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1 day agoGuys, I don’t think we should use this for work.
It’s not safe.
earthworm
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Joined 3 months ago
Cake day: September 14th, 2025
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December 2, 2025 02:52 PM
It looks up to me right now.
Agreed.
Pass what you can pass.
But don’t let that be the finish line.
Even if I had asserted that billionaires cap the lives of the working class to the poverty line (which I didn’t), the poverty line is an outdated, unserious measure of how Americans are doing.
More about the FPL
My assertion is that billionaires are a cap on the lives of the working class, not that the cap is set at the federal poverty line.
I can’t see your links (imgur says their servers are overloaded), but I’ll use US figures for the sake of argument.
The [federal poverty line is] derived from the official poverty thresholds, which were originally developed in the 1960s based on the cost of a minimum food diet multiplied by three — reflecting the “fact” [quotations mine] that food makes up about one-third of a typical family’s budget. (What is the federal poverty level?)
Look up “average American monthly expenses”, and you’ll see that food consistently accounts for less than 15%. The FPL is outdated and has been for decades.
There’s controversy about the right way to measure poverty, but no one serious on either side of the argument points at “the percentage of the population living in poverty” and calls it a day.
The majority of Americans support progressive policies. But whether or not a policy is passed depends on whether or not it has the support of the billionaire class.
More on the popularity of progressive policies and the impact of wealth on policy change
Over half of Americans say they lack the cash to cover a $1,000 unexpected emergency expense. Increased earnings — not lower spending — is main driver for boosting emergency funds. The most common cause of emergency expenses in the United States is a medical emergency. Regardless of whether or not they meet a 1960’s definition of poverty, Americans are not, by and large, financially well.
The majority of Americans support progressive programs that address the causes of this precarity: paid maternity leave, childcare support, boosting the minimum wage, free college, and Medicare for All.
But what we want doesn’t get passed.
When the preferences of economic elites and the stands of organized interest groups are controlled for, the preferences of the average American appear to have only a minuscule, near-zero, statistically non-significant impact upon public policy. … When a majority of citizens disagrees with economic elites and/or with organized interests, they generally lose. Moreover, because of the strong status quo bias built into the U.S. political system, even when fairly large majorities of Americans favor policy change, they generally do not get it.
Working class Americans (and not just those at or below the federal poverty line) support policy changes that would materially improve their lives. When those policies conflict with the interests of billionaires, the billionaires stop them from passing.
In other words, they put a cap on it.
Came to the comments looking for the Addams. Was not disappointed.
If you VPN into the UK or Australia, you’ll run into the same restrictions.
As more countries pass this kind of legislation, VPNs become less and less of a solution, and they were only ever a solution for people who can afford them.
Edit: That argument is just “trickle down economics” with extra steps.
I disagree.
Billionaires have outsize influence. They buy politicians to set public policies that affect the working class and divert billions of our dollars into their pockets.
If you put all of their money in a pit and set it on fire, it would have a greater impact than just taxing them 2% and spending all of it on public programs, because they would no longer be able to do harm on a billionaire scale.
The people could heal.
We’d still have other beasts to deal with, but the existence of billionaires is a cap on the lives of the working class.
TL;Dr: Browser extensions are malware sleeper agents.
The systemic problem isn’t just one malicious actor. It’s that the security model incentivizes this behavior:
- Build something legitimate
- Pass review and gain trust signals (installs, reviews, verified badges)
- Collect large user base
- Weaponize via update
- Profit before detection
ShadyPanda proved this works. And now every sophisticated threat actor knows the playbook.
The wealth tax typically proposed by these campaigns (like 2 or 3%) would raise money but it would not stop billionaires from getting richer. (That’s why even billionaires advocate for it.)
The finish line should not be “raise money to fund public programs.”
The finish line should be “billionaires don’t exist.”
The app is mainly designed to help users block and track lost or stolen smartphones across all telecom networks, using a central registry. It also lets them identify, and disconnect, fraudulent mobile connections.
With more than 5 million downloads since its launch, the app has helped block more than 3.7 million stolen or lost mobile phones, while more than 30 million fraudulent connections have also been terminated.
The government says it helps prevent cyber threats and assists tracking and blocking of lost or stolen phones, helping police to trace devices, while keeping counterfeits out of the black market.
There has to be a way to do all of this without installing something on your phone that you didn’t ask for.
Something weird about corporations spending billions on “the Comic Sans of technology”
19·4 days agoIf you downloaded a malware-infected version, it shouldn’t be able to access your accounts.
It remains unknown what the malware that found its way into the official SmartTube APK files can actually do. Thankfully, SmartTube is programmed to only request minimal account permissions and does not ask for any login information directly. Even if you granted the app access to your Google Drive for backup purposes, your Google account and general Google Drive files remain out of the app’s scope of permissions. Permissions regarding control of your YouTube account seem like the only thing that could have easily been exposed to the malware, as far as account access is concerned.
To be safe, factory reset anything you installed it on and double check for Google/YouTube account activity and permissions.
That said, since very little is know about the malware, you should assume the worst. If you use SmartTube and are concerned about your exposure to this malware, you should factory reset any device that had the app installed, especially if you installed or updated the app in November. It would also be a good idea to audit your Google account permissions and your YouTube account activity for anything unusual. Once your devices and account are in order, if you wish to reinstall SmartTube, be sure to only install the latest version through the codes/links above.
The link just brings me to the front page of a web app. Is there a direct link to the original article ?
Maybe it’ll come to you after a coffee break.
I pick the Resting window.
You might not understand :
- their explanation for what happens to users who’ve paid
- what I mean by “soften the landing”
- what I mean by “what that really meant”
- what I mean by “I wouldn’t be surprised”
I’m not a mind reader, mate. Even less so on the internet. I could be ESL, or from a different part of the world. Whatever’s obvious in your head isn’t going to be obvious in mine.
So, if you want me to tell you what “this” means, you’ve got to tell me what “this” is.
The guys who did the Louvre only had an A4-sized map.
That’s how they got caught.
Their map wasn’t big enough.
Which part?
Not for users who paid the mobile unlock fee.
What if I’ve already paid the one-time mobile app activation fee?
For users who have already paid a one-time, in-app activation for either our mobile Android or iOS app, an extended trial for the new Remote Watch Pass subscription is available.
(Source: Plex)They soften the landing with the “extended trial”, but anyone who paid the “one-time fee” is finding out what that really meant.
I wouldn’t be surprised if a year from now there’s an announcement for Plex 2.0 and my lifetime account only applies to legacy Plex.
You mean the same Beneficial Ownership Information (BOI) that Trump and Musk killed the enforcement of after a tweet? (Both billionaires, btw.)
Are you arguing that a 1% excise tax limited to stock buybacks (even lower than the 2 and 3% I already argued won’t change the status quo) in any way counters the well-documented fact that billionaires and corporations have dozens of ways to avoid paying taxes?
Corporations even managed to dodge the IRA's headline tax: the CAMT
(2022)
Part of the IRA was budgeted for hiring more tax auditors. Corporations underpay every chance they get and won’t pay a penny more until an auditor can prove the difference.
(2023 through 2024)
The IRS repeatedly provided relief and from penalties due to underpayment.
(2025)
Under Trump (2025), the IRS has shrunk. In theory, the IRA should have led to increased taxes. In practice, corporations were able to stall until they had an administration that gutted the IRS’ ability to collect.
Your headline of “we passed a law that says they’ll pay” doesn’t match the reality of “but not this year because they say it’s too complicated, we don’t have enough staff to audit them, and they have more accountants than we have people who specialize in legally hiding their assets and cooking the numbers.”
For every legal loophole that is closed, the ultra-wealthy find or create two more.
Meanwhile, programs designed to serve the needs of the working class are pushed back with “how are you going to pay for it?”
Answer: With the money that billionaires and corporations should be paying, but aren’t.
It would be convenient for you, if I were to suggest that, or any other argument you try to put in my mouth.
Once in a blue moon, a law will get passed (as you’ve demonstrated), that they will then ignore, delay, defang, or lobby into irrelevance (as I’ve demonstrated).
What I am saying (and have been since the beginning) is that the existence of billionaires is a cap on the lives of the working class.