AnthonyB's recent activity

  1. Comment on Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor arrested and in custody on suspicion of misconduct in public office in UK in ~news

    AnthonyB
    Link Parent
    Well, for starters, I think it's a very difficult pill for people to swallow, especially those who still cling to their belief in institutions. That's probably a big reason why you had guys like...

    Well, for starters, I think it's a very difficult pill for people to swallow, especially those who still cling to their belief in institutions. That's probably a big reason why you had guys like Ezra Klein saying last year that he thought Epstein's sex crimes and close social network of powerful men were kept separate. Then there's some of the actual reporting from mainstream outlets like The New York Times that went out of its way to say things like,

    Abundant conspiracy theories hold that Epstein worked for spy services or ran a lucrative blackmail operation, but we found a more prosaic explanation for how he built a fortune. A relentless scammer, he abused expense accounts, engineered inside deals and demonstrated a remarkable knack for separating seemingly sophisticated investors and businessmen from their money.

    I should note that Drop Site offered a rebuttal to that claim in this piece about Epstein's ties to Iran-Contra

    Of course, it could be an extraordinary coincidence that Epstein shared a penthouse with an Iran-Contra lawyer, worked for an Iran-Contra arms dealer, and then, as we report below, moved the Iran-Contra planes to Ohio for use by billionaire retail mogul Leslie Wexner. It may simply be a coincidence that Ehud Barak, one of Epstein’s closest friends, was the head of Israel’s military intelligence during the planning for Iran-Contra, and he supervised the CIA’s first delivery. But it might also be something The Times should look a bit closer at, if they’re so inclined.

    I'm not super plugged into this saga (again, not enough amphetamines, yarn, or space in my smooth little brain to keep track of the slow drip of information coming from the files), but my understanding is that the recent document releases have shed additional light on the connection, making it appear more concrete than coincidental. I think that's why more people are starting to take it connection seriously.

    7 votes

  2. Comment on Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor arrested and in custody on suspicion of misconduct in public office in UK in ~news

    AnthonyB
    Link Parent
    I don't have enough corkboard, yarn, Adderall, or cigarettes to begin to put the pieces together, but Drop Site News has done a lot of reporting on Epstein's ties to Israeli intelligence....

    I don't have enough corkboard, yarn, Adderall, or cigarettes to begin to put the pieces together, but Drop Site News has done a lot of reporting on Epstein's ties to Israeli intelligence. Obviously, given the current political environment, that might come off as extremely conspiratorial, but we are talking about an elite pedophile ring, might as well throw in one of the world's elite spy organizations.

    11 votes

  3. Comment on Midweek Movie Free Talk in ~movies

    AnthonyB
    Link
    I finally watched The Secret Agent now that it's available to stream from home. Wow. I'm so mad at myself for not driving an hour to see it when it was in theaters. Visually, it's stunning....

    I finally watched The Secret Agent now that it's available to stream from home. Wow. I'm so mad at myself for not driving an hour to see it when it was in theaters. Visually, it's stunning. Between the colors, the cinematography, and the infinite Brazilian swag that radiates from almost everyone on screen, I feel like I could watch the movie without subtitles and still enjoy it.

    ~ teeny tiny preview-level spoilers below ~

    I like to go into movies as blind as possible, and the only thing I had seen related to this one was a two second clip of Wagner Moura talking to someone about a gun. This might be embarrassing to admit, but I thought it was about a secret agent. Boy was I surprised when I realized what was actually going on somewhere between the first and second act. I'm so glad that wasn't the case, though. Not that I wouldn't enjoy a spy thriller with everything this movie brings, but I really appreciated the grounded portrayal of 70s Brazil and what happens when someone is in the crosshairs of a corrupt capitalist under an authoritarian government.

    I could go on and on about this movie, but I'll keep it short by saying it really stuck with me. I think it's one of my five favorite movies I've seen this decade.

    (Curious if @lou has seen it)

    3 votes

  4. Comment on Communities, relationships, and navigating the enshittification of absolutely everything in ~talk

    AnthonyB
    Link Parent
    Sooner or later we'll probably have to do that with AI, or at least try to contain them like the we do with the weekly US politics thread. It feels like every other post is about AI these days...

    On Tildes, we had to quarantine pandemic discussion for a while so people could get away from it.

    Sooner or later we'll probably have to do that with AI, or at least try to contain them like the we do with the weekly US politics thread. It feels like every other post is about AI these days (not including this one, @chroma, you brought more to the table).

    8 votes

  5. Comment on Palantir was allegedly hacked, exposing CIA collusion and deep-rooted global surveillance/meddling in ~tech

    AnthonyB
    Link
    Who is KimDotcom? Also, don't make the same mistake I did and look at the replies. Holy moly. Edit: I backed out of the comments before looking further. This is awful antisemitic nonsense.

    Who is KimDotcom? Also, don't make the same mistake I did and look at the replies. Holy moly.

    Edit: I backed out of the comments before looking further. This is awful antisemitic nonsense.

    [IanMalcom84] Alex Karp is a JEW

    Peter Thiel was funded by the Rothschilds, JEWS, via Jeffrey Epstein, a JEW

    Is the entire world blackmailed, bribed, or assassinated by a JEWISH cabal that seek to enslave the world under JEWISH supremacy?

    If so, we MUST soak up.

    [KimDotcom] You do good work. Thank you.

    14 votes

  6. Comment on US Immigration and Customs Enforcement plans to spend $38 billion on warehouse conversions in ~society

    AnthonyB
    Link Parent
    In a similar vein, I just listened to the full interview with Seaumus Culleton, the Irish man who has spent 5 months in an ICE facility. He described some of the same horrible conditions and...

    In a similar vein, I just listened to the full interview with Seaumus Culleton, the Irish man who has spent 5 months in an ICE facility. He described some of the same horrible conditions and claimed that detainees have been killed by the staff. I recommend listening to the first five minutes of the original, but here's the two minute CBS version

    It seems like the goal is to make people as miserable as possible so that they will agree to self-deport.

    13 votes

  7. Comment on US President Donald Trump’s stifling of dissent reaches a new level: The editorial board tracks twelve markers of democratic erosion (gifted link) in ~society

    AnthonyB
    Link Parent
    Well, first of all, thanks for taking the time to write out a long and thoughtful reply. I don't think I can quote and reply point by point, but I'll do my best to make this as coherent as...

    Well, first of all, thanks for taking the time to write out a long and thoughtful reply. I don't think I can quote and reply point by point, but I'll do my best to make this as coherent as possible. Second, I wholeheartedly agree with everything you said about the importance of organizing. I'm a huge believer in the power of organizing, and I know that it's an exciting time for organizing despite all the terrible things going on right now. There is a lot of momentum building on the ground, and the things you described to increase voter participation and community networks seem plausible, if not likely. In a more normal year, I would be feeling pretty optimistic about the Democrats' electoral performance. However, as the dedicated negative nancy in this thread, I feel the need to express my concerns. Dr. Anthony concurs with your treatment plan, but disagrees with your diagnosis of the patient's condition.

    One thing that we've seen over the past year is the Trump Administration's ability to push the envelope beyond the limits of what we considered acceptable without any repercussions. First it was DOGE, then CECOT and the high profile (and illegal) deportations of Mahmoud Khalil and Kilmar Abrego Garcia. Then it was sending ICE to LA and backing them up with the national guard and Marines. Then DC and Chicago, and most recently, Minneapolis. (Ugh, I miss the days of the Muslim ban and the emoluments clause. Now we have the gestapo and millions of dollars in crypto payments.) There has been a lot of incompetence over the past year, but the one thing they are good at is knowing when to pull back. It's like they're driving a car and pushing the rpm needle up to the red line, only to ease up at the last second. In the moment, it feels like they've taken their foot off of the gas, but when you look at the big picture, they're just shifting to a higher gear. Nothing seems to matter, and as a result, every act seems more egregious than the last.

    As it stands, the only thing that could potentially hold Trump and his accomplices accountable in any sort of way is the ballot box. So why aren't they acting like it? It's a question I go back and forth on all the time (another thing I ask myself is whether Trump/MAGA is a house of cards or just the first crack in the dam that's protecting us from a fascist oligarchy). Maybe it's the incompetence of the true believers, maybe they don't care because they've perfected the art of obstruction and just have to wait a few years while they fan the flames of fear and resentment and let special interests and Democrat spoilers derail progressive momentum, or maybe they think they can suppress/steal an election. After all, the margins are still pretty slim despite the fact that they just spent 9 months dumping cold buckets of shit on our heads. You'd think by now the forecasts would call for a seismic shift in Congress, but so far that doesn't seem to be the case. There will be more motivation for Democrat voters to turn out, and there will be better organizing, but at the end of the day, it's just stretching the number of voters they need to turn around and send home from 1/100 to 5/100. It won't be a full-blown crackdown, but what's more American than the illusion of choice? I don't know, maybe it will happen, maybe it won't. Maybe it will work, maybe it won't. Ultimately, what I'm focused on right now is that we at least take the threat seriously.

    That brings me to my final point, which is on the final point in my last post: What happens then? Your response was about what the Democrats do if they take back the House and Senate, which, 100% agree. No notes. In fact, I have to hold back from posting about it all the time. Also, not to derail this long post any further, but that last part about community has been a key part of my open house speech to parents every school year. But what I actually meant in my last post was what do you think Trump and the Republicans are going to do if they lose? Things didn't go so well the last time they lost an election while he was in office. As usual, there weren't any consequences for what he did, and he's been repeating the lie about a stolen election so often that when he brought it up in his NBC interview last week, the anchor responded by saying, "Yeah." I assume that doesn't change anything about what you think we should do, but seeing as how we're commenting under an article about America sliding towards authoritarianism, what do you think they will do if that happens?

    TL;DR - I'm scared.

    2 votes

  8. Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games

    AnthonyB
    Link
    I spent a good portion of the weekend glued to Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon. I'm surprised I had never heard of it before. It's like an obsessive love letter to modern Elder Scrolls games...

    I spent a good portion of the weekend glued to Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon. I'm surprised I had never heard of it before. It's like an obsessive love letter to modern Elder Scrolls games with a few elements of The Witcher 3 sprinkled in. It's also genuinely unsettling at times, with freaky little monsters and possessed peasants creeping around after dark.

    I'm not big into fantasy/medieval/Aurthurian legend, so I'm not the best judge for the story, but it forces you to make difficult decisions that impact the story, which I really enjoy. It doesn't hold your hand and let you do everything the way Skyrim does. One "wrong" choice and your chance to join a faction is over.

    I'm not sure how long the game is, or if the game gets worse as it goes on, but I just started the second act and it feels massive given the game file's overall size. Like Avowed, it separates the acts into different maps, only it has more areas to explore and significantly more npcs that offer various side quests, ranging from the silly and mundane to entire faction quest lines that alter the main story.

    It's a little buggy and the graphics make it seem like it's 15 years old, but it's pretty good overall. I definitely recommend it to anyone looking to scratch an Elder Scrolls itch.

    5 votes

  9. Comment on US President Donald Trump’s stifling of dissent reaches a new level: The editorial board tracks twelve markers of democratic erosion (gifted link) in ~society

    AnthonyB
    Link Parent
    Do they have to do all that? I don't have time to dig too deep in the details, so by all means, let me know what I'm missing, but I assume they would only target vulnerable areas in tight races,...

    I get what you're saying, now make that work over 134 precincts in Minneapolis alone. There are over 116k voting locations in the country. Swing districts have many precincts.

    They do not have the manpower for it.

    Do they have to do all that? I don't have time to dig too deep in the details, so by all means, let me know what I'm missing, but I assume they would only target vulnerable areas in tight races, like mild_takes was saying. Let me just put on my worst case scenario hat since....well, you know.

    Looking back at 2020 and 2024, you have about 40 house seats and 5 senate seats that are determined by less than 5%. That's just the starting point, which is about 10% of all races.

    Now looking at the early forecast for close races in 2026, there appear to be a significant amount of tossup/lean Dem races that take place in states without voter ID laws, which will probably be used as pretext to send in the goons. For example, CA-13 is a "lean Dem" district with 65% of its population identifying as Latino. Their last election for the House was determined by less than 200 votes. Realistically, how many voting locations do they have to show up to in order to flip that seat? It's one thing to intimidate, but it's also plausible that the backlash to ICE "conducting investigations" near a polling place in a deep blue city, paired with ICE's tendency to escalate, could cause enough chaos to shut down an entire location.

    They don't have the manpower to oversee every voting location in the country, or even every swing location, but how many places would they have to show up to in order to maintain a slim Republican edge in Congress?

    (Sorry, I can't get my worst case scenario hat off)

    If Democrats are able to make huge gains because Republicans couldn't come up with a migrant caravan or 9/11 mosque and the blue wave is enough to overcome ICE shenanigans, then what? We have a big swing after Trump's decisive "mandate," what happens then?

    6 votes

  10. Comment on Weekly US politics news and updates thread - week of February 2 in ~society

    AnthonyB
    Link Parent
    On the media, I think Medhi Hasan summarized it well in his recent piece on NBC's softball interview with Donald Trump.

    On the media, I think Medhi Hasan summarized it well in his recent piece on NBC's softball interview with Donald Trump.

    But this isn’t just about NBC’s Tom Llamas. Or CBS’s Norah O’Donnell, who also did a truly awful job interviewing Trump in November 2025. Or former ABC correspondent Terry Moran, who told the president they could “agree to disagree” about a clearly doctored image Trump was holding up during a White House interview in April 2025.

    This is about our mainstream media as a whole protecting access, rather than practicing journalism. This is about TV networks mistaking “we got the interview” for “we did the journalism.” Above all else, this is about a free press that is directly threatened by the president of the United States but doesn’t dare call him out to his face. They don’t want to risk losing the next booking, the next scoop, the next “exclusive.”

    8 votes

  11. Comment on Hair loss open discussion in ~talk

    AnthonyB
    Link
    My hair started thinning in my late 20s, but I didn't understand what was happening until my early 30s. I always had really thick hair just like my mom's dad, so I thought I was safe. When my hair...

    My hair started thinning in my late 20s, but I didn't understand what was happening until my early 30s. I always had really thick hair just like my mom's dad, so I thought I was safe. When my hair came out in the shower, I just assumed that the product I had in my hair was preventing normal shedding, and I was getting it all out in one go. I was slightly self-conscious about going grey at a very young age (started at 21), but hair loss never crossed my mind. My delusions were shattered when my sister casually mentioned my grandfather's plugs one day. I felt like the detective at the end of The Usual Suspects, finally seeing all the signs that were in front of me the whole time.

    I'm one of those guys who can't pull off the shaved head look. My facial hair (which is mostly grey now) is best left at scruff length, and my with my build, a bald version of me would give off more of a Dean Pelton vibe than a Bruce Willis or even Walter White look. With that in mind, I started finasteride right away, which halted most of the shedding, and added oral monoxidil to the mix a few months ago after I gave myself a buzz cut and saw the how noticably sparse things were at the crown. It's starting to look and feel a little thicker, and when my hair is longer and styled properly, everything looks fine to the untrained eye. However, I don't think I'll ever return to my former glory without a carefully planned visit to Turkey, which might happen if things get thinner up top.

    2 votes

  12. Comment on Jim Pattison won't sell US warehouse proposed as new Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in ~society

    AnthonyB
    Link Parent
    My bad, I think I fixed it.

    My bad, I think I fixed it.

    2 votes

  13. Comment on Jim Pattison won't sell US warehouse proposed as new Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in ~society

    AnthonyB
    (edited )
    Link Parent
    Yeah, it seems like that's going on all over the country. A family member sent me this story a couple days ago from a suburb of Phoenix. Everyone's a NIMBY in that neighborhood until the...

    Yeah, it seems like that's going on all over the country. A family member sent me this story a couple days ago from a suburb of Phoenix. Everyone's a NIMBY in that neighborhood until the concentration camp opens up down the road.

    7 votes

  14. Comment on Midweek Movie Free Talk in ~movies

    AnthonyB
    Link Parent
    I had the same feeling after watching that movie. It felt more like an amazing cult film or hidden gem than a hugely popular Best Picture nominee. Having said that, I'm not a huge vampire guy, 30s...

    I don't get the hype. The movie was fine, but not as amazing as advertised.

    I had the same feeling after watching that movie. It felt more like an amazing cult film or hidden gem than a hugely popular Best Picture nominee. Having said that, I'm not a huge vampire guy, 30s guy, or deep south guy when it comes to plot and settings, so I'm fine with saying it just wasn't for me. That music scene was really cool though.

    3 votes

  15. Comment on Do you have your invite request email? Post it and let's find out what drives people to want to be a part of Tildes. in ~tildes

    AnthonyB
    Link Parent
    That must've been the vibe in all the early invite threads because mine was I can't remember what drew me to the tildes subreddit in the first place. It had to have been a post that reached /all...

    That must've been the vibe in all the early invite threads because mine was

    I would like an invite!

    I can't remember what drew me to the tildes subreddit in the first place. It had to have been a post that reached /all or something like that.

    6 votes

  16. Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games

    AnthonyB
    Link
    I decided to fire up The Godfather (2006) on the emudeck. It's a bit one dimensional by today's standards and the controls are a little clunky, but other than that, it holds up! I'm about 14 hours...

    I decided to fire up The Godfather (2006) on the emudeck. It's a bit one dimensional by today's standards and the controls are a little clunky, but other than that, it holds up! I'm about 14 hours in and haven't gotten bored from all the extortion.

    I remember thinking the graphics were incredible back then, and the faces are still very detailed compared to some of the other PS2 games I've played. I wouldnt recommend it to a youngster with higher standards, but it's not bad for the geezers.

    2 votes

  17. Comment on Seeking guidance on a week long LA to Bay Area trip in ~travel

    AnthonyB
    Link
    There's a lot of good advice flying around and I don't want to overload you with more information, so I'll just add one little suggestion. There's great food in LA, so take a look at LA Times' 101...

    There's a lot of good advice flying around and I don't want to overload you with more information, so I'll just add one little suggestion. There's great food in LA, so take a look at LA Times' 101 Best Restaurants (archive link bc I doubt you subscribe) and pick something that piques your interest. It's a lot easier than playing the Yelp game.

    1 vote

  18. Comment on Resist and Unsubscribe in ~society

    AnthonyB
    Link Parent
    Your comment reminds me of an old series about trying to live without the five big tech companies and how difficult it was. Obviously, canceling subscriptions is easier than completely detaching,...

    Your comment reminds me of an old series about trying to live without the five big tech companies and how difficult it was. Obviously, canceling subscriptions is easier than completely detaching, but even that can be difficult.

    7 votes

  19. Comment on Weekly US politics news and updates thread - week of January 26 in ~society

    AnthonyB
    Link Parent
    I mentioned something similar in last week's thread, but Ken Klippenstein has been reporting on this as well. Here's his most recent piece on the topic, which has some additional information. It's...

    I mentioned something similar in last week's thread, but Ken Klippenstein has been reporting on this as well. Here's his most recent piece on the topic, which has some additional information. It's also worth keeping in mind as some lawmakers are calling for body cameras on all ICE and CBP officers.

    On a completely unrelated note, COVID hasn't fully gone away, so if you find yourself out in a crowded space or large gathering, you might want to mask up to protect yourself and others around you.

    4 votes

  20. Comment on 2025 NFL Post Season 🏈 Weekly Discussion Thread – Playoffs, Week 3 in ~sports.american_football