Chuck Todd mentioned on Meet the Press a few days ago that his pet theory is that Biden will commute Trump’s [federal] sentence if Biden gets reelected (obviously, Trump pardons himself if Trump is elected). As much as I would hope that wouldn’t be the case (honestly I’ve been convinced jail time is inevitable for Trump on these charges and this evidence), I think it’s pretty plausible this winds up being the conclusion to this whole saga.
Nah it’s a stupid TV pundit fantasy. Why would Biden do it? What politicial benefit would he get? Would it win him any Republican votes? Would it preserve democracy? No and no. Trump is literally cursing at Biden in speeches.
Biden will commute Trump’s [federal] sentence if Biden gets reelected
That would be a lot of political capital used for what? Why would Biden help Trump in any way?
Biden was in the Senate for over thirty years. He knows how to horse trade. Trump has nothing he wants. Former president? Who cares! Biden is literally president now.
Are you serious? Hasn’t the GOP shown that’s not how they do things enough times for people to understand going high with them doesn’t matter? They know Democrats always go high, it just allows them to go low.
I agree. I guess the reason would be “national healing”. That neglects that the innate wish for justice requires punishment for half the country to get the catharsis it seeks.
There’s also a point that he needs to go to jail and the country needs to “hurt” and not “heal” to avoid an even worse situation in the future. If Nixon wasn’t pardoned and was convicted, would we have the same political shitshow we have now? Probably not, and I’d hope it wouldn’t be worse.
That would be a lot of political capital used for what? Why would Biden help Trump in any way?
I would think of it less as “what could Trump give Biden” and more of “what could the MAGAs in Congress give Biden.” Chances are good that a second-term Biden will need to work with at least one Republican-controlled chamber in Congress, and something like this might be what allows him to do something as simple as pass a budget.
For better or for worse, Trump is almost literally the second coming of Jesus to a large number of Republicans, and commuting his sentence might be something that provides Biden some leverage that could allow his presidency to function. Again, not saying that’s anywhere near an ideal outcome (I’d much rather see Trump rot in prison), but it wasn’t an outcome I’d previously considered and one I could see happening.
With Garland in charge I didn’t think we would get this far honestly. Scowlin’ Jack seems to at least be trying.
And this is in DC, not bumfuck Florida. The judges on this circuit, and the appeals court, have generally been acting with dispatch since the appointment of a non-coward to drive this.
Why does everything have to be a conspiracy with some people? Threads literally and directly explains that it uses your Instagram account. They’re the same account. Nothing crazy. No magic. No oogie boogie. Just the same account.
but they don’t create a public profile for users that don’t sign up? it uses the same handle as your Instagram. If you never activate Threads then nothing happens with your IG username on Threads
I did not try Threads so I do not know. The post suggests that your user handle appears as a suggestion of a profile to follow for other people even if you never signed up.
So think of it like a ‘feature’ of Instagram then. You can enable the feature or you can leave it disabled but either way its sharing user data and login information etc.
Lemmy is your chance to have a discussion without the needless hostility that Reddit et al has. Maybe try saying “I actually find it quite convenient, here’s why” etc
How about you use the most basic social etiquette available and be at least not a total asshole.
And how about I take this chance to remind everyone that we can all block the users we don’t want to interact with. And that maintaining a block list is a great way to ensure a decent online experience
The block list should be shared, too, like a reputation chain or collaborative filter. “You and user X have both blocked Users A, B, and C. User X has also blocked D. Would you like to, too?”
I don’t think I’m missing any point. Have you used it? They’re owned by the same company. Threads is separate but part of Instagram. Other than the user name being reserved on Threads in case the Instagram user wants to sign up, there isn’t an account created. If you try to search the name of any of those accounts in Threads it doesn’t come up at all. (Edit: mistyped a word)
They’re doing some dodgy stuff with your data, that’s for sure. But the sign-up is smooth. Instagram has a LOT of users, and Meta is leveraging that and making it super easy to share to IG that you have made said threads account (and if you don’t, they will do it for you). The FOMO is real.
They have taken the biggest challenge to use a new social media platform, rebuilding your spidery web of follows, mutuals, weird interests, and friends, and made it basically transparent. It’s a UX marvel. The sign-up numbers reflect that IMO.
Sharing data of users from one company to another company without their consent is literally what GDPR exists to stop. Instagram is one company. Threads is another company.
If it isn’t oogie boogie then it literally wouldn’t have massive legislation against it preventing it worldwide for eu citizens.
That was the ruling [PDF] from the European Union’s highest court, the Court of Justice, when it upheld a decision by German antitrust regulators that Meta had abused its dominance in social media by milking users for information and swirling it together to serve up ads to users.
If you bypass shit in the EU they slap you with something else and make an example of you.
If you signed up for Valve in the EU for like Left 4 Dead or Half Life or something, it would be against the law for them to share that account with Steam?
Account linking is usually done through a system that you opt into, agreeing to have that link.
This is entirely different, it’s just “fuck it we’ve got all this data, we’ll share it across and use it regardless of consent or not”.
While for other things it’s a completely external registration, for example I have a Steam account but also have to make a completely separate Capcom account for Street Fighter, then link the two together.
None of the data other than the user name is shown in Threads until the user from Instagram activates their account. I’ve tried to look up a number of the people from Instagram on Threads and if they haven’t signed up, then the search results are zero.
Your correct in a technical sense (eccept for mabe the fetaverse linkages) but not a semantic one,
Yes its absolutely technically true that people delete their unified account from the “other place to do so called threads account management page”
but semantically its a “new service” that they were “signed up for” with its own app, and if/when they delete their “threads account” everything else goes with it for some odd reason
Also if you click one of the users who haven’t signed up yet it just pre-queues your follow and says “You’ll automatically follow then when/if they join threads”(I don’t remember the exact wording here). This is blown out of proportion.
I have been involved in “big business” at several times in my life, someone actually gave me authority to build teams and create projects. I discovered that there are different schools of thought about what makes the “perfect team” to work on a project, and most managers go through the hiring process in mind of getting candidates that all are the same, all have the same personality, skillset and background, under the belief that homogeny makes for a more harmonious, predictable team.
Not me fam. I painted goddamn abstract art with a pallet of people. I got the most diverse teams I could, I got outspoken, angry black mothers alongside timid, pasty nerds alongside combat vets alongside immigrant chefs.
It took constant “babysitting” to make sure everyone was getting along and understanding each other, but we kicked ass. It’s an amazing feeling putting together a team that can handle changes and can provide input on things you never thought of and who actually care about the results. Not only did we succeed at every challenge, I made lifelong friends and learned new things every day.
Diversity and inclusion is literally being used like a slur lately and it burns me. Diversity of backgrounds and perspectives is one of the most valuable strategic assets you can have around you. The people who surround themselves with people who already agree with them and have nothing new to add may pass challenges, but if you want to defeat challenges, you need a spectrum of perspectives.
For a small segment of the trip. The problem with public transportation is that all these people are going to different locations and a bus being more efficient for 50% of the travel doesn’t really help you for the other 50%
The problem is not with public transportation, the problem is that the area surrounding this highway was designed so that more cars and more lanes were the only possible solution.
Cars create problems that only cars can solve.
Edit: and to add more context: those 50 different locations are all separated by massive mandatory parking lots which make them miles apart from each other when they could likely all be contained in the same building in front of a single bus stop.
Unless there’s another bus for the other 50% of the travel. The point of a public transportation system is to be just that - a system. To get from anywhere to anywhere else.
Where I live this will cause what would be a 15 minute car ride into 1.5 hours of hopping on different busses and then walking 1/2 mile to your destination on either end. I don’t have a problem with effective public transportation but outside of major population centers like Manhattan, I haven’t seen one that really works all that well here in the US.
Well, that’s the thing you could have it if you invested all the money that currently goes into highways. The amount of money is always limited (everybody hates taxes for a reason), so building large quantities of both is impossible.
Roads are always going to cost more in the end, but they’re easier to build incrementally. Boiling the frog situation.
Even if policy of your local government changes (which is at least a little up to you) you will still have to suffer the current situation and keep driving for a while before a better system is built. But that’s no reason to throw good money after the bad.
It wouldn’t be a 15 minutes car ride once the traffic jams start. The point of public transport is not to completely replace cars, but to provide an alternative for people. A good public transport system will cover most destinations so people won’t have to worry like you do about reaching your destination. By doing so, it will reduce cars on the road which will also benefit the people who do need to drive to where they want to go.
Eventually it will be robotic cars doing the last mile on systems like that. Most trips will still be in individual cars or maybe minivan size things, but people who are following very popular shared paths will be asked to step into a bus. When it’s all roboticized, we won’t need stations for that though. Cars will be able to match bus speed and passengers can step from A to B while the whole thing’s in motion.
Next time on Beyond 2000, we’ll talk about decentralized DNS
Living in a city with actually good public transit, it is used to achieve exactly that. To get any one passenger from any one point within the metropolitan area, to any other. To work for everyone, even though every single person is starting from a different point, and going to a different destination.
It doesn’t matter where you’re going or from where. There is a public transit stop nearby at both ends.
The fuck do you mean “a small segment of the trip”? I share this city with a stupid number of other humans, only a small number of which I go to work with every day, yet a significant portion of of the entire city population travels to work, entertainment and shopping, using the exact same transit network.
Your trip may overlap with a varying number of entirely different individuals along each segment of the route, and at each end it might just be you walking a few dozen meters… But come on! The fact that it adds up is beyond obvious!
Your argument is only valid for mass transit, that isn’t actually mass transit.
And as density goes up (read less roads and carparks), the overlaps INCREASE and the whole thing gets more efficient.
There is a train station in Tokyo, that serves the same number of people every day, as there are citizens in my entire country.
Can you even imagine what a highway interchange that could serve 5 million people within 24 hours would look like? No, because it’s a physical impossibility.
The only reason the number can get so high, is because transit systems consolidate travellers even when they aren’t going to the same places.
I walked through a place that, at first, I thought was a regular metro station. But then it just kept opening up more and more, into more and more spaces. It was like a mall. I guess it was like an airport terminal. Businesses all over.
When I finally left it, I thought I was underground and then turned a corner and there was open daylight, no door, not even a wall just like the opening of a huge cave.
Is that Cost in terms of building the system, or the time cost of using it?
Utility (or Time Cost, basically) seems like it should be up there, and I think that’s what you’re getting at with Frequency and Availability?
I think the time cost of using the system is the most important factor in designing a transit system.
Because every human has a finite amount of time. It’s our most precious resource.
Honestly if you’re willing to count a premature death in terms of a life containing X number of hours, I think that Safety factor can be put into perspective.
Obviously there’s also the enjoyability factor. A five minute trip during which your sunburn gets scratched mercilessly might not be better than a 15 minute trip in a jacuzzi.
But barring huge differences in comfort countering the effect, Time Cost of using should be the main thing, since everyone’s time is valuable.
As someone who has lived alone for eight years using only public transport in an area with excellent public transport, I can tell you that you are both right and wrong.
You are right in that if there is just one bus line, then it would only serve a small subset of people in this photo.
But if you only make one bus line then the public transport system is doomed to fail.
A good public transport system will have multiple lines converging to the same interchange, and in the opposite direction it will have multiple lines departing the same interchange, following the same route and branching off when needed, this way you have added capacity and redundancy at the start of the line, and it gets reduced as the need is reduced.
Then add lines that are circles in higher density areas, this means that no matter the direction all passengers can get on all departures, you csn also quickly add capacity by adding busses that goes in alternating directions.
All of this means that travellers can define their own route along different bus, train, tram, metro and ferry lines.
Public transport is not ment to be point to point, it builds a framework where people decide what parts the want to use.
Cars are just more precise in space and time. In a car you go from your origin to your destination, within lot-to-door distance, and you go exactly when you want to.
With public transportation, you travel a block or two to enter the system, arrive a block or two from your destination, and you can only leave at certain intervals.
At my last job the commute was:
10 minute walk to the bus, 50 minutes on the bus, walk across parking lot to office.
You are technically correct, but you miss the great part of frequent departures in a public transport system.
During peak hours I have a buss departing my local stop every 10 min, it takes me 7 min to walk to the busstop, when I arrive to the metro my train usually departs within less than 5 minutes, it takes 2 min to walk down to the platform from the bus, if I miss the train, the next train will depart 5 min later. When I need to switch lines I just walk over the platform and my train will usualy arrive with in 2 min, though it is not unusual for the train to be at the platform and I have time to cross the platform.
When I then get to my destination I exit the metro and walk 100m to get to my office, my desk is actually just above the entrance/exit of the metro.
Obviously this is under optimal conditions, but it isn’t that uncommon either.
When you have public transport departures that frequent, you don’t really have to took at the timetable, you just walk down to the bus stop and with in minutes you are on the bus.
There are also dedicated buslanes along 97% of the way I take the busses, so traffic jams are seldom an issue.
And should there be an issue with my normal bus, I can walk 15 min to a different bus stop with other busses, or I can walk 20 min and get to the train/bus station and get on a train or yet another bus.
This is fine since large disruptions are quite infrequent.
95% of Londoners are 400m or less from a bus stop. The bus service suits everyone for any journey. And then we have trains and the tube. There’s never a need for a car no matter where and when you go.
London wasn’t developed after the automobile. Houston’s metroplex covers a much larger area with a much smaller population, which makes London’s solutions much less practical.
The closest bus stop to someone in Alvin or Bellville may be 20 miles away, and they’ll have to change busses 7 times to get where they’re going.
And to put numbers to your points, London’s population density is 14,600 people per square mile, while urban Houston is only 3,340.
And if you want to talk about the broader metropolitan area, then London goes down to 3,900 people/sq. mi., which is close to Houston’s urban area. However, if we look at Houston’s equivalent to that the density drops to 862/sq mi.
Also, London’s metro is 3,236 square miles. Houston’s is 10,062.
Anyone who compares these as equivalent is disingenuous or ignorant (not necessarily maliciously so, but likely just unaware or oblivious to the massive sprawl that Texas cities have).
That’s cool that Londoners all live so close to each other and have a city built around public transportation. Unfortunately as someone who lives in Texas a car really us practically mandatory. Our Urban sprawl is large and it’s not something that can or will be easily fixed even over multiple lifetimes. To give an idea of what it is like over here, the nearest grocery store is a little over 3 miles (~5 km) away from where I live. There is no bus route within a 2 mile (~3km) area of me that provides transportation to that area.
The public transportation we do have is lacking in availability, accessibility, and coverage. and while there are ongoing efforts to update it. These updates primarily apply to the inner parts of the large cities and rarely cover the urban living areas where people actually live at. And these living areas are frequently very far away from where public transportation is available.
The main problem is that Texas cities are just too expansive in size for public transportation to currently be effective. This isn’t even factoring in how long commutes would take to be for some people even if they where somehow magically available tomorrow.
For example, many of my co-workers on my overnight shift live far enough away that commuting to work in a car during the dead of night on an empty highway road where they drive 75+ mph ( 120+kph) still takes them an hour or more to arrive to work daily. This is consider a common and even somewhat normal commute time and distance in Texas. If they had to take public transportation they would be looking at an over 2+ hour commute everyday at best. So that is not really a viable option for them.
Im really happy that Europeans have more dense cities and don’t have to deal with the same problems we have. But it honestly gets tiring hearing everyone say public transportation be the solution for everything in Texas. Yes it would very much help and efforts are being made. But due to how Texas cities where laid out and planned with urban sprawl in mind multiple decades ago before even my grandfather was able to give input. We can no longer have public transportation be a viable option for a large segment of the people who live here.
What Texas needs is both public transport AND better highway road planning, for example more exits and on ramps, more alternative routes to free up congestion on major feeder arteries. Not more lanes on the same congested routes, off ramps, feeders, etc.
Sorry for the rant, I just fucking hate the traffic here and it’s causes have become my mini soapbox of annoyance
Well, I understand that. But the change should start somewhere and somehow, right? I can only provide you with examples how the public transport works elsewhere, but you’ll have to do some ground work yourself, like advocating for public transport, voting for more responsible government, etc. Or… Make America Great Britain Again!
All addiction advertising should be illegal… Imagine struggling with withdrawal and giving up, and then cigarettes appear, bam!
Or alcohol - addicts actually need that shit to get through the day. The offramp for these things needs planning and consistency and this is just reinforcing the impulses
Sometimes merely purchasing things is an addiction, one that many members of my family have. Adtech feels like a weapon designed to exploit anxiety and dopamine pathways.
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