Right, and let’s not forget that Retro gaming is completely legal.

At a protest many years ago in Germany, two undercover cops were beaten up pretty badly by other cops. They had a “safeword”, but apparently the other cops were already in a frenzy and didn’t stop.

At my school, there was this guy in my general circle. Played in a punk band, different one than mine, hanging out at the same parties, didn’t talk much, but easy to get along with. Also, looked like a punk and partied like a punk. Really good with his instrument, also did jazz on a high level.

Many years later, someone sent me a link from a left leaning forum: He was caught as a deep undercover cop. Apparently went to the police academy (~ 3 years in Germany) and got planted shortly after. He “lived” 100 km from his home with roommates who politically active, again in a punk band, participating in apparently as many political groups as he could schedule. Almost all of them were entirely legal, such as advocating for better welfare laws. He sat there, listened, didn’t talk much. No contact to actual terrorist cells or anything like that. Minor vandalism and unregistered protests perhaps.

They only caught him after a few years when someone from our home town recognised him at a punk concert and called him by his real name in front of other people. He just walked away, and his fake personality disappeared immediately. From what I can find, doing low-profile police work ever since.

It’s a bit concerning that they spy on entirely legal groups as well as groups who commit minor offences with such enormous resources. Must have cost like 100k per year; with deep analysis of his reports probably more. Just to get a list of people to “take care of” when we go full Trump here?

Anyway, my point: Surprising that the undercover cop in the picture makes so many mistakes. He was apparently spotless.

When she finds out about this she can do an ama and be a superstar for one day

Why people have no tusks in story

I tried Gemini before. The problem was reliability.

E. g. I say “add an event to my calendar: tomorrow 2 p.m., doctor visit”, and it parses the voice perfectly. The regular assistant would then just create the entry.

But Gemini sometimes goes like: “Adding an entry to your calendar is easy! Do you have an iPhone? Then these are the steps: …”

His tone is quite different with Kim Jong Un and Putin.

I know the punisher only from the TV shows. But there, he fights bad guys and somewhat avoids harming the good ones, in a few instances even protecting them, right? So no, not at all like that, more like the opposite in all aspects. Lawful evil vs. lawless good. With “lawful” including everything government / society approved, such as war crimes, crimes against inconvenient protesters etc.

Don’t Americans salute the flag and sing the national anthem every day at school, one of the main reasons being respect to the WW 1 & 2 veterans, who went through hell, and often died, to stop an ideology where some people have worth & dignity and others don’t?

A very conservative Jewish German journalist, Friedman, held an insightful speech in a German state parliament recently, attacking the right wing party that Musk and Trump love so much: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lizOiK1OHf8 (English auto subtitles are of very good quality.)

He is very conservative, been in the conservative party for decades (until they tried to pass an anti immigration law with the right a few weeks ago), strong supporter of Israel, but against Netanyahu’s government. His parents were saved from the Holocaust by Schindler. But he understands the general pattern: Even though they don’t directly attack Jewish people, at least not yet, they don’t accept that everybody is somebody, as he puts it, and that’s where it starts.

It is not expensive and has good reviews. Let’s get it!

I appreciate any attempt to win these people back. I mean, there’s nothing to lose. But they were not lied to. Trump was honest about the big picture and it’s exactly what they wanted.

These people are lost for democracy and for reason. To stupidity or to plain evil.

Just look how even people like Dick Cheyney saw this coming and tried everything to stop what’s happening now.

Fantastic insight! You obviously know more about the background and similar as well as competing cultural influences. I saw him as someone who knows right from wrong and considers it his duty to do something about it, but being a hyperbolic mirror of patriotism starting to go wrong is his way to help, to give them a chance to finally see the problem.

Now I realise that this might be more like my own personal fan theory.

That was the page I considered posting initially

Some surveys seem to support that this direction could have worked. As a German, I supported the course of the Democrats to go with a presidential candidate and policies that democratic conservatives could get behind. About half of the voters in the US want less democracy, more totalitarianism. For a chance to stop Trump, it seemed reasonable just get all supporters of freedom and democracy behind a single candidate. But maybe I was wrong.

I have my doubts that there will be an election in 2028.

Reminds me of this character in Watchmen. Calls himself the Comedian, but never makes “jokes” in a classical sense. He is cruel, overly patriotic, violent against protesters, seems to enjoy massacres in Vietnam. Only one other person understands that he is actually against these things and tries to show them this hyperbolic mirror of their own totalitarian views. But everybody else doesn’t understand it, they take it face value and admire his “patriotism”. He never breaks role until the last moment (or even then just in the movie?).

Harte Gründe im Sinne von “geht so gar nicht” gab es nicht. Bill Gates hat persönlich mit einem Landespolitiker in Bayern gesprochen und ihn mit Techtalk regelrecht weichgeklopft. Auf was für technische Möglichkeiten er aus “Ideologie” verzichte usw. Dann wurde plötzlich immer wieder von Leuten berichtet, die angeblich Probleme haben mit etwas, das unter dem Linux/Unix nicht gehen soll. Bei genauerer Untersuchung nach der Abschaffung durch Journalisten fand man die “unzufriedenen Mitarbeiter” dann aber nicht, oder es waren die üblichen Userprobleme, die jeder Helpdesk ständig kriegt. Dann gab es noch einen guten Deal, kostenloser Support über Jahre oder sowas. Eventuell als Verlustgeschäft für Microsoft, damit dieser Präzedenzfall von einem erfolgreichen Umstieg eines Landes verschwindet.

Alles zusammen hat dann wohl gereicht.

(Erinnerungsprotokoll aus vor Jahren gelesenen Zeitungsartikeln.)

Schon seit dem Snowden-Leak hätte man eigentlich mit Hochdruck an einem Umstieg arbeiten müssen, mit erstem Trump-Term als Weckruf der letzten Siebenschläfer.

Wow, I wanted that

The leading all but one languages help to me a Lord with Google assistant not your relevant

Never call.

Idea stolen from wulrus, but the term is tusk, not trust. Then it work.