I've just read the letter. Please, let's not spread misinformation, things are bad enough as is.

The letter demanded the voter database, among a couple of other sensitive databases. It never said ICE would leave if they comply. It only promised that peace would return to the streets, whatever the hell that means. I highly doubt they mean withdrawing ICE, especially considering they keep painting them as completely peaceful, and considering they demand a shit ton of cooperation in that letter as well, essentially letting ICE in everywhere. So in fact, it's almost the opposite - they demanded that and also demanded more access for ICE.

Ah, purity tests, here we fucking go again.

OK. I was abused by a woman. And know of many cases of abusive women (men too, but we've already decided in this context that all men are dangerous, so that's beside the point). So this means all women are dangerous, too?

I mean, to be fair, at least they give you a warning. And honestly, I think it's pretty fair to not allow things that wear down the scooter quickly.

This just makes me sad.

Extremely well done, though.

indestructible

Yeah, I think I've heard that claim before. It seems like every time that claim was made something came along to prove it wrong.

When people have created a narrative that "white x y z men" are responsible for all the evil in the world (I'm exagerating, but you get my drift), it creates a very difficult situation when those people are facing some serious difficulties. The intellectually lazy thing to do in that case is to brush it off or minimize it, like in the ways you've described. And unfortunately, that's the route those same people will take, since identity politics are intellectually lazy (and lacking compassion, but that's another story).

The unfortunate part of it is that the right has taken advantage of that wide open flank, which is one main reasons we're in this current clusterfuck.

Actually makes me wish I had kids, this is brilliant.

I've been getting a lot of spam calls lately. Eventually said fuck it and screwed with them as much as possible. The best times were where I had something to do that didn't require much brainpower but had to be done. I eventually was able to keep them on the phone for up to a half an hour by pretending I was following their instructions until they realized I was bullshitting them. Everything from the internet being slow (and going on a rant about "ever since I moved to [made up town] I've had to deal with this shitty Internet, and they promised it to make it better X years ago") to fake accents and changing my voice, or sometimes just not having a clue if I have an iPhone or Android and getting walked through how to figure it out. Once they figure out I'm bullshitting them they get furious. Absolutely hilarious.

Unfortunately for the fuckery with the scammers I don't have as much brainless stuff to do at the moment. Though I still do fuck with them, I keep it short. Some things they really hate:

• go into the bathroom, and when they're explaining their stuff flush the toilet so they can clearly hear it

• answer in a voice like you're getting off. Instead of "yes" answer "Oh God yes". At a fitting moment say "Oh God I'm going to cum"

• go really far away from the microphone and speak softly, and when they ask you to speak louder tell them you're already speaking loudly, something must be up with the line. They'll most likely turn up the volume. Once the conversation goes to their scam and they're not thinking about it anymore, scream as loud as you can into the microphone.

• "How would you like to get fucked in the ass?" (Works best with men, considering those men often seem to be pretty prejudiced)

• in a crazy voice: "HEY, WHAT DO YOU WANT, I'M TAKIN A SHIAAAAT"

• "You say you're from [insert company they're pretending to be from]? Shit, your ex was right, you are a liar!

• "you work for [insert company they're pretending to be from]? Is that what you tell your mother?

• "Hey [insert their fake name they gave you, the way they pronounced it], if you're going to use a fake name, at least learn to pronounce it right"

• if you recognize the name from an earlier call, reference what happened in that earlier call and rile them up further about it

• when they're about to hang up: "don't be a chicken, don't hang up! I have a bet going with my friend here, if you hang up, I win!"

• after getting insulted because you told them you know they're not who they say they are: "you're insulting me, which means I'm right, thank you!" [Proceed to laugh loudly]

Anyway, I have more, it's just not popping into my head at the moment. But creativity is the key here, and it's fucking entertaining.

I won't say all rules are valid or right, but this one just makes sense (in contrast to rules of some other communities, which outright ban certain opinions). Sometimes you don't want to hear about all the doom and gloom, and for many people, it's not good for their mental health to hear about it all the time. They know what's happening, they need some time off.

Jfc, the apps scammers usually use are on the fucking play store. Good fucking dammit this is stupid.

Of all the extra fees, parking fees seem like some of the most sensible...

It's all fun and games until DEREK is empty and is disposed of. A moment of silence for DEREK.

Germany literally has over 40 cities or towns with the name "Neustadt". That's German for "new city".

Update 2/5/26, 5:20 p.m. EST: The DOJ told 404 Media that the unredacted version of the document in question contains an image of a victim’s face overlayed on the face of the Mona Lisa image.

Who knows if that's really the case, but it wouldn't really surprise me, either, knowing how weird some of the other pictures are.

Fuck Ryanair. It is hard to overstate the amount of Schadenfreude I felt reading this article.

MKBHD. He used to be, IMO, the best tech channel out there. The reviews were honest, well produced, and held companies' feet to the fire. The old MKBHD poked fun at the companies' shortcomings (I specifically remember him telling iPhone users to add a widget - then going "oh, wait..."). The new MKBHD interviews Tim Cook and doesn't properly question any of the BS he speaks.

do women statistically commit as many violent and/or sexual crimes? no. but some still do

Even that assumption I've started questioning. My abuser never appears in any crime statistics, because it's not particularly easy to prosecute a case that is mostly based on psychological torture, since the crimes are hard to prove, easily dismissed as "just a bit of nasty behavior" and have relatively short times within which they have to be reported in order to be prosecuted, depending on the country you're living in. If on top of that you're a man and the abuser is a woman, have fun getting anyone in charge to legitimately believe your story. It doesn't diminish the violence that occurred, I just barely survived it.

Certain kinds of abuse are vastly underreported. Domestic, psychological and sexual violence (which are not exclusive categories, by the way) belong to these kinds of abuses. Some statistics say northwards of 40% of domestic abuse victims are men, for instance. Well at that point, we're kind of close to parity.

So let's focus on reducing violence entirely. Because another thing I've learned: while the individual elements of abuse tend to differ between men and women, the patterns are almost always very similar.

How is it disrespectful to women who have experienced "similar" sexual assault (bearing in mind, this wasn't sexual assault, she literally asked for it and planned it all out)? By that logic, it would be disrespectful to women who have experienced sexual assault for women to have sex at all.

Source?

This just confirms my preexisting biases a little too much.