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Curtis Stinespring's avatar

I'm impressed that you speak any foreign language fluently. You must have a natural talent or have used it often. I studied German in college 65 years ago and just this month found a use for it. I ordered a new Roku device which would display setup and menu information only in German. I recognized enough words to eventually get to the home screen and select "sprache".

Most "conservative" Canadians are liberal although I have met a few exceptions working in management positions in this country. The best move for the USA in any trade dispute with Canada would be to outlaw ice hockey. Only a few million of our citizens would care and it would destroy the NHL.

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Chris J. Karr's avatar

Keep an eye on that Roku - you're not the customer, you're the product as the company sells what you watch to fuel its advertising business.

https://lifehacker.com/tech/roku-is-experimenting-with-unskippable-ads

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Curtis Stinespring's avatar

Good advice. Never looked at it that way. Of course, my viewing is limited to You Tube TV content (a little golf, a little college football and a lot of Fox News), a few Prime TV offerings and Grand Ole Opry on Roku. Don't know everything my wife watches but it seems pretty routine. Wouldn't your comment apply to all streaming?

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Chris J. Karr's avatar

Not just all streaming, but all television manufacturers now as well. There's apparently big money to be made selling your video consumption data to third parties. Anything that is advertised as a "smart TV" is doing this, as consumer electronics companies are finding more (and recurring) profits selling user data than television sets these days. (And that includes data on what you're watching on others' streaming services.)

I highlighted Roku, as they've been particularly aggressive on this front.

More details here: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2024/08/tv-industrys-ads-tracking-obsession-is-turning-your-living-room-into-a-store/

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Steve Berman's avatar

I never said I was fluent in French. Or that I can still speak it reasonably well. I could, however, in 1990, communicate well enough to do business in Quebec or Paris.

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SGman's avatar

That's...interesting. Perhaps that Roku device was a returned one, or otherwise was a German model?

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Curtis Stinespring's avatar

The packaging and condition of the device lead me to believe it is brand new.

Works perfectly now so don't know about German model. I am constantly amazed at the intelligence that is built into three ounces of electronic gadgets. My only experience with computers prior to PCs becoming common was with mainframes the size of basketball courts - often with a few frames of analog to digital converters.

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SGman's avatar

Yeah, we've gotten processing down to very small packages - to say nothing of storage.

As an example: someone posted a picture from the original Super Mario Bros. game, and the picture's size in terms of storage was larger than the actual game.

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Cameron Sprow's avatar

So, then, where is the lawlessness on Trump's part, because you, yourself, said that the action taken against Ruiz was legal? Trying to have it both ways, Steve?

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Steve Berman's avatar

Lots of lawlessness, deporting legal immigrants, failure to grant habeas corpus rights, misuse of authority under law. But no, Ruiz was legal. And yes, both can be true.

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Cameron Sprow's avatar

Examples?

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SGman's avatar

From just yesterday, a new executive order states that military personnel will start assisting local law enforcement - a blatant violation of the Posse Comitatus Act.

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Curtis Stinespring's avatar

From: https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/04/strengthening-and-unleashing-americas-law-enforcement-to-pursue-criminals-and-protect-innocent-citizens/

"Sec. 4. Using National Security Assets for Law and Order. (a) Within 90 days of the date of this order, the Attorney General and the Secretary of Defense, in consultation with the Secretary of Homeland Security and the heads of agencies as appropriate, shall increase the provision of excess military and national security assets in local jurisdictions to assist State and local law enforcement.

(b) Within 90 days of the date of this order, the Secretary of Defense, in coordination with the Attorney General, shall determine how military and national security assets, training, non-lethal capabilities, and personnel can most effectively be utilized to prevent crime."

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SGman's avatar

Yes: now show which law expressly allows for the use of military personnel for enforcing domestic policy.

From https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/1385"

18 U.S. Code § 1385 - Use of Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, and Space Force as posse comitatus

"Whoever, except in cases and under circumstances expressly authorized by the Constitution or Act of Congress, willfully uses any part of the Army, the Navy, the Marine Corps, the Air Force, or the Space Force as a posse comitatus or otherwise to execute the laws shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than two years, or both."

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Curtis Stinespring's avatar

No argument. Now just show me where the executive order states that military forces will be used without legal review.

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Lizzie's avatar

Your final summation that blames Trump's not following due process for the judge's lawlessness is missing one important aspect. That is, that the Trump team does not think that anything it has done violates due process and that the Judiciary branch is interfering in the Constitutionally specified prerogatives of the Executive to manage foreign affairs (and citizens of foreign countries). I missed it if the current SCOTUS has definitively decided that foreign citizens on US soil have every right that a US citizen has. That his rights are not subject to foreign treaties, international agreements or other considerations of foreign affairs, or anything not under the control of the Executive Branch.

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SGman's avatar

Every right - no, as citizens have specifically enumerated rights within the Constitution. However, anything that says "person" or "people" applies to all present - because due process just means innocent until proven guilty.

Keep in mind that treaties are part of our laws: they have to be ratified by Congress for them to be fully enacted. The Executive can make agreements with foreign nations without going through treaty ratification, but those are then not as protected legally.

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