Notices by midway (midway@soapbox.midwaytrades.com)
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midway (midway@soapbox.midwaytrades.com)'s status on Wednesday, 12-Jun-2024 21:34:29 JST 
midway
“Harming our democracy“ has just become another way of saying “disagrees with the government”.
And how does letting people speak their mind infringe on anyone else’s freedom? It doesn’t. But that won’t stop these types from wanting to infringe on others freedom.
Some freedoms are more equal than others, I guess. -
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midway (midway@soapbox.midwaytrades.com)'s status on Thursday, 02-May-2024 23:24:37 JST
midway
If the cops are acting legally, then no. If they are ruled to have acted illegall, then sure they should be liable.
If someone breaks into my house and I shoot them but they survive I should not be held liable for their injuries. However if I just shoot someone illegally, then in addition to criminal charges I should held liable for the damages I caused. -
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midway (midway@soapbox.midwaytrades.com)'s status on Saturday, 23-Mar-2024 04:00:09 JST
midway
If you pay cash most places I’ve seen cut the price in half so there’s truth to that. What can happen is the insurance companies want big discounts to be in their network. So in order to accommodate that, providers raise the list price so the middle managers at the insurance companies can show their bosses how much they “saved” the company. It’s a game.
Another problem that drives up costs is underpayments. We have laws on the books that any hospital that takes any federal money has to see everyone through the ER regardless of whether the person can pay or not. And they can’t just release someone to the streets after treatment. So many hospitals have agreements with local motels to set people (usually homeless) for 1 night to release them “safely”. Those costs can add up. Our medical tort system which is very litigious runs up the insurance costs of providers, especially certain specialists like obstetricians. Ironically one of worst payers in insurance is the Federal Government with Medicaid being one of the worst.
While it‘s good that people can be seen, those losses have to be made up somehow. And they do this by having really high list prices. -
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midway (midway@soapbox.midwaytrades.com)'s status on Saturday, 23-Mar-2024 03:33:22 JST
midway
Your car analogy is quite applicable.
Health insurance is fine. But it needs to be actual insurance and not a payment plan. Think of it like car or homeowners insurance. It’s there to handle unexpected big ticket things, not routine maintenance.
I‘m a fan of HSAs on steroids. Tie a high deductible policy to a tax- free savings account that I own entirely. I say on steroids because I’d like the option to raise the deductible even higher and allow me to save as much as I want in that account. But the current HSA model is a good start. I can keep everything I put in there for life, it’s tax free as long as it’s spent on medical expenses. At retirement age it’s eligible to be pulled out for any other reason but doing so mesns it will be taxed (no additional penalties, just regular income). And I can make money on the balance over time. -
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midway (midway@soapbox.midwaytrades.com)'s status on Monday, 19-Feb-2024 01:14:45 JST
midway
Yep. No spam here...I guess that’s a perk of vegan devs. :). -
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midway (midway@soapbox.midwaytrades.com)'s status on Sunday, 11-Feb-2024 23:50:34 JST
midway
It’s government. It will take at least 3 days to set up a committee to spend 2 weeks to come back with a report to recommend the name of it. -
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midway (midway@soapbox.midwaytrades.com)'s status on Saturday, 23-Dec-2023 13:04:28 JST
midway
I just want to know if he’s posting this from his 2nd or 3rd house? -
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midway (midway@soapbox.midwaytrades.com)'s status on Tuesday, 12-Dec-2023 13:57:41 JST
midway
@freemo @geekysteven @realcaseyrollins
Even if it’s just to make more money, that’s not illegitimate. Businesses exist to make money by serving people. Their goal is to charge as much as they can while maintaining sales. If they charge too much, they will eventually lose market share. But raising prices to increase profits and profit margins is not a crime or even immoral. It’s a normal business practice. There is no “right” price except for what people are willing to accept. -
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midway (midway@soapbox.midwaytrades.com)'s status on Tuesday, 12-Dec-2023 13:42:20 JST
midway
Even if they were raising prices to make more money, who is to say it’s “unnecessary”? There isn’t a standardized acceptable price for anything.
People making such claims have very likely never signed the front of a paycheck. -
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midway (midway@soapbox.midwaytrades.com)'s status on Tuesday, 31-Oct-2023 02:10:51 JST
midway
I couldn’t agree more. Having my own instance is the way. It costs me virtually nothing extra as I host it entirely myself in a container on a server that hosts other services I use and it uses a domain I already own for other purposes. -
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midway (midway@soapbox.midwaytrades.com)'s status on Friday, 22-Sep-2023 05:12:33 JST
midway
Mostly because I don’t believe that left libertarianism is a real thing or at a minimum has zero practicality and so not a serious position. You can’t want the government to have a heavy regulatory hand but still want them to stay away out of your life and wallet. Those 2 thing’s don’t go together. So if you chop that quadrant off you get the 3 sides.
And it better shows the alignment of fundamental value of each side more clearly, at least to me. It shows how what we call the right is really split between 2 different core values that reduce the other as one increases. It’s the fundamental divide on the right. -
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midway (midway@soapbox.midwaytrades.com)'s status on Thursday, 21-Sep-2023 09:06:52 JST
midway
The political trichotomy is revealing itself. There aren’t two sides, but 3. It had always been that way. -
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midway (midway@soapbox.midwaytrades.com)'s status on Tuesday, 15-Aug-2023 03:59:10 JST
midway
Uh, no I didn’t. There are plenty of places that operate under a regulatory framework. That’s how you help prevent these issues and it will allow you to focus on the real crimes.
Legal brothels actually have health regulations and there’s no need for pimps. It’s just a job. Not one I would want to do, nor a place I want to go but if you understand that there are a lot of people who will go, try to make it safe and then spend time and resources going after those who aren’t following the rules. -
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midway (midway@soapbox.midwaytrades.com)'s status on Tuesday, 15-Aug-2023 03:42:56 JST
midway
But the law need a distinct line. One could argue that certain passages of the Bible (or works derived from them) could be porn. Most porn is actually protected. Be careful what you try to regulate. What is art and what is porn is a very subjective thing. One could produce a political work of, say, a politician screwing over a taxpayer….using literal imagery but still making a statement against those in power. The slippery slope is real.
As far as banking goes, they will just bank overseas. Do you really think that Asia will follow suit? If you want to push crypto usage, I suppose this is one way to do it. And you’ll cause the creation of offshore payment services. If sufficient demand is there, a market will be born. When Patreon kicked off the sex workers, they basically created OnlyFans.
Illegal narcotics are “debanked”. I guess we made them tough to get. Oh wait….
All of this because you are upset that other people are getting off in a way you don’t like. Seems like a lot of effort for that. Like I said, focus on the harming of kids. You’ll get much more support. -
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midway (midway@soapbox.midwaytrades.com)'s status on Tuesday, 15-Aug-2023 03:15:30 JST
midway
Value is subjective.
To the adults working in the industry, having it out in the open allows for legal protections. Suppressing it does the opposite. -
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midway (midway@soapbox.midwaytrades.com)'s status on Tuesday, 15-Aug-2023 03:15:28 JST
midway
So you’re ok with people being trafficked and abused unless they share your morals. Got it. -
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midway (midway@soapbox.midwaytrades.com)'s status on Tuesday, 15-Aug-2023 02:34:09 JST
midway
Like…..
Given you can see it on the internet at zero consumer cost, that’s going to be tough to mitigate. -
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midway (midway@soapbox.midwaytrades.com)'s status on Tuesday, 15-Aug-2023 02:24:28 JST
midway
No one is saying you have to like it. I’m just saying you can’t practically ban it. -
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midway (midway@soapbox.midwaytrades.com)'s status on Tuesday, 15-Aug-2023 01:44:12 JST
midway
If your goal is to make mainstream porn less profitable, the Internet already did that. Amateurs are giving it away for free makes it tougher to earn a living selling it. The Internet is also why you won’t have much success keeping it from people. It’s really tough when you don’t need to get a physical item like a gun, a drink, or a pill. And we can’t effectively stop those things from being sold…not even in prisons. Do you really think you will stop people from accessing porn on the Internet?
Most of your moral arguments were also used by the prohibitionists. Alcohol was harming families and, ultimately, children. -
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midway (midway@soapbox.midwaytrades.com)'s status on Tuesday, 15-Aug-2023 01:01:11 JST
midway
You draw lines when you have actual harm to kids. That’s why child porn is illegal. You can’t make it without harming children.
And the vast majority of porn consumers never go near that path. Just like the vast majority of alcohol drinkers are not alcoholics. You don’t ban booze because some people can’t handle their liquor. We tired that. It caused more problems than it solved. You would have the same results here.
Focus enforcement on the truly criminal and leave everyone else alone.
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