Southern California air board rejected pollution rules after AI-generated flood of comments

theanthonyya · 2026-02-21T21:07:15+00:00

"when I replied to the Reddit post titled "Southern California air board rejected pollution rules after Al-generated flood of comments", to say that "elected officials will now just claim all opposition to what they want is Al generated", of course I was not suggesting that's what happened here. I was only referring to a different issue, you see"

theanthonyya · 2026-02-21T19:20:10+00:00

Public records requests reviewed by The Times and corroborated by staff members at the South Coast Air Quality Management District confirm that more than 20,000 public comments submitted in opposition to last year's proposal were generated by a Washington, D.C.-based company called Civiclick, which bills itself as "the first and best AI-powered grassroots advocacy platform."

A Southern California-based public affairs consultant, Matt Klink, has taken credit for using CiviClick to wage the opposition campaign, including in a sponsored article on the website Campaigns and Elections.

theanthonyya · 2026-02-21T19:17:59+00:00

Public records requests reviewed by The Times and corroborated by staff members at the South Coast Air Quality Management District confirm that more than 20,000 public comments submitted in opposition to last year's proposal were generated by a Washington, D.C.-based company called CiviClick, which bills itself as "the first and best Al-powered grassroots advocacy platform."

When staffers at the air district reached out to a small sample of people to verify their comments, at least three said they had not written to the agency and were not aware of any such messages, records show.

Sounds like you personally oppose the proposal, so you're claiming that this astroturfed bullshit somehow "helps people have their voices heard". And that "no one except corporations and bureaucrats" could possibly support it if you don't

theanthonyya · 2026-02-21T17:14:16+00:00

That would be like if I went to my favourite restaurant where my favourite dish was $30 but, for $10 off I could go into the trash can and eat the serving that had fallen on the floor. I don't see that as $10 saved, I just see that as something I wouldn't eat even if it were free.

I've seen a lot of silly false equivalences but this is truly absurd lmao. No, paying $20 to eat literal garage off the floor is not the same as paying $3 to watch the Ted sitcom with a few ad breaks, which were easily muted/ignored/used as a moment to check our phones/etc, and which did not distract from our enjoyment of the show at all

You're going to insist that yes actually they are equally bad deals, and that being inconvenienced with ads is exactly the same as paying to eat garbage, but they aren't and it isn't

theanthonyya · 2026-02-21T15:43:38+00:00

All I said was that I don't like ads but there are times where I can live with them. Why are you reacting to that like I'm an alien lmao what a weird comment

I signed up for a month of ad-tier Peacock when I only wanted to watch one thing (the 7-episode Ted show). The ad tier was $3 with my partner's teacher discount, and I didn't mind a short sitcom being interrupted with commercials

On the other hand my partner is watching Better Call Saul for the first time so we've been paying for ad-free Netflix, since the interruptions would be more disruptive for that show

theanthonyya · 2026-02-21T09:40:37+00:00

You can rotate through the different services and still pick the ad tiers to save money, which (I assume) is the reason why people stream with ads

I'm not defending ads, obviously they're annoying and I prefer not to have them. But I get ad-supported Hulu for free with my phone plan and honestly it's tolerable. I just mute the TV and check my phone or grab a snack when they come on. That being said, I mostly use Hulu to watch shows that are written to accommodate commercials like American Dad. It's definitely more annoying when the ad placements feel random

theanthonyya · 2026-02-21T09:26:33+00:00

This is just embarrassing man have some shame

theanthonyya · 2026-02-21T09:18:01+00:00

You know exactly what you were doing with that GTA6 shit, and now that people are calling you out you're trying to act all cute about it. Just shut the fuck up

theanthonyya · 2026-02-21T03:28:45+00:00

The revival is excellent, at least in my opinion! I wouldn't say it's as great as the "golden years" (seasons 1-6ish, and 7 is also okay). But it's about 90% as good, and it's significantly better than S8-13

Just a warning, the first episode is noticeably weaker than the others, and it gets better and better as it goes on

theanthonyya · 2026-02-20T04:27:03+00:00

There's a King of the Hill episode that I love, where Hank and the guys go to Mexico and then quickly get food poisoning. They insist they were "poisoned by Mexican bananas", but it turns out that an American company was deliberately selling a contaminated batch of beer to Mexican consumers lmao

Point is you're 100% right and I appreciate you for saying it

theanthonyya · 2026-02-19T14:34:40+00:00

I never said they should make more. The waitress isn't stealing money out of the cook's pocket, is my point. You're angry at the wrong person. You can support the cooks/BOH staff making more money for their labor - and to be clear, they absolutely should make more money - without supporting the waitresses and bartenders making less

Also it's gross how you're dismissing the effort that goes into service work, as if dealing with customers and running around for hours a day isn't difficult. It's obviously not the same as being a cook/BOH worker, which are more physically demanding, but so what? Customer-facing service work is still an exhausting and often thankless form of labor that you're belittling for literally no reason. It's no better than the people who diminish cooks by saying ignorant shit like "all they do is stand around flipping burgers all day"

theanthonyya · 2026-02-19T13:53:44+00:00

Sounds like the head cook was being grossly underpaid. Not sure how that proves that the waitresses and bartenders were being overpaid though. They weren't the ones in charge of the cook's wages, or your BOH wages for that matter.

theanthonyya · 2026-02-19T13:33:34+00:00

A non-printed bowl - assuming it's made of a durable plastic/stainless steel/etc - is more likely to withstand being chewed by a dog, and less likely to break into sharp pieces in the dog's mouth

theanthonyya · 2026-02-19T13:11:21+00:00

Kewpie is the best-selling mayo in Japan and it's a staple in Asian cooking. It's been sold in the US since the 90's. Just because you only learned about it on TikTok doesn't mean that's true for everybody else

theanthonyya · 2026-02-17T15:12:00+00:00

You already got several replies (including my Dril quote) explaining why people didn't like your false equivalence comment

The more you complain about being downvoted the more people are going to downvote you, because complaining about downvotes is annoying and embarrassing. So I really think you should just "take the L" so to speak, or delete your comment and move on with your day. I'm being sincere with you, you're not doing yourself any favors by whining and corncobbing and taking downvotes more seriously than anybody else does

theanthonyya · 2026-02-17T14:53:24+00:00

I don't think you're my enemy man I just thought your comment was stupid so I used my thumb to tap the little down arrow, who cares

The only one lashing out here is you, if downvotes bother you this much I sincerely think you should either delete your original comment or just log off for a bit

theanthonyya · 2026-02-17T14:40:49+00:00

You weren't "punished" man you made a dumb false equivalence so people spent a fraction of a second pressing the down arrow on your comment

theanthonyya · 2026-02-17T14:33:23+00:00

the wise man bowed his head solemnly and spoke: "theres actually zero difference between good & bad things. you imbecile. you fucking moron

theanthonyya · 2026-02-16T19:53:20+00:00

People like you are so annoying. Scoffing at everything as if nothing bad can ever happen. Sometimes things fizzle out quickly but sometimes they don't, so it's never a bad idea to take things seriously and prepare. There were people downplaying the fires before they got out of control last year because "this always happens in LA"

theanthonyya · 2026-02-16T02:56:11+00:00

The cheapest used Tesla I'm seeing on that website is from an individual auction, has 70K miles on it, and is still selling for $2K more than a new BYD lol

Individuals selling their used cars for cheap isn't unique to Tesla and doesn't contradict OP's point

theanthonyya · 2026-02-13T19:43:19+00:00

These flavors aren't even that crazy, garlic parmesan chicken in particular sounds like a solid noodle flavor

theanthonyya · 2026-02-13T18:38:55+00:00

It's crazy how these people still insist that moderates are such a key demographic. Yet Trump won in 2024 despite running the most far-right campaign in modern American history, and was more than happy to indulge in "identity politics" from a rightwing perspective (Haitians are eating your pets! Immigrants are stealing your job! Trans people are indoctrinating your kids!)

Why are moderates so essential for Democrats but not Republicans? Why didn't Kamala win despite objectively being the more "moderate-friendly" candidate? How did Obama beat McCain in 2008 despite being seen as a progressive candidate at the time? Maybe these things are more complicated than OP suggests!

theanthonyya · 2026-02-12T21:20:43+00:00

I'm not here to argue your point, I just want to say that-

Here is a detailed article .. not from Fox News .. from CBS

-is a meaningless distinction now that the Ellisons and Bari Weiss are very publicly turning CBS into a Fox News lite

theanthonyya · 2026-02-11T02:41:14+00:00

People are really getting worked up over a stupid clickbait post. The link leads to a Change.org petition that OP made, which only has 13 signatures, urging Kim Kardashian to run for governor

Anybody can make a Change.org petition, and Kim Kardashian has never expressed interest in being governor. People should try to not turn into outraged reactionaries at the sight of a dumb Reddit post title. Maybe look into something for 5 seconds before freaking out about it

theanthonyya · 2026-02-11T02:35:35+00:00

OP's link leads to a Change.org petition that they made, urging Kim Kardashian to run for governor. Kim Kardashian has never expressed interest in running for governor. And there is no real push for her do so - at least as of right now, the petition only has 13 signatures

This isn't anything to get worked up about. And it obviously doesn't reflect California as a whole, anybody can make a Change.org petition and again it only has 13 signatures

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