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That Secret Service SIM farm story is bogus

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Re: That Secret Service SIM farm story is bogus

#351

Post by stocksinsmocks »

CommieBobDole wrote: post #192
roody15 wrote: post #98

Once a Chinese grad student explained to me a difference he noted between Chinese and American citizens. He said in China no really reads or watches 24/7 major news outlets in China. They are fully aware that all of it is propaganda and just go about their life. He said Americans seem to get really emotional over content in the press and seem to really struggle with the idea of propaganda / journalism in the news. I…

I'd like to point out that the student's advice, "of course the news is ridiculous propaganda, just ignore it and go about your life and focus on your friends and family" is the the response desired by the authoritarian Chinese government who has carefully engineered the situation in the first place. The purpose of constantly publishing obvious lies is not for people to believe them (though some always will), it's to…

Regarding the good economy = apathy, my conclusion is the opposite. I think our good economy is the reason a significant portion of the US population with overwhelming outgroup preference exists at all. As quality of life deteriorates I think that behavior will be selected out and those remaining will get back to the basics of tribe survival. I think it is the fundamental fallacy of the modern socialist that if things get bad enough, people will undergo some personal revelation about climate or vote Bernie or something. I think when you look at extremely poor places like Yemen, you don’t see fertile ground for progressive idealism.

Re: That Secret Service SIM farm story is bogus

#352

Post by ahmeneeroe-v2 »

southernplaces7 wrote: post #303
ceejayoz wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In some cases, yes. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disciplinary_actions_for_comme... > Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that any non-citizens who celebrated Kirk's death would be immediately deported… > Attorney General Pam Bondi indicated on Katie Miller's podcast and in subsequent Department of Justice announcements that she intended to "target" speech against Kirk following his death as hate speech… Plus te…

Since the very clear, repeatedly court-upheld, very specific wording of the 1st amendment protects free speech for anyone at all residing inside the United States (Yes, even including illegal immigrants, not to mention residents and visitors, though by voicing a politically disliked opinion they might risk becoming fast-track targets for deportation through other "formal" justifications) and also offers no legal clas…

Cancel culture won. Conservatives are not being hypocritical for having been against it and now for it. If your opponent is using an effective weapon and you don't also pick up that weapon, you will lose.

Re: That Secret Service SIM farm story is bogus

#353

Post by ahmeneeroe-v2 »

ceejayoz wrote: post #213
viggity wrote: post #207

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

Except people are often being fired for quoting Charlie Kirk verbatim . The First Amendment doesn't apply to only citizens.

The first amendment should only apply to citizens. I understand that current case law says it applies to everyone, but I think that is a misstep that we can & should correct.

Re: That Secret Service SIM farm story is bogus

#354

Post by mrbombastic »

contrarian1234 wrote: post #130
alansammarone wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's right, one person caring and not acting doesn't change reality, neither does one person caring and acting (most of the time). A relatively small number of people caring and acting, however, can change the course of history. While it is in nobody's interest to care, individually, we're all better off if we care and act just a little bit .

i assume caring and acting here you mean in the context of larger issues. bc effort spent on your immediate world definitely does change reality there is no mechanism past voting to change the big picture. Nor should there be. The person going around with the megaphone convincing other people their right inherantly feels their feelings are more right than others' And you dont need to care an aweful lot when it comes…

This is straight nonsense, why do you think Jimmy Kimmel had his show reinstated yesterday? The pendulum is constantly pushed and pulled in different directions outside of elections, if you decide you don’t need to care all you do is give way to those that do.

Re: That Secret Service SIM farm story is bogus

#355

Post by tsimionescu »

1234letshaveatw wrote: post #227
tsimionescu wrote: post #175

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The NYT article fell apart the moment they quoted the silly "35 miles from UN headquarters" quote by the SS without pointing out it's an absurd attempt at sensationalizing. No need to read further than that before figuring out it's a propaganda piece.

That's the figure that has been cherry picked and everyone has run with to dismiss the announcement yes. While it probably was included to sensationalize, I fail to see how that is some kind of smoking gun that somehow falsifies all the rest of it. Everyone buying into this is showing their bias

The title of the NYT article is "Cache of Devices Capable of Crashing Cell Network is Found Near U. N.". The 35 mile radius is not some cherry picked number buried deep in the article, it is the explanation of the propagandiatic title. And the other parts of the title are also bullshit: it wasn't a "cache", which would suggest the devices were stockpiled waiting for some nefarious purpose - they were actively used devices. And describing SIM farms as "devices capable of crashing the cell network" is also bullshit - it's like finding a box of knives in a kitchen drawer and describing it as "a cache of implements capable of tearing human flesh".

Re: That Secret Service SIM farm story is bogus

#356

Post by 0xDEAFBEAD »

marcosdumay wrote: post #326
throwaway894345 wrote: post #232

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would expect to see conflicting narratives in any country with free press. Why would we expect different outlets with different biases to run consistent narratives?

There should not be conflicting narratives on the press about things like if the COVID vaccines work or not, or if the disease kills people or not. Or if the world is warming.

Interesting. But how should we determine which narrative is correct, and whether conflict should be allowed? Perhaps some sort of "Ministry of Truth" in the federal government could do the job?

Re: That Secret Service SIM farm story is bogus

#357

Post by ahmeneeroe-v2 »

philwelch wrote: post #259
bongodongobob wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And yet people are getting fired over making comments about Charlie Kirk on social media.

There’s something hypocritical about a person who thinks it’s an injustice for them to be fired for expressing their opinions, when that opinion is that they are glad Charlie Kirk was murdered for expressing his opinions. Karl Popper said, “But we should claim the right to suppress them if necessary even by force; for it may easily turn out that they are not prepared to meet us on the level of rational argument, but…

Excellent point. Love the Popper quote.

We can't be suicidally principled.

Re: That Secret Service SIM farm story is bogus

#358

Post by jacquesm »

That story was overblown. But it wasn't bogus. SIM farms exist, this was one of them and it definitely wasn't put there for the general good of the population. They're common enough that the UK has specific legislation targeting acquisition and use of these devices.

Which parts of the story were embellished and who they were embellished by is an interesting question but the degree to which the original story being bogus is balanced out nicely by the degree to which this article (and the overblown title) itself is bogus.

The facts: a SIM farm was discovered. It had a very large number of active SIMS. It was found in NYC. It was active when it was found.

What is speculative/hard to verify:

It was used for specific swatting attempts. It was put there by nation state level actors rather than just ordinary criminals.

What is most likely bullshit:

That it had anything to do with the UN headquarters being close by.

But that still leaves plenty of meat on the bone.

Re: That Secret Service SIM farm story is bogus

#359

Post by VerminOctopus1 »

Rover222 wrote: post #273
roody15 wrote: post #98

Once a Chinese grad student explained to me a difference he noted between Chinese and American citizens. He said in China no really reads or watches 24/7 major news outlets in China. They are fully aware that all of it is propaganda and just go about their life. He said Americans seem to get really emotional over content in the press and seem to really struggle with the idea of propaganda / journalism in the news. I…

I agree from a high level, but I think the major difference is that: - Chinese news is propoganda in the traditional sense - directed/approved by the central government - US news is not centrally controlled like that, but most sources lean heavily left or right, and distort narratives to fit their views. I feel like liberals believe that, while Fox News is clearly presenting things from a right-leaning perspective, m…

The fact that you think NYT is “far left” is a great example of how incredibly far the overton window has shifted.

Re: That Secret Service SIM farm story is bogus

#360

Post by SmirkingRevenge »

squidproquo wrote: post #121
roody15 wrote: post #98

Once a Chinese grad student explained to me a difference he noted between Chinese and American citizens. He said in China no really reads or watches 24/7 major news outlets in China. They are fully aware that all of it is propaganda and just go about their life. He said Americans seem to get really emotional over content in the press and seem to really struggle with the idea of propaganda / journalism in the news. I…

The other thing to note is that journalism in the US has gotten really lazy. A lot of the articles you will see in the MSM are based on leaked info and press-releases from PR firms, etc. It's easier to for journalists to regurgitate stories hand-fed to them than doing truly hard and costly investigative work.

I think it's less laziness than the fact that the news media has been in a constant state of disruption since the internet. It's a much riskier business than it used to be.
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