Deepfakes, one of the biggest threats to democracy. How easy for lies to become truth?

https://futurism.com/the-byte/deepfakes-translation-tech-synthesia

Most children in orphanages are not orphans

Orphanages have become a lucrative business in developing countries, leading to the trafficking of children to fill them

http://news.trust.org/item/20181114025819-qqbtx/

Sometimes I like to follow stories of those who attained internet notoriety for crimes that may not be especially egregious, but are especially obnoxious. The problem is, after weeks of following these cases, I almost never find out the outcome.

I will probably never find out what happened to Jack the Kicker, the obnoxious Canadian who roundhouse kicked a pro-life woman at a protest, defending his appalling actions by claiming, "I meant to kick your phone!"

(Conan, as I recall, launched into his trademarked self-righteous indignation when I announced that if I ever saw that guy, I would kick him right in the phone. I was unable to locate an affordable sense of humor that he could purchase at Amazon.com. I suspect Conan would need the deluxe model.)

One such case I was late in finding out about (since this was resolved on July 3 of this year) is the case of Edith Macias.

Edith was a student at University of California, Riverside. Vexed by a student choosing to wear a MAGA hat, she took it right off his head, marched to Student Life to turn it in and demanded that the student be disciplined.

She was in utter disbelief when Student Life not only returned the property and Student Life refused to back her up as she complained (and complained, and complained) about how oppressive MAGA hats are, but when she attempted to storm out of the room in a Conan-level outrage, she was met by campus police, who had a few things to say to her about theft.

Anyhow, the last I heard of her, because she stole the hat off the student's head (as opposed to finding it on a chair, for instance, and taking it), her offense amounted to grand theft. The victim, Matthew Lawrence Vitale, chose to press charges and the DA decided to prosecute.

And for the longest time, that's as far as I got in following this case. I resigned myself to, as usual, never learning the final outcome of this interesting case.

Then I did some searching on Mr. Vitale's Facebook (which he keeps public), and found in the responses, the final outcome.

She was offered a plea bargain for petty theft, which she wisely accepted. She wrote apology letters to both the victim and the college, and is required to complete Anger Management. If she fails in this, she will be summarily sentenced to ten days in jail and three years probation.

Crid will doubtless screech with indignation at the length of this post, but a friend of mine, a retired lawyer, said that the sentence seems almost tough considering she had no priors.

I disagree. These days, everyone in the country has video cameras in the shape of cellphones. In the video, Edith Macias not only confesses to her crime, but presents it as perfectly within her rights to act in this way. She is also heard making verbal threats to assault her victim (more than already has) and is quite openly (and profanely) contemptuous of U.S. law.

Moreover, in looking at the link I posted, it seems this young woman has serious difficulty in keeping her hands to herself. She has posted on her Facebook (which she has since taken down) that if she ever sees a white man with a megaphone at one of the many protest events she attends, she will "snatch that shit away" and give it to a non-white.

It's not just her attitude of how she feels things should be, it's her feeling that she has the right to force people into compliance if they aren't acting as she feels they should.

And it's absolutely laughable to hear her incredulous complaint to Student Life that she deals with microaggressions on daily basis. Oh, boo-fucking-hoo, you obnoxious, self-righteous bitch. Everybody deals with these soi-disant microaggressions on a daily basis. It's called being a human being who interacts with other human beings. Petty slights happen. Most people overlook them, particularly if the offense is unintended. We don't threaten people and steal their property over it.

Still, I suppose there's some justice in the fact that she recognizes she will forever be remembered as the college student who thinks she has the right to steal from people who are wearing things that might offend her.

One thing I don't know is why she's a former student? Did she graduate, drop out, or was she expelled?

I suspect drop out. There goes her goal of becoming a lesbian gym teacher.

I suspect drop out. There goes her goal of becoming a lesbian gym teacher.

I suspect it was more of her parents finding out the mess she got in and decided to get her out of the campus and wait until things cooled down before sending her to another university.

Could be, Sixclaws. As the link I posted reveals, her mother is an illegal alien. However, Edith was born in the U.S., so she claims, making her a natural born citizen.

I'm no expert on immigration laws, but I thought that Edith, since she's of age, could get her mother naturalized.

As the link I posted reveals, her mother is an illegal alien.

Oooh, my money is on her mother being so disappointed to the point of sending her off to live with other relatives because she squandered a once in a lifetime opportunity.

I want a service fox too

https://twitter.com/WildGoose1776/status/1063898421516541952

You really are a petty little man, Patrick.

Conan, where is the link? This is a links thread. Come on. Share something interesting. Surprise us all.

Patrick asked for linkies to comeuppances, here's one. I'd seen the video of the original incident, but I don't think I posted it to the linkies section here because it struck me as too stupid and made my head hurt.

When is a $6 fish not a $6 fish? when it gets you $500 worth of fines and court fees.

https://www.tampabay.com/news/breaking/activist-threw-a-fishermans-catch-back-into-the-lake-now-he-has-to-pay-20181116/

Anti migrant protestors headed to shelter where caravan of migrants has set up camp to “kick them out.”

https://twitter.com/emilytgreen/status/1064236423379894272

Gotta make sure the evidence is destroyed before the coup happens

https://twitter.com/CoreysDigs/status/1063975021553434628

The Capitalists will sell us the rope with which we will hang them.

https://twitter.com/GElefteriu/status/1064106566583025664

> Patrick at November 18, 2018 5:02 AM

Too many words.

> Patrick at November 18, 2018 9:33 AM

Again.

(PS Didn't read/duzzenmadder)