Man found the stoplight cameras were activated during yellow lights and decided to cut the wires of it.
Florida Man: Chaotic evil. New York Man: Chaotic good.
Holy shit. Nah dude look up the entire story, it’s INSANE.
The dude got arrested once before this for using a painter’s extension rod to point the stoplight cameras into the sky instead of cutting the wires. He didn’t cut the wires until AFTER he got out after being arrested the first time–which he did after posting facebook videos that prove that the stoplights are intentionally rigged to trick drivers into citations–the yellow lights at intersections with cameras only last THREE SECONDS, as opposed to the five seconds they last at other stoplights without cameras in the same county.
When he cut the camera cords, he reported his deeds to the news -himself,- and then politicians pressured the local police force into arresting him. The local police and sheriff deputies actually SUPPORT him for his actions because the lights have been killing innocent people! During his most recent arrest, one of the Sheriff’s Deputies actually -offered to bail him out-.
When he got home again after these incidents, there was a surveillance camera planted at his house BY THE GOVERNMENT to watch him! His reaction to being surveilled? He painted over the camera in America’s flat out fucking ballsiest “fuck you” to the gubmint I’ve ever heard of.
And it gets EVEN CRAZIER. After painting over the camera, suddenly this guy–his name is Stephen Ruth by the way–started GETTING ATTEMPTS ON HIS LIFE. He reports that a car intentionally tried to hit him in a head-on collision, and after talking about the car to his neighbors, they confirmed that the car in question (Or at least, one that was visibly identical, its occupants included) had been staking out his house! Somebody was legitimately trying to MURDER HIM over his discovery and his actions!
As a final insult to injury, Ruth pointed out that the VAST majority of the cameras were found SPECIFICALLY in lower-to-middle-class neighborhoods. As well, the victims of these rigged stoplights tried to go to the local news station to talk about the deaths of their family members that occurred from the rigging. Aaaand… The local station, “News12″, never aired their interviews.
Remember how I said that, after cutting the cables and calling the local news station, Ruth was arrested because of pressure from politicians? Get this: News12 is actually owned by CableVision, who PROVIDES INTERNET SERVICE TO THE CAMERAS.
Whereas mister Ruth was only trying to help people and save lives, he’s been caught up in a full-blown fucking government conspiracy that’s out for his blood. This guy isn’t Robin Hood, he makes Robin Hood look like a -CHUMP-.
I found a drawing I did from when I worked in a paleontology exhibit and tried to talk to children about dinosaur teeth:
EVERY. TIME.
Me, pre-pandemic, clean-cut and professional, ready to do respectable sci-comm about dinosaurs:
Me, fully vaccinated, emerging from the woods more than a year later with pockets full of cattail seeds and covered in burrs and spiders, ready for some unhinged sci-comm:
So, this hasn’t crossed my dash yet. (Not blaming anyone, there is soooo much going on in the world and I’d also missed it in the noise).
There is currently a strike at Frito-Lay. in Topeka. These workers are striking because:
They were being forced to work 84 hour weeks. The company’s best offer so far is a 60 hour cap. This is shit we fought for a century ago, people.
Their generous offer also includes a whole 4 percent wage increase…over the next 2 years. I’m not sure what COL is in Topeka, but… Well, it’s better than the entire 77 cents they’ve apparently gotten in the last decade.
There’s also a report that a worker literally collapsed and dropped dead on the line and the foreman’s response was to make them move the body out of the way and put in a replacement. (However, this is unconfirmed and, of course, the company denies it).
There have been multiple OSHA violations at this plant over the last few years, including a forklift accident that’s under investigation.
They’ve now been striking since July 5 but, of course, it only hit the national media yesterday.
Because Frito-Lay is refusing to budge. They are attempting to make the excuse that union leadership agreed to the 60 hour work week and crappy pay cut…when union leadership only agreed to put it to a vote.
And this means that we need to put the thumbscrews on them. Remember, this is about 19th century style working conditions.
So, I’m calling on my followers to boycott Frito Lay’s until the strike is involved.
Frito-Lay owns:
Lay’s
Doritos (Sorry. I really am. I KNOW there’s no good alternative to Doritos, although Zapp’s are good if you can find them).
Fritos
Tostitos
Cheetos
Ruffles
Sun Chips
Baken-ets
Chester’s
Cracker Jack
Islen plantain chips
Funyuns
Grandma’s (the cookies)
Matador Meat Snacks
Maui style potato chips
Miss Vickie’s
Munchies
Munchos
Rolled Gold
Sabritones
Santitas
Simply
Smartfood
Stacys
The Walking Taco
NatuChips
PopCorners (this one wasn’t on their website, but was bought by Pepsi’s in 2019 with the intent of adding it. So best avoided just in case).
Yes, this really is more than half of the snack aisle. Suggested alternatives:
Kettle Brand Chips
Zapp’s (If you can find them. My supermarket had them once and not since, so I’m guessing the culinary cowards in this neighborhood were afraid of “Voodoo” flavored chips).
Pringles
On the Border for salsa.
Wise Cheez Doodles
Bugles
Utz
Store own brand alternatives, if your store has ones that are any good.
Cheez-its
Check before you buy and let’s tell these people they don’t get to treat workers like that.
This was posted on FB recently by someone supporting the strike!
oh you mean the essay about how spirit untamed is legitimately the most evil thing i have ever seen and knowledge of its existence caused me to question whether humanity can truly be redeemed? you mean that essay? i need you to understand that i think dishing on children’s media is stupid. children, and young girls especially, are constantly derided for what they like. i’m not here to do that. likewise, i’m not here to dish on sequels and reboots. i love sequels and reboots. i even liked the hobbit movies. i have no taste and won’t attempt to force my taste on others. no. i’m here to say that spirit untamed is an unmitigated crime against both god and man in every way a piece of media can be because it attempts to build on the unparalleled masterpiece that came before it.
and i know i’m right. i’ve never been more right. what the fuck is spirit untamed, you ask? here’s a trailer. you’ll note they turned off comments. every official iteration of this has comments turned off. what i’m about to say in this essay is very much fellow-feeling for people of a certain age and they’ve made their thoughts explicitly clear basically everywhere this sequel film has been talked about. if you don’t want to watch the above trailer or can’t, it’s a cgi animated horse girl movie with all the horse girl accoutrements. she moves to a small town, she’s a little weird, she loves animals, she makes friends. presumably something bad is happening and she will fix it with horses and friendship. once again, i’m not here to dish on that. i love cgi and i’m a horse girl. i learned how to ride on a mustang. this is a movie about me. that’s fine. if this were the only spirit that had ever existed, it would be fine.
unfortunately, this is a sequel to a much better movie, 2002’s traditionally animated spirit: stallion of the cimmaron. when i say it’s a “better movie” i mean that i’m not totally sure two movies so different can exist in the same universe. because the 2002 movie was told from the perspective of the HORSE as voiced by MATT DAMON and it was literally about him SABOTAGING WESTWARD EXPANSION and FUCKING THE EVIL UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT and DESTROYING INDUSTRY.
there are exactly two relevant humans in the film: the colonel (he’s a colonel) and little creek (he’s a lakota boy who gets captured by the united states government along with spirit, the titular horse). i’ll let you guess who the bad guy is! no i won’t. it’s the united states government which is accurately depicted as an accessory of capitalist expansion west as represented by the railroad specifically, to the detriment of all things good. the first time we see anyone in uniform, they’re killing natives in an unproved massacre on a native village. shortly after, the colonel captures spirit, and then little creek after that. when the colonel sees little creek, he comments on his race in a way that is malicious and real, and then has him put not in the stockade but tied up where they tie unbroken horses, where they have tied spirit. the movie never attempts to sidestep what it’s depicting or saying. it says it plainly, in a way any child or adult can understand. it’s uncompromising.
honestly, i’m kind of shocked this movie hasn’t entered into the modern sphere of discourse a little more. maybe it’s because it’s unimpeachable. no one can disagree that it’s visually one of the most beautiful animated movies out there. no one can disagree with the message, because it’s so simple and true: yes, the government destroyed native populations. yes, it existed largely as an arm of capitalism to aid westward expansion at the expense of native populations and the land itself. the dichotomy of good and evil is so clear in this one and the evil is american.
this is the climactic scene:
spirit–who has just destroyed the railroad with little creek’s help–tries to escape the actual literal united states government who are trying to actually kill this horse and this lakota boy with actual guns. i think little creek actually gets shot, but not fatally. they escape together by jumping across a canyon, solidifying the eagle symbolism that the movie used repeatedly as a metaphor for freedom and the spirit of the west, but the west-west. like the actual land in the west. not whatever texas thinks it is. it ends with little creek letting spirit go (this scene apparently still makes me cry 20 years later so JOT that down) along with his own horse so they can go live in horseful peace in the (titular) cimarron, which in this movie is an effective stand-in for the unmolested west–though the area depicted is largely a fantasy mishmash of various areas.
full stop i’m a emotionally compromised about any discussion of the american west and history. it’s been most of my life and the depth and nuance is endless. we could examine the rights and the wrongs of the national park system, of preservation over conservation, over the drastic and continued and literal physical marginalization of native people and cultures. we can also get deep into wild horses in this area specifically today, how they’re rounded up, why, and where they ultimately end up. all the efficacy of that. i’ve been to more bureau of land management auctions than i can count, and even trained a few wild horses. i’m not going to get into any of that here. i just want you to know that this animated horse movie, with music by bryan adams and hans zimmer, is the closest thing we have had to a mainstream kid’s movie addressing any of it. any of the reality and any of the history.
