r/technology • u/marketrent • Jul 27 '26
Artificial Intelligence High school teacher arrested for clapping in support of anti-data center activists
https://www.yahoo.com/news/us/articles/high-school-teacher-arrested-clapping-194922184.html3.7k
u/Specialist-Web-9216 Jul 27 '26
When the system is built on class, where families are ranked on income, the poor have little to say that matters when the rich want to get richer.
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u/boot2skull Jul 27 '26
The quicker and harder they punish dissenters, the more it looks like this is the final piece of the class hierarchy that will cement things into place.
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u/PM_Me_Your_Kinks369 Jul 27 '26
It genuinely is. I've been watching class warfare for 3 decades and obviously studied it going back millennia.
AI and the wholesale corruption of business and government has come to a head. Late Stage Capitalism is an inflection point and literally every single piece of evidence shows we're headed for a Cyberpunk future not a Socialist reform and neo renaissance.
It really is the right pieces to cement their power. Flock, Palantir and all the data streams from every single piece of technology all used in real-time to monitor your entire life. Resistance is nearly futile.
Inb4 doomer hate: I WANT to be wrong, people. I'm not...so far.
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u/Far-Scallion7689 Jul 27 '26
don't forget robotic AI police to ensure the masses do not uprise
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u/PM_Me_Your_Kinks369 Jul 28 '26
Not gonna lie I had somehow forgotten about the AI robots with guns....or the gun dogs FML
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u/Aranxi_89 Jul 28 '26
They just want to bury their head in the sand. They won't have to live with the consequences for long... but the children and youth adults today will be the ones to get stomped into the dirt by the jackboots they've allowed into power.
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u/Bakoro Jul 28 '26
A generation of youth with nothing to lose and everything to gain, has historically been a powerful thing.
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u/DrQuint Jul 28 '26
And also legalized vices as a way to keep the stratta down. It used to be that cyberpunk writers used drugs as the subject. But there'l are way more.
Prediction markets are objectively gambling, designed to funnel money to the very few elite who game it. A scam where the rixh get richer and nothing happens to them.
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Jul 28 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/breaducate Jul 28 '26
The feedback loops have begun. The effects of climate change are delayed and self-reinforcing. We don't have time for another go around as capitalism decays into fascism and inter-imperialist wars again.
We've run out of eventually.
Infrastructure won't support for example air conditioning as people experience wet bulb temperatures. Insurance will abandon larger and larger areas. Things won't get fixed as we fail to keep up with the damage from once in a lifetime storms every year. Crops will fail.
Most likely, billions will die. We'll be lucky if there's anyone left to rebuild in some kind of post-apocalyptic dystopia.
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u/OtherBluesBrother Jul 27 '26
The Chinese combat robots that will patrol the no-mans-land around the datacenters will have trouble distinguishing protestors from terrorists and just assume the worst and act accordingly.
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u/vblink_ Jul 27 '26
What are you talking about? At this rate protesting the rich will be considered terrorism soon.
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u/ZootSuitRiot33801 Jul 27 '26
It's very obvious by now the system benefits the interests of powerful pedophiles and warmongers, NOT freedom and liberty for all. These bastards wouldn't be able to push us around so easily if us common folk who care do whatever we can to stand together in defiance against this government and its Epstein class puppeteers, (foreign and domestic, private and institutional,) which uses its death cult and growing AI industry to manipulate and control us. They all should be abandoned for something better that actually prioritizes people, while these monsters are let behind to rot.
However, if there's any hope in ever achieving such, we need real supportive community-based foundations for alternatives that provide relative safety, which many common folk can fall back on, to commit to any effective action be they short or long term.
Collecting a bunch of valuable information on organizing and action from different redditors over time, I created a post of suggestions HERE that could possibly prove to be of some help in getting it started ASAP.
If you don’t live in the US, yet you know others who are and want to do something, please share the information. We're going to need as many on board and informed as possible, if we commoners hope to achieve anything in the US
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u/Fast-Bandicoot67 Jul 27 '26
The government already said it's illegal to dislike capitalism and that makes you a terrorist
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u/BrothelWaffles Jul 28 '26
It already is. Everybody seems to forget about NSPM7: https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/09/countering-domestic-terrorism-and-organized-political-violence/
Relevant excerpt, emphasis mine:
"This “anti-fascist” lie has become the organizing rallying cry used by domestic terrorists to wage a violent assault against democratic institutions, constitutional rights, and fundamental American liberties. Common threads animating this violent conduct include anti-Americanism, anti-capitalism, and anti-Christianity; support for the overthrow of the United States Government; extremism on migration, race, and gender; and hostility towards those who hold traditional American views on family, religion, and morality."
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u/Flabbergasted98 Jul 27 '26
ICE has already taught us that the difference between a protestor and a terrorist in america is whether or not they've already been shot.
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u/becauseiloveyou Jul 27 '26
That’s why it was so important for us to get off our asses and vote. The rest of us have had to fight for a seat at the table, and too many of us took it for granted. There's a status quo, and it's intentionally structured to protect those with wealth, property, and access. When the working class, the poor, women, people of color, the LGBTQ+ community, persons with "disabilities," and other historically oppressed groups of people don't meaningfully participate to eliminate that status quo, then we continue to perpetuate a system that was built to benefit those who put its wheels in motion centuries ago. We are now at a point where it very well may be too late for our voices to matter. Let’s see what happens in the next three or so months.
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u/marketrent Jul 27 '26
Excerpts from article by Joe Wilkins, citing small town reporting in Kansas, US:
If you're among the millions of US citizens against power-hungry data centers going up in your town, you may want to be careful about how you exercise your First Amendment right to protest.
Last week, high school physics teacher Lux Claridge was hauled out of a public meeting by four police officers for the baffling crime of clapping in support of an anti-data center speaker.
During the public comment portion of the meeting, held by the Emporia City Commission in Lyon County, Kansas, residents who showed up to voice opposition to a 1,000-acre data center project were warned against "clapping" and "snapping" in support of speakers.
"It was very clear at the beginning that each person is given their two minutes, and we're trying to be respectful of that," Emporia commissioner Monica Duncan warned those in attendance, footage of the meeting shared on social media shows. "Snapping, clapping, any other rude comments or anything — we will ask you to leave."
As one speaker later wrapped up her two-minute comment period, stating "we are the people, and the table belongs to us," Claridge was filmed clapping his hands together a total of six times.
"Chief, will you take the next person out that claps or anything?" an unidentified commissioner, likely Duncan, then asked Emporia police chief Ed Owens.
At the commissioners' request, four police officers then swarmed Claridge, who challenged them to "drag me out," which they did after placing the physics teacher in handcuffs.
[...] The data center in question, known as the "Flint Hills Digital Campus," is a planned hyperscale data center. If it ever gets built, could easily be the largest data center in the state of Kansas.
The hypocrisy on display at the meeting where Claridge was arrested — where procedural rules are clearly being weaponized against concerned citizens — may be particularly acute in the small Kansas town, but it's also part and parcel of the situation unfolding all across the United States as distrust with the tech industry soars to unprecedented heights.
When big business interests march into town, civic leaders and their watchdogs on the local police force roll out the red carpet — Emporia commissioners voted unanimously to annex over 1,000 acres for Pinkston's data center just one day after it was announced — yet when the people who live there ask to be included in the process, they're insulted by officials, surveilled by police, and hauled off to jail.
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u/CouldBeLessDepressed Jul 27 '26
The ICE agents that murdered that VA nurse got to clap. Not even joking, in one of the videos you see this one agent run up (after they all initially scattered like cowards) and he was clapping. Like super excitedly.
Tried explaining this to my city council. Our government can clap when they murder us in cold blood in broad daylight, but god fucking forbid we clap at a town hall meeting.
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u/OldWorldDesign Jul 28 '26
Armies only goose-step where the people are too afraid to laugh at the military.
-Orwell, paraphrased for brevity
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u/Krojack76 Jul 27 '26
were warned against "clapping" and "snapping" in support of speakers
Imma guess that goes against their freedom of speech rights but I'm no lawyer.
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u/xboxiscrunchy Jul 27 '26
Yeah what possible charges could justify this?
Even if they were advocating for setting the place on fire I don’t think just clapping is a crime.
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u/No-Journalist-619 Jul 27 '26
Not saying that it would stand, but I'd expect they would file it under "contempt", since it's a bit of a catch-all for doing something an official said not to do.
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u/Hesitation-Marx Jul 27 '26
Maybe the officials should stop being contemptible.
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u/sohblob Jul 28 '26
Anyone trying to use political or corporate veils to attack freedom of speech need to be legally removed from their positions and tried civilly for things to change.
The ruling cliques have gotten way too comfortable with treating our constitutional rights as optional wherever they can just throw money and influence at someone.
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u/Emperor_of_His_Room Jul 28 '26
The officials should have no say in how the people who elected them get to express themselves.
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u/SexiestPanda Jul 27 '26
They also warn against clapping for each person at graduations. Families still do it. They’re not arrested.
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u/paditoburrito Jul 27 '26
Soon they won't allow you to speak at all, it's already happening. You guys are really just going to let it all be taken away?
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u/LexiWhatWeGot Jul 27 '26 edited Jul 28 '26
I'm looking for the article, but recently somewhere at a city council meeting on AI dozens of people showed up to speak against it, but they were told that since there were so many they would only let one of them speak
Edit: I was wrong, it was about Flock cameras
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u/paditoburrito Jul 27 '26
I read that one as well when it come out. The lethargic level of acceptance in America has been a surprise.
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u/ilulillirillion Jul 27 '26
I think when people look back at this period one of the cautionary tales will by just how powerful the synergy of complacency and propaganda can be.
For several decades there has been a concerted push by the US government to surveil, restrict, and normalize operating outside of it's own constitution.
People look back fondly on times when there was more trust in the government and I would agree that prior administrations have been relatively more worthy of that trust, but that exact faith that this government was somehow self-correcting or that the country was big enough to let other people worry is a huge factor in being here today. That trust let the government get caught spying on us, experimenting on us, lying to us. We allowed a foreign prison during Bush Jr. because the government convinced us it was necessary for it to be able to skirt the laws that WE gave it.
There is an inexhaustible list of similar talking points yet there is no one point in time I can claim is the start of this -- someone will always come along and point out how the wheels were in motion much earlier than that.
Americans should have fought back much much earlier. I think a big lesson from this will be that a population waiting for a "breaking point" is vulnerable to actors who know how to push that breaking point further down the road gradually. If we had said "enough" at any other point in time when our rights were infringed, perhaps, if nothing else, doing so now wouldn't feel so unprecedented.
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u/abubleh Jul 27 '26
the jim crow laws, the red scare, The repression against civil rights movements, then the repression against the anti-war movements, the "war on terror", etc. The most propagandized people on Earth
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u/TheMagnuson Jul 27 '26 edited Jul 28 '26
Yep, that’s what is most disappointing to me, the lack of fight, the instant caving in, the “I’ve done nothing and I’m all out of ideas” mentality. Our ancestors launched a fucking revolution because taxes went up 3%, while the rest us of sit idly by while Fascism is taking root. We’re fucking spineless.
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u/neko Jul 27 '26
The original tea party was all rich businessmen who didn't want to pay income taxes
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u/TheMagnuson Jul 27 '26
It wasn't income taxes, it was trade taxes and tariffs.
It's almost like history rhymes.
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u/1of3musketeers Jul 27 '26
Local governments take on this for contrast:
http://www.emporiaks.gov/m/newsflash/Home/Detail/503
On July 22, 2026, the Emporia City Commission held its regularly scheduled meeting. During the course of the meeting, several individuals in attendance were issued verbal warnings by the City Commission regarding disruptive conduct that was interrupting the proceedings.
One individual, Lux Claridge, male, 37years of age, continued this behavior and was directed to leave the meeting. Claridge did not comply with law enforcement's efforts to remove him from the premises, requiring officers to physically carry him out of the meeting.
Claridge was subsequently arrested and booked into the Lyon County Jail on charges of interference with law enforcement and disorderly conduct.
As with all criminal charges, Claridge is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
The Emporia Police Department remains committed to ensuring public meetings are conducted safely and in an orderly manner, while also respecting the rights of all citizens to participate in the civic process.→ More replies (4)44
u/bosox284 Jul 27 '26
"Disruptive conduct", what a joke. If you can't handle your constituents supporting each other through applause, maybe you shouldn't be in public service.
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u/Teaisserious Jul 27 '26
Emporia isn't even that small as far as Kansas towns are concerned.
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u/east_van_dan Jul 27 '26
1000 ACRES?! Not sure how that compares to an average data center but that seems fucking gigantic.
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u/prophaniti Jul 27 '26
C'mon. What else are you going to do with 1000 acres? Build 2000 single family homes? Build 50,000 apartment units? Thats madness! No one needs housing, but we all need AI!
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u/translinguistic Jul 27 '26 edited Jul 27 '26
I have a client who took 17 acres of their property (like 20% of their property) and built a solar farm--out of their own volition. It provides power for everything they need for their manufacturing plant, and then some. So yeah, it's pretty fucking frustrating that these companies don't even feign to care.
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u/Spiritual-Sympathy98 Jul 27 '26
Not to mention they are building illegal power plants inside the data centers emitting who knows how many toxins into the air. Lee Zeldin is letting them do whatever they want with no regulations. Between this, the parasites, the wars, the inflation, the lack of decency and accountability, I will NEVER support a republican in my life.
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u/MoreDaringPancakes Jul 27 '26
As the child rapist president of the United States of America says: shut up and take it
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u/Wreckt Jul 27 '26
For reference, Central Park in New York City is 843 acres.
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u/slowest_hour Jul 28 '26
and they'd put a data center on it too if they ever got their hands on it
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u/FuelModel3 Jul 28 '26
Come to West Texas and you can see what gigantic is. In Presidio County they are proposing an AI and power generating complex that would be 80,000 acres.
In Pecos County they're constructing a massive power generating station. This would be a private grid generating station for powering data centers. It would be separate from the public electric grid. They have a permit for 7.65 giga watts of power generation, the largest permit ever given in the United States..
West Texas is nothing but an extraction colony for the rest of the country. The destroy our land to extract oil, pump our water to serve both the oil industry and growing cities, construct huge wind farms to power cities far from here, and now they're going to pollute our air with giant power generating stations so they can build data centers to take our jobs.
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u/ThatsKnotNice Jul 28 '26
But I’m constantly told Americans have freedoms
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u/Mishra_Planeswalker Jul 28 '26
It's a fantasy the USA is the land of the free and the home of the brave. The USA is run by pedophiles controlled by the epstien class.
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u/Primal-Convoy Jul 27 '26
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u/1of3musketeers Jul 27 '26
From the local government website confirming this since yahoo is suspect as a source:
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u/InfiniteLocal1623 Jul 28 '26
The “developer” of this data center just testified during his BANKRUPTCY hearing that he has nothing to do with this data center, even though his name and face have been all over it. So many controversies surrounding this particular project!
https://www.emporiagazette.com/free/article_c2a8cbab-4b36-421b-ba09-18171ac99666.html
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u/Loveufam Jul 27 '26 edited Jul 27 '26
“Snapping, clapping, any other rude comments or anything — we will ask you to leave."
Snapping and clapping is rude now? Six claps after a speaker is finished talking? To who? The people on the other side with an unpopular opinion? Fucking snowflakes.
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u/spisplatta Jul 28 '26
"It was very clear at the beginning that each person is given their two minutes, and we're trying to be respectful of that,"
I'm pretty sure what he is saying is they wanted to prohibit any audible reaction at all to speedrun the whole thing.
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u/Pleasant-Ad887 Jul 27 '26
Yea, America is fucked. People getting arrested for clapping now?
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u/NoPossibility4178 Jul 27 '26
Americans: clap when an airplane lands
Also americans: no clapping to show support for things!
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u/AvailableReporter484 Jul 27 '26
Yeah. Pretty cool how we live in a fascist nation now. Would be cool if we could all come together against this, but conservatives would rather dedicate all their time, resources, and extremely limited brain energy to defeating the scourge of post op trans 7 year olds
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u/disastermarch35 Jul 27 '26
And apparently cat children. I had one spouting that bullshit about kids identifying as cats in schools again. A friend of a friend told him, so of course it's real and not something they heard on Joe Rogan or some other bullshit online thing.
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u/TowardsTheImplosion Jul 27 '26
Funny, none of them appreciate that one of the cheapest sources of small amounts (like less than 50 pounds) of bentonite clay to clean up spills is...cat litter.
And kids spill a lot. And barf. And crap. Sometimes in uncontrollable ways. Because they are kids.
The school can switch to expensive absorbents...Or keep buying cat litter and save taxpayer money.
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u/thirsty_for_chicken Jul 27 '26
The best part- that was a twisted conspiracy theory based on cat litter being stocked in classrooms, which they claimed was so kids could identify as cats and shit in a box.
The cat litter is for emergency toilets or to help absorb puddles of blood in the event of a school shooting.
We live in hell.
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u/TumbleweedPure6674 Jul 27 '26
It’s for vomit. I stocked it at a bar for the same reasons. Drunken toddlers that can’t hold their shit in.
I don’t think the janitor is casually cleaning up blood after a school shooting.
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u/Power_Stone Jul 27 '26
People still believe that? Do they not realize how ridiculous that sounds? How they had a similar rumor going around during their time ( The Marilyn Manson one, iykyk ) its wild they can joke about the latter, but not understand the former is the same joke.
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u/Etzell Jul 27 '26
The truth is, some schools DO have cat litter in classrooms. Specifically, Columbine. Teachers are instructed to use it as a makeshift toilet in the event that there's another mass shooting.
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u/joggle1 Jul 27 '26
It's how many lies spread. They attach it to a kernel of truth and then lie as much as they want, only limited by their imagination.
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u/Osric250 Jul 27 '26
Litter is also very useful in cleaning up various bodily fluids, such as blood. Oh and what's the leading cause of death amongst minors?
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u/monkeypan Jul 27 '26
Bike lanes are DEI now too apparently
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u/AvailableReporter484 Jul 27 '26
TBF Anything that infringes on their constitutional right to take up entire roads with their Texas super cowboy edition trucks is DEI
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u/Noblesseux Jul 27 '26 edited Jul 27 '26
Correction, *theoretical* post op trans 7 year olds. They're very often mad at stuff that isn't even statistically common or worse doesn't even exist. Like a good 70% of conservative rage topics in the past few years are things that were basically internet hoaxes that they collectively got mad at and then when people said there's no proof they get madder at daring to question the stuff they heard on a conspiracy ragebait podcast.
They were mad for like *weeks* about Elliot Page playing Achilles in the Odyssey, which wasn't even true
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u/mf-TOM-HANK Jul 27 '26
post op trans 7 year olds
And there aren't even any "post op" 7 year olds. At most they've taken a different name and they wear different clothes. I had friends in college that went through phases that might have been considered a more radical transformation than your typical trans kid
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u/Jay33721 Jul 27 '26
Yeah, that's the point. They love to make up fake scenarios to get outraged at.
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u/CharlesMcGrath Jul 27 '26
Voting is rigged, and peaceful protesting is a psyop used to make you think you're making a difference. The whole nation needs to act, all at once. We need a plan. We have to escape this.
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u/abubleh Jul 28 '26
general strike, sabotaging, etc, but it will only work if people get together to support each other with food and shelter while it lasts
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u/Bargadiel Jul 27 '26
Well, most of the conservatives in charge know exactly what they're doing. It's most of their voterbase who are dumb enough to believe all their fear-mongering, religious pandering, and fake "tough guy" act they put on.
I quit believing they were entirely incompetent ages ago. I mean, they are, but they're just smart enough to be dangerous. It isn't even ignorance anymore really, it's malice, and on the outside because we are normal people with the ethics of a normal ass person, we think nobody would be dumb enough to make X or Y mistake. But they know.
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u/Ok_Art4661 Jul 28 '26
Pretty crazy no conservatives actually care about freedom. Really did nazi this coming
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u/MechAegis Jul 28 '26
I thought "no way, this sounds silly." I clicked the article and yup, the teacher clapped and was taken away for do so.
high school physics teacher Lux Claridge was hauled out of a public meeting by four police officers for the baffling crime of clapping in support of an anti-data center speaker.
"Chief, will you take the next person out that claps or anything?" an unidentified commissioner, likely Duncan, then asked Emporia police chief Ed Owens.
At the commissioners' request, four police officers then swarmed Claridge, who challenged them to "drag me out," which they did after placing the physics teacher in handcuffs.
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u/drumallday Jul 28 '26
You should watch the video. Some people were doing jazz hands to silently applaud the speakers and the coucilmember told them to stop because it was distracting.
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u/KingDocXIV Jul 28 '26
So four fascists pigs arrested someone to protect their overlords feelings. This is one of many reasons I don't trust or call cops.
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u/Fun-Permission2165 Jul 27 '26
The eagle is down
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u/Setekh79 Jul 27 '26
The Eagle is fukken dead.
Your constitution clearly isn't worth the paper it's written on.
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u/avonn_ Jul 27 '26
The constitution was a suggestion. And then when people said “nah” to those suggestions, the American public responded by saying “oh ok, guess that’s just how it is now”
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u/funnyusername-123 Jul 27 '26
"Snapping, clapping, any other rude comments or anything — we will ask you to leave."
Snapping and clapping are rude comments - JFC these assholes are so fucking sensitive❄️❄️
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u/cr0ft Jul 27 '26
So... they've now actually instituted "thoughtcrime". Don't do "crimethink" people, Big Brother doesn't like it.
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u/ThrowAbout01 Jul 27 '26
Replace Data Center with “asbestos factory” or “lead paint plant”.
Different era, same bad product.
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u/agate_ Jul 27 '26
What’s the charge? Any news article that doesn’t tell me what the alleged crime is is wasting my time.
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u/Arts251 Jul 27 '26
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u/agate_ Jul 27 '26
No extra details. I still don’t see a charge.
> Claridge said they plan to plead not guilty when they appear in court in September.
Not guilty of what?
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Jul 27 '26
[deleted]
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u/agate_ Jul 27 '26
Ah, “I made the mistake of objecting to police brutality,” a timeless classic.
Thanks for the search!
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u/Sedu Jul 28 '26
You should see those poor cops’ knuckles. So sore and bruised! His mean old face beat them black and blue!
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u/clamsmasher Jul 27 '26
This guy has to wait till September to be arraigned? that's insane, that should happen the day of arrest or shortly thereafter.
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u/0x7E7-02 Jul 27 '26
"were warned against "clapping" and "snapping" in support of speakers"
They didn't say anything against air horns.
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u/jiggythejigsaw Jul 27 '26
Oh look! Law enforcement agencies having no concept of the law. How American of them.
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u/elinamebro Jul 27 '26
Crazy think is most people wouldn't mind Data centers as much if they would stop putting them next to people's homes, wasting water and pay their fair share for power.
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u/MrValdemar Jul 27 '26
Dear tweakers:
Under construction data centers are poorly guarded and are CHOCK FULL of copper wire, tools, and various other easily scrapped items
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u/Crazyhates Jul 27 '26
There was recently a million dollar copper heist from one of these being built in my state.
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u/CorporateCuster Jul 27 '26
Start voting for your council memebers that aren’t rich bored folks looking to get into politics. Vote for the teachers and firefighters and local folks that look like they give a damn.
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u/C141Clay Jul 27 '26
“Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will.
Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have found out the exact measure of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them, and these will continue till they are resisted with either words or blows, or with both.
The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress.”
- Frederick Douglass
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u/Goodswimkarma Jul 28 '26
"Residents who showed up to voice opposition to a 1,000-acre data center project."
The data center is 1.6 square MILES?!?!
China is putting data centers in the ocean and using solar to cool the land ones, but the US seems to be hell bent on putting data centers in dry parts of the US and have them suck out all the fresh ground water. Why?
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u/EaseNGrace Jul 28 '26
Things are going to get worse if the Epstein class doesnt stop, and they're not stopping on their own.
Everyone needs to step up their activism game.
Today and every day.
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u/mca1169 Jul 27 '26
I would love to hear what the actual charges are. there is no way the police can justify this arrest.
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u/Lifeboatb Jul 27 '26
Finally found it in the 3rd article I read:
He was booked on charges of disorderly conduct and interference with law enforcement, then released after posting bond … The core legal question is not whether Claridge clapped — nobody disputes that. The question is whether arresting someone for applause at a public meeting represents proportionate enforcement of decorum rules.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/us/articles/kansas-teacher-arrested-dragged-clapping-151841104.html
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u/DuntadaMan Jul 28 '26 edited Jul 28 '26
The question is whether arresting someone for applause at a public meeting represents proportionate enforcement
That's not a question either, no it fucking isn't.
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u/nuttertools Jul 27 '26
This is actually an incredibly common occurrence in the U.S. They can choose whether to prosecute it criminally (full rights) or fine administratively (guilty automatically, bench trial for appeal).
The arrest, unfortunately, is essentially always allowed if consistent with city official statements or requests. Quite often this is used by cities to prevent specific parties from sharing information with the community. There can be liability for the city or in very very rare occurrences the PD directly but that pretty much requires a statement along the lines of “remove {name}, because they’re {protected trait}” or a person with a protected interest in the manner (usually other city officials).
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u/AmericanLich Jul 27 '26
Need the good lawyers to rally behind this stuff. Of course, you then also need a good judge who isn’t bought and paid for.
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u/1d3333 Jul 27 '26
Doesn’t matter, police will arrest people for whatever reason they want and get away with it almost every single time, while taxpayers foot the bill on the lawsuit
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u/penguished Jul 28 '26
"Chief, will you take the next person out that claps or anything?" an unidentified commissioner, likely Duncan, then asked Emporia police chief Ed Owens.
At the commissioners' request, four police officers then swarmed Claridge, who challenged them to "drag me out," which they did after placing the physics teacher in handcuffs.
Embarrassments to humanity to bully your fellow people speaking out on issues EXTREMELY important to them.
Sorry but when you think being some small time draconian sociopath is all you have, you should probably get another hobby.
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u/CelebrationFit8548 Jul 27 '26
Nothing worse than an oligarch trying to disguise itself as a democracy. What a shithole the US has become overnight.
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u/jcprater Jul 28 '26
Welcome to teaching. Those were the days you could get fired for buying booze in your own county where you live. Good times, Good times..
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u/Original-Let8340 Jul 27 '26
Here's the City's response, from their website- https://www.emporiaks.gov/m/NewsFlash/Home/Detail/503
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u/BoredOfReposts Jul 27 '26
And now its national news. Great job. Maybe just figure some speakers will garner applause because we live in a democracy. If you can’t handle that, maybe don’t be in a public office.
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u/SignificantDrawer374 Jul 28 '26
Do these places just have a bunch of extra money and decide they want to lose a lawsuit over something incredibly stupid?
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u/SayVandalay Jul 27 '26 edited Jul 27 '26
Hope the teacher sues them good.
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u/SeeYaNvr Jul 27 '26
In 6 months, we'll hear about the settlement. Just like all those people arrested over social media posts about the facist "influencer" death.
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u/rolfraikou Jul 28 '26
The speed at which the oligarchs are moving to suppress people from even express any sort of dissent from their rule is fucking mind boggling. I thought it was moving fast before, but now it almost feels like satire if it wasn't our futures being destroyed before our eyes.
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u/Substantial_Sea7327 Jul 28 '26
First councilman to tell me no clapping allowed to show support for something, and I'm clapping his mom's ass cheeks all the way to the bank.
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u/sohblob Jul 28 '26
Back in my day, the teachers we arrested were pedos, patriotic ones we gave the White House.
I guess it's the other way around under the confederacy of corporate simps, eh?
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u/jackrabbit323 Jul 27 '26
The purpose of police forces is to protect capital and break organization.
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u/kevinnoir Jul 28 '26
Arrested for clapping.
Teachers not supporting the hyper capitalization of American land? straight to jail.
America really is just a bunch of corporations in a trench coat isnt it.
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u/NRMusicProject Jul 27 '26
If you're among the millions of US citizens against power-hungry data centers going up in your town, you may want to be careful about how you exercise your First Amendment right to protest.
Yeah, that's not a dystopian sentence. For the fucking US.
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u/SirDigbyChknCaesar Jul 27 '26
Won't you all please think about how that city council members feel before you go clapping in opposition to AI data centers being built in your town? I mean, they've already accepted their corporate kickbacks so it really puts them in an awkward position.
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u/Droggles Jul 27 '26
This will Streisand effect.