The problem isn’t that anyone can sue anyone, the problem is that these laws give legal standing for anyone to sue anyone. Normal lawsuits have to pass a certain bar to establish legal standing, and if you don’t pass that bar your case gets thrown out. These laws essentially skip that part by giving blanket legal standing. I don’t know if that would stand up in a higher court, but it’s a dangerous precedent that they’re establishing.

I’ve been testing out Bluesky. Too early to give it a final rating, but it’s been cool (if relatively empty) so far.

It's more accurate to say that the British prevented either themselves (through inaction) or China (by treaty/law) from having any practical control. If you'd bother to read the wiki article OP linked you'd know. China should have had jurisdication, but Britain techincally had (imperialist) jurisdication. The result was a no-man's land until Britain finally gave up.

EDIT: missed a word

What the fuck are you talking about? In actual reality it was a product of capitalism. Specifically British imperialist capitalism in China. It took until the mid 80’s (40 years after the Communists came to power) for the British to allow China to have control over the area and it was turned in to a park less than a decade later, clearly indicating that the Communists were in no way interested in continuing the existence of the dystopian walled city.

Is there a Charlie Cinematic Universe now? lol

You're preaching to the choir haha that's not even close to my favorite Isbell song, but it is great. He's a rare talent who can make non-country fans like me enjoy country. Him and Sturgill Simpson.

Hey Antik, since we have active mods now would you mind removing the LW_NewModWanted account? I might be missing something, but it seems like I can't do it since I'm lower on the mod list. However, it seems obvious that that account is not meant to remain a mod on communities with active mods.

Also, wondering if you can confirm something for me. I intended to remove this post since we don't need more mods for the time being. However, it appears all posts by a mod are technically mod posts. Is the fact that this is technically a mod post and LW_NewModWanted is higher on the modlist than me the reason I don't see an option to remove it?

Definitely a 10/10 band. For my money, them and Drug Church are the most interesting of the bigger punk bands out there today. Not that Drug Church is pop-punk lol

EDIT: Should also mention that Meet Me @ The Altar is also doing some real cool shit

I’m removing this as firmly off-topic

Thanks for the list! (Although Isbell is decidedly not pop punk despite being very good lol)

Why would you make an intentionally off-topic post in a small community that’s just getting on its feet? It’s totally counter-productive.

For real, who seriously had the thought “you know what, we need another adaptation of that one book from decades ago. We could try adapting some of that guy’s other work, but why bother? I know we tried the goofy, fun spin and the dark, gritty spin, but I’m sure we missed an angle on that one kid’s book.”

More importantly how did the guy who had that thought not get kicked out of the pitch meeting immediately?

Caught part of a Bollweevils set a few years ago and it was a ton of fun. Highly recommend.

If this is the only tMG song you know, I highly recommend checking out the rest of the album (Tallahassee). Fantastic album from front to back.

Some personal favorites (other than No Children):

Southwood Plantation Road

Our conversations are like minefields; no one's found a safe way through one yet.

Game Shows Touch Our Lives

People say friends don't destroy one another. What do they know about friends?

See America Right

My love is like a dark cloud full of rain that's always right there up above you.

Old College Try

I want to say I'm sorry for stuff I haven't done yet. Things will shortly get completely out of hand.

Oceanographer's Choice

Everybody's gonna need a witness. Everybody's gonna need a little backup in case the scene gets nasty.

Alpha Rats Nest

Someday we'll both wake up for good; I will try hard not to scream.

Also highly recommend checking out the albums We Shall All Be Healed, The Sunset Tree, and,if you're ok with lo-fi, All Hail West Texas and Songs for Pierre Chuvin.

Honestly never really got in to Lagwagon or Millencolin (I know some of the more popular songs), so I'll have to check those out!

I've been impressed over the years with how consistently great the lineup is. This year is definitely a standout for me, but I'm not sure it's even as good as 2017 or 2019 were. There's been a few times I've gone where it wasn't as much my speed, but even their off years still have enough to keep me satisified.

Love Masked Intruder. Saw them a few years ago at Riot Fest in Chicago and they put on a great set. "Heart-Shaped Guitar" is a bop and a half.

I'm vaguely aware of Lace Code but I've honestly never seen it used or even really mentioned outside of the internet. Part of me is curious if it was ever a really a thing outside of maybe a few scenes scattered about. Feels like something that, because the concept is kinda intriguing, the internet may have overblown. But I wasn't around in the 80s, so I'm not sure. Curious to hear from anyone who was actually part of the scene back then.

I've done VIP in the past and can only recommend it with caveats. It's probably not worth the price unless you're really going to use the in/out privileges or consider AC bathrooms a must (as opposed to port-a-potties in GA). There's not necessarily a ton in the area, so I've never personally used the in/out privileges. The AC bathrooms are great, but I've never really been bothered by using the port-a-potties (although they can get very hot if it's a hot day). The other main perk of VIP is that there is a large tent set up for extra shade. There's some shade in GA, but it's limited and tends to get crowded if it's a hot day. The VIP bars/food booths aren't really worth it imo (I got food faster in GA last year and the best bar is a beer tent in GA imo).

That being said, highly recommend going to Riot Fest. This will be my fourth or fifth year and I always have a great time. I especially love that it's a music-first festival as opposed to the more social media influencer or drug/rave culture festivals.

lol yeah there aren't many of us at the moment, but my hope is that by posting regularly the community will get noticed more broadly and eventually there will be more of us....maybe even dozens of us!