The UK fined 4chan £520,000.
4chan’s lawyer replied with a picture of a hamster.
Ofcom sent a bigger fine.
The lawyer replied with a bigger hamster.
Named Nigel J. Whiskerford.
Dressed as Godzilla.
His official legal response included the line:
“The United Kingdom lost the American Revolutionary War. We are not in the mood to discuss the matter further, and have not been in the mood for 250 years.”
Ofcom has issued nearly £5.5 million in fines to tech companies.
Collected £55,000.
From one company.
4chan has paid zero.
The UK just announced it’s banning social media for under-16s.
Considering overnight curfews for 16 and 17-year-olds.
Planning phone scanning.
Trying to regulate AI chatbots.
Fining American websites that respond with hamster memes.
Signal threatened to leave.
4chan sent a rodent.
The Online Safety Act took 8 years to write.
Nigel J. Whiskerford is not impressed.
USA. A Mexican restaurant. We had not yet ordered anything, and the food was already arriving.
Chips. Salsa. Unrequested. Free.
I stopped the waiter. "We have not earned these."
"They just come with the table, man."
They come with the TABLE. In my land, hospitality is a debt. Every gift creates an obligation, weighed carefully, returned in the proper season with interest of feeling. Here, the gift arrives before you have even proven you can pay for dinner.
This is not an appetizer. This is a declaration: we trust you. Eat.
I ate with the gravity the moment deserved. And then — I must report this calmly — the basket emptied, and a new one appeared.
"Did we…?"
"Refill," the waiter said. "It's bottomless."
Bottomless. They have wells of salsa. The supply lines of this nation are beyond anything my ancestors imagined.
My friend warned me. "Don't fill up on chips, dude."
Too late. I had accepted three baskets. Honor demanded each one be finished — an unfinished gift is an insult. By the time my actual food arrived, I was a ruined man.
I was not hungry. I was not comfortable. I had been defeated by a courtesy.
Generosity that arrives before the request cannot be repaid. It can only be survived.
I know the rule now. I have made my peace with the basket. One basket. Two at the most.
Who am I deceiving. There is no number of baskets I would refuse. The trust of a nation is in that salsa, and I intend to honor all of it.
I’m a numbers guy and Tuesdays GOP primary led me down some rabbit holes. Here’s the wildest statistic I’ve discovered thus far.
South Carolina’s total population growth last year was 79,958. Fastest growth rate in America. Our natural population growth (births minus deaths) was plus 564. Wild eyed southern boys and their better halves native to South Carolina ain’t having anywhere near enough babies to keep the state I love “southern”. Not even close. As the great philosophic poet Bob Dylan proclaimed, “the times they are a-changin”.
Meet Bella Swason, daughter of the notorious local legend “Tino” “Pigman” Swanson. I’ve known Bella her whole life, a reality that is difficult for me to face. Though not half as difficult as growing up with the local lizard man as your father. Today Bella came down to the Courthouse with me to help argue a Motion to Compel. Bella Swanson, is currently a Law Studies major at the University of Mississippi. Born and raised in Charleston, South Carolina, and has a strong interest in pursuing a career in the legal field. During summer clerkships especially I make a conscious effort to ensure clerks get valuable experience and insight into the practice of law. We are all very excited to see what Bella accomplishes in the future.
David Pascoe is THE anti-corruption candidate in SC's race for Attorney General.
Why would foreign interests OPPOSE the anti-corruption candidate for the state's top law man?
Your guess is as good as mine, but I'll try to give a bit of context here.
I have heard David speak on multiple occasions. And I can confirm, he is the real deal.
How do I know this?
Here's one thing I've learned in this dirty game of politics:
Politicians have a record of over-promising, and under-delivering.
But the TRUTH is, most of them don't even promise all that much!
They offer vague, general promises instead of specific plans of action!
For example, in the U.S. Senate, one thing we really need to do is to get rid of the filibuster -- an issue that was until recently considered the third rail of politics.
(Note how talk of "nuking" it disappeared once the BBB was passed, however. That's because they NEED the filibuster to hide their malfeasance and lack of action.)
In the race for SC Atty General, Pascoe is promising VERY SPECIFIC action items -- action items that should be win, if unfulfilled, will be VERY easy to call him on.
And that is the process!
Virtually ALL incumbents are making vague promises, and then deliver a near 100% FAIL rate!
But instead of firing them, we send them back to their jobs!
How insane is that??
David is offering a very clear set of goals.
David Pascoe has a record of taking down corrupt politicians like Lindsey Graham.
Graham's biggest supporters are lawyers like Randy Lowell who have made MILLIONS off of no-bid government contracts.
Now, Lowell and other lawyers are using that money to do a smear campaign on me and Pascoe.
Why?
Because they know their corruption will not be tolerated any longer.
Like David says on the trail:
It's time we stop tolerating ANY corruption.
I hope this helps folks understand what's going on in SC, despite all the national (and INTERNATIONAL!) noise some questionable actors are making.
I ordered one pancake in America. The waitress wrote it down and said, "one short stack."
Short. I am a small and humble man. A short stack sounded perfect for me. I waited with a calm heart.
She returned carrying three pancakes, each the size of my face, stacked into a tower, with a block of butter on top sliding down the sides like slow lava.
This was the short one. I did not dare ask what the tall one looked like. Some knowledge a man is not ready for.
I ate for forty minutes. I was not full. I was afraid. The tower did not shrink. I am fairly sure it was growing back faster than I could eat it.
I had to surrender. I left half. In Japan, leaving food is a deep shame. So I leaned in close and apologized to the pancakes directly, in a low voice, one by one.
The waitress asked if I wanted a box. I did not know food could be taken into custody. I declined. I did not want it following me home.
In America, is the short stack truly the small one?
I need time to prepare my spirit before I ever face the tall one.
@RobertFreundLaw So this isn’t about adverse health effects, just sensitivities? This is the kind of stuff that makes people lose respect for the profession.