Interesting Links for 12-06-2020

[andrewducker]

UPnP flaw exposes millions of network devices to attacks over the Internet

(tags:security internet epicfail )

Turns out that if you get rid of the police you get warlords

(tags:USA violence police )

The AskHistorians subreddit banned Holocaust deniers, and Facebook should too.

(tags:Holocaust debate censorship )

JK Rowling and The Reasonable-Sounding Bigotry

(tags:bigotry jkrowling LGBT transgender uk )

There's a vacuum at the heart of the British government, and that's not good for anyone.

(tags:UK Europe Doom )

If you're good enough at conspiracy theories you can turn anything into one

(tags:conspiracy pandemic viaSwampers )

Plastic Rain Is the New Acid Rain (hundreds of millions of tons of it)

(tags:plastic rain environment pollution )

The Right Wing's Favourite 'Crazy Scientist' - Professor Karol Sikora

(tags:healthcare OhForFucksSake pandemic doctors )

Autism, Gender, and Queerness - We're here. We're weird. Get used to it.

(tags:LGBT autism )

"Being comfortable in my body" - on gender presentation and being non-binary

(tags:LGBT gender clothing )

Generation X and Trans Lives

(tags:age demographics transgender LGBT )

Comments

[cmcmck]

After forty plus years of a fight we still haven't won, just too tired sums it up extremely well.

Is it too much to ask that I be allowed to exist? :o(...

[jjhunter]

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2020/jun/11/raz-simone-polarizing-hip-hop-artist-rises-in-seat/

A Seattle police detective told The Washington Times that the department is aware of the videos. But Mr. Simone is not a person of interest in a police investigation and there have been no complaints filed of disturbances linked to him. Washington state also has an open-carry gun law for those with permits.

The image that the neighborhood is a “no-go zone” for the cops is false and thus far no one has been injured, said the detective.

But various Twitter accounts have portrayed Mr. Simone as a sort of warlord in the Seattle neighborhood, replacing the police and city authorities. Several social media posts have accused him of assaulting people.

“I hope he distances himself from the movement,” Chaotic NTRL tweeted in a widely shared chain. “The movement is sure trying to distance itself from him, from what I’ve seen.”

[jjhunter]

For what it's worth - with or without police, you get white guys doing this kind of aggressive open gun carry all the time.

'Warlord' is a pretty loaded term to escalate to, given the context of USA everything to do with race, police, guns, and policing of who's allowed to take advantage of legal rights to open and display them.

[andrewducker]

Oh, I think the police are as bad, and much worse in some places. They need massive reform, and lots of the things they get used for could be done by non-police in a much less violent and confrontational way.

[jjhunter]

I was thinking more of self-appointed auxiliaries like George Zimmerman (pretty telling that the popular media term there becomes 'vigilante' rather than 'warlord'), but yes, I strongly agree that there's a lot of examination needed re: what is actually appropriate police work and what very limited circumstances it might be appropriate for police work to be armed police work.

[andrewducker]

Thank you, that's a useful article!

[jjhunter]

Glad you found it so!

I've been more wary re: linking twitter stuff from accounts I don't already know since I reblogged something on tumblr last week without first double-checking it myself, and a friend gently pointed me to a relevant snopes.com article afterwards. Even legitimate accounts may be jumping to conclusions or posting with bias, so I'm trying to make a practice of always hunting for additional context before sharing, especially if it's something that immediately hits emotionally.

[symbioid]

From what I've seen the accusations against him are hyperbolic (which your quote seems to indicate).

Perpetuated by right-wing fearmongerers. I don't particularly trust anyone on Twitter who isn't actually there and has been there for a while. In the end I trust them to do what they need to do, and hope they are able to maintain solidarity and community control without unnecessary violence.

The guy doesn't sound like a hero, per se, but nor is he the villain that seems to be painted in a lot of the press.

[heron61]

I'm exceptionally dubious about the report of warlords in the CHAZ - I did some brief looking and mostly found this on right wing sites, the sorts of mainstream US media that sells sensationalism rather than fact, and non-US media, which I assume mostly just want sensational stories and almost certainly have no solid info. The fact that the alleged warlord is African American makes this story even less likely, since that's exactly the sort of narrative the fascists (aka Republicans) want to spread.

[darkoshi]

Having just read an article about Hoover (https://thehustle.co/the-worst-sales-promotion-in-history/) (in which BTW, the photos of vacuums happen to look exactly like my vacuum), this headline puts an amusing image in my head:
"There's a vacuum at the heart of the British government, and that's not good for anyone."

[andrewducker]

To be fair, a Hoover could do a better job of running the country.

[darkoshi]

Over here too. It could at least clean things up rather than making a bigger mess.

The idea has such a Dr. Who feel to me.