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crochetotterblog · 1 year

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My California Girl

Chapter 2: October

WORD COUNT: 1,532💕

Summary: Jason Carter finds something he isn’t supposed to in a place where he shouldn’t be. Max and group get the courage to talk to Billy about winter break; his eyes lighting up at the word “California”

A/N: i am so sorry i havent been posting anything, i promise to fix it and be more active now that finals are over!!

Warning(s): Fighting, mentioning of a nude picture, (if i missed some tell me please)

Finally, October hit Hawkins High. Not too long before they will break the news to Billy. Billy slammed the brakes to his Camaro screeching to a holt in his parking spot, opening his glove box to find a picture of the both of you, him in his makeshift crop top and shorts and you in a lovely short white sheer dress with sunflowers. He smiled at the photo before Tommy and Carol knocked on his window. Billy wasn't one to scare, no one knew what would happen if you did. It was like walking on eggshells. But this time Billy jumped a little before shoving the picture into his wallet as he stepped out of the car. "What's that babe?" Carol asked Billy with a sweet poison-filled smile. Billy didn't answer, it was like he wasn't himself, their fifth-year anniversary was on the 29th of September, and now it is Monday. Billy is back at school with his old and dumb friends. What can he do that doesn't involve hurting people right now? Nothing. Nothing can help. He pulled out his pack of cigarettes and his matching lighter, a small bic lighter, red, with a black bedazzled heart, missing its other half. "What kind of girly shit is that?" Tommy asked. Billy didn't answer his 'best friend' why would he anyway? He is having a rough time coping with not being near his girl. Billy lit his cigarette, putting his broken heart lighter in his back pocket. Tommy held onto Carol's waist confused, she too was confused about why Billy had a bedazzled lighter with a black heart. He normally has this metal badass-looking one, but I guess things change. Billy took his steps to the schoolyard, cigarette between his lips as his eyes looked around at all of those who were either scared of him, wanted to fuck him or to be his friend.

Throughout the day his so-called friends came up to him asking him questions about his lighter; how do they know about this special item. Throughout the day it was hell, Billy was so frustrated he couldn't focus on the assingments piling up in front of him. He wonders what his sunkissed baby is doing; does she still think about him? Does she still love him? Want to be with him? Did she find someone else? As Billy was walking down the hall to the lunch room, looking around to see all the happy couples talking, hugging, kissing; laughing together. So what, he plans to see his love soon, he isn''t sure when but he hopes it is super soon. Standing next to the door he can see his sister Max, chatting with Lucus and the 'Hellfire Club'. He shock his head slightly with a smile. He thought about walking over to their table and to sit with them, even if he has a rep to maintan that is his baby sister, he is trying to mend the relationship he had with her, where they would go out surfing, or go on stupid little adventures.

What else can he do? His way to calm down, not drink himself to death or do something so stupid that he wont be able to see you again. The bell rang. School was finished, he is so tired of it. He began walking towards the parking lot, Jason and his buddies were standing near his car, well actually Jason was in his car going through his glovebox. Billy didn't lock his car at the school, because no one would mess with him, but now that he isn't himself because it is your anniversity week. Billy quickened his step towards his car; he could hear his sister and her friends walk out of the school chatting up a storm. But she stopped, once she saw Billy confronting Jason who was now sitting in the passeneger side of his camero. "What are you doing Carter, last time I check this ain't your car" Billy snarled. Jason only looked up at him, smirking hiding something in his hand. Max walked over to her ride with everyone else, to at least give the impression that if Jason was going to do something to the King of Hawkins he had another thing coming. A small gang of juiniors sure will put him straight and keep him from doing something stupid. "Well Hargrove, I was thinking, where I can find a slut like this one" he smirked opening his hand to show a naughty picture of you, cluching your breasts together covered in Billy's seed. Billy's facial expression changed, the only nude photo he had of you in his glovebox, was found He hid it so well though, how did Carter find it?

The next thing that goes through Billy's mind is to get that photo back. Before Max could yell at Billy to stop, a fight broke out. Billy threw heavy punches, slamming into Jason's face, a red spot started to take shape of his fist; Jason's friends didn't dare help him, after all the King of Hawkins was beating the fuck out of Jason, who was promoted to the team coach due to Billy being in the hospital after the mall insident. Billy could't take it anymore, he needed you. He couldn't wait till he had stacked up his money. He needs to see you now, right fucking now. Once Jason had dropped the photo Billy snatched it and pulled Jason out and threw him to the ground. "Stay away from me and my fucking car!" he yelled. All Jason did was whimper and whine in response as his buddies helped him up and ushered him to their cars. "Billy!" Max screamed, he whipped around to find the red head speedwalking towards him, he shook his hands that were starting to swell. "Hey shitbird," he huffed. "We need to leave this stupid town. Or at least I have to leave this stupid town" he sighed. Max's soft expression changed, "Billy, I wan't to leave too but my friends and boyfriend are here. I can't just ditch them, even thugh I want to go back to Cali" she sighed. Billy nodded at the little carrot top.

Max wasn’t sure if he would last untile December, but he might? Hopefully Max can change his state of mind until then, have go back to normal if possible?

—Start of Winter Break—

Max practically jumped out bed and rushed to the door, checking the clock 3:30am she couldn’t contain herself. Everyone waited outside for Max and Billy, she ran into Billy’s room, jumping on his bed, shaking him awake. At first he was angry until Max basicaly whisper screamed at him, “Come on! Get up, we are going to the airport!” he sighed. They invited him to Cali thanks to Mike’s lovely idea. He was so ready to suprise you. Hopefully you haven’t forgotten him or found someone new. Once they reached the airport, that was when everything started to go rather nicely? Strange for a plane ride for Billy; normally something goes wrong, seats get swapped, infront of a chair kicking child or near a crying baby. ‘Attention passengers, we will be landing in 20 minutes’ the speakers roared. Billy’s hands started to shake, he was so nervouse that he wouldn’t be able to hug you, kiss you, take off your clothes, make music with you, your happy screams just get him off. He needsyou, he craves you right now. Max and El watched Billy shake for the rest of the flight, his eyes darting to anything that moved or made a sound. the two girls looked at each other and exchanged sad glances.

—Welcome to Cali—

They finally made it, Steve tried to get the kids to listen to him for the nt time. It was a busy airport and he needed to do a head count. Eddie just ran around with the kids, not the best thing to be doing for this 20 year old man. Billy took a deep breathe, the crisp salty are flooding his lungs. He smiled. For the first time in months, he smiled, a genuine smile. “Follow me” he said, all the kids including Eddie stopped talking so loud and acting like toddlers. Billy got them all on a bus to his and Max’s old town. Once they arrived, they could see that their old house was bought and being used. You both are very active when it comes to sports or working out. You are the best highschool’s boxer after all and he was the best basketball player. He knew where you were. At the dumb little gym where you two had your first date, helping each other with reps and spotting. Maybe you are still there? He and the rest of his little followers walked the short distance to the gym. Windows clear they could see some figures standing infront of a room. ‘What’s going on?’ he asked himself, he pushed the door open when it hit him. Pure muscle had been thrown into him, almost knocking him over, that mass stood up and whipped their nose and walked back into the crowd angry.

#billy hargove x fem reader #fem #female reader #stranger things #fighting #girl

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kp777 · 1 year

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By Jennifer Bendery

Huffington Post

Nov 12, 2022

As the dust settles from Tuesday’s midterm elections, a disturbing trend in the GOP is coming into focus: More than 160 Republicans will be in Congress in 2023 who have either denied or cast doubts on Democrat Joe Biden’s presidential win in 2020.

Some will be at the highest levels of House leadership, setting the agenda for the chamber for the next two years. Some are seasoned U.S. senators with presidential ambitions. Some will be brand new to Capitol Hill.

But what these people all have in common is that they made the political calculation that it benefited their career to fuel the lie that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from Donald Trump because of widespread voter fraud.

They’ve done it in different ways. Some have bluntly claimed the election was stolen. Some joined lawsuits to try to throw out the results of the 2020 election. Some have tried to have it both ways, by saying, of course, Biden is the president ― while refusing to address the validity of the election, a common dog whistle among Republicans afraid of upsetting Trump’s base of supporters by admitting Biden beat him in 2020, fair and square.

A preemptive note: Some Republicans on this list will probably deny that they belong here (like, say, Sen. Rick Scott) and insist, perhaps with annoyance, that they have long said that Biden is the president. Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas) has clashed with fellow Republicans who have falsely said that Democrats stole the 2020 presidential election, and he recently called out election deniers for privately admitting that they know what they say in public is a lie. But he’s on this list, too.

HuffPost is using the term “election denier” to refer to Republicans who claimed the 2020 presidential election was stolen or alleged widespread voter fraud; who voted to object to certifying Biden’s Electoral College votes (hi, Sen. Scott); who supported partisan reviews of ballots in 2020 swing states; who signed a bogus lawsuit alleging “an unprecedented number of serious allegations of fraud and irregularities” in the 2020 election in a brief to the Supreme Court; or who attended or expressed support for the Jan. 6, 2021, “Stop the Steal” rally in Washington that led to an insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.

Taking it to a new level, one incoming member of Congress, Republican Rich McCormick of Georgia, lamented earlier this year that “no one was hurt by voter fraud more than myself” when he lost his congressional bid in 2020. There was no evidence of fraud in his election. He just lost ― by more than 10,000 votes.

Below is a running list of all of the election deniers who will be in the House and Senate starting in January. Italicized names mean they are new to Congress. This list will be regularly updated until it is final.

Election deniers in the Senate:

Ted Cruz (R-Texas)

Josh Hawley (R-Mo.)

Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.)

John Kennedy (R-La.)

Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.)

Roger Marshall (R-Kan.)

Rick Scott (R-Fla.)

Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.)

Ted Budd (R-N.C.)

Katie Britt (R-Ala.)

Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.)

Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.)

J.D. Vance (R-Ohio)

Election deniers in the House:

Robert Aderholt (R-Ala.)

Mark Alford (R-Mo.)

Rick Allen (R-Ga.)

Jodey Arrington (R-Texas)

Brian Babin (R-Texas)

Jim Baird (R-Ind.)

Jim Banks (R-Ind.)

Cliff Bentz (R-Ore.)

Jack Bergman (R-Mich.)

Stephanie Bice (R-Okla.)

Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.)

Gus Bilirakis (R-Fla.)

Dan Bishop (R-N.C.)

Mike Bost (R-Ill.)

Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.)

Michael Burgess (R-Texas)

Eric Burlison (R-Mo.)

Kat Cammack (R-Fla.)

Jerry Carl (R-Ala.)

Buddy Carter (R-Ga.)

John Carter (R-Texas)

Ben Cline (R-Va.)

Michael Cloud (R-Texas)

Andrew Clyde (R-Ga.)

Tom Cole (R-Okla.)

Mike Collins (R-Ga.)

Eli Crane (R-Ariz.)

Rick Crawford (R-Ark.)

Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas)

Warren Davidson (R-Ohio)

Scott DesJarlais (R-Tenn.)

Monica De La Cruz (R-Texas)

Mario Diaz-Balart (R-Fla.)

Byron Donalds (R-Fla.)

Jeff Duncan (R-S.C.)

Neal Dunn (R-Fla.)

Jake Ellzey (R-Texas)

Tom Emmer (R-Minn.)

Ron Estes (R-Kan.)

Pat Fallon (R-Texas)

Drew Ferguson (R-Ga.)

Michelle Fischbach (R-Minn.)

Scott Fitzgerald (R-Wis.)

Chuck Fleischmann (R-Tenn.)

Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.)

Scott Franklin (R-Fla.)

Russell Fry (R-S.C.)

Russ Fulcher (R-Idaho)

Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.)

Carlos Gimenez (R-Fla.)

Bob Good (R-Va.)

Lance Gooden (R-Texas)

Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.)

Garret Graves (R-La.)

Sam Graves (R-Mo.)

Mark Green (R-Tenn.)

Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.)

Morgan Griffith (R-Va.)

Michael Guest (R-Miss.)

Harriet Hageman (R-Wyo.)

Andy Harris (R-Md.)

Diana Harshbarger (R-Tenn.)

Kevin Hern (R-Okla.)

Clay Higgins (R-La.)

Richard Hudson (R-N.C.)

Bill Huizenga (R-Mich.)

Darrell Issa (R-Calif.)

Ronny Jackson (R-Texas)

Bill Johnson (R-Ohio)

Mike Johnson (R-La.)

Jim Jordan (R-Ohio)

John Joyce (R-Pa.)

Mike Kelly (R-Pa.)

Trent Kelly (R-Miss.)

Jen Kiggans (R-Va.)

David Kustoff (R-Tenn.)

Darin LaHood (R-Ill.)

Doug LaMalfa (R-Calif.)

Doug Lamborn (R-Colo.)

Bob Latta (R-Ohio)

Jake LaTurner (R-Kan.)

Debbie Lesko (R-Ariz.)

Barry Loudermilk (R-Ga.)

Frank Lucas (R-Okla.)

Blaine Luetkemeyer (R-Mo.)

Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.)

Morgan Luttrell (R-Texas)

Nicole Malliotakis (R-N.Y.)

Tracey Mann (R-Kan.)

Brian Mast (R-Fla.)

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.)

Lisa McClain (R-Mich.)

Tom McClintock (R-Calif.)

Rich McCormick (R-Ga.)

Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.)

Daniel Meuser (R-Pa.)

Carol Miller (R-W.Va.)

Mary Miller (R-Ill.)

Max Miller (R-Ohio)

Cory Mills (R-Fla.)

John Moolenaar (R-Ind.)

Alex Mooney (R-W.Va.)

Barry Moore (R-Ala.)

Greg Murphy (R-N.C.)

Troy Nehls (R-Texas)

Dan Newhouse (R-Wash.)

Ralph Norman (R-S.C.)

Jay Obernolte (R-Calif.)

Andy Ogles (R-Tenn.)

Burgess Owens (R-Utah)

Gary Palmer (R-Ala.)

Greg Pence (R-Ind.)

Scott Perry (R-Pa.)

August Pfluger (R-Texas)

Bill Posey (R-Fla.)

Guy Reschenthaler (R-Pa.)

Harold Rogers (R-Ky.)

Mike Rogers (R-Ala.)

John Rose (R-Tenn.)

Matt Rosendale (R-Mont.)

David Rouzer (R-N.C.)

John Rutherford (R-Fla.)

Maria Elvira Salazar (R-Fla.)

House Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.)

Pete Sessions (R-Texas)

Austin Scott (R-Ga.)

Keith Self (R-Texas)

Adrian Smith (R-Neb.)

Jason Smith (R-Mo.)

Lloyd Smucker (R-Pa.)

Pete Stauber (R-Minn.)

House GOP Conference Chair Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.)

Gregory Steube (R-Fla.)

Chris Stewart (R-Utah)

Dale Strong (R-Ala.)

Claudia Tenney (R-N.Y.)

Thomas Tiffany (R-Wis.)

Glenn Thompson (R-Pa.)

William Timmons (R-S.C.)

Jeff Van Drew (R-N.J.)

Beth Van Duyne (R-Texas)

Derrick Van Orden (R-Wis.)

Ann Wagner (R-Mo.)

Tim Walberg (R-Mich.)

Michael Waltz (R-Fla.)

Randy Weber (R-Texas)

Daniel Webster (R-Fla.)

Brad Wenstrup (R-Ohio)

Bruce Westerman (R-Ark.)

Roger Williams (R-Texas)

Joe Wilson (R-S.C.)

Robert Wittman (R-Va.)

Ryan Zinke (R-Mont.)

#u.s. congress #election deniers #republicans #the big lie

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mariacallous · 1 year

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Republicans on Capitol Hill are still reeling from their disappointing performance in last week’s midterms.

Candidates backed by Donald Trump flopped, but for the most part rank-and-file GOPers have blamed their own leaders instead of the former president.

So I thought it would be a great time to ask them about a gross applause line that’s become a centerpiece of Trump’s stump speech.

“We’re going to be asking everyone who sells drugs, gets caught selling drugs, to receive the death penalty for their heinous acts,” Trump said Tuesday night when he announced his 2024 presidential campaign.

I asked 11 Republicans about executing drug dealers. Several seemed shocked by the proposal, while most said they hadn’t heard of it.

“Seems a little extreme,” Rep. Glenn Thompson (R-Pa.) said.

“That’s not a policy I’m aware of,” Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.) said.

The only lawmaker who embraced the idea was Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.): “I think fentanyl is such a deadly drug that that concept should be on the table.”

The more difficult question may have been whether they support Trump in his 2024 presidential bid. Graham has already said he wished Trump wouldn’t announce his bid so early.

“I’m focused on Georgia and Herschel right now,” Rep. Buddy Carter (R-Ga.) said, referring to next month’s runoff election with Republican Senate candidate Herschel Walker

“I really even haven't had time to think about that,” Rep. Michael Cloud (R-Texas) said.

“I haven’t given it 30 seconds’ thought, to be honest with you,” Rep. Chris Stewart (R-Utah) said.

Rep. Clay Higgins (R-La.), on the other hand, enthusiastically backed the former president. “Trump’s going to smoke everybody,” he said.

But even he shied from expanding the death penalty to a nonmurder offense.

“I must say I respect the fact that the president speaks candidly about these matters, but that’s something that I hope that he would allow me to share my insightful opinions about,” Higgins said.

It’s important not to read too much about Trump’s standing among elected Republicans when lawmakers cringe at questions from reporters, since they have usually backed him in the end. But what I heard today certainly sounded like less than a ringing endorsement.

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the-sayuri-rin · 2 years

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What's happening: House Republicans are introducing a bill today to roll back recent Biden administration guidance that warns the nation’s pharmacies of legal and financial consequences if they refuse to dispense abortion or contraception medication.

The “Pharmacist Conscience Protection Act,” led by Rep. Buddy Carter (R-Ga.) and first shared with POLITICO, would give pharmacists freer rein to refuse to provide medication they suspect could be used to terminate a pregnancy.

#abortion rights #abortion #reproductive rights #reproductive health #womens rights #womens health #pro choice #Roe vs Wadw

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mongowheelie · 1 year

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'Rotten' and 'grossly regressive' GOP tax proposals are a major 'gift' for Democrats: conservative - Alternet.org

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mostlysignssomeportents · 1 year

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Podcasting "How To Make a Child-Safe TikTok"

This week on my podcast, I read my recent Medium column, “How To Make a Child-Safe TikTok: Have you tried not spying on kids?” The column was inspired by one of the most bizarre exchanges during the Congressional grilling of TokTok CEO Shou Chew:

https://doctorow.medium.com/how-to-make-a-child-safe-tiktok-be08fbf94b0d

If you’d like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here’s a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/04/17/have-you-tried-not-spying/#coppa

If you heard anything about that hearing, it was likely this. Rep Buddy Carter, Republican of Georgia, demanded to know whether Tiktok used “the phone’s camera to determine whether the content that elicits a pupil dilation should be amplified by the algorithm?”

https://www.c-span.org/video/?526609-1/tiktok-ceo-testifies-house-energy-commerce-committee-hearing

Chew replied, “We do not collect body, face or voice data to identify our users. We do not.” Carter pressed him, asking “How do you determine what age they are then?”

Chew said, “We rely on age-gating as our key age assurance.” Carter assumed tuckercarlsonian expression of perplexity and asked for more information. Chew explained: “It’s when you ask the user what age they are.” Carter was clearly baffled by this.

Chew added, “this is a real challenge for our industry because privacy versus age assurance is a really big problem.” Carter interrupted him: “you keep talking about the industry, we’re talking about TikTok here.”

This was a remarkable exchange, even by the standards of Congressional hearings on technology, a genre that includes “a series of tubes,” “Senator, we run ads,” and “Will you commit to ending finsta?”

Chew was completely and terribly correct, of course. The way that the entire industry complies with COPPA — the law that prohibits data-gathering on under-13s without parental consent — is by asking every used to tick a box that says “I am over 13.” This is such an inadequate and laughable figleaf that the Congressdunderhead from Georgia can (possibly) be forgiven for assuming that “age verification” involved some kind of digital phrenology by way of facial scanning.

But beyond being yet another entry in the annals Congressional Pig-Ignorance On Tech, the exchange reveals a massive blind-spot about the entire business of kids’ privacy, and the legislative intention of COPPA, a law passed in 1998, before the age of ubiquitous commercial internet surveillance — but not before people understood that this would be an important subject.

One thing to note here is how rare COPPA is. The US has very near to zero federal privacy laws. There’s the Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986, which is about as up-to-date as you might imagine given that it was passed in 1986. Then there’s the Video Privacy Protection Act of 1988, which bans video-store clerks from revealing which porn you (or more to the point, Members of Congress) have rented.

And then there’s COPPA, which requires parental consent for data-gathering on pre-teens. And that’s basically…it.

COPPA’s got a checkered legislative history; a lot of the “parental consent” language is about ensuring that kids can’t get access reproductive health information and services, but as with any contentious piece of lawmaking, COPPA passed due to a coalition with different priorities, and part of that coalition just wanted to make sure that companies weren’t spying on kids.

Because — as both Buddy Carter and Shou Chew — can attest, it’s really hard to get parental consent at scale. Like, how do you even know if you’re talking to a kid’s parent or guardian if you’re not allowed to gather information on that kid? And how do you know if you’re talking to a kid or an adult when you gather any information, on any user?

Even if facial recognition technology had been widespread in 1986, I think we can all agree that Congress’s intent wasn’t to “protect kids’ privacy” by subjecting every child who used a computer to an invasive biometric scan. How could you comply with COPPA, then?

Well, one possibility is to never spy on users.

OK, not never. But only in very special circumstances — situations in which users would be willing to go through a reasonably thorough identification procedure. There are some situations in which it would be relatively straightforward to do this for parental consent, too: schools, pediatricians and libraries typically encounter children at the same time as their parents or guardians.

And for the rest of it, companies could just not spy.

The truly bizarre thing is how bizarre this suggestion comes across. It is essentially beyond the imagination of both Buddy Carter and Shou Chew that Tiktok could comply with COPPA by not gathering any user-data. After all COPPA, doesn’t prohibit providing web access to under-13s without parental consent — it prohibits spying on under-13s.

It’s not just Congressdunderheads and Tiktok CEOs who treat “don’t spy on under-13s” as a synonym for “don’t let under-13s use this service.” Every tech product designer and every general counsel at every tech company treats these two propositions as equivalent, because they are literally incapable of imagining a surveillance-free online service.

Which is funny, given another part of the Congressional interview. Chew says, “The only face data that you’ll get, that we collect is when you use the filters that put, say, sunglasses on your face, we need to know where your eyes are.” Carter interrupts him to say, “Why do you need to know where the eyes are if you’re not seeing if they’re dilated?” (my god this guy is horny for pupils).

Chew finishes, “and the data is stored locally on your local device and deleted after the use, if you use it for facial” (emphasis mine).

The Tiktok app could store the list of accounts you follow on your device, and send requests to the Tiktok servers for their updates, and the servers could fulfill those requests without logging them. Your device could analyze the videos you interact with and ask the Tiktok servers for suggestions based on those criteria — again, without Tiktok logging your info.

There’s no millennial prophet who came down off a mountain with two stone tablets circa 2002 and intoned, “Nerds of the world, thou shalt stop rotating thine logfiles, and lo! Thou shalt mine them for actionable market intelligence.” There is nothing intrinsic to the idea of letting people talk to each other, or search the web, or look at videos, that requires surveillance. The surveillance is a choice, which necessitated hundreds of billions of dollars in capital expenditures, and which should have been understood as illegal under COPPA.

But COPPA hasn’t been meaningfully enforced for a quarter of a century. That’s because the ad-tech industry mobilizes some of the hundreds of billions of dollars it gains through spying to block privacy law enforcement and the passage of any new privacy laws. David Cohen, CEO of the surveillance lobby group IEA, told his members, “Extremists are winning the battle for hearts and minds in Washington, D.C., and beyond. We cannot let that happen.”

His co-conspirators at the anti-privacy lobbying group Privacy For America (yes, really) told Congress that commercial surveillance saves every American $30,000/year — in other words, they value the data they steal from you every year at $30,000:

https://www.privacyforamerica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Privacy-for-America-Letter-in-Support-of-Preemptive-Comprehensive-Privacy-Legislation.pdf

But as Julia Angwin points out, this figure is as absurd as the name “Privacy for America.” The number is pure fiction:

https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1815663116#abstract

It doesn’t matter how much the data caught in the ad-tech industry’s nonconsensual harvest is worth — all that matters is that it produces the surplus needed to keep privacy law enforcement and expansion at bay.

Tiktok shouldn’t spy on our kids. Neither should anyone else. America doesn’t need a law banning Tiktok, it’s needs a law banning Tiktok’s surveillance — as well as the surveillance of all its rivals:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/03/30/tik-tok-tow/#good-politics-for-electoral-victories

Because the Chinese state doesn’t need Tiktok to spy on Americans. In the freewheeling, unregulated privacy “marketplace,” all that data is for sale — Chinese spies can just plunk down their credit-cards next to everyone else who buys our data and mobilizes it to compromise us, market to us, and stalk us.

Here’s the podcast episode:

https://craphound.com/news/2023/04/17/how-to-make-a-child-safe-tiktok/

And here’s a direct link to the MP3 (hosting courtesy of the Internet Archive; they’ll host your stuff for free, forever):

https://archive.org/download/Cory_Doctorow_Podcast_443/Cory_Doctorow_Podcast_443_-_How_To_Make_a_Child-Safe_TikTok.mp3

And here’s the direct RSS link for my podcast:

https://feeds.feedburner.com/doctorow_podcast

THIS IS THE LAST DAY for the Kickstarter campaign for the audiobook of my next novel, a post-cyberpunk anti-finance finance thriller about Silicon Valley scams called Red Team Blues. Amazon’s Audible refuses to carry my audiobooks because they’re DRM free, but crowdfunding makes them possible.

[Image ID: The exterior of a corporate office building, with the TikTok logo and wordmark over its revolving doors. From behind the revolving doors glares the hostile red eye of HAL9000 from Kubrick's '2001: A Space Odyssey." In front of the doors is a 'you must be this tall to ride' amusement-park cutout of a boy with a bow-tie, holding out his arm to indicate the minimum required height.]

#pluralistic #age-gating #tiktok #coppa #surveillance #privacy #parenting #kids #rep buddy carter #pupillary dilation #podcasts

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dontmeantobepoliticalbut · 1 year

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One of the first bills floated by the new House GOP majority aims to get rid of the income tax and swap in a national consumption tax instead. It's a proposal that's attracted ridicule from President Joe Biden, and is highly unlikely to ever move forward.

Senator Jon Tester, a Democrat from Montana, particularly wants to make sure it never happens.

"Montana has no sales tax and we don't need the federal government imposing one on us," Tester wrote in a Thursday tweet. "House Republicans' plan to tack a 30% national sales tax on every good from gas to groceries would skyrocket costs for Montana's working families. I will defeat this awful plan."

Under Georgia Rep. Buddy Carter's Fair Tax Act, the income tax, alongside the payroll tax and estate tax, would be replaced by a 23% consumption tax on gross payments — and the IRS would be abolished.

"Armed, unelected bureaucrats should not have more power over your paycheck than you do," Carter said in a release.

A national sales tax would likely be more regressive than the current income tax, hitting lower- and middle-income Americans harder. As the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center notes, lower-income households spend a larger share of that income than higher-income households, so they'd be disproportionately shouldering the burden of a level tax.

It would also fall harder on the shoulders of parents. As the Tax Policy Center notes, "at any given income level, families with children have higher consumption requirements than those without, so switching to a consumption tax would present an inherent disadvantage for families with kids."

The Biden administration has essentially laughed off the GOP proposals, with the President saying he'd veto any legislation like it. White House deputy press secretary Andrew Bates said that it would "shift the federal tax burden onto the American middle class and working people."

And Biden, when asked about the sales tax proposal, said: "Go home and tell your moms, they're going to be really excited about that."

#us politics #news #business insider #fair tax act #fair tax #national consumption tax #income tax #internal revenue service #president joe biden #biden administration #sen. Jon Tester #montana #2023 #Rep. Buddy Carter #us house of representatives #118th congress #Tax Policy Center

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coastalconguero · 9 months

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#whales #oceans #georgia #environment #fishing #shipping

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rjalker · 6 months

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I hope Rep. Earl L. "Buddy" Carter has a horrible day and falls off a cliff and dies.

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bikerpoliticalreport · 10 months

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Republicans Seek J6 Records From Police, National Archives in GOP-Led Investigation

House Republicans have launched their own version of the Jan. 6 committee that would “reinvestigate” what transpired in the US Capitol in 2021. The committee’s chairman, Rep. Barry Loudermilk of Georgia’s Republican Party, stated that they will “investigate both sides” and “show what really happened on Jan. 6.”

The Democrat-led committee last year subpoenaed a number of Republicans. Republicans are now discussing putting further pressure on Nancy Pelosi, the person in charge of choosing the panel.

Republicans previously addressed Pelosi in a letter inquiring as to why she did not take further security measures for the Capitol on January 6, 2021, including calling for National Guard deployments and a larger presence of Capitol Police.

“I’m gonna tell you the truth: Yes, I do,” said Georgia GOP Rep. Buddy Carter when asked if he believes Republicans should issue a subpoena to Pelosi.

“This is setting the precedent, and we’re just not gonna lie down and let this happen. There are serious questions about her role on January 6 and exactly what she did and what she didn’t do. And we need to get to the bottom of that,” he added.

Several other Republicans previously said there is broad support for issuing a subpoena to Pelosi.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s a subpoena there,” said Florida Republican Rep. Brian Mast.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, who called for an investigation into Pelosi over her role, went off earlier this year when discussing the committee approving a criminal contempt report to hold Steve Bannon in contempt of Congress.

“There have been subpoenas issued to 11 individuals, 11 American citizens who asked the government permission on an application to hold the Trump rally,” Jordan said.

“The government granted it and now the January 6 committee petitions them to ask them questions about exercising their First Amendment right to assemble,” he added.

Loudermilk also declared that the panel would consider seeking an interview with Pelosi, including any decisions made about Capitol security ahead of Jan. 6.

“If we need to, we would like for her to come and talk to us about it,” Loudermilk said, adding the panel might seek to interview former members of the House Jan. 6 committee, NBC News reported.

Republicans also asserted that U.S. Capitol Police have failed to make necessary changes following Jan. 6 despite having a budget they say rivals many big-city departments.

“One of the reasons it’s important that we look back is so we can identify where the failures were and move forward. Our concern is there has been a lack of looking back by the previous leadership of Capitol Police,” said Loudermilk.

Loudermilk has also requested records from the Metropolitan Police Department and the National Archives related to Jan. 6.

“In letters to MPD Chief Robert J. Contee III and U.S. archivist Colleen Shogan, first reported by Politico, Loudermilk requested documents about the attack on the Capitol and the former Democratic-controlled House Jan. 6 committee that investigated the riot before it was dissolved in January,” NBC reported.

“The requests, Loudermilk said, are part of the GOP-led subcommittee’s effort to evaluate and prevent future security failures and fit into a review of how the former House Jan. 6 committee conducted its investigation. He is also seeking a series of video and audio recordings, including recordings of radio communications, MPD electronic surveillance unit video recordings, and body-camera footage from officers who were at the Ellipse or stationed at or near Capitol Grounds on Jan. 6,” the outlet added.

Earlier this month, Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene urged her colleagues to speak up in defense of the Jan. 6 defendants.

“I tell them all the time. I think it’s an issue you can’t ignore,” Greene said, referring to the treatment of Jan. 6 defendants. “It’s something that has to be talked about because people are being affected every single day by it. And we heard the testimonies today.”

“So it’s … an issue that, of course, has been talked about every single day since Jan. 6. But we can’t allow a weaponized government to persecute Americans,” she continued. “We just can’t allow it. So it’s something that we have to talk about.”

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opedguy · 1 year

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Senate to Investigate John Durham

LOS ANGELES (OnlineColumnist.com), Jan. 30, 2022.--Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durham, 78, (D-Ill) said he would investigate nefarious conduct of 72-year-old Special Counsel John Durham, tasked Oct. 19, 2020 by 72-year-old former Atty. Bill Bill Barr to get to the bottom of the FBI’s counterintelligence investigation of 76-year-old former President Donald Trump during the 2016 presidential campaign. Durham was given broad authority to look into 62-year-old former FBI Director James Comey who launched a counterintelligence investigation into then Republican nominee Donald Trump in the summer of 2020. New York Times reported ethical lapses in Durham’s probe, after several of Durham’s staff resigned. Times’ investigators found that Barr influence the probe as well as prosecuting Justice Department Atty. Kevin Clinesmith and former Hillary Clinton campaign Atty. Michael Sussmann.

Durham prosecuted Clinesmith for deleting information on an email to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act [ACT] court, asking for a warrant to wiretap former Trump campaign official Carter Page. Durham won a conviction Jan 20, 2021 for Clinesmith who doctored an email to prevent the FISA court from knowing that Page worked for the CIA. Former FISA Court Chief Justice Rosemary Collyer said she would have never granted the FBI warrant to wiretap Carter Page. Yet Durbin thinks Durham should be prosecuted because of some of staff quitting or that Barr influenced the investigation. What about the New York Times printing untold stories about Trump’s alleged ties to Moscow, all based on 75-year-old former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Rodham Clinton’s paid opposition research AKA the Steele dossier, insisting Trump was a Russian asset.

Clinesmith’s Jan. 20, 2021 conviction was the tip of the iceberg showing that the FBI conspired in 2016 to sabotage the Trump campaign with the intent of getting Hillary elected president. Durham the went after former Justice Department and Hillary 2016 campaign Atty. Michael Sussmann who told the FBI he did not represent any client in when he told the FBI that Trump had contacts with a Russian bank. Sussmann told FBI General Counsel James Baker that he represented himself, telling Baker that Trump had ties with a Russian Bank. Sussmann at the time worked for Hillary’s campaign, looking for anyway possible way to discredit Trump. Sussman eventually got off May 31, 2022 on a technicality after Durham pled his best case. Democrats and he New York Times were euphoric knowing that Durham hit a dead end on the Sussmann case, making Durham look feeble.

Durbin attacked Durham because he knows that Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), 58, Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, will initiate probes showing that the Justice Department and FBI were weaponized to go after Trump politically in 2016 and during his presidency. “The Justice Department should work on behalf of the American people, no for the personal benefit of any president. As we wait for the results of ongoing internal review, the Senate Judiciary Committee will do its part and take a hard look at these repeated episodes, and the regulations and policies that enabled them, to ensure such abuses of power cannot happen again,” Durbin said. Durbin wants to turn on its head the kind of obvious abuse during the 2016 presidential campaign, where the FBI clearly tried to sabotage Trump’s campaign. Durbin wants, with the help of DOJ, to point fingers at Trump, the subject of an FBI sting.

New York Times and Washington post have spent years covering up years of reporting about Trump’s allege ties with 70-year-old Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Russian Federation. All the specious stories written about Trump were based on Hillary’s Steele Dossier, pure rubbish that proved in court to be completely bogus. Yet that didn’t stop Comey and his buddy, 67-year-old former CIA Director John Brennan from accusing Trump of Russian conspiracy. Comey and Brennan knew about the conspiracy against Trump because it was part of the FBI’s sting against the former president. Yet no matter how much conspiracy was uncovered at the FBI to sabotage Trump’s 2016 campaign, Dubin goes Orwellian, accusing Durham of conspiracy to defraud the government. FBI brass under Comey did everything possible to get Hillary elected in 2016.

Whatever conspiracies existed in 2016 at the FBI, they all attempted to sabotage Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign. Durham couldn’t get enough evidence to prove that former Atty. Gen. Loretta Lynch asked former CIA Director John Brernnan to contact Comey in summer 2016 to launch a counterintelligence investigation, alleging Trump’s ties to the Kremlin. Democrats like Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), insisted even after former Special Counsel Robert Mueller cleared Trump of wrongdoing March 23, 2019, that he had categorical proof of Trump’s Russian ties. Schiff, of course, never produced proof of anything. Whatever Durham and Barr couldn’t find, it was because Comey and his top FBI brass did everything possible to cover up the 2016 conspiracy against Trump’s campaign. Once Sussmann was acquitted May 31, 2022, Democrats and the press used it to discredit Durham.

About the Author

John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.

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worldofwardcraft · 1 year

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Let the spectacle begin!

January 16, 2023

Now that the Grand Qanon Party has taken control (narrowly) of the House of Representatives, they're already busy making ridiculous changes and passing theatrical legislation. In one of their first acts of power, they ordered the metal detectors outside the House chamber be removed, despite the increasing number of threats against members of Congress. They also lifted the ban on smoking in the building that had been in effect since 2007 (it's still illegal to smoke most other places in DC). They'll probably remove the Capitol's fire sprinklers and install asbestos insulation, too.

Republicans then moved on to changing the House rules in accordance with the humiliating deals Kevin McCarthy had to strike with the Freedom Caucus holdouts to obtain the Speakership. For a start, a single member is now allowed to propose what’s known as a “motion to vacate the chair,” making it easier to topple a sitting speaker. The extremists also secured seats for three of their own on the House Rules Committee, giving the Chaos Caucus vandals de facto veto power over any bill that comes to the floor.

In addition, Republicans reinstated the “Holman Rule,” allowing amendments to appropriations bills to target specific federal programs or workers by zeroing out their budgets or salaries. Which lets them get around work protections to punish civil servants they don't like. Nor will you be astounded to learn they eliminated the Office of Congressional Ethics.

Republicans next voted to slash the tens of billions allocated to the Internal Revenue Service by the Inflation Reduction Act. This was to prevent the hiring of those imaginary "87,000 IRS agents" the Right has been frightening everybody with ever since the act was passed last summer.

And just to underline Republican hatred for the government's tax-collecting agency, Rep. Buddy Carter (R-GA) introduced the comically named Fair Tax Act that would abolish the IRS and replace the federal income tax with a national consumption tax. Although, who's going to collect it is anyone's guess.

After that, GOP lawmakers approved a new select committee to probe the "weaponization of the federal government" (in other words, any agency investigating Republicans), giving it the power to oversee the Justice Department's ongoing criminal investigations. Good luck with that.

Naturally, there's plenty of petty revenge on the menu. McCarthy's already confirmed he will remove Democrats Adam Schiff, Eric Swalwell and Ilhan Omar from their committee assignments. Plus, Republican crazies are teeing up loads of impeachments and investigations of President Biden, his family, his administration and his dog. Meanwhile, they also want to expunge Trump's two impeachments. Hey, are you not entertained?

#house republicans #crazy republicans #MAGA idiots #gop house

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