Slightly overzealous comment filter
The new comments policy I instituted a while back has been working very well so far (knock wood) to block trolls.
On the other hand, it’s a trifle overeager and sometimes blocks certain comments from regular comments for no reason whatsoever, as far as I can tell. So if you find that a comment of yours fails to appear, please wait a few hours. I check these things at least once a day, and I’ll liberate it from the moderation or spam pile before too much time passes.
Also, comments from first-time commenters go into moderation just that first time, until I approve them. After that, comments from that same commenter should appear automatically.
Testing … testing…
As I thought about Neo’s comment filter, and how meritoriously it seems to be working, my mind also wandered over to thoughts about the bruhaha over the abuse and misuse of the system of Flock cameras and their database of images, etc.
I think our Founders/Framers would be very unhappy with how we as a sovereign people have let the “advanced technological world” dilute and impact our 4th Amendment rights, with all too little attention and demand for specific warrants*. What seems like a useful convenience for a few in government and law enforcement, etc., becomes a significant insertion and imposition into our personal liberty. I am now a little less sympathetic to the concept of “if your are in public you can not expect to have any rights to privacy” when your public movements can be tracked. Then again, I am not sure I really have a good argument for such “privacy” in the public arena.
*With the aid of modern phone and internet connections, etc., I would presume that getting a valid request for a warrant in front of a (hopefully still constitutionally responsible) judge would no longer be the imposition that a slower more manual process required in the past. Do some jurisdictions provide for a judge to be “on call” to handle emergencies for assessing a warrant request?
@R2L — For context: 30 years ago I retired after 25 years as a municipal law enforcement officer. I was with a “varsity” agency serving a somewhat violent city.
For the entirety of my career there was always a “duty” judge available for the purpose of signing off on arrest and/or search warrants and any other time-sensitive orders. This involved the officer preparing a warrant and a supporting affidavit that the judge would review and if it passed judicial muster, the warrant wold be signed. Typewriters were the weapon of choice and actual “cut and paste” cold sometimes happen. Word processors have replaced many of those Neanderthal practices but the in-person hands-on judicial review is still the law. I participated an any number of these, sometimes risking the ire of a judge, aroused from slumber at his home, to do his end of the process.
Flock?? The cameras do nothing other than observe vehicles as they pass by. That could be done by a stationary officer (or deputy) parked at the corner. Neither is a 4A violation. The same goes for home security cameras, and “Ring” doorbell cameras. If one is someplace where there is an “expectation of privacy” the rules are different; a city street is not a place where one can expect privacy.
Sometimes there are abuses, just like there abuses of DMV records, county arrest records, etc… and they yield discipline (to include termination of employment) of the abusers; they do not result in a destruction of the system abused.
Antifa relies on their masks, balaclavas, umbrellas, secure encrypted communications (from Italy-based NGOs), and of course Soros corrupted law enforcement/elected officials.
The woke right (reich) rail about community based public surveillance such as Floc which serves the purpose of the Antifa/Soros/DSA just fine (for now).
There is sometimes a certain delay (Up to an hour?) between the time that a commenter is reported as having posted a comment, and when that comment actually appears on the blog.