Some of society's problems that concern you?

It's been almost a full year since we were alerted about Net Neutrality, if I remember correctly by memory, it took like 4 and almost a half years, billions of dollars, millions of posts about it, a few major interruptions of the Internet, numerous protests, and a Republican majority government to undo all that. I have to say, once we forget this, I am very sure this place is going to be in for either one hell of a dark journey for years to come, or a swift and very sad lockdown. Not only that, the whole Internet will undergo a rapid transition back into what it used to be long before Lewd came into existence. If such a debate like that ever happens again down the road, it just means more money pouring into lobbying and steering us away from what is and isn't an equal-pace Internet.

The Rise

January 9, 2014 - First town hall in Oakland by Wheeler.
January 14, 2014 - Verizon sues and wins, striking down a first case.
February 19, 2014 - Proposal draft on Net Neutrality by the FCC.
April 23, 2014 - On Earth Day, the proposal was leaked to the general public, but it was faulty, this is where the revolution for an equal Internet begins.
April 28, 2014 - Comcast fights back by throttling Netflix.
May 1, 2014 - President Obama heavily backs up the proposal.
May 5, 2014 - Actvists attempted to steer Wheeler into favoring Net Neutrality.
May 7-8, 2014 - Over 100 Internet companies and investors sign letters to the FCC against "fast lanes".
May 15, 2014 - First major interruption of the Internet with over 2.4 million petitions, along with rallies across the nation. By the same day, the proposal reaches the floor, and a commenting period begins, albeit imperfect.
June 1, 2014 - John Oliver does his 15 minutes of fame speech; FCC servers go haywire for the first time.
June 15, 2014 - Two weeks after John Oliver's speech and the official first battle to save the Internet begins, FCC goes haywire again.
June 30, 2014 - Attendance with 300 people from the state of New Mexico, including Wheeler was held.
July 15, 2014 - Initial comment period ended with a million posts.
July 23, 2014 - Protests in San Francisco and Los Angeles rattle California during a fundraiser trip by Obama.
August 10, 2014 - Social media and protests ramps up even further across the country.
September 10, 2014 - Second major interruption, 4 million posts, and 40,000 sites on alert, as well as the second largest protest.
September 15, 2014 - Rallies held in New York City, Philadelphia, and Los Angeles coinciding with Obama's trips.
September 17, 2014 - A giant billboard is on display near the FCC HQ.
September 19, 2014 - A rally takes place just outside the Comcast HQ in Philadelphia.
September 22, 2014 - In Philadelphia, Wheeler shows strong support of Title II for the disabled, academics, minority-owned media, among others. Team Internet and its site battleforthenet.com are born.
September 23, 2014 - First Title II meeting in White House starts.
October 21, 2014 - Activists head over to Texas A&M opposing Pai's speech.
October 22, 2014 - New call tools implemented, over 2,000 people a day used it, peaking at over 50,000.
October 27, 2014 - New York City performs a Speak-Out type of rally with a slow and fast lane banner.
November 6, 2014 - Third major interruption, emergency protests enforced on major cities in most states, another new site: www.protestsign.org allows users to turn the screen fitting the urgency of the situation.
November 10, 2014 - Activists getting smarter on Wheeler by blocking his driveway, it worked.
November 14, 2014 - Activists went from whining to rebellious mode by throwing up a party at the FCC HQ.
November 20, 2014 - The People's Hearing held in San Francisco Bay Area.
December 11, 2014 - The "Reclassify Now" banner was put on display at the FCC debate room.
January 5, 2015 - Over 100 civil rights groups supported Title II.
January 9, 2015 - Black Lives Matter visits FCC to explain Net Neutrality and its importance towards African-Americans.
January 14, 2015 - One site for each representative, as well as more emails and calls opposing a derailing legislation.
January 17-26, 2015 - Net Neutrality gains notoriety on the international level.
January 19, 2015 - #Reclaim MLK Day call in for no compromises, period.
February 4, 2015 - Wheeler affirms the 4 million posts from the previous September and goes ahead with Title II protocol.
February 5, 2015 - 500 calls to the Congressional Black Caucus are made.
February 12-24 2015 - Briefing on the Congressional Black Caucus was held. On that same day, #DontBlockMyInternet against ISP retailers starts.
February 23, 2015 - Music and art department sectors is affected in favor of Net Neutrality.
February 26, 2015 - University students at Pennsylvania disrupt a board in front of the CEO of Comcast with a "Don't Block My Net" banner. On that same day, watchdogs educate the public about it and chanting over the vote relentlessly. Net Neutrality is established across the entire United States.

The Fall

January 4, 2017 - A 4chanian anonymous poster concerned with the condition of Net Neutrality with the forecoming rise of Trump.
April 23, 2017 - Pai states his intentions on repealing Net Neutrality, and with his two helpers in the Trump FCC, he sets the events in motion come July. Comcast and other major ISPs change their policies not long afterwards. Data harvesting without consent is the first step of this decline.
July 12, 2017 - Day of Action begins; every site on the web favoring the Internet goes on alert, albeit some sites only remain on alert temporarily. Sadly, with Pai the comment period is more about quality than quantity and focusing on economic impacts than the proposal itself. This causes widespread anguish amongst many Internet users.
August 16, 2017 - Initial comment period extends to August 30 by request from frustrated Democrats.
August 30, 2017 - Initial comment period ended, but it is so flawed despite having an overwhelming majority, the Republican-held FCC and major ISPs will not buy it.
October 23, 2017 - FCC and major ISPs gets even smarter and more cunning than ever.
November 9, 2017 - Pai goes ahead with the initial repeal of the rules, again causing widespread anger from the public, but even then, it will not work due to a majority of votes in Republican hands.
December 14, 2017 - The repeal went live on the air and passed inside the FCC despite a small 10-minute long interruption. He then makes a video stating that when it passed, doesn't mean that the Internet died off immediately, just that they don't need it anymore.
February 22, 2018 - The Federal Register puts in the repeal effective for partial deletion of core sections, states start going around proposing localized versions of Net Neutrality to defy the FCC, the courts, and major ISPs.
April 23, 2018 - Partial deletion of Net Neutrality in effect, Internet still survives, but fainting in and out.
May 10, 2018 - The last bits of Net Neutrality is set to be deleted by June 11 despite the Congressional Review Act passing the Senate, but not reaching the House majority in time.
June 11, 2018 – Final deadline before major ISPs will then wait until the whole nation quiets down and forget about the debate before starting their discriminatory practices. Net Neutrality beyond this deadline is deleted from the Federal Register.

8 days later

This photograph was taken eleven days ago at a Trump rally in San Diego, wherein armed police guarded devotees from protesters waving signs. Less than one month ago, a woman in my state had her head pummeled into the sand for mouthing off to a cop. And these are just the incidents that stick out in my mind.

If our law enforcement both looks and acts like a military occupation force, can we really call ourselves the "Land of the Free"?

Backlash wrote

This photograph was taken eleven days ago at a Trump rally in San Diego, wherein armed police guarded devotees from protesters waving signs. Less than one month ago, a woman in my state had her head pummeled into the sand for mouthing off to a cop. And these are just the incidents that stick out in my mind.

If our law enforcement both looks and acts like a military occupation force, can we really call ourselves the "Land of the Free"?

Its cause terroist groups like antifa. Some throw stuff and carry pepper spray hence the helmets

Sakuya Izayoi wrote
Backlash wrote

This photograph was taken eleven days ago at a Trump rally in San Diego, wherein armed police guarded devotees from protesters waving signs. Less than one month ago, a woman in my state had her head pummeled into the sand for mouthing off to a cop. And these are just the incidents that stick out in my mind.

If our law enforcement both looks and acts like a military occupation force, can we really call ourselves the "Land of the Free"?

Its cause terroist groups like antifa. Some throw stuff and carry pepper spray hence the helmets

eyeroll

Backlash wrote

This photograph was taken eleven days ago at a Trump rally in San Diego, wherein armed police guarded devotees from protesters waving signs. Less than one month ago, a woman in my state had her head pummeled into the sand for mouthing off to a cop. And these are just the incidents that stick out in my mind.

If our law enforcement both looks and acts like a military occupation force, can we really call ourselves the "Land of the Free"?

The woman seen in the video link on a hot day at the beach around Memorial Day got mad at the police because she's slightly underage, had alcohol in her system, not even giving out her name when told to and not giving them sufficient reasoning why she illegally drink said alcohol.

It seems as if the police here in the US has a "We will shoot you if we think you're an armed threat, even if you don't have a weapon", and "We will pin you down to the ground if you don't do exactly what we tell you" protocols. The latter fits that situation because she resisted her arrest.

And no, the law enforcement agencies is far from reaching that level of preparedness, but there were plenty of occasions across the country over the years when we see an increase of police brutality. Overtime, as more of us out of the total population consistently break laws, eventually our government will have enough being nice and start following suit from existing totalitarian countries.

LucianDreamer wrote
Backlash wrote

This photograph was taken eleven days ago at a Trump rally in San Diego, wherein armed police guarded devotees from protesters waving signs. Less than one month ago, a woman in my state had her head pummeled into the sand for mouthing off to a cop. And these are just the incidents that stick out in my mind.

If our law enforcement both looks and acts like a military occupation force, can we really call ourselves the "Land of the Free"?

The woman seen in the video link on a hot day at the beach around Memorial Day got mad at the police because she's slightly underage, had alcohol in her system, not even giving out her name when told to and not giving them sufficient reasoning why she illegally drink said alcohol.

It seems as if the police here in the US has a "We will shoot you if we think you're an armed threat, even if you don't have a weapon", and "We will pin you down to the ground if you don't do exactly what we tell you" protocols. The latter fits that situation because she resisted her arrest.

And no, the law enforcement agencies is far from reaching that level of preparedness, but there were plenty of occasions across the country over the years when we see an increase of police brutality. Overtime, as more of us out of the total population consistently break laws, eventually our government will have enough being nice and start following suit from existing totalitarian countries.

Nobody deserves to get punched in the face for being an underage drinker. That's fucked up and there shouldn't be any need for violence. She was a skinny teenage girl, any trained officer should be able to take care of that situation without physically harming her.

floattube wrote
Sakuya Izayoi wrote
Backlash wrote

This photograph was taken eleven days ago at a Trump rally in San Diego, wherein armed police guarded devotees from protesters waving signs. Less than one month ago, a woman in my state had her head pummeled into the sand for mouthing off to a cop. And these are just the incidents that stick out in my mind.

If our law enforcement both looks and acts like a military occupation force, can we really call ourselves the "Land of the Free"?

Its cause terroist groups like antifa. Some throw stuff and carry pepper spray hence the helmets

eyeroll

Funny how this one word reply is enough to get me kicked from this guy's group lmao

floattube wrote
floattube wrote
Sakuya Izayoi wrote
Backlash wrote

This photograph was taken eleven days ago at a Trump rally in San Diego, wherein armed police guarded devotees from protesters waving signs. Less than one month ago, a woman in my state had her head pummeled into the sand for mouthing off to a cop. And these are just the incidents that stick out in my mind.

If our law enforcement both looks and acts like a military occupation force, can we really call ourselves the "Land of the Free"?

Its cause terroist groups like antifa. Some throw stuff and carry pepper spray hence the helmets

eyeroll

Funny how this one word reply is enough to get me kicked from this guy's group lmao

Reeeally making me think here, hun.

Backlash wrote
floattube wrote
floattube wrote
Sakuya Izayoi wrote

Its cause terroist groups like antifa. Some throw stuff and carry pepper spray hence the helmets

eyeroll

Funny how this one word reply is enough to get me kicked from this guy's group lmao

Reeeally making me think here, hun.

"You just can't handle other opinions!"
*proceeds to remove me from group bc of my opinion"

All hell is going to break loose in the EU member states due to Article 13 in a few weeks becoming European law to make the Internet function the way China operates for the sake of copyright rightsholders. Only the European Parliament for citizens in the EU can stop them until June 20, similar to how we dealt our Net Neutrality issue using the CRA to undo recently made legislation. Any new EU member states popping up after it goes into effect will also be affected by the new law.

Initially, it was supposed to stop piracy and infringement of copyright just like SOPA and PETA, however the scope is very flawed and no one in the EU can give a damn on how they properly report claims. They just say eff it in their language, we are going to propose a stringent copyright law on all our states to teach them how to cooperate with original makers the hard way, and there you have it.

It is a huge move they will make, affecting everything from what you want to search, what you just typed key-by-key, upload, re-upload, sharing files, making memes, music, coding stuff, or just wanting to interact in general, even from what I just said and this image you want to see, should this be passed. Assuming I'm not in the EU, I shouldn't be affected by their decisions anyway.

a month later

From what I can tell, it seems that Pixiv is going to start banning loli content.

I'm not a lolicon myself, but this is incredibly troubling for those of us who prize artistic expression, as Pixiv is a Japanese site and shouldn't have to censor anything on westerners' retarded behalves. This is a very bad sign of a larger issue.

GlassMoon wrote

From what I can tell, it seems that Pixiv is going to start banning loli content.

I'm not a lolicon myself, but this is incredibly troubling for those of us who prize artistic expression, as Pixiv is a Japanese site and shouldn't have to censor anything on westerners' retarded behalves. This is a very bad sign of a larger issue.

The full report of the situation is here:
https://www.animeherald.com/2018/07/30/report-pixiv-cracks-down-on-lolicon-artwork-on-its-platform/

a month later

The amount of mass shootings in this country fucking disgusts me

8 days later

Yesterday the National Museum of Brazil was engulfed in flames, seemingly in its entirety.

As a repository with several Greco-Roman, Egyptian, and especially Mesoamerican antiquities, this is a great loss for all those concerned for the common heritage of mankind.

We're taught to believe that a human life is more precious than an inert piece of art, and not without reason. And like a human life, a piece of art cannot last forever. However, a piece of art can live for thousands of years. Ancient works of art connect us to worlds that otherwise would completely be unintelligible. They fill in the gaps in textual histories in visceral, tactile ways. But even with the thousands and thousands in museums, there are so few of them. The artworks of ancient societies like Greece, Rome, and Mesoamerica that survive are such a small, small remanant of a great iceberg.

As with the death of a great human, I am left stunned and silenced. But for something so long, so enduring, and with such a story to tell to die is in many ways even more devastating. The cause of this fire was, as far as we know, a simple force of nature. In some ways this makes it easier to accept than the temples, statues, and museums that have been barbarically decimated in places like Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan over the past few years by terrorist groups like ISIL. Of course, there are fingers to point at insufficient funding from the government for reinforcing the museum and its conservation, but one can't pin all the blame on them in the way that you can a group of Wahhabist thugs with sledgehammers. And that in many ways makes this situation both more easy and more difficult. It's an example of the cruel forces of nature, the negligence of humans, and the bitter irony of how easy it is to undo what takes ages to accomplish.

When people talk to me, they often find my refusal to engage in any political discussion or hold any opinions about social issues a kind of apathy. But what I've learned about myself over the years is that I actually have a profound inability to be apathetic about anything, and it's one of my biggest weak points. I'm the kind of person who is consumed and destroyed by bad news, and it's why I must avoid it for my own mental well-being. I will feel immediately guilty for going back to everyday life without finding a solution. But I suppose I must accept too that sometimes bad things happen and that fixing them isn't my responsibility. I think I know what it means now that we are born into trouble as the sparks fly upward...

floattube wrote

The amount of mass shootings in this country fucking disgusts me

And I really wonder how/if the the problem will be solved. I don't share the same hate for firearms as most non-americans do, so I don't like the idea of guns being banned, but then again, i don't really think there's any reason why anyone should have to use a gun outside of a firing range. The Swiss system, as far as I understand is pretty cool. Everyone learns how to handle firearms, only very small amount of ammunition are allowed to be kept by an individual, all of which must be accounted for regularly.

malmon wrote
floattube wrote

The amount of mass shootings in this country fucking disgusts me

And I really wonder how/if the the problem will be solved. I don't share the same hate for firearms as most non-americans do, so I don't like the idea of guns being banned, but then again, i don't really think there's any reason why anyone should have to use a gun outside of a firing range. The Swiss system, as far as I understand is pretty cool. Everyone learns how to handle firearms, only very small amount of ammunition are allowed to be kept by an individual, all of which must be accounted for regularly.

I honestly don't think the problem will ever be fixed. Every time someone brainstorms an idea it's quickly shutdown by "MY SECOND AMENDMENT" and I think it will stay that way for at least another 6 years.

2 months later

I thought the situation with North Korea and Russia was settled down a while ago. Now some of us Americans, myself especially think of Trump wanting to build up nuclear arsenal the same way Kim and Putin did. Apart from the coming mid-elections and election interference, I am starting to believe that he is far crazier but still trying to cling to his Presidency than I previously thought of him from my voting back in 2016. When I first think of him, I initially believed he would bring good jobs and cut down on violent crime.

Nevertheless, I will keep saying this periodically that even if no country wants to go full on nuclear on anybody at the end of this year, starting in 2019 by hypothetical prediction, Turkey might go first against Greece from there over some islands.

All the new propositions America's administration is making to try to demonize trans people. I didn't know my existence was such a threat to society. I think I'm going to throw up.

This pipe bomb business is also pretty concerning. The FBI already busted a guy a little while ago for wanting to explode a big bomb on the National Mall during election day. I really hope that these end up being isolated incidents and not part of a bigger series.

floattube wrote

All the new propositions America's administration is making to try to demonize trans people. I didn't know my existence was such a threat to society. I think I'm going to throw up.

It's all about making people angry at each other, rather than the ones actually exploiting society.