Random General Headlines

[elevenism]

Zuckerberg is David from Prometheus. We're so screwed.

Hahaha I swear to god, I was thinking "if ANYONE is actually really a Reptilian Alien, it's this motherfucker here."

[elevenism]

So I was watching this history channel doc about Rockefeller and Morgan and such. And it came down to Rockefeller being on trial for violating anti trust laws. And he's kind of like "yeah, fuck you, I started this industry. And you start complaining now?"

Then I saw the headline about how Zuckerberg made 3 billion during the hearing and I was sort of struck by the parallel.
There was no real regulation for how something like Facebook should work because there had never BEEN anything quite like Facebook. Zuckerberg provided Facebook to people and they are it up, even as we collectively kind of knew we were getting fucked. similarly, Rockefeller and Morgan made these massive strides in industry and made the country better even as workers were getting fucked over, prices were fixed, etc.

In both cases people got sick of it.

Also, Morgan fucking bailed out the U.S. Government in more than one occasion, just as Facebook has assisted in counter terrorism.

Idk, it really tripped me out.

Sorry for double post.

[Vertigo]

Yeah, it's pretty troubling how often regulation only finds impetus after the problem is running wild. There's a documentary on AI that came out this week which makes you realise how important it is that governments start legislating pre-emptively, and understand the technology springing up. It's called Do You Trust This Computer, same guy who did Who Killed The Electric Car.

[allegro]

YIKES, this Southwest Airlines incident is CRAZY!

The engine failed at a high altitude, chunks of the engine hit a passenger window, broke out the window, and STARTED SUCKING A PASSENGER OUT OF THE PLANE, then a bunch of passengers got up and pulled the passenger back in, then the pilots started rapidly descending so that everybody wouldn't DIE within seconds, and the oxygen masks dropped, witnesses said there was "blood everywhere from the passenger near that window" (who has since passed away) and the plane made an emergency landing.

[theimage13]

They also had an engine burst into flames in February. WTF is going on with that airline?

[allegate]

See, the reports I'd been reading just said that one person died but they didn't mention the part about BEING SUCKED OUT OF THE WINDOW. Jesus Christ!

[theimage13]

See, the reports I'd been reading just said that one person died but they didn't mention the part about BEING SUCKED OUT OF THE WINDOW. Jesus Christ!

Yeah. The first report I read was actually confusing as fuck because it said - in this order and formatting - that one person had "been fatally (critically) injured after having been sucked partially out of a window before being pulled back in by fellow passengers". I get that it's breaking news, but jesus, proofread it!

[Vertigo]

Christ. That sounds like the end of Alien Resurrection.

Heard nothing but bad things about Southwest Airlines over the years, going back to Kevin Smith's too-fat-to-fly thing. Wouldn't surprise me to hear there's some serious mismanagement behind this.

[theimage13]

By the way...the whole "plane with the exploding engine" story?

As of 2016, the FAA noted that only 4.4% of registered commercial pilots were women.

Guess who landed that plane? A motherfucking badass woman (specifically, Tammie Jo Shults, the first woman to fly an F/A-18 for the Navy).

If there's one thing I love more than seeing a person living their life with no regard for who "traditionally" have a certain job, it's seeing them step and absolutely fucking crush it. Shutls is a goddamn hero, and if she doesn't get the same recognition as Cpt. Sully did, I'm gonna lose my shit.

[allegro]

Bill Cosby found guilty on all counts!

I was on the phone with my boss when the verdict popped up on my iPhone. We both said, simultaneously: HOLY SHIT!!

[Swykk]

I think he will find Pudding Pops taste different in prison.

Yeah, I went there. Fuck this rapist.

Between this and yesterday’s Golden State Killer arrest, it’s good to see some justice again.

[mfte]

Is he actually going to do time?
Or will he appeal and eventually die a free man?

[allegro]

Is he actually going to do time?
Or will he appeal and eventually die a free man?

Hard to tell right now.

He was granted bail, because the judge determined that he isn't a flight risk due to his advanced age (he's 80) and health (he's blind and a physical mess).

Sentencing will come first, he's facing a maximum of 10 years (per count) but those could be combined so I guess it all depends on a formula, which is pretty much "life" which is pretty much a death sentence for him, considering his age.

It's always possible that his sentence could be delayed pending appeal. It has to be assessed as to his danger to the public, considering he's now a sex offender, etc. An appeal can't be based on the fact that the Defendant doesn't LIKE the verdict or doesn't think it's fair to him; an appeal has to be based on some error or omission of fact during the trial, so he isn't even guaranteed an appeal.

So, the answer is: we don't know, we'll see.

I think the more IMPORTANT part of this case isn't really the sentencing; the more important part is that he was TRIED (far after the actual crime was committed) and then, after an initial hung jury, he was found guilty. And this case has led to several states passing legislation that totally removes the statute of limitations for sexual assaults (and it's predicted that more and more states are going to do this, especially since it's come to light that hundreds of thousands of rape kits have been stuck in police storage rooms, languishing, going nowhere, wasting statute time). This case is also about the courage of one woman coming forward, and then all of the other courageous women following her, and the public harassment they received for speaking their truth against this public figure. It's important to note that Cosby laughed at many of the victims who spoke as witnesses at the trial. He didn't take any of these charges seriously, considered all of his actions "consensual" even when he admitted in depositions that he drugged the women. Really, justice IS the guilty verdict.

This is still just so weird and sad for kids of my generation; we grew up watching "I Spy" and listening to old Cosby records on vinyl. My Dad had Cosby's "Wonderfulness" album when I was a kid, and my brother and I listened to that album so many times, I can't count, we had "Chicken Heart" MEMORIZED. And, here, was this totally awful dark side of this beloved childhood presence. It's going to be pretty hard to trust after this point, for sure.

[bobbie solo]

Now let's get Weinstein please. I work with predominantly black people and a few of my friends have their eyebrows raised already in terms of "of course they got the black guy right away in the midst of MeToo, but what about the rest of these sonsabitches?"

[thevoid99]

Now let's get Weinstein please. I work with predominantly black people and a few of my friends have their eyebrows raised already in terms of "of course they got the black guy right away in the midst of MeToo, but what about the rest of these sonsabitches?"

I'm still waiting for someone to get Michael Bay caught. That fucker is a real asshole and a total misogynist.

[allegro]

Now let's get Weinstein please. I work with predominantly black people and a few of my friends have their eyebrows raised already in terms of "of course they got the black guy right away in the midst of MeToo, but what about the rest of these sonsabitches?"

Amen to this, and I do believe Weinstein has his day coming; he makes Bill Cosby look like a choir boy.

[allegro]

Remember, though, that it took YEARS to get to this with Cosby. The assault of Andrea Constand took place in 2004. The former prosecutor in Montgomery County, PA, refused to press charges against Cosby, due to what he felt was "insufficient evidence." It wasn't until that prosecutor was voted out and this new one was voted in, and the new one took up the Constand case, that this case came back to life.

Before that time, Constand brought civil charges against Cosby, in 2005, and the case was settled out of court.

The criminal charges didn't start against him until 2015, a full 11 years after the original assault; then, the first trial ended in a mistrial in 2017. This is the 2nd trial.

So, they didn't really "get the black guy right away."

Cosby's victims go all the way back to 1965 during the "I Spy" TV series.

He's been steadily molesting and harassing women for FIFTY THREE YEARS, and getting away with it through power, payoffs. and intimidation. There wasn't any sudden "get the black guy" in this case.

This isn't a black/white game.

This is a male in power game. Powerful and abusive males come in all colors.

[Jinsai]

Weinstein will go down too. This case against Cosby has been a long time coming, and it's crazy that it's "over."

If there's people out there claiming that PoC celebrities aren't afforded the same protections as white powerful people, that's mostly just nonsense. Michael Jackson got away with rampant child abuse, and OJ basically trolled the world after he literally got away with murder. I don't know if it's as simple as "Juries get starstruck," but I've heard a lot of people defend Michael Vick, trying to downplay how horrifying what he did was... but it felt similar to the way I've heard people of all races struggle to defend Rothlesberger... They're not looking at it as a race issue, it's a Sports-love issue for them I think.

Along that same line, I saw a lot of people, many of whom were of color, many white, desperate to insist that Cosby couldn't be guilty... that there was no way in hell Cliff Huxtable was a rapist. It's less of a racial identification point, and more of a case where people are enamored with celebrity. It bleeds off into a trickier area when it comes to celebrities celebrated as prominent figures in any minority, but I think we just don't like to tear down our idols and believe they're flawed and potentially horrible people.

Weinstein has no real public love. That motherfucker is going down, and nobody is going to cry about it. It's just going to take some time.

This Cosby thing has been boiling for a LONG time now... it gets easy to forget that.

[elevenism]

Weinstein will go down too. This case against Cosby has been a long time coming, and it's crazy that it's "over."

If there's people out there claiming that PoC celebrities aren't afforded the same protections as white powerful people, that's mostly just nonsense. Michael Jackson got away with rampant child abuse,

I'm with you except for the part about MJ.
I'm currently wearing a Michael Jackson T shirt.

Ironically, this may bolster your point, but I will never believe those accusations.

[Jinsai]

well, I dunno, I believe it I guess. Though he's dead now though, so I guess there's no point in beating that horse at this point.

[elevenism]

well, I dunno, I believe it I guess. Though he's dead now though, so I guess there's no point in beating that horse at this point.

it's horrible no matter how you slice it.
Another one that I've had a lot of trouble with us Wyclef Jean. He's kind of like on the same level as Reznor and Bowie for me and he was accused of stealing money from that charity for Haiti. I've spent hours looking for ANYTHING that might prove, or even suggest, his innocence.

But yeah, I agree that Cosby coming down relatively early likely isn't a racial thing.

I can also see where it would be pretty fucking hard to swallow. My wife just refuses to listen to anything about it. The whole thing infuriates her, and not exactly at him, but she doesn't think it's some sort of conspiracy either.
It's more like it just "does not compute."

[Jinsai]

well, yeah... it's the craziest part. Cosby was known as, more than any other aspect, "wholesome."

Then it turns out he's a serial rapist.

[allegro]

Cosby did NOT come down relatively early.

Cosby has been fighting these charges for FOURTEEN YEARS. His celebrity and money and powerful influence certainly influenced the prosecutor not filing charges in 2004.

This trial has been going on for THREE FUCKING YEARS. Only THREE victims were represented in these criminal proceedings, out of MANY MORE nationwide over a fifty+ year period.

The Weinstein thing just came to light in October of 2017, a little more than SIX MONTHS AGO.

Cosby has been a part of my life for FIFTY FOUR YEARS, but I’m supporting these women; any cognitive dissonance lasted about two seconds until the REALITY hit me, that most molesters are the familiar, not strangers.

Watch “The Keepers” documentary about priest child sex abuse if you want to see men in power abusing their positions of trust. Nobody expects Mr. Huxtable or the Jello guy or the Fat Albert guy to be a rapist, nor did they expect the ice cream man, or the man who owns the candy store or the priest at church to be a pedophile. The bad people are hardly ever who you expect them to be.

Edit: Do you guys even know about Fat Albert? Or are you all too young for that?

[thevoid99]

You mean that, "hey, hey-hey" and mush-mouth? Man, that shit is stupid.

[allegro]

Heh, it was awesome in 1972, LOL

But, yeah, it was the 70s, with shit like "Good Times" and "What's Happenin'" and "The Jeffersons" and "Sanford and Son" as shining examples of black people.

"Fat Albert" was considered educational in comparison.

[allegro]

Here's Cosby in "I Spy" in 1965


And here is a comedy routine he used to do back in the day, NOW NOT SO FUNNY:

[Jinsai]

Thing is that's kind of dispiriting - it took a male comedian having part of a stand-up comedy bit about Cosby's rape allegations (from dozens of women) to go viral before there was any real traction behind the accusations. That, on so many levels, is disconcerting and just straight-up fucked up. We like to think we're making some progress here, but we have such a long way to go.

[allegro]

Yup, Hannibal Buress, he started the whole thing.

A black male comedian.

If it weren't for HIM, a black male comedian, publicly outing what a lot of others knew about Bill Cosby, Cosby might have gotten away with this shit.

I don't think it's dispiriting, I think it's great that a male stood up and had the guts to say it's really fucked up. PUBLICLY, he poked fun at Cosby, to say it's fucked up. And he put himself on the line for doing that to such a "beloved" person, too, but he didn't give a shit. And women NEED that kind of help, these Cosby victims are certainly grateful to that guy.



See this, for those of you not aware.

Cosby’s victimizing went on for decades — in his own deposition testimony, he admitted to giving quaaludes to women he wanted to have sex with in the ’70s. It wasn’t until October 2014 that this whole thing really blew up, and it was — of all people — another comedian, Hannibal Buress, who got it going. That’s when the former Saturday Night Live and 30 Rock writer and actor (Neighbors, Broad City) called out Cosby during a standup show.

“Bill Cosby has the f**king smuggest old black man public persona that I hate,” Buress said. “‘Pull your pants up, black people. I was on TV in the ’80s. I can talk down to you because I had a successful sitcom.’ Yeah, but you raped women, Bill Cosby. So, brings you down a couple notches. I don’t curse onstage. But yeah, you’re a rapist.”

Buress continued, “I want to just at least make it weird for you to watch Cosby Show reruns. If you don’t know about it, trust me. When you leave here, Google ‘Bill Cosby rape.’ That s*** has more results than ‘Hannibal Buress.’”

Footage of his act went viral, and people finally stopped to really consider what had been a well-circulated rumor in the entertainment industry. It took on a life outside of social media with news organizations starting to report on it, including CBS News with “Who is Hannibal Buress, and why did he call Bill Cosby a ‘rapist’?” a month later. More important, brave women started speaking out — and didn’t stop. So many women — dozens — accused him of the same thing.

[elevenism]

@allegro , i know that Cosby has been fighting these accusations for a long time. Perhaps I should have said that it APPEARS, from a certain point of view, that he has come down relatively early. And I suppose it's the point of view of someone just occasionally scanning the news. What I meant was that it looked that way to some people, and that i don't believe it has anything to do with race.

Also I'm VERY aware of Fat Albert. I came up in the eighties and we had Reruns (What's Happening reference) ;p
Plus, I'm pretty sure Fat Albert actually ran into the eighties.

And Hannibal Buress is a damn good comedian.

That being said, this whole shit has been like an episode of the twilight zone.

[allegro]

Plus, I'm pretty sure Fat Albert actually ran into the eighties.

"Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids" ran from 1971 to 1981.

From 1984 to 1985, there was "The Adventures of Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids"

Re-runs only kinda counts, LOL

I was watching "I Love Lucy" in the 70s and I think most of those people were actually DEAD then.