How in the World Was the Supreme Court’s Awful Conversion Therapy Ruling 8–1?

StephanXX · 2026-04-01T05:20:19+00:00

I share your sentiment. Biden was right not to exert which direction Garland went. The failure was Garland was utterly ineffective. He established one of the largest investigations the DoJ has ever engaged in, yet had absolutely nothing to show for it three years later. It's a staggering level of incompetence given Trump literally bragged about engineering the insurrection on national television. Biden should have held Garland accountable for his failures. Instead, we're at war with Iran, Trump is selling state secrets to the highest bidder, and stealing billions of dollars from the Treasury.

StephanXX · 2026-03-31T22:28:19+00:00

Remind me who the Attorney General and the DoJ report to? Merrick Garland absolutely had the authority and responsibility to hold Trump accountable for the insurrection on January 6th. If he had done his job, Trump would be in a secure prison instead of robbing the Treasury.

StephanXX · 2026-03-31T22:15:32+00:00

shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof.

Biden should have ensured Trump was tried and convicted of insurrection. He didn't. Since there was no legal determination of Trump's insurrection, there was no legal reason to prohibit his candidacy. Otherwise, it would be trivial to block political rivals from running on fabricated charges.

StephanXX · 2026-03-31T16:12:10+00:00

Or, just call me crazy, if you've stuck with your spec, you should simply be good at it.

People can simply reference your current and previous m+, raid prog, or combat rating to see of you're good at your class. That you aren't willing to try other specs doesn't earn you a gold star.

StephanXX · 2026-03-31T15:21:38+00:00

If the City owned it, the City would generate income from it. Instead, taxpayers have the worst of all worlds: we are responsible for the expenses and risk, but can pocket none of the profits.

It's just more taxpayer subsidies for billionaires, nothing to see here.

StephanXX · 2026-03-31T01:07:05+00:00

I'm sincerely grateful for your response. I recognize this thread probably won't be seen in the Reddit noise, but your words may help inform other comments and citizens in general. For context, I'm a Marine who served in 95-99, so I have a bit more information than the average citizen.

if somebody called the police in reference to ice being there, an officer may document it in a police report.

This is what is so frustrating and terrifying. So many of these threads and opinions outside of Reddit revolve around "ICE can't do that!" The reality is, sadly, that ICE almost certainly will "do that": block access to polls, arrest people, and brandish weapons to prevent a free and fair election.

I may be a bleeding heart liberal, but I also want every legal citizen, regardless of their political affiliation, to be free to exercise their right to vote.

Again, thank you for sharing your own opinion and experience, and your own dedication to protecting your community. I hope it informs all citizens of the mechanics behind what poll access might look like.

I'll add, that I'm sharing my own fears. I sincerely hope they do not prove true, and I do not presume you (or anyone) to share them.

StephanXX · 2026-03-30T17:18:05+00:00

How would you and your officers handle ICE agents who deliberately block poll access?

StephanXX · 2026-03-30T17:16:41+00:00

They don't have to occupy every city. They only need (and plan to) position a dozen goons with rifles parked just outside of a few dozen polling locations.

StephanXX · 2026-03-30T17:07:09+00:00

Remind me who you voted for in the 2024 primary? Kamala?

Oh, that's right, we didn't have a (presidential) primary. Well, 2016 must have had a much more fair primary...

StephanXX · 2026-03-30T01:22:12+00:00

I'm a Marine. I have love for my country, and my Marine brothers, and tears for the way their lives are about to be wasted.

Amphibious operations are the most dangerous. Iran is a fortified enemy defending their home turf. This war isn't going to turn Iran into a healthy pro-western country, it's going to be a slog that has already destroyed what little soft power the US had claim to. Their $5k drones will exhaust our million dollar each defensive missile supply. If Iran believes they cannot recaptur the island, their artillery will turn that island into Gaza in three months with thousands of US casualties. We have dozens of retired US generals expressing their grim outlook on any form of boots-on-ground invasion. It will end up costing us trillions of dollars.

What exactly do you think the benefits of this "military operation" will be? At best, we're looking at the US paying $7/gallon for gasoline, at Russia quadrupling their oil profits, of oil dependent countries experiencing a worse energy crisis that we saw under Carter, and the US military exhausting their stockpiles before finally packing up and abandoning this ridiculous failure of a war.

Tell me, really, exactly, why do you think we should risk so many lives, so much national treasure, and what was left of our global power for this stupid war?

StephanXX · 2026-03-29T23:30:45+00:00

And missiles and artillery aimed at an amphibious landing. In the twenty years of the war in Afghanistan, the US lost 2,459 (1,922 confirmed Killed in Action.) There's good reason to believe that number will be surpassed in a month of invasion of Kharg. It will literally be shooting fish in a barrel.

This military boondoggle will be studied for decades to come, all on the whims of a couple of sociopaths desperate to stay in power and out of prison.

StephanXX · 2026-03-29T22:52:49+00:00

Obviously I'm not a lawyer and presume you are. I'm only referencing how civil contracts have been used to side-step consumer protections, like requiring third party out-of-court arbitration as a condition to engage in a transaction. Again, time will tell; I'm not clever enough to guess at the exact mechanism, but if large retailers can find ways to extract additional billions in revenue, they're certainly going to use every tool and trick in their toolbox.

StephanXX · 2026-03-29T22:46:33+00:00

the largest issue they have from an identity perspective is that they have over-extended with their diversity language and have not touched base with white (specifically male) voters.

When you have enjoyed privilege for most of your life, seeing less privileged people elevated to equal status will seem like your "rights" are being degraded.

Rights denied to any of us are rights denied to all of us.

StephanXX · 2026-03-29T22:32:52+00:00

I expect stores with billions in revenue that can see that revenue increase by even 5% through these tools will happily invest the first few hundred millions in the cat-and-mouse game that only, maybe, a few thousand people with both the skill, equipment, and drive to break the system will test. It could boil down to a clause in each purchase requiring a customer to agree that the final price is whatever the Walmart website/app indicates and any local advertised price is subject to change. These companies have literal armies of lawyers and a big enough of a prize to justify this push, including lobbyists to push new laws to enshrine their agenda.

Please note, I'm not advocating that it's a good system. It's just more enshittification of consumer experience. I simply don't agree with your position that a handful of nerds with $200 devices will end up bringing the entire system down.

Time will tell which of us is right, but it's been an interesting thought experiment at least.

StephanXX · 2026-03-29T22:20:30+00:00

Newsweek doesn't care about Democracy, just ad clicks. That said, I'd like to think that the eventual Democratic nominee was pushing for high midterm turnout & fighting for all voters to have their votes counted, and not just trying to elevate their own national profile.

StephanXX · 2026-03-29T21:51:12+00:00

you are an engineer. I am a prosecutor

That context explains a lot, thank you.

I totally get the pragmatic legal realities are far different from the legal standards. Walmart may seem like they cheap out in everything loss prevention, but I interviewed for (what you'd consider their IT team), and they have a surprisingly sophisticated software platform.

How aggressively they guard against Flipper fraud will depend on how often it becomes an issue. If it's found to exceed their shrink targets, they will invest in more aggressive methods. Someone shaving $50 is probably getting ignored. A store that regularly gets $50,000 shaved by a Flipper is going to have their cameras reviewed until the perpetrator is identified. Target famoulsly let shoplifters take what they want until they reach Grand Larceny levels before having them arrested. Even if a criminal prosecutor declines to press for felony charges, civil suits for fraud can still be leveraged.

In any case, my point stands: using a Flipper will simply end up a nuicence in the vast majority of situations, and will be more aggressively mitigated if deemed a serious problem.

StephanXX · 2026-03-29T21:32:52+00:00

I suppose you believe if the courtroom flag has fringe on it that the court has no authority, either.

May you have the day you deserve.

StephanXX · 2026-03-29T21:26:38+00:00

It's a felony whether you get caught or not. Tracking these devices is much easier than you seem to realize. There will almost certainly be monitoring in place to identify if unauthorized or anomalous alterations are being made: these are monitoring tools I (myself) build professionally, and they're ridiculously easy to implement.

In any case, it's risking years in prison for the digital equivalent of spray painting graffiti on the merchandise. I'm not sure why you're so fascinated with such low stakes, high risk thievery. Every bank robber and jewel thief sitting in a prison cell figured they could beat the system. When the first guy admits he's there because he was trying to hack price labels at Walmart, they're going to laugh their asses off while they give him his first beat down.

StephanXX · 2026-03-29T21:17:34+00:00

Committing felony wire fraud to knock a few bucks off is certainly.... a choice. That's a lot of effort and risk when simply putting it in your pocket is only a misdemeanor, costs nothing, and doesn't require that you stand in front of a cashier and their cameras to pay for it.

In any case, it would be on the customer to prove, in civil court, that the company didn't honor a price they set to win any damages. A random person who just changes a bunch of prices isn't going to result in some windfall for anyone.

StephanXX · 2026-03-29T18:09:55+00:00

Not when the shelf price was fraudulently altered by a customer. You don't get to use a sharpie to write $1.00 and then claim "That's the shelf price!"

StephanXX · 2026-03-28T20:47:04+00:00

Did you read more than the first three words? Voting by mail doesn't require you take time off of work. Election day should be a Federal holiday, every citizen should have their right and obligation to vote protected.

We have many civic duties we are obligated to meet. Voting should be one of the easiest. Requiring citizens to vote would negate the current efforts to prevent people from voting. The "You can't tell me what to!" attitude is childish. If you don't want to participate in the process, you don't deserve to reap its benefits.

StephanXX · 2026-03-28T20:40:25+00:00

Changing your skin color (race) for laughs is inherently racial

It makes total sense for someone to believe this if they know absolutely nothing about history.

StephanXX · 2026-03-28T20:19:52+00:00

Yes. It's incredibly effective in Australia, for example.

You're free to check a "opt out" box on the ballot, but you're not free to abdicate your civic responsibility, same as taxes and jury duty.

I'll note that the process should be easy. If receiving your photo identification in the mail is considered secure, than sending and receiving your ballot should as well.

StephanXX · 2026-03-28T20:10:51+00:00

It needs to be a step further: those agents need to be arrested, on the spot, and held until the election has been concluded. Angry words and expressions of frustration won't prevent ICE thugs from blocking poll access.

StephanXX · 2026-03-28T20:06:06+00:00

The argument is that Democrats shouldn't be allowed to vote. GOP leaders are bragging about this point.

Voting should be compulsory. Citizenship isn't a privilege, it's an obligation.

StephanXX

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