medicare.

3.) Stability - Once in you would probably never be laid off or fired.

4.) Ulterior motives - A lot of government workers do what they do because they get something else out of it. Someone working at the EPA might get a sense of fulfillment and earnestly believe they are making a difference. Likewise someone working in ICE might be getting their failed-military-abuse-of-power rocks off on the bit of power they have over others.

Well the stability is gone, the pension only matters if you have the stability to get to 30 years, and the healthcare is getting worse over time.

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Leader of the Proud Boys

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This photo doesn't really help and to be fair most of the pictures I found of him online are shot in such a way that he could look like a person of anglo-heritage with a heavy tan. Adding more stubble, a baseball cap, all black clothes, and sunglasses in 9/10 pictures can do that.

Here is a picture of him in normal lighting. Also his name, Tarrio, comes mostly from the Spanish Peninsula and he claims to be afro-cuban.

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'No one can find him': Trump drops from public view again after 'slurring' military speech

I'm honestly curious how long Trump is gonna make it. Realistically he's probably running on a bunch of drugs at this point. No shade here, I assume Biden and maybe even Obama were the same. How do you work that much and not sleep? The answer is drugs!

Even if they are "relaxing" the president has a lot of stress, the job physically ages you. Trump being on a golf course is still probably stressing out even if he doesn't give a shit about the US; whether it's about how his personal investments will work out or about his personal vendettas the job is stressful.

Trump was also severely stressed while out of office due to the pressures of the lawsuits he was under. With 12 years of stress the man may be 79 currently, but he's probably way older physically. I don't see him making it through this term and the only way he's made it this far is drugs and a good pharmacist.

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Pay your employees a living wage

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Hold up, you're missing some nuance and it's gonna make Europeans in here believe it's true. In the US, any job can collect tips, it's literally free extra money for no extra work so that's why you see the tip option everywhere. That said, not all positions which collect tips get the service industry $2 minimum wage.

Most positions such as barista, hair stylist, etc get paid minimum wage plus they get whatever tips you give pay them. These positions typically get minimum wage because, despite there being a tip option, most people don't tip significantly (hair stylist might depending on the type, but their base fees are already very high). Think of these as your $1 tip category, it's people who you aren't socially obligated to tip, don't expect a tip, get paid at least minimum wage regardless of your tip, and contribute to tip fatigue.

The other tip group are full tip positions, such as waiter or bartender. These positions get $2 an hour unless they fail to get enough tips on average to meet the $7 minimum wage. Realistically, if they aren't getting at least $7 minimum in tips then they are going to leave or get fired long term. These positions you are socially obligated to tip and they expect a tip. Strangely enough, some of the biggest proponents for this tipping position are the people that work in this field, career waiters and bartenders, because despite the very low potential income it also has a fairly high potential income for a low skill job depending on a lot of different factors. This is your percentage tip category.

The $1 tip category won't go away, no matter how annoying it is, because it's literally free money and no one expects you to do it (and if they do feel free to laugh in their face and never give them business again). The % tip category also probably won't go away because it allows the business to shift costs to the customer and the people in the career support it.

You might wonder why people in the % tip category would support it, it's because it's a low technical skill job (hard work only), a lot of the tips are tax free, people who don't like it leave the career, and it often attracts certain types of people (perhaps neurodivergent is the right word, but I really mean the type of people who don't want a 9-5 Mon-Fri job).

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One F-bomb

Well there are 3 movies, so technically you would get 1 fuck (or fuck equivalent) per movie. Everyone wants the Fuck to be funny, but that doesn't necessarily mean it should be.

I think for Fellowship I would put it at the Balrog arriving and uttered by Gandalf, he's the only person who understands the situation and a fuck would punctuate the seriousness of the situation.

For The Two Towers I think I'd make it happy/exasperated and give it to Aragorn as the Elves of Rivendell arrive (not book accurate, but also not the question).

For Return of the King I think it kinda has to go to Sam as he is reacting to Frodo crashing out. "Fuck, Mr. Frodo we've got to go on."

Just one take, not the best or the last.

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The end of civilization costs $5

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I love this comment. On one hand I don't hate the idea that this exists and it's an obscure aesthetic thing. If someone wants to make super fancy cocktails then fine, whatever. On the other hand,

“Shut up and drink your whisk(e)y neat like God and the Irish meant it to be consumed. The water is already in it.”

Love it

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Uber is letting women avoid male drivers and riders in the US

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Men would only choose their riders gender for bigotry reasons

That's not necessarily true though. Many men also feel more comfortable with another man in a variety of situations. Prostate exam, counseling, and barber are all good examples. Some guys are just super awkward with women and might not want to feel awkward while paying for a ride. Hell with the severity an accusation of wrong doing can have some men might not want to ride solo with a woman they don't know.

The same goes for women, not all women choosing this setting are doing so for safety, sometimes people have a preference. Uber is organizing willing independent contractors to the preference of paying customers. If the customer states they want a specific gender as their driver I don't see why that would be a problem so long as both parties are fine with that.

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YSK: A real American Civil war will NOT be like Battlefield or COD.

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The problem is that the steps between zero and a hundred are incremental rights which take decades to establish. If you are a non-American then you might have those steps already established, but currently the US does not. So once the status quo passes beyond the acceptable parameters the only possible solution is violence.

Another user I spoke with asked about collective rebellion, union strikes, and general resistance, but these don't work if the infrastructure isn't already in place. You can't start a strike if you don't have a union and your co-workers don't agree, you can't take up arms without at least a state level rebellion, most protests are effectively meaningless, and unless you are willing to give up everything (job, family, and well being) then you'll never amount a significant resistance.

For the most part people want to live their lives with the least amount of fucking up they can. So long as the republican's don't fuck up their shit too much they will keep their heads down and vote in the elections.

Democrats and states both follow the same rules. They will try to counter the Republicans, but if that means a government shutdown with old people and the poor going without assistance then they are willing to cave. So far we aren't at the point where any US group is willing to make real sacrifice to make a change, such as a fighting, going without, or causing their family to suffer.

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2A is for everyone

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I'll play devil's advocate here a bit, but living in a culture where guns are a constant does put limits on a lot of activity. It's also 100% true to say that people looking to cause damage will do so regardless of repercussions and often in spite of them. In most ways I agree that gun reduction overall has a greater reduction in harm than gun availability. That said, when living in a society where anyone and everyone can have a gun it definitely impacts some of the decisions you make.

I see youtube videos about people freaking out in traffic and getting out of their car to fight and my first thought is that they have no idea if the driver has a gun. The danger of gun culture for most people in that culture isn't a random shooting at a school or mall, even if that's what gets the news. The real danger of gun culture is getting into a minor argument or misunderstanding and someone shoots you for little to no reason. It doesn't matter if they are going to go to jail for wrongful manslaughter or murder if you're already dead.

When you live in gun crazy society it for sure cranks down a certain amount of behavior amongst normal people. The problem inherent to this is that there are stupid people with guns who for some reason don't think other people have them and engage in confrontations as if that's the case.