Biden and Obama pardoned a bunch of people (thousands iirc) who were doing long federal sentences for weed possession.
But you know, it's theatre to justify having the pardon power. The heartwarming story at the end of the daily newsreel of corruption and conflict.
The better solution there is to fucking reschedule it. Treating the burns while the fire still rages is stupid.
Get rid of pardons, their abuse is more damaging than their utility.
I'm sure the paper trail showing what the lobbyists were paid is the mere tip of the iceberg.
There's no way in hell the founder of a cryptocurrency exchange didn't give Trump a massive payday of crypto off the books to secure his pardon.
There's a reason she was convicted and went to jail.
And that same reason is why Trump and his admin are trying very hard to whitewash and downplay her crimes.
The statement Epstein "killed himself" used in the article has still never been proven adequately. He was on suicide watch (found partially conscious just months beforehand, again no evidence it was by his own hands) and moved to another more secure cell - and there were four cameras pointed toward his cell that would have provided valuable evidence, two were 'accidentally deleted' and one was also lost as its video provided to investigators was 'accidentally' from the wrong section of the jail that looked identical, the original correct video deleted in the meantime before this accident was identified ('oh gosh, whoopsie again'). The guards have been prosecuted for lying to investigators about their whereabouts during his death and falaifying claims he was checked on the mandated schedule.
Sure are a lot of 'accidental' evidence deletions, false evidence, and lying guards in this story to take the Trump-admin led investigation (his fucking co-conspirator) at face value. Any genuine investigation would have to say "based on the evidence, cause of death is inconclusive".
For sure. IKEA is a great place to start (or stay), as it's a cheap ecosystem and their app/implementation doesnt require permanent internet access - functions fine during an internet outrage, and quite privacy-respecting.
HomeAssistant is not anywhere near as hard to set up as it used to be. If you have an old mini-PC retired from work sitting around there are HA images for PCs now, and it's pretty simple to set up to use your IKEA hub (or whatever you have already), while adding a huge swath of optional features.
I agree it's still not something your average Joe will set up, but the continual lowering of barriers will get more people into running a self-hosted local config is a great thing for privacy and expanding the hobby.
There's an xkcd for everything, isn't there.
Its not wrong, but the major attraction to Matter is it must allow devices to operate locally (not tying them to cloud services that die every internet outrage, or permanently when the service retires), and it's an application-layer protocol. Meaning it can operate over WiFi, Ethernet, or Thread.
Many existing smart home hubs have been able to program support for Matter and simply send out an OTA update to add certified Matter support.
Your heart is in the right place, but this is the deep south. That action by a local would likely end in the sheriff's office kicking in your door with a no-knock raid, shooting your dog and maybe also you.
When powerless people (like the girl in this article) complain they are dismissed and treated with suspicion by the authorities.
When the authorities complain their peers respond rapidly and with excessive force.
This is commonly called authoritarianism, but in the US they prefer the euphemism 'weak governance' because '-ism' words are unpopular.
The real issue with smart home adoption has been proprietary formats all vying for dominance and fragmenting the market. I don't think AI has changed much.
Matter (and Thread) are a huge change to the SmartHome landscape because they're open protocols and have well-documented standards - and they've finally begun appearing in big manufacturer's line-ups such as IKEA.
Once their availability spreads I suspect a lot more people will get into running their own local (eg HomeAssistant) smart home because they won't have to do the 'ok do I need z-wave or ZigBee or HomeKit or IFTTT or Hue or Tuya or.... you know what, fuck this'. It'll all be the same protocol and communications and config & debug will be much easier.
Eternity. I didn't like Voyager, too many bells and whistles.
Eternity is pretty simple, no user avatars, allows faster reading of actual content.
I like reading other peoples perspectives her, and Eternity does not seem to be recieving regular bug-fixes. So many Voyager Enjoyers that I may give it another try.
Are these just large-carat diamonds for boys?
I cannot tell from the listing but are they actually 'armoured' in any way other than the steel bumper bar (which is a common addition to any farm truck, and cheap) - like are the fender panels all just painted plastic like most modern vehicles?
They may cost $250k new, but as I pointed out in another comment they seem to hold fuck all resale value. Here's one selling for less than 1/5th its initial value ($48k), one year after purchase - seems brand new and lists no issues/damage..
https://miltrade.com/product/2024-apocalypse-juggernaut-6x6-1763296142
Seller is exactly whom you'd expect.
Youtu.be is YouTube's default short URL when clicking the 'share' function on videos on mobile iirc. I've seen it thousands of times.
They may sell for that new (to people with crayon-stained teeth), but they seem to hold approximately 18% of their resale value after one year. Here's one selling as-new for $48k.
https://miltrade.com/product/2024-apocalypse-juggernaut-6x6-1763296142
It will probably not shock you to learn its for sale by a 40 year old serviceman, who is also listing an $8000 unmanned surveillance drone.
Just gonna politely point out that America is living under extreme corruption and tyranny right now, and the 2nd amendment aint doing shit to help with that problem. Sure gets of innocent citizens killed, though.
Just like any expected conflict ever, the 2nd amendment caused an arms race - and the govt is far, far more heavily armed than the people.