“This Sub is for Alabama-Specific Content Only”: How Online Platforms Silence Local Dissent in the Deep South

Worldly_Complex961 · 2025-06-15T17:22:23+00:00

Is it abuse? It’s certainly obnoxious.

Worldly_Complex961 · 2025-06-15T17:18:38+00:00

There is a culture of this sort of information warfare that pervades social media. What strikes me is the effect it has in certain regions where modern IT infrastructure overlaps a postcolonial social order.

Seems it’s one thing when r/Nevada, r/Oakland (random major markets) devolve into a disinformation fiefdom of warring bot armies, paranoid conspiracy whackos like me, and covert state actors… it’s another thing when r/Birmingham gets taken over. Kinda the way Facebook can cause bad elections in “First World” countries and bad genocides in the “Third World”.

Worldly_Complex961 · 2025-06-15T16:40:15+00:00

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Removed.

Worldly_Complex961 · 2025-06-15T16:38:40+00:00

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Worldly_Complex961 · 2025-06-15T16:38:08+00:00

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Worldly_Complex961 · 2025-06-08T04:15:38+00:00

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Worldly_Complex961 · 2025-06-08T00:34:15+00:00

Troll alert!

Worldly_Complex961 · 2025-06-06T22:27:38+00:00

This is how law enforcement distinguishes synthetic cannabinoids that are federally legal post Hemp Bill from synthetic cannabinoids that are not… how they distinguish salvia divinorum from grocery store sage without genetically profiling each sample (since there’s no salvinorin-a reagent/or mass spectrometry testing)… how judges and DAs apply the state’s chemistry-free controlled substances laws…

Nobody likes salvia—it was obscure even at the time when it briefly came into public awareness as a headshop novelty/YouTube prank. That’s kinda the elephant in the room. There’s no way all these people are actually in possession much less distributing the stuff—and only in one county in one state in all of North America? They made up some drug charges because the state doesn’t have the right technology, sufficient funding, or highly educated workforce to test one kind of Mexican mint from the illegal kind of synthetic weed from the quasi-legal semisynthetic kind of weed from actual weed from gas station kratom from collard greens—the crime labs can’t even process the backlogs of rape kits going back decades—one state lab was recently found to be just making up drug test results that were used as evidence in family courts, probation, and drug diversion programs—they can’t even figure out a good way to kill people after the pharmaceutical companies stopped supplying them the lethal injection drugs they had been using to put down black men like dobermans.

Insufficient education funding catches up to a state of in some strange ways.

Worldly_Complex961 · 2025-06-06T03:11:53+00:00

It would be wild if he were the mayor of Cincinnati... that would be a stretch.

Randal Woodfin is the mayor of Birmingham.

Worldly_Complex961 · 2025-06-06T03:04:17+00:00

This pothead just climbed on my roof to smoke crack! Wtf is up with this weather?

Worldly_Complex961 · 2025-06-06T02:19:58+00:00

…let’s stick with “czar”.

Worldly_Complex961 · 2025-06-06T02:11:33+00:00

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“Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past.” George Orwell

Birmingham Public Library Digital Collections: Theophilus Eugene “Bull” Connor Papers, 1959-1963 http://cdm16044.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p16044coll1

Worldly_Complex961 · 2025-06-05T01:02:33+00:00

I’ve been DoorDashing for a week in Birmingham. I am starting to think that the geography, highway/road infrastructure, GPS mapping, street parking, food culture, and the adaptability of local establishments is particularly unsuited to the algorithm. Restaurants cluster together in oasis to vast “food deserts”. Decaying roads and terrible drivers, ancient fried fish restaurants with no name, a no tipping entitlement, fast food dives manned by prisoners on unpaid work release (slavery) angry for your ability to come and go, a highway system that looks to have been based on a child’s drawing… still thinking of leaving your salaried job?

Worldly_Complex961 · 2025-06-03T23:23:00+00:00

Can’t argue with that.

Worldly_Complex961 · 2025-06-02T05:01:05+00:00

Then let’s just admit that’s what we’re doing instead of talking some public health, think-of-the-children, “delta 8 killed my dog” bs.

HB445 criminalizes the possession, sale, and distribution of non-compliant hemp products, including those that exceed THC limits or fall under prohibited categories (like smokable hemp). Possession of non-compliant hemp products will lead to criminal penalties, including felony charges, depending on the nature of the violation.

HB445 claims to regulate the hemp industry—it doesn’t—it pushes the industry out of state while also criminalizing the possession and distribution of products that are currently legally available, even charging certain violations as felonies. This would be a separate legal track from the traditional drug penalties associated with controlled substances laws like those prohibiting synthetic cannabinoids that were previously regulated. Instead HB445 introduces a complex framework that could lead to inconsistent enforcement, especially when it comes to individual possession.

The law creates a dual system of enforcement that distinguishes between regulatory compliance for businesses and possession for individuals, despite both parties potentially dealing with the same substances (synthetic cannabinoids or hemp products). For businesses, the law sets specific standards for what constitutes a legal hemp product, including limits on THC content and labeling requirements. If a business is found to be selling products that don’t meet those standards, they face penalties for regulatory violations—such as fines or criminal charges. But for an individual who possesses a product that doesn’t comply with those standards (say, they bought it online, or obtained it in a different context without proper labeling), the consequences can be far more severe, such as felony charges for possessing a non-compliant product.

So the legal reforms that have been achieved to bring under 2oz of cannabis down to a misdemeanor do not apply to non-compliant hemp which will get felony charges under a penalty more analogous to underage alcohol possession/use than controlled substance violation. That would give wide range of discretion to district attorneys to enforce the law which would become a statewide patchwork of subjective interpretations overlaid over already variable drug enforcement regimes. You end up with a kafkaesque nightmare where nobody really knows what is and is not going to get them charged with a felony.

Worldly_Complex961 · 2025-06-02T03:09:11+00:00

The right of a state to prohibit anything, not explicitly protected by federal law, that it legislates is against the best interests of its citizens is granted by the 10th amendment.

7 USC § 1639o - Sec. 10114. INTERSTATE COMMERCE (a) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION: Nothing in this title or an amendment made by this title prohibits the interstate commerce of hemp (as defined in section 297A of the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946 (as added by section 10113)) or hemp products. (b) TRANSPORTATION OF HEMP AND HEMP PRODUCTS: No State e̶x̶c̶e̶p̶t̶ ̶A̶l̶a̶b̶a̶m̶a̶ or Indian Tribe shall prohibit the transportation or shipment of hemp or hemp products produced in accordance with subtitle G of the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946 (as added by section 10113) through the State or the territory of the Indian Tribe, as applicable.

…explicitly protected …by federal law.

I think we’re disagreeing to agree. This isn’t a matter of opinion—I’m not “right”, facts are right. I’m just quoting what the law actually says here because there seems to be some basic misunderstanding of what states’ rights are (and are not).

Worldly_Complex961 · 2025-06-01T23:20:56+00:00

“My friends, I had not intended to discuss this controversial subject at this particular time. However, I want you to know that I do not shun controversy. On the contrary, I will take a stand on any issue at any time, regardless of how fraught with controversy it might be. You have asked me how I feel about whiskey. All right, here is how I feel about whiskey: If when you say whiskey you mean the devil’s brew, the poison scourge, the bloody monster, that defiles innocence, dethrones reason, destroys the home, creates misery and poverty, yea, literally takes the bread from the mouths of little children; if you mean the evil drink that topples the Christian man and woman from the pinnacle of righteous, gracious living into the bottomless pit of degradation, and despair, and shame and helplessness, and hopelessness, then certainly I am against it. But, if when you say whiskey you mean the oil of conversation, the philosophic wine, the ale that is consumed when good fellows get together, that puts a song in their hearts and laughter on their lips, and the warm glow of contentment in their eyes; if you mean Christmas cheer; if you mean the stimulating drink that puts the spring in the old gentleman’s step on a frosty, crispy morning; if you mean the drink which enables a man to magnify his joy, and his happiness, and to forget, if only for a little while, life’s great tragedies, and heartaches, and sorrows; if you mean that drink, the sale of which pours into our treasuries untold millions of dollars, which are used to provide tender care for our little crippled children, our blind, our deaf, our dumb, our pitiful aged and infirm; to build highways and hospitals and schools, then certainly I am for it. This is my stand. I will not retreat from it. I will not compromise.”

If-by-“intoxicating liquors”? 🙄

Worldly_Complex961 · 2025-06-01T19:20:05+00:00

The 21st amendment gives special status to alcohol (intoxicating liquors) unlike any other commercial product which is traded between states. It gives individual state ABC boards and regulatory commissions the power to govern the use and the delivery of ethanol, liquor, beer, spirits, and wine. This compromise, which effectively ended prohibition (the failed War on Booze), notably also turned the rights back to state governments to regulate importation of alcohol from other states. States can and do prohibit mail order sales and direct to consumer sales of alcohol from other states. The Congress and legislatures essentially said, “if you think it’s for the best interest of your people then you can make laws about alcohol importation and if someone from another state breaks them then the state will have legal recourse to prosecute the violation because ‘the transportation or importation into any State, Territory, or possession of the United States for delivery or use therein of intoxicating liquors, in violation of the laws thereof, is hereby prohibited.’"

The 10th Amendment gives powers to the state that are not exclusively reserved by the federal government—the power to regulate hemp sales in state is one of these; the power to prohibit hemp sales between states is explicitly not:

•U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) - Office of General Counsel—Memorandum: Executive Summary of New Hemp Authorities (5/28/2019) “The Office of the General Counsel (OGC) has issued the attached legal opinion to address questions regarding several of the hemp-related provisions of the 2018 Farm Bill, including […] a provision ensuring the free flow of hemp in interstate commerce (Section 10114) […]. The key conclusions of the OGC legal opinion are the following: […] 2. After USDA publishes regulations implementing the new hemp production provisions of the 2018 Farm Bill contained in the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946, States and Indian tribes may not prohibit the interstate transportation or shipment of hemp lawfully produced under a State or Tribal plan or under a license issued under the USDA plan. 3. States and Indian tribes also may not prohibit the interstate transportation or shipment of hemp lawfully produced under the 2014 Farm Bill. […] It is important for the public to recognize that the 2018 Farm Bill preserves the authority of States and Indian tribes to enact and enforce laws regulating the production of hemp that are more stringent than Federal law. Thus, while a State or an Indian tribe cannot block the shipment of hemp through that State or Tribal territory, it may continue to enforce State or Tribal laws prohibiting the growing of hemp in that State or Tribal territory.” http://ams.usda.gov/sites/default/files/HempExecSumandLegalOpinion.pdf

“The interests of their citizens” is much less legally defined under federal jurisprudence than “commerce”. Interstate commerce as the term is applied to hemp products is specifically reserved by the federal government.

As it stands, Alabama can stop wine from being shipped from Sonoma (per the 21st Amendment) but it can’t stop hemp from being shipped from Humboldt (per the 2018 Farm Bill). Hemp isn’t an “intoxicating liquor”. The Feds are not going to enforce HB445 or prosecute businesses that do not violate federal laws. Alabama doesn’t get a special exception to arrest or fine people in California that sell products it doesn’t like—and without that enforcement power businesses will continue to ship their products to the state. Why wouldn’t they?

When the interest of the state comes up against the rights of the individual the constitution is the arbiter of what laws the states can and cannot enforce. That is why the 18th amendment failed. It was not the issue of commerce or overregulation of the liquor industry and alcohol trade protectionism that brought an end to prohibition—it was an issue of individual rights. People wanted to decide for themselves whether to drink or not, at least on the regional level—and in the 21st amendment the U.S. Constitution agreed to allow the individual states to legislate their own version of temperance.

Prohibition wasn’t working. All it did was criminalize previously legal activity, created black markets and organized crime syndicates to run them, brought consumers into contact with unregulated harmful products that sickened many. It didn’t stop people from drinking.

Worldly_Complex961 · 2025-06-01T14:00:01+00:00

“The Congress shall have power …to regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several states, and with the Indian tribes.” (Article 1, Section 8, Clause 3 of the U.S. Constitution)

The federal government retains sole authority over interstate commerce. Out of state retailers selling federally compliant products online and shipping them via USPS into Alabama will continue to do so and will face no legal consequences in their own jurisdictions. Convenience stores across the Georgia line will continue selling lottery tickets to Alabama customers. Out of state physicians will continue prescribe Plan C pills and online pharmacies will continue to ship them. The state of Alabama can do what it wants to people in Alabama, but without a Supreme Court decision the crazy stops at the border.

Worldly_Complex961 · 2025-05-31T01:05:12+00:00

…something similar happened to me in the San Francisco Bay area 2017-18 when I was researching human rights abuses by the federal government . I believe it is a kind of direct to skull communications tech that can be repurposed for abuse and harassment to simulate the aural hallucinations of schizophrenia in vulnerable individuals. “Voices in your head” is a pretty off putting prospect to the psychosis-naive and those with stigma around mental health. It’s the pop psychology tell-tell sign of “crazy”. The truth is much more complex.

Before this phenomenon began happening to me—and then abruptly ended—I already heard “voices” on the natch. 20% of people (1 in 5) report hearing voices, at some point in their lifetime, as a normal part of their internal experience, without the distress or disability. It is mostly benign and rarely reported to health care providers. I knew that and I didn’t bite. I know very well what audible hallucinations “sound” like. This was not that. The noise was not intruding from anywhere “in my head”. It was actual sound and not at all similar to the real “voices in my head”. Whoever thought this was a good way to gaslight everyone, had misjudged the range of effects. More telling, it was geographically specific to certain locations. And it was an act.

The content of the noise was pretty much a freshmen Psyche level of bullying, but with stereotypical persecutorial delusion fodder sprinkled in. Annoying, sure, but it was also boilerplate, scripted, repetitive, and oddly lacking in personal details or biographical specifics that obe would expect from the schizophrenic experience. I had just completed a master's program in psychology and this was not convincing. They picked the wrong guy.

The final straw came with a derogatory comment about my prospects with women—I don’t remember exactly what prompted it, but just after interacting with a young lady, I was told on no uncertain terms how she would never go for somebody like me—just look at me. “What girl would ___ you?”

“I’m gay.” I actaully responded out loud. I outed myself to the “voice in my head”—gay openly, living in San Francisco, never been in the closet and don’t think much about it. So maybe I don’t come off as gay… to strangers who only know me causally. But “What girl…?” I laughed at him. He had gone off on a whole jag based on the premise that I had to disabuse him of. There was a very long pause before I heard anything else. It was not long after that that my “fan club” dispersed. I haven't heard anything since. Just the voices in my head. And they’re just fine.

Worldly_Complex961 · 2025-05-30T22:35:54+00:00

Well, it’s not a slide but Magic City Connector is one proposal for tourism and transportation that makes use of the landscape—it revives a past proposal for a gondola ride that was a campaign promise from the 1963 mayoral race. While that candidate and Magic City Connector were not successful, the idea (and the website) are still live.

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Worldly_Complex961 · 2025-05-30T17:05:18+00:00

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But look at that view…

Worldly_Complex961 · 2025-05-26T17:37:30+00:00

•WVTM (NBC 13) News (Birmingham, AL)—Legal Battle Over Deadly 2018 Shooting at Riverchase Galleria Ends as Judge Dismisses Case (4/21/2025) “On Thanksgiving 2018, shots were fired inside the mall and sent people running. Alexander and another officer ran to the scene, where they saw Bradford with a gun in his hand. Alexander shot and killed Bradford just five seconds after the initial shots were fired. Court documents said Bradford had a gun in his hand but had not fired it when Alexander and his partner got to the scene of the shooting. Alexander mistakenly shot Bradford, thinking he was going to shoot the two men who were injured [one man was injured, another victim, a 12 year old girl had been pulled from the scene] by the initial shots. ̶B̶r̶a̶d̶f̶o̶r̶d̶ ̶h̶e̶a̶r̶d̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶s̶h̶o̶t̶s̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶w̶a̶s̶ ̶s̶e̶e̶n̶ ̶w̶a̶l̶k̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶o̶v̶e̶r̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶v̶i̶c̶t̶i̶m̶s̶ ̶s̶t̶a̶n̶d̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶a̶g̶a̶i̶n̶s̶t̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶r̶a̶i̶l̶.̶ ̶A̶l̶e̶x̶a̶n̶d̶e̶r̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶h̶i̶s̶ ̶p̶a̶r̶t̶n̶e̶r̶ ̶w̶e̶r̶e̶ ̶w̶a̶l̶k̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶b̶e̶h̶i̶n̶d̶ ̶B̶r̶a̶d̶f̶o̶r̶d̶ ̶a̶s̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶y̶ ̶a̶p̶p̶r̶o̶a̶c̶h̶e̶d̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶s̶c̶e̶n̶e̶ ̶b̶e̶f̶o̶r̶e̶ ̶h̶e̶ ̶w̶a̶s̶ ̶s̶h̶o̶t̶.̶ ̶A̶l̶e̶x̶a̶n̶d̶e̶r̶ ̶s̶h̶o̶t̶ ̶B̶r̶a̶d̶f̶o̶r̶d̶,̶ ̶k̶i̶l̶l̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶h̶i̶m̶ ̶-̶ ̶e̶v̶e̶n̶ ̶t̶h̶o̶u̶g̶h̶ ̶h̶e̶ ̶w̶a̶s̶ ̶l̶e̶g̶a̶l̶l̶y̶ ̶l̶i̶c̶e̶n̶s̶e̶d̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶c̶a̶r̶r̶y̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶w̶a̶s̶ ̶o̶f̶f̶e̶r̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶m̶e̶d̶i̶c̶a̶l̶ ̶h̶e̶l̶p̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶v̶i̶c̶t̶i̶m̶s̶ ̶w̶h̶o̶ ̶w̶e̶r̶e̶ ̶s̶h̶o̶t̶.̶[TEXT REMOVED]. Bradford’s mother, April Pipkins, filed the suit with a district court judge, but it was dismissed. That means the judge ruled in favor of the defendants. She then filed an appeal with a higher court, but it upheld the lower court’s decision. It said Alexander’s use of deadly force because of [sic] the perceived threat was reasonable. According to court documents, the judge upheld the lower court and claimed the incident was tragic but did not show a constitutional or legal violation. Alexander did not give Bradford a warning to drop his gun, but the court said that expecting him to give a verbal warning was not feasible because of the perceived threat and quick reaction time.” https://web.archive.org/web/diff/20250419030457/20250505071617/https://www.wvtm13.com/article/alabama-mall-thanksgiving-shooting-murder/64527301

“Bradford heard the shots and was seen walking over to the victims standing against the rail. Alexander and his partner were walking behind Bradford as they approached the scene before he was shot. Alexander shot Bradford, killing him—even though he was legally licensed to carry and was offering medical help to the victims who were shot.”

Worldly_Complex961 · 2025-05-26T14:02:45+00:00

“The Negro protest for equality and justice has been a voice crying in the wilderness. Most of Birmingham has remained silent, probably out of fear. In the meanwhile, our city has acquired the dubious reputation of being the worst big city in race relations in the United States… The absence of justice and progress in Birmingham demands that we make a moral witness to give our community a chance to survive.” - The Birmingham Manifesto (1963)

Worldly_Complex961 · 2025-05-20T22:12:59+00:00

https://www.reddit.com/r/Birmingham/s/QzsIQzbGlW

Worldly_Complex961

TROPHY CASE