I remember reading at the start of Covid in the US, when the government was saying “masks are dumb”, but local churches were going “masks save lives”, the churches were surprised at how much pushback they were getting.

Turns out raising someone from a young age to believe without questioning, and look up to one person as their only source of truth, and ignore compelling scientific evidence, is pretty hard conditioning to break.

Shockedpikachuface.jpg, #leopardsatemyface, etc.

Seconded - Fuuuuuuck that jelly-bean-eating bastard.

I do like jelly beans though.

I like it!

My thoughts as well… “here’s what to know: the Supreme Court is corrupt as hell”

Strong stuff, and I’m here for it! I hope he suffers the indignity of itching, without the relief of scratching!

I feel like the current establishment wouldn’t allow an FDR-style candidate to succeed, they’re making too much money from protecting the status quo.

But I’ll still grudgingly support them if Trump is the other option. I’ll vote progressive in my local elections, but as long as we still have a first-to-the-post election process, it’s always the lesser of two evils.

Isn’t it the case that whoever wins this one, they’ll be the oldest president in US history? Gross.

I’m certainly no legal expert, but I think it’s the rights of the family that are being infringed upon. I don’t know a thing about the Carlins specific situation, but I think it’s customary for a famous person to leave control of their “intellectual property”, use of their likeness and whatever else, to their next of kin or a trusted friend or someone. And it sounds like the family have those rights, because they’re looking into “what their rights are” (which sounds a lot like “legal options” to me).

I personally think it’s in bad taste specifically BECAUSE the person is deceased - they can’t make the call and go “yeah go ahead” or “I don’t like this, please stop”. Kind of like how someone can’t consent to sex if they’re unconscious (weird parallel, I know).

I feel like the YouTubers are assuming Carlin’s consent, when they don’t really have it. If they’d asked his family, they could have maybe had it. But instead they decided to just go ahead and hope that they can get away with it.

I think Carlin’s daughter has every right to be pissed about not getting asked for her permission, especially if she owns the rights to his material.

Not OP but for me, I think it pivots on the permission of those who knew the comedian best and who might be hurt the most by not asking.

Whether AI writes the jokes, some 3rd party, or the comedian themself did, does the family want that out there, or would it be painful for Robin Williams’ family (remember that he killed himself) to watch a computer ape Williams’ comedy? If you’ve had a loved one pass away, would you want to be asked before someone made an AI of them performing jokes? And would it make it better or worse if the AI did an inferior job of replicating the original person?

Even if Carlin had planned a show, if the wishes of the family were that it be performed by Carlin himself or nobody, then I don’t think anyone had the right to turn an AI loose on the material to “give it a shot”.

Beyond that, I wonder if they have the legal right to use Carlin’s likeness, mannerisms, etc.

LOL “jug hooters”… I love it!

Lemming > Chihuahua > Honey Badger

Just angrier and angrier all the way through

Hmm… maybe Zebra > Okapi > Giraffe?

This one’s my favorite!

I wish they’d required him to endure cross-examination… I’d love to see a competent lawyer dismantle his entire baloney-sandwich machine in front of his followers.

It sure fucking FEELS like we’ve been dealing with this for 5 years LOL

I personally think this is the biggest reason. MY company just went “well, guess we’ll sell 2/3 of our campus and let someone else use that space, we sure don’t need it any more”… but I think a lot of businesses are stuck with their lease and struggling to make the square footage pay for itself.

I can’t look for a source right now (I’m on the clock at my WFH job) but I thought there was evidence that hedge funds and investment houses had invested in commercial real estate, like they invested in residential real estate in the 2000’s (which ultimately resulted in the “sub-prime mortgage crisis”)… and that THEY are really the ones pushing for RTO, trying to avoid another crash when their investments tank because nobody wants to own commercial real estate any more and starts looking to sell it off.

But take that with a big grain of salt, because I can’t cite a source ATM!

Watching a playthrough of the God of War franchise: “who’s this Kratos guy, he seems like a bad-ass…”

Returns home, founds a new religion: “No, see, Ares IS cool and all, but I’m telling you, someone’s going to come along and beat his ass…”

Ugh, frickin’ Dave…

Firmly in tinfoil hat territory here, buuuuut… Let’s say he gets forced out or leaves in shame… doesn’t this just turn into Mitch McConnell or someone stonewalling that Biden can’t appoint a new Judge because it’s “so close” to elections again, and then if (Baphomet forbid) Trump wins, they jam a younger-but-just-as-partisan judge in there, and we get Thomas II, electric boogaloo?

Please don’t misunderstand - Thomas sucks and I’d LOVE to see him off the bench, disbarred, and charged for his offenses. But I just don’t immediately see how this would be different from when RBG kicked the bucket.

“Michael Tuesdays and Thursdays” was funny, but also had some layers to it; a very complicated patient and his therapist, who is writing a book about his care - so not always totally objective, as he has something to gain. And then that therapist also sees a therapist (played by the late, great Ed Asner) who seems to be going senile.

It’s funny, sometimes sad, sometimes very sweet, with a good cast.

ProPublica, TST, a local tree-planting charity, Wikipedia