MetaFilter

I watched April and Joy start talking about the contributions of nonwhites in that video, and all I could think was of Toni Morrison in 1975: "It’s important, therefore, to know who the real enemy is, and to know the function, the very serious function of racism, which is distraction. It keeps you from doing your work. It keeps you explaining over and over again, your reason for being. Somebody says you have no language and so you spend 20 years proving that you do. Somebody says your head... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by cashman at 5:03 PM on July 18, 2016

Yeah, Littlefinger had Ned's back, too.

To be completely fair, Littlefinger did warn Ned not to trust him. Trump, to my knowledge, has made no such disclaimers.
posted to MetaFilter by nubs at 4:42 PM on July 18, 2016

It's a pretty weird feeling that, as someone who grew up in the 80's, something set in that decade is I guess effectively now a "period piece."
posted to MetaFilter by juv3nal at 2:46 PM on July 15, 2016

Dukakis tried running as being softer on crime (not really) and got made into Grade-A hamburger by the GOP.

"Liberals" don't have control of the national discourse. Even the recent advances in the same-sex partnership thing were won thanks to the independent judiciary, not election-day politics.

We "Liberals" got our heads handed to us there, too, actually.

With the Overton Window being pulled so far... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Heywood Mogroot III at 9:20 PM on July 12, 2016

I'm beginning to think that we need to radicalize the scads of underemployed young lawyers --including minority law students who were enticed to attend a second or third rate law school only to find the out that the bad shape of the industry combines with structural racism and school snobbery in hiring and promotion to put the more desirable and profitable career prospects out of reach.

Get those kids in a reasonably funded public interest firm and then just start suing... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by snuffleupagus at 5:15 AM on July 7, 2016

This country is going to burn.

Talk like this, as a brown man with a brown family, makes my blood run cold. You are writing us off. If you are aware of the problem, as a white person, please do not despair, or become apathetic. Or wait for things to shake out as things go to shit for us minorities. Do something to help stop it.
posted to MetaFilter by Mister Cheese at 1:03 AM on July 7, 2016

This post just taught me that Highlander was not a mainstream hit and I apparently have no idea what the hell was really popular in the 80s.

unless you were a middleschooler in the 80s, Highlander & Co,along with Krull was borderline magic.
posted to MetaFilter by Dr. Twist at 12:07 PM on July 5, 2016

Bless the MCU creators and Chris Evans for completely turning my head around on a character who I used to think was only useful in comics to make Superman look less patriotically bland in comparison. I mean, I didn't outright hatefully pray for his death like I used to for comics Tony Stark (god bless RDJ forever), but I was like, oh, here's Captain America in my comic again, that's nice, I guess. And then the MCU turned the comic kaleidoscope light... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by nicebookrack at 10:46 PM on June 30, 2016

buttr

¿Por Que?
posted to MetaFilter by tilde at 5:35 PM on June 29, 2016

I saw a Tex Avery documentary about a pair of taxicabs that have a baby that wants to be a hot rod, and from that I learned that baby cars come from the motor'nity ward. Also, under the hood they have motors, but if you open the trunk you'll find surprisingly human-looking butts.
posted to MetaFilter by amarynth at 6:07 AM on June 30, 2016

I don't have any rational reason for finding "Skerple" as hilarious as I do.
posted to MetaFilter by schmod at 1:14 PM on June 29, 2016

law professors' overblown self-importance
I blame John Houseman...
posted to MetaFilter by oneswellfoop at 2:03 PM on June 28, 2016

I'm the fourth type of traveler: wandering from kingdom to kingdom seeking the sword of prophesy.

I have a lot of respect for the fifth type of traveler, but I don't own a spaceship and I fear dying during character creation.
posted to MetaFilter by justsomebodythatyouusedtoknow at 12:38 PM on June 26, 2016

That's why you have to stay skinny for Jesus.

Thanks a fucking million for putting that in my Amazon history. I'm gonna be fighting off bizarre "recommended for you"s for weeks.
posted to MetaFilter by Itaxpica at 7:54 AM on June 22, 2016

The emotional side of my brain cheers along with the dissent. The lawyer side leans grudgingly toward the majority.

Really? My lawyer side's been saying Whren was wrongly decided since law school, and that this decision by the majority is just another thing calcifying a massive, racist mistake in jurisprudence.
posted to MetaFilter by kafziel at 3:10 PM on June 21, 2016

entwhistle fan, is all
posted to MetaFilter by j_curiouser at 9:06 AM on June 16, 2016

Step 1) Institute type 12 to the federal firearms licence as gun owner.

Step 2) Wire it to every police database you can get your hands on and have it on a shall issue basis.

Step 3) Give every doctor and police officer the ability to flag an individual for scrutiny and possible revocation.

Step 4) Every transaction, dealer or personal, involves assigning a gun the owner's FFL number. You can take a gun's serial, put it... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Talez at 11:19 AM on June 15, 2016

RE: Hillary's VP pick—
Is Tipper Gore available? I think Clinton/Gore has a nice ring to it, don'cha think?
posted to MetaFilter by Atom Eyes at 3:56 PM on June 13, 2016

Please don't confuse ISIS and their agenda with the basic homophobia of US culture. This could easily have been someone from any background. I doubt the men who chased me through a parking lot with baseball bats back in the early 90s were associated with ISIS. But they certainly were part of America.
posted to MetaFilter by hippybear at 5:01 PM on June 12, 2016

God, is there nowhere left for me to pursue my love of questionably legal pornography and my irrational hatred of fat people?
posted to MetaFilter by leotrotsky at 7:13 PM on June 8, 2016

infosec: why did we tolerate this horrible toxic person in our midst for so long we need to do a better job of policing our community going forward

me: what about the misogynistic actual nazi

infosec: haha, what, weev's cool
posted to MetaFilter by phooky at 7:40 PM on June 7, 2016

For a long time, my ideal solution has been that if you want to exercise your 2nd Amendment rights, you joined a "well regulated militia". These militias could then have (controlled, secured, and restricted) access to whatever guns they wanted and could afford depending on how secure and how well funded they are. If you've got military grade security, discipline, and whatever else deemed necessary then sure have a fully functional tank.

Well, it turns out... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by VTX at 3:30 PM on June 5, 2016

Ah, but they never did it properly, you see. Real neoliberalism hasn't been tried. These countries that call themselves neoliberal are not really neoliberal at all. The problem is not that neoliberalism failed, but that we were never neoliberal enough. People are actually crying out for a real, thoroughly neoliberal government, and they absolutely would vote for it in droves if only the politicians had the guts to offer the real thing.
posted to MetaFilter by Segundus at 4:44 AM on June 1, 2016

Can the Third Way die in a fire along with Neoliberalism?
posted to MetaFilter by Talez at 4:33 AM on June 1, 2016

The US has a system where all citizens abroad file their taxes with US authorities and may be liable to pay on income earnt outside the US. The UK need worldwide taxation for citizens now

Please, no. The US system is terrible and problematic. If you're not resident in a country and don't earn any income there then it shouldn't be taxing you. Period. Citizenship isn't a product you buy with tax payments, it's a human right.
posted to MetaFilter by GuyZero at 12:03 PM on May 27, 2016

Salon's model seems to be "wait for a right-winger to say something dumb, then write 1000 words of outraged squawk". This is in keeping with the US left's decades-long strategy of reacting to idiocy instead of doing the hard work of trying to shift the conversation, and I'm so very tired of it.
posted to MetaFilter by BitterOldPunk at 9:13 AM on May 27, 2016

What would someone recommend instead of Dropbox?

A dedicated NAS appliance chained to your bedpost running ssh and sshfs on your clients.
posted to MetaFilter by RonButNotStupid at 6:16 PM on May 26, 2016

Brandon: SpiderOak.
posted to MetaFilter by mystyk at 6:09 PM on May 26, 2016

LINK TO ME SCREAMING At PEOPLE ABOUT BEING GAY IN THE 40s
posted to MetaFilter by The Whelk at 11:45 PM on May 25, 2016

It's not about the number of favorite you have, it's all about your favorites per comment ratio.
posted to MetaTalk by entropicamericana at 11:37 AM on May 10, 2016

> Film? What's that?

Know what a movie is? Same thing.
posted to MetaFilter by glonous keming at 10:12 AM on May 25, 2016

"The film lays on the cutting room floor"

Film? What's that?
posted to MetaFilter by I-baLL at 10:01 AM on May 25, 2016

This feminism certainly has things to answer for; in addition to its penchant for sabotaging its own allies, it must be challenged on the damage it has done to university life with its militant opposition to free speech.

ಠ_ಠ
posted to MetaFilter by LogicalDash at 7:30 AM on May 17, 2016

I'm perfectly willing to accept that a raised minimum wage is the tipping point at which it finally becomes cheaper--or more palatable to the system/corporation--to have a robot, rather than a person, doing a menial, repetitive job.

It doesn't invalidate any of the other points people are making above. And it's sure as hell not an argument for not trying to raise the minimum, which is part of the general subtext IBD is pushing in that Wendy's article, and a point CA... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by aspersioncast at 5:27 AM on May 15, 2016

A few links from threads here over the years that have some interesting anecdotes:

Nattie's comment in the Hi Whatcha Reading thread about the effect of daily unwanted attention

decathecting's comment in another thread about being seen as "an ATM for attention"

What are some things men encounter or do that women don't know about? - this turned into a wide-ranging discussion with plenty of tired stereotypes which... [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by LobsterMitten at 8:06 PM on March 24, 2011

I think, within certain limits, our culture negatively sanctions women less for "masculine" traits than men for "feminine" traits. I say within certain limits because after a certain point, tomboyish gets called butch and Lord knows that is not sexy or okay, amirite?! But a woman who likes playing flag football? Would generally be considered hot. A man who is a ballet dancer would be more likely to be subject to a lot of name-calling.

When we... [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by hegemone at 6:58 PM on March 24, 2011

Thoreau had his problems, too (and there's a cottage industry attempting to document how full of shit he was), but Walden is still interesting. Same with McCandless. I think that's part of what makes McCandless so appealing: the fact that he does have obvious flaws, that he isn't perfect. He's relatable.

That said, he probably did die of plain old starvation, and Krakauer should probably let it go. It kind of cheapens the story. There's a dignity in trying and failing,... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by kevinbelt at 8:00 PM on May 12, 2016

“The bottom line is Trump will be able to fill these jobs because there is a whole class of people who want these titles so badly it doesn’t matter who is president,” said a former senior George W. Bush administration official. “But these are B- or C-level people. They are honorable, but not very good. The A-level people, and there are not that many of them to begin with, mostly don’t want to work for Trump. He will cut the A-level bench of available policy talent at least in half, if... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by ennui.bz at 10:44 AM on May 9, 2016

Nope, it's a No True Scotsman thing. The evidence that they haven't nominated a True Conservative is that they have lost.
posted to MetaFilter by feckless fecal fear mongering at 10:25 AM on May 9, 2016

"Today You, Tomorrow Me"
posted to MetaFilter by lalochezia at 3:45 PM on May 6, 2016

Maybe us white dudes can work our asses off to support women & minorities running for office, instead of running ourselves. I can hang with that.
posted to MetaFilter by Devils Rancher at 11:05 AM on May 6, 2016

I felt a great disturbance in the Force, as if thousands of down-ticket Republican candidates suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced. I fear something terrible has happened.
posted to MetaFilter by dersins at 6:00 PM on May 3, 2016

Get in the fucking sea.
posted to MetaFilter by PeterMcDermott at 5:43 AM on May 3, 2016

I don't use my phone while driving and I am strongly opposed to this idea. Get a warrant/court order if you want someone's data. It's not similar to breathalyzers because the evidence of alcohol naturally disappears over time so needs to be recorded at the scene. Texts/messages stick around on the phone/server/receiver's phone.
posted to MetaFilter by michaelh at 7:50 AM on May 2, 2016

Gee, how could this possibly be misused? I wonder.

[Time passes.]

Activist friends are constantly getting pulled over and having their phones checked. The phones are often confiscated or returned broken. Sex worker friends' phones are checked and they're arrested if anything indiscreet pops up. People of color find that their messages are subject to greater scrutiny, and suddenly "hey, want to get dim sum" is turned into code for... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Frowner at 7:45 AM on May 2, 2016

I doubt it's been much different for any empire, but man Americans do double-down on ignorance-of-what's-being-done-in-our-name. Perhaps, it's that so many Americans are in denial of even being an empire that makes it so egregious.
posted to MetaFilter by philip-random at 11:08 AM on April 30, 2016

Millennials are a lot older than that. Our housing crisis is already shifting into a new sort of crisis because a huge portion of the people who are culturally on the cusp of "home ownership" are saying "no, and not just because I can't afford it, b

The definition of millennial seems to change based on whether it's a kids-these-days article or a why-won't-these-assholes-grow-up-and-buy-a-house one.

Like I'm 30... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by bradbane at 11:29 AM on April 27, 2016

Seriously, this is kinda like saying "Studies show teenagers don't like chores".

Nah, it's more like saying teenagers don't like the idea of living in a feudal future where our education, healthcare and job choices are dictated by a powerful group of wealthy people who have absolutely no loyalty to any group other than themselves.

Seriously, as someone on the older side of millennial, barring a major change, my... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by neonrev at 11:05 AM on April 27, 2016

What does a naive 20 year old actually mean when he says he rejects capitalism?

What does a naïve 40 year old actually mean when they say get off my lawn?
posted to MetaFilter by FirstMateKate at 6:03 AM on April 27, 2016

But other experts pointed out that the unemployment rate had been declining in the latter period of the study, and questioned how important the economy was to suicide.

"Yeah, there's lots more jobs now - I've got three of them!" as my dad used to say.

But seriously, it really almost offends me that the emphasis is on "let's increase 'suicide prevention' medical interventions" and not on... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Frowner at 8:57 AM on April 22, 2016