is like yelling at AT&T
Yeah, except AT&T would capitulate instantly and move in lockstep.
You're assuming that the government will play by some imaginary set of "rules". They make the laws and if they want to get you, they will change the laws.
The government will never be neutral. It is always an evil. Some argue a necessary evil that we need to shackle and restrict, but it will always still be an evil.
Yesterday I would have agreed with you. But this is now getting the government involved. Steam can "win" in a court of public opinion simply by ignoring it, and it has worked for them pretty much every single time. Steam can even win a legal dispute. But Steam will cave if their native government wants to punish them. It won't matter if it's unfair. It won't matter if they disagree. They'll cave to remain in business.
Steam is a business. A very big business with a lot of directly involved consumers. But it's not immune to the government. It's not untouchable. I would love to believe that this would radicalise people. But if a nationwide 24/7 curfew enforced by the state didn't radicalise people, I'm sceptical that any one thing can radicalise them.
I don't necessarily disagree, though the standards aren't going to simply be a basic photo, it's going to be proper scanning. And while there are mass scanning options with office-grade printers, it does still take some effort. Personally, I just think the recording is a simpler, easier solution that doesn't impede anyone else nor make addition effort for another. It removes any reason for them to not do the task, while the other idea does at least give them something to bitch about.
You're also not wrong with what's at stake financially so cost shouldn't be as big a concern as it typically is. Sadly though, it will be used to resist legitimate measures to ensure proper vote security.
For the purpose of devil's advocate, I could say that cost could be a factor, since the data entry could be additional work.
That said, I think that Taiwan has a pretty good system, where every vote is held up for the watchers to see and the vote announced to be tallied. There's no reason to not do something similar and adding a camera for both a recording and a livestream is virtually nothing in terms of additional cost.
The instant you refuse to allow public watching of poll counting is the instant you know it's being abused. There is ZERO reason to not allow poll watching to the public, unless you intend to cheat.
I don't believe anyone meaningful was fired. He already did this shit before by moving people around while keeping them on payroll while knowing about the shit that was happening.
And that doesn't even get into the scams that his company as a whole engages in.
I don't think it's fair that you ignore pretty much the entirety of the 2000s where private servers were the default for gaming, with LAN parties being more a thing of the late 90s and early 2000s. Games like CS thrived on private servers, and the social ecosystem was fucking awesome because of it. It was a renaissance of gaming communities AND a thriving online modding community, with some mods actually becoming full blown games in and of themselves, like Killing Floor for example (and in tragic irony, the devs now don't support modding, but that's a different story).
Even now, private servers are still a thing, but they're a hollow shell of what they once were thanks to the insidious cancer of matchmaking and the mentality that helps promote.
You're thinking too far back, and forgetting that sweet spot that is more than still viable but is actively dis-incentivised by publishers and developers that seek that live service model.
Which is funny because as the OP alludes to, by the very nature of persistent private servers you can play with a pool of players that is mostly the same and actually learn to develop your teamwork through continued play.
That is a REALLY controversial take if you ask people who play warcraft these days
Two things. First, public servers have always been the default for MMOs, and by their nature it makes sense to have it. Only today did I learn about things like "realm shifting", and I find that even more cancerous. So there is some level of exemption that MMOs garner by their very nature.
Secondly, why would I care about people from "these days"? Most people "these days" are morons who either weren't playing back then, or they got used to the cancer and forgot how much better it used to be.
I have said it for a very long time, but public servers/matchmaking have been the single worst thing to have ever happened to online gaming, and I will die on this hill. Lootboxes, MTX, even pay-to-win is all irrelevant compared to the damage that matchmaking has done to the social structure of online multiplayer gaming. And that isn't to say that those things haven't done a lot of damage, but they're nothing compared to the damage matchmaking has caused.
I find I've got broad tastes too for the most part, and I always enjoy some Gunship to go with my Midnight. Definitely not the same, but definitely enjoyable.
That said, I did get to see The Midnight live earlier this year, and it was absolutely awesome. For what is usually more relaxing and chill, they brought the energy to really make it worth while for a live experience and dialled it up. And Vampires was awesome live. Would absolutely recommend if you get the chance.
The days of people actually associating advertisers with the content, unless it is actually sponsored (and not just advert roll), are long gone. They're not worried about extremist content.
At best, presuming that it's not malicious mass social manipulation (which it almost certainly is), they're worried about the audience. And worried isn't the right word, but rather they know that people who are invested in "extremist" content aren't interested in ads, and they're largely useless in selling a product through that method. It's a waste of money to pay for advertising on a platform that has people who are never going to buy your product because they're jaded. And that goes for any isle of "extremism", which is also the wrong word.
But it's all pointless because it's almost with 99.9% certainty that the reason is for mass social manipulation.
Every time one of these types talk about "black """culture"""" in any other culture, it should just be common practice to share those videos of the obnoxious black people in Japan and other countries being the most obnoxious assholes around.
Remember, black "culture" is built upon self-gratitude first and foremost. Think about what such a mentality that would bring.
Look up Domestic Violence Studies. Over the past 50 odd years, there have been hundreds that were suppressed because they didn't perpetuate the desired Narrative.
There is zero reason to wonder how many times it's happened, because it's happened a lot. Which is why I always laugh at people who say that conspiracies can't be true because there would be whistleblowers. The reality is that anything evil enough is too hard for most people to cope with so they instinctively go into denial to avoid coming to terms with it, or there actively are whistleblowers that are then immediately either ignored, called loony, or just taken for granted. Just take a look at Snowden and Assange. We've known of wide-spread corruption for decades, and nobody does anything. Because it's too difficult to accept that they've supported evil people all their lives.
There is always a better plan. And even if you still want to do that "manageable first cut" crap, you don't need 15 people. 3-4 would be more than enough for the distance of travel and it's not like carrying a log is particularly hard work.
It's not as efficient use as you've put forward, but it's still better than what they're currently doing while maintaining a level of cushy-ness that shouldn't be tolerated for what is essentially rescue/recovery work.
It's not new. It was already revealed many years ago. JournoList has been covered before and anyone surprised by the fact that media actively conspires with one another should probably be checked for serious mental deficiencies.
Just as the proliferation of Flat Earth and Fake Moon Landing theories by spooks is still being done to belittle and strawman those who question things like the JFK assassination, Waco, or 9/11 narratives,
I still believe with 100% conviction in the "Conspiracy Conspiracy", which is the deliberate sharing and proliferation of explicitly false conspiracy theories to help disguise, hide in plain site, or discredit other legitimate conspiracies that would otherwise easily and rightfully earn severe pushback.
And all he really is is "old man yelling at clouds".
Which really begs the question: Why? What point is there in going after Alex Jones if what he says is complete non-sense?
Maybe because there was no real advertising, virtually nobody knows about it, it's nearly exclusively trying to appeal to an American audience which makes it sure to flop internationally, and the most important factor of all: Nobody wants to see it. Nobody against Trump actually wants to watch his story, and nobody in favour of Trump wants to watch a hit piece. This movie appealed to nobody, so nobody saw it.
cultural appropriation
Once again, western absorbed liberals have no idea what culture actually is and instead exclusively focus on the most surface level, vapid markings. These are things like dress, food, dance, music, fashion, etc. These are relatively banal things. Interesting, sure, but hold no real cultural weight.
Meanwhile, when we get into the nitty gritty of culture and dig towards the core, we start to uncover actual cultural identity and value. These are things like familial structures, justice systems, traditions, moral interpretation, etc.
The reality is that leftists are entirely fine with cultural destruction and appropriation, so long as you leave the surface levels alone. It's by far some of the most ignorant and racist things that the left has continually engaged in for many, many decades.
Which is my biggest issue. I'd argue that horror media in general, especially franchises, are the most inconsistent, especially with monster capabilities/limitations.
And I will say, internal consistency can be a hard thing to achieve the longer a franchise goes on, but that's part of the charm of the franchise: the limitations which should breed creativity, not lazy ad hoc inconsistencies.
I generally prefer slow zombies, but consistency is more important.
Of course it won't be good. The point was that even if somehow against all odds they stumble into something good, the people behind it all are still very much pozzed and should be avoided on that basis alone.
Imagine being an unironic statist.