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Smoke @beehaw.org
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Trump will be sentenced Jan. 10 in New York case, days before his inauguration
  • He's indicated he wants to give Trump a sentence of unconditional suspension, eg. a sentence of zero actual punishment but which nevertheless designates him a convicted felon.

    The judge, Juan M. Merchan, indicated that he favored a so-called unconditional discharge of Mr. Trump’s sentence, a rare and lenient alternative to jail or probation. He set a sentencing date of Jan. 10, and ordered Mr. Trump to appear either in person or virtually. An unconditional discharge would cement Mr. Trump’s status as a felon just weeks before his inauguration — he would be the first to carry that dubious designation into the presidency — even as it would water down the consequences for his crimes. Unlike a conditional discharge, which allows defendants to walk free if they meet certain requirements, such as maintaining employment or paying restitution, an unconditional discharge would come without strings attached.

  • Let's discuss: Assassin's Creed
  • I played the first one, and found it to be extremely boring but with potential. Unfortunately, playing 3 and Syndicate afterwards showed me clearly that Ubisoft smothered the potential and cranked up the boring. The worlds they've created are certainly immersive, but they're also devoid of energy. 3 has a half-Native American protage who spends five minutes in his home village and then goes off to the colonies with barely a thought spared for his home, so when it's played for drama it falls flat because we haven't seen his relationship to his family. And Syndicate's characters had might as well be carved from soap with how crude and flat they are. There's a transgendered gangster from New York who joins the Assassins' gang, and he has absolutely nothing to add for the entire game. Characters with seeming potential come in, have one side quest, and that's their lot.

  • Joe Biden commutes sentences of 37 out of 40 federal death row inmates
  • Unless you think they're particularly likely to escape, I don't see the difference between death and life without parole as regards "too dangerous to set free". The unabomber died in prison serving out that very sentence.

  • Joe Biden commutes sentences of 37 out of 40 federal death row inmates
  • So I don’t think he believed he gets to decide who dies. He’s never supported the death penalty afaik.

    He chose to exclude the three mentioned though. So clearly he's compromising for crimes he or his base see as unforgivably evil.

  • Google Is Paying Reddit $60 Million for Fucksmith to Tell Its Users to Eat Glue
  • Not only that, but trust from a self contained community is not the same as safe for the general public outside of context. Imagine asking for a summary of the Gamestop shortsqueeze and getting an answer from Superstonks.

  • How Quora Died: The site used to be a thriving community that worked to answer our most specific questions. But users are fleeing.
  • honestly, not sure I -ever- found a useful answer on Quora.

    Reading them taught me one thing, Quora had/has a weirdly strong hardon for Steve Jobs and is/was all too happy to talk about anecdotes of him buying the authors' lunch or reconciling with his estranged daughter. The only time I read criticism of Apple or him was when the question specifically asked for it.

  • The Witness Appreciation Post
  • Let me add one thing more, that a realistic aesthetic brings with it certain expectations. For example, I don't question how Security Bots in Bioshock refuel themselves, or fly, or recognise intruders. I don't ask how come the turrets in Portal never run out of bullets (though it's answered as a gag in one of the videos). They're not presented as realistic, and I don't expect them to be. But when you make the choice to use realistic miniguns in Talos, those questions are going to bubble up to the surface, like "Where's the ammo box on that thing?" and "Who's maintaining these on islands in the middle of nowhere?" and "Scratch that, who's making them?" and "If Elohim (yeah real subtle name there) did all this then why bother with a machine that requires maintenance in the first place instead of a magic pillar of fire or smth?"

  • The Witness Appreciation Post
  • I can say I was put off at first glance by the "realistic" aesthetic, with props like jammers and minigun turrets that have an unnecessarily detailed, grounded look when as a puzzle game, graphics should not be the focus of the experience. A stylised, or minimal, graphical style would put the focus firmly where it belongs - on the puzzles themselves.

  • Unclassified letter reveals NSA's warrantless purchase of Americans' internet browsing data
  • No, no more than its illegal for a detective to use evidence seized in a raid against a thief ring, to arrest drug dealers because there was a photo of them holding big bags of cocaine with "We Love Dealing Drugs" written and autographed on the back. They'd never have a search warrant for the dealers' house normally, but because it was robbed by someone else and the photo turned up somewhere else for them to find, it's fair game.

  • Can anyone Explain how The Federation works to me like I am five years old?
  • The Federation makes it quite easy to quit a term of service before completion (even during war time)

    I'm fairly sure it's mentioned that once war broke out Rico was no longer allowed to leave, but he didn't pay much attention because his two years weren't up anyway.

    once someone has quit they are never allowed to enroll again. This is to ensure that all volunteers are dedicated, whilst also discouraging people from leaving.

    On the contrary, the Federation deliberately makes leaving as easy as possible to get rid of anyone who would otherwise leave later, or worse stay and let his squaddies down in a way that would get them killed. You can't just up and leave (though no effort is made to find you if you desert), but at any time you can ask to see a superior, get your papers voided, and walk out off base.

    This is because Federal Service is tough and dangerous (by design). It can involve joining the Military, being a Human Guinea Pig, testing survival equipment or Manual Labour.

    This is a funny one. On the one hand, in execution it's mentioned those physically unfit to serve in the military do get any pointlessly dangerous job available. But in principle, many speeches are made specifically saying military service is what makes someone worthy of political rights, because of the responsibility of military service. Someone counting the hairs of venomous caterpillars (an example job given in the book) has no responsibilities that could harm or help the country he's serving.

  • SCOTUS Green Lights Novel Execution Method
  • Okay yeah, but that's not the discussion. You'd might as well say all methods are equally bad because it's the act itself that's the problem, and at that point the state can break out the human mincing machines knowing it'll get just as much or little pushback no matter what it picks.

  • SCOTUS Green Lights Novel Execution Method
  • Funny, I remember nitrogen gas being promoted as far more humane than lethal injection or existing gas execution. For years it was touted as the solution no one was using because of I guess sadism. Now someone is using it, and of course it's instantly denounced. You just can't win...